27 shaman here. When does it get better at soloing?

[suljak]

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

Would the centaur merchant just SW of treants not sell to Iksar? That was incredibly convenient for my ogre. When you get too weighed down in junk currency, just buy/sell some Great Staffs at a small loss and keep on farming.

Yes, both the centaur merchant and the aviak merchant will sell/buy from an Iksar.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Since you are on blue, this is easier to solve. From levels 1-40, it is usually better to melee on a Shaman instead of using your DoTs. You correctly point out that Shaman damage spells are pretty bad early on.

You should haste yourself, slow the enemy, and melee the mob to death. This will be more mana efficient than using your DoTs, since you are only spending mana on slow and maybe malo if they are resisting your slows. Healing yourself after tanking the damage is also generally more mana efficient, since it cannot be resisted, unlike your DoTs.

Here is a list by level of what you should get weapon wise. This changes after certain levels due to the damage caps designed to limit how powerful a weapon is. Shamans use the Priest Table found here: https://wiki.project1999.com/Game_Me...bat_and_Damage

Levels 1-9: https://wiki.project1999.com/Smoldering_Brand
Levels 10-19: https://wiki.project1999.com/Guard_Captain%60s_Mallet (If you want to be lazy and stick to Smoldering brand until level 20, you probably could do that. If you want an upgrade, this is about the best you can get for cheap).
Levels 20-29: https://wiki.project1999.com/Poison_Wind_Censer
Levels 30-45: https://wiki.project1999.com/Granite_Face_Grinder

To farm the money for your weapon, go to Misty Thicket and kill Halfling Guards at the wall. They are good XP too until level 40. Deputy Felp and Deputy Looh are alone at the opposite ends of the wall, and should be fairly easy for you to do. They drop a 10pp spear 100% of the time, and are on a 6 minute timer.

When you need to sell, you can sell in Runneye if you haven't killed any Goblins in Runneye since the 2.0 revamp. There are a few merchants near the bottom of the zone, as well as a banker. You should be apprehensive to the merchants. The banker is on a different faction, but he won't attack you as long as you don't sit down in the banker room. You can bank at a banker even if they con scowling ready to attack. I would bind at the merchant and gate whenever I was full on spears. You should become very familiar with the layout of Runneye, and be able to run out fast back to the wall.

EDIT: Also buy a cheap haste item, like https://wiki.project1999.com/Silver_Chitin_Hand_Wraps . At level 29 you get your first haste spell, https://wiki.project1999.com/Quickness . With gloves and Quickness you will have 52% haste, which is pretty nice at level 29.

[Christina.]

It'll get easier at 34.

[Sinbillibnis]

From my experience, Gozuk and DeathsSilkyMist comments are spot on. For a lot of people getting a fungi or epic "early" can be difficult or even completely out of reach. When I hit 46 and got a jbb, I went from a slow, but steady solo'er, to feeling completely overpowered. A jbb, while not cheap should be significantly more attainable for most, excluding lizards of course.

There are milestones where the class has noticeable improvements in it's ability to solo: canni, pet, and once you get access to stronger slows, soloing becomes much more manageable.

For the most part you won't melt mobs, but you can sustain a steady grind as well asjust about any class after you get a pet and canni. This requires a more active play style, making use of global cool downs and being aware of server tick timing.

A fungi, epic, and/or jbb on its own can be game changing. With 2 of the 3 you are incredibly strong. If you have all 3, in my opinion, most normal content you would think for exp'ing purposes would be largely trivialized.

[kjs86z]

At 34 you can get surprisingly good XP charming animals.

Then at 39 you get canni 2, chloro, an even better pet, and a great slow where you / your pet can start tanking hardly taking much damage.

Keep at it, you're almost to the promised land!

[xaix1999]

don't listen to any one telling you to get a jbb or fungi or epic
you can't use them (except the fungi) for 20 levels at least

I'm an iksar but i got lucky and bought a scaled mystic set for cheap
I've been collecting and selling drops for a bit
I'm currently 36 and i got <100 str and stam with 174 wis
at 34 the pet is nice but most of the time hits for <28
which isn't bad since almost free damage and doesn't break charm

the real trick with wis shamans (I'm conjuration specc'd, i solo mostly) is planning your diseases and poisons
there will be slow levels like 29 wasn't super awesome for me
but at 34 i got a great disease spell and had a decent poison
24 you get canni so you can get your canni ticks while canni dancing
you will be a root/rot class for a while if not the rest of your levels
shamans that go melee usually have another character that farmed money to Twink out their shaman
it's not needed

if you are trying to be a wisdom shaman, at 24 you can group very well
at 29 you become more helpful in groups since you can haste your melee group mates
at 24 you can go to guk or even unrest, which both can keep you busy till at least 40
with shamans you can be one of two players
melee with fists full of cash
or a wis shaman that knows how to play their class and even experiments

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by xaix1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

shamans that go melee usually have another character that farmed money to Twink out their shaman
it's not needed

You do not need to be heavily twinked to be a melee Shaman. You only need a good ratio weapon, a haste item, and a slow spell. You will get your first haste spell at 29, which will further increase your DPS.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Poison_Wind_Censer and https://wiki.project1999.com/Silver_Chitin_Hand_Wraps cost no more than 1.5k combined. Maybe cheaper if you get lucky.

It is very easy to farm 1.5k by the time you hit level 25, even if this is your first toon. Just kill Halfling Guards at the Misty Thicket wall for a bit. If you just camp Deputy Felp (single pull, level 25), you will make 100pp an hour, and get good xp. Once you hit level 27, you should be able to do Felp and Looh (single pull, level 27), which will double your pp per hour.

At low levels, Shaman DoTs are sadly just not very good. However, Shamans do get a maximum of 200 weapon skill by level 50. That is the same as a warrior! The only downside is Shamans use the Priest damage table, instead of the melee damage table. But that is made up for by the fact that Shamans can haste themselves, and STR buff themselves.

Melee Shamans will out DPS a root/rot Shaman at low levels with a good weapon and haste item, and you save more mana. This is because you aren't casting as many spells, and your spells are getting resisted less. You simply need to cast slow on the enemy, maybe a malo, and maybe a root. Your haste, str buff, and healing spells cannot be resisted by yourself.

The melee strategy works quite well up until level 40. Once you hit 40, monsters get a considerable boost to their HP, AC, and damage. This is where melee starts to fall off, since you are getting hit much harder, and missing more.

[xaix1999]

some levels your poison does better
some levels your disease does better

[xaix1999]

like i said

Originally Posted by xaix1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

melee with fists full of cash

with my first character i didnt have 500p for a weapon or 1k for a haste item
so i understand

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by xaix1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

with my first character i didnt have 500p for a weapon or 1k for a haste item
so i understand

Yes, I agree you may not be able to do the melee strategy very well under level 25 if this is your first toon, due to money camps being more scarce at low levels.

However, OP is level 27, so he can easily farm 1.5kpp on Halfling Guards, while getting good XP. Once he gets the 1.5kpp, he will be able to level significantly faster with https://wiki.project1999.com/Poison_Wind_Censer and https://wiki.project1999.com/Silver_Chitin_Hand_Wraps .