Shaman Stats & Melee Dmg Cap

[Drakul]

My Shaman just hit level 10 and I'm looking for some input on a few specifics.

Note: I don't have any plat and my main is level 20 so high end gear is out of the question...

First, I've heard Shamans root rot at lower levels and don't get mana conversion tools until the 20s, so should I be stacking +mana +wisdom items until I get mana conversion spells and then switch to +hp? Should I always shoot for a certain level of wisdom at higher levels as well?

Also, I read somewhere that there is a damage cap on melee until certain levels, but I'm not sure if this is the case. Is there a level where my melee damage can exceed 20? Some folks have recommended getting a one handed weapon and using a shield. Should I be looking for a high damage one handed weapon and high AC shield, or should I be looking for weapons and shields with other stats?

Third, what level do shamans get dodge or anything else worth running all the way back to Grobb from the commonlands to train up?

Thanks in advance

[Reiker]

Damage is capped to ~20 until level 20 I believe.

Imo always look for HP gear, not worth switching at later levels. You probably won't really have money to invest in good gear anyways so get stuff that will last or save up for the stuff that will.

Everyone's playstyle is different but when I play a shaman I generally ignore wis completely and go for HP/Sta, maybe AC. The problem is that shamans are really awkward until Kunark, you don't have class defining slow yet, your heals are weak, your 1 mana conversion spell isn't that great, and you only get hp regen from a couple mediocre spells and a rubi bp if you can happen to find one. Also, classic itemization for a shaman isn't too good, it's fairly easy to max out wis but good HP gear is hard to find in a lot of slots. Nearly all the best shaman gear (Bladestopper, BCG, etc) is also fairly unobtainable. Since it may be awhile before we see Kunark, it may actually be beneficial to keep a mix of wis/hp (didn't think I'd ever say that) to help cast 100 single target buffs in a row.

It isn't until Kunark where shamans really come into their own, and then you should completely eschew wis for HP/Sta/AC, due to how awesome tank soloing is as well as Turgurs/Torpor/Canni3.

You may have to experiment a bit but remember that mana regen > mana pool, never sacrifice the former for the latter.

Shield AC > any other slot AC, so this is one slot where high AC will help.

All of the above reasons is why I don't play a shaman on P99, although I've mained one for years on live and it is easily my favorite class. I'm not trying to steer you away from the class, shaman are decent and are as "bare bones" as basically any other class in classic, but the playstyle pre-kunark doesn't really interest me. It's also too bad that we'll never see Luclin or PoP, two expansions where shamans really shine.

[Skope]

Damage is capped to ~20 until level 20 I believe.

Imo always look for HP gear, not worth switching at later levels. You probably won't really have money to invest in good gear anyways so get stuff that will last or save up for the stuff that will.

Everyone's playstyle is different but when I play a shaman I generally ignore wis completely and go for HP/Sta, maybe AC. The problem is that shamans are really awkward until Kunark, you don't have class defining slow yet, your heals are weak, your 1 mana conversion spell isn't that great, and you only get hp regen from a couple mediocre spells and a rubi bp if you can happen to find one. Also, classic itemization for a shaman isn't too good, it's fairly easy to max out wis but good HP gear is hard to find in a lot of slots. Nearly all the best shaman gear (Bladestopper, BCG, etc) is also fairly unobtainable. Since it may be awhile before we see Kunark, it may actually be beneficial to keep a mix of wis/hp (didn't think I'd ever say that) to help cast 100 single target buffs in a row.

It isn't until Kunark where shamans really come into their own, and then you should completely eschew wis for HP/Sta/AC, due to how awesome tank soloing is as well as Turgurs/Torpor/Canni3.

You may have to experiment a bit but remember that mana regen > mana pool, never sacrifice the former for the latter.

Shield AC > any other slot AC, so this is one slot where high AC will help.

All of the above reasons is why I don't play a shaman on P99, although I've mained one for years on live and it is easily my favorite class. I'm not trying to steer you away from the class, shaman are decent and are as "bare bones" as basically any other class in classic, but the playstyle pre-kunark doesn't really interest me. It's also too bad that we'll never see Luclin or PoP, two expansions where shamans really shine.

