Project 1999 - Shaman Guide For New Players

Dear Shaman Friends,

I hope this information helps you along with your choices. It will be just a few words on my thoughts of being a shammy. My credentials are leveling 4 level 60-65 shamans, 2 progression, 1 live server, and this one. I have played this class a long time = ).

Picking a race:First off do what you want! If you like being a leezard, or a big strong ogey, do it, whatever keeps you around, but there are some cold hard facts!

Trollolol: Hands down the best race to level, being next to lguk and oasis is very win in my book. The regen is an immense help leveling up if you cannot afford to twink your character.
Once you hit 60 you are always better than an ogre if you are not tanking a mob, as you gain 12hp standing per tick, that's 144hp per min, which equates to 3 free cannis(150mana). If you sit it is 18(more than a fungi). FYI compare this to clarity II = 132 mana per minute. (Ya you got free clarity 2. So hood) Stack this with your fungi and regrowth and it's on like donkey kong, I can main heal a lot of things most players would not dare = ).
Regent Symbol Of Innoruuk Quest- Good lord this alone is a reason I would sign up for troll. We are on a server where mobs have additional % of runspeed, so even though this is only 10 or 15% snare, it's invaluable, especially come velious when snares and roots stack. It's all the difference from root rotting a mob and having him get a round off on you.

Ogey Powah: Must say Feerrororott is the worst starting zone of all time, visibility is crap, and after 13 years I still cannot find the druid rings easily. If i make an ogre I grab a port to WC and hunt in ec/wc from 5+. Befallen is a great place to get some ZEM exp as well for the lowbies!
Ogey powah comes from your starting stats, you get 13 more stam, 22 more str, and 7 more wis than a trolley. These bonuses are a very a minor significance, as all your stats are almost maxed out with vp gear, however they still are a nice cushion towards getting to the 200 cap of wis/stam.
The real reason people make ogey is for one reason:front stun immunity, at end game this is pretty priceless, it increases your dps because your jbbs will not be interrupted as frequently, and most importantly, you won't be taking that brutal stun at 40% when you were casting torpor on yourself and possibly getting gibbed the rest of the way down. Ogres are specifically better to some degree at going toe to toe with big named creatures for this reason, lodizal, ww dragons etc(velious mobs).

Balancing HP/Wis gear- There's 2 kinds of shamans, one is the solo artist, the other is a troll or ogre who makes you believe he's a cleric(at 60).

Solo Sham:Ideally you want around 2300-2500 hp self buffed, mana will fall around 2400ish with this much hp, this allows you to comfortably drop to 1100 health, and your torpor will tick for max value assuming you throw in a canni or two. With this setup, as long as torpor out heals whatever is hitting you, you can kill it.

Duo Sham: This is my choice. My shaman rides along 2200 health self buffed. However my mana is slightly under 3k depending on what gear pieces I have on, and I do not have a single piece of VP gear. People say "oh well i have 300 more hp so i always have more mana". Well, guess what, there will be many times when you cannot afford the luxary of throwing in a cannibalize because of the 2.5 second global cd it's going to hit you with, so you have to rely on your manapool not bottoming out because you cant canni. With this setup I have duod fungi king many times, as well as fought King+A reaver at the same time with a monk and warrior. I can also duo the protector in seb, which is fun as hell and quite rewarding = ).

Just boils down to player style-or hell carry a extra bag around to do both!

Best advice to those leveling- If you can afford to, ideally the setup is a Jade Mace,PWC,Fungi,FBSS or better, and its game over. People complain about shamans being awful early but with gear they are actually better than anything else besides a decked out iksar monk. Pull with slow, melee, mob dies quickly without dots or nukes. You can melee to level 39, ask me for spots if you like = ).

If you can't- make friends, specifically melee, otherwise yes it will be rough between 19-23.

PS if you are really a truly first time p99 player shaman and you don't have jack shit, post here, and maybe some of us will throw you some stuffz to get you goin! I usually have a pwc lying around for such things = ).