Levelling an Elemental Shaman.

2 Espressi

Rolled a shaman last week, and I've started picking his talents from the Elemental tree. A few guides have indicated that Enhancement is the way to go until you get to higher levels, as there's less need to regen mana, but there are nearly as many saying that the elemental spells are better, at least until the 40s.

There's probably not a huge amount of difference between them , or is there? I've a hunter and a rouge already, and the ranged dps of Elemental appeals to me more than the melee abilities in Enhancement, both seem to be pretty equal in groups.

Or are they?

TechnoPool

enhancement is alot faster to lvl, with a 2 decent weapons you can almost one shot stuff with windfury.

nix

tbh just try both and play with whichever you prefer

elemental might result in alot of downtime.

enhancment is very boring until you get stormstrike at level 40

Before level 40 you will kill mobs faster with elemental but suffer more down time, so tbh just pick whichever you prefer

I myself would go 1-40 as ele and then enhance till 60 and then whichever specc i prefered after that

Jason2379

I tried enhancement at lv62 and hated it. Maybe it was due to bad gear or whatever, but I just didn't think it was my thing.

I thought elemental was fun, but then again, my main is a mage and I like the burst damage, casting etc.

2 Espressi

Cheers folks, lack of caster leather gear seems to be the biggest issue at the moment, will have to do a couple of runs through Deathmines for stuff I think!

kilman

Of course don't forget ,you can operate as a healer easier as elemental which is handy if you have problems finding one for instances as you level.

2 Espressi

That's sweet RopeDrink, I think I'll have Kevin and Perry stuck in my head all day...

No problems to report so far with Elemental, I'm having lots of fun with it. I've gone for a lot of cloth gear with +Intellect and +Spirit, so my armour isn't so great, but I'm having very few mana issues. I've also been through a few instances as a healer, and the armour isn't so much of a problem there.

I haven't done many dungeons in the past, I levelled my hunter main mostly though questing, but the novelty has started to wear off. The shaman is much more versatile, it's cool to be able to kick ass at the start of an instance, get to the meater stuff, then switch to healing when the going gets tough. They're not as long as thought they would be either, perhaps that marathon run through Scarlet Monastery was a once off...

][cEMAN**

Having never done any of those types of movies, but as someone who'd be interested in it, how do you get the independant models? I've seen people using them before of bosses, and I don't know how.

2 Espressi

Thought I'd stick a little update in here instead of creating a new thread. I'm at level 54 now, looking forward to getting to Outland. trying to find mail gear with decent stats is tough, as is getting a pug that knows its way around Blackrock!

I decided to dump LW, since I'm not making anything I can use with it, and the stuff I can make make costs too much, so it's cheaper to buy it, or farm equivalent stuff from instances.

I sold all my leathers and hides, and waiting for the cash to start rolling from that.

Levelling Mining is a pain in the arse, but hopefully it should be up to spec by the time I get to Outlands.

2 Espressi

Nope, I got bored with my hunter at 66, he's currently parked high over Nagrand, I sometime farm ores with him Had considered getting him to 80, but I'm terrible at PvP, but got tired of the repetitive questing and he's no fun in a group

At least with the Resto/Ele specs on the shammy, I can use the same gear for both. I've mostly picked stuff with +Intellect, and +SP where I can't get Int. I tried it the other way around, but the really good +SP stuff is usually leather or cloth, so has much lower armour or other base stats. It's not so bad at the moment, I spent some time trawling through Wowhead to see what will be available in the next few levels, and there are some Dragonscale sets I can get. It'll all be replaced once I get to Hellfire Peninsula, so for now it's just filling the gap.

Magill

Nothing wrong with wearing cloth or leather m8, especially if your doing dungeons. Most of the best in slot endgame gear is cloth (For elemental anyway).

2 Espressi

Dinged 70 last night, still stacking +sp, though I'm starting to see where +haste is going to be useful. Casting takes an age, and my DPS is only average.

