A Greenskin’s Identity Crisis: Hybrid Shaman vs. Ranged Squig Herder – Seeking Veteran Advice

[Ziorah]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently at a crossroads with my Greenskin journey (CR 11-15) and I’m struggling to find my "true calling." I absolutely love the aesthetic and the dark humor of the Goblins, but I’m torn between two very different paths. I’m mostly focusing on Scenarios and unorganized PUG Warbands.

I’d love some veteran insight into my specific dilemmas for both classes:

1. The Shaman (Kharrk Khaz): The 70/30 "Combat Healer"
I’ve realized that I hate being a "backline heal-bot." Standing 30 feet back and just watching green bars go up feels reactive and, honestly, a bit dull. Especially in unorganized PUGs where Tanks rarely use "Guard," I feel like a sitting duck.

The Concept: I’m aiming for a 70% Healing / 30% Pressure hybrid.

The Logic: I want to use my Intelligence (approx. a 35%/35% split with Willpower) to land my DoTs and debuffs reliably. I want to earn my instant heals through active combat, acting like a "poisonous snake" that keeps the pressure on enemy healers while keeping my own group alive.

The Fear: Am I just making life harder for myself? Is a 70/30 Shaman actually viable in R40 Scenarios, or will I be "nothing half and nothing whole" – failing to save my teammates while doing negligible damage?

2. The Squig Herder: The "Archer Dream" vs. The "Meatball Meta"
I love the visual of a Goblin with a bow that’s twice his size. The "Big Shootin'" and "Quick Shootin'" styles look amazing. But here is my big problem: I absolutely DESPISE the Big Squig form.

The "Meatball" Hate: I want to play a Goblin, see my gear, and feel like a scout. I don't want to spend 99% of my playtime inside a giant, hopping meatball (Melee/Stabbin' meta).

The Archer Reality: Every time I ask, people say "Go Melee or go home." Is Ranged SH (Longbow or Shortbow) actually a "dead" spec in the current meta for Scenarios?

Can a well-played Ranged SH provide enough "Dakka" and utility (traps/kicks) to be an asset in a PUG Warband, or will I just be a free kill for every Witch Hunter because I refuse to go Melee?

The Big Question:
Which of these paths feels more "complete" in the long run for a player who wants to be active and impactful?

Does the Hybrid Shaman offer more "clutch" moments in unorganized play?

Or is the Ranged Squig Herder a viable way to enjoy pure DPS without being forced into the Melee-form I hate?

I don’t want to be a "pro-meta-slave," but I also don't want to be dead weight for my realm. I want to be a Greenskin icon!

Thanks for your advice, and WAAAGH!

Edit:

I've been following the recent discussions about the 'Defensive Meta' and solo roaming. It seems players like nat3s suggest that Healer-Hybrids (RP, AM, Sham) are actually among the most 'oppressive' solo classes when geared correctly, specifically mentioning that the problem is often 'glass cannon' players (5sov 4tri) not knowing how to counter survival-based builds.

This confirms my 70/30 Hybrid idea. But I'm curious: As a Shaman, how do I avoid the '5sov 4tri' trap? Should I prioritize Toughness and Initiative over pure Willpower to truly become that 'oppressive' solo roamer nat3s is talking about? And how does a Ranged Squig Herder fit into this? Is an Archer-SH also capable of being that 'oppressive' survivor, or does he lack the self-sustain that makes the Shaman/RP so strong?

[Sever1n]

Its old hybrid sham build ton of shammies practiced. Def gobos tactics, woundstick, and healing tree, tacticsmay differ on what you need. Nobody can burst you down because detaunt is staking with tactic detaunt wich means 70% burst negation. You have 2 hots, one wich gives 240tough on top detaunts and previosly divine fury worked only on casted heals, after rework dont remember. U just go to semicap int, survive any pathetic attemt on yor life by some hats etc and then start to kite shielding hoting and doting ap suking pudling gorksezstoping into horizon. If target failed to burst you, you autowin watching how enemy slowly rots in dots. Extremely boring, designed just to take advantage on people that dont have sustaine. In case of RP, they have tactic constantly proking slow on dot making them fat kiting armored unreachable abominations. I used similar spec on AM to add some dmg when we roamed with my friend on SW, it mimics to some degree gobs sham+rsh- prob one of best legendary roaming setups. Rsh took some hits from nerfbat but still strong. But if you met anything with pocket healing your carriage instantly turnes into pumpkin.

