How is the life of a shaman?

[Byrjun]

I agree with a lot of things here.

First of all, don't be an Iksar. They're a great race for lots of classes but shaman isn't one of them. JBB and the JB BP clickies are still very useful in Velious, and Iksar can't use those. You also don't get slam, and the lowest starting stamina. If you want regen go Troll, although I personally think Ogre is your best choice.

As far as the class itself, it's very weak for a long time. Shamans are not too great in classic (1-50). The things that make shamans good are:

1) Easy epic that you can theoretically complete at 46, which essentially power levels you to 60 with a 1300 point dot over 1.5 minutes. Root rot the world.

2) JBB is about 31 dps without the cost of mana.

3) 75% slow at level 51 and vendored, coupled with unresistable MR debuff at 60.

4) Great melee / defensive abilities.

5) Torpor is the best budget heal in the game. You get 1200-1500 hp for 200 mana. Coupled with an ability that exchanges your hp for mana, shamans also get the best mana regen in the game. The two problems with that are a) shaman spells are generally mana expensive, and b) it's not passive regen like FT or clarity, you have to constantly be casting these spells to keep up your regen. If there's a lot of things you need to do (lots of malos, slows, heals, buffs, etc.) then you're not getting the benefit of the super mana regen.

This means that once you're 60 with Torpor, if you want to play well you can't stop playing. This doesn't mean that you can't AFK like a normal person, but while you're actively playing you'll never sit and med again. You cast whatever you need to cast (debuffs/dps/buffs/heals) then start cannibalizing/torporing to regain that mana to cast more things. There's always something else you can be doing.

So, a shaman's powerful comes from the combination of great tanking ability (for a caster), an OP debuff (Turgur's Insects), an OP heal (Torpor), and manafree dps clickies (Epic/JBB). This makes you an excellent soloer once you get most/all of these things, but before that things aren't that great. You'll probably be reliant on groups until your low 50s at the least. You can solo, but it won't be as effective.

[Sularus Oth Mithas]

Just returned last week and I decided on a Shaman and he's up to 9 now. Having just returned obviously I don't have money to be buying the twink gear but it's been so long I don't even remember where I should be camping for it.

What places should I be looking at camping and for what items on the way up? Any info is appreciated, thanks!

[Lojik]

I think until level 10 isn't bad as shaman can melee reasonably well until then, and make sure to use inner fire to heal. 10-23 I think is the rough stretch. 29-34 is another tough stretch, but at level 39 solo life was easy for me, and 49+ you can solo with the best of them.

If you got the money get a fungi obviously, or at least a poison wind censer for level 20+ ( not sure how it is before 20)

If you decide to go troll I highly recommend going with cazic as god choice for clickie undead fear, as it will be super easy to solo slow moving undead like spectres, especially if you are like me and can't yet afford fungi/ epic mq/jbb.

[Danth]

Where do level 60 Shamans even find the time to use a jaundiced bone bracer? The wife doesn't have one (our characters are poor), but I don't see how she'd be able to effectively use it even if she did. She spends virtually every moment casting something as it is. It's probably the spammiest class in the game, even more so than a Bard.

As Webrunner said, it's a very expensive class. Even ignoring items, the high-level spells cost a great deal of platinum. Add items into the mix and it might be the most expensive class of all.

Shamans are almost unique in not having an actual bad choice for race--all four give good service. I wouldn't count the lack of Slam as a major disadvantage for Iksar. Slam is handy to have, sure, but ultimately it's not reliable enough to be counted as vital. The wolf pet probably interrupts monsters more often than Slam does. Most of the significant items an Iksar can't wear are expensive and therefore only relevant to the wealthier players.

I agree that the Shaman improves with every spell set. Even getting Walking Sleep at 14 helps since the upper teens is when monsters start to double attack. In a solo setting a shaman is more of a tank than the actual tank classes.

Note the level 39 slow seems to generate less hate than the 51 slow. This can be useful if you have a weak aggro class (Warrior or Monk) tanking for your group.

Danth

[Byrjun]

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

Just returned last week and I decided on a Shaman and he's up to 9 now. Having just returned obviously I don't have money to be buying the twink gear but it's been so long I don't even remember where I should be camping for it.

