[Mists Of Pandaria] 19 Shaman Guide

Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Races
When picking a race, it is a good idea to consider your personal play style, racial abilities (both passive and active), and the races movement.
Horde
Pandaren:
  • Bouncy - This ability does not serve much use in Warsong Gulch or arena.
  • Epicurean - With the removal of the Rumsey Rum stamina buff, this racial becomes very useful granting a maximum of 12 stamina from food.
  • Quaking Palm - This racial ability is one of the best in my opinion. It can be dodged and parried when used from the front.
Goblin:
  • Rocket Jump - Hands down the best flag carrying racial, this ability can be used to close a gap, run away, or to juke unsuspecting opponents off of edges.
  • Rocket Barrage - A decent extra damage boost hitting around 100, shares a cooldown with Rocket Jump.
  • Time is Money - A small yet nice buff.
  • Better Living Through Chemistry - Self-explanatory.
Orc:
  • Blood Fury - A useful 15 seconds spell power increase, nice for a bit higher healing a damage.
  • Hardiness - A very nice bonus to keep you stunned less. For example, this reduces the duration of sap by about 2 seconds and hammer of justice by about 1 second.
Troll:
Tauren:
  • Endurance - Quite a minor health increase, this makes Tauren the best race for max health.
  • War Stomp - One of the best racials, 2 second AoE stun, very nice to have!
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Alliance
Pandaren:
  • Bouncy - This ability does not serve much use in Warsong Gulch or arena.
  • Epicurean - With the removal of the Rumsey Rum stamina buff, this racial becomes very useful granting a maximum of 12 stamina from food.
  • Quaking Palm - This racial ability is one of the best in my opinion. It can be dodged and parried when used from the front.
Draenei:
Dwarf:


Ultimately, there is no best race. I've been four different races on my shaman and I've come to like each play style for the unique abilities each race has.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Specialization & Talents
There are thee different choices for both specializations and talents, each can be fun in its own way.
Specializations

ElementalEnhancementRestoration

Best Damage SpecializationUnderpowered DamageVery Good Healing

Elemental - This specialization is absolutely amazing for damage, second only to balance druids for ranged damage. Thunderstorm provides very good utility for creating space between you and your opponents. Elemental shamans can also flag carry and do it quite well due to thunderstorm, it is important that you have a healer on defense with you if you try to flag carry, though.

Enhancement ​- Unfortunately, this specialization is quite bad for damage. I would not suggest making a shaman for the sole purpose of playing enhancement.

Restoration - Restoration shamans are some of the best healers in the bracket because they can put out incredibly big heals, dispel defensively, and purge opponents. Also, this is the best specialization for flag carrying, the shaman is one of the best flag carrying classes.

Talents
Nature's Guardian - This is the best talent choice for flag carrying, I also prefer to his the talent for every specialization because it can be a big life saver when you need an extra few seconds.

Stone Bulwark Totem - This talent can be useful if you have very high spell power, the higher your spell power the more the shield will absorb.

Astral Shift - This would only be used for flag carrying and in my opinion it is inferior to Nature's Guardian.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Professions
HerbalismEngineeringSkinning


  • The haste buff is amazing in
    many different situations.

  • The AoE damage and stun
    make this a great choice.
Best Profession For All SpecsAoE StunNice Critical Strike Bonus

Editor's pick: My favorite professions to use are herbalism and engineering, the use of bombs can be a game changer.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Gear
Note: This guide does not include any grandfathered gear or enchants that cannot be purchased.
Note: As of patch 5.4, the following enchants may or may not be outdated.
Restoration Shaman
Head: Tattered Dreadmist Mask
Neck: Thick Bronze Necklace
Shoulder: Mystical Pauldrons of Elements
Back: Tumultuous Cloak of the Sorcerer - Superior Defense
Chest: Mystical Vest of Elements - Greater Stats or Major Mana
Wrist: Uninsured Bracers (H) Mindthrust Bracers/Cuffs of Black Elements (A) - Healing Power
Hands: Wild Rider's Gloves (H) Serpent's Gloves (A) - Healing Power
Waist: Vigorous Belt of the Vision
Legs: Tattered Dreadmist Leggings - Medium Armor Kit
Feet: Merger Boots or Spidersilk Boots - Minor Speed or Greater Stamina
Ring: Stillwater's Signet (H) Seal of Argas (A)
Ring: Seal of Argas (H) Lavishly Jeweled Ring (A)
Trinket: Inherited Insignia of the (faction)
Trinket: Arena Grand Master
Weapon: Devout Aurastone Hammer - Mighty Intellect
Shield: Shield of Talrendis Point (H) Forest Bucker/Seedcloud Buckler (A) - Vitality

