How do I solo as a shaman?

[Quaggoth]

All i know in soloing as a shaman is root rotting, but that is only going so far. I would like to know if there are some ways of soloing with less down time.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Depends on your level and gear. With Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censor you can melee quite well until 40 or so. It saves a lot of mana on DoTs, which suck until your 40s. Low ratio, high mana cost, and good chance to be resisted. You end up saving more mana by healing yourself because it is unresistable. You just slow the mob and face tank it. Mobs levels 1-39 don't hit very hard.

Once you hit 45 you can use a Jaundiced Bone Bracer to mana free nuke mobs. It's harder to maintain root this way, but the free nuke will save you more mana than the self healing you may need to do while face tanking the mobs after root breaks. If I remember correctly, when I was soloing to 60 I would face tank mobs instead of rooting to save mana from rooting. Root just breaks too much with JBB. Do one mob at a time and root adds away from you when doing this method. You can also use your pet to tank for you if you let it build up agro first. That saves some mana as well, because your pet regenerates health pretty fast, so you might as well use his HP bar as an additional resource.

If you need to make money, solo guards until 55. You can start doing halfling guards in misty thicket at 25. You will easily get enough money to buy at least a JBB, a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, and a Fungi Staff. Those will save you a ton of time while soloing. Black Fur Boots pair well with the Fungi Staff, so get those too if you can. Black Dire is easy to do if you know a couple level 60 friends.

[loramin]

There are seven different Shaman guides in the wiki; check them out! https://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Adventure#Shaman

But, just as a quick summary, I see the following methods of Shaman soloing:
shaman tank
pet tank
root/rot


There's also some very niche ways. For instance, some stuff you can nuke down (though it's almost certainly less efficient), some Shaman can get fear items (and so can kinda/sorta fear kite), and every Shaman can charm animals for charm fighting ... very briefly.

[Jimjam]

Circa pop era on live I made many of my 34+ levels by casting as many disease/poison dots on an enemy, sending in pet with taunt off then run around until the target died.

[Penish]

One of the few times I recommend using your BIG slows, your pet can tank just about anything with your current slow/level. Root is your main CC in which you can efficiently watch your pet scrap down these mobs one after the other with indefinite mana.

So in short pet, slow, root (only for cc), canni, regen & haste (for pet) should be the only spells cast in this simplistic solo setup.

[loramin]

Circa pop era on live I made many of my 34+ levels by casting as many disease/poison dots on an enemy, sending in pet with taunt off then run around until the target died.

https://i.imgur.com/H7EG1OH.gif

[Ananka]

My Shaman was strictly a melee type at first taking advantage of the drowsy spell but then at 14 I would root and nuke just to soften it up before going with drowsy and melee. This was vanilla at the time so my equipment and mana pool sucked. At 24 life changed a bit and I started to feel more like a shaman. Canni and regen were fantastic but that big new dot turned me into a root/rotter. You could try charming animals at 29 but I didn't. I didn't find a good spot for it at that time. At 34 it's a new ball game. You're officially a real shaman. At 34 i was fighting some mobs that were pretty tough for my level and I would send pet in and time slow to land just after the pet started so i would have to root the mob. I would dot the mob and wait for my pet to almost get killed before stepping in to melee. I was taking advantage of when pets would regain a lot of HP even in combat and I would step back if needed once the pet got some hp's back. Eventually the slow spells gets so powerful that i was just tanking everything and i still do at 55.

If your server is in Kunark then use a Poison Wind Censer from level 20 and on. Even when the area proc starts to go off keep using it. If you root your mob, slow it, dot it, melee tank and have your pet melee but without haste on and you'll easily out damage the pet for full experience. If you fight a giant you don't even have to root the mob. You can position yourself to avoid the proc damage for the whole fight with out moving. Against giants only, otherwise root and step back.

[Ananka]

Post 45-50 you need a clickee bracer or epic to avoid downtime as a shaman but I can't complain with canni and regen spells. Just don't expect to be soloing like druids/wizards with quads or enchanters charming.

[Baler]

All i know in soloing as a shaman is root rotting, but that is only going so far. I would like to know if there are some ways of soloing with less down time.

Root Rotting is shaman's gameplay. That and canni dancing.
Be very careful with deaksilky advise, he's not a good shaman.

Early 1-50 you can melee to some extent depending on gear. This is partly due to a not classic bug on p99 that allows shamans to swing directly after casting. But 45-60 you're going to be root rotting or grouping.

