class="field field-type-text field-field-tagline">




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border="1">
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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61795"> alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/61795"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 199px;">

style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> style="font-weight: bold;"> style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> style="font-weight: bold;"> style="font-weight: bold;">
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border="1">
style="background-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> style="font-weight: bold;"> style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Angry
Dread

style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px;">Binds
when picked up

One-Hand Mace

274 - 509 Damage, Speed 2.50

(156.6 DPS)

+31 Agility

+42 Stamina

style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"> style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Requires
Level 80

style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Improves
hit rating by 25

Improves critical strike rating by 29

Increases attack power by 86 style="font-weight: bold;">

There is no doubt that most games from console to computer are driven
by the type of item used by the player. style="font-style: italic;">
World of Warcraft
is no different; in fact, in some ways it may be worse. It may be a
little “too” gear driven. There are some complaints
that gear can surpass a player’s ability to play, meaning
that a poor playing, well geared individual will surpass a poorly
geared outstanding player.



Unfortunately gear is what is needed to excel at WoW, so gear is what
we will discuss. Gear will essentially help get a player where they
want to be, the question is, will it be in a Ferrari or your
mom’s car with her driving? Sure both are cars; both have
four wheels and will get you where you want to go. But only one will do
it quickly and in style, and be far less embarrassing. (Assuming all
readers possess a driver’s license. If not I apologize for
the poor analogy).



For those out there who may not be familiar with the classification of
WoW items, here’s a quick little definition of the majority
of items along with a little personal commentary.


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style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="font-weight: bold;">Color

style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: black black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.5pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="font-weight: bold;">Blizzard’s
Definition

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style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="font-weight: bold;">My  Definition

style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(0, 176, 80) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 54.9pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
valign="top" width="73">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Green

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(0, 176, 80) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 112.5pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
valign="top" width="150">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Uncommon

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(0, 176, 80) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 311.4pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
valign="top" width="415">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Not
really that uncommon, they are from almost every quest out there, not
to mention random world and boss drops

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valign="top" width="73">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Blue

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(0, 112, 192) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 112.5pt; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
valign="top" width="150">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Rare

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(0, 112, 192) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 311.4pt; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
valign="top" width="415">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Usually
chain quest rewards and normal dungeon boss drops, so really not that
rare.

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valign="top" width="73">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Purple

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background: rgb(112, 48, 160) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; width: 112.5pt; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
valign="top" width="150">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Epic

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valign="top" width="415">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Tiered
gear, and Epic Dungeon drops, and almost everybody is full of epics, so
how can epic be less rare than rare items? style=""> If
that makes sense to anybody.



As I mentioned in last week’s href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/shaman"
target="_blank">introduction,
the
Shaman’s greatest blessing can be their greatest curse -
versatility. Fortunately when it comes to gear, rather than being
forced with three choices (Elemental, Enhancement &
Restoration), the player has to essentially decide if they choose to be
a caster Shaman or a Melee Shaman.



At
a glance consideration
for Shaman item combinations:



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style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="font-weight: bold;">Build

style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: black black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 315.9pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="font-weight: bold;">Combination

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valign="top" width="217">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Enhancement
Shaman

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valign="top" width="421">Two
Handed Weapon or Dual Wield style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 162.9pt;"
valign="top" width="217">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Elemental
Shaman

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 315.9pt;"
valign="top" width="421">One
Handed Weapon & Off Hand or Shield style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 162.9pt;"
valign="top" width="217">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Restoration
Shaman

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 315.9pt;"
valign="top" width="421">One
Handed Weapon & Off Hand or Shield


style="font-weight: bold;">What stats are most
important?

While
leveling your Shaman the
two popular selections are the enhancement and elemental builds.
 Enhancement is melee DPS for
Shamans so you are upclose and personal with the mob or mobs.
Elemental is the range DPS for Shamans so you can blast away from a
distance.  The two base stats that should receive focus for
enhancement is strength
and stamina. Agility will assist in the amount of physical
damage done by the player by means of attack power,  while
stamina
increases the total amount of
health points. The two base stats that should receive focus for
elemental is intelligence and stamina.  Intelligence will
increase
your mana pool and spell critical hit and stamina as mentioned above
will increase the total amount of health points.  For the
enhancement build, other statistics to strive for while leveling your
Shaman is attack power which increases damage with melee weapons, hit
rating which increases your melee chance to hit a target, and crit
chance which increases the chance of your melee attack to be a critical
strike.  For the elemental build a Shaman should focus on
spell
damage which increases damage done by spells, spell hit rating which
increases your spell chance to hit a target, and spell haste rating
which decreases the casting time of your spells.



