AA Recommendations

[Gloriana]

some fresh AA guides to post in the Medicine Chest.

I'll start!

Shaman guide to AAs

General

Metabolism 3 (1/1/1)
Run Speed 3 (1/1/1)

Archtype

Mental Clarity 3 (2/4/6)

Class

Cannibalization

[Brohg]

[Scowls]

[Yesak]

Just my opinion but I love the avoidance AA's and the healing AA's. Love having named in MPG miss a whole round on me. Also love getting 7k+ crits with Yoppa.

[Grizlor]

[Brohg]

I know I'm in a destinct minority, but I don't rate Spiritual Channelling super high. This is more than likely influenced by a deeper mana pool than workaday shamans, so your mileage may vary. I've had Spiritual Channelling going on six or eight months or something, could count on one hand the number of times SC has been good for me, and still have enough fingers left to button my shirt. If you can't keep up while getting 100s (& 100s) of mana/tick from Canni, the clerics and druids don't stand a chance and your raid is going to wipe regardless. I think the correct path is something like:

First:
Run/Regen3
Mental Clarity 3
Cannibalization

First Part 2:
Level to 70.

Critical:
Spell Casting Mastery 3 (10% mana savings on all spells, all the time. Shaman are a lot of things, but no matter what, we're casting spells. This AA makes you 10% better at everything you do)

Critical Part 2:
If you haven't yet, level to 70. Then get

Call of the Wild (AA rez)

Next, core enhancements:
Nothing to say about these. Get them and don't sass me, boy.

Natural Durability 3
Combat Agility 3
Spell Casting Reinforcement 3
Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery

Break for utility good stuff:

Radiant Cure 1 (rank one is cheap and clears Tash / other minor things. further ranks are good, but good mostly if you're in the process of spending 46 more points to max it out. Just one rank for now.)

Virulent Paralysis 3 (Ask Grokii about how much better this gets being full ranks instead of just rank 1. VP3 is the key that opens shaman cc & pulling functionality at high level. Don't do The Nest without it.)

Mnemonic Retention (ninth spell gem. nuf said.)

Spirit Call (every rank you get of Spirit Call and Advanced Spirit Call is good in proportion to aa spent. How far you go, and at what point in your aa path, is entirely up to you. This is not an enhancement of core shaman power)

Now, back to core enhancements.
This is the beginning of the long haul for shaman aa, and you'll get steadily and noticably more capable as you accumulate these. If you grind these out just hangin' in WoS or Creator missions, then one day you're in for a rude surprise when at the other end of this path you "suddenly" don't need to group with a cleric or a chanter any more except in the most challenging of content. Some folks say you should do these in expansion order to get bang-for-your-buck on power per aa point spent, others like finishing a whole line of aa before moving on to the next. It's just personal taste. In no particular order at this point:

Healing:
Quick Buff 2 (assuming you have a Spell Haste focus. Rank 3 is good, I have it, but many opt not to spend 9aa on it right away since the gains don't stack well with spell haste focus for the last rank)
Healing Adept 3
Advanced Healing Adept 3
Healing Adept Mastery 3
Healing Gift 3
Advanced Healing Gift 3
Healing Gift Mastery 3
Healing Boon 3
Ancestral Aid 3
Expansive Mind 5

Where healing is concerned, boosting your core capability is much much more effective in the long term than tricks. Since I value consistency over flashiness, Adept ranks over Gift. The right answer to "Gift vs Adept" questions, though, is really "get both". Expansive Mind fits here because main healer situations are where you'll really appreciate the passive regen over time.

Survivability:
Lightning Reflexes 5
Reflexive Mastery 5
Combat Stability 3
Innate Defense 5
Defensive Instincts 5
Spell Casting Subtlety 3
Swift Journey 2
Mystical Attuning 5
Channelling Focus 3

Solo WoS & RCoD for fun & profit! Impress your friends! Survive groups with shitty tanks! THESE are the key! For the low low cost of 98 total AA (:shock:) you get to ask the question "but how good a tank is he?" when recruiting, since it's not a given that random-ass melee are better than you are. As an estimate, with equal levels of gear (i.e. Bazaar vs Bazaar , or Elem vs Elem), any character with full ranks of defensive aa tanks as well as a warrior without them. If there's a tank who doesn't meet your level of gear, they have to significantly outdo you in AA to be worth their salt. Mystical Attuning fits here because more buff slots let you fit cool stuff you couldn't before like AC buffs. Channelling because living or dying very often depends on getting a Yoppa to resolve on yourself.