I don't think that's the case necessarily, though i suppose it helps having planar gear. I can tank quite comfortably with slow and full rune-etched, but it isn't anywhere as good as it is in kunark due to torpor, fungi, etc.

Generally speaking, shamans don't solo nearly as well as they do in kunark. But keep in mind that one of the main reasons shamans are such good soloers (behind a few classes, if i'm honest) is because of the awesome gear/spells they get in that expansion. Shammy is a very very gear dependent class that requires quite a bit of micromanagement and a lot of plat to maintain. You won't be as good as a necro or enchanter when it comes to adds or splitting rooms, but shammies are incredibly efficient and are probably the best and only class for taking down summoning, slowable mobs with loads of HP.

I recall the consensus regarding wisdom being around 175 as the magical number. Come kunark, you'll want +hp as your main stat, followed by a mix of wis/ac/dex/sta in whichever order you'd like. It wasn't uncommon to see a shammy with 3-4 different sets of gear, for example: If you main-heal then you'd need more wis, if you're tanking then more hp/ac, and a different +charisma set for charming animals.

EDIT: it is 2x weapon damage past lvl 20, factoring in only pure +str (perhaps attack rating, never checked with wolf form) as damage modifier. With a darksea harpoon you will be swinging for 20 dmg per swing until you get upwards of 170/180str where the strength tacks on to the damage cap. Remember, you're a priest class, your damage doesn't come from melee hits but procs, wolfie and DoTs.

[utenan]

canni + self buff + chloro is enough to out mana regen anyone else, + bard songs or clarity and your made in the shade. + you can sit and get a med tick between cannis, so I dunno what your talking about Reiker "the 1 conversion spell and mediocre regen spells arent that great" of course thats your opinion, and I respect that, just disagreeing : D

The damage cap seems strange to me, every since 35 my darksea harpoon ( 10/28) has hit for 20, which seems to be the final damage cap for shaman 1h ?? Or maybe shaman can only do 2x weapon damage? I really have no clue. But at low levels, if your 2h dmg is capped, then it would be more efficient to get a 1h and a shield. You get better stats that way, as well as the shield ac, and you probably wont hit the dmg cap with a 1h. Generally all shields have similiar Ac, but some have nice stats, same goes for shammy 1handers until you get higher up.

Once I hit the 20s, i never melee soloed anything, even with decent hp and AC, i got hit way too hard. Of course that was before the AC fix, so maybe it would be worth it now, but things hit me way too hard back then for that to be efficient. Plat fire wedding rings would be something to save for, 5ac 55hp, gonna cost about 250pp each though. Could also quest totemic in you upper 20s, it would be free + high ac, but I guess both of these are a ways off if your lvl 10 : /

There are indeed damage caps, I don"t recall the levels though, or the damage : / they play more of a factor at lower levels

[Reiker]

canni + self buff + chloro is enough to out mana regen anyone else, + bard songs or clarity and your made in the shade. + you can sit and get a med tick between cannis, so I dunno what your talking about Reiker "the 1 conversion spell and mediocre regen spells arent that great" of course thats your opinion, and I respect that, just disagreeing : D

I'm not saying that shaman regen is horrible, it's always the best in any expansion. But what I was trying to say is that a vanilla shaman has just a fraction of the power as a kunark+ shaman. If the question was asked "what is the most powerful class in classic," shaman would never make the list among enchanters and magicians. But in Kunark they would probably top it. A good shaman can keep all 4 nameds down in seb crypt solo, I don't know very many other classes that can do that, and if they can, it's not nearly as efficient/easy.

The power increase of a shaman from classic to kunark is larger than any other class in any other expansion.

[girth]

The power increase of a shaman from classic to kunark is larger than any other class in any other expansion.

BOLD statement.

[davedeck42]

rogues and warrior get huge upgrades in kunark

[Reiker]

Well yeah, all classes get big upgrades in Kunark, that's a given.

Rogues: They get more dps. It's a lot more dps, but it doesn't change the way the game is played. You stand behind a mob and hit backstab. Same as vanilla, only the numbers are higher.

