question about shaman's slam

[TastyBunny]

dose this 1skill slam useful for interrupting casting?
In my newbish eye shaman doesn't appear to have an interrupting ability otherwise so little concerned about this slam

and is shaman fun? it looks fun to me so considering shaman as second chr but not sure whether it is really fun or just my newb eye has been deceieved

[DeathsSilkyMist]

dose this 1skill slam useful for interrupting casting?
In my newbish eye shaman doesn't appear to have an interrupting ability otherwise so little concerned about this slam

and is shaman fun? it looks fun to me so considering shaman as second chr but not sure whether it is really fun or just my newb eye has been deceieved

Yes, slam can interrupt spellcasters. You are correct, Shamans sadly do not have a lot of ways to interrupt casters. Getting resist gear and powering through is usually your best bet.

Please take a look at my Youtube channel in my signature and see if you like how Shaman plays. Note that I have Torpor, so Shamans will play a bit differently until you hit 60.

As a heads up, the first 23 levels of a Shaman can be a bit dull, especially if you are untwinked. Once you hit 24 you'll get cannibalize and Regen.

I think Shamans are quite fun.

[Snaggles]

With a skill of 1 it’s certainly more of a dice toss. Later on though it can be helpful to slam from the side or behind the npcs so they can’t dodge/parry/block/riposte.

Many hands make light work. If you can potentially interrupt a spell caster it’s often good to toss your dice; shamans usually slow close to the NPC anyways so the melees don’t have to chase it. When playing my Paladin, I’m always trying to bash and stun but it’s a welcome (and noticeable) thing when the team is trying to help.

[sajbert]

Bash works, sometimes. Interrupt isn't really a thing on p99, some classes can cast stun but many don't even bother memorizing these spells even if they have situational uses.

Shaman is a class that benefits greatly from the time you invest into the class.

You can level 1-60 solo even untwinked or group. At 60 with all the spells you can solo some of the toughest soloable content. However, shamans can't really split mobs and camps well and because of that are more restricted than Enchanters.

The 1-34 experience is pretty rough, but it's always going to be rough untwinked on p99 except for maybe bards.

Shamans more or less fight in 2 styles:

- Root and dot and watch mobs rot. With Epic you can root and dot multiple mobs.

- Slow mob and melee with maybe adding dots into the mix. At 60 you get Torpor allowing you to heal a LOT whilst attacking and cannibalizing back mana for the next Torpor.

Outside of those styles shamans have access to buffs and in raids mostly buff and cast Torpor. Not exciting but it's honest work.

Personally I'm on the fence if I like shamans or not. Certainly less stressful than Enchanter and not as restricted to undead content as a Necromancer.

[Snaggles]

Interrupt isn't really a thing on p99

It depends on the definition of interruption, this can mean:

1. Movement interruption (I.e. push) = not still a thing at current. PC’s can always get hit enough where they fail to channel a spells.
2. Physical bash/slam interrupt: Works on most sub 55, not ogres, giants, dragons
3. Magic interrupt (stun, fear, mez, charm): Depends on npc type and spell type

Category 4 might be mana draining a NPC or interruption via dps burn. It doesn’t really count.

A shaman slam is a 2. category. It does work but it’s a chance of working. With enough people trying, it can stop a CH or gate from most npcs. I would always commend a shaman for trying to slam off a spell…it’s likely not at a detriment to the group.

[loramin]

TLDR; Slam is not a major feature of (large) Shaman. It's something you'll rarely even remember to use at higher levels, and even when you do it won't work reliably ... but if you're lucky it can be helpful in clutch situations when battling a caster.

Personally, I took it off my action bar by 60 at least, and probably long before (but it's been so long I don't remember). Still, every once in a blue moon when I'm soloing a caster, I'll SHIFT + 2 and use it from my second action pane.

[zelld52]

I will use Slam in "oh sh**" situations, ie:

im grouped, and the mob is gating and resisted the enchanter mez / stun.
im soloing and mob is healing itself

as others have said its not something youll have on your actions bar - and its not reliable, but its better than nothing

[Nickelback8469]

Shaman Slam is very useful in my experience on shaman, especially while leveling. It's your main tool to interrupt NPCs casting, and even if unreliable I've still had it save me a lot of grief. I always keep it on my action bar.

As far as how fun is shaman? It's not for everyone, but it's still my favorite class. It's strong in groups and solo, it functions well without any gear but scales incredibly well if you're willing to sink a lot of plat into it. It starts strong, starts to drag in the late 20's but picks back up at 34 when you get your pet. Just be ready to drop a ton of plat into your gear and spell book by the end game.