Damage AA:
Some damage AA you have already, without having thought about it. SCRM and Quick Buff are all the damage enhancement that Maw spells are going to get, and you already have those from way back

For our primary damage mode:
Critical Affliction 3
Improved Critical Affliction 3
Secondary Forte (Conjuration)

For our secondary (way secondary) damage mode:
AllthenukecritAAsIdon'tcareabout, rank 12

Raid AA:
These you'll get depending on how much you care about killing high end mobs with savage abilities that kill people:

Radiant Cure 3
Resplendent Cure 3
Hastened Curing 3
Mass Group Buff
Spiritual Channelling

With full ranks of curing, you'll have your ability available when you want it without waiting, and you'll be honestly surprised when detrimental effects don't fall off. At full ranks, it's pretty darn good at what it does. Watch out for rare crap like the Uqua AE with millions of counters, you'll never cure it and you can't cure anything that's past it on your buff list.

And... that's about it. That's the whole list of good shaman AA. Stats/resists cap AAs, Pet AAs, Tradeskill AAs come after. Then the +resist aa's, and you're finishing up with worthless crap like Call of the Ancients, Packrat, and Persistent Casting.

Happy hunting, shaman! It's a long road , but the power at the end... oh, the Power...

[Trevalen]

[Sebekiz]

I'd also agree with SC being fairly high on the list. While I have about 1k mana less than Brohg, that's not really that great of a difference (maybe 3 or 4 casts more of a high level spell, allowing for mana preservation AAs and Focii). On the other hand, having SC available gives me 4.5 minutes of near infinite mana, during which time I can recover my regular mana pool. Last night on a Weaponry trial after raids I was able to chain-cast DD spells and DoTs continuously because I didn't have to worry about my mana pool. When we got on the last mob, I opened up with 5 DoTs and back to back rains and helped burn him down despite only having 20% mana left when we engaged it. Prior to getting SC, odds are we would have lost the trial when one of the DPS party members drew aggro and died...

I'd also place Mystical attuning fairly high for raiders. With full raid buffs I was hitting the 15 buff limit. By the time you add in 2 HoTs and perhaps 2 or 3 AE DoTs from a boss, I desperately needed the slots. Now I rarely run out of buff slots, which allows me to be more productive since I don't have to give up buffs to use Spiritual Serenity on myself. I just wish others inn my guild would get around to doing these AAs, so I could use SS more than Yoppa's...

[Grokii]

Woot! I was mentioned in an AA guide.

Within the last two months I went from 20 aas to 125aas at level 65. I let you know what I bought and what I think about it after the fact.

Here's what I recommend and I'll discuss why after:

Innate Run Speed (run3) - Rank 1, 2, 3 - 3 aas
Innate Metabolism (im3) - Rank 1, 2, 3 - 3 aas
Mental Clarity (mc3) - Rank 1, 2, 3 - 12 aas
Cannibalization (canni5) - Rank 1, 5aas
Spell Casting Mastery (scm3) - Rank 1, 2, 3 - 12 aas
Spell Casting Reinforcment (scr3) - Rank 1, 2, 3 - 12 aas
Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery (scrm) - Rank 1 - 8 aas
Quick Buff (qb2) - Rank 1, 2 - 9aas

Once those are done, then move on to the 'fun' things. Or you can mix these in between the ones above to make grinding out the necessary AAs a little more fun:

Virulent Paralysis (vp3) - Rank 1, 2, 3, - 9 aas
Spirit Call (sc3, dogdogs) - Rank 1 - 4 aas
Radiant Cure (rc1) - Rank 1 - 2aas
Mass Group Buff (mgb) - Rank 1 - 9aas
Mnemonic Retention (extra spell slot)- Rank 1 - 3aas

I left things out like Ancestral Aid, Healing Boon, Call of the Wild, and Spiritual Channeling because I don't have those AAs yet since I did AA grinding at 65 instead of going right for 70. If you are already 70 I would defiantly consider some of those, but I'll defer to people that actually have the AAs to say how nice they are.

First six points in general:
run3 is a no brainer, everyone wants it for when we can't cast SoW in a dungeon. Likewise the +3 regen per tick in regen3 doesn't compare to the hassle freedom that im3 gives you with food and drink consumption. If I had already got regen3 and run3 I'd consider going back for IM3 because of how nice it is.

Thoughts on canni5:
Wow... I mean... wow. I can't imagine playing a shaman from level 1 nowdays without canni5. It is a rite of passage and taking a dive in hps is just plain fun. It's great when you die and want to buff your group... canni yourself down to 1-2% health. Freaks out your friends and impresses the ladies. Canni5 should be on the short list for any shaman as a class defining AA. I waited until 65 when AAs came faster, some like to get it earlier as soon as they can. Either choice is fine, but I wouldn't wait until 70 to get this... it's just that good.