[DirkDaring]

Here`s a vid of MDVP on his Shammy it is dps but he is all way up in mork tree for Doin sumthin useful. it is several years old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C8ZBZIghP8&t=22s

Here`s a good Ranged Squig vid as well roaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO3Ekl-WPc0&t=822s

[anstalt]

No class is good at all scales, so you've gotta pick based on your preferred playstyles.


Shaman is fantastic solo when ur in DPS spec. Maybe hybrid too, but i have no experience with hybrid setups. You can do decent damage, you can kite really well, and you've got self-healing. But, its weak in warbands when in DPS spec. Warbands are all about AoE and DPS shammies just lack AoE. But, you can blob surf really well and still help out with healing and rezzing.


Ranged squig herder has better burst damage than dps shammie so can be really powerful at times. You can get a lot of killing blows and rank up pretty quickly. I also think its perfectly fine in scenarios.

The downside with rsh is total lack of healing and defences. You're as squishy as it gets!! So, you gotta be very quick on your feet in order to stay at kiting range. This is its big downside in the 1v1 game. If you can stick at range, you can kill, but as soon as someone gets into melee you're generally screwed.

Rsh also isn't really wanted in warbands due to it's lack of aoe. Thats why meatball mode is preferred. Excellent AoE, much higher defences and some interesting utility for the warband (e.g. the channeled knockback is great for smashing open funnels).



My best advice is to just level both!! Experiment, have fun, and see what sticks.

[Ziorah]

Hi everyone,

First of all, a huge thank you for the detailed replies and those absolutely legendary video links! Watching MDVP play the Shaman really cemented my vision of what the class can do when pushed to its limits.

I’ve made my choice: Kharrk Khaz is officially committing to the DPS Shaman path.
The insights regarding the "blob surfing" potential really hit home for me. I’ve realized that since it’s notoriously difficult to secure a fixed spot in high-end, organized Warbands as an off-meta spec, I’m going to embrace the "Independent Operator" lifestyle.

My Plan for the Long Grind:

The Unorganized Warband Life: I’ll be focusing on PUG Warbands and "blob surfing" (roaming solo near the main zerg). This allows me to effectively push my Renown Rank without the social pressure of being a pure "heal-bot."
The Tactical Nuisance: As anstalt mentioned, a DPS Shaman can still contribute massively with rezzes, "Sticky Feetz" (the puddle), and silences. I’d rather be a "poisonous snake" that tilts the scales of a fight than a passive green-bar-watcher.

The Defensive Core: Taking Sever1n’s advice on the "detaunt stacking" and the 70% burst negation to heart. I want to be that "boring" target that simply refuses to die while the dots do the work.

I’m currently Level 17 and heading into the Marshes/T2. I know the road as an off-meta solo-surfer will be "stony," but the visual of my Goblin and the tactical "Swiss Army Knife" toolkit is just too good to pass up.

If anyone has more specific tips on which gear sets to aim for in T2/T3 that balance Intelligence and survivability, I’d love to hear them!

Thanks again for the help, you guys are awesome. WAAAGH!

[anstalt]

Good luck with DPS shammie! I still have a lot of fun with mine.

My advice for leveling: pure RvR

As ranged DPS, especially as u do magic damage and have long range, you can easily solo blob surf and you'll quickly wrack up the renown.

The renown you earn from a kill takes into account your career level, renown level, and the enemies cr and rr (and a whole bunch of other crap too, behind the scenes the code is ridiculous!). However, as soon as you group up, that goes out the window. For example, the last character I leveled (WE), I could hit an enemy once and earn 500-2000 renown when solo. But, when I grouped with an 80+ shammie, my renown dropped off a cliff.


So, I'd recommend soloing as DPS shaman in the lakes and sticking with it.


One of the issues you will have is that DPS gear doesn't come in gold bags, so it's gonna be more expensive for you to gear up, at least at 40. So, what you might wanna consider is saving your gold bags and getting either conq or vanq (both heal sets) and then doing the PvE grind to get the Bastion Stairs DPS set.


I don't really have much advice for pre-40 gearing as I leveled my shaman as a healer in scenarios. I then did the PvE grind at 40, got my BS set and then switched to DPS.

Spec wise, the two key skills for DPS shammie (imo) are sticky feet and fury of da green. But, you're gonna have to level quite a bit before you get access to fury, and even further before you can have both. So, to start with, I'd get sticky feet, then just put everything else into the right tree. That'll boost your DoTs which is most of your damage.



Good luck though! Please do remember that for all the complaints about DPS healers that you might read, you're still a squishy little gobbo! You're gonna die a lot, you're gonna get targeted a lot. Your survivability comes from kiting whilst healing, you can't face-tank anything.