need advice on the role/playingstyle of my resto-shaman

Bengalosch

Bengalosch

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    • hi there,



    i am playing my resto (link in signature) for some time now, i have fun playing it and gear starts to get better slowly - although i am far away from being BiS.



    what i wanna know now:



    1. how do i dps/or more precisely: burst as a resto?

    i know its not exactly my role, but for soloing stufff, questing etc. it would be nice to make at least some dmg. i have a disc priest, who easily crits for way over 300 with mind-blast or even holy fire. my earthshock is still at low 100s in crits and lightning bolt is a pain to cast. what i do in fights is: shock, fire-totem and primalstrike followed by white-melee-dmg with flametongue-hits - but there is no burst.



    2. what is my role in dungeons?

    i can easily heal almost every group (ok, tanks with 500 hp are hard) through everything - with earthshield alone. a little surge here and there, totems on boss-fights, wind shear on some casters - and then? dps? as stated above dps (or at least burst) is not really great...



    3. what are the main assets of a resto in pvp?

    i am most using: healing surge, earth-bind-totem, fire-totem, some shocks here and there, earthshield on FC, wind-shear (which will be nerfed). i never find myself purging or cleansing - just because i am not used to it yet, or because it is too situational?



    4. when would i use a flamtongue-totem?



    excuse my english - i am german. thanks in adavance for your answers.



    Grizzwolf
     
    IMO focusing priest and druid heals is probably the best thing for a resto sham to do. Purges/wind shears on a priest or druid = no heals and they die quickly. Only problem is that ally usually never has a priest healer and resto druids are very few and far between. Healing surge and totems are about the only thing you really can do. Once you get closer to BiS, I would consider FCing, as its hard to take down a shammy heals with support from another healing class and your roots act as a self peel. If you really wanna do burst, you need to go enhance, especially since lava lash is getting buffed with the next patch. Just my thoughts
    <




    I dont play a resto shaman, but I have seen a few good ones around and that seems to be thier strategy. Theres a horde resto shaman that I have seen around on AP named Radau, he would probably be able to give better advice than myself.
     
    First thing you need to do is learn to do is keep pressure.



    Resto shamans cant do much burst dmg but actually have quite a lot of pressure. Wind Shear Spamming, Keeping Flame Shock up, Keeping Searing totem up, using Primal Strike when it's not on CD, and keeping them CC'd with earthbind totem. Each ability does not do a lot of dmg ALONE but together things start to add up quickly, Flame Shock(plus DoT)/Earth Shock spamming, Searing Flame Totem has a 1.0 second cast time so it can hit a lot, WS spamming on the casters to keep them "pressured", and of course using Primal Strike.



    As far as dungeons go, What I used to do on my 29 shaman is keep Earth Shield up on them; /follow them, then go afk LOL(not even kidding either). Earth Shield is literally strong enough to keep a tank alive in lower lvl dungeons. There's simply not enough dmg. Of course tanks with no BoA gear or the occasional druid tank I will not go afk, but If they have a decent amount of BoA Gear then usually I just put Earthshield on them and watch a 30 minute movie. Every 1-2 minutes i'll reapply earth shield.



    What's dumb is how effective it is.







    You definitely need to get into the habbit of purging and cleansing. Purging is one of the most overpowered abilities @lower lvl pvp, nothing is more OP than purging an AGM or priest bubble. Purge those buffs/Hots/shields and you'll be the most hated person in this bracket(which is good
    <
    )







    As far as flametongue totem goes, I would normally use it when you are with a large group of people. Searing totem isnt going to do much when you have 3-4 dps with you; the extra SP bonus would be more helpful. But if it's just you and the FC; go ahead and drop searing totem over flametongue totem.





    Good luck
    <
     
    1. no burst for you!

    2. focus heal the tank and melee and shock mobs.

