Shaman Ultimate Guide
Shaman Ultimate Guide
Shaman Ultimate Guide
Xerb Painhunter
Redeye Mountain
Shaman Ultimate Guide 2009
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 2
Shaman Mechanic ........................................................................................... 3
Path Of Mork ................................................................................................ 3
Path Of Gork................................................................................................. 5
Path Of Da Green ......................................................................................... 6
Statistics, Resistances and Bonuses ............................................................ 8
Resistances ..................................................................................................... 9
Bonuses ........................................................................................................... 9
Spell List with Descriptions.......................................................................... 11
Tactic List with Descriptions ........................................................................ 15
Moral List with Descriptions......................................................................... 18
How to play your Shaman … PVE Build Template ..................................... 21
PVE GEAR! ................................................................................................. 22
General Healing Strategy .............................................................................. 26
RVR Strategy ................................................................................................. 27
RVR Gear! ................................................................................................... 28
Addons/Mods................................................................................................. 30
Sample Build.................................................................................................. 32
Acknowledgements: ..................................................................................... 34
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Introduction
“Sticks 'n' stones'll break my bones, but Gork and Mork'll smash yer 'ead to bits if'n you
don't sod off you big bugger!”
The Shaman builds up the power of one kind of magic by using the other kind. That is, he
makes his healing better by using offensive spells. Because of this, he must learn to
weave the two types of magic to get the desired results. A Shaman who focuses only on
damage will do less than a Shaman who uses both damage and healing spells.
The Shaman deals elemental damage, both in direct blasts and over time, or debuff
enemies to make them easier prey for the forces of Destruction. He can buff allies against
the elements and heal them in quick bursts or in a steady trickle.
I created this document to provide a bit of help to aspiring Shaman. This guide was
created from a variety of sources but also includes a lot of my own advice from my
experiences playing healers in a variety of MMOs but also from my time playing the
Shaman.
Strengths: Weaknesses:
Versatility to switch from Very low defenses and
ranged DPS to healing. health.
Very desirable in RvR. Easy target in RvR.
Skillful multi-tasking is Unskilled play results in a
rewarded by game serious decline in
mechanics. effectiveness
Faction: Destruction
Race: Goblin
Role: Healer/Ranged DPS
Armor: Light (robes)
Primary Weapons: Staves
Primary Stats: Willpower, Intelligence
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Shaman Mechanic
Channeling the WAAAGH! power, Shaman can produce all types of spectacular green
magic, which he can unleash as a testament to the might of the Greenskin dieties, Gork
and Mork. Greenskins are a little unclear on exactly which god it is that they worship at
any given moment, however, so the Shaman decide to play it safe and offer up power to
both. This constant back-and-forth between Mork and Gork allows a Shaman to greatly
improve his magic, making their diminutive figures into unexpectedly powerful forces on
the battlefield.
How about in English? The Shaman class operates on a give and take, back and forth,
mechanic of two types of magic: Gork (Damage) and Mork (Healing). These two types
work together in a symbiotic relationship allowing the shaman to cast damage spells to
improve his healing and healing to improve his damage. Simple enough, right?
Now how about realistically? This give and take has little effect on the amount of
healing you can do. In fact, I rarely have time to build Gork WAAAGH! and because I
spend all my time healing, my Mork WAAAGH! build up is used to replenish my AP
pool. More often than not I find myself with little time to target enemies for damage and
if I do, then it‟s debuffs, dots and silence. My concentration is solely on the team‟s
health bars and that Sorcerer/Tank team rushing into the fray to kick off Morale 4
abilities. This whole Mork and Gork back and forth really has little to no effect on the
overall efficiency of my toon and my healing.
Path Of Mork
This path is primarily focused on healing and restoring the Shaman's allies. As he casts
spells from this path, the Shaman builds up the power of Mork's WAAAGH!, which he
can then use to fling swift and powerful offensive magic. Because of this, many an
enemy who dismissed a Morkish specialist as unthreatening has quickly learned a brutal -
and fatal - lesson.
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If you're planning on doing a lot of healing then this is the tree for you.
The core abilities of this tree that gain in strength with each point spent:
CAST COOL-
NAME POINTS COST RANGE DESCRIPTION
TIME DOWN
Lookit What I
Did! Gork'll Fix It will now also
7 0 N/A Passive 0
restore 40 AP to the target.
Career Tactic
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Path Of Gork
A specialist in this path prefers to destroy his enemies first, and tend to his allies later. By
blasting his enemies into oblivion, the Shaman builds up the power of Gork's
WAAAGH!, which can then be used to hasten and improve his healing magics.