Warriors: More dps: see above. Better aggro: Great, allows warriors to relax a bit more. However, the warriors who have the best aggro in classic get even better aggro in Kunark (they'll be the first to complete epics, etc). If you can fairly easily maintain aggro now (and most warriors with yaks are at that point) then you can fairly easily maintain aggro... a little more. Another "it's nice but not game-changing." Defensive: This is of course awesome, but is limited. You gain a "oh shit I can't believe that idiot pulled that" or "oh shit they want me to tank this badass shit" button you can click every once and awhile. It is indeed awesome and perhaps "game-changing" but lets compare it to what shaman get. Notice how just about every shaman upgrade has a large synergy with all the other upgrades. A few upgrades is nice, but what if every upgrade you get exponentially makes every other upgrade better? That's what you get with shaman.

* Superior Heal: Shaman/Druid healing blooooows until you zone over to Firiona/Overthere and pick this up. Now you can main heal, combined with...
* Turgur's Insects: Very close with Complete Heal as the most overpowered ability in the game. Decreasing a mob's attack speed by 75% should never have been in the game.
* Regrowth: Minor, but almost 4x more efficient than Torpor.
* Canni 3: Less efficient than Canni 1, but speed is obviously better. The carpal tunnel spell that will forever make wisdom useless when combined with...
* Torpor: Sweet jesus, you can restore nearly your entire HP bar for 200 mana. That's like, 5 casts of Canni which leaves you with 830 more HP to... canni even more.
* Malo: Unresistable resist debuff. Compared to the above, not as exciting but still amazing on its own.

AND all of this is again amplified by shaman-centric itemization. In Kunark it becomes much easier to pump HP (couldn't grab a Bladestopper? No problem, go get a Sarnak Battle Shield). You even get an additional 15 regen from an item.

When you add all this together (you acquire enough HP and the required spells) there's no such thing as downtime, which is huge in a downtime-based game like EverQuest. You go from barely out-healing a Paladin to being one of the best healers in the game, even beating out clerics depending on gear and content.

You become a solo god. There's a simple formula that goes like "does this mob do enough dps to affect my mana regen." Most likely if the mob is slowable, the answer is no. And if the answer is no, you can kill it. Eventually. A mob has to do retarded amounts of damage with a 75% slow to cut into your "hp canni reserve."

A shaman's world opens up like no other class in Kunark, which is why I can easily say something like "The power increase of a shaman from classic to kunark is larger than any other class in any other expansion." To argue otherwise is to just argue for the sake of arguing.

[Gorroth]

Shamans are fine in classic, if a bit frustrating at time. Necros, encs and magicians just waltz around anywhere and start rocking the place. I have a hard time soloing frenzy camp in LGuk with full planar and ac/hp gear (breaking is the hardest part, granted).

Reiker has a point, you'd be hard-pressed to find a class that has a larger increase in power than shamans when Kunark comes out, it's like ascending to godhood.

[Wenai]

Well yeah, all classes get big upgrades in Kunark, that's a given.

Rogues: They get more dps. It's a lot more dps, but it doesn't change the way the game is played. You stand behind a mob and hit backstab. Same as vanilla, only the numbers are higher.

Warriors: More dps: see above. Better aggro: Great, allows warriors to relax a bit more. However, the warriors who have the best aggro in classic get even better aggro in Kunark (they'll be the first to complete epics, etc). If you can fairly easily maintain aggro now (and most warriors with yaks are at that point) then you can fairly easily maintain aggro... a little more. Another "it's nice but not game-changing." Defensive: This is of course awesome, but is limited. You gain a "oh shit I can't believe that idiot pulled that" or "oh shit they want me to tank this badass shit" button you can click every once and awhile. It is indeed awesome and perhaps "game-changing" but lets compare it to what shaman get. Notice how just about every shaman upgrade has a large synergy with all the other upgrades. A few upgrades is nice, but what if every upgrade you get exponentially makes every other upgrade better? That's what you get with shaman.

* Superior Heal: Shaman/Druid healing blooooows until you zone over to Firiona/Overthere and pick this up. Now you can main heal, combined with...
* Turgur's Insects: Very close with Complete Heal as the most overpowered ability in the game. Decreasing a mob's attack speed by 75% should never have been in the game.
* Regrowth: Minor, but almost 4x more efficient than Torpor.
* Canni 3: Less efficient than Canni 1, but speed is obviously better. The carpal tunnel spell that will forever make wisdom useless when combined with...
* Torpor: Sweet jesus, you can restore nearly your entire HP bar for 200 mana. That's like, 5 casts of Canni which leaves you with 830 more HP to... canni even more.
* Malo: Unresistable resist debuff. Compared to the above, not as exciting but still amazing on its own.

