Aitrus
02-22-2005, 09:55 AM
This is the toughest matchup for me as a druid. I have asked a lot about the best tactics to use here, and still I haven't found that much of use.
Most people say the key to winning this fight is to:
1. Stay out of the shamans limited range.
2. Get the shaman to use up his mana pool.
Shamans have a tonne of great abilities, but the following are particular druid killers:
1. Purge (remove motw, innervate, rejuv, and regrowth easily).
2. Frost shock (strips the druid of mobility, our primary pvp ability. Fortunately we will be able to break the frost snare effect by shifting in the next patch so this will become less of an issue)
3. Earth shock (interrupt a spell every 5 seconds).
4. Grounding totem (ability to break roots)
Note that shaman healing works at a rate of 1.4 hp/mana.
Druid healing touch works at a rate of 1.75hp/mana.
The first thing that is troublesome about a shaman is how they totally incapacitate our healing abilities. If you use a HoT they can purge it, if you go for a healing touch they can earth shock it. So you can only count on getting 2 heals off in a fight, one if you're not restore spec. First you can bash - shift - healing touch. Second you can natures swiftness - healing touch.
Earth shock can repeatedly block your HT, as it is on a 5s timer (i understand every shaman worth his salt takes the shock timer-reduction talent, much as we take nature's swiftness) with a 2s spell-stun. After you fail it will take you 5.5s to get your next HT off, where he can earth shock you in 5s. So you cannot rely on more than 2 heals in the fight.
Known tricks:
Try to draw the shaman to earth shock you by starting to hearthstone. He will waste his shock, allowing you to get off a healing touch. Personally my hearthstone isn't on my toolbar, I usually use it out of my backpack, so I can't vouche for how well this works.
Try fleeing to draw out a frost shock, and as soon as it hits you go for a healing touch. Shocks are on shared timers, so if he frost shocks you, he can't earth shock you for 5 seconds.
Keep a rank 1 moonfire on your toolbar and use it to nuke his totems. I took wrath off my main bar and put rank1 moonfire there instead. Works wonders vs totems, and is a great trick if you can make room for it.
Other problems:
Shamans can heal themselves very well. This to me seems to limit your ability to just root+moonfire/starfire. Even if you keep him at a range, your damage is unlikely to keep up witht he healing, and you'll both wind up w drained mana pools but the shammy is gonna be better up close.
Or is he?
How does bear form stack up toe-to-toe with a shaman?
A smart shaman will drop totems once he sees you're in bear. Bear attack speed is slow and its time-consuming shifting targets to nab all his little totems. That time spent is you not hitting him, but him hitting you. Shaman melee dps is laudable, and their armor is nice too with mail. In my experience I haven't done as much damage as I need to in bear form, and I wind up shifting to get off a desperate heal before the sham is even at 2/3rds hp.
I do think bear form is the way to go, but the fact the shammy can interrupt and purge our heals means the normal strat of shift-heal-shift may not work as desired.
All that being said, I see one viable strategy to use versus a shaman:
When you need to heal, run away from the shaman. He'll probably think you're running away and frost shock you. That's your cue to healing touch. If he doesn't frost shock you, you can root him and starfire until he does, or just keep on running in cheetah form until you're far enough away to heal, and/or escape the fight altogether.
I know personally when someone looks like they're running away though, my instinct is to chase and root. I'm sure most shammies will burn their frost shock the second you look like you're fleeing.
Just practice running away before healing, as opposed to just trying to heal when you need it. Give yourself room to pull it off (i.e. dont wait till you're at 15% hp to heal).
Second tip:
If you're in a real bind go ahead and regrowth. You'll get the front-load heal for sure, and probably at least a tick or two of the HoT. And if the shaman isn't that good, he may not even purge you at all.
Things not to use:
cat form (other than maybe prowling in and opening the fight).
moonfire spam too soon (shammies are tough, and you want to outlast their mana not burn yours before they do. Only spam if they are at like 10%hp or less).
