Shaman solo tactics?

[Midoo]

I play on GMT so when I wake up in the morning my favorite grind spots tend to be empty. That's why I go solo when LFG and I tend to get pretty desperate. I leveled a Shammy through Blue back when it was still crowded 24/7 so finding Guk and Unrest FP groups was effortless even during offpeak. But on Teal I pretty much have to solo for half of my play time until everyone else logs on.

I have three questions:

A) What's the best Shaman solo rotation at 21?
1 - I start by buffing myself with Turtle Skin and Spirit Strength
2 - Malaise -> Root -> Disempower -> Affliction -> Walking Sleep -> Envenomed Breath (resist debuff, stat debuff, DoTs and slow)
3 - Then I Burst of Strength myself and go in for auto attacks until the blue con dies.
Is there something I could substitute or something I could add to kill things more efficiently? Because when I go for "dangerous" (high blue) cons I end up dead 7 times out of 10 and I lose more XP in a solo session than I gain due to this.

B) Is STR important to a Shaman? I have a +9 STR shield and a vendor Spear and don't know if it's worth to switch to a 2HB Bloodforge Hammer. I know melee becomes less important later on but at 21 my DoTs are so pathetic that beating things myself is my only option.

C) What are some fast solo spots that are good for a level 20 Shaman? Not interested in the outdoors since it's pretty slow, and Guk/Unrest are way too tightly packed for me. I'm looking for a Crushbone-like experience where there's a decent ZEM and mobs are far apart enough to be picked off one by one safely.
Not looking for money or anything because I can take care of that later and already bought most of my spells.

[Zelbor]

The level range you're in right now - the early 20s right before you get Canni, Regen, and an upgraded poison at 24 - is probably the absolute worst and most frustrating part of leveling a shaman. A group or duoing partner would go a long way toward making your life easier, but you asked about soloing, so I'll try my best to offer some suggestions. Just remember that these levels are rough no matter what and that it'll get much better at 24.

A) You're using too much mana on debuffs. You should be aiming for low to mid blues rather than mobs just under your level, and as such you shouldn't need a resistance debuff. Don't bother with Disempower, either; this line of spells is extremely niche and should only be used in a tiny number of situations at very high levels. It's not a good use of your mana right now. I suggest pulling with Affliction so it has the maximum time to tick. As the mob runs toward you, root it, then poison. At this point, you can either just sit and med in between recasting poison and root (i.e., "root and dot" tactics), or you can slow and then engage in melee. If you seem to do well meleeing, skip the root and just slow while the mob runs toward you, then poison while meleeing. Even while meleeing, be sure to renew poison when it drops, and don't be afraid to nuke if you're good on mana; shaman nukes aren't great, but they're still a better use of mana than Malise or Disempower in this situation.

B) Strength gives you attack rating, which helps you hit harder and miss less often, but Shamans don't benefit from it nearly as much as the pure melee classes. You generally want to choose whichever weapon has the best ratio. Your Bloodforge Hammer is very likely a better option than your vendor spear. Note also that slow weapons offer another benefit, which is that you can cast spells in between swings and thereby lose less melee damage from casting.

C) This is a tough question; I never found a solo spot in the low 20s that I loved. You do pretty much have to accept fighting outdoors to ensure solo pulls and space to rest. Fighting along a zone wall in East Karana, killing spiders and wolves and griffawns, was probably the best spot I found, but it was still rather slow and dull. Perhaps someone else knows a better place.

[Midoo]

Amazing reply, thank you! You actually put me in the mood to play again.

[loramin]

The level range you're in right now - the early 20s right before you get Canni, Regen, and an upgraded poison at 24 - is probably the absolute worst and most frustrating part of leveling a shaman. A group or duoing partner would go a long way toward making your life easier, but you asked about soloing, so I'll try my best to offer some suggestions. Just remember that these levels are rough no matter what and that it'll get much better at 24.

This!

Also, check the Per-Level guide (it was originally made for Shaman; link in signature). I think I did Aviaks in Lake Rathe at that level, or possibly stuff in South Karana (it's easy to switch between them).

I'd root/rot them, one at a time, and it would take most of my mana so I'd kill one, afk a bit, then kill another. Took awhile but got me to 24 :)

[Midoo]

Also, check the Per-Level guide

I actually have been, since I first started playing EQ. It saved me countless hours of searching for XP spots on my alts, and seeing how vast the world of Norrath was helped me grow past the WoW player mentality of trying to speedrun every playthrough. I really can't praise the P99 community enough.