If the
player decides to go the restoration build while leveling the
statistics they should focus on are similar to the elemental build.
Intelligence, stamina, and spell damage are once again key.
 Some
may think that
leveling as a restoration build will be boring, and let's face it you
will
kill things slower than the other two builds, but in turn you will be
harder to kill because of increased survivability.  One thing
I
enjoyed while leveling my Shaman as resto was the
increase likelihood to get into a five man instance group.
Healers
are
always needed and are in high demand since most players do not choose
to be a healer build while leveling.  Fortunately mana
regeneration is less
of a concern for a Shaman since they possess the ability to throw down
a Mana Spring totem. Blizzard has done a tremendous favor to all
casters out there over the past year. In the olden days of WoW, players
would have to contend with healing power versus spell damage. Now they
have been merged under spell damage, it helps reduce the amount of gear
a player may need to amass. No longer must you focus on a healing vs.a
damage set of gear. 



It
is best to focus on leather
gear with these
statistics until level fourty. Leather will provide you with greater
armor
class than cloth. At level fourty  the Shaman can train to
wear
mail armor which greatly
increases the player’s armor class.Many of your quest rewards
and
instance drops will now be mail, further increasing your survivability.




style="font-weight: bold;">How important is the DPS
of a weapon?  



Depending on what build you
choose whether it be elemental,
enhancement, or restoration there are important stats to consider when
selecting a weapon or offhand.  For elemental, selecting a
weapon
that has intelligence, critical strike, haste rating, and high spell
power is optimal.  Do not pay attention to the DPS of the
weapon
since you will be a range caster and will not do much melee
damage.
 As mentioned above, an elemental Shaman should focus on one
hand
weapon with a shield.  For enhancement,
selecting weapons
(duel weild) with high DPS and slower attack speed is optimal, am old
thread href="http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t20765-shaman_enhancement/"
target="_blank">here
done by Elitist Jerks explains attack speed
very well.  As an enhancement Shaman you should also focus on
weapons with high attack power, critical strike, hit rating, and if
possible expertise rating.  For restoration, selecting a
weapon to
increase your effectiveness as a healer is what is most important.
 As mentioned above, a restoration Shaman should focus on a
one
hand weapon along with a shield.  The statistics you should be
looking for is intelligence, MP5 (mana per 5 seconds), critical strike,
haste rating, and high spell power.  Fortunately there is
ample href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/26287" target="_blank">additional
Shaman coverage right here at
Ten Ton Hammer, quick shout out
to all the TTH contributors out there.


style="font-weight: bold;">How important is AC?



For the Shaman, AC is only
truly a focus if you decide to
mix it up as a melee DPS, or off tank. If you decide to go restoration,
you will be far away from the mix that AC shouldn’t be a
concern. Sure it helps, but may not be worth the bonus spell power that
both leather and cloth items may offer.


style="font-weight: bold;">How to get the gear
you're after?



Quest Rewards:
From levels 1
to 79, quite honestly, quest
reward items and crafted items will be more than sufficient. WoW seems
to have a fairly balanced system of quest rewards which allows a player
to stay competitive as they progress.



Faction
Rewards:

The whole game changes at level 80, and I believe it is here the player
needs to focus.  The href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/27065" target="_blank"> style="font-style: italic;">Wrath of Lich King
has introduced a number of new factions to gain reputation. A
number of these factions have items useful to all Shaman builds. As an
added bonus, these items are quite useful at the honored level. Gaining
reputation moves fairly quickly. Just focus on those quests.



Auction
House:

The Auction House is always worth checking out.  Sometimes you
may luck out and just find somebody desperate for gold and willing to
let a quality item sell for a reasonable price.



Crafted
Items:

High end crafted items are often expensive, but there is something to
be said for the certainty of purchasing items. It’s a sure
thing, no worries about being out-rolled for that drop you had your eye
on. Popular choices at the Auction House these days are any items
crafted from Titansteel.  For the player who has specialized
in the proper profession, it may be a very reasonable alternative.



Emblem
rewards: 
The bonus of raiding is
gathering currency to get your own
epics. The
level of difficulty of the instance will dictate the number of Emblems
of Heroism or Valor the player receives.
It’s Blizzard’s way of saying
“hey thanks for taking the time to raid, and sorry you
didn’t get any loot, but do this twenty more times and you
can get yourself some sweet epics.”



Raiding:
Last but certainly not least, the absolute best items in the game come
from raiding. So go forth and use the gear you have already and get
some epic loot for yourself.


style="font-weight: bold;">What to roll on?



At level 80, my opinion is
that if it is mail or under,
and the stats work for your build roll on it. Just be a little
considerate of other’s gear needs. Roll on everything that
you can wear, you’ll never know when you may decide to change
what role your Shaman plays. Mail is preferred, but shouldn’t
be the sole type of gear to look for.



[protip]
Maximizing whatever
gear you have and taking inititave to enchant, gem and in any way
enchance your character shows effort and will help get you the invites
to raids to help you gear up further.[/protip].


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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