I know, I know, but this is a healing guide! However, if damage is your style then Gork'll
get it done. The core abilities of this tree that gain in strength with each point spent:
Life Leaka (DoT)
Bunch o' Waaagh (Concentration "laser" nuke)
Stop hittin' Me! (Detaunt with damage reducer and disruption increase)
Scuse Me! (Conal damage with elemental debuff)
CAST COOL-
NAME POINTS COST RANGE DESCRIPTION
TIME DOWN
Big Waaagh!
5 45 AP 100 ft 1s 20s Deals 60 Elemental damage.
Ability
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CAST COOL-
NAME POINTS COST RANGE DESCRIPTION
TIME DOWN
Fists of Gork
Rank 4 Deals 240 damage and knocks back
15 100 ft Instant 60s
Morale all enemy targets within 30 feet.
Morale
Path Of Da Green
Not wanting to get caught between Gork and Mork, a master of this path simply declares
that green is best, and promptly goes about making his allies even greener and better than
they were before. Naturally, anyone who isn't green must be put into their place, and a
specialist in this path is equally adept at crippling and hindering his enemies as well.
This is where all the other types of abilities that aren't damage or healing based end up.
While there are a lot of debuffs, there are several abilities that buff your team in here as
well. The jury is still out on whether or not speccing heavily in this line is worth the
points. My style of play has me splitting my points between Green and Mork that way I
am an effective healer and I also make it easier to kill mortal enemies with my debuffs. I
posted my build at the end of this guide. Many spells in 'Path of Da Green' do not
contribute to either pool so while they can be useful, they are not used as frequently in a
fight. Typically, more than 90% of a Shaman's actions used in battle will be either Gork
or Mork to keep your team up and fighting.
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The core abilities of this tree that gain in strength with each point spent:
'Ere we go! (Group buff that adds damage on next attack … excellent when paired
with Get Movin!)
Mork's Buffer (Increases resistances of group for 1 hour)
Get'n Smarter (Steals intelligence from the enemy)
Yer a Weaklin' (DoT + Strength debuff)
You got Nuthin! (DoT + Silence)
CAST COOL-
NAME POINTS COST RANGE DESCRIPTION
TIME DOWN
Waaagh!
Frenzy Yer A Weaklin' will now also affect
3 0 N/A Passive 0 all enemies within 20 feet of the
target.
Career Tactic
You Really
Got Nuthin
Reduces You Got Nuthin's cooldown
7 0 N/A Passive 0
time by 10 seconds.
Career Tactic
You'z
Your target and all other enemies
Squishy
within 30 feet of them have their
9 20 AP 100 ft Instant 0
Toughness reduced by 3 for 20
seconds.
Ability
Ere We Goes
Again Ere We Go will now deal 25 damage,
11 0 N/A Passive 0 and it will now affect your allies' next
2 attacks.
Career Tactic
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Strength: We're not a melee class so we don't care about melee damage. Ignore it.
Willpower: This increases your healing and your chance to disrupt magical attacks. If
you plan on healing (and since you're reading this guide, you DO) then this one is a
priority and should be given the most attention. Willpower / 5 = Increases Healing Per
Second. However, there is some speculation as to whether this is affecting HOTs or not.
Also, Willpower / (Level * 7.5 + 50) * .075 * 100 = +% to disrupt spells. (I hate math!)
Weapon Skill: Increases chance to parry and armor penetration. Parrying is always nice
but we have other things to worry about. Whatever you can get is good enough.
Initiative: Increases your chance to evade and reduces chance of being critical hit which
is never a bad thing. However, I find that this is just like Weapon Skill and not worth
actively worrying about.
Wounds: This increases your hit points. That's a GOOD thing you git! This is your
second priority. Wounds * 10 = Extra Health over default increase per level.
Toughness: Reduces all damage taken. That means you don't die as fast. It‟s not a bad
thing to fill this out if you can. Just don‟t give up Willpower or Wounds if you don‟t
have to. Toughness / 5 = Reduces damage by “X” amount of DPS.
Intelligence: Increases Magic Damage and reduces your chances of being disrupted.
Intelligence / 5 = Increases spell based DPS damage.
Shaman should focus on raising their Willpower, Wounds, Toughness and Intelligence
most of all. Our two MAIN healer spec stats however are Willpower and Wounds. Which
should you focus on more? Willpower you git! You‟re a healer! Think about which
mastery you're focusing on. If you want to be more offensive then Intelligence is a
natural fit. However, I strongly believe that all Shaman should focus on willpower as
their main stat. Right now we have a hard enough time keeping a group healed up and if
you skimp on the Willpower it's just going to be that much tougher. The Wounds will
help keep you up a bit longer so a tank can peel or you can escape your pursuer.
