For a Shaman who wants to melee level, do I need to be Ogre/Troll?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Two very different things are being conflated: tanking (ie. standing in front of a mob and taking damage) and dealing melee damage. I can't speak for anyone else, but what I was saying is that Shamans or Clerics (or Druids) can't do meaningful melee damage after (something like) level 20.

And I stand by that statement; again, I used a weapon that doesn't even exist on P99 anymore (a Barbarian Spiritist's' Hammer prior to the proc nerf), and I still couldn't do significant damage relative to my other damage sources. My DoTs and my "best DoT" (ie. pet) just did more, at every level after (roughly) 20.

But I'm certainly not saying is "Shaman should never tank after level 20". Whether or not they should do that has everything to do with how hard the mob is hitting vs. how much mana it would cost to avoid those hits (eg. by rooting instead). And if you are tanking as part of your overall strategy, of course you want to hit the mob with something while you do. But again, that damage will be miniscule compared to what your DoTs/pet do.

This is incorrect. Shaman Melee damage is superior to Shaman DoTs until at least level 40. Shaman DoT DPM is low at lower levels, and they have a decent chance of getting resisted unless you use your resistance debuffs, which cost even more mana and can also be resisted. Healing is more mana efficient since it cannot be resisted, and does not need to be supplemented with other debuffs.

The reason why you had a bad experience with your Barbarian Spiritist Hammer is because the ratio sucks.

At level 34 with Quickness and Silver Chitin Hand Wraps you have 52% Haste. Your max weapon damage level 30+ on the Priest damage table is 26. A Granite face Grinder is a 26/23.7 with 52% Haste, which is a 1.1 ratio. The Spiritist Hammer is a 22/28.3, which is only a 0.78 ratio. You were doing 25% less white damage than you otherwise could have. The proc would not make up for that loss unless you got lucky with RNG.