by Karen Hertzberg on Jan 20, 2007
by Winter
Like all healing classes in
Vanguard, the Shaman is something of a hybridthough
definitely a primary healer. This versatility means that a Shaman's
role is constantly shifting. At times she may solo, at other times
serve as primary healer in a group. Often if there is another primary
healer in a group, a Shaman may spend a lot of her time assisting those
in combat through debuffs and dps, through wards and finishing heals.
At level 15 she chooses a patron, who provides a pet along with certain
unique abilities.
A Shaman receives a small number of spells in those first ten levels,
but how she approaches them is as important in the beginning as it will
be later on.
Wisdom (WIS) and Vitality (VIT) are a Shaman's
primary attributes. Shamans who choose the Hayatet path (caster Shaman)
may want to focus more on INT than normal. Tuurgin and Rakuur Shaman
may find a greater need for Strength to do melee damage.
Building the Shaman you want begins at the character creation screen,
where you choose your Shaman's race.
Shamans of all races start with the same attributes, but the
choice of race can affect how many points the Shaman automatically gets
placed into his prime attributes.
Starting
attributes:
Beginning at level 10, each character gets 20 attribute points (AP) per
level. Six of your AP are placed for you automatically--one per
attribute (STR, CON, DEX, VIT, INT, WIS). If you are not human, an
additional four points are assigned based upon your race. (Humans are
Kojani, Mordebi, Qaliathari, and Thestran). You can place the final 10
points (14 for humans) wherever you want to within soft caps of 5 per
level.
Additionally, characters get racial bonuses to their soft caps. These
are called preferred stats and allow characters of a race to flesh out
in a way that reflects the traits of the race. Non-human races get 4
bonus points to soft caps (usually two or three attributes only) while
human races get 6, 1 for each attribute. Thus, a human can be more
balanced, while a non-human becomes more specialized.
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/album32/SHM.jpg">
The table above gives values that can help you decide what is possible
with Shamans of different races. Look at the bottom row of each cell.
For example, Vitality for Varanjar gives you these numbers:
76 - 240
In this case, the first number shows you the minimum value of this
attribute at level 50 if you never spend points in it. So a Varanjar
Shaman will have a Vitality of 76 if he never puts points into
Vitality. (Such a Shaman would not have much strength in healing.) The
second number shows you the minimum if you spent every AP on it to the
soft cap with every level up. Neither of these numbers takes into
account how these values can change due to buffs or armor. What they
show you is the range of possibilities for this attribute. So at level
50, an unbuffed Varanjar Shaman with no armor can have a Vitality score
anywhere between 76 240.
Considering the fact that Vitality increases healing effectiveness and
energy regeneration, you could use these ranges to decide which race to
be. If Vitality were the most important attribute to you, then looking
at this table you might wish to be a Goblin Shaman, because they have
the highest potential unbuffed vitality.
It is unlikely that you would focus on only one attribute, but you
should take these values in consideration if you want to know what your
potential will be at level 50. Of course, you may have personal or
roleplay reasons for preferring one race over another. Maybe you would
rather play Lesser Giant than anything else. In that case, this table
will let you know where you're going, and what plans you can make for
the development of your attributes.
The other important factor to consider when picking the race for your
Shaman is racial abilities. With their short durations and long
recasts,
racial abilities are less important than attributes in the selection
process, but they can be used to pick between races that are otherwise
equal. The racial abilities are listed below.
Lesser
Giant: Strength of
Torsheim
For the next 30 seconds after this ability is activated, you will
increase your max hit points by 50%. Hit point regeneration increases
for 60 seconds. Recast is 30 minutes.
Large Race: 2% bonus to mitigation
Crafting: +10 Ingenuity
Harvesting: +5 Lumberjacking
There is still another thing you may want to consider before creating
your Shaman. You can read more about Patrons in the Shaman class guide
(see links below [or link here]), but briefly: You can choose Tuurgin,
Rakuur, or Hayatet. Tuurgin is the spirit of the bear, who gives you a
pet suitable for tanking, as well as greater strength and endurance.
Rakuur is the wolf spirit, who gives you a wolf pet, as well as greater
dexterity and health. Hayatet is the phoenix spirit, who gives you a
phoenix pet as well as greater energy regeneration.
So you know from the start that there are three kinds of Shaman you can
be. It is not vital that you know which one interests you the most
before creating your Shaman. However, knowing your path ahead of time
gives you more information to think about when you choose your race.
For example, a Shaman of Hayatet may attack more as a caster, rather
than a melee class. So you if know you want to be a Shaman of Hayatet,
you might also be looking closely at the potential INT in the
attributes table above. The highest potential INT value, 286, is shared
by Varanjar, Mordebi, and Goblin. You can allow this to affect your
choice of race if you wish.
Whether you choose to follow the quest lines of your starting area, or
set out on your own to grind against the enemies of your choice, you
have the tools to make your way through the world. You begin
with two spells that set the tone for the class:
style="font-weight: bold;">Remedy (your small
heal line) and Spirit
Strike (magical damage against your opponent's spirit).
This represents the future for you as a Shaman, for you are both healer
and caster. In the beginning you may simply open by pulling something
with Spirit Strike,
then hitting it with whatever blunt weapon you have. As your health
falls, you can take a moment to cast Remedy
on yourself.
At level 2
you get Flesh Rot,
a DoT (Damage Over Time) spell that continues to cause harm to your
opponent while you're doing other things. Things really become
interesting at level 4.
First, you receive two buffs that can be cast on yourself and others.
One enhances hit points and armor class, while the other increases your
available energy and lowers your casting time. You want to keep these
buffs on yourself (and any group members, if you're grouping) at all
times.
