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Let’s get ready to
ruuummmmble!!!!  Well folks, over the
past three months, we’ve discussed many facets of the Shaman
lifestyle. Hopefully some folks have made it to eighty and have been
getting
some gear and experience playing their Shaman. 
You’ve
logged countless hours (well, unless you type /played) of game time
getting to this point.  Most likely you’ve only
battled in
PvE environment which has a certain challenge. But like in
“The
Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Edward Connell, there is no
greater opponent than man.  It’s time to take that
training
and practice and dish out some punishment against your fellow
gamers.  There are few things in gaming as satisfying in
gaming as
squaring off against your opponent, engaging them in combat and
emerging victorious. Upon your well earned victory, feel free to add
your favorite emote to add to their humiliation. If you’ve
been
defeated, release as soon as possible as not to suffer their
indignation.

Perhaps the single greatest and hence most time consuming transition
from PvE to PvP is the gear that is required. Well,
“required” is a bit of strong word. As with the
rest of
Warcraft, PvP is a bit gear oriented. The better and more appropriate
your gear, the more successful you will be.  Players can hide
many
of their gear short comings in the Battlegrounds where many times
it’s more of a chaotic free for all; not so in the more
polished
and demanding Arena teams.

The current PvP gear that is available to Players is the Savage,
Hateful, Deadly, and Furious Gladiator set.

Savage
Gladiator Armor
-
This gear is the lesser of the current PvP armor but still serves as a
powerful tool to keep yourself alive during PvP combat. 
Currently
this armor can be purchase with Honor Points or with Emblems of Heroism.


Hateful
Gladiator
-
This gear can currently be purchased with Honor Points or with Emblems
of Valor. Allowing players to head to any Battleground of their choice.
Players are guaranteed to obtain this armor, how well your faction
succeeds in battle will determine how quickly you can obtain it.

Deadly
Gladiator
- This gear can
currently be purchased with Honor
Points or with Emblems of Conquest, which currently you can only
receive by doing 25 player PvE content.

Furious
Gladiator
- This is the
current top PvP armor set and only be
purchase with Arena Points. As such, it comes with significant
effort.  Not only does the purchase of this armor require
honor
points, you must have the required personal and team ratings from Arena
PvP  This armor in the reward for the truly PvP focused.

The stats to focus on these days are Resilience, Stamina, and Critical
Strike.  These traits work in direct opposition of each other
.

Universal Shaman Abilities

Make use of those totems folks.  Just use some common sense;
you
aren’t locked into one set of totems.  
Keep in mind
that PvP is very dynamic and that you may need to reset your totems
accordingly.  Don’t be shy with those Earth and Fire
Elementals. Letting those bad boys loose adds a few more targets into
the mix. This will allow for some additional damage while the Shaman
can focus on either offensive or defensive spell casting. The following
are the most widely agreed upon useful PvP tools of a Shaman:

Grounding
Totem
- Totem that will
redirect one harmful spell cast on a
nearby party member to itself, destroying the totem. Will not redirect
area of effect spells. This totem is an outstanding PvP totem since its
main purpose is to "eat" one single-target spell. Of course if you are
in combat with all exclusive melee combatants, its usage becomes a bit
limited.

Tremor
Totem
- This
totem is useful for its ability to remove Fear, Charm and Sleep effects.

Earth
Shock
- Instantly shocks a
target with concussive force,
causing 849 to 895 Nature damage.  It also interrupts
spellcasting
and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 2 seconds.
This is especially useful against those casters. It can be a little
tricky with the timing, but the best way to avoid being hit by an enemy
spell is to make sure they can’t even cast it.

Earthbind
Totem
- Summons an Earthbind
Totem with 5 health at the feet of
the caster for 45 sec that slows the movement speed of enemies within
10 yards.  This is a great tool to keep those melee from
beating
the crap out of you by creating space between you and your enemy.

