34 sham solo question

[Yttrium]

I did it! It took 3 years but I finally got 34... So now what? I have been soloing to date by doing poison + slow + beat stick. Mobs are hitting harder though and I am finding it less effective. Now at 34 I got a new disease, a new pet, and a new root. Looking to start either with paw gnolls, CT gators, or NK bridge guards. Just as a baseline I am an ogre and I currently have PWC and SCHW, no regen items though.

At this point should I swap to root / rot full time, or am I better to keep face tanking with the pets added damage?

I am guessing if I root and rot my pet doesn't get involved, or do I put him in the line of fire?

What buffs do you typically keep up for soloing?

Thanks in advance.

[loramin]

I think it's really situational. If a mob hits real hard then you want to root rot it. You could send your pet in during the rot for a little extra damage, but obviously not for long since a hard-hitting mob will kill the pet pretty quickly.

If the mob doesn't hit as hard you can face tank and let your pet be a full-time dot. Potentially you can also pet tank such mobs, with the advantage being that your pet can recover HP faster than you can.

But again, it's really situational, and as you level you'll have other factors to worry about as well (eg. summoning mobs that prevent root/rotting).

[Qtip]

Root rotting is waste of time and mana, because your dots cost so much damn mana.

Summon a pet and sow him. Then use your lowest level slow. Throw 2 slows, send pet and kite the mob around. Once mob hits 5% reclaim pet, finish for full exp.

To reclaim pet. Do one of the mage focus quests from sol ro. You cant equip, but its clickable from inventory. This way you have zero down time and get full exp. Do misty thicket guards and then move to BB and do docks/dwarf guards to 48.

[loramin]

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

Root rotting is waste of time and mana, because your dots cost so much damn mana.

Summon a pet and sow him. Then use your lowest level slow. Throw 2 slows, send pet and kite the mob around. Once mob hits 5% reclaim pet, finish for full exp.

To reclaim pet. Do one of the mage focus quests from sol ro. You cant equip, but its clickable from inventory. This way you have zero down time and get full exp. Do misty thicket guards and then move to BB and do docks/dwarf guards to 48.

I'm skeptical that running your dog around to kill a mob (and then having to re-summon and presumably re-buff him afterwards) is actually faster than just using a few DoTs and a root, or using a few DoTs and a slow and meleeing while the pet chews on the mob (and then medding the mana back). I'm even more skeptical that that's true for all mobs.

The pet just does not do that much damage.

Your comment about the reclaim energy mage items is spot-on though: every Shaman should know about the "secret spell" which isn't on their spell list, but can effectively be acquired through a quest that wasn't intended for them.

[Legidias]

You also only do 75(?)% dmg on dots if mob is moving / not feared

[Crawdad]

Keep on meleeing. Root rotting at 34 is going to cost you 400-500 mana at least per target, while meleeing is going to cost you maybe ~200. Root and use pet to split if necessary. Slow and melee it down with fido helping. If you're having a hard time throw down a poison dot too.

For buffs I keep up AC, talisman, Str, regen and haste (and Agi if you are encumbered and <75agi). If I'm real lazy just regen, haste and talisman, but AC and Str will make a noticeable difference while meleeing.

NK guards at either bridge or tower are nice at 34 since its two easily split mobs. Tower can be a pain with wandering griffons at first, but as you gain levels they make a nice Exp snack (but you'll have to rot these unless twinked). Both tower guards sometimes drop FS, whereas bridge guards don't except for Fredrick occasionally.

[Qtip]

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

I'm skeptical that running your dog around to kill a mob (and then having to re-summon and presumably re-buff him afterwards) is actually faster than just using a few DoTs and a root, or using a few DoTs and a slow and meleeing while the pet chews on the mob (and then medding the mana back). I'm even more skeptical that that's true for all mobs.

The pet just does not do that much damage.

Your comment about the reclaim energy mage items is spot-on though: every Shaman should know about the "secret spell" which isn't on their spell list, but can effectively be acquired through a quest that wasn't intended for them.

Sow for pet + 2 walking sleep takes 140 mana each mob.

2 enstills equal that much mana. Not counting dots.

You loose 0 mana for resummoning a pet because he will take zero damage and reclaim will give you full exp back.

Or root rot and use 300-500 mana each mob and sit medding after every 2 mobs.

[Sacer]

You have two ways that depend on your gear :

If you're geared enough you can face tank a slowed mob, haste yourself and the max level pet and just melee stuff to death, with a decent weapon and haste item you should get credited full exp most of the time and barely get any downtime with a few canni here and there. At lvl 44 the pet will start to constantly outdps you and you can't haste him anymore, but at that point you should have a jbb for 45+.

If you're not geared enough and get too much downtime healing yourself do the Qtip trick, and let the pet do the work until the mob is low then reclaim pet and finish mob to get full exp. The shaman pet innate regen is so strong that pet shouldn't lose much hp on a slowed mob plus it's a ton of mana free damage, use that to your advantage.

In both case aim at the lowest and weakest blue cons mob you can find, it will help with downtime a ton. Also don't necessarily use the latest slow, find the most efficient one to balance health/mana.

[Yttrium]

Interesting, I never thought of pet kiting. I am guessing this won't work too well in CT but I can try that out on guards. Casting the two slows is to grab aggro correct?

[Qtip]

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

Interesting, I never thought of pet kiting. I am guessing this won't work too well in CT but I can try that out on guards. Casting the two slows is to grab aggro correct?

Yes. 2 slows or a slow+ tainted breathe will keep agro. You dont want your pet pulling aggro because once you reclaim him, you want to get the full mana back.

My shaman on red was twinked and I just melee to mid 40s once jbb was clickable and went that route til I hit mid 50s.

My shaman on blue I had nothing, and pet kited to almost 50.