Grouping is really the ultimate way to level a shaman. Iksar Monks are your new best friends. When you finally get to 60, you can duo with an iksar monk to start playing the spell lottery for torpor. https://wiki.project1999.com/Balers_Useful_Info#Shm_Solo.26Duo_Cliff_Golem

JBB BloodGills in LOIO 45-51, don't forget fish scales.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Root Rotting is shaman's gameplay. That and canni dancing.
Be very careful with deaksilky advise, he's not a good shaman.

Early 1-50 you can melee to some extent depending on gear. This is partly due to a not classic bug on p99 that allows shamans to swing directly after casting. But 45-60 you're going to be root rotting or grouping.

Grouping is really the ultimate way to level a shaman. Iksar Monks are your new best friends. When you finally get to 60, you can duo with an iksar monk to start playing the spell lottery for torpor. https://wiki.project1999.com/Balers_Useful_Info#Shm_Solo.26Duo_Cliff_Golem

JBB BloodGills in LOIO 45-51, don't forget fish scales.

Unfortunately Baler is unable to listen to other people, or change his opinion, even when he is proven wrong (at least not that I have seen). I would be more wary whenever Baler asserts his way is the right way.

This thread is about Shaman soloing, not Shaman grouping. Shamans could Melee well 1-50 even without the melee hit right after spell casting. This is because a Shaman's combat skills have the same cap as a warrior from levels 1-50. This means you hit as often as a primary melee class 1-50, unlike all other primary casters. Sure, you don't get double attack or the mainhand damage bonus, but you do get spell haste and STR buffs, which will offset this shortcoming at lower levels. Most warriors (unless they are gnome or massively twinked) will not have 50% haste solo at level 29. A Shaman at 29 With SCHW and Quickness has 52% haste, basically double what most reasonably geared melee classes would have.

I am also not sure why you seem to claim root rotting is all a Shaman does even at high levels, considering quite a few mobs are unrootable at high levels.

Finally, while Cliff Golems are fun, they are not the best source of income unless you get really lucky. I have killed quite a few Cliff Golems, and haven't seen a single spell drop, regardless of worth.

[Baler]

while Cliff Golems are fun, I have haven't seen a single spell drop.

I got my torpor off cliff Golems.
I've also gotten several other high end spells such as Bedlam.

They are an option for people who don't have 100k or a guild to get them torpor.

Other than that, I've farmed Gwurms with a crew and we produced 8 torpor in 1 month. avg was 4-5 per month though.

I've also many times solo pulled and prepped Ixiblat Fer for a single group to kill easily.
I've said it before, solo'd ayillish for people's +6 neck.

the list goes on, but we're getting way off topic. Or I am atleast..

I am also not sure why you seem to claim root rotting is all a Shaman does even at high levels, considering quite a few mobs are unrootable at high levels.

Then they must slow tank and rot. Okay no root involved but SLOW is insanely OP. You cast a 50% slow on a mob you essentially reduce it's melee damage by 50%.

Shaman damage comes from it's DoTs. In my opinion the poison dots are the best. high damage burn to take down targets fast. Use the dog as a mana battery or a little extra damage.

Yeah shaman pet's are decent, they will raise your dps by 2-10, that's quite a nice bonus even in velious.

[Tewaz]

Finally, while Cliff Golems are fun, they are not the best source of income unless you get really lucky. I have killed quite a few Cliff Golems, and haven't seen a single spell drop, regardless of worth.

What is your preferred income source?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I got my torpor off cliff Golems.
I've also gotten several other high end spells such as Bedlam.

They are an option for people who don't have 100k or a guild to get them torpor.

Other than that, I've farmed Gwurms with a crew and we produced 8 torpor in 1 month. avg was 4-5 per month though.

I've also many times solo pulled and prepped Ixiblat Fer for a single group to kill easily.
I've said it before, solo'd ayillish for people's +6 neck.

the list goes on, but we're getting way off topic. Or I am atleast..


Oh! That is awesome you got your Torpor from Cliff Golems. Again, if you get lucky, Cliff Golems are great. I have spent quite a bit of time at Cliff Golems, and never gotten any spell drops (good or bad) sadly. I have heard the same from other people, they can spend months there and not get much.

While it is off topic, I 100% agree with you GWurms or maybe Juggs is the best option for Shamans who want to get Torpor without farming the 100k. You have a MUCH higher chance of getting good spells in those two camps, and you only need a single group. And the nice thing about GWurms is you can pop over and check Ixiblat Fer like you mentioned. While CoF drop rate is pretty low, the fight is very fast if you have the right group.

What is your preferred income source?

Since this is a solo thread, I will stick to those options. I prefer spots that have common money drops. The way I see it, you can camp a VERY LOW drop rate spot like Cliff Golems for months and not get anything. In those months, you could have farmed a more consistent spot and probably gotten your 100k for the spell.

