My Shaman healer

[Snack]

Hey I just want to hear your opinion's for my choise of gear, proffesion's and spec to a Healer Shaman. I'm going for a balanced gear, but SP before any other stats. Some of the enchant's are marked with a *, that's beacuse I dont know if they work on a 29 Twink anymore. I'm playing on Bladefist, Alliance side.



Gear

Head - Whisperwind Headdress.

Neck - Dunno what to pick here :S.

Shoulders - Death Speaker's Mantle, untill i get BoA shoulder's.

Back - PvP cape, 5 Resistance.

Chest - Robe of Arugal, 4 stats.

Bracers - Glowing Magic Bracelet, 15 SP.

Hands - Some 7/7 or 6/6 Eagle gloves, untill i get Hotshot Pilot's Gloves, 16 SP.

Waist - Gammo-ra's Bind.

Pants - Gaze Dreamer's Pants - 24 Armor.

Shoes - Spidersilk Boots, 7 Sta.

1# Trinket - Insignia of the Alliance.

2# Trinket - Rune of Perfection.

1# Ring - PvP ring.

2# Ring - Charged Gear of the ----.



Weapon's

MH Wep - Crescent of Forlorne Spirit, 45 SP*.

OH - Marbled Buckler, 18 Sta*.

TH Wep - Lorekeeper's Staff, 22 Int or 30 SP dunno.



Spec



Restoration

5/5 Improved Healing Wave.

5/5 Tidal Focud.

2/3 Improved Water Shield.

2/3 Healing Focus.

1/1 Tidal Force.



Enchancement

5/5 Ancestral Knowledge .



Proffesion's

Herbalism 300/450, beacuse of the Lifebloom (Rank 4) correct me, if you can't get 225+ Herbalism at lvl 29.

Engineering for the Net.

 

[Kirise]

You chose my favorite twink! Armory Nirise for some additional ideas.



I recommend the [ITEM]River Pride Choker[/ITEM] for the neck, since resto shamans rarely run into mana issues. I love the [ITEM]Robe of Arugal[/ITEM], but after +100hp to chest got kicked out of the 29 bracket, I find myself using the [ITEM]Raptor Hunter Tunic[/ITEM] about 50% of the time. I also recommend the BoE +healing gloves, belt, and pants -- I think they outdo the BoP blues. That said, it can take months to get them off the AH. And if you have the stamina to go after the low drop rate of the Charged Gear of the Eagle, then I say pursue the [ITEM]Deadman's Hand[/ITEM] instead.



As for professions, as long as you have herbalism (which goes to 300 in the 29 bracket), any other choice should serve you well. Many arguments abound for talent choices, but the one thing I strongly advise is to drop the 5/5 Improved Healing Wave. Your bread-and-butter heal for the 29 bracket is the Lesser Healing Wave. It has the same hps and mana efficiency, so don't give people a greater chance to interrupt you.



Resto shamans are a ton of fun for the 29 bracket -- good luck in your gear search!



Bwappo

 

[Neratho]

Another thing I would never recommend you to skip is the improved Ghost Wolf. Rest was said by Bwappo.

 

[darzk]

An arguement can be made for the use of healing wave because of Glyph of Healing Wave, which heals you for 20% of the heal when its on others. -25% mana cost isnt really that powerful anyways, I'd leave the points in imp HW personally, as just arriving at the scene of a fight Id love to start with that big heal, making sure you get your teammate up to relatively high hp before you get chain cc'd to death once they notice you :S



Taking instawolf means only 46% pushback resistance, beware!

 

[Kirise]

An arguement can be made for the use of healing wave because of Glyph of Healing Wave, which heals you for 20% of the heal when its on others. -25% mana cost isnt really that powerful anyways, I'd leave the points in imp HW personally, as just arriving at the scene of a fight Id love to start with that big heal, making sure you get your teammate up to relatively high hp before you get chain cc'd to death once they notice you :S

True, the mana savings on the totems don't matter much, even with the two fire totems that have high mana costs. But the healing-per-second and mana efficiency of the healing wave is almost the same as the lesser healing wave in the 29 bracket, so you might as well use the shorter cast heal anyway.



I'd argue against the Healing Wave glyph, since it would only serve you when you're under attack while healing others, which is the worst time to use the Healing Wave.