    3. you sound like you already have it down for the most part. I play a shammy as well and knowing when to purge is huge and underrated - removing that priest bubble, fort buff or renew from an efc feels magical - it may hurt at first but you get used to it then thoroughly enjoy it.

    drop earth totems early and often particularly at funnel points (tunnel entrance)

    4. I think flame totem is buffed in patch 4.3 but at this level I think I'd rather have the searing totem unless in a tight group with all casters. searing totem keeps enemies in combat that you want in combat like rogues (stealth) and warriors (charge)
     
    1. Resto shaman burst doesn't really exist as a thing, although you can land a LB, earth shock, and wind shear a spell more-or-less simultaneously.



    2. I only played a f2p shaman briefly on another server, but I'd definitely say to grab a good staff and dps with primal strike and shocks. Earth shield more or less heals the dungeon by itself, even in stocks/bfd. LB spam probably does more damage, but it's harder on your mana and more annoying to switch modes when your group abruptly double-pulls some stuff. Mouseover or focus macros will allow you to heal and refresh earth shield without interrupting your melee.



    #showtooltip

    /use [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Healname

    ...and just stick your mouse over the raid/focus frame, or:



    #showtooltip

    /use [@focus,mod:shift][] Healname



    ...and hit shift when you don't want it to default to yourself/your target.



    3. Purges and interrupts are a pretty big deal for harassing other healers. Purging shields is huge against priests; it seems like purge ought to also remove pally bubble but I've never tried. It sounds like you need to get in the habit of purging more often.



    Don't worry so much about shocks and totems in PvP. Recognize the situational uses like earthbind to help a flag runner, flame shock on rogues, earth shock on anything getting bursted, but the damage aspect of your shocks and totems is fairly trivial compared to other things you could be doing.



    Also, consider keeping earth shield on yourself much of the time in PvP. It seems easier to keep people up when you're not experiencing pushback and large health fluctuations of your own, and I didn't miss mana shield much. Obviously still switch it to other players when this is called for.



    4. Fire totems are pretty weak. Napkin math suggests flametongue needs to buff 2 casters to exceed the damage of searing (assuming you're doing shock/melee). Both fire totems are a lousy use of mana and GCDs. Use them when you have mana and time to spare, and don't sweat their absence when you're constrained (in pve and pvp both). If you really have nothing better to do, it's slightly preferable to flametongue totem before casting earth shield.



    Obvious exceptions aside, strength of earth is more important to have down than a fire totem.
     
    pinochet said:
    2. I only played a f2p shaman briefly on another server, but I'd definitely say to grab a good staff and dps with primal strike and shocks. Earth shield more or less heals the dungeon by itself, even in stocks/bfd. LB spam probably does more damage, but it's harder on your mana and more annoying to switch modes when your group abruptly double-pulls some stuff. Mouseover or focus macros will allow you to heal and refresh earth shield without interrupting your melee.
    Click to expand...



    No, never EVER use a staff. A shield more than doubles your damage reduction.
     
    Rotate ES to whoever is getting focused, preheal with HW as much as possible. Searing totem to keep people in combat, healing stream whenever you have spare GCDs. Really it's about spreading the love with purges and flame shocks. You don't have burst so pressure is the name of the game. With all the purging you have to be mana concious which is why it is important to heal early and often with HW and avoid resorting to HS spam.
     
    My main is a resto shaman. Earl is correct, never use a staff in PvP. You want as much damage mitigation as you get as a healer. Plus there is a super nice shield available from the Stockades quest for you if you are Alliance. At you low level you really won't have a burst spell just yet (ie Lava Burst), you will be regulated to heals and to being a "pest". You can purge buffs from enemy players including Paladin bubbles as long as the Paladin has not put it on themselves. You can also use windshear to interrupt other healer's heals. I know when I ran ratedBGs with my shaman and WSG popped I usually ran with the FC to protect them.
     
    I forgot to add what your role in a BG is. You are an offensive healer. Group up with a few hard dps and use purges, pressure, and some well-timed shears to score kills. If you're stuck on D make sure you're with an FC who knows how to kite to take full advantage of earthbind.
     
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