My favorite spot used to be Misty Thicket wall guards, because they had a 6 minute 30 second respawn timer and a 100% chance to drop a 10pp weapon. So you could easily farm 10k a week if you spent 16 hours there. That isn't too bad, considering that means you only need to be there 2-3 hours a day. But very recently they nerfed the spawn rates to 30 minutes per guard, so it isn't viable anymore.

If you have Torpor and don't mind being Kael factioned instead of ToV/Thurgadin factioned, killing WW Dragons is a pretty good source of income. WW Dragons take about 15 minutes a piece to kill, and if they drop a head you are guaranteed a 1k-2k item. They can also drop dragon armor, so you could potentially get 2 1k+ items per kill. Getting something like 3k worth of stuff in 15 minutes is a nice feeling:) If you get lucky and find a top teir armor drop, those can sell for much higher.

Another spot I used to do was 4 way in Kael when I wasn't Kael factioned. Killing the Lieutenants gives you a chance at Thurgadin armor drops. They drop all the same armor as Kael Arena. I got pretty lucky there, multiple plate legs and plate bps to sell for MQs, as well as a few leather bracers. But going off of my own logic, I would say 4 way is a bit like Cliff Golems, you do need to get kind of lucky. I think I like 4 way better because you can kill more Lieutenants in the same amount of time as Cliff Golems, so you get more drop chances.

Again, if you have Torpor, Chardok is also a place where you can get some 1k+ drops fairly easily if you camp multiple spots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3uoIHTu_c This video here shows me killing the Cryptmaster, who drops a 2k earring, a 1k corpse summon range item, and a very nice no drop resistance shoulder you could probably sell loot rights to. I have probably sold 5 or 6 earrings for 2k a pop, and they are a pretty common drop.


Then they must slow tank and rot. Okay no root involved but SLOW is insanely OP. You cast a 50% slow on a mob you essentially reduce it's melee damage by 50%.

Shaman damage comes from it's DoTs. In my opinion the poison dots are the best. high damage burn to take down targets fast. Use the dog as a mana battery or a little extra damage.

Yeah shaman pet's are decent, they will raise your dps by 2-10, that's quite a nice bonus even in velious.

Agreed, Shaman slow is super OP lol, especially when paired with the Malo line of spells. And yes, once you get to level 49 and onward, Shaman DoTs are really powerful. Envenomed Bolt and Bane of Nife knock out enemies pretty quick if they aren't heavily poison resistant, and the Malo line also reduces poison resistance, which is great.

Dog DPS is great, especially with 50% haste. I use doggo when killing WW dragons to act as a manaless DoT. Doggo basically removes the WW Dragons high HP regen. Saves me quite a bit of mana because I can basically use one less DoT line of spells on the Dragon per kill. I just use Pox and Epic click. I wish I could use Bane of Nife instead, but WW Dragons seem to be more poison resistant than disease resistant, so Pox is a little more consistent on that fight.

[Snaggles]

I got torp off a cliff golem as well. Probably have killed like 30 to date so mostly dumb luck with a buddy. We just kill them when nothing better to do and no time commitment needed.

[Bardp1999]

Didn't read all this junk on here but the reality is Shamans are bad soloers for leveling purposes. Without the epic shamans are not very efficient and even JBB spam is a terrible way to level.

When you get 60 and have a fungi/torpor/epic you are a beast, but before that - Root Rot is the only viable method and managing your pets damage is a real pain in the ass.

Somehow Shamans get categorized as Necromancer and Enchanter level of solo, but that only applies at 60... 1-59 its not even funny how much worse shamans are at soloing than nec/ench.

Shamans are a great class but when you compare anything to charming it's basically garbage.

[Tunabros]

+1 for poison wind censor

great melee for up to 40 ish

shamans are the most tankiest out of the priest classes

sometimes, they're even brought up to groups as the tank!

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Didn't read all this junk on here but the reality is Shamans are bad soloers for leveling purposes. Without the epic shamans are not very efficient and even JBB spam is a terrible way to level.

When you get 60 and have a fungi/torpor/epic you are a beast, but before that - Root Rot is the only viable method and managing your pets damage is a real pain in the ass.

Somehow Shamans get categorized as Necromancer and Enchanter level of solo, but that only applies at 60... 1-59 its not even funny how much worse shamans are at soloing than nec/ench.

Shamans are a great class but when you compare anything to charming it's basically garbage.

This is very wrong. Shamans are pretty good at soloing from 1-60. JBB spam is a great way to level, I was getting 1 blue bubble an hour in PoM rat maze at level 59 with JBB spam. JBB spam is higher DPS on a single target than epic DoT.