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Resistances
There are also three magical resistances to protect against special attacks. You should do
your best to get all three as high as you can. There is a lot of gear out there that will give
you stats as well as resistances so you shouldn‟t have much of a problem getting these up
a bit.
Corporeal: is a resistance against damage that can result from special attacks involving
corporeal magic. This is different from regular physical damage, and tends to represent
acid, concussive force, extreme heat, etc. Zealot spells and Engineer special attacks deal
exclusively Corporeal damage, as do many Bright Wizard and Sorceress spells. Black
Orcs, Shadow Warriors, and Squig Herders with specific career masteries can get
Corporeal effects.
Spiritual: damage represents magical damage that affects or comes from the non-
material world, attacking your soul as much as your body. Archmages are the only class
that deals exclusively Spirit damage, but many Sorceress spells and a small number of
Magus spells are Spirit-based. Chosen, Disciples of Khaine, Sword masters, Warrior
Priests, White Lions, Witch Elves, and Witch Hunters all augment physical damage with
Spirit effects to varying degrees.
Elemental: damage refers to magical damage caused by fire, lightning bolts, and your
Shaman! Rune Priests and Shamans deal exclusively Elemental damage, and Bright
Wizards and Magi deal a mix of Elemental and other forms of damage. Both Shadow
Warriors and Squig Herders have a fire arrow attack that deals Elemental damage.
To figure out the math … Resistance Value / (level * 16.8) * .4 * 100 = % of total
Resistance
Bonuses
+ Healing Power: Go with the Willpower instead. +Healing power is just Willpower
without Disrupt.
+AP Regeneration: Can be extremely helpful in a pinch, but remember Shaman can cast
“You‟re Not So Bad” to regen our AP so this bonus can be replaced with something else
if you feel you need it.
Armor: This bonus will effectively lower the total amount of damage you receive in
battle. Do the math! Armor / (Level * 44) * 40 = +% Damage Reduction
Dodge: This bonus will determine if you avoid getting hit either by spell or melee
damage. I wouldn‟t worry about this too much, especially if you have a good tank who
can protect you.
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Parry: Shaman need not worry about this bonus. Parry is the rating at which you will
completely block any incoming damage with your equipped weapon. Both sides of
parrying are affected by the Weapon Skill stat, meaning that your character's Weapon
Skill will both increase his or her chance to parry and reduce an enemy's chance to parry.
Disrupt: Intelligence REDUCEs your opponents chance to disrupt your attacks, while
willpower INCREASEs your chance to disrupt opponents attacks. Similar for
ballistic/initiative(dodge), strength/weapon skill (block, parry). Since Willpower is your
primary attribute, your disrupt skill will follow.
Block: Shaman don’t carry shields! Block is an ability that some melee NPC mobs
have and Tank archetypes that can use shields have. Every time someone swings at you
with a melee weapon, shoots at you with something physical, or casts an offensive spell
you will have a chance to block the respective type of attack. If you block successfully,
you receive no damage. Block rating of shield / (level * 7.5 + 50)) * 20 = Block %
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CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Brain Bursta
*Gork's Waaagh! reduces
cast time.*
1 30 AP 100 ft 2s None
Deals 39 Elemental damage
to your target.
Path of Gork
Flee
Core
Life Leaka
*Gork's Waaagh!
increases effectiveness*
2 30 AP 100 ft Instant None
You deal 65 Elemental
damage to your target over
15 seconds.
Path of Gork
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'Ere We Go!
*Gork's Waaagh!
Bunch o' Waaagh increases effectiveness*
Mork's Buffer
Path of Da Green
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Get'n Smarter
Path of Da Green
Yer A Weaklin'
*Gork's Waaagh! reduces
cast time.*
Your target takes 33
18 30 AP 100 ft 2s None
Elemental damage. Your
target's Strength is also
reduces by 3 for 20 seconds.
Path of Da Green
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CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Eeeek!
You, and all enemies near
you, are blasted with
25 55 AP N/A Instant 60s Waaagh!, knocking away
players and knocking
monsters down.
Core
Your chance to disrupt
Stop
attacks is increased by
Hittin'
5%, and you Detaunt all
Me!
enemies within 30 feet for
10 seconds, making them
30 40 AP N/A Instant 30s hate you less and causing
them to deal 50% less
damage to you. If you
attack anyone that you
Path of
have Detaunted, the effect
Gork
will immediately end.
