by Danny Gourley on Mar 25, 2007
By Ralsu
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href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=529">The
first 10 levels as Shaman
were pretty mundane, but your Shaman will come into his own during the
climb to 20. The spells and skills you will gain during these 10 levels
will really add to your utility in a group and the completion of the
patron quest for your Shaman will really flesh out your play style.
Let's take a look at how things go.
You get upgrades to Strike
of Skamadiz and Spirit
Strike
at level 12. These are great but hardly what should excite you. The
damage increase on Strike of Skamadiz won't win many fights for you
with its refresh time. Just drop it on your tool bar in place of the
previous one (you cannot chain the new and older versions, so there is
zero reason to have the old one on your tool bar). While Spirit Strike
III upgrades your damage, it costs more energy. Trying to chain it in a
fight could prevent you from healing yourself or your group until you
have a few more levels on your belt. You get one other spell that is
very useful and a new spirit bond that will be of frequent use.
Hero's Call
- This spell
allows you to summon your group members into a dungeon from within the
chunk. This saves an
immense amount of waiting or backtracking for group members who logged
on after the group entered the dungeon and is a defining trait of all
healer classes.
Just be aware that it does not always make sense when it does and does
not work. For instance, you CAN summon into the Angoer Bunker in Qalia
(a place where you wouldn't fight), but you CANNOT summon into Gataro
Hold in Kojan (when you really need to).
Weak Spirit Bond: Krigus
-
This bond lasts one hour and reduces the cost of all spells and skills
by 5%. Over the long haul of healing in a group, this can mean a lot.
For solo, you might be better served with Skamadiz. Remember that you
can only use one bond at time.
Level 14 provides much-needed upgrades to
style="font-style: italic;">Infusion and
style="font-style: italic;">Oracle's Sight.
You also get upgrades to Restoration and Flesh Rot. The former is a
bigger slow heal. I don't think I have ever used it. The latter adds
damage to your disease DoT, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive to use
on every mob at this point. I stuck with the older version for a while
after level 14. The remainder of the spells and skills are very
exciting:
Hammer of Krigus I - This
skill uses endurance to deliver a blow to your opponent that does
physical damage and debuffs strength and constitution. This skill can
be chained with Strike of Skamadiz and will become your opening move
when you move into melee range. Using it turns on auto-attack.
Boon of Boqobol -
This is a
spell that grants 30 minutes of underwater breathing. We can only hope
it gets extended to a full hour like other Shaman buffs.
Ancestor's Gift I -
This is
the Shaman's group heal. It heals a single shot of roughly 500 HP
(factor in VIT and healing focus) to all group members within 10m.
Panacea I -
Use this spell for
squishies in the group. It first heals roughly 340 HP. It also places a
rune on the target for 4 seconds to prevent damage and let the tank
regain aggro. It can be used once per target every 30 seconds.
style="font-style: italic;">Weak
Spirit Bond: Nag-Suul - This bond increases spell damage
by 15%, a nice trick for Shamans who like to chain cast.
This may well be the
most
significant level for any Shaman. It is at level 15 when you perform
your Spirit Walk to choose among the three patrons:
Completing the patron quests is not overly hard, and the rewards are
incredible. You gain a pet, new spells, and new skills.
style="font-weight: bold;">Keep in mind that the selection
is permanent.
Hayatet favors players who like to nuke a lot or who want to add damage
through a pet. Rakurr is a solid choice for mobility and melee haste.
Tuurgin grants melee buffs and provides a pet thank can tank in a pinch.
Your Spirit Walk culminates with you learning a skill specific to your
patron. Every level thereafter, you can Spirit Walk with your patron by
using this skill to see if you learn new spells and abilities. This
allows the Shaman to learn some things without have to stop the grind
to visit a trainer! To see what spells you get with the different
patrons, see our
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=547">Shaman
spells list.
Most of the spells and abilities from trainers at these levels are
upgrades to older ones. Most damage spells are not very cost effective
when you first learn them. Yes, they help you kill faster, but you
finish the fight with less energy than if you kept the older nukes on
your tool bar. The melee skills are of the replace the old one with the
new one variety and only make good sense. You will gain a new quick
heal, too.