[greenspectre]

This is very wrong. Shamans are pretty good at soloing from 1-60. JBB spam is a great way to level, I was getting 1 blue bubble an hour in PoM rat maze at level 59 with JBB spam. JBB spam is higher DPS on a single target than epic DoT.

Agree with DSM here. At 56 I was able to take out 3 mobs in the Bear Pits den area simultaneously with intelligent use of roots, epic click, pet, and JBB. Epic each mob, focus JBB and pet on one thats slowed, and manage timers carefully.

Our biggest obstacle soloing is the lack of CC that's better than root. So your skill with spacing and roots becomes very important if you're taking multiples, that's all.

[JDAm0nk]

Didn't read all this junk on here but the reality is Shamans are bad soloers for leveling purposes. Without the epic shamans are not very efficient and even JBB spam is a terrible way to level.

Somehow Shamans get categorized as Necromancer and Enchanter level of solo, but that only applies at 60... 1-59 its not even funny how much worse shamans are at soloing than nec/ench.

Yeah. I owe a lot to loramin, DeathsSilkyMist, BlkCamel, and everyone else who has shared sage Shaman wisdom on this forum. But a lot of the advice here isn't realistic for people who are looking to main a Shaman on Green.

"If you need to make money, solo guards until 55. You can start doing halfling guards in misty thicket at 25. You will easily get enough money to buy at least a JBB, a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, and a Fungi Staff. Those will save you a ton of time while soloing. Black Fur Boots pair well with the Fungi Staff, so get those too if you can. Black Dire is easy to do if you know a couple level 60 friends."

DSM mentions how these guards are nerfed, but I wanted to say that I started my character with the hope that I would be able to solo-grind enough plat to afford some of these game-changing pieces of gear. I killed guards in Qeynos Hills & WK from 28-39. Spent days running around Rathe Mountains killing HGs after 44.

Despite all this, I have not been able to afford a JBB, Ikky BP, or Fungi Staff (totals ~55kpp). But even though I'm only level 52 and still wearing 7 pieces of Banded Armor, my Shaman feels strong and durable. I just can't solo as well as an Enchanter, Necro, or Shaman with their Epic, JBB, worn regen etc.

Considering how competitive and expensive the economy on Green is for Shaman loot, it's worth repeating how dang nice the increased HP regen is post-51. I know the Shaman race min/max discussion has been beat to death, but for those without access to high-end & expensive gear, this can't be overstated. With my new slow and increased HP/mana regen, I'm able to tackle much harder content and I have way less downtime. It might not be as important at 60 with Torpor, but that is a long train coming...

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Yeah. I owe a lot to loramin, DeathsSilkyMist, BlkCamel, and everyone else who has shared sage Shaman wisdom on this forum. But a lot of the advice here isn't realistic for people who are looking to main a Shaman on Green.

"If you need to make money, solo guards until 55. You can start doing halfling guards in misty thicket at 25. You will easily get enough money to buy at least a JBB, a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, and a Fungi Staff. Those will save you a ton of time while soloing. Black Fur Boots pair well with the Fungi Staff, so get those too if you can. Black Dire is easy to do if you know a couple level 60 friends."

DSM mentions how these guards are nerfed, but I wanted to say that I started my character with the hope that I would be able to solo-grind enough plat to afford some of these game-changing pieces of gear. I killed guards in Qeynos Hills & WK from 28-39. Spent days running around Rathe Mountains killing HGs after 44.

Despite all this, I have not been able to afford a JBB, Ikky BP, or Fungi Staff (totals ~55kpp). But even though I'm only level 52 and still wearing 7 pieces of Banded Armor, my Shaman feels strong and durable. I just can't solo as well as an Enchanter, Necro, or Shaman with their Epic, JBB, worn regen etc.

Considering how competitive and expensive the economy on Green is for Shaman loot, it's worth repeating how dang nice the increased HP regen is post-51. I know the Shaman race min/max discussion has been beat to death, but for those without access to high-end & expensive gear, this can't be overstated. With my new slow and increased HP/mana regen, I'm able to tackle much harder content and I have way less downtime. It might not be as important at 60 with Torpor, but that is a long train coming...

Hello JDAm0nk! Glad to hear you were able to make some good use of my information:)

I do 100% agree with you here, some of my advice has become outdated. For that specific quote you mentioned, that was back before Green, and when JBB's were only 10-12k. That meant you could get JBB, Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, and Fungi Staff for around 30-35k total. Black Dire kills were usually free, you just needed a few friends.

