Lvl 50s Shammy

[Grincloud]

I am playing a Shammy, working though the 50s. Grincloud is a true alt, will not raid nor be used as a box. Not looking to powerlevel, and I give him 4 times level in plat for spells, gear and stuff. All that being said, I would like to learn to play the class.

So far, I have been hunting the Velious hot zones GD, EW, and now Velks. Exp is fairly easy, who would of thought a 50 lvl character could do lower dogs.

What should I be learning in the 50s? What quests should I be doing? Is there faction I should be working (grin is a barb.)? I know I should get remove greater curse and the blood spell, but what other spells are worthing camping/questing?

Help would be appreciated

[Brohg]

Dragons! You think kobolds are cool? Go solo DRAGONS in the Western Wastes. Start along the north coast, those are the easier ones, and see how high you can go

[Grincloud]

Well, not able to kill coldain or cov stuff. Old habits die hard.

[Samanna]

http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Pre-OOW_Shaman_Spells

http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Shaman_Epic_1.0

[Grincloud]

Had already looked at the what spells to get in your 50s section. Was thinking of waiting till 60 to start epic, not sure of any guild help but it is a great idea to at least start now. Anything else I need?

[Samanna]

Well... are you soloing, duoing, grouping? That affects what you can do where.

I think I was in PO Innovation at 60, BO Thunder at 62, etc... I don't really recall where I was in my 50s - Kael, I guess - but with gearflation and AAs, you might be able to solo what used to take a small group back when the cap was 60. I'm thinking you could solo for City of Mist drops (for 1.0) easily, as the cap was 50 when that came out. Seems to me the gameplay changed with Cani V; not sure if you can get that before 60 though. I remember cani dancing in City of Mist a lot. Plus, there's always the hotzone list.

[Yesak]

I somewhat recently leveled a ranger from 59 to 73 rather quickly. I spent a bulk of the time in CoDecay. It was a hotzone, plus indoor/dungeon bonus made the xp quite nice. I would still suggest there or other PoP zones (like PoValor or PoStorms) for sheer xp. WW would be nice but I dont know much about the zone. Downside of that place is that it is LARGE and can be annoying to get to.

Other options in the 50's include Dulak and Nadox, Droga, maybe Noble's Causeway soloing the murks or honestly whatever you can. Not coming up with much in the 50's as it is a rather dead area for leveling. Places start to open back up in the mid 60's and 70's though. BoT is nice at 62. Icefall spiders are really nice once you get high enough and/or ever find it open. PoFire is GREAT regardless if it is a hotzone or not and you can go there at 65 I think. Maybe try out Sol Ro Tower if you get bored of BoT. Nothing is rootable but every normal mob is fully slowable = shaman fun time. Just cast HoT on yourself and you can normally heal any damage they do to you.

Hope this helps

[Grincloud]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Mostly soloing or moloing (merc soloing). Some times with a group but even then not a complete group.

The most important part of this post is a plea to be sure that I am not missing anything. I have grouped with many rangers that have been pled and twinked to the point that they can not play the class. When the going is good, they are fine, when it hits the fan, they are clueless. So the focus is on what do I need to learn, are there spells besides the two already pointed out and my epic I should work on?

[Samanna]

You will always have a need for:

1. Your best cast-on-others invisibility. For a long time, this will be Invisibility, L27.
2. Your best 75% slow. For a long time, this will be Turgur's Insects, L51.
3. Your best group cure. For a long time, this will be Blood of Nadox, L52.
4. Your best curse removal. For a long time, this will be Remove Greater Curse, L54.

The rest will change every five levels or so (will want single and group where available):
5. Your best Focus buff.
6. Your best Stamina buff.
7. Your best AC buff.
8. Your best Strength buff.
9. Your best Attack buff.
10. Your best Haste buff.
11. Your best single target Direct Heal.
12. Your best single target Heal Over Time.
13. Your best Cani spell/ability.
14. Your best Resist buff.
15. Your best Resist debuff.
16. Your best Proc buff.

There are other things that raiders need that you probably will not.

For AAs, well, some of this info may need updating, but check out:
http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/General_AAs
http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Shaman_Archetype_AAs
http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Shaman_Class_AAs
and
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6807

I'm sure someone will jump in if I've missed something.

[Grincloud]

Is there a trick to shammy pulling? I pull with slow, but would be nice to have a way to pull without agroing everything.

[Yesak]

Other than being really good with your reflexes and timing, there's not a whole lot to do for pulling. This might change with the upcoming expansion but in today's game, this is how I pull:

normally pull with slow unless I *know* there will be more than 1.
If more than 1, i pull with VP and park the mob usually for long enough to deal with the first mob. Or at least long enough to get the first under control and wait for the 2nd to come so i can VP it again.
If more than 2, I get MAX distance between me and the mobs. I VP one and immediately switch to another and root it. If my timing is good and no lag, I can generally root it before it gets to me. If you need more time, you can send in dogdog to act as a speed bump and you *might* get 1 second extra time.