You Got
Nuthin! *Gork's Waaagh!
reduces cast time.*
Deals 25 Elemental
35 25 AP 100 ft 1s 30s
damage and silences your
target, making them
Path of unable to use magic for 5
Da seconds.
Green
*Gork's Waaagh!
Scuse
reduces cast time.*
Me!
A cone of energy strikes
enemies in front of you,
40 45 AP N/A 2s 10s
up to 65 feet away,
dealing 33 Elemental
damage and reducing
Path of
their Elemental resistance
Gork
by 4 for 20 seconds.
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Before entering into a battle, tactics are chosen and slotted into the Strategy bar according
to what you feel will be most useful in the upcoming fight. This gives a little more ability
to make your character how you want it to be, and also adds more strategy. It also allows
you to have, say, one tactics-load out that is tweaked for performance in solo play, and
another that you switch to when you group up to perform a certain task.
Switching tactics load out is done through a simple drop down menu in the UI.
CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Divine Fury
Tactic
Burst O'
Waaagh! Any time you critically hit
with a spell that grants
Waagh!, an additional
15 None N/A Passive None Waaagh! will be granted as
well. Tactic cannot trigger
more than once every 3
seconds.
Tactic
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Tactic
Discipline
Tactic
CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Green Cleanin'
If Greener 'n Cleaner
successfully removes an
21 None N/A Passive None effect from an ally, then
they will also regain 36
health over 9 seconds.
Tactic
RUN AWAY!
Any time you are hit, there
is a 25% chance that your
23 None N/A Passive None movement speed will be
increased by 30% for 5
seconds.
Tactic
Subtlety
All of your heals will
cause enemy monsters to
25 None N/A Passive None
hate you 25% less than
normal.
Tactic
Extra Special
Mushrooms
Tactic
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Restorative Burst
Any time one of your
direct healing effects
29 None N/A Passive None critically heals an ally, you
will regain 160 Action
Points over 3 seconds.
Tactic
Dat Makes Me
Dizzy
You can now resurrect
allies instantly, but you are
31 None N/A Passive None
stunned for 3 seconds after
casting.
Tactic
Mork Is Watchin'
Tactic
Tactic
Get Movin'!
Any time one of your
groupmatess damages an
37 None N/A Passive None enemy with "Ere We Go,
they will gain 150 points
of Morale.
Tactic
Reduces Eeeek!'s
39 None N/A Passive None cooldown time by 40
seconds.
Tactic
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Morale is represented by a blue bar in the center of the UI over the top of your character's
facial animation that slowly fills up. Once combat has been entered a character's morale
meter rises when they start killing opponents or if their group is fighting well. A portion
of the morale gained by a group member will be fed to everyone else in the group, and in
return all the members of the group will be feeding him a portion of the morale that they
gain. As the morale meter builds up, it takes more and more effort to build it further up,
so the longer you try to save morale, the harder it is to gain. The morale meter starts to
decrease once a character is no longer fighting, and it can also decrease if a fight is going
badly.
Morale abilities have four ranks, with each rank providing an ability of increasing power.
At the lowest rank, abilities use 25% of the morale meter, then 50%, then 75%, and
finally 100%. As the morale meter fills up, players can choose to use their lower level
morale abilities, or wait for the meter to increase further so that they can unlock their
more powerful abilities. It is expected that the highest rank morale abilities will only be
used rarely, when players gather in large groups and they can take advantage of group
morale mechanics. The most powerful abilities shouldn't provide one-shot kills, but they
will look impressive, they will have a significant effect on a combat, and they could
determine the outcome of a fight if used at the right time.
Morale abilities can be learned as characters advance. Players will have to choose from
the morale abilities that they have learned to fit into each slot on their morale meter
before entering combat.
Career morale abilities. These are available only to your specific career.
Archetype morale abilities. These are available to everyone of your archetype.
For example, the tank morale abilities are available to Swordmasters,
Ironbreakers, Black Orcs and Chosen.
Racial morale abilities, that are specific to your race, regardless of career.
Meaning, for example, the same of these are available to all Dwarfs, be they
Runepriests, Engineers or something else.
With the points available, you will be able to mix and match between these three types as
you see fit.
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CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Divine Favor
Morale
Rampagin‟
Siphon
Deals 80 damage to all
enemies within 30 feet, and
Rank 2
12 N/A Instant 60s heals your entire group for
Morale
the full amount of the
damage dealt.
Morale
Steal Life
Morale
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CAST
NAME RANK COST RANGE COOLDOWN DESCRIPTION
TIME
Divine
Protection
Everyone in your group is
surrounded by a protective
Rank 3
24 N/A Instant 60s shield which will absorb a
Morale
large amount of damage
from melee abilities.
