I've been so far bless in that I've always had green or even blue 1 handed weapon.
Even when I got the Crescent Staff, I also had 'Viper Sting' from WC, a level 16 Blue Club that had a dps of 16 and poison... so I decided to go with that + shield instead of the CS.
Right now, I got a level 31 Blue Axe - dps 24 +6str +5spi.
The point I'm trying to make here is that so far I haven't been wanting for 'more' damage and I rather enjoy the armor and stats bonus shield provide. My current shield gives me 751 armor, which is like 50% of my armor, I hardly see myself giving that up for a bit more damage.
I'm going for an Elemental/Enhancement built, and many people in there take 2handers. I Can't say I'm really interested. I do see however the 'parry' ability as something interesting.
What does it do exactly? And is it any good?
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My build is almost full Enhancement, only 16 points in Elemental (to get elemental focus). I got parry, and didn't bother with 2h axes and maces. My thinking is, first off I want to use a 1h and shield, and secondly we can already use 2h staffs, which there are tons of great ones out there, so why waste the talent point?
I have had times when my 2h was more dps than my 1h, but the difference was never enough to warrant losing the armor and stats from 1h and shield. I've even compared the 2 to an extent, by fighting the same mobs with the staff and then with the 1h / shield (multiple times) and the fight has always gone easier with the 1h. Add the fact that Windfury weapon is easily our best weapon enhancement, and a faster weapon will give it more chances to proc, I've found that my DPS with a 1h weapon is actually far higher than normal.
Hrmm can't seem to get it to show my WoW profile where my EQ ones are, so if you are interested, this is the link to my profile where you can see my build.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?15944
Edited, Wed Dec 29 15:45:20 2004 by OutcastNecro
Edited, Wed Dec 29 17:28:21 2004 by OutcastNecro
I have had times when my 2h was more dps than my 1h, but the difference was never enough to warrant losing the armor and stats from 1h and shield. I've even compared the 2 to an extent, by fighting the same mobs with the staff and then with the 1h / shield (multiple times) and the fight has always gone easier with the 1h. Add the fact that Windfury weapon is easily our best weapon enhancement, and a faster weapon will give it more chances to proc, I've found that my DPS with a 1h weapon is actually far higher than normal.
Hrmm can't seem to get it to show my WoW profile where my EQ ones are, so if you are interested, this is the link to my profile where you can see my build.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?15944
Edited, Wed Dec 29 15:45:20 2004 by OutcastNecro
Edited, Wed Dec 29 17:28:21 2004 by OutcastNecro
Parry blocks an incoming melee attack. If you have a 5% chance to parry, you have a 5% chance to block a swing. It isn't a bad skill, but remember its a 21 point skill. If you take it, you can't take a 31 point skill, which kills the main reason to go elemental/enhance- elemental mastery.
As for 2 handers- waste of a point. Staffs have the same dps and are free. If they up the dps of 2 handers above staffs it may become worth it, but for now if you want a 2 hander go staff.
As for 2 handers- waste of a point. Staffs have the same dps and are free. If they up the dps of 2 handers above staffs it may become worth it, but for now if you want a 2 hander go staff.
I'm still young, but I just trained that talent. No comment as of yet on if it's better / worth it. But check with me in the future, I'll have more feed back as I intend to give it a fair shoot.
I disagree that Elemental Mastery is the main reason to go elemental/enhancement. I feel there are too many relatively useless skills between ele focus and mastery to make it worthwhile, and 100% crit strike chance every 5 minutes really isn't all that impressive. I prefer Stormstrike, extra attack plus 20% extra nature dmg for 12 secs, on a 25 second cooldown timer.
IMO after Elemental Focus, the elemental talents are weaker than enhancement talents for a solo/pvp build.
IMO after Elemental Focus, the elemental talents are weaker than enhancement talents for a solo/pvp build.
Stormstrike isn't 20% damage for 12 seconds, its 20% damage for 2 spells (which must come inside of 12s for it to take effect). So its about 200 damage extra via spells and 1 extra hit at 60. Take note that the mana cost of SS scales- it increases with your level. At 60 SS is hugely mana inefficient, it does less damage per mana than your shocks. With a shaman's small mana pool, we can't really afford that.
Compare that to an EM build- reduced casting time of lightning spells by 1s. A 1.5s chain lightning or 2s LB are nice. The chain really helps in group/raid PvP, and LB allows you to kite warriors/rogues with much better mana efficiency. Combine that with EM allowing you a 1500 damage burst (2K+ with fire nova totem at 2s, 2500+ if you get lucky and crit the LB) in 2.5s, and you're able to take out pallys before they can shield or really hurt a warrior. Casters you can almost take out just with that combo. Give me a 2K burst ability over blocking 5% of melee attacks any day of the week. Heck I like it when they hit me- it procs lightning shield.
Compare that to an EM build- reduced casting time of lightning spells by 1s. A 1.5s chain lightning or 2s LB are nice. The chain really helps in group/raid PvP, and LB allows you to kite warriors/rogues with much better mana efficiency. Combine that with EM allowing you a 1500 damage burst (2K+ with fire nova totem at 2s, 2500+ if you get lucky and crit the LB) in 2.5s, and you're able to take out pallys before they can shield or really hurt a warrior. Casters you can almost take out just with that combo. Give me a 2K burst ability over blocking 5% of melee attacks any day of the week. Heck I like it when they hit me- it procs lightning shield.
Actually the description on SS is wrong. It says 2 spells, but after getting it I noticed it actually is 12 seconds. So it's more dmg than it seems it would be. I do agree the mana cost is rather heavy though.
I've respecced now anyway, after going to Blackrock a few times, I went full restoration. We can't really tank anything in the high level instances, and not being restoration specced kills our efficiency as a healer. I didn't want to do it, trust me heh, but now that I have I've been surprised with how little it's affected my solo and pvp abilities. I take more dmg while soloing now, but the heals are far more efficient, and Nature's Swiftness is very nice to have if things go bad. Instant Cast Healing Wave is a lifesaver (and very annoying to the Alliance in PVP I must say). I won't say I solo just as well with a Resto build as with Enhancement, but well enough to do anything I've tried so far. With the added healing ability I can take on just as tough mobs as before, it's just less of a tank type battle and more of a caster type I suppose.
The difference in BRD is HUGE. We went through there last night and the only times my mana was low (as backup healer) was if the priest was killed and I had to take over as primary healer. Before I respecced I was using at least 25-50% more mana for healing (it seemed, I have no numbers to back this up, just what I see).
I've respecced now anyway, after going to Blackrock a few times, I went full restoration. We can't really tank anything in the high level instances, and not being restoration specced kills our efficiency as a healer. I didn't want to do it, trust me heh, but now that I have I've been surprised with how little it's affected my solo and pvp abilities. I take more dmg while soloing now, but the heals are far more efficient, and Nature's Swiftness is very nice to have if things go bad. Instant Cast Healing Wave is a lifesaver (and very annoying to the Alliance in PVP I must say). I won't say I solo just as well with a Resto build as with Enhancement, but well enough to do anything I've tried so far. With the added healing ability I can take on just as tough mobs as before, it's just less of a tank type battle and more of a caster type I suppose.
The difference in BRD is HUGE. We went through there last night and the only times my mana was low (as backup healer) was if the priest was killed and I had to take over as primary healer. Before I respecced I was using at least 25-50% more mana for healing (it seemed, I have no numbers to back this up, just what I see).
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