At level 4 you also receive a melee attack,
style="font-weight: bold;">Strike of Skamadiz.
This doesn't change your tactics; it only allows you to hit
particularly hard now and then. You can watch it recharge, then strike
again.
So far it seems that your methods of killing something remain
consistent. You pull a mob with your two damage spells, and then hit it
repeatedly. Not all that different from some other classes. At
style="font-weight: bold;">level 6 you receive
a larger heal and an upgrade to Spirit
Strike (remember to replace the Spirit Strike I button
with Spirit Strike II). Now you have two heals:
style="font-weight: bold;">Remedy (your small
heal) and Restoration (your large heal).
Runners and Kiting
I want to focus on Winter's
Roar, which you also receive at level
6. One of the
dangerous moments in any pull can occur when your offensive target
begins to run. Runners are a problem because they can run toward other
enemies, and then before you know it, all his friends have come to
play. This is bad. You need some way of stopping runners before they
can get very far, and that's where Winter's
Roar comes in. Yes, it is a direct damage spell, but it is
also a root spell that can freeze your target in place for 3 seconds
(as long as the target doesn't resist your spell).
style="font-weight: bold;">Winter's Roar is
your friend, and since it takes no time to cast, you will know at once
whether it has worked. You can also use it during the pull. For
example, you can drop your DoT (Flesh
Rot), and then freeze your target while he's running
toward you. This gives you time to cast
style="font-weight: bold;">Spirit Strike before
he gets to you.
At level 8
you get another root spell: Grasp
of Goromund. This is supposed to last longer than
style="font-weight: bold;">Winter's Roar, but
in practice incoming damage to your target can break the root. If you
prefer, you can attempt kiting with this spell. To kite, you would cast
Grasp of Goromund
and keep yourself at a distance from your target, throwing your damage
spells while your target cannot touch you. This doesn't work so well
with caster mobs, which can hurt you even at a distance. Some prefer
kiting with a root, while others prefer to just get in close and beat
their target with a large blunt object while
style="font-weight: bold;">Flesh Rot ticks
away. The choice is yours; and in fact, which of these styles you
prefer might influence your choice of patron later.
More About Level 8
You also receive Hoarfrost.
This is interesting because it reduces cold resistance even while it
does damage over time. What this means is that if you've already cast
style="font-weight: bold;">Hoarfrost, then your
target has less resistance to another cold-based attack, such as
style="font-weight: bold;">Winter's Roar.
The most enjoyable spell you will receive at level 8 is
style="font-weight: bold;">Spirit of Rakurr.
This is a speed buff, allowing you to run 30% fasteras fast
as a level 1 horse. If you do have a horse, then it gives you a 5% buff
to the horse's speed. With Spirit
of Rakurr, you and your group mates can run around an area
much more quickly than normal.
Dealing With Adds
If you're relatively new to massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs),
then you may want to keep in mind the difference between mobs that are
safe to move around, and mobs that are aggrothat is, they
will attack you if you move near them. The names of aggro mobs appear
in red text, as opposed to the yellow text of more docile mobs. If
you're in an area filled with aggro mobs, you should be more careful.
Don't just wander through an area hoping to reach the one you need; try
to clear around it a bit, even if that takes longer. You will be safer
if you do, and less likely to get another on you while you're fighting
your first one. Kiting is more dangerous in this sort of situation, as
you don't want to be moving around too much with so many enemies about.
In the early levels, I seldom had trouble dealing with adds until I was
around level 8 and was faced with two rather difficult mobs at once. In
any case, you don't have a stun to eliminate one of the mobs, so you
can either take the hits and try to get the first one down as quickly
as possible, or you can try to root one with
style="font-weight: bold;">Grasp of Goromund
and move away from it so that you can deal with the other in relative
peace. If you're facing a melee mob and a caster mob, obviously you
would want to root the melee mob and deal with the caster first because
rooting a caster is pretty useless.
Grouping
Even in your first ten levels, certain quests might be better with
groups. Depending on your starting area, this may happen sooner or
later. Sometimes the quest text will have the word "group" at the top,
or will say something like "bring a friend or two." It is good to
practice the techniques available to you within a group to discover
what works best. Don't be afraid to discuss tactics with your group
mates. Remember that these first ten levels are about learning the
basics of your class, and what you may be capable of.
As a Shaman you are a healer. Even if you possess a mad zeal for
raining fiery destruction on your enemies, never forget that you have a
responsibility for keeping your group mates alive. If you are the only
primary healer in a group, healing is your first duty. If you're in a
group with another primary healer, discuss which of you will focus on
healing and which will be a backup healer, focusing on other things.
Cooperation and communication are essential. In these early levels you
only have two heals: Remedy
(small) and Restoration
(large), and you will need to discover over time how much of each you
can cast before you run low on energy too soon, or you gain aggro (the
mob notices you're healing and gets annoyed at you).
As you move through these early levels, pay special attention to your
energy bar in the upper left. Get to know how much energy each of your
spells uses, and plan ahead. How much healing are you likely to need if
you get an add? Know how much of that bar do your healing spells take,
so you can reserve that much energy for special circumstances. It's
best to not find yourself low on energy when something unfortunate
happens.
Level 10
At level 10 you receive Spirit
Call (you can resurrect your group mates) and
style="font-weight: bold;">Summon Spirit Orb
(they can resurrect you). Now you're ready for serious grouping. Don't
forget to summon those orbs into your allies' packs before you set
out. You also receive your first Spirit
Bond (these
are a Shaman's stances). There is always something new to learn, but
the first levels are there to give you a foundation for building the
kind of Shaman you want to be.