Solo and group advice for a new shaman?

[Morti]

I just started playing P99 and rolled a barbarian shaman (currently lvl 14).

After reading a couple of posts, guides and watching some videos, I'm still unsure if I am going about this the right way.

Question: What is the most efficient way to solo and how do I best support a group at my level?

Solo: Do you root/rot or do you facetank(?) with slow?

Group: buff the group with dex/agi, slow the mobs and heal in between fights?

Also, I see people advocating for drowsy/inner fire (until you get heal) as they are more mana efficient?

P.S. Yes, I know the join date says "Jun 2015", but I dropped the game back then only to return now =)

[Infectious]

Over under 20+ pages? I'm saying over.

[long.liam]

I just started playing P99 and rolled a barbarian shaman (currently lvl 14).

After reading a couple of posts, guides and watching some videos, I'm still unsure if I am going about this the right way.

Question: What is the most efficient way to solo and how do I best support a group at my level? It depends on level. At low levels just save your mana for healing and nuking fleeing mobs. This changes as you get higher level and your dots become more efficient and slow spells become more neccessary, mobs at higher level hit a lot harder.

Solo: Do you root/rot or do you facetank(?) with slow? Both can be options at higher levels, not at your level.

Group: buff the group with dex/agi, slow the mobs and heal in between fights? The most important buffs at high level would be HP, AC, Haste, Regen, Sow. Not neccesarilly in that order. At low levels though I would stick cast sow on everyone and HP/AC if needed and thats it. Most level buffs don't last very long and do very little to improve performance. Just save mana for heals and occasional nukes.

Also, I see people advocating for drowsy/inner fire (until you get heal) as they are more mana efficient? Yep. Inner fire is your most efficient heal for awhile. Drowsy sucks. Don't bother with slow at low level.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I just started playing P99 and rolled a barbarian shaman (currently lvl 14).

After reading a couple of posts, guides and watching some videos, I'm still unsure if I am going about this the right way.

Question: What is the most efficient way to solo and how do I best support a group at my level?

Solo: Do you root/rot or do you facetank(?) with slow?

Group: buff the group with dex/agi, slow the mobs and heal in between fights?

Also, I see people advocating for drowsy/inner fire (until you get heal) as they are more mana efficient?

P.S. Yes, I know the join date says "Jun 2015", but I dropped the game back then only to return now =)

For soloing:

If you have a good weapon like Poison Wind Censor and a cheap haste item, you should melee mobs until level 40 or so. Use slow to reduce the damage you take. Haste yourself and use your pet when you get those spells. Root adds off to the side so you can deal with them one at a time.

Once you hit 45 (if you are not an iksar), you can use the strategy above, but spam JBB instead of fully relying melee. JBB can take you to 60. If you are Iksar or don't have JBB, root rot to 60.

If you can get Epic before 60 then it will help you level faster, but prioritize getting Torpor first. If you buy Epic to level but are broke at 60 without Torpor, you will have a slow grind to get Torpor. Its better to be 60 with Torpor and no Epic instead of 60 with Epic and no Torpor.

[zelld52]

Question: What is the most efficient way to solo and how do I best support a group at my level?


Whoooooa whooa that's a loaded question. Be careful with that kind of talk around here. How many APMs can you clock? What's your fast-muscle twitch speed like? Are you on Ridalin or any other uppers? Do you like to AFK or will you pee in a bottle? Need to know all of these before the experts here calculate the most efficient way to solo.


Solo: Do you root/rot or do you facetank(?) with slow?

I face-tanked with slow. Had a Poison Wind Censor (and upgraded to Granite Face Grinder at 30). Slow tanked until 45 or so.


Group: ...

I'll stop you right there. Don't group. I've found shaman are kinda dreadful in group. You'll spend most your time re-buffing and cannibalizing if you wanna be a tryhard about it.


Also, I see people advocating for drowsy/inner fire (until you get heal) as they are more mana efficient?

I'm a drowsy advocate. I used it all the way until 45 when I stopped face-tanking. Drowsy is very low mana, and is guaranteed 25% damage reduction.

For heals, I thought all the heals sucked. Bind Wound and Regeneration/Chloroplast was the best heal. In trouble in a fight? Root the mob, back up and bind wound. Get back in there tiger, start smushing again.