AND all of this is again amplified by shaman-centric itemization. In Kunark it becomes much easier to pump HP (couldn't grab a Bladestopper? No problem, go get a Sarnak Battle Shield). You even get an additional 15 regen from an item.

When you add all this together (you acquire enough HP and the required spells) there's no such thing as downtime, which is huge in a downtime-based game like EverQuest. You go from barely out-healing a Paladin to being one of the best healers in the game, even beating out clerics depending on gear and content.

You become a solo god. There's a simple formula that goes like "does this mob do enough dps to affect my mana regen." Most likely if the mob is slowable, the answer is no. And if the answer is no, you can kill it. Eventually. A mob has to do retarded amounts of damage with a 75% slow to cut into your "hp canni reserve."

A shaman's world opens up like no other class in Kunark, which is why I can easily say something like "The power increase of a shaman from classic to kunark is larger than any other class in any other expansion." To argue otherwise is to just argue for the sake of arguing.
Honestly like the perfect post in describing the shaman's position upon the release of Kunark.

Although Sup Heal sucks.. Give me Chloroblast :p Although the stats for Chloroblast on Alla are wrong. It should heal ~500 for like 175. But the big thing with chloroblast was I believe it had an extremely quick casting time. I used Chloroblast+Torpor for a long time.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in this post was JBB. A single item changes the shaman class so much it is almost ridiculous. On my shaman on live pretty much every solo went the exact same way.

1. Pull with Turgur's
2. Root with Paralyzing Earth.
3. Send Pet.
4. Click Epic.
5. Cast Poxx of Bertoxx.
6. JBB until mob down to 40% health.
7. Canni up my mana.
8. Torpor myself.
9. Go pull.

That set up pretty much allows you to solo anything. I soloed the West Wastes jank dragons like that (except Torporing my pet a whole lot).

JBB completely changes the way you solo.

[Theldios]

Honestly like the perfect post in describing the shaman's position upon the release of Kunark.

Although Sup Heal sucks.. Give me Chloroblast :p Although the stats for Chloroblast on Alla are wrong. It should heal ~500 for like 175. But the big thing with chloroblast was I believe it had an extremely quick casting time. I used Chloroblast+Torpor for a long time.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in this post was JBB. A single item changes the shaman class so much it is almost ridiculous. On my shaman on live pretty much every solo went the exact same way.

1. Pull with Turgur's
2. Root with Paralyzing Earth.
3. Send Pet.
4. Click Epic.
5. Cast Poxx of Bertoxx.
6. JBB until mob down to 40% health.
7. Canni up my mana.
8. Torpor myself.
9. Go pull.

That set up pretty much allows you to solo anything. I soloed the West Wastes jank dragons like that (except Torporing my pet a whole lot).

JBB completely changes the way you solo.

Agree with both statements shaman post Kunark become gods

[VictoryARC]

These posts are very welcome and encouraging considering I flew through low levels on p99 with crap gear. Taking down yellows and some reds with noob gear was very fulfilling. I love the versatility of the class and being sought after in groups helps too.

[Reiker]

Honestly like the perfect post in describing the shaman's position upon the release of Kunark.

Although Sup Heal sucks.. Give me Chloroblast :p Although the stats for Chloroblast on Alla are wrong. It should heal ~500 for like 175. But the big thing with chloroblast was I believe it had an extremely quick casting time. I used Chloroblast+Torpor for a long time.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in this post was JBB. A single item changes the shaman class so much it is almost ridiculous. On my shaman on live pretty much every solo went the exact same way.

1. Pull with Turgur's
2. Root with Paralyzing Earth.
3. Send Pet.
4. Click Epic.
5. Cast Poxx of Bertoxx.
6. JBB until mob down to 40% health.
7. Canni up my mana.
8. Torpor myself.
9. Go pull.

That set up pretty much allows you to solo anything. I soloed the West Wastes jank dragons like that (except Torporing my pet a whole lot).

JBB completely changes the way you solo.

