Shaman Talents

How do you choose your talents? Most people look for cookie-cutter builds and apply them. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, since hundreds of people have debated and ‘done the maths’ to find a good optimum spread of points to min-max your damage output. However, unless you are also in a cookie-cutter situation (ie being the MT in a X-man raid guild, etc), that cookie-cutter spec might not fit you to a T, and talents which were considered weaker might warrant a second look.

So, that’s the approach I’m going to take with my Shaman’s talents. Yes, she is at level 11, but I’m not going for the “haphazard, ad hoc, pick talents as you go” approach either.

I’ve already decided on Enhancement. Resto levelling is probably an exercise in frustration and having levelled a (retired) Tauren Shaman to 60 in Elemental, I thought of giving Enhancement a try. Also, pre-60, most of your gear just doesn’t really support Elemental that well. In addition, being able to use two-handed weapons right off the bat should make Enhancement a much easier time to level with.

Now, Shev’s situation on Bloodhoof is that she will likely be levelling a lot on her own. I’ve got no illusions about the viability of finding groups, especially for ‘Old World’ dungeons in my timezone so talents picked should emphasise her ability to do damage while soloing.

So, what do we have on the Enhancement tree?

At Tier 1, both talents are decent but hardly something to get too excited about. Previously, Shield Specialisation is attractive, since most of the damage you take is Melee and until you could take the two-handed weapon talents, you will use a Shield a lot. Now, with Shev already packing a two-handed mace, it’s unlikely if she’ll ever use a Shield. Furthermore, Ancestral Knowledge helps (a little bit) with the mana pool, the bane of Shaman.

The next five points are easy. Melee is the workhorse damage providers and Thundering Strikes boost it nicely.

Now, rather than pick something from Tier 3 next, I’m going to go with 3 points to Improved Lightning Shield. Lightning Shield is cheap, ‘passive’ damage and should always be active. Improving the damage for just 3 points is a good investment.

The next point will go to Shamanistic Focus; with the excellent synergy with Thundering Strikes.

We’ll need one more point to get to Flurry, another workhorse of Enhancement. Guardian Totems are out; the bonus you get is largely irrelevant. Improved Ghost Wolf helps to get out of tricky situations. Anticipation reduces the amount of melee damage taken and Enhancing Totems make the Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems better. I picked Enhancing Totems because Strength of Earth totems are useful even when soloing (when there are a number of mobs in pulling range, drop totem and pull them one by one) and both totems are great in parties (if there is such a situation).

So, one to Enhancing Totems, and five to Flurry, brings us to Tier 5. Elemental Weapons boost the buffs we give to our weapons and should be next on the list. For the next point, I’ll go back to Enhancing Totems to max it out. Spirit Weapons get the next point. The threat reductions while partying is good but the main draw is that it’s the pre-requisite to dual wield.

Five points to boost your melee damage by 10%? Weapon Mastery is a given. Mental Quickness is really attractive, since it helps to boost your spell casting using your melee stats, but Weapon Mastery is that much more superior.

At Tier 7, the first point should go to Dual Wield. The next point should be put into Stormstrike to provide an immediate boost to your DPS. Dual Wield Specialisation will take the next three; hitting helps in your DPS… ;)

Unleashed Rage is a nice buff when grouped with other melee characters but even for solo, it’s still good DPS.

Shamanistic Rage is an interesting choice. In a group/raid scenario, it’s a must have for it provides the shaman with the longevity needed. In a solo scenario, it’s good for topping up the mana pool, which reduces down-time. Whether to take this talent largely depends on where the other twenty points go. What ‘killer Tier 5 talent’ will you have to give up taking Shamanistic Rage?

It’s either Elemental Fury (Elemental) or Nature’s Swiftness (Restoration). Without the talents and the gear to back it up, Elemental Fury is largely wasted, since it needs to crit to get the bonus. I find Nature’s Swiftness as largely an ‘Oh Sh*t!’ button. Pop it for either an instant heal or Spirit Wolf. Honestly, I feel that Shamanistic Rage will get a lot more use than either of these two, so the 41st point will be that.

Now, with 20 more, it’s time to look at the other trees. Elemental is nice but with most of my gear supporting melee, my spells will still be weak, compared to melee. I’m inclined to go with Restoration as I’ll need to heal myself now and then and some of the talents do complement Enhancement.

I’ve gone with Tidal Focus for the Tier 1 talent. Healing Wave is rather inefficient and likely to be used more in after combat healing. As a healbot, Improved Healing Wave would be nice, but I’ve opted for more help on the mana pool front.

OK, Improved Reincarnation sucks. There is absolutely no reason to take it. If your group is wiping that often that THIS makes a difference, maybe it’s time to look for a new group. Ancestral Healing provides a nice armor buff but as mentioned, most of my healing is expected to be out of combat. I’ve loved dropping totems so I’ll dump the next five points into Totemic Focus.

Nature’s Guidance is a nice complement to the +hit required to counter the inherent misses from dual wielding. More from talents means less required from gear… ;)

The remaining seven points are a bit of a toss-up. Under consideration are Mental Quickness (from Enhancement), Healing Focus, Tidal Mastery and possibly Totemic Mastery. If you consider Mental Quickness and Tidal Mastery, Mental Quickness will likely give your spells more oomph. Increasing the radius of Totems make totem placement easier and offers more flexibility in mobile encounters. So, the spread will be three to Mental Quickness, one to Totemic Mastery and three to Healing Focus.

That corresponds to this talent spread. Of course, I'm not committed this to stone and will change based on whatever wind blows along and changes my mind... :)