Help wanted: conversion to Resto or Enh Shaman
So, believe it or not, I leveled Slig as an Elemental spec. I love it. I has WAY too much fun playing with lightning bolts. Unfortunately, though, I’m discovering that at level 70, Elemental is just not very good for PvP (e.g., trying to take Nagrand) and I figure if I’m going to do any instancing, I’ll probably get more invites if I’m Resto. My problem is that for 70 levels I’ve been trained to think in terms of Spell Crit and Spell Damage when choosing gear. I need to start over collecting some gear for the switch in specs. Any advice out there?
July 2, 2008 at 8:34 pm
oooo oooo pick me pick me!
Well, tomorrow anyways.
I know matticus has an awesome resto gear set and Anna could probably hook you up with a talent spec for resto.
I could get you incontact with some enh loving tomorrow when I have time to look up links or you could look into my archives for my failed enh level 70 gear list. Several commenteers pointed me at excellent resources.
Biggest things I know for enh shaman? You want SLOOOOOW weapons. One handed. think. 2.8 attack speed or slower.
July 3, 2008 at 6:33 am
I think you mean 2.6 attack speed or slower *grins* unless they’ve put some new weapons in the game I dont’ know about, that’s about as slow as 1H weapons get.
As for going resto in PVP – look for healing gear with stamina, intellect, mp/5, and +heal on it. Oh, and resilience probably. I’d start out looking for the level 70 reputation PVP blues.
As for healing 5 man instances – to be perfectly honest, while it is very doable, healing 5 mans as a shaman can be incredibly stressful as well. Obviously the better your gear, the better off things will be, but there’s not a whole lot of healing mail out there in 5 man instances, and the shaman healing talents don’t shine until you start doing 25 man raids. Check out http://wow-loot.com/shaman.htm for resto gear recommendations to start (since I’ve not done a pre-Kara resto gear list).
And just go for it and see if you like it! Battleground healing is a good way to get started (because everyone loves a healer, even if you’re undergeared) and get you used to how the various heals work
July 3, 2008 at 6:33 am
If you choose Resto I’ve summarised a list of resources I’ve used here http://flameshock.blogspot.com/2008/06/gear-lists-for-resto-shaman-stepping.html
This includes Matticus’ list http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2007/09/16/gearing-your-fresh-70-resto-shaman-my-recommendations/
The EJ shaman healing like a pro http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t19181-shaman_how_heal_like_pro/ recommends the following stats for pre-kara, which also seems thus to work for 5 mans on normal mode:
“Pre-Kara
Health 5000-6000
Mana: 7000-8000
Mp5 while casting: 115-145
Healing: 1200-1500″
I’ve been shooting for these stats on gear, taking MP5 and +healing first to get to those levels. I also specced to Resto from Elemental at 70. I’ve been following the Kara gearing guides and wow-loot.com to find good quest rewards to make a healing set, or BoE stuff from the AH. Its pretty much all in Matticus’ list.
I have also taken several of the Rare PvP set to replace greens which do help even tho they spend points on PvP stats.
July 7, 2008 at 11:16 am
Healing as a Shaman really isn’t that bad. For the non-heroic 5 mans, you can *almost* get away with just tossing Earth Shield on the tank and dropping a healing stream totem – and then go use the restroom. Or take a nap.
Healing in 25 mans can be quite fun actually. While the guild I was in was progressing from Kara to Gruul, I main healed the entirety of both raid instances. it’s not recommended, but it can be done.
Pvp-wise, resto will provide you with the best survivability. Enhance can be fun, but you are still mostly a glass canon. Except now, you have to get right up next to your foes. With all the crowd control out there – have fun with that
Anyhow, for healing I highly highly recommend installing Grid and Clique or Click2Cast or an equivalent. I don’t know if I would ever want to heal again if I didn’t have these two addons.
July 7, 2008 at 2:57 pm
[...] for the great comments on my last post, everyone! I had been leaning towards resto anyway but you guys helped me feel more confident in [...]
July 10, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Sniffle, sniffle….
I always hate to see another elemental shaman go, but best of luck with the “resto” life. Although I think playing an elemental shaman in the battlegrounds is completely viable in a PvP world at level 70. Not so much in 1v1 world PvP or 2v2 arenas, though! LOL.