Fellow shaman on Green

[Evets]

Play what's fun for you! I love a shammy in my group.

[shovelquest]

Its such a great legacy class:

Red Plate
Manastone
Cant be Dark Elf
Giant/Large Race

Its one legacy item above a druid for legacy coolness.

Runners up:

Ranger, Paladin, Monk, Ogre, Troll, Barb

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Grakken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd say, don't play a shaman. I'm a 50 shaman. But in no ideal group do you want a shaman. You're a poor man's healing option, a poor man's dps option.

Shaman's most min max best role in a group is prolly the tank. Drowsy spam for aggro, decent enough mitigation and a smaller XP penalty than Paly/SK/Ranger. Wars are teribad aggro.

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[cd288]

Many are playing them because in late game they become one of the best solo classes so people which use them to farm plat and loot.

[red_demonman]

Consider playing one if you don't mind setting up some awesome duos. Duos can be some of the best exp in the game and shammy pairs really well with a lot of other classes.

I've had a lot of success duoing with mages recently. Just drop a slow and sick both pets = profit. Duos open up some camp options that full groups don't (especially with how crowded it is in the upper level zones).

[Smellybuttface]

Originally Posted by Grakken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd say, don't play a shaman. I'm a 50 shaman. But in no ideal group do you want a shaman. You're a poor man's healing option, a poor man's dps option.

Shaman's most min max best role in a group is prolly the tank. Drowsy spam for aggro, decent enough mitigation and a smaller XP penalty than Paly/SK/Ranger. Wars are teribad aggro.

Definitely not. No parry, no riposte, max 75 dodge; yes you can get aggro, but no one wants you to with such low mitigation. Warriors might not be great at getting aggro compared to the knight classes or even a Ranger, but I’d much rather just cast root on the mob and let the War tank it over a Shaman. To put it in perspective, a Rogue is a far better tank than a Shaman.

Shaman best role is off-healer/utility (can be a decent main healer if they stay up on Canni-dancing/regen). Malo, slowing mobs 40+, moderate nuking ability.

[Siege]

Shamans are a sought-after secondary support because they bring more to the table than Druids. They obviously bring unique stat buffs, but they also bring slow and haste, which is useful if there isn't an Enchanter or Bard in the group. Their pet, while weak, is mana-free sustained DPS, and their nukes aren't terrible if there's already plenty of healing. They're also more effective than Druids at main or off healing because of Cannibalize and (eventually) Torpor.

Basically, a good Shaman is rarely considered a waste of a slot. They're similar to Bard in that they can be slotted into almost any group and figure out something useful to do.

[DMN]

Originally Posted by Siege [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Shamans are a sought-after secondary support because they bring more to the table than Druids. They obviously bring unique stat buffs, but they also bring slow and haste, which is useful if there isn't an Enchanter or Bard in the group. Their pet, while weak, is mana-free sustained DPS, and their nukes aren't terrible if there's already plenty of healing. They're also more effective than Druids at main or off healing because of Cannibalize and (eventually) Torpor.

Basically, a good Shaman is rarely considered a waste of a slot. They're similar to Bard in that they can be slotted into almost any group and figure out something useful to do.

Rather have a druid if necro or enchanter can charm. Then you can have a max hasted dual wielding machine of devastation permanently ensnared. Kill things fast is the most efficient healing.

[Grakken]

Originally Posted by Smellybuttface [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Definitely not. No parry, no riposte, max 75 dodge; yes you can get aggro, but no one wants you to with such low mitigation. Warriors might not be great at getting aggro compared to the knight classes or even a Ranger, but I’d much rather just cast root on the mob and let the War tank it over a Shaman. To put it in perspective, a Rogue is a far better tank than a Shaman.

Shaman best role is off-healer/utility (can be a decent main healer if they stay up on Canni-dancing/regen). Malo, slowing mobs 40+, moderate nuking ability.

I've tanked efreeti, fire giants, frenzy, lord, nobles. Mitigation differences are near meaningless, the true advantage of warriors and knights are their health pools for CHeal efficiency. Fully buffed I'm at 2400 hp while a warrior is around 3200 iirc. Remeber a shaman tank on xp mobs casts slows for aggro which generally aren't cast otherwise.

Shaman start off okay at healing but suck by end game. Their nukes are meh and lackluster in efficiency. Malo is only worth casting on charm pet. Slows are too much mana for how fast mobs die. At every turn another class is better than shaman. All these things added together make a good solo class. But, they are really terrible for groups. OP is only interested in groups. Play a cleric or Bard. You will always get a group.

[dareo]

I played a shaman in classic, it was great, chose Enc this time. Shaman is a lot of clicking and i believe its overplayed today. You can solo really hard mobs if you have to. I root kited a red con named in rather mtns once, took 45 mins using the disease dots but i got it killed. Didn't drop anything. If you have some good gear and pull with slow you can take a beating while dps classes do their thing. In classic/kunark era i never had trouble finding a group when i wanted it or being able to root rot stuff when i was just popping on for a bit.