Thoughts on SCM3:
It sure sounds drab, but this is the best under-rated AA we have. Get them all at once and you'll see what a difference they make. I went from taking a manabar and a half to buff a group to being able to buff the group without having to canni. Combine this with not having to canni as much during a group to top yourself off and this is on par with Canni5 as far as usefulness. I really noticed an increase in power and decrease in hassle when I got my third rank of it. Rank 1 and 2 weren't all that noticeable, but stick it through to Rank 3 and you won't be disappointed.

Thoughts on SCR3/SCRM:
Longer buffs is a no brainer. The AA cost to make this out is 20aas (12 for SCR3 and 8 for SCRM). This makes your HoTs more efficient and heal for more, it decreases the amount of times you have to buff a night (assume none dies), and it makes the leopard/panther line of spells worth trying (increases duration from one minute to a minute and thirty seconds). Its a lot of AAs but something you're going to want. For my playstyle I want it before defensives and healing aas because I hate buffing.

Thoughts on Quick Buff:
Now that I have quick buff 3 I don't know how I survived with a 6 second Q. It makes buffing quicker, your HoT quicker, it's just nice. I opted for QB3 instead of QB2 because I'm low on focus effects as it is and shaman itemization is going to make getting yourself to 50% with your own items a challenge. I decided it was worth the extra 9 aa's to not have to worry about it, but that'll be a choice you have to make. QB2 is defiantly worth it and once you get it you'll love the faster casting.

Thoughts on VP3:
I went a month with VP1 and I really didn't use it much. Now I have VP3 and the difference is huge. Neither one eve really wore off, but I basically have a timer telling me when root will wear off because VP3 lasts 2 minutes and 5 seconds and the refresh time on casting is 2 minutes. So you spam the button even though it isn't refreshed and you know you have 20 seconds before root is going to break. It makes root rotting so easy, I actually enjoy doing it now when I have a half hour of play time. And it is also useful in groups because at rank 3 there is a considerable knockback and really gives us our ghetto CC ability back we used to have in our 20's and 30's (Get slow aggro, root park, move to next, etc). At these levels I don't tank so well and normal root breaks too easy, so I haven't root park/ghetto mez'd in many levels. VP3 makes this possible.

Thoughts on Spirit Call:
Pack of dogdogs is nice. I use it whenever the gem pops because I think it's cool. Think of them as a mana free dot with push. I know many shamans wait until a bad situation to use them because their DPS may help. Its really not all that much and the casting time deters me from using them in a 'bad' situation since I have many other options then a 5-6 second cast on mediocre dps pets when we have a double pull. That said, I love my puppy pack and dont' regret getting rank 3 so I can have 5 instead of just 3 dogs. On a raiding note, having 5 pets to push a mob into a corner can be nice when your tank is having an off day (or being lazy).

Thoughts on Radiant Cure 1:
Now that I have it, I use it all the time. You can use it every 3 minutes and it has a chance of curing poison/curse/disease and a non-curable detrimental effect. All this for 2 aas? So I don't have to mem my cure spells? And it goes on the whole group? And you can cast it on other groups? And no mana cost? Whats not to love? I got this for raiding and getting a lot more use out of it in normal groups. For 2aas I really should bump this ahead of SCM3, but I'll leave it to ya'll to decide when to get it.

Thoughts on Radiant Cure 2+:
Increased detrimental effect, and some more counters that can help in certain encounters. Before spending the AAs check the raid encounters you are doing and make sure it makes sense. For most people rank 1 will do you fine until you are raiding Elemental or higher.

Thoughts on Mass Group Buff:
Ahhh, the mana/time saver on raids... and the way to get free KEI and virt when soloing. I love occing MGB focus at main bank... and half the time someone else will pop their buff along with mine. Get lucky sometimes and I don't have to track down another class for buffs. As for raids? Of course this is nice. Is it worth the aas to you? If your a raider, you know the answer. If you don't raid much its a toy and you just have to decide how high you want to rank it. I'm looking forward to MGB Ancestral Aid in a few levels.

Mnemonic Retention:
Extra spell slot good. Get it when you want, but just get ready to revamp all your spell sets. Get it when you feel you need it... or put it off for other things. At 3aas its hard to pass up though.

