Free Respec!

Last week, shaman were bestowed with a free respec courtesy the WoW development team. This was primarily due to significant changes with the elemental tree, which really needed a buff. More on that in a bit.
I took full advantage of the free respec to tweak Salanthe's restoration build. Since patch 3.0, I've had Salanthe specced for pure raid healing and made a few small sacrifices to boost her raid healing. Notably, I gave up 3 points in Healing Way. As time went on, I began missing the talent more and more, particularly when I healed 5-man heroics. Such a small talent that can make a big difference in single-target healing.

With the free respec of 3.0.8, I decided to squeeze 3 points out of my preferred raid healing spec and toss them in Healing Way, particularly as the talent was buffed in the patch as well. Instead of requiring 3 Healing Waves to gain the full benefit of the talent, it now takes one. A most welcome change, as it makes it much easier for a shaman to keep Healing Way up on the tank (though Healing Wave itself is still a mana-intensive spell).

Without further ado, here is Salanthe's new spec. I dropped a point in Thundering Strikes, Ancestral Fortitude, and Tidal Force to accomodate Healing Way. I rarely used Tidal Force because I'm terrible about on-use effects like that (I even had it bound to my mouse wheel and I'd still forget to use it!). The extra point in Thundering Strikes wasn't a big deal to me, although I do love my crit. I am not however, particularly happy with losing a point in Ancestral Fortitude. It took much debate before I finally decided that of all the one-point losses I could take, that would be the one place I could do it without hurting my healing per second or mana regeneration.

I have yet to test this new spec in a raid, but it seems to be effective in 5-man heroics.

Now, my promised comments on the elemental buff. Let me begin by stating that I have not tried the new elemental myself yet. Anecdotally, from my observations of an elemental shaman I tank and heal for regularly, her overall damage and dps has improved significantly since the patch. Previously, she was doing fairly high dps but very low overall damage. Post-3.0.8, she seems to be doing competitve damage and dps. One of these days I need to get around to respeccing to elemental and try the changes out for myself.

Tossing Heals - Talent Builds by Salanthe

I was invited to my first Naxxramus run a few days ago as a healer, so I was forced to sit down and think seriously about what talent build to use. I've been kicking some ideas around since I first saw the new shaman talent trees, but I haven't posted anything worthwhile yet. Here's my attempt at it and I'd be very interested in some feedback.

After looking over the shaman talent trees, it looks like Blizzard tried to increase a shaman's effectiveness as a main tank healer. Talents like Riptide, Tidal Waves, Healing Way, Earth Shield, and Improved Earth Shield complement each other very well to make a shaman good at single-target healing. This is particularly useful for five mans and has made us, in my opinion, very good five man instance healers. A glyph that works well with this style of healing is the Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave.

There are also a number of talents that work very well to increase our effectiveness as raid healers. Earthliving Weapon, Blessing of the Eternals, and Ancestral Awakening work to spread healing across as much of the group as possible. There are a couple of glyphs that assist in this style of healing, such as Glyph of Chain Heal and the Glyph of Earthliving Weapon.

Blizzard gave shaman some very good tools for main tank and raid healing. We are effective at both instead of specializing in raid healing. Even our Tier 7 set bonuses benefit both styles, rather than promoting one over another.

Talent point distribution is a problem though. While it seems as though Blizzard has made every effort to prevent a shaman healer from being pidgeon-holed in one style of healing, we end up choosing one style through our talent builds. Thus, I've come up with a couple talent builds - one for AoE/raid healing and one for main tank/five-man healing and by using the corresponding glyphs that I mentioned previously, you can optimize your abilities to fit each style.

Restoration for main tank / five-man healing or this if you don't care about threat reduction. This is the jack-of-all trades talent build. It promotes a more dynamic and exciting healing style, where you rely less on chain heal and more on Riptide, Healing Wave, and Lesser Healing Wave to get the job done. Earthliving weapon is icing on the cake and not the bread and butter of your healing.

Restoration for AoE/raid healing (aka the Earthliving build). This is my favorite talent build because I am enamored with the elegance of earthliving weapon. It is designed for chain heal spam and spreading the earthliving HoT over as much of the raid as possible.

Your choice between builds depends on what sort of healing you do most frequently and what meshes well with your style. Shaman can be main tank/single-target healers or AoE healers with either talent build.

Long Time No Post

It has been a while! Based on my previous post, I think you can guess what I've been up to though!

I've been taking it nice and easy while leveling my shaman. She had some really good rested experience accumulated while I couldn't play her, so I decided to use that as my leveling timer. When she runs out of rested experience, I switch to leveling either Miothe or Zgu for a few days, then go back to Sal.

It's a very good method for me. Miothe is my gathering alt and Sal's supplier of herbs and leather. By switching to her for a day or two, I'm able to level Salanthe's professions as I go. I thought I would end up buying the materials once I got to level cap, so this is much cheaper! I'm also trying to combat leveling burn out, so all three characters are trying different areas, with the notable exception of Dragonblight because I love that zone SO much.

In two weeks, give or take a few days, Salanthe is level 77, Miothe is level 72, and Zgu is level 71. Miyasi, my tauren death knight, is level 60, and Alsa, my dwarf death knight, is level 58 and clear of the starting area. Overall, I've been online less than during Burning Crusade when I was raiding heavily, so this is very steady and good progress considering. I'm pleased!

Now, a word on shaman talent trees. From 70 to 75, I leveled Salanthe as enhancement. I adored it. I was able to solo every non-dungeon elite I came across, except Sarathstra, whom I didn't even attempt to solo. Salanthe killed things very quickly and with very minimal effort and almost no down-time. Instancing was simple, but I always forgot to check Recount at the end of a run, so I don't know how my dps measured up, unfortunately.

When Sal hit 75, I respecced her to elemental (level 77 build). I waited until 75 because I read that elemental dps is poor until the shaman learns Lava Burst at level 75. Based on my experience thus far, I would have to agree whole-heartedly. Lava Burst hits very hard and lightning is very lack-luster in comparison.

Thus far, I'm enjoying elemental. I'm using the Flame Shock - Lava Burst - Chain Lightning - Lightning Bolt - Lightning Bolt - repeat, rotation, which seems to be working quite well. My dps in instances seems to be competitive (averaging around 1200), though I haven't run enough yet to make an accurate judgment. There is more downtime because of mana efficiency problems, but I mitigated some of that by remembering to use Thunderstorm more frequently. I am also able to solo elites like Rattlebore of the Really Big Worm quest without too much trouble, although it seems to take longer than it did as enhancement.

As of right now, I don't want to declare a preference between the two specs. Both feel solid to me and I enjoy playing them. I'd like to try them both out at 80, definitely. Maybe then I will be able to make a more precise comparison. Either way, I would definitely level as enhancement until at least 75. Wait for Lava Burst because it makes all the difference in the world.

Resto Talent Builds

I am considering changing my standard raiding spec. Right now, I use 8/0/53, which is a very standard raid build. After looking over some WWS parses though, I'm starting to wonder if the 5 points in Nature's Guardian are really worth it. It procs about once an hour while I'm raiding and it has never saved my life. Hence I am debating the following 8/0/53 build.

Basically, I'm taking those 5 points in Nature's Guardian and putting them in Focused Mind and Improved Reincarnation. I think I will give it a try the next time I respec. It could be that I actually miss Nature's Guardian, or I don't notice a difference with Focused Mind. Only testing will answer that question.