Advice on dealing with a Shaman, please

[Jesi]

Call me a nublet, I am.

Started playing in February. I play in the evenings after work and chores on the weekends. I did the Nelf Hunter, 60. Then the Mage, 60. And now me, 60. Entirely PvE. Instances with my Guildies. Experienced MMORG players, new to WoW.

Then a few weeks ago (on a Friday night when few people were on), I attempted to reclaim the Arathi Basin and fought in the Alterec Valley. And was hooked. Sergeant that Tuesday, and every week since my standing has been < 50. But mostly through will, not skill.

I used to hate Rogues.. got them figured out (cept in wolf packs.. which seems the norm in AB). Right now my main problems that I am working out (other than Warlord Warriors in high end gear with personal healers) are Priests (never seem to silence them at the right time) and Warlocks (that do what I should do better and faster). But I have insight into my failings there, I think.

Where it seems I am totally clueless is the Shaman. Am I wrong that every time they drop a Totem, it's my target.. or is that just some Totems? I know they can Purge me, but can they Silence me, too? Any tips, mantras, things to avoid would be appreciated.

[Fenrir]

the worst totems they drop are Tremor totems and Grounding totems. (which respectfully dispells fear and eats the next spell cast on them)
easiest way is to let your pet attack those totems and/or wand them down (Whichever's fastest).

after that we have earth shock, which is a spell which interupts your casting and indeed silences you for that school for a few seconds Downside for them is that it has an 8 second CD. Most pvp'ing shaman have an addon which let's them see when you start to cast fear (enemy cast bar) I often trick them by starting to cast fear and then interupt and starting immolate instead.

a way to work around these two major defensive abilities is to get them mezzed (seduce/fear) asap (just watch out for tremor totem).

in my experience they all play differently, they can be tough. but most are utter noobs. but i learned to play against them by rolling a shaman myself (know thy enemy ^^)

[ParadoxDHL]

If i ever fight them in duels, (i'm undead), I try to pull them away from their totems and it usually works because they want to melee me and get in shock range. Try some spell fakes to fake out their earthshocks and keep grounding/tremor down either with wands or pets, pref wands

[Jesi]

Fenrir, thank you for all the information. Tremor, Grounding, Earthshock, fakes, love it.

ParadoxDHL, thank you for helping the "enemy". The distancing thing is a good tip.. I am trying to keep moving, anyway.

And I guess I need to find a key for the "kill totems" macro.. wtb two more hands and a second keyboard please.

Thanks both, exactly what I needed.

[Fenrir]

just a perceptive mind and fast clickin' fingers is all you need really ;)
if you want to really know how to work against them, you just roll one. but that costs time though :P

[lytspdx2]

Originally Posted by Fenrir

just a perceptive mind and fast clickin' fingers is all you need really ;)
if you want to really know how to work against them, you just roll one. but that costs time though :P

The tremor totem is teh only thing you need to worry about, its a 10 sec timer and will abosrb your spells. just make a macro

/target tremor totem
/script PetAttack()
/script TargetLastTarget()

this will target the totem send you pet after it and retarget the shaman so you may continue owning him/her

[Gritz]

Since I play horde side, I only get to fight shammies in duels, so my tactics might be a little different.

Totems: Wand or pet attack

Start casting fear or sbolt to draw out the earthshock, jump while casting to eat the shorter silence.

Seduce

Fear

DoT (CoT, Corruption, Immolate) CoT is crucial to prevent heals

DD till dead, Deathcoil if they try to heal.

-Gritz

[Laeda]

Originally Posted by lytspdx2

The tremor totem is teh only thing you need to worry about, its a 10 sec timer and will abosrb your spells. just make a macro

/target tremor totem
/script PetAttack()
/script TargetLastTarget()

this will target the totem send you pet after it and retarget the shaman so you may continue owning him/her

Grounding Totem is actually far worse than Tremor Totem. Tremor Totem doesn't pulse at the right time for the shaman 99% of the time it seems like. Grounding totem not only will absorb some damage spells without being killed like it should be, but seems to be bugged with regard to the cooldown between spell absorbtion that it should have.

Shaman aren't too bad though, in general. Set up 2 macros, the tremor totem one in the post I just quoted and another one with "grounding totem" in the place of tremor totem. If you hear a totem drop, hit one of these macros. Your priority should be to destroy grounding first, then tremor. If the Shaman ever shocks you (frost if they aren't too good, earth if they are decent) immediately cast fear. Assuming you have been consistently killing their totems they should now be feared (which their trinket doesn't break) and you can basically do whatever you want to them. Spell lock their inevitable heal when fear breaks (Felhunter is far in a way the best pet vs. Shamans) and it's pretty much gg for them. Oh yeah, use devour magic on them a few times too, Lightning Shield can actually do decent damage, so I like to get rid of it early on in the fight.

Basically a not-so-good Shaman has to get the drop on you and get a huge (and hugely lucky) Windfury crit proc on you with a nasty 2 hander in order to really have a good shot at you. A good Shaman who resists the urge to shock you until you start to fear then Earthshocks to interrupt your fear can be problematic. I believe though (not sure on this and may be affected by talents), that the 4 second cooldown Earthshock activates on your shadow tree is still less than the 6 second shock cooldown so you still have the chance to get a fear off in that 2 second window if you are fast enough.

Edit: Forgot to mention... the reason why it is nice to have a macro specifically to destroy those totems, is because a smart Shaman will try to make his important totems difficult to target manually, either by dropping them in strange places (this is an issue when fighting in the bunkers and towers in AV for example) or by blocking them with his big cow butt (whether intentionally or not). A macro is a very easy and effective way to guarantee that the exact totem you want to kill goes down.

[vulturesrow]

Great thread so far, although honestly Ive found shammy's to be one of easiest PvP opponents. However, the reason I am posting is because
this :

by blocking them with his big cow butt (whether intentionally or not)

had me lmao.

[the | n00b]

One little addition to the very nicely put things here - shock spells have a cooldown of six seconds untalented, five seconds if the Shaman spends at least 15 points in Elemental.

So, yeah, if he doesn't know what to do, he'll just spam his shocks while attempting to melee you - wait for Frost Shock, kill totems, fear/seduce - GG (very simplified).