Shaman T4 advice/question

[CeeJay89]

So is there ever an instance in T4, say when you get Anni set, that a WL, WH, or any other class specced for DPS doesn't literally **** on you? As it stands, without Guard, I literally die in one knockdown, or have 90% of my HP blown away the moment they come into contact with me. Mind you, I'm spec'd 100% defensively and actively use detaunts.

Is there any way to avoid dying the moment someone looks your way without another healer around?

I'm not 40 yet, maybe that's the reason?

I would just like to know how T4 plays out right now, as if damage remains so outrageous this way even at 40 and fully geared, I'd rather not even bother playing T4, at least as a healer, as I don't find it even remotely enjoyable.

If it isn't the case, then what advice could be offered in the levels leading up to 40 so that it's not so agonizingly boring to see yourself explode on impact?

Thanks in advance.

[Lektroluv]

My advice for WH:

1-Stack enough Wounds untill you reach enough amount for surive initial burst after KD, and give other healers enough time of reaction.

2-Lower your posibility of suffer critical damage as much as posible, because it is one of theyr main reasons for scale the burst.

3-Buy Cleansing Winds for remove any dot, snare, or the ability which make you damage yourself on the run, once you wake up from knowdown.

4-Buy Resolute Defense for avoid beign snared once you start run from him.

5-Equip Run Away tactic for speed procs and get enough distance while range damage dealers, do theyr work.

6-Detaunt them as fast as you can betwen this steps... sometimes you will be allowed sooner or later, depending on the people surronding around you.

7-Last suggestion is optional, equip the other Gobbo racial tactic which can proca 25% autodetaunt when someone attack you, but stacking wounds and following the other suggestions, your chances of survive really go hight enough.


White lion could follow same example as the one i provide with WH, but the lion pet can outrun you... it will not Snare you or Knowdown you, if you using Resolute Defense, and the white lion if it is not in premade will not follow you into the dangerous zone.

[porkstar]

I'll probably get grief for saying this but pugging on destro is rough. WL, SW, Engie are all super solid Pug classes and you will find them in spades. I'm playing shaman for the first time in T4 currently myself. You're going to get blown the f**** up if you get a couple DPS on you. You will likely not have much support. Get about 6.5k wounds minimum. Cleansing winds. If you can squeeze some Futile Strikes renown in there as well, its good. Carry crafted pots and SC vendor pots for big trouble (double pots). +4 morale gain on your gear so you can use Focused Mind as often as possible. Use your detaunts! I'm RR 37 right now and I feel like I'd need RR60 to get all the renown abilities I think I need. I feels you because I'm getting my S*** kicked in right now as well.

I'm curious if any more experienced shaman have input.

[catholicism198]

Spoiler:

My advice for WH:

1-Stack enough Wounds untill you reach enough amount for surive initial burst after KD, and give other healers enough time of reaction.

2-Lower your posibility of suffer critical damage as much as posible, because it is one of theyr main reasons for scale the burst.

3-Buy Cleansing Winds for remove any dot, snare, or the ability which make you damage yourself on the run, once you wake up from knowdown.

4-Buy Resolute Defense for avoid beign snared once you start run from him.

5-Equip Run Away tactic for speed procs and get enough distance while range damage dealers, do theyr work.

6-Detaunt them as fast as you can betwen this steps... sometimes you will be allowed sooner or later, depending on the people surronding around you.

7-Last suggestion is optional, equip the other Gobbo racial tactic which can proca 25% autodetaunt when someone attack you, but stacking wounds and following the other suggestions, your chances of survive really go hight enough.


White lion could follow same example as the one i provide with WH, but the lion pet can outrun you... it will not Snare you or Knowdown you, if you using Resolute Defense, and the white lion if it is not in premade will not follow you into the dangerous zone.

So basically get rr500 and an extra tactic slot.

I'll second Cleansing Winds...cleansing winds is the most reliable way to remove burn away the lies and their healing debuff.
Although I'm on the fence about Resolute Defense...it should be helpful against WLs but it's virtually useless against WHs as they tend to stun you right after they pop from stealth.

That said..........both are a waste of renown points if you're also playing SCs.
Thankfully resetting renown points is free.

[Kalidore]

positioning is more important or just as important than anything stated above. Learning where you need to be, and when you need to be there, is a lesson most healers fail to ever learn. Use your 150 ft range on your single target heals to your advantage, and know when to go in 100ft range to use your grp heals. I'd rather have a smart healer who cleanses debuffs constantly, and knows to focus on the targets getting heavily focused with his single target heals/hots, then a healer who gets him and his team in trouble by always being in range of DPS while trying to spam grp heals.

[anarchypark]

1. Range
Get familiar with ranges, draw some lines between you and enemy dps
if they start moving toward you, just run b4 they reduce gap
2. Hide
hide among big guys. let them pass some of your meat shields to get you.
also you can get help if you got pounced, stealthed.
3. Moving
Don't stand still and give enemy easy time to attack. use moving heal to earn time for big casting heals. then move again until you get help or enemy gave up.
4. Gears, level
you need level, proper gears.
5. Group
find a group to get helps

[Aurandilaz]

Praise Mork and pass the Armour talismans into every single slot

RunAway! + WhazatBehindYa + GreenCleaning + Healcrit
Someone pops you, you maybe get KD, your first reaction is to hit AoE/st detaunt, smash EEEEEK! and then start drinking a healtpot if you lost too much dmg, all whilst being in continuous movement.

Bad shamans stay still, good ones look like they are on shrooms and cannot stop moving.

WHs love targets that stand in one place, they hate gits who keep running in random directions and their next movement direction remains unpredictable.

