Shaman is back

I got to try out my shaman this weekend for the first time since the patch and the new talent trees. Let me just say that she is a killing machine now. Not only that, but there is almost no downtime. Remember when I complained about running out of mana? That never happens now.

Lets go over some of the talents and spells that make this possible. First is Shamanistic Focus. This talent now doesn't require a melee crit to proc, it is just a constant 45% reduction in the mana cost of your shocks. Not as big as the 60% it used to be, but being able to use cheaper shocks without waiting for crits is well worth it.

Next up is Water Shield. This is the mana saver. It not only increases MP5, but gives you a chunk of mana on each attack that hits you, using up one of its three charges on each hit. Not only that, but it doesn't cost anything to cast, so once your charges run out, just reapply. It takes a little getting used to keeping this applied, but even if I run out of mana in the middle of a fight I can apply it and get some back while I'm getting hit.

Lava Lash is a neat little talent. It gives you an extra little fire attack. Not a lot by itself, but it doesn't seem to interrup auto attack, and if you have Flametongue Weapon on your off-hand it will do a little extra damage. Every little bit of damage helps, and at only one talent point I'll take it.

Maelstrom Weapon is just awesome. You basically build up charges on each hit, each one reducing your spell cast time by 20%, and once you get 5 charges built up your next spell is instant (100% reduced). This applies to Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst, and any healing spell. Wanna put out some extra damage? Throw an instant Lightning Bolt. Getting low on health and a normal heal would take too long? Now you can heal instantly.

I can't tell you how much help this new stuff has been. I'm blowing through the quest that would have taken me forever a week ago. I'm getting beat on by multiple mobs and manage to survive with instant heals and ridiculously fast mana regen. I can't wait to hit 60 and try out some spirit wolf pets.

One thing I'm having trouble with still though is figuring out how to deal with a bunch of mobs. Stoneclaw Totem helps, but it only lasts 15 seconds, and sometimes that isn't even enough time to kill one of the mobs, let alone the other three or four.

Lots of classes get some kind of fear spell, or a way to keep mobs at a distance so you can focus on one. Shamans don't have much other than the short distraction of stoneclaw totem. Any other totems that could cause a distraction are taken out in one hit.

This is giving me trouble on the Tirion Fordring quest chain. After killing all those beasts in EPL he sends you to get an item from a grave. While searching the grave some graverobbers show up, one unique (who you have to kill and loot) and his four cohorts. They never get far enough away from eachother to not aggro the whole group, so you have to figure out a way to deal with all of them.

On my priest it was easy, just Psychic Scream and burn down the unique while they're running around, loot him and run. The shaman has lots of trouble on this one though. I haven't tried it since before the patch, and I have gained a level since then as well.

I'm hoping my new burst damage, along with the other new stuff I mentioned will be enough to take down the unique and loot him while the others are still distracted with the totem. This is going to wait until the rest of the plaguelands are finished up though.

I'm still not sure I'll get all the way to 60 here though, I'm almost to 59 now, but I know there are only a few more quests left to do here before all thats left are Strat and Scholo quests. Along with a few old quests that require some traveling to turn in I'm hoping to get there though. I may just turn 60 this week at this rate.

I've also noticed that Ebon Hold is now on the map in EPL. It's on the other side of Tyr's Hand, and that's still guarded by elites, but I may attempt to run through and check it out anyway.