your opinion - Best classes for 49

[Headshredder]

I feel ya pain buddy with your 29 Warr. I had all the gear including Deadmans hand etc and he totally sucked at 29. At 49 though he is a totally diff animal. I cant comment about prot cause Dahraku is Arms but, still a 49 Arms warr hits like a truck. Check him out on Armory if you want an alternative to the standard gear build also. He has a fair amount of hit which is good and has more Att power than the standard hydolack / Sunscale helm build. Also if you spec arms with all the bleed tallents your overpower will proc constantly and they will die regardless even if they get away from you. Jugganaught is awesome as well as after every charge your MS crit chance goes through the roof.

 

[sandypufpuff]

I'm not a big fan of theorycrafting, but in this case an equally geared/skilled lock will beat an ele shammy most of the time. Hell, the shammy will likely die in a spell lock if he tries to cast. Shocks all have a magic debuff that the lock can devour. No ele worth a shit would try to cast a 2 sec ghost wolf against a lock (really there's pretty much no reason). Your only real chance is to get good enough burst once their CDs are used (DC, HS, spell lock). Good luck living that long. If they're SL/Destro then just afk.

Sorry bout that, i should have specified enhancement, which i favor at that level. Instant ghost wolf and while the pet can eat the debuff it still hits hard and u will close the gap. Good grounding totem use and purges on things like the shield and you shoudl be okay.

 

[scytale]

top of the list hands down is enhancment shaman.

then a hunter.

then a shadow priest.

rogue, prot warrior or warrior in general, healer specs, elemental shammy's, and locks are all very strong but you go 1vs1 against those classes and you are most likely to lose.

Have you played in a while? Sure enhance was OP well over a year ago. This is no longer the case as we have been trying to get across. I have dual spec enhance/elemental and I can tell you I'm gimping myself 95% of the time as enhance. The rest of your list is a bit skewed as well. Hunters are good, but in no way top of the list. And shadow priests take a lot of skill just to get them on par with other classes. Those top 3 should definitely be revised.

Sorry bout that, i should have specified enhancement, which i favor at that level. Instant ghost wolf and while the pet can eat the debuff it still hits hard and u will close the gap. Good grounding totem use and purges on things like the shield and you shoudl be okay.

Two locks have already stated how easy they find kiting enhance shammies. Playing as enhance I can tell you they are right. Locks just have too many tools at their disposal to deal with an enhance shammies damage. Even if they never get off a fear, chances are an SL (soul link) lock can just self-heal/tank you. They are going to have more HP than you in the first place. They've got felhunter heals, drain life, healthstone, possibly siphon life. And when they get a fear off, then they create good distance even with a tremor totem down. Tremor is not full-proof and it has pulses that you can out-range in a fear. Listen to the locks.

 

[sandypufpuff]

Two locks have already stated how easy they find kiting ele shammies. .

editted it really quick.

[/QUOTE]

Playing as enhance I can tell you they are right.[/QUOTE]



I'll have to take you at your word. I have only played an enhance shammy in the non xp bracket cause my first is twinked in 59 bracket, but we will see. I have a new one coming up largely cause pple say their OP nature has been largely diminished. So in about 14 lvls i will let you know if this is true =).



Btw on an unrelated note to the OP, why don't you take Lava LAsh in your enhance spec...it seems like another dps move to add to ur rotation especially if you favor slow/slow weapons?

 

[diaco]

im sorry scy but i greatly disagree, enhance shammys have become uber since they got the frost shock root buff. They are very hard to kite now, and if you get away not only do you get slowed but rooted. And once they are in melee range, they hit the hardest out of any class. The enhance shammy on my battlegroup has no issue with any class minus paladin.



i play a 49 preist and druid, let me tell you shadow owns, locks have so much utility but no caster hits as hard as shadow. the only true problem class is paladins with cleanse, but with 3k health, 305 SP, and 16% crit on dots, i do alot of damage while i still have mana.



and hunters are up there because if you can kite you can kill anything, only time i lose to hunters is when they can keep me out of mind flay/blast range.



overall things are pretty balanced minus enhance shammy's that is.

 

[Rapt0R]

I'm not a big fan of theorycrafting, but in this case an equally geared/skilled lock will beat an ele shammy most of the time. Hell, the shammy will likely die in a spell lock if he tries to cast. Shocks all have a magic debuff that the lock can devour. No ele worth a shit would try to cast a 2 sec ghost wolf against a lock (really there's pretty much no reason). Your only real chance is to get good enough burst once their CDs are used (DC, HS, spell lock). Good luck living that long. If they're SL/Destro then just afk.

Most arena-playing ele shammies spec 33/7 for the instant ghost wolf. A shaman will just outburst you if you are Destro or you won't live that long for the DoTs to kill the shama.

You fear, and it's either Tremor or Trinket. Count in that their Wind Shear is now off Shock CDs so they interrupt your Fear easily. Pop up Lifeblood and Gift of the Naaru, and it will outheal the DoTs.





It's almost ~2200 damage in 2.5 seconds (Insta Lightbolt for 780, 1.5 sec Chain lighting 750 and Frost Shock for like 650-700.) Count in that it's an increased 15% critical strike chance for the Lightnings. So the lock may have a chance only when shammie gets no crits at all.