Morale
Morale
Breath of Mork
Heals your target for 66
health every 3 seconds over
Rank 2
32 150 ft Instant 60s 9 seconds. Each pulse also
Morale
heals those around the target
within 30 feet.
Morale
You Weren't
Using Dat
Removes 100 AP from each
Rank 3 enemy within 30 feet, and
36 N/A Instant 60s
Morale gives 50% of the stolen AP
to you.
Morale
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There are a few things you should know about PVE to be competitive and reliable as a
Shaman healer.
Aggro
"Aggro" (Aggression), or Threat, which is referred to by Warhammer Online and the
player abilities in the game as "Hate" or "Hatred", is a game mechanic which determines
who an enemy Non-Player Character will attack at any given time. The player who has
built up the greatest amount of "Hatred" with the NPC is the one on whom the NPC will
focus its attacks. Many abilities in the game allow a player to control the amount of
"Hatred" he generates, to ensure that the enemies focus on the Tank and not on the
healers and damagers. Tanks are given abilities to increase the amount they generate, or
reduce the amount their companions generate, while DPSers are given abilities to reduce
the amount they generate, or the amount that the NPC currently has towards them. There
are also Tank specific abilities which cause the enemy to temporarily ignore "Hatred"
levels and focus on the tank no matter what.
"Aggro" is also sometimes used as a verb, synonymous to Pull, in which case it refers to
the initial act of being spotted by an enemy NPC (intentionally or otherwise), causing
them to begin attacking you.
When someone attempting to Tank loses the creature they are tanking, that is sometimes
referred to as a Peel. As in Dark Age of Camelot, by the same publisher (Mythic), the
number of creatures you pull when attacking a group is said to be determined by the
number of members in your party, but the specifics of this system have yet to be clarified.
There is one main tactic every Shaman should be using when in PVE and that‟s
“Subtlety.” With each heal you cast you lose 25% of the hate generated. This is a must
use Tactic.
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Solo
When soloing I find that killing mobs can be a long drawn out process. To do this as
efficiently as possible so that you can make back to back pulls with little to no down
time, I have found that this spell combination is the best for me.
Life Leaka - 100 AP - 100 ft - Builds Waaagh! - Causes moderate damage to your target
over 10 seconds.
I’ll Take That – 25 AP – 100ft – Causes damage to offensive your target and heals your
defensive target.
Don’ Feel Nuthin – 35 AP – 150ft – Surrounds and ally with a magical barrier for 9
seconds.
You‟z Squishy – Everyone within 30ft of your target has their toughness reduced for 20
seconds
Redot – By the time your done casting all of the above it will be time to reapply your
dots.
Bunch o’Waaagh – if your fighting a regular mob this spell should finish them off.
Dead
HoT – Easiest way to heal yourself after the fight. However, if you have Waaagh! built
up, it is more efficient to use the Waaagh! to instant cast your big heal on yourself instead
of wasting in on your HoT. This is most beneficial in very long fights against tougher
mobs.
Rinse and repeat.-- If you are fighting a high level mob or a champ, then you will likely
want to mix a strength, toughness and elemental debuff in amongst the other spells I
listed. This will help out immensely and keep the fight from lasting too terribly long.
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Grouped
If you are fighting while in a PVE group during a dungeon instance, your spell choices
are going to be a lot different. In this case you are going to be casting your heals a lot
more and you likely won‟t be casting many direct damage spells at all.
Life Leaka - 100 AP - 100 ft - Builds Waaagh! - Causes moderate damage to your target
over 10 seconds.
I’ll Take That – 25 AP – 100ft – Causes damage to offensive your target and heals your
defensive target.
Don’ Feel Nuthin – 35 AP – 150ft – Surrounds and ally with a magical barrier for 9
seconds.
Yer A Weaklin‟ – 30 AP – 100ft – Target takes elemental damage and reduces their
strength for 20 seconds.
You‟z Squishy – Everyone within 30ft of your target has their toughness reduced for 20
seconds.
'Ere We Go! - 100 AP - N/A - Each of your group members' next melee attacks will cause
additional damage. When paired with the two tactics for this spell, you will deal an
additional 300 points of damage and regain as much AP. This is a great combo for PVE
and dungeon runs.
Bigger, Better, An‟ Greener Healing – 45 AP – 150ft – This is your biggest, most fragile
heal. This heal takes 2.5 seconds to cast and if you take damage while casting it, the spell
is set back making it take longer to cast.
Do Sumfin Useful – 35 AP – 150ft – 9 second heal over time and increases your targets
toughness.