Bloodlust
or Heroism
- Increases melee,
ranged, and spell casting speed by
30% for all party and raid members.  Lasts 40 sec. 
This
ability gives the Shaman a great tool for burst DPS, although it can
only be used every 10 minutes because the player or players will be
sated.

Purge
- An instant
cast spell, purges the enemy target, removing 2 beneficial magic
effects.  This ability is a great tool for Shaman in PvP you
can
instantly remove buffs, abilities, and healing spells from the enemy.

Hex
- Transforms the enemy into a frog. While hexed, the target cannot
attack or cast spells. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Lasts 30
sec. Only one target can be hexed at a time.  Only works on
Humanoids and Beasts.  Another great, but sometimes forgotten,
tool for Shamans in PvP.  Just like a Mage's sheep ability, a
Shaman can use this to CC one target in order to keep a comfortable
distance from the Shaman and the enemy.

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Ghost
Wolf

- Turns the Shaman into a Ghost Wolf, increasing speed by
40%.  If
the Shaman specs into Improved Ghost Wolf they will be able to
instantly transform themselves to a ghost wolf which gives the Shaman
another great tool in order to keep a comfortable distance between you
and the enemy.

Cleansing
Totem
- Summons a totem that
attempts to remove one disease and one
poison effect from the party members within 30 yards.  This is
a
great tool for Shamans when going toe to toe with a Rogue, Death
Knight, Feral Druid, or a Hunter.

Restoration
Shaman

Healing is generally a much overlooked element of PvP. You can make
yourself out to be a shining star by tossing around some often much
needed heals.  There is a better than average chance that you
may be
in the minority of folks committed to healing, which will assist you in
being the leader on the healing boards.  This may give you
that
little extra honor per Battleground to head you towards your PvP gear.
Do yourself a favor and try to stay at your maximum casting range for
combat. You may be able to avoid a number of those AoEs out there. If
at all possible, lose yourself in the environment; no need to make a
bigger target out of yourself then necessary.

As a Restoration Shaman in Battlegrounds and Arenas the best thing to
do is keep your distance from the enemy. The use of Earthbind Totem and
Instant Ghost Wolf are a Restoration Shaman's best friend, followed by
a
Frost Shock to widen the distance between you and a opponent. 
Keep your Grounding Totem down everytime that cooldown is up and keep
moving at all times while using Riptide and Lesser Healing
Wave. 
If you're good enough and able to keep a comfortable distance from your
opponent, Chain Heal is a excellent choice but one problem is the
longer cast time and when you are up close and personal with your
opponent it can easily be interrupted.

Earth
Shield
- Protects the target
with an earthen shield, reducing
casting or channeling time lost when damaged by 30%  and
causing
attacks to heal the shielded target for 337.  In the raiding
world
this spell is generally reserved for the tank. In PvP, feel free to use
it on yourself. If you are in a premade Battleground you may want to
target another player, but to be honest as a rule save those extra
heals for yourself.

Nature’s
Swiftness
- Allows your next
spell with a cast duration to
become an instant cast spell. This ability is gianed through
talent points and has an extended cooldown, so knowing when and where
to use it is key.

Riptide
-
Heals a friendly target for 1604 to 1736 and another 1670 over 15
sec.  Your next Chain Heal cast on that primary target within
15
sec will consume the healing over time effect and increase the amount
of the Chain Heal by 25%.  A quick instant cast heal with some
heal over time.  Used in conjuncture with Chain Heal will
yield
some great results.

Chain
Heal

- Heals the friendly target for 1055 to 1205, then jumps to heal
additional nearby targets.  If cast on a party member, the
heal
will only jump to other party members.  Each jump reduces the
effectiveness of the heal by 50%.  Heals 3 total
targets. 
This spell really has the potential to shine in PvP. Just target a
friendly in the heat of battle, and let your Chain Heal do the
rest.  Follow the advice given to me when I started my first
Resto
Shammy, hotkey most of buttons to Chain Heal, and roll yourself around
the keyboard.  That was some sound advice from my guild-mates;
of
course I censored the exact phrasing for the public.

