Talent discussion
#1
Time to start up a separate post for talent discussion! Especially now that there are specific forums for each class. *grin*
Anyhow...

This is my current talent build:
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My previous talent build:
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Enhancement
First Tier
Back before BC and the new post-31 talents, I used SS in favor of AK. At the time, my smaller mana pool (which was, IIRC, around 5200-5400) didn't benefit from it as much, plus I would often switch between using a two-hander and my Hand of Edward the Odd and a shield. For an enhancement shaman, that weapon was godly - you'd be able to get instant heals, chain lightnings and shocks. Factoring that in versus the pure DPS of a two-hander, it fared quiet well, and the fast attack speed and higher armor when using a shield helped quite a bit. The extra 5% chance to block helped against getting critted, and later on the extra amount blocked helped to a small degree as well.
Post-BC/new talents, I've stuck with AK. I never use a shield anymore, so it's pointless to have it, and extra mana is extra mana, heh.

Second Tier
TS is a must, of course.
IGW I've always had simply because I'm a speed demon. I love having the ability to switch to ghost wolf in a second and be able to go faster - either to get away from enemies, or chase them down. Obviously, this has nice use for PvP as well.
Guardian Totems I only very recently switched away from, for the time being. The Stoneskin/Windwall improvement didn't hold my interest, but the cooldown on grounding did. Now, this is quite nice in PvP situations as well as PvE, and the two seconds can make a difference.

Third Tier
Enhancing Totems is useful due to the decent increase of agility and strength you end up getting, assuming you use both GoA and SoE often, which I do!
2-handed spec I still keep in the event I get a really nice two-handed. Besides, what's an orc without the ability to wield a massive battleaxe? *grin*
Anticipation I only recently decided to invest into from the two points I had in Guardian Totems. I'm currently determining whether the 2% extra dodge chance will benefit me more than the 2-second cooldown on grounding (not to mention the minor increase of protection against physical/ranged damage via SS/WW).

Fourth Tier
Flurry. More speed!

Fifth Tier
SW - obvious (Parry and reduced threat from melee damage! Wee!)
EW - Increased weapon buff effects; again, obvious

Sixth Tier
WM was an obvious choice.

Seventh Tier
SS, DW and DWS also all obvious. I've vastly enjoyed dual-wielding.

Eighth Tier
UR, another obvious choice.

Ninth Tier
Shamanistic Rage is more useful than some may think. Assuming you're dual-wielding, you'll almost always get a nice return from utilizing it. If you're an orc, even more so with Blood Fury. *flex* At any rate, sometimes you'll get lucky and have it proc with nearly ever hit, and sometimes you... don't. Regardless, it's nifty for those of us enhancement shamans with smaller mana pools.


Restoration
First Tier
I just recently switched from Tidal Focus to Imp. Healing Wave. I'm testing to see exactly how it affects me personally and to gauge which ends up benefiting me more - considering how much of a jump there is now between LHW and HW as far as healing done as well as mana efficiency, I figure that if I end up using HW more regularly instead of LHW, I'll end up saving more mana in the long run even without Tidal Focus. Besides, it's not like I constantly heal or anything - only spot!

Second Tier
I consider myself extremely adept with my totems. Considering how I'll always utilize them, Totemic Focus is the best choice for me.

Third Tier
Healing Focus is a must for survivability. Being in melee all the time yet also being able to heal yourself or others fairly well while under attack is a godsend, both in PvP and PvE. Your healers in instance groups will definitely be happy if you are able to spot-heal effectively.
Totemic Mastery is another must, especially considering the stationary nature of totems. You'll have a bit more freedom with fighting mobs/players, and being able to drop a grounding totem just in time before a mob/player gets a spell off directed at a group member that may be 21-30 yards away is quite nice, too! Hee.
Finally, Nature's Guidance, purely for the increased chance to hit. I can put all +hit effects to use when dual wielding. Heh.
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#2
I was actually rather surprised by how effective Shamanistic Rage is.

3 minute cooldown for what is usually a full mana refill?

I never have to drink anymore. But then again, I generally play my mana conservatively.
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#3
Kaerrah Wrote:I never have to drink anymore. But then again, I generally play my mana conservatively.
I suppose the conservative part depends on how you're (in a general sense) supplemented as far as other tree is concerned. If you have a supplement of elemental to go with a focus of enhancement, then you're likely going to be a lot less conservative with spammed shocks and whatnot, hee. If you're into restoration as a supplement, then you'll undoubtedly be relying mainly on melee damage with little shocks, except perhaps flame shock.
That's what I've noticed with several shaman who have gone elemental in favor of restoration for their supplement, anyway. Wink
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#4
Restoration for that extra 3% hit and some limited interruption protection.

Generally I rarely shock, I'll frost shock someone that absolutely cannot be allowed to run away. Or earth shock to interrupt a spell that is particularly annoying or in conjunction with SS if I have to DPS someone down fast and hard. Other than that, I rarely use spells besides my totems and heals. I even have rank 1 lighting on my bar for fast and cheap pulling.

I've got a mage already. Tongue
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#5
I'm using the exact same talent build as you are Kretol, and arrived at it after a heckuva lot of retraining and putzing around. If I was doing more pvp, I'd swap out dodge % for the improved defensive totems, but that's the only thing I'll ever change, unless they 'rebalance' things.

SR is really nice, and I definately wouldn't give it up to get Nature's Swiftness. Damage is just too mana-dependent for me. I'm probably close to the opposite of youre playstyle Kaerrah - I spam shocks as often as I can get 'em off, unless there's a reason to keep it in reserve. SS, Earthshock (or Flameshock if SS was resisted), and go from there. With 7200 mana water, the extra downtime is more than made up for by the increased killing speed.

With the new change to Windfury, I've done several hours of testing with various weapon buffs. Overall, it seems to be best to stick with WF5 on both weapons if you've got slower weapons, and the ol' 2-hander is still relegated to PvP if you've got 2 good 1H weapons. I'm currently using Drakefist Hammer (2.7 spd) and Runic Hammer (2.4 spd), and find that although my DPS is definately a bit lower, it's still quite high.

Folks will have to experiment with spells to see what works best for their gear setup, but overall, I'd recommend folks stick with dual-WF unless their weapons are fast. Keep in mind that with dual-WF, you're likely to be getting a Wf proc regularily. At 20%, and a 2.7 speed weapon, that's one proc per 13.5 seconds if nothing else is affecting my weapon speed. Since the hidden timer is only 3 seconds, that's going to end up with a lot of "wasted" time when the cooldown is expired. Even factoring in weapon haste from Drakefist (infrequent), SS spamming, and Flurry procs, I'd still be spending a lot of my swing time outside that 3s cooldown. The only time I'm going to *lose* damage from having my OH proc WF instead of my MH is when the OH procs, and then I'd have gotten a MH proc in the next 3 seconds, which is usually going to be about a 30% chance or so (20% every 2.7s, modified by flurry/haste). The upside is that my Flurry stays up the majority of the time, and Unleashed Rage is almost never down.

WF/Flamebrand works alright as well, but you're spending more time without Flurry/UR up, and that really hurts DPS overall.
[Image: 2270166Iryxy.png]
Dromand (70 Tank/Healing Paladin), Logros (70 Enhancement Shaman), Denul (70 Shadow Priest), Bendon (70 AH-Mule Rogue)
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