My shaman is going to ding 120 tonight. She’s a dwarf. I love her. I love the goblin I started more, but my people are playing Alliance now, so…I had to change. Whatever.
Here’s my concern. I’ve been a healer since BC, mostly priest. Did a little monk work in MoP but went back to priest. I rolled a shaman just because I had never played one before. Around level 40, the clouds parted, angels started singing, and I fell in LOVE with shaman healing. I mean, I could see this becoming my main and new favorite class for the rest of my time in WoW.
I am concerned, however, as I’ve been reading forum posts, Icy Veins, and watching YouTube videos about various challenges with the class.
Getting invited to mythic + won’t be an issue for me because I’ll play with a guild group, but I’m wondering if I should be concerned that I can’t keep people up? Do you have advice? Do you have guides you would recommend? I don’t want to give up on my shaman before I even get started, but the almost universal negativity about shammy heals in BfA is concerning me.
What do you think?
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Its great…if u have low aspirations. The problem is when people are all spread out and covered in poison…i
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they are good for just playing it for fun like some bgs,arenas and heroics but most shamans arnt wanted for high m+ keys or raids.
i would tell you to pass on the shaman unless you know people that dont care if you are playing one.
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Dwarves are not real shamen.
I’ve already started gearing my priest in anticipation for the worst. I truly love my shaman but if Blizzard doesnt think we should be a competitive healing class, I’m not going to even bother.
I agree. But…hey, you wanna pug? or be a dwarf? Hee hee. Plus, she’s cute.
I’ll be in ironforge tomorrow killing the pie vendor.
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I am going to strongly recommend you stick with it. I tried to play a Resto Druid but kept coming back to my Shaman because it is just so much more fun.
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Dispite what people seem to believe resto shammy is one of the best raid healing specs right now. Their skill set definitely doesn’t lend it’s self well to 5man content but if you’re playing it well it should be viable.
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but if you’re playing it well it should be viable.
Honestly, that’s all I want. I appreciate the perspective.
I’m a “used to progress raid” casual who likes to be capable. I don’t care AT ALL about where I land on any chart. I care about clearing the content, keeping people up, getting my pixel pie, and having a good time.
If I can do that, then this shaman is my new best friend. I like priesting or I wouldn’t have done it so long, but I feel like Santa just brought me a box full of toys I didn’t know I wanted with my shaman.
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This is unfortunately incorrect. If you are of equal skill, the other healers will beat you out. We are not one of the best in raids. We can be, but that also depends on how badly your raid is doing. More dmg going out, the more mastery we get to use.
We are on the bottom when it comes to raid healers, we are not one of the best. Doesn’t mean we are useless, but we are not one of the best.
Things will change in 8.1. Perhaps we will move up a bit with chain heal being worth more to use. Or perhaps not.
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I’m no expert so take this how you want. I’ve been healing 10-13s this last week. It’s very easy with my group, they stay stacked and close for all my aoe heals (downpour is crucial in m+ imo). You can’t be scared of popping cooldowns on trash, as most bosses are easy and some affixes make trash living hell. Don’t be afraid to blow through your mana (within reason) and heavily use mana/drink pots. Coordinate pulls with your tank to get yourself drinking before combat, as long as you start before the pull you can finish. That being said try to conserve when possible, riptide into healing wave (with healing rain up) is the most efficient. Make use of every riptide and tidalwave. Learn how Healing Tide works, learn Ascendance, and learn how they can save wipes (casting both plus a Downpour can literally have your team from 10% health to 100% in seconds). Spiritlink totem is bizarre but once you figure it out (and your group learns to stand in it) it can do amazing things. 90% of the time I use it to save the tank if he’s dying faster than my heals. Spirit link followed by Downpour is pure money. Be careful tho cuz in some situations it can wipe you, and absolutely never heal the tank if he’s taking damage while inside it (that ones hard to explain but you’ll see what I mean). Lately since doing above +10 I’ve needed to spec into unleash life, it’s our only good instant heal. Feel free to look at my build and ask anything. At +10 and up, the rsham issues people complain about start to become apparent, but if you’re good and your team is better then it’s definitely possible. I think my biggest hindrance right now is my damage output, to improve it I’ve set up mouseover heals so that I can still maintain an enemy target. Keep flameshock up and always use lava burst procs. Switching to chain lightning is worth it at 3 mobs and possibly 2 if you crit enough. Get the mythic plus interrupt tracker weak aura, it shows you your teams interrupt cooldowns, and since rsham has the best healer interrupt (to my knowledge?) fill whatever gaps you can.
My tl:dr for rsham in m+ is: You can do it, you just need to work harder than other healers, and your group needs to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. (Keep in mind I haven’t healed over 13 and I’m pretty sure last I checked no rshams in the world have gone over 18.)
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is exactly what I needed. I will be doing all the dungeons to get familiar with it. I’ve only ever done them on my priest, so I need the practice (and the gear).
This is very helpful, and it’s the kind of thing I want to practice and get my fingers comfortable with before my group starts pulling together to run the mythic difficulties.
Yea no. Shamans are outclassed by virtually every other healer out there for raids now.
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Idk sham feels strong to me.
Don’t listen to the defeatists. rShaman are fine, especially in M+, and even more so in about a week when they get buffed.
I geared almost exclusively through M+. In the current patch I never use chain heal nor healing rain. I use downpour, wellspring, riptide, and swelling stream to aoe heal. Some people use Ascendance instead of wellspring. I also prefer undulation to unleash life, but that could be because I don’t use chain heal.
Things you will need to learn to be successful in M+
- How do dps when you don’t need to heal. You should never be needlessly overhealing, nor just standing around doing nothing.
- How and what to windshear (sp?). Shaman’s have the absolute best interrupt in the game, play to your strength.
I think those are the two big failures I see of healers. They get in a mindset of “I’m here to heal, and that’s all Im going to do,” when in M+ everyone is doing everything.
edit: There are also some resto shammys pushing reaaaallly high keys. Most of these people on the forums have tiny heart syndrome.
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Resto is fine , just not for really high m+ keys. Problem lies on people not trying other talents. I recently found cloud burst + Undulation to be good for fights like Mythic Fetid. People rely too much on Icy veins/guides online to tell em what to use.
Spike damage it’s a problem in m+ , that’s why I don’t go beyond 10+ keys. Overall is a good spec just need some love which is sorta coming in 8.1
Like really high being in the 17+ to 20+ area.
I’m going to be brutally honest. Cut your losses now and heal with literally ANY other class. The throughput for single target is ABYSMAL and simply trying to keep your tank alive during keys 7-10 will have your nerves on edge for no other reason, other than that you are a shaman and not a monk or druid. Please I beg you don’t torture yourself.
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Who are you to be making this claim?
This is patently false.