There was a "discussion" about the usefulness of JBB awhile ago on this forums. My stance is fairly anti-JBB. I'm also curious why you need to root the mob, you'll never lose aggro over your pet (which is good, shaman pet is a horrible tank compared to the shaman).

Anyways, regarding JBB. This item is very good when you can first use it (45) but after awhile it actually becomes detrimental to use. I see you mentioned Pox, which would assume you were JBBing in PoP, which I don't recommend.

As I mentioned before, the strength of a shaman is no downtime. Any time you're not casting a spell you're wasting time. Every action a shaman takes can be represented in "time efficiency" instead of "mana efficiency." The JBB does 263 damage after an 8 second cast time, or 32.875 dps. The benefit of the JBB is that it's mana free. If there's any class that doesn't care about the mana cost of something, it's shaman. If you weren't clicking JBB above, you could afford to cast spells such as Blood of Saryrn. Blood of Saryrn takes 3 seconds to cast and costs 535 mana. To regain that mana it'll take about 6 cannis, or 30 seconds. Blood of Saryrn cost you 33 total seconds. That may seem like a lot until you consider that focuses, Flowing Thought, AAs, and mana regen buffs will make this even more efficient (but won't affect JBB). Blood of Saryrn does 2324 total damage, or 70.42 dps when considering the time lost to canni back mana. Again note that the time decreases with focuses, etc, increasing the potential dps by a lot.

Basically, the JBB would be an amazing and potentially overpowering item in the hands of any other class besides a shaman. Many use one early and get attached to it, not understanding that it's actually hindering them.

[Skope]

It's a fantastic item, and i agree, but bear in mind that your numbers are luclin/AA based and there was a huge jump from velious => luclin.

JBB filled the void of killing things that can be rooted, or killing something that's not as challenging -- doesn't summon, basically -- and doing so by using very little mana. It does hinder a shaman in the sense that it draws you away from carpal tunnel clicking and therefore is considered a waste of time or cast. With a JBB i can root/rot JBB things down with very little effort, but with a barbarian spiritist's hammer I can also melee proc the same nuke many times a minute while still being able to cast, heal, cannibalize and all the things that make a shaman so lovely. The hammer isn't necessary, as 8 seconds between clicking JBB isn't hard to accomplish with a slowed mob beating on you since you should be timing the bash/kicks anyway.

Is it a great item? absolutely! is it necessary to do some of the wacky things that shaman were capable of doing? no, it isn't. You were always way better off saving for a fungi tunic/staff than you were for a JBB.

[Wenai]

There was a "discussion" about the usefulness of JBB awhile ago on this forums. My stance is fairly anti-JBB. I'm also curious why you need to root the mob, you'll never lose aggro over your pet (which is good, shaman pet is a horrible tank compared to the shaman).

Anyways, regarding JBB. This item is very good when you can first use it (45) but after awhile it actually becomes detrimental to use. I see you mentioned Pox, which would assume you were JBBing in PoP, which I don't recommend.

As I mentioned before, the strength of a shaman is no downtime. Any time you're not casting a spell you're wasting time. Every action a shaman takes can be represented in "time efficiency" instead of "mana efficiency." The JBB does 263 damage after an 8 second cast time, or 32.875 dps. The benefit of the JBB is that it's mana free. If there's any class that doesn't care about the mana cost of something, it's shaman. If you weren't clicking JBB above, you could afford to cast spells such as Blood of Saryrn. Blood of Saryrn takes 3 seconds to cast and costs 535 mana. To regain that mana it'll take about 6 cannis, or 30 seconds. Blood of Saryrn cost you 33 total seconds. That may seem like a lot until you consider that focuses, Flowing Thought, AAs, and mana regen buffs will make this even more efficient (but won't affect JBB). Blood of Saryrn does 2324 total damage, or 70.42 dps when considering the time lost to canni back mana. Again note that the time decreases with focuses, etc, increasing the potential dps by a lot.

Basically, the JBB would be an amazing and potentially overpowering item in the hands of any other class besides a shaman. Many use one early and get attached to it, not understanding that it's actually hindering them.

I understand what you are saying and I have discussed it with a lot of people in the past. I used the Poxx/JBB/Torpor method while level 60. Poxx is a kunark spell :p. This is kind of interesting because it brings up the point I have made in the fast, what type of efficiency do you prefer:

1. Time Efficiency
2. Mana Efficiency

I am typically a very defensive player and value crowd control and versatility far more than speed. I feel that if you play defensively than you have the mana to handle situations that go badly.