Elemental Shaman
Head: Tattered Dreadmist Mask
Neck: Thick Bronze Necklace
Shoulder: Mystical Pauldrons of Elements
Back: Tumultuous Cloak of the Sorcerer - Superior Defense
Chest: Mystical Vest of Elements - Greater Stats or Major Mana
Wrist: Uninsured Bracers (H) Mindthrust Bracers/Cuffs of Black Elements (A) - Healing Power
Hands: Serpent's Gloves or Wild Rider's Gloves (H) - Healing Power
Waist: Vigorous Belt of the Vision
Legs: Tattered Dreadmist Leggings - Medium Armor Kit
Feet: Merger Boots or Spidersilk Boots - Minor Speed or Greater Stamina
Ring: Seal of Argas or Stillwater's Signet (H)
Ring: Seal of Argas or Lavishly Jeweled Ring (A)
Trinket: Inherited Insignia of the (faction)
Trinket: Arena Grand Master
Weapon: Devout Aurastone Hammer - Spellpower or Mighty Intellect
Shield: Shield of Talrendis Point (H) Forest Bucker/Seedcloud Buckler (A) - Vitality

Flag Carrying Gear
Head: Lucky Fishing Hat
Neck: Thick Bronze Necklace
Shoulder: Aged Pauldrons of The Five Thunders
Back: Tumultuous Cloak Stamina - Superior Defense
Chest: Toughened Leather Armor - Major Health
Wrist: Bracers of the Ancient Grove (A) Wrangler's Wristbands of Stamina (H) - Superior Stamina
Hands: Bristlebark Gloves or Wild Rider's Gloves (H) or Serpent's Gloves (A) - Healing Power
Waist: Tarantula Silk Sash or Vigorous Belt of the Monkey
Legs: Mystical Kilt of Elements - Medium Armor Kit
Feet: Spidersilk Boots - Minor Speed or Greater Stamina
Ring: Stillwater's Signet (H) Seal of Argas (A)
Ring: Seal of Argas (H) Lavishly Jeweled Ring (A)
Trinket: Inherited Insignia of the (faction)
Trinket: Arena Grand Master
Weapon: Blessed Hammer of Grace - Spellpower or Mighty Intellect
Shield: Gold-Plated Buckler - Vitality
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Everything Else
This section will include all sorts of useful information.
Flag Carrying Advice
  • When flag carrying stand with your back to the wall when at all possible if a rogue gets off an ambush you can be in some big trouble.
  • Stay with your team, often times FC's will outrun their own team and healers and when alone you are vulnerable and easier to pick off.
  • ASK for defense, if you are alone you will probably die ask for one or two people to stay with you.
  • Communicate with the offense to find out when you are needed to move closer to the cap.
  • Make use of bombs (if you're an engineer) and your stun, don't use your stun whenever make sure to use it when trying to gain distance.
  • Learn the jumps in the videos linked above, these will help you gain great distance from the opponents.
  • CHANGE IT UP! Don't always take the same route a good team will quickly catch on and set-up traps.
  • Don't stand in places such as the middle of the flag room or out in the open, the only time you want to be in the flag room is if you're expecting a flag return. Some good places to stay are the roof, top of tunnel, graveyard, and 2nd floor because each of these places give you multiple escape routes.
  • Stay one step ahead of the enemy, don't let them predict where you will go.
  • Juke! This is when you run to an edge and do a fake jump to make opponents think you are going over the ledge.
  • Make macros to easily communicate with your team.
Jumps
I will never be able to stress how useful and necessary jumps are when flag carrying and even when not flag carrying. Below you will find a link to twinking.net's jump collection. Remember when flag carrying, practice makes perfect. You aren't going to be an amazing flag carrier when you start out, and that's okay. Just make sure to accept constructive criticism and ignore hate. You'll improve.
Click here to view my entire jump collection over on Twinking.net! If you want even more jump videos, and other useful videos click here!
Healing Advice
Healing as a shaman is a bit more complicated than other classes. Not only is a shaman expected to heal, but we are also responsible for dispelling our team mates and purging the offense's targets. The key to being an effective restoration shaman is to stay calm under pressure, decide who needs to be dispelled (generally fellow healers or important DPS), and if healing is under control start purging opponents who your offense is focusing. Healing takes practice and just playing will help more than any advice I can offer.
Elemental Advice
Damage is the elemental shamans main priority, however elemental shamans still have most of the healing capability of a resto shaman. Don't be afraid to heal if your team is lacking healers. Make sure you're purging and interrupting enemy healers with wind shear.Elemental burst can be very big, pick your targets wisely and you'll have the enemy team fleeing.
Addons
The following addons can prove very useful, try them out and use what you like ditch what you don't.
Bartender - Makes keybinding easy!
BattlegroundTargets - Shows a list of the opposing team.
Capping - Displays the flag carrier's name on the top with health percentage.
Cooldowns - Shows the number of seconds remaining on a cooldown.
GladiatorlosSA - Says the names of important spells as your enemies cast them.
Interrupt Bar - Keeps track of enemy interrupts.
RangeDisplay - Shows how far away you are from targets.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Update Log
March 17, 2013: Added table of contents, races, specialization & talents, professions, gear, and "Everything Else" sections.
March 18, 2013: Updated gear section to fix an error.
March 18, 2013: Updated gear section to add an enchant.
November 30, 2013: This guide no longer includes updated enchants.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Quick question, how much hit does an elemental shaman need? Grats on the well made guide! :)
Ele shamans need 11 hit to be completely caped, however due to a passive elemental shaman ability 1 spirit is equal to 1 hit rating. The shield enchant grants 10 spirit which is equal to 10 hit rating, so you may want to find 1 additional hit rating.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Ele shamans don't need any hit we have base hit of 15 percent.
You might want to double check that.