Spec high in Dodge/Disrupt if you feel like you are getting too much focus fire from enemy rdps, other get stats like healcrit, and if you feel like becoming more defensive, toughness/Futile Strikes.

[Miszczu5647]

1. Armor. As much as you can. I have ~2.5k with pot. It's help a lot.
2. Crit reduction. With annihiator it is possible to reduce Chance to be crit below 0%. Ofc you need renown for this. Before you obtain anni chest you can use Silveroak chest (3% crit reduction).
3. Tactics. Depending on your playstyle shaman have two great survivability tactic -Run away and What behind you. Test them and find out what works better for you. Or slot both

And remember -if properly focused nothing will save you. So "respawn" button must be your friend not enemy

[Ugle]

Unless doing 6vs6, go all out healbot IMO. Positioning and awareness will do the job 95% of the times, and once in a while you'll eat the dust. Then at least you can do some proper heals. Lolsurvivalspecs kills the heal output too much and mkea you liability imo also big crit heals is fun

[Thayli]

Spoiler:

So is there ever an instance in T4, say when you get Anni set, that a WL, WH, or any other class specced for DPS doesn't literally **** on you? As it stands, without Guard, I literally die in one knockdown, or have 90% of my HP blown away the moment they come into contact with me. Mind you, I'm spec'd 100% defensively and actively use detaunts.

Is there any way to avoid dying the moment someone looks your way without another healer around?

I'm not 40 yet, maybe that's the reason?

I would just like to know how T4 plays out right now, as if damage remains so outrageous this way even at 40 and fully geared, I'd rather not even bother playing T4, at least as a healer, as I don't find it even remotely enjoyable.

If it isn't the case, then what advice could be offered in the levels leading up to 40 so that it's not so agonizingly boring to see yourself explode on impact?

Thanks in advance.

I main a Shaman, so I'll try to give you some insight into what I do to survive. I do not feel squishy at all, but keep in mind I am almost exclusively playing with a group or more people. If you solo, playing a squishy class will obviously be a lot harder. To give you an idea, I almost never die to the average WH and, if I manage to detaunt or pop Resolute Defense before being knocked down, I can kill them instead, even without help. Either way, there's a lot you can do to bulk up your cloth healer classes, and in my opinion, doing so is vastly superior compared to stacking willpower. Some of these you can start working towards pre-40, others you will need to be maxed out to really make a difference.

- Reach level 40
Yes, this will make a big difference. Having an extra tactic slot alone is massive.

- Reach renown rank 40 (50, 60,..)
Every 10 ranks of renown past 40 gives you an extra mastery point. Depending on what build you aim for, this can be quite significant.

- Have a complete Annihilator or Mercenary set.
This goes faster than you think, and does make quite a difference. Ruin is all right if getting one of the PVP sets proves too slow or too difficult for you. If you play a couple of hours a day, you can get your Anni/Merc set in a week or so. Especially if you buy the gloves and boots (you cannot purchase the other pieces with gold, only these two). As for jewelry, get The Winds Impervious, see this thread.

- Armor/Toughness talismans
Do not stack willpower, get either of these instead. Armor is better if you are lifetap spec (see further) and get the majority of your damage taken from melee classes. Toughness is superior if you get hit by a multitude of smaller attacks and magic damage.

- Lifetap Build (Da Green)
I run something like this right now. While this is probably not the greatest solo build, a Da Green (lifetap) build is by far the strongest right now and makes you quite the duelist. Once you get some focus, throw a HoT, cleanse, and shield on yourself, follow up by using I'll Take That and you shouldn't really die.

- Tactics
If you are solo, you will always want at the very least RUN AWAY! slotted. If you desire, Whazzat Behind You?! is also quite strong if you find yourself focused. In a Da Green spec, you should consider using Waaagh Frenzy!. Green Cleanin' for an extra HoT is also not bad, For the most part the last two are up to you. See what you are lacking and slot for that.

- Renown points
Deft Defender (+dodge/disrupt) is a must and should be maxed out. Consider both Resolute Defense and Cleansing Wind. If you can manage to pop RD before a CC from a WH applies, you're golden. CW to cleanse the pesky Boiling Blood, Concussive Mine and other painful effects you cannot cleanse yourself. Futile Strikes is also a good investment, to get your natural chance to be crit below 0% (it can go below even further). Put filler points into Vigor (wounds) and try to make sure you have at least 6000 hit points. There's Quick Escape now, which I haven't tried yet but could be considered. I personally do not find any of the healer stats (willpower, healcrit) worth it at all.

- Positioning
If you are standing still and spamming group heal, you are playing the class wrong (except in keeps because there isn't much else you can do there). Stay mobile, position so people have to actively chase you, leave their guard and their heals to get to you, and make sure you stay around allies (but not too close, especially since latest experimental change.) Use Sticky Feetz to kite, and keep in mind I'll Take That! and Fury of Da Green work while moving as long as you have a heal charge in your career mechanic.

- Detaunt/Eeeek!/Geddoff!
This should be a given. One thing you should consider is that your AP point steal does not break detaunt, as it does no damage. If you survive the initial burst from a WH or WL, popping it right after detaunt screws them over quite hard. Don't spam Eeeek or Geddoff! unless you can effectively knock people off a ways someplace, because otherwise you just end up giving them free immunities.

- Potions
Get an apothecary alt (or friend) and have him make you at the very least some armor potions. With a full Anni/Merc set, The Winds Impervious Jewelry set, armor talismans and a potion, you should be close to 3000 armor. Healing potions are also quite nice to use in emergencies. Don't forget you can stack an armor pot with a stat potion as well, so you can get some extra toughness or willpower.