Low-level Shaman mana efficiency
 

I've been having fun playing a shaman for the first time. I don't know EQ very well (only played for the first six months when it first came, when no one knew anything), and I'm wondering what spells I should be using while soloing (and sometimes grouping) in Kurn's Castle. I'm level 16 at the moment.

Are the stat buffs worthwhile? I can't tell if they're doing much, and they're a pain to re-up every half hour or so. Maybe Strength and Turtle Skin are the only ones I should bother with? But does Turtle Skin really move the needle with +10 AC when I'm at close to 400 AC already?

Is Disempower ever worth it? When soloing I've been pulling with Tainted Breath and following up with Walking Sleep, which seems to be working pretty well. In groups of 3-4 people the kills are too fast for the DoTs to really make a difference, so I've mostly been playing that as straight melee with the occasional heal.

Magelo is in sig; my gear is fairly decent (full banded, good jewelry) but not extravagant.

No. Melee tank as long as you can without spells, then only use slow, then start using dots when the mobs have more hps.

Ez tip for lowbie / new shamans to use for mana conservation /buffs/ dots etc. -- use Inner Fire > your heal (or first two heals) as it's more mana efficient in healing (2:1) ratio vs Light Healing (1.25 efficiency) and Healing (starts around 1.33 and goes up to 1.6 in terms of efficiency. If you can get a Poison Wind Censer for cheap - that + slow = melee face tank till almost 30 for super cheap and easy self leveling.

I'm level 42 and am still able to face tank with my Poison Wind Censer. Well worth the 300pp cost. Send pet, slow for agro then DoT. It's amazing how effective shaman slow is. I keep all my stat buffs and shields up (strength, stamina, dexterity, agility, inner fire, shield, talasman) as well as Regan and haste. Canni helps with MP Regan. At your level I'd keep up inner fire, turtle skin, spirit of bear, feet like cat, strength, dexterous aura and sow. At this level they are not game breaking but every bit helps. Depending on mana and mob hp use your dots, tainted breath over sicken. Slow if needed but should only need to use on tougher mobs. The lower level life of a shaman is rough but get better and better.

Inner fire spam if in a group. Face tank with dots solo.
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I had good results switching from offensive spells to purely using mana on heals (including switching from Light Healing to Inner Fire). As I got closer to 20 I began adding back slows/dots.

I was in a full group where I felt a little like the odd one out. We had a monk, rogue, cleric, shadowknight, enchanter, and me, so I guess all the specialist roles were already filled. I ended up just acting as secondary tank, and it went well enough. Is there any spell (like Flame Lick) for druids to keep aggro?

Now I'm tunnel-questing for silver chitin hand wraps and a poison wind censer before venturing out to face-tank some more, looking forward to next level for canni/regen.

Flash of Light.

Snare neck, flash of light, jbb... Nonstop fearkite at 45

Poison Wind Censter, Silver Chitin Handwraps, 6ac 65hp rings and a Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring is all you need. Slow, auto attack on, DoT up, canni between swings.

Pro-Tip: use drowsy until level 45. Don't really need higher level slows until the mobs start hitting harder

the only thing dexterity does for a shaman is increase the chance of a weapon proc. You probably don't even have one of those so you can save mana on that