I understand that your DPS is better by using your regular DoTs rather than JBB but the thing is that JBB is completely mana free, which frees up your mana for buffing (with no downtime) as well as just protection. The thing you seem to be forgetting is that if you are killing higher level creatures, seeing a resist on a high mana-cost DoT sucks. All of a sudden your efficiency is out the window. If you have to Malo every single pull, once again your efficiency is out the window. I feel like JBB is the safe way to solo and that is just the way I have always played.

I understand the merit in using DoTs instead of JBB but to me it goes against my priorities in EQ of not only safety but also versatility. If I am spending all my mana on DoTs, I have less mana for CC and heals. I understand if you kill quicker than you don't have to worry about heals and you worry less about CC.. but that just goes against my playstyle. :p


It's a fantastic item, and i agree, but bear in mind that your numbers are luclin/AA based and there was a huge jump from velious => luclin.

JBB filled the void of killing things that can be rooted, or killing something that's not as challenging -- doesn't summon, basically -- and doing so by using very little mana. It does hinder a shaman in the sense that it draws you away from carpal tunnel clicking and therefore is considered a waste of time or cast. With a JBB i can root/rot JBB things down with very little effort, but with a barbarian spiritist's hammer I can also melee proc the same nuke many times a minute while still being able to cast, heal, cannibalize and all the things that make a shaman so lovely. The hammer isn't necessary, as 8 seconds between clicking JBB isn't hard to accomplish with a slowed mob beating on you since you should be timing the bash/kicks anyway.

Is it a great item? absolutely! is it necessary to do some of the wacky things that shaman were capable of doing? no, it isn't. You were always way better off saving for a fungi tunic/staff than you were for a JBB.
Disagree on Fungi Tunic. Worst waste of cash I ever spent. Seriously. I spent 60k on my Fungi Tunic. Realized that regen is overrated in Kunark era for shamans due to Torpor. As soon as you hit 40% health, drop torpor on yourself and you are good to go. That extra 15 hp/tic really means shit all. It means you cast Torpor less often and thus save mana and gain effiency.. but whatever. Not worth the sacrifice of stats for a shaman imo in the Kunark era. Fungi tunic is amazing for Monks obviously. It is high AC for a monk and the 15hp/tic regen is huge for a class that can't heal themselves.

I paid 85k for my Torpor scroll on live.. and it was damn worth it. It is singly the most important thing shaman gets between Vanilla and Kunark.

Oh. I actually got my JBB for relatively cheap on live.. between 15 and 20k.

[Reiker]

Ugh yeah, I confused the Kunark/PoP disease due to the PoP spells having "god names" and the graphic changing around that time to Bertoxxulous throwing up maggots or whatever.

Fungi is best in Kunark especially because there's not very many chest options for shaman. Jaundiced Bone is garbage besides the clicky, and fungi is easier to obtain. The first truly great shaman BP isn't until Velious (Vindi BP), and there's even some situations where you may want to use fungi over it (Luclin is when you want to really start throwing away every single stat for any amount of HP you can find; you need to get to a point where you can safely Canni5 in combat). A Vindi BP can easily last you until GoD (Ikkinz BP).

If you're playing for one hour and haven't been full health (you shouldn't have been), the fungi regened 9000 HP, or 4.5 Torpors (900 mana)

[Wenai]

900 Mana in an hour is literally nothing when you are talking about using top DoT's (aka. Bane of Nife 425 Mana)

So in one hour you gained 2 extra casts of Bane of Nife :p It helps (I am not going to deny that) I just find it laughable to say Fungi Tunic helps a shaman more than JBB.

[Skope]

I think the fact that all 3 of us are agreeing on certain points and disagreeing on others shows just how versatile the shammy class really is. And to think, we haven't even gotten into the discussion of HP/mana/wis/AC gear...

I do think the fungi is a fantastic investment imo, particularly in group/duo situations and even solo (though the latter tends to heavily vary depending on what you're soloing). You get +20 a tick with frenzy, +15 for fungi, +15 for fungi staff, +15 for regrowth and then you factor in race/natural regen. I'm one of those dudes on the old shammy boards that thinks the regen is primary stat for a shaman due to cannibalize mechanics and torpor. Can you cast torpor after cannibalizing and still gain a LOT more mana than you lost for casting the spell initially? Absolutely! But having that extra +15 a tick helps significantly over the long run, by allowing you to cannibalize that much more.

