I never played Classic, I started late BC but the idea of a shaman tank has always fascinated me. I’ve read up on them and they sound cool, but how viable will they be? I know nothing but prot warriors will tank raids. Will I be able to talk 5 man’s up til 60?
I also know classic is starting at patch 1.12 where they nerfed shaman Tanks and took away stuff. How badly does it shut down shaman Tanks?
Shaman tanks lost their viability long before patch 1.12
Technically anything that isn’t 1 shot can “tank” given enough healing, but with Shamans it’s mostly a question of “Why bother?” given just how far behind they are Warriors or Druids.
You might find groups that will go with it, but it would be even harder than trying to play a healing class as a DPS spec.
Shaman were never tanks.
they were designed from the ground up to be off-tanks at most, just like combat rogues and survival hunters.
Someone to grab a mob and drag it over to the real tank, while having sufficient survivability to last long enough for the tank to pick it up. (though they tried to move away from that when they removed bucklers, with only the shaman retaining the intention for that to be a thing. But rogues and survival hunters still have the tools to make it work…so you could do it).
They are tanks the same way that Spriests and Demo Locks can tank. They can get really high damage reduction, and do good threat…till their mana runs out.
(less an issue for locks but you have to be careful of when you life-tap and make sure your healer knows to prep a big heal).
I read the title as Sherman Tanks…been on a WW2 kick lately.
Shaman was never a real tank, they were more like off-tanks in oh sh*t moments. There is no way anyone would ever take a Shaman saying they are a “tank” to anything.
Shamans, as stated by others, were never tanks and were never meant to be. On countdown to classic a developer said that their intention was for Shaman to only be able to maybe tank to level 40. That’s pretty much where it ends for Shamans. Having a shield and one major threat tool (earth shock) doesn’t make you a tank. They have no hard taunt, and the taunt totem has a weak taunt that does not increase the Shamans threat at all. It’s meant as a kite or escape mechanism for the Shaman. It awards zero threat, despite the common misconception that its their taunt.
After level 40 Warriors and Paladins get plate, and feral Druids start getting plate like armor bonuses. Dungeon mobs are designed with that in mind, and even in full mail with a shield Shamans just can’t mitigate the damage beyond 40-45. With a lack of threat building tools they can’t keep up with level 40+ DPS. Warriors and Druids have hard taunts with threat multipliers, while Paladins have an array of threat building tools but no taunt.
I wouldn’t build a Shaman around tanking. It just isn’t worth the trouble. You can mess around till about Sunken Temple. After that you’re just a hanging piece of meat, and the mobs are Rocky Balboa using you for a makeshift punching bag.
If you want to tank dungeons at 60 you’ll need to be a warrior, Druid, or Pally. If you want to tank raids you need to be a warrior, or a Druid off tank. Paladins have been known to do some raid off tanking, my guild had a prot Pally off tank. Druids and Paladins should carry a set of healing gear and expect to heal when not off tanking.
That podcast really is a gem. I’ve really enjoyed listening to the Kevin Jordan interviews on the different classes and their development. I encourage anyone with any interest in Classic at all to check it out.
THAT’s the guy. Yeah. I thought it was crazy that originally Demon Hunter was supposed to be a hunter talent tree lol.
In the ORIGINAL (pre-alpha), the original conception of Shaman was that they were going to be able to tank just as well as pallys were (supposed to be), basically the complete horde version of a pally.
It also never made sense lore-wise that they couldn’t wear plate like Thrall does (admittedly he’s a Hero Character, but still). So wearing mail armor made them take a big hit mitigation-wise.
I always theorized that the reasons they didn’t wear plate was blizz wanted more than one class to be wearing mail (instead of just hunters), and blizz may have thought that having a class that can be ranged (if specced correctly) and wearing plate armor would be too OP.
This is experience from private servers so take it with a grain of salt. Ive been in successful dungeon groups from WC to BRD with shaman tanks.
It’s rough to heal and a hunter tank pet is a better option, but hey, when it’s 2am and it’s only option, go for it! Classic is awesome like that.
There are certain speed runners that use world buffs and dual wielding fury warriors to tank bosses, as past a certain point protection warriors can’t produce enough threat to hold aggro against well geared dps going all out.
If dps warriors with gear and world buffs are durable enough to survive bosses, then shaman with mail and a shield (and world buffs) should also be sturdy enough. Do they have enough threat with earth shock and sp/strength. Who knows…
For progression shaman is NOT a tank, but I’m sure there is some fun to be had.
Shaman tanking wasn’t viable due to mail not having defense. Hybrids, in general, didn’t have gear for all the things they ‘might’ have been able to do. No sense beating a dead horse, but mechanically speaking it wasn’t viable without the necessary stats.
I tanked a few low level dungeons until the thirties with my tauren shaman (extra health was nice early on). Shaman had two high threat moves, a weapon imbuement called Rockbiter and Earth Shock. Rockbiter gave a boost to white damage, and added more threat to each hit passively (but not much). Earth Shock was a nature damage spell that had a high threat modifier that also interrupted spellcasting, but on a 6 second cd. This just wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile for me after a while.
Shield spec Enhancement Shaman can have a lot of fun in pvp though. They can be a tough nut to crack while wearing down opponents. Like all Shaman, this works best in a group due to the class emphasis on support.
I played an elemental shaman. Troll. Tanking is not viable. But a great off tank that can save the day. If a cloth wearer pulls threat from the tank. Earthshock for threat then take it to the tank. If you plan to ‘off tank’ then run with a shield at all times. The issue is gear… there just isn’t tanking gear in the game for Shaman…
This has only been talked about like every other day on these forums. Do a search instead of posting.
I read it as Shark Tank. Was hoping for sharks with laser beams.
Sharks with laser beams who invest in your company!
And there we have it folks. Classic, brought to you by the Shark Tank investment group. The group that cares more about the initial selling pitch than the follow through.
You don’t know how tired I get of expaining this to people that didn’t play vanilla.
It makes me want to have a nap.
I do.
No. Absolutely not.