Have fun. Play how you wanna play. Shaman is a very versatile class and there's 1000 ways to play

[Jimjam]

When soloing if you be mindful of how your are spending your hp and mana consider what the return on those investments were then you’ll gain insight on what is effective.

I particularly pay attention to how much hp was lost, whether slow would have saved more hp than its mana spent could have healed, whether my dots finished or had to be recast and if i could reduce fight length by nuking to reduce hp lost / save recovery time.

Shaman is pretty good that they can use lots of combos to solo so as long as you find a way you enjoy you’ll be successful even if it isn’t thr most cutting edge efficient way.

[eqravenprince]

Question: how do I best support a group at my level?


1. Sow, heal. Inner fire is fine for healing as it is more mana efficient. Light healing cast quicker however and heals for more. If you need to heal someone quickly, then alternate between inner fire and light healing. And if you are really energetic and wanting to be as efficient as possible, you heal in between med ticks.
2. Buff with any AC and/or HP buffs
3. If full mana, strength buff
4. If full mana, nuke when mob is at 60-70% health

[fortior]

I'll stop you right there. Don't group. I've found shaman are kinda dreadful in group. You'll spend most your time re-buffing and cannibalizing if you wanna be a tryhard about it.

Disregard everything this person says forever, OP

[Toxigen]

Disregard everything this person says forever, OP

yep

as a shaman your first priority is to make friends with twink melees, preferably monks and warriors but ranger/SK/paladin can fill in if desperate

duo life best life - trying to buff 2-3 melees is a pain...just find 1 chill twink and profit

[zelld52]

OP didnt say duo/trio, OP said group. And that's what a shaman is in group. 75% cannibalize, 15% slow and 10% rebuffing

[Toxigen]

weird necro but ok whatever you say bub

[Snaggles]

Your solo strategy changes over time with access to new spells and items. Very briefly though…
Early levels = melee, poison dot, maybe slow, heal with Inner Fire
Mid levels = Same thing but slow works better, you have a pet, regen and canni-dance
Alt Mid Levels = you might root/rot with disease and you have more than one npc to kill…or slow/pet and kill that way.
Higher levels = epic or JBB, slow and root. Regen and canni-dance mana back or canni down and AFK a bit
60 = torp changes everything. Lots of clicking and slow kills. It’s a marathon.

Grouping:
Early levels = Buffs don’t last long or help much. Basically you melee, spot heal and inner fire heal after the fight
Mid levels = buff, slow, maybe haste, heal
High levels = buff, maybe haste, slow, likely won’t heal. Might JBB or epic click.
60 = same as High level but likely will torp heal unless you have a cleric. Won’t haste if you have an enchanter or likely with a bard.

[Bardp1999]

Solo as a shaman sucks until you get your epic and Paralyzing Earth at 56. Its grueling before that, and very easy after that. Dont care what anyone else says

[Toxigen]

Solo as a shaman sucks until you get your epic and Paralyzing Earth at 56. Its grueling before that, and very easy after that. Dont care what anyone else says

DSM in T minus 5...

[Snaggles]

Solo as a shaman sucks until you get your epic and Paralyzing Earth at 56. Its grueling before that, and very easy after that. Dont care what anyone else says

Mid 40’s to low 50’s with a JBB is the most fun solo you can have for like 15k pp.

[Toxigen]

With so many melee twinks out there these days its hard to imagine actually wanting to solo on a shaman.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Soloing on a Shaman:

1. Use Silver Chitin Hand Wraps + Poison Wind Censor + Slow for the first 45 levels. Face tank the mob, melee the mob, and root adds off to the side. This is generally faster than root/rotting in early levels, because lower level Shaman DoTs don't have great damage to mana ratios. You can swap to Granite Face Grinder at 30 if you want a bit more DPS and some stats. Use your pet once you get it at 34.

2a. Once you are 45, if you are not an Iksar, switch to using JBB + Blight, Hammer of the Scourge. This combo can take you from 45-60. Anybody who claims that JBB isn't good past 52 doesn't know what they are talking about. Math disproves this claim quite easily. Slow the mob, melee with Blight, Hammer of the Scourge, spam JBB, and have your pet hitting the mob from behind. Root adds off to the side.

2b. Once you are 45, if you are an Iksar, you will need to switch to root/rotting from 45-60. Root the mob, slow the mob, send in your pet, and DoT the mob until dead. Canni Dance to restore your mana during the fight when you are not casting spells.

