Best Shaman Race?

[Saker]

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

I'm surprised about the lack of Barbs. I'd have guessed they would be the most popular race for a shaman.

just started a Barbarian shaman yesterday, that starting area does suck... but the bottom line should always be what you're going to have fun with.

[Orruar]

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

I use it all the time at 60, especially when soloing summoning mobs or mobs with high MR/PR/DR or greens that I don't want to waste mana killing. Soloing/duoing would be much different and less efficient without JBB for sure, especially against certain mobs.

What high PR/DR mobs are you talking about? I solo'ed extensively in Kunark and old world and never met one that I wanted to use JBB on. About the only use I found was killing low green cons, but that's not a terribly common situation and Iksar aren't really missing out at 60.

One problem with JBB compared to dots + canni is interrupts. You waste vastly more time on push interrupts spamming JBB than you do with canni + dots. JBB cast time (8s) is equal to the delay of a slowed mob, so a mob is guaranteed to get 1 round of attacks in per JBB click. Dots are 6s, meaning you can cast them in between mob melee rounds. Even a 30% interrupt rate (pretty reasonable in my experience) leads to JBB spam being 1/2 the dps of dots + canni.

[Nikkanu]

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

What high PR/DR mobs are you talking about? I solo'ed extensively in Kunark and old world and never met one that I wanted to use JBB on. About the only use I found was killing low green cons, but that's not a terribly common situation and Iksar aren't really missing out at 60.

One problem with JBB compared to dots + canni is interrupts. You waste vastly more time on push interrupts spamming JBB than you do with canni + dots. JBB cast time (8s) is equal to the delay of a slowed mob, so a mob is guaranteed to get 1 round of attacks in per JBB click. Dots are 6s, meaning you can cast them in between mob melee rounds. Even a 30% interrupt rate (pretty reasonable in my experience) leads to JBB spam being 1/2 the dps of dots + canni.

Warlord Skarlon is one example I can think of. He likes to resist Pox / Bane ALOT even when Malosini'ed and he hits hard so it's good to get him dead quick. Over dozens of kills I experimented with different strategies and found that Epic + JBB spam lead to quicker kills overall and left me with alot more mana at the end of the fight and ensured I had more mana for torpors and re-slows.

I'm not telling anyone not to dot or just sit there spamming JBB and nothing else on every mob. It's all situational. There are often times that you can get extra JBBs in while dots are ticking when you don't need to canni. There are also times that you get unexpected adds and don't have the mana to dot... slow + epic + JBB is a nice option to have in those situations.

At the end of the day will JBB make or break a Shaman? Hell no. In fact once you get 60 and torpor it's not really that big of a deal. Shaman is one of the most powerful classes in the game with or without JBB. But with that said it's also a great tool that's very handy to have and one worth considering when making your character.

[Orruar]

Ah yeah, I remember him resisting pox/bane a decent amount, but never had problems keeping it up on him (just had to recast a couple ticks early). He's in manastone land, so mana was never an issue.

[SamwiseRed]

best shaman race is obviously vah shir idiots

[curtischoy]

Originally Posted by SamwiseRed

best shaman race is obviously vah shir idiots

Win

[Kelor]

Is slam a must have for shammy solo?

[eisley]

Slam is very nice for leveling, but it does NOT interrupt high level mobs. I think 50+ or 51+? This may only apply to Kunark+ as well. I don't know the exact details of how it works here, hopefully someone else can chime in.

It's good, but it falls off at the level 60 game.

[Clark]

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

You think JBB is still relevant at 60? I was under the impression that the prevailing opinion was that Torpor makes clicking JBB a poor use of time. Perhaps it's more important than I thought it was. It was never even an option for me so I don't have first hand experience.

You use JBB all the time if pro.

[Baler]

Ogre has Frontal Stun immunity and high str/stam on creation with okayish wisdom
Troll has regen and decent str/stam
Iksar has regen and the ac buff thingy
Barb has (Barbarian Spiritist`s Hammer) and can enter all the good / neutral cities

In velious shamans get:
level 30ish? Form of the Bear
all races brown bear.
Level 55 Form of the Great Bear:
Ogres into a Grizzly bear
Troll/Iksar into a Kodiak
Barbarians into a Polar Bear

IMO
I rolled a Barbarian myself. Ogres are big, ugly, stinky & dumb. Trolls are alright in my book but I enjoy the freedom to run into good/neutral cities. (may reroll a troll in the future for the fun of it) Last but who cares, Iksar.

Troll is probably the best race. Cannibalism dance will benefit just that little extra bit from the health regen. oh I guess you could go iksar, I guess. meh
Don't play Ogre. People who play ogre are the people you see in Walmart in their pajamas.