1.11 Shaman Raid/Healing Builds

[nobbie]

With the patch 1.11 coming this night, what will your Shaman Raid/Healing build be?

[Treesh]

With the patch 1.11 coming this night, what will your Shaman Raid/Healing build be?

It's already here and Mogo is still 30 resto, 21 enhancement. I get put in the DPS warriors/rogue groups a lot so having both strength of earth and grace of air improved is a good thing. I do still solo, 5 and 10 man so being able to off-tank (or just tank if we're short on warriors and druids) is a good thing and her healing power isn't that weak either so I can still healbot in the 20 and 40 mans just fine.:) I do wish I had enough points to cut down Healing Wave's cast time, but the other stuff is just too tasty. I'd also like to have Healing Way and Nature's Guidance maxed out, but again, not enough points for everything I want so I have to pick and choose.

[nobbie]

It's already here and Mogo is still 30 resto, 21 enhancement. I get put in the DPS warriors/rogue groups a lot so having both strength of earth and grace of air improved is a good thing. I do still solo, 5 and 10 man so being able to off-tank (or just tank if we're short on warriors and druids) is a good thing and her healing power isn't that weak either so I can still healbot in the 20 and 40 mans just fine.:) I do wish I had enough points to cut down Healing Wave's cast time, but the other stuff is just too tasty. I'd also like to have Healing Way and Nature's Guidance maxed out, but again, not enough points for everything I want so I have to pick and choose.

That's basically a Healer build I'd choose, too. My build has a slight variation in the Enhancement tree, because I don't want to to miss Imp. Ghost Wolf and Imp. Lightning Shield

[Dozer]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classe...052350513520151



Straight up raid build,

[oldmandennis]

I think 21/30 isn't that great of a build - parry is pretty weak in a raid setting, though it's pretty nice while solo/grinding. I'd either take tide since you have gone that far, or swap some points for weapon totems.

[Kevin]

I think 21/30 isn't that great of a build - parry is pretty weak in a raid setting, though it's pretty nice while solo/grinding. I'd either take tide since you have gone that far, or swap some points for weapon totems.

As mentioned she is starting to tank for guild runs in 5 mans at times and even has done some off tanking in 20 mans. Parry is huge for that. 1 point for 5% physical damage avoidance is hard to beat.

[Mavfin]

I'm still running a 30/21 elem/enhancement build, as I ran before. I'm the utility infielder. I can FFA heal, fill gaps on a tank with a druid primary, DPS, drop totems, do <whatever needs to be done short of main heal or actually tank>.

As Treesh likes her Mogo, I like how my shammy plays with this spec, and I'm not respeccing to raid. I'm not required or asked to.

[Kevin]

I'm still running a 30/21 elem/enhancement build, as I ran before. I'm the utility infielder. I can FFA heal, fill gaps on a tank with a druid primary, DPS, drop totems, do <whatever needs to be done short of main heal or actually tank>.

As Treesh likes her Mogo, I like how my shammy plays with this spec, and I'm not respeccing to raid. I'm not required or asked to.

And I'm so glad you don't. I love having Keshogo or Mogo around. They do some of the same stuff but they also do different stuff and they do it well. It's great to have those specs in a party. They add a lot.

And personally I think you could main heal, in a pinch if you had to. You've got the skill even without the spec. :)

[oldmandennis]

Bah! You crazy kids and your wacky specs. /waves paw

The question wasn't "What spec is great for when you throw a rock and can't hit a warrior LFG" or what spec makes Tresh or Mav feel warm and fuzzy. The question was what spec is good for healing and raids. And the answer is not 30/21/0 or 0/21/30. The answer is 0/5/46, 0/14/38, or 0/29/22. Or something close to those.

Not sayin you guys are wrong for playing the way you want to play, but those specs didn't answer the question.

[Rinnhart]

21 arcane/28 fire/2 frost

Oh, wait, shamans.

[Treesh]

Bah! You crazy kids and your wacky specs. /waves paw

The question wasn't "What spec is great for when you throw a rock and can't hit a warrior LFG" or what spec makes Tresh or Mav feel warm and fuzzy. The question was what spec is good for healing and raids. And the answer is not 30/21/0 or 0/21/30. The answer is 0/5/46, 0/14/38, or 0/29/22. Or something close to those.

Not sayin you guys are wrong for playing the way you want to play, but those specs didn't answer the question.

The hell they didn't. I can heal in the 40 mans just as well as our full-on resto spec shamans. Yes, sometimes I miss mana tide (Mogo grew up with it) and it can help out your healers, but it is not the "OMG MUST HAVE" skill that so many folks claim for raiding. It still only gives back 1160 mana to each party member if they aren't spread out and manage to get all 4 ticks (wasn't there a bug listed somewhere that mentioned folks only getting three ticks out of mana tide and not all 4?). That's barely better than a greater mana potion once every 5 minutes. Sure, it's better than nothing and yes it can help, but now all druids, not just the resto druids, have innervate which is far superior to mana tide if your main healers are out of mana and need a recharge so it's not as crucial. There's nothing that says you can't have a spec that's good for both raiding and smaller groupings. That's what my build is - good no matter what I'm doing in PvE. You may have your "correct answer", but it's not the only correct answer.

