Leveling: Enh VS Ele

[gotmilk0112 10]

I've done a bit of googling on Shaman leveling, but can't really find a conclusive answer. Lots of people saying Ele is better, lots of people saying Enh is better, some people saying "1h + shield + Flametongue", others saying "2h + Windfury", no idea who is right and who is wrong.

 

I'm going to assume Ele is not as good, because of having to sit and drink all the time. I hate sitting and drinking.

 

For Enh then, what exactly is the best strategy? Talents are pretty straightforward, but what weapon setup, weapon enchant, totems etc to use?

[Motorbreath 923]

I'm going to assume Ele is not as good, because of having to sit and drink all the time. I hate sitting and drinking.

 

You're right.

 

For Enh then, what exactly is the best strategy? Talents are pretty straightforward, but what weapon setup, weapon enchant, totems etc to use?

 

There is no best strategy. It always depends on the enemy and setup. Killing some heavily-armored mobs will be better with as much spell damage as possible. Some paper casters - ARCANITE REAPER HOOOOOO~. Elites? Kite.

I've done some Silithus cultists grinding as enh, and felt more confident using a shield. More mana in case if you pull adds, or someone tries to jump you. Less sitting on your butt waiting for an ambush. But if you really enjoy WF or something else... Go for it.

Flexibility and knowing different approaches - that's what makes a good hybrid imo.

[Undertanker 88]

I've been playing around on a Shaman during our last month break and I'll share with you my tips thus far:

 

Leveling path I'd recommend:

 

Up to level 23:  http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZZV0ez

 

Go 14 points deep into restoration.   While grinding, the speed of your heal doesn't matter since you'll be topping yourself off after fights, so I took lowered mana cost (since I too hate drinking a lot, water anyways )   Continue the trend of not wasting mana by 25% reduction of totem cost.  (these two sets of talents will allow you to be efficient enough in healing 5 mans when needed, as well limit down time while grinding).    Now the big reason we went restoration first: Totemic Mastery and Nature's Guidance.    Nature's Guidance will be a huge DPS increase at this level and will be valuable all the way until you are done grinding out your levels, since you get no +hit or spell hit gear until 60, GET THIS EARLY!!!!.      Totemic Mastery will save you a lot of mana as well.   I find when grinding, I positioning myself in the middle of all the mobs I plan on pulling, drop my STR totem, and mana totem and pull things to me so I limit the amount of times I spend mana on totem drops.  Having this extended range means you can venture out a little bit more and stay in range of your buffs (2 minutes).   

 

Up to level 34: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZxV0zZV0ez

 

Now we have +hit and totems don't suck our mana down to nothingness, we start in the enhancement tree (elemental tree simply does not offer enough DPS increases for all of your abilities to justify taking this route until you are speccing lvl 60 PVP.).   Shield specialization isn't that great, and you may be using a staff at this point (I'll touch base on weapon choices below).   So we take increasing our max mana which helps from going OOM while grinding, and translates nicely to when you heal a 5 man while leveling.   Next we get Thundering strikes for 5% crit with melee and then Two Handed Axe / Maces finally at 34.

 

Up to level 44: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZxVbdVZV0ez

 

We want to then increase our Str totem gains, and I prefer reducing cast time of ghost wolf.  In grinding, you will use this a lot more between mobs if you have a small travel which will increase your exp per hour.   Also in PVP, this will help you chase somebody down, or get away from somebody.  Or even run away from a bad pull, grounding totem + ghost wolf.   Flurry is taken for obvious reasons.  Gotta love that mana free damage to keep mana regen going.

 

Up to level 54:  http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZxVbdVzutV0ez

 

Further increase your auto-attack damage with Elemental Weapons, 1/2 for improved weapons totems (cause you have to kinda) if you want to get Parry.   While we skipped dodge, that is 1 talent point for only 1%, while 1 talent point in Parry gives you much more than 1% parry.  Finish up this tree with weapon mastery and stormstrike. 

