Hello everyone.
I am planning on playing elemental shaman, but I also love healing. I have never played vanilla (just a bit on private servers) but from what I remember once you respec to Restoration you're stuck being the healer and you can't do world PVE stuff for example.
I am not a hardcore player so I am not planning on sitting in raids/dungeons all the time and basically want to do as much as I can. PVP, PVE, wandering around etc.
Is it possible to have a hybrid build that is OK with me killing mobs in the world as well as helping with healing in dungeons/PVP and maybe raids.

TLDR: I like healing but I don't want to only be able to heal.

Thanks and see you in Azeroth!

Hey,

Yea I heard it is typically possible to run an Elemental/Resto spec like this: https://www.bobo-talents.com/?c=shaman& ... y4y5y6y7y8

I'm not a Shaman, but I always see those pesky shamans roll this in the BGs!

Yep, 30/0/21 is absolutely viable hybrid good for healing and outdoor dps/pvp.

The only exception might be when your guild has just started raiding and mana is an issue. That’s when Mana Tide Totem comes in handy. Even then it depends on the guild and the number of shamies it has.

That build looks pretty fun to play; shamans are definitely one of my favorite classes.

That is great to hear!
And what about gear? Can the same gear be used for both?
I am guessing I can swap items if I want to focus on DPS or Healing.

From 50 up to pre-raiding yeah; your main stat priority will be +int.

Over time you'll start to get some more role-specific gear. Mainly between +healing and +healing&damage, with some extra crit/hit or stamina (if you want to pvp).

For the elemental problem is not mana, you just go with high int gear and mana flask instead of SP, but nature damage is not part of either CoE or CoS debuffs, so you need to compensate for that.

You need to have
- https://classicdb.ch/?item=21464 10
- https://classicdb.ch/?item=21707 20
- https://classicdb.ch/?item=21671 20
- and a tank with Thunderfury 25

My advice would be to go resto for the first few phases then slowly start to build PVP gear trough healing, and negotiate to get these two pieces from AQ40 once your guild gets there. Once there you will be even able to dish out some nice damage in PvE too when it is low healing situation.

Shaman is still pretty strong at doing PvE stuff out in the world while resto. He's probably better at it than a resto druid or holy paladin I'd imagine. So even with a Resto spec you'd be fine compared to others.

That being said, its worth remembering that gear often overrules spec in Vanilla, and not by much. With enough gear, a fury spec warrior can tank anything, a shadow specced priest is enough healing gear can heal anything, etc. etc.

So yeah go ahead and shoot for a hybrid spec. You'll probably be fine when it comes to dungeons and raiding as long as you have the healing gear to carry the day.

Gensei wrote: ↑

4 years ago

That being said, its worth remembering that gear often overrules spec in Vanilla, and not by much. With enough gear, a fury spec warrior can tank anything, a shadow specced priest is enough healing gear can heal anything, etc. etc.

I did not know that! So if I understand correctly having a particular build does not lock you in, or at least not as much as retail, and as long as you have the right gear for what you are trying to do you should be fine.

That's pretty neat.

Ceglaw wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Gensei wrote: ↑

4 years ago

That being said, its worth remembering that gear often overrules spec in Vanilla, and not by much. With enough gear, a fury spec warrior can tank anything, a shadow specced priest is enough healing gear can heal anything, etc. etc.

I did not know that! So if I understand correctly having a particular build does not lock you in, or at least not as much as retail, and as long as you have the right gear for what you are trying to do you should be fine.

That's pretty neat.

Yes. Gear far outweighs spec. There are plenty more examples that I could name. You can also get quite sneaky as there's no way to inspect other players' talents in vanilla. Additionally people offspec in dungeons all the time while leveling. It's actually expected. Nobody expects priests to walk around Holy spec or warriors to be prot spec. Warriors put on a shield, and can tank just fine. Part of the reason this works is that core abilities that are still generally tied to one spec are not locked away if you go a different spec. Except for the two spells directly unlocked in the holy tree, a shadow specced priest will still learn all of the healing spells and their ranks.

So yeah. Go for a hybrid spec but just make sure you've taken the time to get good healing gear from dungeons.