Haven't done any WOTLK dungeons yet, maybe this weekend, so lotsa new gear soon!

Magill

Your always going to be stacking sp. You just live with the haste you get on gear (Inn ICC gear your gonna be pretty close to haste cap tho)

Shougeki

Gimme a holler if im online and ill go farm some non-HC dungeons with you if you need. The LFG system is pretty good though, so might enjoy it more without 80s

2 Espressi

Cheers lads, I'll holler if I see you! Actually, I've been surprised how little boosting i've needed on this toon. I was only on for a little while last night, but it was the first time I've been in the LFG for more than a couple of minutes. I'm guessing that there's not a huge demand for the lower wotlk dungeons, since the quest gear is pretty good.

Blowfish

Same as above. I've a 78 Warr (prot), 70 Druid (Bear/Tree) and 71 Hunter (Surv). I'm always up for running non-HC's on one of them.

2 Espressi wrote: »

Cheers lads, I'll holler if I see you! Actually, I've been surprised how little boosting i've needed on this toon. I was only on for a little while last night, but it was the first time I've been in the LFG for more than a couple of minutes. I'm guessing that there's not a huge demand for the lower wotlk dungeons, since the quest gear is pretty good.

It's the same as at 80, it depends on what you are queing as. As Prot/Bear groups are instantaneous, as Tree it takes up to 10 seconds and as a Hunter it can take 10 minutes depending on what time you queue at.

molloyjazz

2 Espressi wrote: »

Dinged 70 last night, still stacking +sp, though I'm starting to see where +haste is going to be useful. Casting takes an age, and my DPS is only average.

Haven't done any WOTLK dungeons yet, maybe this weekend, so lotsa new gear soon!

you would be at 80 now if u lvl Enhance.. GZ though

settings

I made a resto shammy alt lately and at 40 dual spec'd into elemental and I havent used it one time. decent mail/leather gear is almost impossible to get until 57/58 with outlands. I cant run around in a dress with the thought of some rogue waiting to kill me in a cheap shot

2 Espressi

Had my first Nexus run last night, one of the most entertaining pugs I've been involved with yet. We wiped a few time on the boss dragon, mostly because I didn't move between casts. That said, I did manage to keep the group alive through a few other sticky points along the way, so I guess I must be doing something right! I think I'll have to start looking more seriously at the art of Resto healing. (And before Anti chimes in, spamming CH will only get you so far!) Pewpewpew questing has been great fun, but I think the fast track to 80 will be dungeoning as a healer.


settings, have you read through this guide? http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=69717
There's a list of all the decent drops from the various mid-level dungeons.

nix

2 Espressi wrote: »

(And before Anti chimes in, spamming CH will only get you so far!)

Thats all it is pretty much along with riptide, and dishing out the odd lesser healing wave (if chain heal isnt required)

Dont forget to refresh your earth shields, you will soon find that earth shield is all you will need to heal heroics :P

2 Espressi

I've ShieldsUp! to remind me to keep earth shield on the tank and water shield on me, and healbot.
I set the tank as my target so I can pop the odd Riptide or Purge.
I'd like a tictac macro that cycles between bloodlust and my +SP trinkets, so i can get the little lift I need in a corner.

2 Espressi

'Smee again!

Couple of quick questions, when should I start stacking Hit on gear, and should I do it at the expense of Spell Power? (most of the +hit gear comes with Attack Power).

and when should I consider gemming/enchanting gear? as you can see the current gear ain't great, so it'll be the next batch of stuff I get that I'll be considering...

nix

For Enhance shaman your hit caps are as follows:

Alliance: 420
Horde: 446

With a shadow priest or boomkin in group all you need is:

Alliance: 341
Horde: 367


The above values are the spell hit, which is what is advised to go for as enhancment anyway, as the melee hit cap is 656 Hit Rating for alliance and 689 for Horde which would gimp your other stats too much to achieve that much hit.