Gather Round – 65 AP – Heals your entire group. This is good when your tanks over
pull and everyone is taking damage.
The main thing to look at here are the heals. However, you can help the group out a lot
with the debuffs, shields and „Ere We Go! All of these extra spells help keep your
healing under control so you aren‟t spamming them to keep your party up and also helps
tear through those mobs.
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PVE GEAR!
There are 19 sets of armor available for each Warhammer career. These armor sets can be
found throughout the Warhammer world, and at higher levels can be incredibly helpful (if
not imperative) for certain encounters. For example, the highest end sets feature special
resistances called Wards. On these high end sets, there are five pieces of armor which
grant a 10% reduction in damage per piece when worn in specific endgame encounters,
for a possible cumulative of around 50% reduction. With these set pieces, players can
emerge victorious from what would otherwise be much more difficult battles. The five
pieces of armor in these high end sets which feature the Wards are: chest, boots, gloves,
helmet and shoulders.
Though mythic said we wouldn‟t need to PVE for gear to be competitive for RVR (yes
they lied), we do need to spend some time in a few dungeons so that we can earn those
Wards that you‟ll need for those Fortress and King raids once you start locking down
zones for City Sieges. I have included a list of gear that are must haves as you make
progress towards end game.
Redeye Armor is a 4-piece set found in Mount Gunbad. The pieces are dropped by the
Wing Bosses and overall Dungeon Boss of Mount Gunbad. These do not have Wards,
but they are still valuable gear for Tier 2 RVR and PVE.
Lesser Ward
Bloodlord Armor Set
Found in: Bastion Stair
Requirements: Ranks: Ranks 37-39
This set offers the Lesser Ward, which is required for City High Level Dungeons and
Fortress encounters. There are five pieces of armor in this set.
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Gloves; Thar'Ignan, Lord Slaurith, Kaarn the Vanquisher, Skull Lord Var'Ithrok
Boots; Thar'Ignan
Helm; Kaarn the Vanquisher
Chest; Skull Lord Var'Ithrok
Shoulders; Lord Slaurith
Wearing even a single piece grants the user a buff called "lesser ward". This reduces the
damage taken in grade 6 instances in capital cities by 10% each ward. A maximum of 5
pieces can be worn to grant the wearer 50% reduced damage taken in these dungeons.
Greater Ward
Sentinel Armor Set
Found in: City High Level Dungeons
Requirements: Rank 40
This set offers the Greater Ward, which is required for both the Lost Vale and the City
Invasion PQs. The Sentinel set also provides the effects of the Lesser Ward. There are six
pieces of armor in this set.
Bilerot Burrow
Shoulder - Ssyrdian Morbidae (Left Wing)
Gloves - Bartholomeus the sickly (Right Wing)
Chestplate - Bilerot Lord (Last boss)
Bloodwrought Enclave
Helmet - Barakus the Godslayer
Boots - Korthuk the Raging (Left Wing)
Belt - Since patch 1.1a any boss from "Bilerot Burrow"
or "Bloodwrought Enclave" can drop it and its now BoE.
Superior Ward
Darkpromise Armor Set
Found in: Lost Vale
Requirements: Rank 40
This set offers the Superior Ward, which is required for Sub-
Boss PQs. The Darkpromise set also provides the effects of the
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Lesser Ward and Greater Ward. There are six pieces of armor in this set.
Gloves and Belt – Any other Boss in the zone has a chance to drop.
Helmet – – Sechar the Darkpromise Chieftain, North Wing (2nd to last boss)
Boots – Dralel, West Wing Lord
Chest – N'Kari, Keeper of Secrets, North wing Lord (last boss of vale)
Shoulders – Sarthain the Worldbearer, East Wing Lord
Dealing damage makes you heal better, so why not deal damage when you aren't
healing? Dots and debuffs for the win.
Don't let the health of the person you are healing get too low before you begin
healing. You will find it hard to play catch-up as a Shaman.
Heal early with your HoTs. It will make the difference between life and death
most times.
If you find your team mate taking a lot of damage then use the BIG heal as long
as you aren't being hit yourself. In the low to mid levels this is the only way to
keep someone alive if they're taking a lot of damage. Your 2 HoTs won't be
enough by themselves, but when mixed with your big heal things get a bit more
manageable.
After healing, toss your instant cast HoTs on to take advantage of its healing
while you queue up the next spell. It's never a bad thing to always have HoT's up
on targets who take damage (Unless they are pulling - in which case you will
want to hold off until they establish aggro).