 

Up to level 60:  http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZxVbdVzutVoezV

 

This will be the most debatable.  My mindset is you pretty much got all your +dps talents you are going to be using and you won't get much starting down the elemental tree, so I throw the last 6 points into restoration to limit downtime during your last 6 level grind.   Mainly to increase the amount of mana you are regenerating while you are grinding to limit down time.  To mean that is > 5% lighting damage.

 

 

 

During the early levels, you'll be either using a 1h weapon or a staff.   If you are using a staff, use rockbiter weapon.  Best way to fight a mob when melee is have grounding totem down and a swing timer add-on (or get a feel for the timing), auto the mob, kite a bit until your timer is ready again, move in for an auto, kite again hit them with a shock and repeat.    This puts a mob attacking at 2.4 speed having to pause their swing timer while you take full advantage of your swing timer any time you are in melee range.    (good practice for PVP against melee).    If you are using a 1H weapon, you'll want to find a really fast dagger (even if it is lower dps than a 1h mace - to a certain extent) and use flametounge weapon.  Just auto-attack away, no reason to grounding totem kite if your melee attack is faster than the mobs.  While the tool-tip says the damage adjust to speed of weapon, I find that bottom range damage applies to a lot of weapon speeds and only goes so low on bottom end damage, so a really fast dagger does much more dps.   When grinding just open with lighting bolt x2, flameshock and then auto attack to death (finish with just autos so mana regen starts sooner than later).

 

 

 

I'll wrap it up here, pretty much in short my suggested leveling path focuses of the ability to be successful at grinding and healing/dpsing 5 mans due to mana conservation talents, and allowing your auto/melee damage to be a health part of your rotation - by level 34 you have +5% crit and +3% hit and can spec 2h for when you win Herod's Axe  Prior to Herod's Axe I'd get Wind Spirit Staff, best top end damage staff for that grounding totem kiting, great spirit for grinding solo and a SUPER high drop rate.    When starting your new toon (if you are orc or shaman) do the Quest called "Skull Rock" and get the Jagged Dagger 1.5 speed for Flametounge weapon.  Drop rate isn't great on quest item, but is worth the grind.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Undertanker

[Motorbreath 923]

I mainly agree with Undertanker's post. Enh+Resto can be a good all-purpose leveling combo.

 

The only thing I'd do differently is I would go Enh first, because you can heal dungeons without resto talents up until Ulda I'd say.

 

Getting a place as a dps and doing damage in that spec in general will take some effort in the other hand.

 

Oh and don't take Stormstrike - it's a huge mana sink. Take Tidal Mastery and Nature's Swiftness instead since you're going Resto anyway.

[Undertanker 88]

Yeah I just mention restro first because of the ever so valuable 3% hit for melee and spells.   Caps you in PVP and helps when needing to kill фекал while soloing. 

 

Can't Crit what you don't hit.

 

Stormstrike is mana intensive yes, but if PVPing, nice to have burst damage.  If PVE server, I agree you could benefit from the other 2.

[gotmilk0112 10]

Huh. Resto first? Interesting. Is the 3% hit really that crucial?

 

I'd rather go for Imp Ghost Wolf first, as well as getting stuff like Flurry and Elemental Weapons much earlier.

[telabim 0]

Leveled a few shamans in my day and this is the spec I prefer: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hE0zxzhoZxibdV0hx

use a 1h+shield and flametongue.  I go elemental tree first (try and get clearcasting ASAP) and enhancement later on.  Playstyle is auto attacks with fast 1h and low rank shock spamming to proc clearcasting.  

Edited December 12, 2016 by telabim

[Motorbreath 923]

Leveled a few shamans in my day and this is the spec I prefer: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hE0zxzhoZxibdV0hx

use a 1h+shield and flametongue.  I go elemental tree first (try and get clearcasting ASAP) and enhancement later on.  Playstyle is auto attacks with fast 1h and low rank shock spamming to proc clearcasting.  

Respect to my fellow shocker.

Mine looked more like http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hE0zxbhoZxi0dq0uL and I went enh first using WF even with a shield though.

Not that it matters. Those are personal preferences anyway.

[Schnarr 0]

Can't Crit what you don't hit.

Yes we can !

[Rayaleith 2]

So, Undertanker, you go for rockbitter even after 30 when 2h? Do you switch to wf?