Ok so usually I’d post this in the Shaman forum, but there’s no dedicated Shaman “classic” forum and most of the topics there are regarding retail so figured I would ask for some help here.
My questions are strictly in regards to leveling and dungeons:
-
Should I be using 1H and shield or 2H? I find that I’m really squishy without a shield so questing out in the world can be challenging when I aggro multiple mobs with a 2H. I can see using a 2H in dungeons since there’s a tank absorbing all the blows and I want more damage output. But simply questing I tend to use 1H. What do you think? (Also I use rockbiter outside of dungeons, I hear that’s better than flametongue).
-
Stat priorities are confusing. I could make an argument about rolling on any leather piece that has INT/STR/AGI/STA. I’m going enhancement for leveling so ideally I need a more focused approach so I’m not dividing my stats too much.
-
As far as early rotation goes (lvl 16), I typically go lightning -> fire shock -> searing totem -> melee with earth shock thrown in here and there when I need to interrupt casters. I always have lightning shield up as well. Does this sound right or should I be doing something else?
Thanks for any feedback.
My experience is limited (28 shaman), but I can say this to your questions…
- Use both as enhancement. Adjust what you’re using based on what your better weapon is and what the situation calls for. 2 handers are better for 1v1s and mobs that have lower armor/health. 1 handers are better when you’re dealing with longer/more crowded fights. As for weapon enchantments, Rockbiter is almost always best for soloing and tanking. Flametongue is best (until windfury) for groups when you’re not tanking.
-
Stat priorities for shamans are what you make of them. You should, if you want to play to your strengths, have different sets of gear for whatever situation. You should have tanking-orientated gear for when you’re called on to tank, DPS gear for soloing/DPSing, and healing gear when/if you want to heal dungeons. As for rolling in dungeons, it’s generally better to see what role you see as your ‘main’ and adjust your priorities accordingly. Otherwise, only roll need on secondary concerns if no one else truly needs said item.
-
Your rotation appears to mean you end up drinking a lot. That’s a - lot - of mana consumption for one mob. This is a great weakness shamans, they’re very good at burning all their mana away. You have to maintain ‘trigger discipline’ and only fire off the spells/totems you need for any given fight. As an enhancement shaman your primary damage should come from your melee attacks and totems, you generally won’t have the mana pool to burn shocks non-stop without turning into a mage who spends more time drinking than killing. What I generally do is if it’s a lone mob, I’ll toss lightning shield on, pull with fire shock, smack it around with my melee weapon and perhaps drop fire/stoneskin totem if it’s a somewhat difficult mob. If it’s an area I intend to be fighting in, I’ll make a ‘base’ of stoneskin, mana spring, and fire/magma totems to pull the mobs back into and use shocks and lightning shield as needed. The key to fighting NPCs as shamans is sustainability. You shouldn’t be drinking very often when leveling once you get mana totem, if you are, you’re burning mana too hot and may be better off going elemental if that’s more your play style.
Hope it helps and good luck out there.
2 Likes
Important way to save mana as a shaman: Bind Rank 1 Earth Shock as well as max rank.
Rank 1 gets you all the interrupting power at a fraction of the cost.
Urkathal’s post pretty much covers the actual answers to your questions.
You mentioned you’re level 16; you should make sure to do the introductory Wailing Caverns questline so you can get yourself a Crescent Staff as soon as possible. It’s basically the best you can get until 29 at the earliest, and it can reasonably last until mid-30s.
Mitigate/debuff during the fight and 4m later you have decent mana and health left.
Or group with warrior and grind mobs. You need each other 
get to 60 one level at a time.
I personally prefer 1h with shield.
Pop lightning shield, lightning bolt twice on pull, flame shock then stab to death with flametongue weapon.
You will have most of your mana back to heal yourself and repeat the process on the next mob.
If your mana drops below a certain threshhold only use one lightning bolt instead of 2.
Drop totem between mobs so that you can fight 2-3 mobs one after the other by bringing them to your already dropped totems.
Stats you can get good deals by buying str/spirit gear, which helps your mana recovery while still giving your melee a bit of a kick. Str-spirit-stam-int.
The reason i have stam higher is so that you dont have to heal during the fight.
Don’t buy any gear, while leveling enhancement your stats are so flexible that you can get good use out of quest rewards. It also means that you’re sort of a “loot dumpster” where all the strangely itemized garbage that litters classic can get good use. Nobody in the group wants that random ago/spi cloth blue? Those numbers sure are big and those are both stats you can use! Combine it with that random str/int item you grabbed earlier and you’ll have fairly balanced stats! You can worry about optimizing specific stats when you hit 60.
It won’t be relevant mana savings for a while but binding rank 1 frost shock is good for similar reasons to earth shock.
I try to use 2h weapons when I can, but sometimes 1h shield is the better option at the time and that’s ok. I try to keep a shield and dagger with me regardless in case something crazy happens and I need to tank something – for that you want it to be a dagger because rockbiter’s threat is a flat bonus per hit so fast is fantastic.
There’s probably more but either other people already said it or I don’t remember right now.
2H all the way, swap to 1h and shield if you’re taking on two mobs or tanking/healing a dungeon. Rockbiter is best til Windfury at 30 but even then some say that Rockbiter is more consistent damage.
Whilst you’re enhancement you want to focus on STR then Agility + Stam.
Swap to elemental between 40-45.