[loramin]

I actually have been, since I first started playing EQ. It saved me countless hours of searching for XP spots on my alts, and seeing how vast the world of Norrath was helped me grow past the WoW player mentality of trying to speedrun every playthrough. I really can't praise the P99 community enough.

:D

[Gatorsmash]

You have Sow, they do not. DOT's do full damage to a moving mob. All the info I'm going to give you

[Midoo]

DOT's do full damage to a moving mob.

I thought dots ticked less on moving mobs? Or is that a later patch thing?

[Man0warr]

They do full damage right now on Green/Teal, not sure when it gets patched.

[Tecmos Deception]

Couple more months iirc.

[greenspectre]

Don't forget Infectious Cloud! Stacking it with Affliction and TB really makes a noticeable difference in your Root/Rot viability! It lasts about as long as affliction, too. Pull with it, since it's an AoE, so you don't hit yourself with it.

[DMN]

Don't forget Infectious Cloud! Stacking it with Affliction and TB really makes a noticeable difference in your Root/Rot viability! It lasts about as long as affliction, too. Pull with it, since it's an AoE, so you don't hit yourself with it.

You sure about that? cause it's not suppose to stack. Affliction should overwrite.

[Tecmos Deception]

You sure about that? cause it's not suppose to stack. Affliction should overwrite.

What are you basing that on?

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54537&page=1

Tldr is dot stacking gets proven to be classic and kanras put it into p99 (page 7), and dot stacking remains present on green (I personally haven't tested infectious cloud cause I foolishly assumed an aoe wouldn't be efficient for single targets, but I have tested all other disease dots stacking with each other, and poison dots stacking with each other).

[DMN]

I doubt it happen. I played both a druid(third 50) and necro(first 50) in vanilla time periods a lot, and it dosn't add up. The sting swarm line in particularity I would have abused the fuck out of it it stacked. it's possible it was a quirk specifically related to certain DoT lines I suppose... I certainly never used them on my necro(disease dots sucked shit and never get ebolt) or druid( no disease/poison dots).

[Tecmos Deception]

I doubt it happen. I played both a druid(third 50) and necro(first 50) in vanilla time periods a lot, and it dosn't add up. The sting swarm line in particularity I would have abused the fuck out of it it stacked. it's possible it was a quirk specifically related to certain DoT lines I suppose... I certainly never used them on my necro(disease dots sucked shit and never get ebolt) or druid( no disease/poison dots).

I linked you the thread that decided this issue on p99, and without reading it you're continuing on with recollections and assumptions. With all due respect, nut up or shut up.

[DMN]

I linked you the thread that decided this issue on p99, and without reading it you're continuing on with recollections and assumptions. With all due respect, nut up or shut up.

Ya, you linked like umpteen page thread that I give no fucks to read through. i already said it might have been a poison/disease related quirk.

[DMN]

As a side note this shouldnt be included on greal unless they have managed to get the original stats on the disease. The disease dots were ridiculous. Taking like 7+ minutes to work. Not this 2-3 minute bullshit.

[Videri]

Affliction and Infectious Cloud are both disease, but they’re different spell lines, so they should stack.

[greenspectre]

I can confirm they stack. I pull with IC, then hit with Affliction and TB. TB wears off so I refresh, and if the mob has enough HP I will see BOTH IC and A give wear-off messages, usually on separate ticks. The damage difference is also very noticeable without IC on.

[Satinna]

Don't forget Infectious Cloud! Stacking it with Affliction and TB really makes a noticeable difference in your Root/Rot viability! It lasts about as long as affliction, too. Pull with it, since it's an AoE, so you don't hit yourself with it.

This technique works great! Park on the hill just to the left of the path to Gorge of King Xorbb in EK and pull Gorge Hounds and Griffawns. You can either root rot or tank to 24. Kill then go for a quick regen afk. The XP seemed really good there and you'll get lots of research words from the hounds.

BTW, beware of the Evil Eye mobs. They're chanters and can mess you up.

[Satinna]

The level range you're in right now - the early 20s right before you get Canni, Regen, and an upgraded poison at 24 - is probably the absolute worst and most frustrating part of leveling a shaman.

So true. Just grind through it to 24 and claim your reward as Zelbor mentioned above. This is the point where the shaman really starts to take off and become fun!

[Kalamurv]

Having played necro and druid both previously I to thought there was no way dots should stack except for 1 post and 1 pre 50 of the same line (magic and fire line for druids for example). Turns out shammys are insanely overpowered as all of their dots stack with previous, you can stack affliction with not only infectious cloud but sicken (level 5, 2 / tick) as well.