2c. Once you are 50, if you can afford Epic AND Torpor before level 60, you can use Epic to level from 50-60 instead of JBB or standard root/rotting. Epic will be the fastest leveling option if you can consistently kill 3+ mobs per fight. Root the mobs, apply Epic, and watch them die. You can use other DoTs and pet to speed up kills if you want, just don't end up causing yourself downtime between pulls due to low mana.

3. Save all your money for Torpor. If you have to choose between Torpor or Epic, pick Torpor. It's better to be level 60 with Torpor and no Epic, than level 60 with Epic and no Torpor. You can resell JBB if you need to once you reach 60 to help fund Torpor.

Try to get Fungi Tunic, Fungi Staff, and Black Fur Boots before level 60 if you can. Those will speed up your leveling process too. As with the JBB, you can resell them once you hit 60 to fund Torpor if needed. That is one major reason why you shouldn't blow all your money on Epic before you hit 60. You can't resell it, so you will need enough money for both Epic and Torpor before you hit 60 if you want to level with Epic.

[Gozuk]

Getting the upgraded root at level 56 was nice and all but it didn't make that big of a difference. I was just using my level 34 root or whatever it was until then for the longer duration

[enjchanter]

Whats the point of being in melee range if ur just spamming jbb ?
So you can auto attack once every 10 seconds for 30 dmg ?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Whats the point of being in melee range if ur just spamming jbb ?
So you can auto attack once every 10 seconds for 30 dmg ?

Direct Damage spells like JBB have an increased chance to break root. You're going to be face tanking anyway because of this. It's not really worth it to re-root a mob every few JBB casts.

In terms of DPS, you are getting around 6 DPS from Blight, Hammer of the Scourge when taking into account proc damage and white damage while spammng JBB. For reference, the 55 Shaman pet with haste is roughly 17 DPS and JBB is 32 DPS when spamming it.

[Snaggles]

There are some basics of playing a shaman that are either being missed or glossed over.

1.) Slow is an efficient way to mitigate incoming damage: It’s obvious but whether rooting, tanking, or having your pet tank it’s one of your few control spells. Every hit you take is a risk and at the very least it’s mana lost since the opportunity cost of hit points is being able to cannibalize

2.) Root is another way to mitigate incoming damage: It’s quick and if successful is extremely efficient…you go from taking damage to not. The only time rooting doesn’t make sense is if the npc will gate/ch, summons, or root is breaking in one server tick consistently (ie: most 55+ mobs)

3.) Your pet is marginal dps but again, a control tool: A slowed NPC attacking your pet will have its melee timer on cooldown the majority of the time. Less damage to the pet but also if root breaks and you are higher on the aggro list it’s very likely by the time it runs and reaches you the swing timer will still be on CD. That means you can root and back up before taking damage. Worst case you will take one round of damage, not two…again, less risk and at least less mana lost.

Outside stunt solo kills or green cons, a shaman should be prone to root often. Even with a JBB if root breaks on the first click you just got to nuke for 250+ for the cost of 30 mana, which is a screaming deal. Leveling up I would always root/slow and start clicking. Usually would get 2-3 before the first break…sometimes I’d get 5-6 clicks.

I wouldn’t mess around with a scourge hammer unless doing very slow stunt kills at 60. Even in Chardok it barely justifies the swap. It’s a slow drip dot so proc RNG combined with the timer means at best it’s like 4.5dps. If you really need the dps I prefer to burn a shaman DS potion which in Chardok is about 8dps even on a slowed mob. Or just do what most do and wait it out. Killing with a shaman using torp and your tools is watching paint dry…kick up your feet and just wait.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Blight, Hammer of the Scourge is good for leveling.

[bob_digi420]

yep

...just find 1 chill twink and profit


Were talking about EQ right? :D

[WarpathEQ]

Currently leveling a shammy just dinged lvl 40. Few quick highlights that should help.

1) Poison wind censor I find to be the best weapon/price until epic
2) Your pet is super OP at lower levels, prioritize getting your pet spells as soon as available
3) If soloing don't waste mana casting heal on yourself, keep regen on at all times and manage your HP by letting your pet tank at times (once you get your first one). Regen + Canni is mana positive everyone before those spell lines progress.
4) I find the most efficient way to kill is to spend your mana buffing yourself not nuking or dot'ing mobs, keep your buffs up and melee everything until atleast 45.