HoT's (just avoid using them and don't count on them).
All other insights to shaman vs druid appreciated :)
Most people say the key to winning this fight is to:
1. Stay out of the shamans limited range.
2. Get the shaman to use up his mana pool.
Shamans have a tonne of great abilities, but the following are particular druid killers:
1. Purge (remove motw, innervate, rejuv, and regrowth easily).
2. Frost shock (strips the druid of mobility, our primary pvp ability. Fortunately we will be able to break the frost snare effect by shifting in the next patch so this will become less of an issue)
3. Earth shock (interrupt a spell every 5 seconds).
4. Grounding totem (ability to break roots)
Note that shaman healing works at a rate of 1.4 hp/mana.
Druid healing touch works at a rate of 1.75hp/mana.
The first thing that is troublesome about a shaman is how they totally incapacitate our healing abilities. If you use a HoT they can purge it, if you go for a healing touch they can earth shock it. So you can only count on getting 2 heals off in a fight, one if you're not restore spec. First you can bash - shift - healing touch. Second you can natures swiftness - healing touch.
Earth shock can repeatedly block your HT, as it is on a 5s timer (i understand every shaman worth his salt takes the shock timer-reduction talent, much as we take nature's swiftness) with a 2s spell-stun. After you fail it will take you 5.5s to get your next HT off, where he can earth shock you in 5s. So you cannot rely on more than 2 heals in the fight.
Known tricks:
Try to draw the shaman to earth shock you by starting to hearthstone. He will waste his shock, allowing you to get off a healing touch. Personally my hearthstone isn't on my toolbar, I usually use it out of my backpack, so I can't vouche for how well this works.
Try fleeing to draw out a frost shock, and as soon as it hits you go for a healing touch. Shocks are on shared timers, so if he frost shocks you, he can't earth shock you for 5 seconds.
Keep a rank 1 moonfire on your toolbar and use it to nuke his totems. I took wrath off my main bar and put rank1 moonfire there instead. Works wonders vs totems, and is a great trick if you can make room for it.
Other problems:
Shamans can heal themselves very well. This to me seems to limit your ability to just root+moonfire/starfire. Even if you keep him at a range, your damage is unlikely to keep up witht he healing, and you'll both wind up w drained mana pools but the shammy is gonna be better up close.
Or is he?
How does bear form stack up toe-to-toe with a shaman?
A smart shaman will drop totems once he sees you're in bear. Bear attack speed is slow and its time-consuming shifting targets to nab all his little totems. That time spent is you not hitting him, but him hitting you. Shaman melee dps is laudable, and their armor is nice too with mail. In my experience I haven't done as much damage as I need to in bear form, and I wind up shifting to get off a desperate heal before the sham is even at 2/3rds hp.
I do think bear form is the way to go, but the fact the shammy can interrupt and purge our heals means the normal strat of shift-heal-shift may not work as desired.
All that being said, I see one viable strategy to use versus a shaman:
When you need to heal, run away from the shaman. He'll probably think you're running away and frost shock you. That's your cue to healing touch. If he doesn't frost shock you, you can root him and starfire until he does, or just keep on running in cheetah form until you're far enough away to heal, and/or escape the fight altogether.
I know personally when someone looks like they're running away though, my instinct is to chase and root. I'm sure most shammies will burn their frost shock the second you look like you're fleeing.
Just practice running away before healing, as opposed to just trying to heal when you need it. Give yourself room to pull it off (i.e. dont wait till you're at 15% hp to heal).
Second tip:
If you're in a real bind go ahead and regrowth. You'll get the front-load heal for sure, and probably at least a tick or two of the HoT. And if the shaman isn't that good, he may not even purge you at all.
Things not to use:
cat form (other than maybe prowling in and opening the fight).
moonfire spam too soon (shammies are tough, and you want to outlast their mana not burn yours before they do. Only spam if they are at like 10%hp or less).
HoT's (just avoid using them and don't count on them).
All other insights to shaman vs druid appreciated :)