I had a 65 druid with over 50 AA awhile back (I quit around Thanksgiving and my account was stolen shortly after) and recently created a shammy. He's now level 29, halfway to 30. While I do understand the basic premise of shamanic usage (buff, debuff, slow, med/canni, heal self, debuff, repeat) I still find myself running out of mana quickly when grouped, but duo I'm fine. As for gear, my friends have given more more than enough wis gear (I'm at 203 without buffs) and my sta's around 140.. I know that it's low.
Here is my main dilemma. I have my spells. I buff on group invite. I run out of mana for slow/haste/buffs after about an hour with 4 melee in group.
Obviously I need more sta/hp gear for canni, but is there something I can do to improve my use? Am I just not playing the class right? Are there any helpful strategies?
I know some of you feel that twinking is wrong, and I'd just like to say that no I don't know how to play my class to the best of a shaman's ability, but I'm looking for help on improving that. My problem isn't in the twinking, it's in the lack of experience with the class.
Classes: The Shaman
 | Shamen - primitive power. The only magic using class of the barbarians, ogres and trolls, shamen get a variety of spells that combine aspects of most of the other magic using classes. This combination, along with the racial strength, means the class can be played in a variety of different ways.
What is the best way to develop and play your shaman? What spells and skills are the most and least useful? Can a shaman be soloed, and if so how? How should you play your shaman in a group? Post your strategies on how to best play and develop the Shaman and read, rate and comment on what others have to say. |
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Well, there are several tricks that can help. For example, having a mount (horse/drogmor) allows you to canni, and still get sitting mana regen. If you cannot afford one, the old tried and true canni dance helps. Basically, this amounts to timing your canni, so you cast it and sit again, allowing you to get the mana for being sitting, as well as the mana from canni. You need to watch the mana tic up, then cast canni and sit quickly before the next bump in mana. Also, you should have regen going, so your HP come back for more canni faster.
Also, 4 melees is a very melee heavy group, and you'll be casting a lot of buffs that way. Why not grab a caster or two, who need fewer buffs.
Also, 4 melees is a very melee heavy group, and you'll be casting a lot of buffs that way. Why not grab a caster or two, who need fewer buffs.
You can reduce the number of buffs you cast without really affecting the power of your group. Only haste really has much of a direct effect.
Buffing is very mana intense prior to the high 40s when your buffs start getting decent durations. It's a lot of mana for little results now.
If you stick to slowing the enemies and hasting the MT you should have enough mana to get by. Haste the other melees as mana allows but don't drive yourself nuts with it.
Some other things that help are focus gear, a horse (or lizard) and canni-dancing as Xaanru suggested.
There are some cheap items with focus effects like Extended Enhancement and Mana Preservation that make a huge difference in the amount of mana used. Level 2 focuses will be good until you reach level 49 and should be a priority for you.
One item I really recommend to any new player is the Fine Antique Ring. The quest items are all droppable and can often be found on vendors in PoK or the Bazaar really cheaply.
A little more expensive but also very good is the Totemic Breastplate for Extended Enhancement.
If money is a little better then look at a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate. The regen will really boost your ability to canni and the item feels more powerful than it actually is but you won't get one cheap.
Edited, Sun Jun 5 18:23:04 2005 by Cattywumpus
Buffing is very mana intense prior to the high 40s when your buffs start getting decent durations. It's a lot of mana for little results now.
If you stick to slowing the enemies and hasting the MT you should have enough mana to get by. Haste the other melees as mana allows but don't drive yourself nuts with it.
Some other things that help are focus gear, a horse (or lizard) and canni-dancing as Xaanru suggested.
There are some cheap items with focus effects like Extended Enhancement and Mana Preservation that make a huge difference in the amount of mana used. Level 2 focuses will be good until you reach level 49 and should be a priority for you.
One item I really recommend to any new player is the Fine Antique Ring. The quest items are all droppable and can often be found on vendors in PoK or the Bazaar really cheaply.
A little more expensive but also very good is the Totemic Breastplate for Extended Enhancement.
If money is a little better then look at a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate. The regen will really boost your ability to canni and the item feels more powerful than it actually is but you won't get one cheap.
Edited, Sun Jun 5 18:23:04 2005 by Cattywumpus
24 posts
Oops, my computer restarted before I clicked send. O_O
First off, I'd like to thank both of you for your quick and helpful responses. Also, I think I know now what my problems are due to.
My friends offered to pool in for a mount for me (most likely the slowest, but who am I to complain? I farmed them almost two full sets of elysian.) I should've taken them up on the offer, and I think I'll drop a hint tonight that I'm interested. Also, I have tried the canni dance, but I must not've done it right! I'll work on that until I get a mount. :)
I know that 4 melee in a group is a lot, but for some reason it's tough to find groups whichever class you choose nowadays, so I take what I can get. :( Most people are PLed to 47, then grouped to 70. My friends did the right thing by letting me solo/group from 15 to 47, as I really needed the melee skills.
Focii is not something I thought about when I first came back to the game, but it's definitely on my mind now. I shouldn't have been so lazy as to not look up these items myself, and I appreciate the links :)
The last piece brought up a good question in my mind, which is: Is health regen or mana regen more important for me, or should I do a mix of both until I'm "uber" enough to get the nicer drops? Also, would you recommend fungi (with the negative stats) over iksar ceremonial?
First off, I'd like to thank both of you for your quick and helpful responses. Also, I think I know now what my problems are due to.
