As stated above, Shamans are one of the classes that take some time to get going. Until you get Cannibalize/Regen at level 24, their solo capabilities aren't great. But leveling up to 24 is generally pretty easy, especially in high ZEM areas like Befallen, Unrest, Mistmoore, etc. Level 34 is where you get your pet, which is a significant improvement on your DPS.
If you can afford Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censor, your are going to be shredding mobs in Melee from 1-40, it will be faster than root/rotting. You just need to slow the mob and face tank it. Shamans have the same offensive skill caps as Warriors from 1-50, so they are actually pretty good at melee in that level range. Having spell haste starting at level 29 largely makes up for the lack of double attack, since most Warriors aren't going to have spell haste at that level range solo, unless you are a gnome or mega twinked.
When you hit 45 you can use JBB. If you were killing guards to level from 25-40, you may have enough money to buy a JBB. JBB alone can easily level you solo from 45-60. That is what I did. I didn't have my Epic when leveling from 45-60. Having your Epic is nice, but it is much more expensive.
From a damage perspective, JBB does 32.8 DPS over 8 seconds, and Epic does 15.8 DPS over 90 seconds. Generally speaking most Shamans can't handle root rotting more than 3-4 mobs at a time, especially pre-torpor. So Epic will only be 25-50% faster than JBB, depending on the camp and your comfort level with root rotting 3-4 mobs.
While a 25-50% increase in kill speed is obviously awesome, the price difference between Epic and JBB is about 80k. Spending 20-30k (depending on server) to basically get half of an Epic's worth of kill power is still fantastic, and generally the best choice for a player limited on resources. JBB can also be re-sold later on to fund Torpor.
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