Best Advice Ever?

[CptDan 25]

I just wanted to see what the best advice our fellow shaman have been given. This will go for any spec and can apply to whatever you do in WoW: Raiding, PVP, etc.

 

My best advice was actually a lot of education given to me on how to understand the logs so I could recognize the patterns in damage and how to time CDs better. Totally changed the way I look at healing.

 

Close runner up would be to cast UE before as many HRs as I can. I do it instinctually now but it took some adjustment to get where i UE before just about every one.

[kitsu 55]

Do you riptide before every UE?

[Stoove 347]

 

Stoove, you're running out of mana. You have to not do that.

 

My (old) raid leader, quoted directly.

 

On a more serious note, I think the best advice I've ever been given was; Never spam abilities, ever.

[CptDan 25]

Do you riptide before every UE?

On most encounters I have Riptide glyphed, so I weave it in between a lot of spells. While I don't make it a point to do it right before the UE, i'm pretty sure that most of the time i'm under tidal waves.

 

I have my synapse springs macroed to my UE so that I use it pretty close to CD. 

 

@stoove: yes, I have had many times where the raid leader is like "alright, so if the healers would just hold on to their mana we would have downed that" (this following 75% of the raid standing in the fire, and chasing damage as if it would buff their DPS by 10000%)

[Stoove 347]

If you have Riptide unglyphed, doesn't it still double-dip? I.e. if you cast UE -> Healing Rain followed immediately by RT, the RT initial hit should get the healing buff too.

 

Back in the day before Glyph of Riptide existed, that was how it was always done :P

[Hybrys 199]

The best advice I've ever gotten is remember your ABCs.  Always Be Casting.

 

This applies to all three specs.  Time to lean?  Time to LB.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Hybrys

[kitsu 55]

If you have Riptide unglyphed, doesn't it still double-dip? I.e. if you cast UE -> Healing Rain followed immediately by RT, the RT initial hit should get the healing buff too.

 

yeah the initial riptide hit gets the boost, but it's not a double dip. if riptide is glyphed the heal is so small it kinda wastes it. you actually get 2 buffs for ue, an aoe buff to either CH or HR and a direct healing buff to any other heal. If you run UF, which was buffed just prior to HTT being given to all specs, the only thing that changes is that the direct heal buff you get is larger. the aoe buff from UF stays the same.

[Stoove 347]

yeah the initial riptide hit gets the boost, but it's not a double dip. if riptide is glyphed the heal is so small it kinda wastes it. you actually get 2 buffs for ue, an aoe buff to either CH or HR and a direct healing buff to any other heal. If you run UF, which was buffed just prior to HTT being given to all specs, the only thing that changes is that the direct heal buff you get is larger. the aoe buff from UF stays the same.

 

Originally it did double dip because you could do this with any spell (before HR even benefited from UE). Typically, I used it when precasting Chain Heal for a small damage spike to get that little bit extra.

 

Also of note: Unleashed Fury's benefit applies to the specific target you unleashed at. Very important to remember! The original Unleash is applied to the Shaman that cast it.

[kitsu 55]

Also of note: Unleashed Fury's benefit applies to the specific target you unleashed at. Very important to remember! The original Unleash is applied to the Shaman that cast it.

 

i really dont think that's true anymore. does the person you cast ue on get a hidden buff? is the buff text also wrong for the buff on you saying your next direct heal is increased by 50%? just use a tome in game quick to double check, plz.

[Hybrys 199]

i really dont think that's true anymore. does the person you cast ue on get a hidden buff? is the buff text also wrong for the buff on you saying your next direct heal is increased by 50%? just use a tome in game quick to double check, plz.

Unleashed Fury's Earthliving effect does indeed put a buff on the player casting it, and is consumed on any single target heal.  You get two buffs, one called Unleash Life (spell ID: 73685), the other called Unleashed Fury (spell ID 118473).