[SewingMachine]

Just hit 34, I was wondering how that chagnes things. So far I have been root rotting at 24+ . . .
pre-buff with AC / Regen
1. Disease dot
2. Poison dot
3. Root
4. Start Canni if mana is low and hp are above 80%
5. apply poison dot and root when needed.

At 34 I assume this will change with new root and pet. Will it go something like this . . .
pre-buff ac/hp/regen
1. send pet
2. Disease dot
3. poison dot
4. root
5. pull back pet
6. Start Canni if mana is low and hp are above 80%
7. re apply poison and root when needed

I havent leveled to 34 yet but i imagin this is how it will go. I am going to head over to OOT and try and camp a Ebon War Spear and give this method a shot. Let me know if you do things different.

[Zelbor]

At 34 I assume this will change with new root and pet. Will it go something like this . . .
pre-buff ac/hp/regen
1. send pet
2. Disease dot
3. poison dot
4. root
5. pull back pet
6. Start Canni if mana is low and hp are above 80%
7. re apply poison and root when needed

I havent leveled to 34 yet but i imagin this is how it will go. I am going to head over to OOT and try and camp a Ebon War Spear and give this method a shot. Let me know if you do things different.

You've got more or less the right idea, and you'll undoubtedly figure your tactics out in practice. A couple things to keep in mind:
1) Be careful you don't allow your pet to do more than 50% damage, or it'll take half your XP. The easiest way to ensure this is of course to wait until the mob is at 49% to sic your pet, but your DOTs will continue to tick after that point, so you can experiment with the best time to send in your pet without losing partial XP (the answer will vary based on your level and your target's HP).
2) It's sometimes more mana efficient to slow the mob your pet is tanking rather than burning your target down faster and/or having to heal your pet. I strongly recommend a downranked slow (I used Walking Sleep all the way to 50) because you probably don't need the higher-level, more expensive ones. Again, experiment to find the sweet spot where your pet does just under 50% damage without dying while you spend the least mana in the course of each fight.

Quick edit to add: I also recommend STR and haste buffing your pet. Some people think haste is a waste of mana and that it makes the pet more likely to inadvertently steal XP. I disagree, but again: experiment for yourself to decide what you think works best.

[Tecmos Deception]

You've got more or less the right idea, and you'll undoubtedly figure your tactics out in practice. A couple things to keep in mind:
1) Be careful you don't allow your pet to do more than 50% damage, or it'll take half your XP. The easiest way to ensure this is of course to wait until the mob is at 49% to sic your pet, but your DOTs will continue to tick after that point, so you can experiment with the best time to send in your pet without losing partial XP (the answer will vary based on your level and your target's HP).
2) It's sometimes more mana efficient to slow the mob your pet is tanking rather than burning your target down faster and/or having to heal your pet. I strongly recommend a downranked slow (I used Walking Sleep all the way to 50) because you probably don't need the higher-level, more expensive ones. Again, experiment to find the sweet spot where your pet does just under 50% damage without dying while you spend the least mana in the course of each fight.

Quick edit to add: I also recommend STR and haste buffing your pet. Some people think haste is a waste of mana and that it makes the pet more likely to inadvertently steal XP. I disagree, but again: experiment for yourself to decide what you think works best.

You're suggesting not sending pet in for half of a fight, but using mana to keep the pet str and haste buffed? What's the point of that?

[Zelbor]

You're suggesting not sending pet in for half of a fight, but using mana to keep the pet str and haste buffed? What's the point of that?

Er, no, I said that waiting until 49% to sic the pet was a guaranteed way to be absolutely certain pet wouldn't take XP. I also said that a player can and should experiment with when exactly to send in the pet in consideration of the DOTs ticking on it so as to maximize the pet's damage without allowing it to do more than 50% total. In most cases soloing, I would send in pet around 65-70%.

[Tecmos Deception]

You said it was the "easiest" way, which read to me like it was a suggestion! :)

Anyways, when leveling my sham 34+ with a standard "disease dot, root, slow, pet, poison dot, optional nuke/poison dot depending" sort of method, I found that only rarely could my pet steal exp. This was when 1) he was hasted (and usually str-buffed too), 2) he was a high-level summon for the pet level, 3) I had just moved to higher-level monsters to fight but without getting new dots. When I first noticed this I just took the easy route and stopped giving my pet offensive buffs. Saved me mana and attention to haste timer and ensured he wasn't going to steal exp.

[SewingMachine]

I am excited to try both ways i will report back with my findings of the most mana efficient way. I might go murder some halfling guards.