Use your damage absorption shield to help you keep up with heals - it's not much,
but it helps in a pinch. It‟s also very useful to save your DPS casters life since
they can go down pretty fast.
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RVR Strategy
Hopefully you understand your role as a Shaman by now. Well, I have some bad news for
you. Your enemies probably know your role as well and that means you are now a
primary target during RvR encounters. Shaman are VERY squishy little guys and unless
we're careful we can find ourselves running back to the fight more than actually
participating. Here are a few basic tips that might come in handy:
Do not draw unnecessary attention to yourself! If you stand off to the side you're
going to get noticed. Blend in with the pack by hiding behind the bigger guys.
Don't stand in the front. This is the absolute best way to get focus fired to death.
Have your damage absorption shield up if you're going to be taking damage. This
spell SAVES LIVES!
Know your enemy. Tanks are going to have a lot more HP than casters. Pick your
battles and do not expose yourself to an enemy that will survive long enough to be
aided by friends.
Bug your tanks to protect you. Guard or Save Da Runts can be of great help to
you.
In my opinion, the role of the Shaman in RvR play is to cause as much chaos as possible.
The Shaman can debuff toughness on Order tanks to make them die faster. He can steal
Intelligence from Order casters to reduce their damage while increasing his own. He can
add extra heals to supplement other Destruction healers and frustrate the enemy. He can
even help kill foes with his elemental magic. Don‟t get stuck into that heal niche some
people like to get themselves into. You‟re Shaman has a butt load of tools available to
them, it just makes sense to use what you have to the best of your abilities.
Shaman should be some of the busiest characters in the battle, mixing debuffs and
damage with heals and buffs. The most important thing is to stay behind the front line
and be a total pest.
Presuming as an organized group that you are using assist trains etc, and coordinating
focus, Ere We Go Again means that your Ere We Go skill is giving your dps an extra
350ish damage every 10 seconds!! and in addition, couple this with the core tactic Get
Movin' .. means that they will each gain 300 morale points for doing so... every 10
seconds!!
You'z squishy, your AOE toughness debuff, gives a really nice boost in DPS against
affected targets and costs ONLY 20 AP. It‟s instant cast so the spell can obviously be
kept up indefinitely on the entire zerg with carefully placed casts!
Gorks barbs is pretty much self explanatory and can do serious amounts of damage to
careless Which Hunter‟s and will pretty much kill a White Lion‟s pet unless they retreat
it.
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Now give yourself Discipline and Extra Special Mushrooms to balance up your heals and
possibly Git Outa Here which can turn you into a pretty offensive knockback machine or
help you get out of sticky spots (coupled with Sticky Feetz, Gork Sez Stop, Gorks Barbs
why would any melee jump you?!?) Course, you must be proficient with these spells and
know when to use them to make them beneficial to you and a pain to your enemy.
What should your healing priorities be? If multiple members of your team are getting a
beat down at the same time, how should you split your healing time up to ensure you can
still be competitive if one or two of your team should fall? Remember, you have battle
rez!
DPS – Healers – Tanks – Everyone else. Get these people up as fast as you can so that
you can stay in the battle and remember battle rez roots you for 3 seconds after you cast it
so ensure you have the opportunity to get them up and out of there before the enemy over
runs you. You, as a healer, do no one any good if you are face down in the dirt.
RVR Gear!
This set offers the Lesser Ward, which is required for City High Level Dungeons and
Fortress encounters. There are five pieces of armor in this set.
This set offers the Greater Ward, which is required for both the Lost Vale and the City
Invasion PQs. The Conqueror set also provides the effects of the Lesser Ward. There are
six pieces of armor in this set.
This set offers the Superior Ward, which is required for Sub-Boss PQs. The Invader sets
also provide the effects of the Lesser Ward and Greater Ward. There are six pieces of
armor in each set.
Excelsior Ward
The Sub-Boss PQs are the only means of acquiring the Excelsior Ward which is required
for the King Fights. The Excelsior Ward includes the effects of all previous armor sets.
There are seven pieces of armor in this set.
Okay, this set seems to have jumped back a step. We get this set, which is higher tier than
the one before it by competing in an earlier stage of the city siege? Hey, not that I‟m
complaining. This is actually RvR-related as opposed to the previous step! Still… this set
is REQUIRED for king fights? How much freaking grinding do they expect us to do? Or
do they mean it will be “helpful” instead?
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Supreme Ward
The Sovereign armor set is the highest level armor set, and includes the wards from all
previous sets. There are eight pieces of armor in this set.