The enhance shammie thing. I'm 2H on my Dual spec shammie, it doesn't proc WF that often, but when it does, it's so instagib. I remember critting a druid once for like 2000 damage. I'm pretty sure DW would do more damage, but it's no fun at all ): a skilled rogue can beat either Ele or Enh shammie easy tho. Non-undead rogues can have trouble with Affli locks.

So far, the top10 for me is:



1. Rogue

2. Ele shammie

3. Lock

4. Arms warrior

5. Enhance shammie

6. Retri paladin

7. Mage

8. Shadow Priest

9. Hunter

10. Moonkin

 

[Taitaih]

Um don't forget that destro locks will have nether protection, as well as possibly SL and molten skin plus glyph of soul link and maybe upwards of 4000 health. We may not be able to glib you , but you can't glib us either. Also it's still pretty easy to totem stomp, just use a mouseover pet attack macro.



Enhance shamans will be proccing backlash all of the time on us as well

 

[Rapt0R]

Well I checked your armory, and just 232 SP Maybe you will have a lot of HP, but it's not so big harm as I see it atm.



EDIT: nvm, did not see Soulfrost.



While you're stomping the shammas totems, he will already kill you P:



Maybe I'm overhyping the ele.. But it's really good.

 

[Taitaih]

I don't deny that's it's one of the most op classes/specs ATM (ele shamans).



Like I said it's not hard to stomp totems or just kite him out of range. There are many ways for a lock to beat them. It's moderaterly harder now, bug that's why we have healthstones, lifeblood, felpuppy heals, and bandages.



That 232 +soulfrost isn't as bad as it looks on paper, just ask anyone that's played with or against me

 

[Rapt0R]

I guess it all depends if shammie gets a crit on his spells or not.

 

[Taitaih]

Ambush evis rogues have hit me harder than ele shamans... And they can't burst through my health.



Remember that 2200 instant damage is still mitigated by over 30% and netherprotection if they're SL/Destro

 

[Rapt0R]

It's still 30% chance to proc NP so you may get a lot of damage already and then it procs P= But must agree, locks are tough for shammies.

 

[Mother Goose]

Count in that it's an increased 15% critical strike chance for the Lightnings. So the lock may have a chance only when shammie gets no crits at all.

A shaman's crit % should be higher if they have popped elemental mastery for an instabolt. Keep that in mind.



I've never had a problem with a lock yet in warsong, haven't faced one in arena, nor have I bothered to duel Whymie. ....Also apparently atm the alliance have the better locks so perhaps I just haven't faced one like Think, Taitah or Kry.



This does present a question I've never bothered to test or research myself but popped into my mind yesterday, can NP be purged when it procs?

 

[Rapt0R]

If the Purge doesn't get resisted, then yeah

 

[scytale]

Most arena-playing ele shammies spec 33/7 for the instant ghost wolf. A shaman will just outburst you if you are Destro or you won't live that long for the DoTs to kill the shaman.

You fear, and it's either Tremor or Trinket. Count in that their Wind Shear is now off Shock CDs so they interrupt your Fear easily. Pop up Lifeblood and Gift of the Naaru, and it will outheal the DoTs.



It's almost ~2200 damage in 2.5 seconds (Insta Lightbolt for 780, 1.5 sec Chain lighting 750 and Frost Shock for like 650-700.) Count in that it's an increased 15% critical strike chance for the Lightnings. So the lock may have a chance only when shammie gets no crits at all.



The enhance shammie thing. I'm 2H on my Dual spec shammie, it doesn't proc WF that often, but when it does, it's so instagib. I remember critting a druid once for like 2000 damage. I'm pretty sure DW would do more damage, but it's no fun at all ): a skilled rogue can beat either Ele or Enh shammie easy tho. Non-undead rogues can have trouble with Affli locks.

Any ele specced 33/7 is seriously gimping their damage. Very seriously. You lose your frost/flame shock cd reduction, you lose elemental oath or a 33% chance for extra LB/CL. You can't even get 100% root on earthbind totem and 1 sec less CL cd.



Anyways, I'm done with this since I absolutely hate theorycrafting discussions. It always comes down to people providing anecdotal "evidence" about some fight from weeks/months/years ago or shit they saw in WSG. We can just agree to disagree on this point.

 

[Falkor]

yea 33/7 is retarded. give up WAY too many talents

 

[Dye]

How are arms warriors now that 3.2 patch is out and more healer twinks in bgs

 

[Rapt0R]

Well if you are getting focused all the time in arena as shaman, you should get 33/7.

 

[terraburn]

Just to throw my hat in there I hopped in a WSG last night as a 43 enh shammie and had some fun. I was able to put a pretty good hurtin on some 49s which was fun. it's nice to see warriors are still a strong class as one my level was tearin through me pretty bad most of the game.

 

[scytale]

Well if you are getting focused all the time in arena as shaman, you should get 33/7.

It's still not an optimal spec for arena. As full elemental, you've got rooting earthbind and short CD frost shocks. Add in nova stun and you have plenty of outs without resorting to insta-gw. Stoneclaw glyph will take care of the initial burst anyways.



I think you're thinking more like a 39 spellhance shammy. That just doesn't work at 49 like full ele does.