[WarpathEQ]

At high levels I find slam to be incredibly consistent and effective in interrupting caster mobs, mostly relevant if you run into a mob that CHs where the fight will be effectively infinite without interrupt, with CH long cast time you can get 2 slam attempts in and almost 100% success rate in interrupting the cast.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

At high levels I find slam to be incredibly consistent and effective in interrupting caster mobs, mostly relevant if you run into a mob that CHs where the fight will be effectively infinite without interrupt, with CH long cast time you can get 2 slam attempts in and almost 100% success rate in interrupting the cast.

I still use slam on casters as well at 60. Doesn't hurt to try, and interrupting a CH is great.

[TastyBunny]

Yes, slam can interrupt spellcasters. You are correct, Shamans sadly do not have a lot of ways to interrupt casters. Getting resist gear and powering through is usually your best bet.

Please take a look at my Youtube channel in my signature and see if you like how Shaman plays. Note that I have Torpor, so Shamans will play a bit differently until you hit 60.

As a heads up, the first 23 levels of a Shaman can be a bit dull, especially if you are untwinked. Once you hit 24 you'll get cannibalize and Regen.

I think Shamans are quite fun.

Thanks you for reply
I'll make sure to check your videos before decision

[TastyBunny]

At high levels I find slam to be incredibly consistent and effective in interrupting caster mobs, mostly relevant if you run into a mob that CHs where the fight will be effectively infinite without interrupt, with CH long cast time you can get 2 slam attempts in and almost 100% success rate in interrupting the cast.

damn it you've ruined everything
Now I have to invent 3 more reasons to pick lizard over ogre

[TastyBunny]

Jokes aside, thanks everyone for reply
It seems consensus about slams effectiveness is little contradicting.
I really need to see it in action I guess.

good day to you all, sir

[Duik]

Relative effectiveness could be down to user skill. Now im not trying to insult anyone but someone who doesnt just mash bash and tries to time it may have more *luck* interrupting.

Same as a stun class specifically trying to interupt a casting npc waiting for cast animation/particle effects before casting fast stun.
Again not trying to derail/insult anyone. But it could explain contradictory experiences.

Additionally interupting a CH is more important than interupting an npc self buffing or casting dispel on tank.

[Nickelback8469]

Jokes aside, thanks everyone for reply
It seems consensus about slams effectiveness is little contradicting.
I really need to see it in action I guess.

good day to you all, sir


Relative effectiveness could be down to user skill. Now im not trying to insult anyone but someone who doesnt just mash bash and tries to time it may have more *luck* interrupting.

Exactly as Duik points out. There's always going to be some RNG, but the effectiveness of Slam is going to differ drastically between someone just spamming it off cooldown in the mob's face, versus someone that's paying attention to the logs, seeing when the mob starts to cast, moving into position behind the target, and then bashing.

Plus, people are more likely to remember the times that Slam failed to interrupt a cast and are more likely to dismiss all the previous times they successfully interrupted.

[Drueric]

When did shamans get slam?

[Duik]

When barbarians, trolls and ogres could become shaman.

[kjs86z2]

I never found it good enough to use. Plus I'd rather just be an AoN skelly.

Torpor > all

[WarpathEQ]

Relative effectiveness could be down to user skill. Now im not trying to insult anyone but someone who doesnt just mash bash and tries to time it may have more *luck* interrupting.

Same as a stun class specifically trying to interupt a casting npc waiting for cast animation/particle effects before casting fast stun.
Again not trying to derail/insult anyone. But it could explain contradictory experiences.

Additionally interupting a CH is more important than interupting an npc self buffing or casting dispel on tank.

Good point, 100% there is little to no effectiveness to just hitting slam on cooldown. Have it available in your abilities tooltip, watch for your target mob begins casting a spell message, immediately click slam, if no interrupt prepare to click it again immediately on cooldown if time before casting is complete (should be able to get off 2 slam attempts per CH cast).

More advanced would be understanding the spell effects so you know which spell the mob is casting and save slams for only spells that must be interrupted i.e. CH. One thing I run into sometimes is the slam works, interrupts the spell, but then the mob casts another spell before slam cooldown wears off. So sometimes an effective slam could be a negative if you interrupt a non-detrimental spell and the mob is able to get off a detrimental one in its place.

I would venture to say that, as someone who exclusively uses slam while mobs are casting, that each slam click in my experience has had a roughly 50-75% success rate of interrupting (so when used properly getting 2 attempts of slam against a CHing mob its extremely rare that you don't interrupt the CH).

[Snaggles]

With 1 skill unless you have bash as a skill to raise it’s always gonna do like 1 damage max. Agreed, save it.

As annoying as it is, EQ is a team sport. On your own a lucky slam could save you tons of mana or health, if they are casting a nuke or CH. In a group or raid it might stop a gater who will wipe the entire lot of you.

IMHO, if you can interupt and are inches from the mob people are fighting, try to stop those spells. If not or you are lazy, at least cast your distance stuns when they get to low health (if they can be stunned). If not, try to burn them out at 10-20% with everyone else.