Shaman Wearing Druid Gear?

[Conky]

Originally Posted by Hawala [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All of this gear is AC or melee:

Get some JBB gear -- Helm, Gauntlets, Boots and Vambraces -- these are cheap.

Get a 2h blunt -- Poison Wind Censor, Withered Totem of Widdershins, Granite Face Grinder

Quest your own totemic -- Greaves, Breastplate, Bracers, Helm

For jewelry, 55HP 5AC Rings, Gold Jasper all around, unless you can afford Forest Loops, and I use Targishin's Bone Mask for the face.

For a cape, get a Hooded Black Cloak, or a Molten Cloak.

As for belt, if you can afford a FBSS that's the way to go, or else get a Reed Belt.

I'm not even kidding, if you slow the mob, and and buff yourself up, along with haste and regeneration on you and your dog and you can seriously tank until 50 or higher. Even in groups you're gonna be taking a crap ton of damage if you slow, you gotta be able to mitigate it.

Having a huge mana pool or HP pool is essentially pointless. Mitigate the damage, or regenerate it.

You need lots of HP, this is horrible advice...

[Hawala]

What do you need HP for? It's the same as mana. It doesn't regenerate faster because of gear, but you can mitigate damage to allow for you to cannibalize more.

[Tenlaar]

Being able to port for plats it should be easy to gear up a shaman, basic stuff isn't that expensive.

Use some of the good 5+ wis items to get to about 160-170 wis, then focus on HP/AC. Get a wind censer. Get a few wis/mana pieces you can swap in for group play when you're not taking many hits. Facetank to 50 like a man.

[Estu]

Tanking in the 30s and 40s really isn't worth it IMO. Compare it to root-dotting and you'll see you get way more EXP per hour root-dotting. You might feel manlier tanking but it's straight up less efficient. Your dinky wisdom caster melee DPS is pretty lackluster, and the HP and mana you lose by slowing, tanking, and healing is too much to be worthwhile. There may be an exception if you have some really expensive high-end weapons, but even then I'd be skeptical.

[Bronia]

Back in the day, I can remember facetanking well into the 50s when I wasn't grouping. Slow mob, slap three dots on, sic dogdog on it and then whale away while dogdog chewed its backside. If I was being really cocky, I cannibalised while beating on it. Shaman really really needs maxed defence and this is the best way to get it. HP/AC all the way [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[baalzy]

Estu wasn't saying it isn't possible. He's saying from an xp/hour min-max standpoint face tanking is slower leveling.

[Bronia]

Perhaps a good compromise position should be that you should spend enough of every level facetanking to keep defence maxed, and that your AC/HP should be high enough to allow you to do this? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Elements]

If you have a fungi, bit of haste, and a good melee weapon it is hands down faster to melee up to 40ish. You can sit at full hp while doing canni to replenish the mana for a slow and a dot and let your pet hit from the back. Pretty much zero down time if you can pull singles. Prior to the nerf, epic dotting multiples in CoM was arguably the best solo exp 46 up to 54ish maybe 55. Now Im not sure, maybe face tanking while jbb spamming 46-50 would be fastest.

Its really going to depend on your gear and if its close between melee and root rotting even then it may be worth your sanity to just face tank and not canni dance while root rotting for hours on end.

Either way Id focus gearing more for hp>ac>wis/stam while levelling. Mitigating damage and not dieing is more important than having a big tank of mana. This changes if you are trying to solo high level named. In that case your also going to wanta big tank but for levelling its really not needed.

[Doub]

fill your slots with whatever, grind on mobs til 60. shaman is easy.

[Spitty]

Oh my god.

List of incorrect statements:

Its not always convenient to have cani going anyway

post 30 you will tank less

A shm couls solo all the time, but imo most players grp alot of the time

Focus AC all the way

wis aint a huge deal when you can turn HP into mana and when you run out of HP you die unlike mana

As for belt, if you can afford a FBSS that's the way to go

Having a huge mana pool or HP pool is essentially pointless

What do you need HP for? It's the same as mana. It doesn't regenerate faster because of gear, but you can mitigate damage to allow for you to cannibalize more. (editor's note: this statement written by someone who has never played a shaman...ignore it/them entirely)

You're a shaman now. Gear yourself with what you have and go play with it. See what happens. Change your gear to fit your play style or vice versa and see how your exp bar moves.

You'll find out that you're an aggro magnet, and you're going to get hit. You'll find out that cannibalize is annoying as hell to use constantly, but effective as hell when used constantly. You'll find out that, if grouping, people expect everything from you all the time - haste, regen, slow, buffs and god help you if you aren't dotting stuff too.

In your position, I'd keep the key druid items if you have 'em - eboots, wis jewelery, etc. - and work on optimizing your other slots. Difficult to say exactly what to do without a workup of your gear..."druid gear" doesn't tell me much other than it's probably leather-based and would fall apart when confronted with a stiff fart.