Taking instawolf means only 46% pushback resistance, beware!

I think your calculations are off by one talent point. I have instawolf and 3/3 pushback resistance on my 29 shaman.



Bwappo

 

[No Mojo]

I never understood why so many people like resto shamans at 29 so much. The available talents look pretty uninteresting so what am i missing?

 

[Kirise]

I never understood why so many people like resto shamans at 29 so much. The available talents look pretty uninteresting so what am i missing?

I wasn't aware many people liked playing resto shamans in the 29 bracket. But if you mean that the large proportion of shamans are resto, I have answers for that.



First (and less important), resto shamans end up at the strong end of everything for this particular bracket. They have one of the most powerful short heals in the bracket, and they have just enough talent points to get instawolf and 3/3 pushback resistance. They also get the water shield for this bracket, so everything a resto shaman needs to succeed happens in 29.



The second (and more important) thing is that elemental and enhancement shamans do not get what they need. They don't have quite enough talent points to help with some abilities, and they don't have the burst that makes them as viable offensively.



To answer your question, then, I'd say it's not so much that all shamans love playing resto at 29, but rather that most shamans who do play the 29 bracket struggle with the other two specs.



By comparison, things even out more in the 39 bracket, and then you see more elemental and enhancement shamans in the 49 and 59 brackets because resto shamans are on the weaker end of those brackets.



Bwappo

 

[darzk]

True, the mana savings on the totems don't matter much, even with the two fire totems that have high mana costs. But the healing-per-second and mana efficiency of the healing wave is almost the same as the lesser healing wave in the 29 bracket, so you might as well use the shorter cast heal anyway.



I'd argue against the Healing Wave glyph, since it would only serve you when you're under attack while healing others, which is the worst time to use the Healing Wave.







I think your calculations are off by one talent point. I have instawolf and 3/3 pushback resistance on my 29 shaman.



Bwappo

I was assuming, of course, that Tidal Force was better than 1/3 pushback; fine;



Taking instawolf means you cant get Tidal Force, beware!



...happy?

 

[deathriot]

Gear

Head - Whisperwind Headdress.

Neck - 5/4 cerul-eagle

Shoulders - Death Speaker's Mantle, untill i get BoA shoulder's.

Back - PvP cape, 70 armor.

Chest - Robe of Arugal, 4 stats.

Bracers - 5-5 eagle or gnomer ambassador eagle bracers, 15 SP.

Hands - Some 7/7 or 6/6 Eagle gloves, untill i get Hotshot Pilot's Gloves, 16 SP.

Waist - ab belt

Pants - Gaze Dreamer's Pants - 24 Armor.

Shoes - gnomebot operating boots, 7 Sta.

1# Trinket - Insignia of the Alliance.

2# Trinket - agm

1# Ring - PvP ring.

2# Ring - deadmans hand



Weapon's

MH Wep- 4/3 eagle axe-22 int

MH Wep - Crescent of Forlorne Spirit, 40 spell

OH - Marbled Buckler, 18 Sta*.

MH Wep - fish gutter - 20 spirit



spec-

wowhead.com/?talent#hZMhMZE00h



if youre going to be doing arenas then take out imp healing wave and switch it with tidal focus.



best favor you could do for yourself is to not listen to the people above me.

 

[Kirise]

I was assuming, of course, that Tidal Force was better than 1/3 pushback; fine;



Taking instawolf means you cant get Tidal Force, beware!



...happy?

Touche' ...I'm not a fan of Tidal Force in the 29 bracket, but I understand why others would prefer it, and you could make a good argument for it.



Bwappo

 

[Kirise]

best favor you could do for yourself is to not listen to the people above me.

Alright, I'll take the bait on this one. Perhaps me posting below you will prompt some good conversation, instead of a categorical rejection? Dismissing your ring choice (which is very good, as I noted earlier) and trinket choices (also good -- many twinks rotate through multiple trinkets), your gear choices create a net change of +7 STA, +5 INT, +4 mp5, +108 armor (roughly 2% mitigation for the 29 bracket), and -20 spell power.



Do you think the loss of 20 spell power is worth +7 stamina? Actually, let's say you fight no casters, and add in the 2% damage mitigation. with 1800 stamina (and that's being generous), 2% mitigation is the same as having 36 extra health. So let's round that up to +4 stamina. Is it worth +11 stamina to lose 20 spell power?



