Starting a Shaman

[bakkily]

im not a fan of any thing instant, there has to be the adventure, the journey from beginning to where it keeps on going, no end, though everquest is a ever going quest for some people,

but being one in any top guild, and getting 60, best gear you can get, seeing everything, there is a end in a way, and also not, due to vp will be out at some time, and the other fun dungeons, yea if you want to solo much easier, iksars are good for that, but i'd say stay away from the scales, fun race, have enjoyed lvling 1-51 in only/mostly kunark

but i play this game much diffrent then others, i figured back in jan 2010 to like may, i lvld 1-50 and saw all the old world stuff, and just helped others

and so i thought it'd be cool to play a iksar, lvling only in kunark was fun, but im not fond of the race, even with scales my guy's a little brittle

[neverquest]

Rawrriowars are better.

[Nagash]

Get your wis to a good level first (I'd say 200 but that's just me), then work on your hp. Several reasons to that (in no specific order):

- Sta is great but the return you have is fairly low (in term of hp / mana), it usually pays off to invest in straight hp gear unless you have access to top gear

- HP is important as you convert it to mana (cani) and convert mana to HP (heal)

- The 2 points before might lead you to think that your mana pool is not important (hence HP > mana). This is true to a certain extent: when you are in a "Oh shit" situation, the larger your mana pool, the more flexibility (read ease to survive) you have: instead of spending time to cani your hp down to try to keep things under control, you spend your time actually sorting things out (killing mobs, rooting them, healing your team mates...)

Coming to the race, if you're a min-maxer you only have 2 choices:
- Troll (improved regen + access to JBB)
- Ogre (fromtal stun immunity will prevent some spell to be interrupted when you get beaten on)

If you're not, go with the look (you'll be looking at that character's ass for long hours, take something pleasant to your eyes).

Nagash

[mistersuits]

What do Iksar Shaman wear for boots since they can't equip GEBs? And how about helmet options too?

[Mardur]

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

Ogre is a mistake for raiding

lol

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

Stun immunity is worthless except in some really pointless situations

lol

[greatdane]

Troll might be a bit better for leveling because the regen really helps a lot. It's somewhat countered by the added exp penalty, but it's not that much more than ogre anyway. For anything that doesn't take grinding sustainability into account (raids, hard solo fights, max-level gameplay etc.) ogre is better. Iksar can't wear a bunch of items that you'll want to use in the leveling process, especially in the lower levels where your spells suck utter ass. You'll likely have to melee your way to 24 at least, unless you do all those levels sitting on your ass in a group. Meleeing to 24 without Totemic and Jaundiced gear can be tough. Iksar also lack slam and the high physical stats that come in handy for a shaman, as well as the hugely useful JBB.

[greatdane]

Get your wis to a good level first (I'd say 200 but that's just me), then work on your hp. Several reasons to that (in no specific order):

- Sta is great but the return you have is fairly low (in term of hp / mana), it usually pays off to invest in straight hp gear unless you have access to top gear

- HP is important as you convert it to mana (cani) and convert mana to HP (heal)

- The 2 points before might lead you to think that your mana pool is not important (hence HP > mana). This is true to a certain extent: when you are in a "Oh shit" situation, the larger your mana pool, the more flexibility (read ease to survive) you have: instead of spending time to cani your hp down to try to keep things under control, you spend your time actually sorting things out (killing mobs, rooting them, healing your team mates...)

No, the reason mana pool is almost useless is because you're almost never at full mana when doing anything that matters. If you are, the content is so easy that it wouldn't make a difference anyway whether you have 150 or 200 wisdom. This is true for almost all classes, although some classes just haven't really got much else to focus on, like wizards and druids. Some classes benefit a bit more from mana on raid mobs because that's where you actually do start out with a full mana pool and have time to spend it all. Shamans and necros are the biggest exception to this because their HP can be directly converted to mana, and thus extra HP allows you to not only survive better but also manage your mana more safely. You also don't have that many jobs during a raid fight as a shaman, it's not like malo+slow takes an entire mana pool. In addition, shamans tend to go for AC because slow is such a huge aggro spell and because they alone among the caster classes can actually take a beating if they gear for it, and may often have to because they lack any crowd control besides root. So does a magician, but he can't really gear for AC with any kind of meaningful result. A shaman can, so he should. Having 900AC 2000HP 2000M will help you much more than having 600AC 1500HP 3000M. You can usually tell a smart shaman by whether he uses an SBS or a PKT, for instance.

[Juugox2]

im rolling barb because im baller