Hello all,
I have a few questions about the class I'm trying to main, Shaman, right now I'm lvl32, going enchancement, having a blast, but I have a couple of questions regarding the future levels and specs I've read.
Context: I've played wow on and off, all expansions, was a full time job in wotlk. Ever since ulduar, only played for a month and left, played almost all classes but never really tried out shaman, which I now regret.
So, as enhancement, I like the aspect of elements and melee combat, I heal dungeons just fine, so as for now, everything is going good, but since I'm contstantly reading articles and guides about shaman, I've seen some say shaman becomes good at leveling as Elemental past lv41 or so, still burns mana really fast, but kills a lot faster also.
My question is, since I'm not a great gold farmer, and I pretend to go Resto at 60, maybe 31/0/20 for Ele at pvp, should I start right away with Elemental to get a feel of the spec at lvl 41 or keep going enchancement since it is, according to about 70% of the guides, the best option while leveling as a shaman?
Best regards,
Redstain
It's totally up to you.
I was 1h + shield ehnancement pre 40 and then switch to ele post 40 not because of what I saw on the forums but just to change it up. I don't think there's a huge change in leveling speed, especially because the gear you get from SM makes enhancement quite good. Its all up to your preference. I don't think its a huge deal either way. Whichever one keeps you playing the game and happier.
Ele being faster after 40 primarily comes from a Margoz video or something from a couple years ago. But I'm not sure if he measured it in a reasonable way, i.e. leveling all the way to 60 with correct gear 3 separate times all on the same path with reasonable gear for each spec. If he did, then holy shit that's ridiculous and he needs another hobby. But regardless, do what you enjoy. As far as my enjoyment, I am pretty neutral when it came to enhance vs. ele. It's about the same for me.
Thanks for the input, just wanted to know from a person who played it what it actually feels like, your answer was on point.
About 1h + Shield, I got a pretty good dagger by the 20's, and was using it with a shield + flametongue weapon, felt pretty great, but after receiving crescent staff, and now The corpsemaker, im using 2H with windfury for those lucky procs, still looking forward a good 1H for my shield in the bag so i can return to it ^^.
In regards to changing spec, I will go Elemental at 40 just so i get used to pvp, better have one set for healing in dungeons and questing.
So I've never worked it out to confirm, but some Shaman guide creators believe that, while leveling, the most powerful weapon enchant you can use is whichever one you learned most recently. Windfury on slow or fast weapon, flametonge on slow or fast weapon, it doesn't matter all that much, per them. Just whichever one you've most recently learned is the most powerful so that's the one you should use. But I've not tested to see if this is the case. If true, it shits all over the typical orthodoxy of slow weapon + windfury, fast weapon + flametongue, at least while leveling. I think this still holds true at level 60.Redstain wrote: ↑4 years agoThanks for the input, just wanted to know from a person who played it what it actually feels like, your answer was on point.
About 1h + Shield, I got a pretty good dagger by the 20's, and was using it with a shield + flametongue weapon, felt pretty great, but after receiving crescent staff, and now The corpsemaker, im using 2H with windfury for those lucky procs, still looking forward a good 1H for my shield in the bag so i can return to it ^^.
In regards to changing spec, I will go Elemental at 40 just so i get used to pvp, better have one set for healing in dungeons and questing.
I leveled 10-43 as Enhancement on a private server and in Classic I've been playing Elemental since level 10 (Just hitting level 46 now).
It seems like the general consensus from reading the Shaman discord is that either 40 or 44 is a good time to switch to Elemental. 40 because you've fleshed out the things you want from the Ele tree (namely, getting LB casts down to 2 seconds and EM). 44 is also popular because you get a new rank of Lightning Bolt at that level, so you'll really feel the pop of nailing a mob with 3 high-rank LBs before they hit you.
In either case I'd recommend checking out Melderon's videos on the topic.
Advanced Shaman Leveling Guide has info on comparing estimated time-to-level on each spec, based on his testing his time-to-kill 10 enemies, extrapolating that out to the exp to level.
Advanced Shaman Guide 2 gets more into the nitty gritty with stats, but most importantly here compares the weapon imbues while leveling (conclusion being that Rockbiter is usually the best option while leveling)
Speaking personally, yes, you chug water leveling Elemental, at least if you go balls to the wall on your casts. I can usually go 3-4 mobs without drinking if I limit it to 3xLB to pull, CL if I get a clearcast, Searing totem as they reach me, Flame Shock if I'm feeling impatient, and then just auto them down to get the mana regen going a bit. If you're concerned about spending a lot of money on drinks, I've heard the advice of just doing a /who in the zone for a mage and asking one to make you some water if you travel to them and give a tip. I've just been dropping money on vendor juice like a lazy idiot though.
So in case you are in a PvP Realm, you entered STV as an Elemental Shaman, how did it go for you in terms of PvP?
Hah, I am on a PVP realm, but I might not be the best person to ask since I'm on a heavily Horde-populated server, so I don't run into too many 1-on-1 fights. Usually if I get in a fight it's a much higher leveled character annihilating me, but that's going to be a problem in any spec.
The more even fights I've had have been fine. Mixed results, but I can chalk that up to me just making a lot of misplays and really not knowing how to play Shaman in PVP yet. Still getting used to things like learning to fakecast and when to put down Grounding/Tremor totems. I will say the lightning bolts hit like trucks, but you're going to have a hard time getting one off unless you're opening up on an unsuspecting enemy player. If you're the one getting opened up on, you're going to have a much harder time, though that goes for every class. I guess I do miss in those situations getting a juicy 2h Windfury crit and evening up a losing fight.
Post 40 though, I've had some decent success thanks to cheesy Elemental Mastery combos. If you're unaware, thanks to spell batching, you can get 2 guaranteed crits off EM if you cast an earth shock as you finish your chain lightning/lightning bolt cast. I've one-shot a mage doing this.
That said for PvP Pre-40, I'd think the two are similar enough that you're not going to see a noticeable swing in your success getting through STV between them. I'm sure there are people with more PVP experience in that range though that might have better thoughts on this.
:O :O :O I didn't, best thing I've read today hahaha.Grozlam wrote: ↑4 years agoPost 40 though, I've had some decent success thanks to cheesy Elemental Mastery combos. If you're unaware, thanks to spell batching, you can get 2 guaranteed crits off EM if you cast an earth shock as you finish your chain lightning/lightning bolt cast. I've one-shot a mage doing this.
What you are saying hits close to home, I'm also not trained at all in the arts of PvP, so tremor totems and fake casting is a thing I will need to learn also, just wanted to have a bit of knowledge from someone who didn't leveled as Enhance through STV.
Thank you for your input, was very helpful.