My friends offered to pool in for a mount for me (most likely the slowest, but who am I to complain? I farmed them almost two full sets of elysian.) I should've taken them up on the offer, and I think I'll drop a hint tonight that I'm interested. Also, I have tried the canni dance, but I must not've done it right! I'll work on that until I get a mount. :)
I know that 4 melee in a group is a lot, but for some reason it's tough to find groups whichever class you choose nowadays, so I take what I can get. :( Most people are PLed to 47, then grouped to 70. My friends did the right thing by letting me solo/group from 15 to 47, as I really needed the melee skills.
Focii is not something I thought about when I first came back to the game, but it's definitely on my mind now. I shouldn't have been so lazy as to not look up these items myself, and I appreciate the links :)
The last piece brought up a good question in my mind, which is: Is health regen or mana regen more important for me, or should I do a mix of both until I'm "uber" enough to get the nicer drops? Also, would you recommend fungi (with the negative stats) over iksar ceremonial?
17 posts
I would say HP regen due to the fact that you canni'ing for the rest of your life. the Hp regen will help you get your hp back faster and less of a chance of a mob agroing you due to low hp.
Mana regen is better overall since it's direct mana and doesn't have to be cannied but it's also 10X (or more) more expensive than HP regen.
Mana regen is also capped at 15 until you get some AAs and then 20 whereas the HP regen has a much higher cap meaning you can have far more of it which makes up the difference easier.
For a low level shaman HP regen is probably a better choice unless you have tons of plat. Lots of both would be best though.
If you can afford it the Fungi is a much better choice than the Iksar but you will likely not wear it your entire career (I gave up my Ikky at 51). So unless you have a lot of other twinks to use it or extra plat to spare the Ikky is enough. Being a kitty I tend to forget about the Fungi since I could never wear it.
If the Fungi continues to hold it's value I'd happily wear one until you reach 55 and then sell it for ornate (Scaled Avatar Hauberk). You could probably sell it for enough to buy several pieces of ornate armor. Whether it will continue to hold it's value is a gamble it would be your decision to make.
Mana regen is also capped at 15 until you get some AAs and then 20 whereas the HP regen has a much higher cap meaning you can have far more of it which makes up the difference easier.
For a low level shaman HP regen is probably a better choice unless you have tons of plat. Lots of both would be best though.
If you can afford it the Fungi is a much better choice than the Iksar but you will likely not wear it your entire career (I gave up my Ikky at 51). So unless you have a lot of other twinks to use it or extra plat to spare the Ikky is enough. Being a kitty I tend to forget about the Fungi since I could never wear it.
If the Fungi continues to hold it's value I'd happily wear one until you reach 55 and then sell it for ornate (Scaled Avatar Hauberk). You could probably sell it for enough to buy several pieces of ornate armor. Whether it will continue to hold it's value is a gamble it would be your decision to make.
Read old Messages like this one on Mana
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/classes.html?class=9&mid=1103480268989525853&num=8
Foucus Effects: due the research
Inside:
Earring of the Solstice Mana Regeneration: +1
about 9k to make all parts can be obtained in Bazzar.
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=12456
Cann Dance, sit untill you see your mana bar incease then stand and cast
Outside fighing:
Dogmar or Horse 9K slowest
Buffing, at the start of a new group sure you will be out of mana. But I learned that after everybody is buffed,
Mid way before Haste needs to be recast load 1 buff and recast it, check your buffs for what will fade first, Pic a buff and rebuff everybody between fighting and resting WMP, then do the same and setup the buffs so when a buff fades at differt times and not all gone at the same time.
Get C, if you can even it it only lasts 25min at your level it is allways better then with out.
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/classes.html?class=9&mid=1103480268989525853&num=8
Foucus Effects: due the research
Inside:
Earring of the Solstice Mana Regeneration: +1
about 9k to make all parts can be obtained in Bazzar.
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=12456
Cann Dance, sit untill you see your mana bar incease then stand and cast
Outside fighing:
Dogmar or Horse 9K slowest
Buffing, at the start of a new group sure you will be out of mana. But I learned that after everybody is buffed,
Mid way before Haste needs to be recast load 1 buff and recast it, check your buffs for what will fade first, Pic a buff and rebuff everybody between fighting and resting WMP, then do the same and setup the buffs so when a buff fades at differt times and not all gone at the same time.
Get C, if you can even it it only lasts 25min at your level it is allways better then with out.
If it's taking you an hour to run out of mana, you're doing great 
I have to agree with Brewnoe on this one..
Or before you do all that. Why dont you recover your stolen character HERE.
If your toon has been stripped, petition in game once you relog onto your character with an explaination. Ensure you give the date you last logged on so you can get a rollback.
Smarter, not harder
If your toon has been stripped, petition in game once you relog onto your character with an explaination. Ensure you give the date you last logged on so you can get a rollback.
Smarter, not harder
24 posts
My password was changed and I can no longer access the e-mail address used to register the account. Please don't assume I'm dumb, I've tried recovering the information.
As an update I've finally hit 51 and still use all of the techniques. I don't canni as much as I have a chanter friend who VoQs me and groups with me when they can, but occasionally I load it up when I need a little bit to HoS/IoS. I wanted to post a final thank you for everything listed, and hope that I can advise some newer shammys when the time comes.
As an update I've finally hit 51 and still use all of the techniques. I don't canni as much as I have a chanter friend who VoQs me and groups with me when they can, but occasionally I load it up when I need a little bit to HoS/IoS. I wanted to post a final thank you for everything listed, and hope that I can advise some newer shammys when the time comes.
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