World of Warcraft Shaman Guide

Spirit of the Shaman!

Shamans are one of the most up and coming characters in the World of Warcraft.  With the recent expansion Wrath of the Lich King, they have become strong no matter what talent specialization they choose and this is an attractive thing with the newly implemented dual talent specialization system. 

It allows the Shaman an unprecedented amount of flexibility.  This flexibility crossed with the classes’ ability to heal will make them instantly valuable no matter who or what is in the raid.  The only role a shaman cannot fill is the role of a tank. If you are one of these shaman gamers, take a read of this Wow shaman guide to learn the techniques and basics of the shamans.

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What Other Bonuses Does a Shaman Bring to the Table?

Shamans bring many unique qualities to the table.  Things like the ability to resurrect themselves once every 60 minutes, but this cool down can be reduced simply with 7 points in the restoration talent tree.  Reincarnation (self resurrection) is used in two different ways.  One is for wipe recovery, and saving the raid time that would be wasted running back.  I know this wow shaman guide can’t go into too much detail but I must stress it’s important to know about shaman health bonuses. The success of this will depend on where the shaman died.  If they died anywhere near the monster’s original spot or in a spot that they may “aggro” the monster, they will likely not be able to reincarnate without dying shortly after.  Reincarnate can also be used to get right up after dying in a fight to continue healing.  This can also save a raid and potentially turn the tides.

A Shaman’s 4 Totems

Totems are also a huge positive to any group or raid.  They provide a full rainbow of benefits that are not only automated, but can catch things faster than any human player could.  Totems do everything from cure poison/disease, to dispelling certain magical effects, buffing certain stats or providing weapon buffs, or even providing a short term summon of an elemental which can temporarily assist the group/raid in combat. Check out any other wow shaman guide if you want more info on how totems work.
There are 4 different kinds of totems, and the shaman can have one from each type up at any time.  Earth, Fire, Air and Water are the 4 types of totems. You gain access to them in early questing, but you need to complete these quests to allow your shaman access to these totems at later levels.

Shamans also have a choice when they are DPS’ing.  They can melee DPS (similar to a druid in cat form, or a rogue), or they can do caster DPS (similar to a mage or druid in moonkin form).  These choices provide situation benefits.  They definitely benefit from melee DPS’ing as they can wear mail armor and this will yield more protection to the shaman. Also reading a wow shaman guide relating to a shaman’s best ways/abilities to deal with a certain enemy is important if you want to stay protected.

A Shaman’s Health Life

Healing Shamans have a single talent specialization choice, and that is restoration.  Shamans not only have the totem benefit when DPS’ing or healing, but when healing they have a chain heal that can hit 3 targets at a time.  In raid encounters with AoE or multiple target damage, the chain heal can become highly valuable.
Shamans also have a wide array of faster or slower heals that can hit fast and for smaller amounts, or slower that can top someone up that may be in desperate need of heals.  Because I have read and written more than one wow shaman guide, one thing I know that shamans have to be very cautious of is the threat they can generate because they can have a hard time shedding it. In some raid encounters, mail armor isn’t going to help you a whole heck of a lot.  If you don’t happen to have a threat meter at your disposal, it is very simple to self monitor your threat.  If you hit for a few critical strikes in a row, simply back off for a few moments and allow your tank to build up additional threat before you resume your onslaught!

In the end, Shamans are a very useful addition to any group, and a well played shaman can make a raid very successful and a lot fun!

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