Shaman: 2HB or 1H+Stat shield?

[Midoo]

Level 21 in Banded Armor

Would I benefit more playing solo with a 13/50 Bloodforge Hammer or with a 6/29 vendor spear and a +9 STR shield?

Stats with hammer: 410 AC, 125 STR
Stats with spear/shield: 430 AC, 134 STR

Or should I just say fuck it and buy a +9 WIS shield to expand my mana pool and root rot for the rest of my life?

Would appreciate if one of the resident community min/maxers could chime in with an opinion. I'm a bit too obsessed with optimizing small things to not think about this.

[greenspectre]

I've heard a strong argument for 2hb with the strategy being root/rot plus jousting, but that's usually for 34 when you have a pet and can time your joust so as not to take hits.

Honestly (and I'm only a 28 shammy here so take my opinion w/a grain of salt) I would focus on root-rott'ing at your level. You're starting to hit the level range where melee'ing becomes less viable, especially because you're aging out of your Bloodforge Hammer at this point. If you had a better 2hb like a Gatorsmash Maul there would be more argument for melee, but at this level range, stacking 3 dot's and rotting is going to still give you less downtime than having to heal back all the damage you took as mobs start hitting for close to 50 a pop.

Get that CGS or a Testament of Vanear and stack your cloud DoT with your poison and disease ones. Tainted Breath lasts about 1 or 2 ticks less than Root so you can time your refreshes pretty handily with some practice.

[greenspectre]

EDIT: To answer your initial question, though, I'd never use 1h/shield to melee as a shaman. The AC and STR aren't going to contribute enough to be overall better than the improved dam/delay ratio of a good 2hb.

[Bardp1999]

Observers Staff hard to beat in classic, especially since that harpoon from kedge can be used in range.

[Tecmos Deception]

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

EDIT: To answer your initial question, though, I'd never use 1h/shield to melee as a shaman. The AC and STR aren't going to contribute enough to be overall better than the improved dam/delay ratio of a good 2hb.

I liked 2hb while leveling. But beyond like, 39, the damage contribution isn't enough to be a better option than catching med ticks and canni your hp regen into more mana. You can joust AND catch med ticks but that's probably not something most people will be doing. At 39+ (and most definitely at 49+), more ac and wis will be more important than a little more damage from a 2hb.

Im on the bring of putting a paw in my primary for the AC and a bit more mana, and cgs in secondary, and saying goodbye to all melee.

[Life617]

100% 2hb if you plan on melee. It basically equates to another hard hitting dot, if shamans could dual wield 1hand might be decent. If you plan on being more of a caster 1h + off hand for more mana. Either way just keep all your melee maxed and see which weapon type outputs the most damage from what you currently have to choose from.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Life617 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

100% 2hb if you plan on melee. It basically equates to another hard hitting dot, if shamans could dual wield 1hand might be decent. If you plan on being more of a caster 1h + off hand for more mana. Either way just keep all your melee maxed and see which weapon type outputs the most damage from what you currently have to choose from.

Bloodforged hammer and that 12/35 caster staff never did more than like 3-4 DPS for my sham even with str and alacrity. Don't let a max hit of 50ish make you think your melee is like an extra dot. Average hits will be like half of your max hit, and half your swings will be misses.

If you joust, great, it's basically free damage. But if you don't, a few DPS while also taking hits isn't nearly as efficient as medding and canniing and casting more past 30s.

[Life617]

Just specifically at his level I will be 2hb 30/70 (quest hammer) dot, slow melee until mob dead seems the most efficient to me. I’m not sure how long it will last but after that Stack wis and begin root rot once mobs start hitting too hard.

[Siege]

Shields don't noticeably improve your damage mitigation in EverQuest. Only use a shield when you aren't planning on meleeing mobs down and you have an item to place in that slot that increases your mana pool.

You can melee stuff down into your 30s, but your play style is going to change once you get your pet. It might even change before that, depending on the level of gear you've attained. You'll eventually be forced to root rot and let your pet finish off the mobs. At that point, even standing up long enough to keep your melee stats current will cause you to level noticeably slower because you'll be missing precious med/heal ticks. Your melee stats are eventually going to fall behind by necessity.

[xaix1999]

with buffs my str is 104 and I get along fine with slowing, then dots and I got a 13/30 spear I just recently traded for a 7/18 1hb. I'm just 29 and got my haste recently.

the 29 haste really increases your melee.
until then I was slow poking with the spear and dots.
at times it seemed my root rot was faster because of sitting ticks.
being a shaman I would think is more about how you want to play. since we are such massive hybrids, being a melee at 29+ is usually up to how much you might twink your dude.
root rotting is not gear bound.