[Quark]

The question wasn't "What spec is great for when you throw a rock and can't hit a warrior LFG" or what spec makes Tresh or Mav feel warm and fuzzy.

I'm considering myself lucky that I read this on a forum instead of in a chat. The consequences would be much more dire in chat.

[Tal]

Bah! You crazy kids and your wacky specs. /waves paw

The question wasn't "What spec is great for when you throw a rock and can't hit a warrior LFG" or what spec makes Tresh or Mav feel warm and fuzzy. The question was what spec is good for healing and raids. And the answer is not 30/21/0 or 0/21/30. The answer is 0/5/46, 0/14/38, or 0/29/22. Or something close to those.

Not sayin you guys are wrong for playing the way you want to play, but those specs didn't answer the question.

And I'm sure that the best spec for raiding warriors is 16/0/35.;)

Feel free to give your opinion backed with supporting arguments but presenting your opinion as foregone conclusion smacks of a lack in confidence.

[Mavfin]

And I'm sure that the best spec for raiding warriors is 16/0/35.;)

Feel free to give your opinion backed with supporting arguments but presenting your opinion as foregone conclusion smacks of a lack in confidence.

16/0/35? huh? but, what about cruelty? are you nuts? (lol, I'm playing here, so don't answer this)

[oldmandennis]

Judging by the reaction, the tounge in cheekyness I was going for didn't come across right.

But I do feel my points are correct, so lest Tal think I lack confidence, I'll expand.

I'll say it again with my tounge out of my cheek this time so nobody takes it wrong - I fully support whatever spec you want to try. If you were on my server, you all sound like mature sucessful players (well most of you) and I would be happy to group with you any time. I'd say that even if Mav said "Talents are for sissies. Real orcs go 0/0/0."

That said, the question is what's a good build for raiding and healing.

Manatide does rock. I played without it for a long time. I speced into it for the push on Nef. It makes an enormous difference in that fight. If groups are set up correctly, it is not defficult at all to get within 30 yards of a shaman. Our guild frequently "shuttles" the manatide shaman through a group of mostly priests. Any fight that is healer mana constrained becomes much much easier when you do this. You may not really be aware of it since AFIK your horde guild is not to chrom yet. You haven't had to try those fights without BOW/JOW. While the fight is obviously possible without any tides, the fight is also possible with a bear tank. The question is "can manatide allow groups to win that would otherwise be close but just short of being able to defeat important encounters?" and the answer is "yes".

Tresh, if you look at the 3rd build I posted, its pretty close yours. Just to call it optimal, you have to take one of the 2 solid raiding talants that are availible to you - either weapon totems, or MT. You woln't really notice the lack of BOS until Golemagg and Rag, but the wepon totem talent would help make up for that. Or you could drop parry. On my server atleast, since it became clear that warriors could compete with rogues for DPS, we have been flooded with them. If you are really set on tanking things, I would flip it and go 0/30/21, but at the very least you probably want the weapon enhancment talent.

[Treesh]

The question is "can manatide allow groups to win that would otherwise be close but just short of being able to defeat important encounters?" and the answer is "yes".

Yes, that is correct and I agree. However, you can also say "With another innervate, we can defeat these encounters" and now, raids do have more innervates so mana tide is less important than it used to be. This doesn't mean it's not helpful. It is still helpful and I do have the occasional moment where I say, "Damn. I wish I still had mana tide." but those moments are getting fewer and farther apart and certainly don't outnumber the times I see parry light up and save me from taking any damage whatsoever.;)

Tresh, if you look at the 3rd build I posted, its pretty close yours. Just to call it optimal, you have to take one of the 2 solid raiding talants that are availible to you - either weapon totems, or MT. You woln't really notice the lack of BOS until Golemagg and Rag, but the wepon totem talent would help make up for that. Or you could drop parry. On my server atleast, since it became clear that warriors could compete with rogues for DPS, we have been flooded with them. If you are really set on tanking things, I would flip it and go 0/30/21, but at the very least you probably want the weapon enhancment talent.

The original author never asked for optimal specs. It was "With the patch 1.11 coming this night, what will your Shaman Raid/Healing build be?" That's what I answered. I never claimed it was optimal. I never claimed anyone should spec that way. I answered the question asked. :)

And I'm not set on tanking things. I'm set on being able to help out as a hybrid. :) Yes, there are times I tank, yes there are times I healbot, yes there are times when I DPS as much as I can. That's what I built Mogo to do. I've done the full-on healer spec (she grew up that way because we had no other healers around) and it gimped me. Now that I have the freedom to do things other than heal, I do as much as I can in any role I'm placed into.