Also Conspirator's Slippers are from the same quest as Uninsured Bracers, you might want to list Merger Boots instead.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

You might want to double check that.

Also Conspirator's Slippers are from the same quest as Uninsured Bracers, you might want to list Merger Boots instead.

Just double checked and it seems that I was mistaken (at one point I think that was true)! To be completely hit caped you need 11 hit rating, with the passive ability that elemental shamans have "elemental precision" you will have 10 hit rating from your shield enchant (1 spirit = 1 hit) and you can pick up that addition hit or not, if you don't your miss chance will be 0.09%. Thanks for pointing that out Arkant! :)

Also I will update that quest info, thanks a lot!
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

I wanted to make my table of contents have links that you bring you to certain points in the guide (I think they're called hyperlinks), but I couldn't remember the HTML code. It looks like you just made each part of the guide a separate post and just linked it that way. Very smart of you! Great guide :)
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

I wanted to make my table of contents have links that you bring you to certain points in the guide (I think they're called hyperlinks), but I couldn't remember the HTML code. It looks like you just made each part of the guide a separate post and just linked it that way. Very smart of you! Great guide :)
Thanks! :)

Just so everyone knows I still have A LOT of information including the enhancement gear guide as well as a ton of additional info to add, that will slowly be added over the next couple weeks.
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

I love the fact that spirit equals hit. It makes gearing an elemental shaman all the easier!
I can get the last bit of spirit I need from the +4 stats to chest if I am not wrong.
My shaman is already level 19, just need to finish gearing him! (also going for a FC set. Damn you Tarantula Silk Sash lol)
Thank you very much for this extremely useful resource! :D
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

I love the fact that spirit equals hit. It makes gearing an elemental shaman all the easier!
I can get the last bit of spirit I need from the +4 stats to chest if I am not wrong.
My shaman is already level 19, just need to finish gearing him! (also going for a FC set. Damn you Tarantula Silk Sash lol)
Thank you very much for this extremely useful resource! :D
Yes, +4 to stats will add 4 hit rating you are correct! :)
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Slightly off topic but did you plan on releasing any more of those jump tutorials or do those pretty much sum up most the practical jumps? Opening those vids up on my phone is a huge help while practicing the jumps in game
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Slightly off topic but did you plan on releasing any more of those jump tutorials or do those pretty much some up most the practical jumps? Opening those vids up on my phone is a huge help while practicing the jumps in game
There are probably 10-20 more I could make, and I plan on doing that soonish. :)
 
Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Thanks for a great guide and I can't wait for all the info you plan on adding.

How different is the gear set up for enhancement from a hunter? Besides weapons, would they almost be the same?

Also, when you add the enhancement section, will your guide take into consideration the limit of certain quest rewards? For example, I'd imagine the Signet of Argas (the agility version) is BiS for enhancement, but the intellect version is also BiS for Resto/Ele.

Which reminds me, which is better for Resto/Ele? Two Seals of Argus or one Seal and Stillwater's Signet?

Thanks again for an awesome guide.
 
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Re: 19 Shaman Guide

Thanks for a great guide and I can't wait for all the info you plan on adding.

How different is the gear set up for enhancement from a hunter? Besides weapons, would they almost be the same?

Also, when you add the enhancement section, will your guide take into consideration the limit of certain quest rewards? For example, I'd imagine the Signet of Argas (the agility version) is BiS for enhancement, but the intellect version is also BiS for Resto/Ele.

Which reminds me, which is better for Resto/Ele? Two Seals of Argus or one Seal and Stillwater's Signet?

Thanks again for an awesome guide.

When it comes down to wanting to play multiple specs you have to find alternatives from your main spec, You always want to make one spec your main spec. So if your going to be mainly playing Restro you would go Intel Ring but wanna casually play Enhancement so You could always get the BoA Ring and use Protectors Ring.


As for Gearing like a hunter, I would say Enhancment Shamans probably require more hit than a Ranged Hunter but dont quote me on that. the best options would lean towards basing your choices off of a Hunters Gear Set then modifing as needed
 

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