So here we have the culmination of your item set grind - er, journey. According to
Mythic‟s wording, you will be required to gain all the previous sets before you can ever
dream of achieving this one. And let‟s face it, how many times do we get to kill the king
per siege and how many sieges does Mythic want to see per month? Last I heard, they
anticipate it will take 1-2 months per city siege starting from a complete campaign reset.
This is one giant grind, sheesh… Enjoy!
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Addons/Mods
There are some very helpful Mods or Addons out there that can help you be a better
healer. I will list a few that I have here but get out there and look around. The game is
still very young and people are coming up with new programs all the time.
Tomb Titan – This add-on is designed to display data in game in an easily readable
format. It includes sections for Bestiary, Lore/History, Noteworthy Persons, Cultivation
information, Lair Locations and Exploration/Pursuits information –and more! In short:
Tome Titan is to help keep you from having to alt tab.
WarEffort – War Effort provides a quick and easy way to monitor the Tier 4 campaign.
War Effort displays the current zone status, the status of every unlocked keep in Tier 4,
and the percentage of victory points each side has for each unlocked Tier 4 zone.
Currently War Effort will update the keep and zone status once every 5 seconds to ensure
that this Addon will not cause any extra lag or performance issues.
SpamMeNot – Spam Me Not intelligently detects, blocks and reports commercial and
annoying spam messages before you even see them, without relying on an extensive list
of blacklisted domain names.
LibSlash – A basic library for registering slash commands in the WAR interface. With
LibSlash installed, you'll also be able to use /addon or /uimod to open the Addons
window in-game.
Black Book – Who should we hunt down and kill today?? Better check the little black
book. The Little Black Book is a record of players that have killed you and your
Win/Loss record against them.
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Sample Build
This is how I chose to spec my Shaman. I decided to go with Da Green a bit to get the
ability called Ere We Go Again. You‟re healing numbers won‟t be as high as someone
specced full healing, but you will be able to do so much more to help your group with
debuffs, buffs, DoTs, HoTs and heals. Be prepared, because by using this spec you are
going to be very busy.
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One last comment! This one provided by Dont over at Blame the Healer
(http://blamethehealer.awardspace.com/category/guides/). This is a pretty good guide to
help you set up your actions bars and why. It‟s pretty rudimentary to me, but you might
find it helpful.
When you start a new career, it‟s all good - you have only a several abilities, easily
accessible by pressing 1, 2, etc. But as you progress through the ranks, there‟s less and
less space for the new abilities. In this article I‟m going to share some tips about how to
compress your action bars in order to achieve higher efficiency.
Find the golden mean. One action bar is barely enough, but four might be too much. I‟m
currently using two, and it is ideal for bar compression. Whether you stack or diplay them
side-by-side is your choice, I prefer stacking them. (This way I can check all my abilities
with a glance.)
This is the most important step. First, it‟s good to separate offensive / defensive abilities.
For example, if you are playing a Rune Priest, you should fill the primary action bar with
healing spells, and the secondary with the damaging / support ones. But if you‟re playing
a DPS specced Warrior Priest, offensive abilities should go first.
Now experiment with the hotkeys while playing. Observe which ones are comfortable for
you to reach / press. For me, from number 2 to 6 are the best, so I put my most used
abilities there. It‟s good to arrange them based on their cooldown and / or frequency of
use. You will probably just click the right side of the action bars, so place those abilities
there that you use out of combat (like crafting, flee, mount, etc.) there. You will also need
easily-reached hotkeys for bar #2. Shift / Alt + numbers combinations are just pain, in my
opinion, so I rebinded the second action bar to start with F1.
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Weeding out
Starting with T2, you are starting to specialize in a path. The more points you allocate in
one of them, the more useless the others get. There will be probably at least one path that
you won‟t have points in, so when it comes to bar compression, those should be the first
to fall out. Also, at higher ranks consider leaving out your basic attack ability. You will
have plenty of others to choose from by that time, and it also helps your AP management
if you don‟t waste it by spending it on a basic attack.
Emergency hotkey(s)
Sometimes, you have to use an ability very quickly. Your life depends on how fast can
you hit that button, so you should create at least one “emergency hotkey”. It‟s a Detaunt
for me, but it can be anything that can save your life, like a stun, disarm, knockback or
even a morale ability. Find a place at the right side of your bar, and place the emergency
ability there. Then bind that slot to a key you can easily press (it‟s V for me). Proper
safety is half the victory!
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Warhammer Vault, Warhammer Alliance and Ten Ton Hammer posters,
WARWiki, Syp, Blame the Healer, and the many more postings from Warhammer
Online gamers everywhere for helping build this compilation of information for aspiring
Shaman. We need more of them for sure.
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