Spell Casting Subtlety:
I have rank 1, and to be honest it ticks me off. I can't grab aggro on raids when I want now. Before with a SK tank Id still be able to dot my way to the top of the aggro list, now I can't. This is both good and bad. The AA works, but takes away some fun. Other then slowing on incoming I don't get aggro nowdays. With rank 3 some say they don't really get aggro on incoming. Will be nice when I get it, but kinda disappointing for those boring raids and you want to get into a pissing contest with the MT. (5 hours of C3 farming in Ssra.... I'm thinking about you)

Critical Affliction:
I have rank 1 and I'm disappointed. I don't get a crit message when it hits, it is pretty expensive after the first rank, and I just don't dot enough nowdays with leopard. At level 70 people have told me shamans can do more DPS with spells then leopard/panther. It may be more useful there, but at this level leopard is more DPS for my buck and obviously crit affliction only helps crit chance on dots.

Well, thats it for my analysis on the 125aas I've gotten. Looking forward to maxing out the defensives and healing AAs, but I think most will agree most of the ones I've listed should be done before going for defensives/healing. Last tip I can give you is don't get burnt out with all the passive skills. Get radiant cure, dogdog, vp.... they're fun aa's that you have to use right to be effective. Its true that the passive ones are more powerful because they're always there and don't have to be activated... but power doesn't always equate to fun. Try to get a mix of both.

[gurgul]

[Grokii]

[Sebekiz]

[Tugela]

[Scowls]

[Tuls]

My wife plays a SK. Here is the scenario for SCS.

SK pulls with highest Clinging Darkness spell.
I cast Malos and Balance -> I get agro. (If the SK does just about anything agro wise, she gets agro right back.)

With SCS2, I don't get the agro with those two spells.

I had SCS1, which was enough 1/2 to 2/3 the time. First time she pulled a HT mob and it hit me first.... I got SCS2.

[Colal]

[Giac]

[Korvath]

[Ithildin]

[belaar]

[Beafly]

[Samanna]

[Wullie]

[arkis]

[Samanna]

DoN Tier 4 Reward: You will recieve 2 AA points, a new AA: Power of the Keepers/Dark Reign - Increase chance to critical heal, critical hit, critical DD / DoT by 3%.

[Brohg]

[Samanna]

[Samanna]

[Poguk]

People arguing over which to get first, Regen3 or Metab3 --- here's a hint: they're both a total of 3 AAs. O_o Get 'em both. I personally have both and got them both early, and I value the metabolism WAAAYY more than the 3 regen, but that's just me. I got plenty of regen without those 3. Being able to stock up on food and not having to worry about it for months is a God-send.

Of course Canni5 is the single most important shaman AA. Get it asap. After that, there are a lot of options. Being a support shaman who doesn't really DoT or melee much, I value healing, defensive, utility AAs, and any spell-casting enhancing AAs. If that sounds like you, then read on...

There really is no "winning way" to getting your AAs, but there are certain AAs you want to get before others... for instance you wanna get most other AAs before you buy any stat-increasing AAs like Innate stamina.

You have your:

- Spell-casting enhancing AAs --- SCM, SCRM, SCS, Quickbuff
- Utility AAs --- VP, RC, Spirit Call, Call of the Wild, Ancestral Guard, Mass Group Buff (triggered effects)
- Miscellaneous AAs --- Mnemonic Retention, Mystical Attuning, stat-cap increasing AAs, Gift of Mana, Innate See Invis, Pet Affinity (all the innate abilities that just make life a little easier)
- Healing AAs --- All the Healing Gift and Healing Adept line, Abundant Healing, Healing Boon, Ancestral Aid
- Defensive AAs --- All the CA3-->LR5-->Reflexive Mastery-->Precognition (avoidance) AAs... the CS3-->ID5-->DI5-->Thick Skin (mitigation) AAs.. Natural Durability
- Nuking AAs --- Just get all the crit AAs.

And that's pretty much what I focus on. You eventually want all of those... in no particular order, and you might even mix and match them. They will take you well into your 600s, so it's something that'll keep you busy for awhile. Of all those, I value the nuke crits the least, but they're a nice option to have for those rare times when you're not doing something else and you can throw in a little cheap DPS. Can crit for 3k+ quite often... nice for nuking down runners or finishing mobs off. The reason I don't DoT often is I never solo.... and I usually (99% of the time) have so many other duties in a group that by the time I get done casting all my standard spells during the course of a fight, by the time I can DPS the mob is already at 50% health and a DoT will never complete by the time the mob is dead.

