100% agree, gnOme warriors pwn~

Tokum- 14 gnOme Cleric

I wouldn't make a Barbarian. Worst stats and not many benefits.

Ogre is the best shaman race. They have the best stats and stun immunity is the single most OP race advantage in EverQuest. I'm not 100% sure how well it works here, but this was definitely the case on live.

Trolls are better than Barbarians but a bit overrated. The snare necklace was much better on live when the snare effect actually allowed you to kite a bit. Here it's practically useless and on both versions of EQ gets less useful as you gain levels. Regeneration is the same way, great early on, hardly noticeable later on. Trolls are a bit better than Ogres in the early levels, but I'm assuming you'll want to play until 50 and beyond. Highest racial penalty in the game is bad as well.

About being evil: it's a minor inconvenience and at times a convenience. The majority of high end dungeons in classic are situated closest to evil cities (Guk, Solb). There's really not many important quests you won't be able to complete. Honestly the worst thing you'll miss out on are the level 1-12 Qeynos newbie quests that can net the best exp in the game. Past that, not a big deal. You could complete the Paw quest even, although that's not a great shaman item.

Shaman are technically a chain class. However they are unique in that most of their high end armor is plate. When it comes to tradeskilled armor, banded is as far as you can go. However, Totemic, Rune Etched, and Jaundiced Bone are plate. There are some "in between" chain/plate pieces such as Rubicite and the Vindi Breastplate/Boots which shaman can use.

What? What about ornate? What about cultural?

Barbarian's don't necessarily have the worst stats...

Having innate high wisdom, at least come kunark, will mean you get the luxury of slapping AC/hp/dex/managear on in certain places without the worry of achieving that "175" wisdom magical number. Strength is unnecessary for a shaman and the return on +stamina isn't as high as a pure tank so you're almost always better off with +hp gear than you are with stamina. Basically, stuff all your points into wisdom, you won't regret that decision when you realize just how much more HP you will have and how much easier it is to get around 170-180wis, even as an evil race.

In terms of gear, iksar shamans are the one race that gets shafted. They can't wear rune-etched and they can't equip JBB, or any jaundiced, actually. The +regen is the same as trolls but iksars get an AC boost, which is great, but unfortunately you'll likely be wearing lower AC gear anyway because of the armor restrictions (at least until they throw iksar armor into the planes).

Trolls have the natural regen which means you have a higher mana regen, and ogres frontal stun immunity (when it comes into play) will be incredible. The troll snare necklace is an overrated item that shouldn't determine the race you pick.

Barbs get the barb hammer, which is basically a JBB for summoning mobs. It doesn't get worse during kunark, it actually gets better. With the dex buffs and dex gear (230dex) I can proc an incredible amount of times per battle and have actually melee solo'd hate/fear trash on my shaman, backing up only to heal. When torpor comes along the need for backing off to heal is negated unless you really grabbed something that you can't handle. But the hammer is just like the snare necklace, something to consider as a bonus and not a reason to pick the race. Barb shamans don't really have any bonuses going for them other than the wisdom boost and not being evil, but imo they look the best and that's quite frankly what matters the most =P

Above all shammies are incredibly gear dependent, so the troll regen and even the ogre stun immunity is trumped by the amount of platinum in your bank, the spells in your spell book and the amount of raid loot you have on you. If you think you can start a shaman, get him to 60 during velious and just start soloing dragons you're sadly mistaken :P

It's not ogre-specific gear I'm talking about, it's the stun immunity. It will be ogre shamans soloing guardian wurms and Lodizal, not trolls, not barbarians. The stun immunity is literally a tipping point. Shamans become the most badass soloers in Kunark and remain so in Velious. If you don't care about that, be a barbarian or a troll. That barbarian hammer is very nice for adding melee dps in classic if you're most interested in short term advantages.

But make no mistake: ogre shamans can do things trolls and barbarians can never do. You will also need to master the ability to step back into original position after knockback in order to channel your spells.

Skope gives bad advice. There's no magic 175 wis number. In a top raid guild I don't think I broke 200 wisdom as a Barb until PoP, cause come Kunark wisdom is pretty useless and stamina is the single best numerical stat for a shaman. Ogres get the most stamina, and Barbarians the least, hence Ogre > Troll > Barbarian in regards to starting stats.

Barbarians can solo guardian wurms and shit if they're badasses but it's definitely easier as an ogre.

Just to clarify, i played an iksar shaman on live and during velious, even as an iksar shaman i was able to solo some of the velious dragons and even lodi (this was without a JBB). Ogre stun immunity is nice, but it is most definitely not required. The "175" number i'm referring to is the number that was thrown around in the shaman boards during kunark/velious and even PoP as an optimal number for your wisdom. With ~175 wis you had enough to malo/slow and toss DoTs/torpors accordingly while still giving you enough room to focus on your ac/hp/melee stats and resists. During kunark reaching that number wasn't difficult and allowed for gear choices (dumping your eboots for tribals, for example).

Don't neglect wisdom. You're a shaman, not a necromancer or druid. Your fights will be prolonged and if you melee you won't have the luxury of sitting down and watching it die. Expect to burn 50-100% mana depending on what you're taking down and if it has lots of HP you'd better believe having enough mana to torpor yourself back up is critical.

As for the barbarian spiritist's hammer...

It's a great weapon. It allows you to put out decent DPS while melee'ing (i've been known to proc 7-8x in a row and frequently steal aggro from tanks =P ). But it brings up a point that hasn't been made: your melee damage sucks. Nearly all of your melee DPS should come from procs. Your melee is there essentially to keep the DoT's working at 100% -- as opposed to the reduced dot damage from a moving or unrooted mob. Weapons like howling harpoon (stun), icewurm fang (~120DD iirc), barb spiritist's hammer (264dd), and blight (procs DoT scourge, 500dmg) allow you to toss in some DPS/stuns without the need to burn mana, allowing you to focus on debuffs/dots and torpor.

Barbarians are clearly the best choice... Ogres and Trolls look really bad in all of our gear, imo.

If you're not a Barbarian Shaman, you're wrong!

Don't take advice from anyone who thinks sitting down would be a "luxury" for a shaman.