Other spells of note include the following::
Ritual of Sacrifice I -
Convert 80 HP into 40 energy. I might be effective at generating enough
energy to cast one more heal in a desperate fight.
Life Ward I -
This is a key
aspect of the Shaman class when it comes to healing. The spell heals
for a medium amount when first cast on a target. It also places a
healing ward that lasts for for up to one hour or until it heals 500
points of damage at 50 points per attack. This means the spell can be
used reactively in the heat of battle when a squishy gets aggro or
pro-actively as a drive-by buff or on your own group to save from
having to heal the melee who gets temporary aggro.
Levels 11-15
The Shaman is decent at soloing up to level 15. The ability to heal
yourself will mean that you can find any old place with 2dot dark blue
to yellow mobs. My Shaman grew up on Kojan and spent a lot of the low
teens in Blighted Lands and the Tomb of Lord Tsang.
Melee:
style="font-weight: bold;"> Form
a bond with Skamadiz and buff up. Set yourself as your defensive target
and pull with Flesh Rot at maximum range and get off Hoarfrost as the
mob approaches. Use Winter's Roar if you need to to freeze the mob in
place while you backpedal. When the mob reaches you, open your melee
with Hammer of Krigus to debuff it. Then follow with Strike of
Skamadiz. By the time Krigus is ready again, You should need to restart
the DoTs if the mob has a lot of health left.
Nuking:
style="font-weight: bold;"> Form
a bond with Krigus or Nag-Suul and buff up. Set yourself as your
defensive
target and pull with Flesh Rot at maximum range and get off Hoarfrost
as the mob approaches. Use Winter's Roar when possible to allow you a
chance to get off at least one Spirit Strike before the mob reaches
you. Try to keep your skill with your weapon trained up enough so that
you can land Hammer of Krigus and Strike of
Skamadiz for extra damage. Keep an eye on your energy reserves for
heals.
Levels 16-20
Once you have your patron, things change quite a bit. Now it is not
uncommon for you to solo 3dot mobs around your level. My specific
advice about the pet is to set it to Always Assist you. As a Tuurgin
Shaman, I usually cast one of my DoTs first, which sends in the bear.
Then I use the bear's specific ability to capture aggro. Please note
that your slow spell does not count as attacking the mob where your pet
is concerned.
Even Hayatet and Rakurr Shaman report good results with the pet tanking
so long as they manage their damage output. The Hayatet Shaman will
need to kill quicker because the pet is somewhat frail. Rakurr Shamans
can always run away at tip-top speeds.
Everyone loves buffs and heals. You have both, You can find groups.
Keep in mind that your first goal is likely to keep the group healed.
Let damage output slide down on your list of priorities. The solo
strategies outlined above mostly apply in groups, too. Just be sure to
have a setup that lets you heal quickly. Some custom UIs have quick
heal tool bars. I have macros to help me quickly target a few key
people (my pet, the tank, and me).
In groups without a tank, Tuurgin Shamans can tank if the damage in the
group can stay their blades/spells until the pet has a firm grip on
aggro. Even Rakurr Shamans might be able to tank 3dots for the group
with the wolf pet. Most Hayatet Shamans tell me that they generally let
a melee tank if the real deal is not available and focus on healing and
damage.
As for locations to level, that depends on the makeup of the group. My
Kojan groups spent a ton of time in the Jin'Ka Forest. Lord Tsang's
Tomb (the dungeon) is also very popular on that continent. Adventurers
in Qalia frequent Ksaravi Gulch and Tauthien Delta on their way to 20.
Thestran-bound adventurers talk a lot about Vault of Heroes, Veskal's
Exchange, and Three Rivers (missives).
Levels 11-20 are a very exciting time for the Shaman, a class that
starts slow and becomes really powerful in the mid-teens. I find my
Shaman always welcomed into groups--even those with other healers. When
solo, I can take on 3dots a level below me pretty much nonstop. I look
forward to the challenges that lie ahead in levels 21-30.