Lesser
Healing Wave
- Heals friendly
targets for 1606 to 1834. 
This ability, in my opinion, is most useful for a Restoration Shaman in
PvP.  It is the quickest heal a Shaman has and when used after
casting Riptide the next two Lesser Healing Waves cast will be half the
cast speed.  The quicker the casting of heals, the less likely
you
will be interrupted and survive.

Cleanse
Spirit
- Cleanse the spirit
of a friendly target, removing one
poison effect, one disease effect, and one curse effect.  This
ability
of a Restoration Shaman is a key element when battling most
classes.  The instant cast/cleanse that Cleanse Spirit gives
the
Shaman a powerful tool in PvP, for example, when going up against a
Rogue, you can instantly cleanse yourself or others from mind numbing
poisons which slows your movement and cast times.  Another
example
is when you go toe to toe against a Warlock, being able to cleanse
yourself or others from those powerful and annoying dots is a key
ability of survivability.

style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Elemental Shaman

All casting goodness all the time. As with your Restoration
counterpart,
do your best to stay at your maximum casting range.  The use
of
Earthbind Totem and Instant Ghost Wolf along with a Frost Shock will
widen the distance between you and your opponent.  Let's face
it;
as an Elemental Shaman if you can cast, you will own,
period!! 
Keep those Grounding Totems down at all times when the cooldown is up
and the use of Thunderstorm to help keep those melee opponents off of
you is the best bet for success for a Elemental Shaman.

Chain
Lightning
-
Hurls a lightning bolt at the enemy, dealing 973 to 1111 Nature damage
and then jumping to additional nearby enemies.  Each jump
reduces
the damage by 30%. Get the most bang for your buck with this one. Aim
one of these into the mix and go go go.

Totem
of
Wrath
- The totem increases
spell power by 280 for all party and
raid members, and increases the critical strike chance of all attacks
by 3%.  The extra 3%to critical strikes can help compensate
against opponents resilience.

Thunderstorm
- Energizing and damaging nearby enemies within 10 yards. 
Restores 8% mana to you and deals 1450 to 1656 Nature damage to all
nearby enemies, knocking them back 20 yards. A player really can never
go wrong with an AoE spell. It’s especially useful around
Battleground objectives.

Enhancement
Shaman

In strict opposition to the other two Shaman builds, the Enhancement
Shaman will be right in the heart of melee combat. Charge those
Lightning Shields to full and wade into battle. The best thing for a
Enhancement Shaman to do is jump on the enemy hard and fast, burst DPS
is your best friend and keep those Tremor and Grounding Totems down at
all times.  When fighting casters, save that Earth Shock for
interrupts and you can use Maelstrom Weapon to either deal damage by a
instant Lightning Bolt or save it for a instant Healing Wave if you
feel your health is too low.

Stormstrike
- Instantly attack with both weapons.  In addition, the
next 4 sources of Nature damage dealt to the target from the Shaman are
increased by 20%.  Spam as necessary followed up with any
shock of
choice.

Unleashed
Rage
- Causes your critical
hits with melee attacks to increase
all party and raid members' attack power by 10%, that extra damage will
you burn down your opponents

Feral
Spirit
-  PvP party
of three. Shout “Release the
Hounds” and you and your doggies can tear into the opposition.

Maelstrom
Weapon
  - When you
deal damage with a melee weapon, you
have a chance to reduce the cast time of you next spell cast by
20%.  Rank 5 stacks up to 5 times so that will reduce your
cast
time by 100% = instant cast.

Lightning
Shield
- When struck, causes
380 Nature damage to the
attacker.  Based on talent selection the shield has 3 to 9
charges.  Since a Enhancement Shaman is up close and personal
with
the melee, this is a great tool to induce extra damage upon your
opponent.

These are just a few ideas to get you moving along into the realm of
PvP. I have been PvPing with my Shaman since the game started out but I
do not have all the answers, that’s where you, the reader,
come
into play. Hop into those Ten Ton Hammer Forums and share your thoughts
and tricks with your fellow players. 


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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