Before the Misty Thicket guards were nerfed, you could easily make something like 10k per 16 hours or so if you had the wall to yourself, and that could be done probably starting at level 34 or so. With the economy changes, the higher demand/lack of supply on Green, and the Misty Thicket guard nerf, it is harder for new players who main a Shaman to follow my advice and get enough money for the gear they need to solo very well 50+.

I never had my epic when I was leveling, but by level 52 or so I had JBB, Fungi Tunic, Fungi Staff, Black Dire Boots, Shawl 7, and the Thurgadin Chain BP for free Riotous Health. So my ability to solo was about as good as a Shaman could get without having an Epic. Without any of those things, Shaman solo speed certainly suffers.

As you mentioned, you still feel quite durable, even without the fancy gear. A Shaman's toolkit still allows them to solo quite well, even basically naked. They do get a slower start levels 1-24, so if you are naked that level patch can be rough. Luckily, levels 1-24 or so are pretty easy for all classes, due to how many lowbie zones are available (many of which have a high ZEM). Once you get to 24 your solo capacity increases dramatically due to Regen and Cannibalize. By 29 you get a 30% haste, and at 34 you get a pretty awesome pet.

I agree a naked Shaman will not be able to compete with a naked Necro, Enchanter, Mage, or Bard, but those classes are well known to be the best naked soloers. Shamans I would say are in the middle of the pack when it comes to soloing naked, on par with naked Druids or Wizards. When they have the proper gear, they are more on par with the better solo classes. And obviously with Torpor, they enter beast mode.

[Homesteaded]

What does it mean to use the pet as mana battery.

[Homesteaded]

Use pet as mana battery?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Use pet as mana battery?

What this means is you summon your pet, and then use reclaim energy on it later to regain some mana.

For example, let's say you summon your pet and then cannibalize back to full mana. Next, lets say you start a fight at full mana with your pet, and you get dangerously close to running out of mana. If your pet is at full HP, you can use reclaim energy on the pet to gain back the mana cost of your pet. So your pet dies, but you gain a few hundred mana back. This extra mana would allow you to cast another critical spell like root, slow, gate, etc. Shamans pets are great mana batteries because they cost a lot of mana (more mana back when you reclaim energy), and they do not require any reagents.

Shamans also get an item that summons a pet for free https://wiki.project1999.com/Fang_Amulet_of_Calling . Using this clickie costs 0 mana, but using reclaim energy on the summoned pet will still give you the mana cost of the pet back. This is a great item to use in an emergency if you need mana quickly.

To get reclaim energy as a Shaman, you just need to do one of the four mage focus quests found in the Temple of Solusek Ro. https://wiki.project1999.com/Category:Magician_Focus_Items these items can be clicked from inventory as any class, and they are instant cast.

The Fang Amulet of Calling is also instant cast, so that is a very speedy way to gain some mana in an emergency, as I mentioned before. You could summon and reclaim up to 5 pets in quick succession. The only downside to this item is it's lore and has a very high recharge cost, so it is better to just farm or buy a new one.

[greenspectre]

DSM mentions how these guards are nerfed, but I wanted to say that I started my character with the hope that I would be able to solo-grind enough plat to afford some of these game-changing pieces of gear. I killed guards in Qeynos Hills & WK from 28-39. Spent days running around Rathe Mountains killing HGs after 44.

Despite all this, I have not been able to afford a JBB, Ikky BP, or Fungi Staff (totals ~55kpp). But even though I'm only level 52 and still wearing 7 pieces of Banded Armor, my Shaman feels strong and durable. I just can't solo as well as an Enchanter, Necro, or Shaman with their Epic, JBB, worn regen etc.


I started naked on Green at server launch (still not 60 yet due to IRL and all) and have been able to pull in decent cash as a shaman. I'd advise taking advantage of limited-time cash camps if you're on green. I made most of my money toughing out the CoS camp in Droga, which is still dropping AFAIK. I also just got my first Ornate Velium Pendant in Icewell, which is still dropping also. While these camps can be high-variance in drop rate, the cash output on them makes them some of the best money you can make at your level range, and there's always a rotating group, though you could survive the CoS camp solo if you're careful.

Both camps have pretty random drop rates with multiple PH's that can drop the item. I've seen CoS'es drop twice in one cycle and also 12 hours apart. OVP I saw 3x in a row and then waited about 4 hours for the next one. RNG gonna RNG.

[brokenkiller]

Is CoS camp not nerfed yet?

[Tunabros]

torpor + spear of fate + pet + haste + dot a bunch of shit

oh and buff yourself

boom you a solo god now

there's more to this if you want to solo +6 dragons or do vilefang solos (check out shamwowwi's videos!), but yeah that's basically it