Shaman like bard?Follow

no actually bard's sing and play instruments to do all their amazing feats while shamans are no musicians at all, anyone that played everquest knows that the shaman was the debuffer and buffer in almost every case. I'm not sure if the WoW shaman will be anything like the EQ one, i just know shamans don't sing or play instruments. ^^

Edited, Wed May 5 16:27:52 2004 by Glicer

In a sense they are like bards, I play one right now on the beta server and I do more then just buff. A shaman actually does quite a bit a melee damage, unlike a bard. Shaman get weapon buffs for their weapons that increase DPS by a lot. I just started, but I have heard shaman doing as much melee damage as a warrior at higher levels

think shaman is like a rdm/brd and brd/rdm at the same time... sad thing about WoW is that spells and abilities are so cyclic... almost no new stuff as you level up... but back to shaman: just debuff/buff and some melee damage... it's a red mage with AoE!

In a party, the shaman fulfills the following roles:
1) Support and utility (with totems, mostly)
2) Extra melee and spell damage
3) Secondary healer, or sometimes primary healer (though the second is a stretch)

Now for more in-depth analysis.
1) Support and utility
This is where our totems come in. When the group enters combat, the first thing a shaman typically does is drop totems. Totems such as Stoneskin, Strength of the Earth, Healing Stream, and Flametongue are always appreciated by the group. They affect the entire party in a positive way, increasing damage or enhancing survivability. We also cure disease and poison, and have a few other abilities that help the whole group. We can't Purge our buddies, sadly, but we can purge nasty things like damage shields from our enemies. Also in this category would be our anti-spellcaster abilities: Grounding Totem, Earth Shock, and Purge. Not a lot, but it's a good niche and more than other classes get.

2) Extra melee and spell damage
Don't get me wrong, shamen aren't rogues or mages. We're probably not going to be in danger of pulling agro off the warrior unless he's a bonehead. That said, the damage output of a shaman is considerable. We deal nice damage with our weapon buffs and our Shocks, and some of our Fire totems are good for this also. Sadly our most efficient damage spell, Lightning Shield, isn't very useful in a group context, but we have a lot of other options.

3) Secondary or (sometimes) primary healer
This is a biggie. There are never enough healers, so the shaman is often called upon to help out. A shaman really shines as a secondary healer, especially when combined with some of our totems. Healing Stream and Stoneskin totems drastically reduce the damage the party takes while generating very little/no aggro. Our heals aren't as efficient as a Priest or Druid's, which is why it's better to have one of them as a primary. But because of our melee abilities and the efficiency of our totems, we can contribute quite a bit to the group while saving mana for emergency heals. If you want to be a primary healer as a shaman, you'd better spec your talents for it. It's a tough road to hoe. It demands a good group. We're tougher than a priest if we get too much healing aggro, but we have no abilities to get the mobs off of us. (Earthbind totem is the closest I can think of.) The point is that between our heals and our rez, groups love having us around when things go sour. We can save the group when it would have otherwise wiped.


Now, I don't know how any of this compares to the bard, but that's how it is in WoW.

I know on EQ bards have significant attack songs, can wear heavy armor, and can weild nearly any one-handed weapon. On EQ they would out damage a shaman since both have DoTs and bards have a wider range of offence skills and stronger weapons.

Edited, Tue Oct 12 14:53:22 2004 by trollsham

I have no idea what the FFXI bard is like, and to be frank I think you're better off not thinking that way. World of Warcraft is a whole different ball game from FFXI.

I posted a broad overview of shaman's role in groups above, so you should probably reread that. To answer the specific question though, yes, shaman are effective in melee combat, thanks to our weapons buffs and decent armor. Most of our attack spells are insta-cast anyway, so shaman rarely have an excuse not to dive in there, especially in groups. The only exception would be if you're primary healer. In that case, you're probably better off not meleeing unless your tank is really good at what he does. Shaman have no way to lose aggro, so if you're the primary healer I'd be cautious about entering melee. Aside from that, sure, wade in there.

Ya know... I seem to find that WoW and FFXI are two different games. I could be wrong though, as I am a lot.

Honestsun u are totally right but remember that shamans can do incredible ammounts of damage with thier instand spells that have latent effects as well.

IMO Shamans are more like the Mage/healer/buffer/damage dealer/rip anything apart if you are not carefull character.

I am lovin my shaman so far. kiks *** things that are many levels higher than yourself. I played FFXI and i have to say that i am thankfull that i made the switch.

Shaman is RDM done right, with a hint of Bard.

You get spells that cover the whole spectrum. Imbue weapon (en-element spells), cures, damage, lightning shield (like shock spikes). You get a travel form at 20, your totems give either AoE group buffs (like stoneskin or mana stream) or deal damange (one shoots fireballs, another explodes for AoE damage). You get a rez spell at 12 (yes 12!) and later get reincarntion (reraise).

It's just like RDM in FFXI, you get to do everything. The difference is that RDM was never very good at any perticular thing till 40, at which point you became a refresh *****. Shaman can be thought of as a decent melee class with a whole lot of supporting majicks.