2 Espressi

Sweet, I'll check what the caps are for Ele so, then hit up Wowhead for upgrades...

nix

Ah sorry i thought you were asking for Enhance hit for some strange reason, the ele hit ratings are:

draenei shaman with sp/moonkin = 263 hit rating
draenei shaman w/o sp/moonkin = 342 hit rating
horde shaman with sp/moonkin = 289 hit rating
horde shaman w/o sp/moonkin = 368 hit rating

2 Espressi

Gonna pop these in there for reference:
Not sure if these are still up to date or not.
http://bobturkey.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/how-to-gem-your-elemental-shaman/
http://somuchwow.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the-hit-rating-juggle/
http://wtfspaghetti.blogspot.com/2009/03/elemental-shaman-spec-gear-stats-and.html
http://toomanyalts.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/elemental-shaman-mechanics-the-hit-cap/

2 Espressi

Ding! got to 80 this morning while having my Weetabix. I guess I can park him now till Cata comes out...

Scram

Just seen this thread i know its a bit old but ive started to level a shammy. I started it about a year ago and i got level 24 and stopped i just had enough of wow and the old content in vanila wow was mindnumbly boring.

However i got 4 heirloom items and decided to give it another try about 3 weeks ago and im now at 61. ive gone elemental too for one reason chain lighting! Anyway its hard to level in the early 20's with mana problems and terrable lack of gear. But luckily the heirloom items are a huge help.

Im going all the way to 80 i hope lol. This is my erm 10th toon lol ive 5 level 80s the last one to get to 80 was a hunter and then i kinda got sick of it. This toon may well be my new main for the new expansion. I really need a new class i was a lock for the last few years and it justs boring now. You feel like a mage and for me thats the reason i wanted to be a lock.

thats a Hunter,Lock,Death Knight,Rogue,Priest. I used to PVP a bit in the Bg's with my priest and rogue until i got fed up of it.

its fun to level and really there is little else to do i cant stand raiding, well the time constraints of it. 5 hours of raiding is too much so i quit gearing up my lock and rogue for ICC. I leveled some days 5 levels and just wanted to get to the outlands ASAP as the old content was just getting really dull.

Id like to try a raid in ICC ive been there for a few bosses but i didnt really do it for me. I like to do my own thing and leveling up a toon guildless with the reade channel off is such peace and quiet.

Anyways thats all i wanted to add.

Magill

RopeDrink wrote: »

You know how ironic I find this? You don't realize you get instant Chain Lightning as Enhancement with Maelstrom Weapon? (Of which LBolt or CLightning forms a large portion of our DPS)?

Hey, I'm never one for telling anyone how to play but all I can say is I've been powering up my second Shaman (Now 74) and doing so in style with 2 phat Maces and a hell of a lot of CLightning - Should try it out, though if you're happy as Elemental, all the power to you.

All that aside, even Blizzard will tell you that Enhancement was designed AS the Levelling spec of Shaman, much like Ret was for Paladins, though you always have the option of doing it another way... Ultimately, however, you will not find it as easy as anything else other than said Levelling spec.

Yeah but your never gonna completely rape 3 mobs with 1 chain lightning as enhancement (Crit + LO proc = win)

I leveled as ele, if you twink yourself alittle bit it is an awesome spec to level with (Except in nagrand) Basically 2 shotting everything with LB + CL, and a shock if your unlucky. You do kind of need to twink yourself up abit with elixirs + enchants tho, but i found it a lot more fun than enhancement.

TheDoc

Started levelling a shaman myself

Let you know how I get on, going enhancement

TheDoc

O my.

Definitly the most boring ten levels I've ever done, and the Dranei starting zone is absolutely dire, very hard to keep going in, alot of running and alot of boredom.

I'm focusing mostly no my paladin wasting his rest xp in dungeons tanking and playing the shaman when the paladin is on downtime. But its very very boring.

Might dedicate a week to him over the summer and jusst get as many levels as i can, but it might turn into a character long to be forgotten at this rate