Though I do agree, it will be insanely expensive. As I stated earlier, Shaman isn't a class for the lazy or for the poor if you are looking to min/max. Torpor > fungi staff > fungi > jbb for me. This is not counting malo, which is perhaps an even better spell than torpor and imo the biggest spell in kunark between all of the casting classes.

EDIT: as good as a shaman is solo, they're far better duo or with a full group. This is where you factor in the +regen > +wis or even +hp on a breastplate. You won't be tanking, thus if you have enough HP for a safe torpor (factor in some potential damage as well) then that's enough HP. I think this is where the +regen on a fungi really starts to show itself worthy over something like a dragon or drusella BP.

[hueylewis187]

I'm sure shammys kick ass in kunark and I have an alt one.

I just can't picture a shaman doing the outdoor dragons that melee for 300+ and aoe for 1k ? how

How does the shaman break the tough rooms in seb apart when 5 mobs come hitting for 170's each? root them all ? with torpor on yourself?

I can't wait to try these things out. I am probably going to need some kunark raid gear to do so hehe.



so best duo is 2 shammys? or 1 sham 1 cleric ? or 1 sham 1 bard ?

[Wenai]

I think the fact that all 3 of us are agreeing on certain points and disagreeing on others shows just how versatile the shammy class really is. And to think, we haven't even gotten into the discussion of HP/mana/wis/AC gear...

I do think the fungi is a fantastic investment imo, particularly in group/duo situations and even solo (though the latter tends to heavily vary depending on what you're soloing). You get +20 a tick with frenzy, +15 for fungi, +15 for fungi staff, +15 for regrowth and then you factor in race/natural regen. I'm one of those dudes on the old shammy boards that thinks the regen is primary stat for a shaman due to cannibalize mechanics and torpor. Can you cast torpor after cannibalizing and still gain a LOT more mana than you lost for casting the spell initially? Absolutely! But having that extra +15 a tick helps significantly over the long run, by allowing you to cannibalize that much more.

Though I do agree, it will be insanely expensive. As I stated earlier, Shaman isn't a class for the lazy or for the poor if you are looking to min/max. Torpor > fungi staff > fungi > jbb for me. This is not counting malo, which is perhaps an even better spell than torpor and imo the biggest spell in kunark between all of the casting classes.

I am a big beliver in balance. I really think the best setup is going to balanced AC/HP/Mana. I KNOW a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think the best way to play your character is to be prepared :p

That being said I do generally prioritize HP over anything. My general rule is hit the softcap for your casting class, and then forget about the stat. After you get near the softcap, start going all out for bulk HP gear.

I do understand your points on regen and it does show we do just play the class differently :p Stacking Fungi+Staff+Fungal+Rage is going to add up a ton of HP regen and will be extremely effective. But to be honest I just feel that Torpor is enough and Fungi becomes unnecessary. I had that set up at one point and just felt that it was extremely unnecessary. The one thing I am looking forward to in Kunark is Canni IV (was that avail in Kunark? I think so.) Canni I annoys me so much that I use Manastone more often even though the ratio is terrible compared to Canni.

I just feel the stats that were brought up were bloated. 9000 hp per hour sounds incredible but it really isn't that impressive honestly in the long run. You save 900 Mana by not casting Torpor as often but when we are talking about DoTs costing 425 mana per cast.. it jut really isn't impressive enough to make me use it over something that gives me much higher AC/HP/Mana whatever. Perhaps using like a Rune Etched BP(+9sta +13wis +25mana) instead of a Fungi Tunic allows me to reach my soft cap easier and gives me the ability to drop another piece of WIS gear for HP gear etc. I understand the benefits of Fungi tunic and I used it on my shaman for a long time. I just got to a point on live and wondered to myself.. Why am I wearing this. I changed from Fungi to something else (Rune Etched I believe?) and my play style never changed. I never noticed anything differently.

With or without Fungi... A shaman is not going to have mana problems :p It is all really preference.