AAs that I personally enjoy --- my healing AAs... all of 'em. I also enjoy Virulent Paralysis immensely. I also love Pet Affinity, lol... because I don't have to buff my damn dogdog separately. Gift of Mana is extremely nice, but honestly it's nicer for other classes who cast more detrimental spells (it fires for my wizard about 5X more often than it does my shaman). I LOVE Mystical Attuning (extra buff slots) --- this has just been huge for me... I used to have to manage my buffs a lot and click off crap... now I got 5 extra and I never have to worry about it.

[Samanna]

[ribeye]

[wsbsteven]

[Kilgaroz]

[Mukshaak]

[Samanna]

[Zinovy]

General: (51) You need to spend a minimum of 6 points here before you can train any Archetype abilities.
Run 3
Regen 3
(Metabolism 3 is really dependant on race as to it's value... Large races or Mounts it's importance is more noticable)
Total=6 AA's or 9 if get Metabolism
Archtype: (55) You need to spend a minimum of 12 points here before you can train any Class abilities.
Mental Clarity 3 (Required for Canni V) = 12 AA's total
Mnemonic Retention: (OOW tab) Get this when you can it's extra spell gem for only 3 AA's no pre-requisites
*21 AA's before 59*
Class:(59)
Canni V (Don't leave lvl 59 w/o it)

*26 AA's*- Core AA's before going to lvl 70.
(55) Natural Durablility 3 (Superior hitpoint returns over AA's vs PoP/OoW/TSS stat raisers)
(70) Spiritual Channeling (May be worth your time to wait till 72 for New Canni - [Mana pool over 10k])
(61,63,65) Radiant Cure 3 (I recommend Resplandant Cure3 if lvl 70+)
(59)Quick buff 2 or 3 (You can save yourself some DKP/RPP/RC if you max this so you don't need a Benificial Spell haste focus item unless they change the 50% cap~Helps your HoT's/Heals/Cures/Buffs land faster reducing over all recast time)
55 Spell Casting Reinforcement 3 (30% extended benificial)
55 Spell Casting Mastery 3 (10% reduction in all spell costs)
59 Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery (50% extended benificial... Naked saves you a TON of mana and time!)
(61,63,65) Virulent Paralysis 3 (Knocks back {really you can move the mob wichever direction your facing} the mob and can keep most of them locked down for the full 3 min) Used for soloing, Crowd Control/Splitting Mobs or can save your life.
Every single healing AA (Face it w/o these Rangers and Beastlords with Quivic + gear + AA's can out heal Bazaar/Group Geared shaman.) If raiding well this stuff is required.
(Begins at 55) Avoidance/Mitigation AA's/(55) Spell Casting Subtlety/(55) Persistant Casting The differance is STAGGERING... Good to put at least 1 in to each of these before lvling to 60 especially with the new system...
(70) Call of the Wild (Ghetto Rez AA)
(70) Gift of Mana 3 (If you don't have this you don't understand what your missing)
(72) Frenzied Canni (eat's 4k hp's but well worth it since getting this AA+new canni I've used SC 1 time)

As you get good gear you'll want to buy the stat increaser AA's it's easy to find out if you need to by making a Magelo profile... If you see numbers higher then what you currently show on EQ then your capped and can get the most out of your gear by getting:
Innate Enlightenment (for Wisdom) + Planar Power(61,62,63,64,65)/Chaotic Potential(66,67,68,69,70)/Potential of Serpent Spine (71, 72, 73, 74, 75)

Core Raid AA's in order of Priority:
(59) Mass Group Buff
All Healing (Abundant Healing not required)
(70) Gift of Mana + (75) Raidaint Gift of Mana
(70) RC6 aka Resplandant Cure 6 + Hastened Curing 3
Ancestrial Aid (You'll love this AA line)
^^^^ (Min requirements)^^^^ (Check with the guild your apping to for more specifics)
Spell Casting Subtlety-Sleight of Hand/Persistant Casting
Defencive AA's including Shield Block
Resist AA's
Silent Casting (1 rank in it)

Stuff you save till last: Direct Damage (putting one in them is ok), Trade Skill(unless a priority), Statistic AA's (STR/DEX etc.), Packrat, Forage Mastery, The Healing Wards (They screwed this one), Probably never buy Origin (I'd rather spend it on the Expendable AA's) Which are the Very Last in my opinion.

When you get Secondary Forte - Conjuration (anything else is a waste) I've gotten mixed info as to when to get this so it's a matter of oppionion. In my oppionion it's definatly after the Healig/Defencive/Resistance AA's are done.

[Beafly]

Quick Buff 3 does not improve the cast time on your heals or cures. You will still need a beneficial spell haste item to improve these.