What places should I be looking at camping and for what items on the way up? Any info is appreciated, thanks!

The gear worth putting on a shaman is generally kinda expensive. Gatorscale leggings are respectable and soloable in your low 30s I think? Cloaked Dhampyre in MM is about the same, maybe a little higher, and drops the Hooded Black Cloak which will you last you awhile. There's some nice cheap things you can buy like Platinum Fire Wedding Rings (200-250pp) and Golden Jade Bracelets (50pp). In Karnors you can pick up Jarsath Scale Gauntlets and Legs for free. Dusty Rusted Vambraces are usually cheap (200) but people never loot them to sell usually since they're so heavy. If you're going to solo a lot though your money is probably better spent on a good melee weapon until you can finish your epic. Otherwise, save for expensive high end stuff (spells, JBB, fungi).

[Byrjun]

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

Where do level 60 Shamans even find the time to use a jaundiced bone bracer? The wife doesn't have one (our characters are poor), but I don't see how she'd be able to effectively use it even if she did. She spends virtually every moment casting something as it is. It's probably the spammiest class in the game, even more so than a Bard.

I'm not sure how to even answer this. It should be obvious the value of being able to do 31 dps without spending mana, so that it can be focused on healing/debuffing. This is especially useful when soloing.

Shamans are almost unique in not having an actual bad choice for race--all four give good service. I wouldn't count the lack of Slam as a major disadvantage for Iksar. Slam is handy to have, sure, but ultimately it's not reliable enough to be counted as vital. The wolf pet probably interrupts monsters more often than Slam does. Most of the significant items an Iksar can't wear are expensive and therefore only relevant to the wealthier players.

Sure, but what advantages do Iksars get? Regen, which Trolls also get. Trolls can also slam and use JBB/JBBP. Their starting stats are also much better. Slam is more reliable than you're giving it credit for, and it's controllable unlike pet bash.

Iksar is a bad choice, sorry.

[bhatz01]

Great insight guys.

Next question - as a shaman, particularly when soloing 50+, is it challenging to break camps?

Assuming you have something where there are 3-4 LB mobs. Do you root? A big part of soloing, especially the "Big Game" such as Frenzy, disco, efreeti etc (Which some of these may or may not be soloable by a shaman) is being able to break the camp alone.

Is this something a shaman can do well? Or are you looking at gating out half the time to retry?

[pharmakos]

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

I'm not sure how to even answer this. It should be obvious the value of being able to do 31 dps without spending mana, so that it can be focused on healing/debuffing. This is especially useful when soloing.

this.

my level 55 warrior averages only about 25dps and monk in my guild using a TStaff averages about 28dps on my parses (doesn't count his weapon procs)

[LiQuid]

The only thing that sucks about being a shaman is having to deal with the dozens of shaman twinks pushing up demand/price for shaman items and spells. Started Plush last year before this recent gold rush of people rolling one and I'm regretting not rushing to 60 and buying all my 55+ spells when I could have done it for half the price of what Torpor alone is going to eventually cost me now.

[Danth]

My opinion of slam is based on its effect in the content the wife and I do. She uses it a lot, but it misses more often than it hits and we certainly can't count on it as an interrupt. I agree that Iksar doesn't offer anything over Troll and could therefore be considered the worst Shaman race. However, dismissing it as a bad choice depends on your perspective. It's still a strong race in its own right-- it's not bad in the same sense that an Erudite Paladin is bad.

You call the jaundiced bone bracer more of a solo tool. Perhaps it is; I know little of high-end Shaman solo'ing. My perspective is from duo'ing with the wife, so perhaps the bracer shines in some situations but not in others. The wife is so busy most the time that I see no practical way she could sit there and spam an 8-second click item.

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Light blue mobs shouldn't hurt you too bad. High level root holds a very long time. Breaking camps of 3-4 light blues is therefore trivial. 6-7 such mobs is doable in some areas. Dark blues can become more problematic when resists and early root breaks come into play; you're not going to be solo'ing 4 sebilite juggernauts at a time.

On a different note, if you parse a level 55+ monk with a T-staff at 28 DPS, either you're counting time he isn't dealing damage (pulling, etc) or there's something wrong with your monk.

Danth