As far as Malo goes it depends on how you play your shaman. If you are a raiding shaman... Hell yeah, Malo is gonna be huge and make you feel like a more important part to the raid. If you solo a ton, Torpor is better in my opinion, no question.
I'm sure shammys kick ass in kunark and I have an alt one.

I just can't picture a shaman doing the outdoor dragons that melee for 300+ and aoe for 1k ? how

How does the shaman break the tough rooms in seb apart when 5 mobs come hitting for 170's each? root them all ? with torpor on yourself?

I can't wait to try these things out. I am probably going to need some kunark raid gear to do so hehe.



so best duo is 2 shammys? or 1 sham 1 cleric ? or 1 sham 1 bard ?
When I solo'd WW dragons it was pretty difficult.. It was a long time ago and I really don't remember the fights very well.. I know I had full raid buffs (Cleric and Shaman). The ones I soloed were the some of the easiest ones, Atpaev (http://eqbeastiary.allakhazam.com/search.shtml?id=6332) and Pantrilla (http://eqbeastiary.allakhazam.com/search.shtml?id=6141). It is pretty much completely Malo, Slow and Torpor lol.

As far as handling multiple mobs.. Tirgir's was a very underrated spell. I played on live mostly as a support and ghetto CC shaman in a trio of Mage+Cleric+Shaman. The mage used to do all the pulling and he would warn me like, "5 INC" or something. Tirgir's is AoE Slow. It allowed me to grab aggro quickly (although it was generally pretty low aggro iirc) since he never did any damage to them. I would put torpor on myself and root them one at a time with paralyzing earth. Once they are all parked, cast Turgur's on them one at a time as you killed them.

Shaman + Anything is a good duo honestly. Shaman's biggest downside in my opinion is their somewhat poor DPS (pretty much the only thing that keeps them out of the "elite soloer" tag that Necros, Mages and Enchanters seem to get). Anything that can help out with DPS is great.

Shaman + Shadowknight, Shaman + Paladin, Shaman + Ranger are all great combos in my opinion.

[Skope]

I'm sure shammys kick ass in kunark and I have an alt one.

I just can't picture a shaman doing the outdoor dragons that melee for 300+ and aoe for 1k ? how

How does the shaman break the tough rooms in seb apart when 5 mobs come hitting for 170's each? root them all ? with torpor on yourself?

I can't wait to try these things out. I am probably going to need some kunark raid gear to do so hehe.



so best duo is 2 shammys? or 1 sham 1 cleric ? or 1 sham 1 bard ?

Shaman monk, followed by SKs, Mages, and the rest pretty much... lol

Shaman bard can be great as well, eases up on splitting rooms, but shaman cleric isn't necessary. Shaman/shaman works... it's just that there's better duo partners out there than another shaman.

[Reiker]

That being said I do generally prioritize HP over anything. My general rule is hit the softcap for your casting class, and then forget about the stat. After you get near the softcap, start going all out for bulk HP gear.
A shaman should never be full mana or full health. Let's say the +wisdom from your gear gives you 20% more mana. Anytime you're under 80% mana, those bonuses are useless. Hence, past vanilla I ignore wisdom on all gear. It's a very common stat and you'll pick it up here and there anyways. I don't think I broke 160 wis until PoP. Also, I know it's not exactly relevant to this server, but if you keep your wis at 200, you're not going to be prepared for Canni5 in Luclin.

Lots of stuff about Canni IV and fungi
Canni IV unfortunately isn't until Velious. Both of the Kunark cannis are less efficient (but faster) than Canni I, but Canni IV is almost twice as fast as Canni III, and even more efficient than Canni I to boot. Amazing spell. Fungi is hardly unnecessary, it's one of the very best pieces of gear in Kunark. While you can argue about how useful the regen is, when you compare it to other options (especially in the same slot) the fungi shines as one of the better shaman items in Kunark. Rune Etched BP is garbage and so is Jaundiced Bone. We don't need wisdom.

As far as Malo goes it depends on how you play your shaman. If you are a raiding shaman... Hell yeah, Malo is gonna be huge and make you feel like a more important part to the raid. If you solo a ton, Torpor is better in my opinion, no question.

Of course Torpor is better than Malo. But there are some mobs that you wouldn't be able to solo without Malo ie. cliff golems.