If mobs are highly resistant or are immune to root, there's not a whole lot you can do besides slowing them all and hoping for the best. We used to be able to "pet pull" where you could attack a mob in a group with a pet that conned at least green or less (if my memory serves me right this afternoon) and once your pet had agro, you mashed the "back off" key until the pet brought it back to you. I have no idea if this still works but it is not viable for 1 major reason: dogdog dies way too fast. If dogdog dies within agro range of the mob's buddies, they all come after you.

Maybe others have better ways of pulling but this is what I've known and used for many years now.

[Huurgh]

War Mercs are very powerful in the 50s. A merc can normally tank two mobs with heals easily, especially slowed ones.
Get mage armor and fists of ixiblat for dog dog. Use the shroud merchant in pok to "suspend" pet for as long as needed.
Generally TSS zones drop more and better cash drops then most zones from expansions before that. 50s still get pretty nice xp in Goru Kar Mesa, with giants and harpies, and later in Blackfeather Roost. Look out for defiant drops, especially the shields are nice.
Do the HZ tasks, especially the shoulder item is niece for shm.

[Scalia]

[Grincloud]

I think my 8 years of playing a ranger is showing .. ..

Was excited at the thought of VP, was wondering why I had not seen it. Too bad, too soon. So far, shammy root (instill) does not seem to hold worth a flip.

Do understand the problem of non FD classes pulling though. Rangers had the same problem indoors prior to HA. Was hoping shammies had something in the tool kit I was not aware of.

Tank merc, hmmmmmm. Automaticly went for a cleric merc, may have to reconsider. Over the last two days, have had one group with a warrior and a SK, and another with a bard. In both cases, seemed to work better with me casting and chain canning and the merc healing me and the group. Might loan grin some plat and try a tank merc, just not sure I can heal and slow without low health agro.

Do appreciate all the help and suggestions. So far, just hunted Velious, may head to TSS soon. Fun to play in a zone that I know cold (if you pardon the pun).

[Samanna]

I've always been far from uber, and I don't recall anytime after L51 (Turgur's!) that I couldn't be the slower and healer.

But then again, I'm old, and my memory isn't what it used to be...

[Veril]

[Grincloud]

[Sowslow]

[Samanna]

See http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Pet_Info

For Shaman pet specifics, see http://samanna.net/eq.general/pets.shtml#shm which, yeah, I know, needs to be updated and put on the wiki page.

[Yesak]

A side note, you cannot give a merc any sort of equipment. Really wish they would change that so I could at least give it pet weaps, or hell, i'd go so far as to farm a set of t5 stuff for it if it would help.

About healing and slowing, it is VERY easy to do both. Merc tanks are actually very good about agro, better than I thought they'd be. For a shaman, unless you plan on tanking alot of things yourself, I'd go for merc tank. They are very overpowered at lower levels and only sputter out when you're around the 70's or so. If you can work on SoD progression, they catch back up. They generally get to the point of being as good as the best group geared tank, with lower IQ. Tank mercs are DUMB for the most part but never go AFK and generally do a good job. So getting back to the point, do not fear slowing on inc if you have a merc tank. You might take a few hits but the merc tank should peel it off you without you getting killed. Once it has agro, simply keep it alive for the win.

For easier landing, cast whatever Mal_____ line spell you have before casting slow. Also do this before you root and I swear you'll be amazed at how reliable even instill can be

I've never really maxed out my pet or merc buff box that I can remember, so load them up. I'm pretty sure STA does nothing and that they DO NOT have a stat cap. So buff em with as much str/dex/agi as you can. I've even put cha buffs on them. Can't say that it helps but it might.

Ok, done rambling for the time being. Have fun

[Samanna]

Maybe I'm a little slow... okay, I am a little slow, but anyway: If you go afk while two-boxing with a cleric merc and a tank merc, do the mercs kill and heal and just reap you afk XP?

[Sowslow]

[Samanna]

Thanks.

[Grincloud]

Back with more questions:

Some one mentioned using the shroud merchants to save pets. How does that work.

My standard spell set is:

Two best dots
Best slow
Best cripple
Best proc buff
Best Heal
Best Canni
Best haste.

Is there a more optimal set? (remember only level 55, so only 8 gems.)
What other specialized spell sets should i be using?


Is Bear form worth using these days?

How usful is the shaman epic? In the day, the ranger epic was one of the class's best dps tools, and even now the slow is worth having. Do not really think of Shaman an a melee dps role, so the ratio is not key. Is it worth getting before having access to 1.5 and 2.0 clickies?

Thanks for all the help.

[Dakota]

[Grincloud]

Ok, hit 65, thought I would get some AAs before progressing. For a grouping/solo shammie, what would you suggest for the first 40 to 50 AAs?

Thanks!

[Brohg]

There's no difference based on activity for the first dozens. All shm should get Mental Clarity 3, Cannibalization, Spell Casting Mastery 3, Spell Casting Reinforcement 3, Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery before all others. That's very nearly 50. After those, Radiant Cure 1, Virulent Paralysis 3, then you can look around.

[Haiden]