If so, why not just lose 12 spell power by ditching the Robes of Arugal and go with the Raptor Hunter Tunic, which nets up to +26 STA with the BC enchantment, or +19 STA if you want to use the +6 all stats enchantment instead, to help cover the loss of 9 INT when you ditch the Robes?



I think if you get to know "the people above you", you'll find some good knowledge about how to optimize a resto shaman for your playstyle. I often find posts by Darzk and Neratho both provocative and informative.



Bwappo

 

[pier]

Provocative you say?

 

[Screamforme]

I have been told that Hot Shot Piolets dont drop anymore. I certainly have not seen them. That said, some nice placeholders (that may very well become permanent) are: Resilient Handgrips - Item - World of Warcraft or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=4040



For a shammy you might want to consider http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6732 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6727 as they are BC enchantable, and you can hit them with 20sp, which would put them equal to the resilient in terms of sp. I would definitely pick up the Racing grips, for a stam set



The only other change I would make is the enchant on your cloak. Either go 70 armor or, if rogues are your biggest nemesis, try 15 nature resist. The 5 resist all just isnt that big in any one catagory to make a difference. If you really want an anti-rouge set, do the 15 nature resist, and 2 charged gears of the eagle. I got both of mine in fewer than 10 runs. (and you only have to do that back door run).



As to herbalism, you can get 300 at 29.



And you should also get the pvp boots--the speed increase is a must. If you dont get the pvp ones, enchant your spidersilk with Minor speed, not stam



And I would definitely pick up the raptor hunters. Maybe you will only ever use the Argual, but I doubt it. Besides, having multiple sets is sort of intergral to being a healer. Most Holy Pally's I have seen run with the raptor hunters.



edited cause i messed up all my links

 

[vinod]

29 resto shammies do a lot of 'masterbation healing' - that being they spam heal themselves alot. At least, this is extensively what I have seen and dealt with. So yea...the healing glyph suggestions...check them out. Go go healing wave.

 

[overshadowed]

29 resto shammies do a lot of 'masterbation healing' - that being they spam heal themselves alot. At least, this is extensively what I have seen and dealt with. So yea...the healing glyph suggestions...check them out. Go go healing wave.

[video=youtube;LUyF1jusZgE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUyF1jusZgE[/video]



lol the vid is a few months old but when vinod said 'masterbation healing' it reminded me of this vid for some reason

 

[Screamforme]

29 resto shammies do a lot of 'masterbation healing' - that being they spam heal themselves alot. At least, this is extensively what I have seen and dealt with. So yea...the healing glyph suggestions...check them out. Go go healing wave.

I have noticed this too, it really annoys me when the other twinks on my server do a premade and the shammy keeps pointing out that she is top of the healing charts--when I never see her cast a heal on anyone else. Moreover, I do all the dispelling and my Powerword shield probably absorbs a third as much damage as I heal--so my "healing" could effectively be increased, if "damage prevented" counted

 

[Kirise]

I have noticed this too, it really annoys me when the other twinks on my server do a premade and the shammy keeps pointing out that she is top of the healing charts--when I never see her cast a heal on anyone else. Moreover, I do all the dispelling and my Powerword shield probably absorbs a third as much damage as I heal--so my "healing" could effectively be increased, if "damage prevented" counted

Don't sweat the charts. When shamans (or paladins) top the healing charts by healing themselves, they're basically tanking for the premade, and that's all the more time for teammates to take down enemies. Your dispels, HoTs, and shields are also tremendously useful, even though they don't chart as well. If your premade doesn't notice that, then they need to increase their coordination.



Case in point, my shammy routinely tops the healing charts in PuGs until a resto druid shows up. At that point, I can back off the healing a bit, and do more purges and cleanses. The resto druid will tower over me on the healing charts, but the druid doesn't have to worry about long-cast healing as much thanks to my better short-cast heals, and I don't have to worry about spam healing thanks to druid HoTs. We both do better, and the whole team gets a major boost.



Point being, everyone, when healers take so much damage that they have to continually heal themselves, help them out -- they'll be happy to include you in their healing. I'm sure Borgnine would agree.



Bwappo