How are Shamans without the expensive spells and items?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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.

[loramin]

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

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.

I just want to say, if you disagree with anything in this post ... for the love of god don't say anything! This poster will spend ten pages arguing with you about how wrong you are and how right he is (regardless of, objectively, how right or wrong either party is) .

Trust me, it just isn't worth it.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I just want to say, if you disagree with anything in this post ... for the love of god don't say anything! This poster will spend ten pages arguing with you about how wrong you are and how right he is. Trust me, it just isn't worth it.

This is just sad. Obviously Loramin doesn't understand that forums are for having discussions. You should stick to editing the wiki, where you don't need to actually talk to people.

[sajbert]

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

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.

Nah, even assuming you level on paineel guards lvl 20-40 you won't have enough cash for a JBB.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Nah, even assuming you level on paineel guards lvl 20-40 you won't have enough cash for a JBB.

It depends on how many guards you kill. I got enough plat for JBB killing Misty Thicket Guards from 25-40, but that was back when there was an extra guard or two on the wall, and the spawn timers were 6 mins each (it has sadly been changed).

That was around 500-600 plat per hour, so you only needed 40 hours of killing guards to get 20k. Most guard spots net more like 200-250pp an hour, so it's 80 hours instead of 40. That is still very doable, much more so than the 400 hours it would take to farm 100k at that rate.

[loramin]

Don't answer him sajbert:

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[Crede]

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

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.

I agree with a lot of this, except the part about JBB vs Epic.

In 90 seconds, the JBB will do 32.8 DPS, requiring roughly 11 clicks where you are locked the whole time from doing other actions and having to mash a button every 8 seconds.
In 90 seconds, the Epic will do roughly the same if you decide to root rot 2 mobs, which only requires 2 clicks, freeing up the other 72 seconds to do tons of other things(or nothing if you choose). It is easily feasible to root rot 5-6 mobs at a time with 11 clicks available in 90 seconds. A moderately skilled shaman can definitely maintain 90ish dps.

Not to mention, JBB will break root much more often.

JBB is more of a fun clicky from 45-52. I'd put it at like 5-10% tops of overall epic utility/power.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I agree with a lot of this, except the part about JBB vs Epic.

In 90 seconds, the JBB will do 32.8 DPS, requiring roughly 11 clicks where you are locked the whole time from doing other actions and having to mash a button every 8 seconds.
In 90 seconds, the Epic will do roughly the same if you decide to root rot 2 mobs, which only requires 2 clicks, freeing up the other 72 seconds to do tons of other things(or nothing if you choose). It is easily feasible to root rot 5-6 mobs at a time with 11 clicks available in 90 seconds. A moderately skilled shaman can definitely maintain 90ish dps.

Not to mention, JBB will break root much more often.

JBB is more of a fun clicky from 45-52. I'd put it at like 5-10% tops of overall epic utility/power.

This is a very common misconception. I am not really sure where it came from. The only thing I can guess is people don't try other strategies outside of root/rotting with Shamans very often.

When you are leveling with JBB, you do NOT root rot. This is because JBB breaks root, as you say. It is a waste of time. Instead you play like this:

1. Have a hasted pet.
2. Pull mob with slow and root adds (if any).
3. Face tank the slowed mob and spam JBB, with your pet beating on the mob.
4. (Optionial) depending on your level of gear, you can start DoTing the rooted mobs if you have enough mana/HP regen for your current camp cycle.

I leveled from 45-60 this way, and you can easily keep up to near 32 DPS this way from JBB, plus your hasted pet's DPS and maybe weapon procs between casts if you have something like https://wiki.project1999.com/Blight,...of_the_Scourge .

It's much better than 5-10% of Epic's power when leveling, simply because keeping 4 or more mobs rooted is quite risky without Torpor. You will burn through a lot of mana/HP on unlucky root breaks. This is especially true if you are also using mana DoTs to speed up the process.

Epic's power is also very dependent on the camp you are at. Not all camps have 4+ mobs constantly available for root rotting, and any camp with 1-2 mobs JBB can keep up with.

[sajbert]

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

Don't answer him sajbert:

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Yea I won’t. Imagine thinking you’d pull 500pp/hr pulling misty guards at lvl 25-40 even with non-twinked gear even pre-nerf and uncontested.

JBB is a pipedream for a new player. Don’t expect to have one when it’s the most useful.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Yea I won’t. Imagine thinking you’d pull 500pp/hr pulling misty guards at lvl 25-40 even with non-twinked gear even pre-nerf and uncontested.

JBB is a pipedream for a new player. Don’t expect to have one when it’s the most useful.

You missed the part about misty thicket guards where they used to spawn every 6 minutes, and there were 1-2 more spawns on the wall. I was constantly pulling in 500-600pp per hour if I had the wall to myself. When I was camping them I played late at night, so it was pretty easy to camp most of them. You can't do this now, and I stated that in my previous comment.

Most guard spots are giving you 200-250 an hour, so that is 80 hours for 20k. It's really not that hard to make plat in P99, even at lower levels.