 

If you cast UE then HW/GHW/RT/HS, HW/GHW/RT/HS consumes both buffs.

If you cast UE then HR/CH, the single target buff remains available.

 

Both buffs have a 10 sec duration, and the UE buff seems to be applied about .5 seconds later.  Just tested it out.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Hybrys

[SparkSovereign 61]

The best advice I've ever gotten is remember your ABCs.  Always Be Casting.

 

This applies to all three specs.  Time to lean?  Time to LB.

This is excellent advice for elemental and resto and often good advice for enhancement, but if you're about half a second from Stormstrike and Lava Lash coming off CD and just spent your Maelstrom Weapon charges, "idling" for that half second will see you get 2 more spells and a bunch of white hits off in the time it would take you to cast Lightning Bolt, plus probably the Lightning Bolt anyway.  (Remember that you don't get white hits while hardcasting, which means no Maelstrom Weapon procs.)  This isn't some unusual edge case, either, for me it happens about every thirty seconds.  (It happens less for mastery stacked, but you probably still see it at least once a minute.)  I suppose you could ABC, but then sometimes cancel your spellcasts (which is absolute sacrilege for any caster spec), but since you don't get white hits while hardcasting you're better off just idling in the first place.

 

Enhancement is full of situations like this.  The best advice I can give for the spec is to do what feels right; when I was rigidly sticking to a rotation I was awful at it, but "try to cast as many abilities as you can" actually works pretty well.  Over time you'll build up the intuition, until eventually you can do it without thinking.  Making weakaura spell alerts for 3 and 4 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon didn't hurt, though.

 

On a more serious note, I think the best advice I've ever been given was; Never spam abilities, ever.

Unless you're elemental spec on AoE.  You could cast things that aren't chain lightning/lava beam.  Could.  Generally shouldn't.  That's excellent advice for resto (or any healer), though.

 

Hrm, other good advice...

• (Elemental) - Whatever it is, it probably isn't as important as using your lava surge proc.  (You can even use those while running out of the fire!)
• (Elemental) - You can only generate wasted charges of Rolling Thunder by casting Lightning Bolt, so never delay anything else to cast Earth Shock.
• (Restoration) - Don't fight the absorb/HoT guys for topping people off.  Conserve your mana, knock their socks off when real damage comes in.
• (Enhancement) - Never be afraid to use Maelstrom Weapon to cast Healing Rain.
• (All) - Test your weapon switch macros BEFORE you get into combat.  Especially for enhancement.
• (PvP) - Roses are red, train the blue.

Much more general advice:

• While tanking the floor, you can do no damage.  Don't stand in the fire, kids.
• You might live if you anger a healer, but an angry tank will find a way to kill you.
• If you die, the proper question is "what could I do better" not "whose fault is it", and the answer is never "nothing".  Don't shy away from asking if someone can make your life easier (tank the mobs over there, etc.) but always strive to improve.
• Poor performance is no excuse to kick people if you haven't wiped yet.
• In a related vein, always check that the person you're calling out for having low healing is actually a healer.  I have been told I should be kicked because the other healers are way better than me while on my Death Knight.  (Same thing with dps and "actually a dps".)
• Gear helps a lot, but the largest changes come from playstyle and execution.

That's all I've got off the top of my head.  Good thread!  Maybe we should collect the best into the first post?

 

Edited March 5, 2014 by SparkSovereign

[Hybrys 199]

This is excellent advice for elemental and resto and often good advice for enhancement, but if you're about half a second from Stormstrike and Lava Lash coming off CD and just spent your Maelstrom Weapon charges, "idling" for that half second will see you get 2 more spells and a bunch of white hits off in the time it would take you to cast Lightning Bolt, plus probably the Lightning Bolt anyway.  (Remember that you don't get white hits while hardcasting, which means no Maelstrom Weapon procs.)  This isn't some unusual edge case, either, for me it happens about every thirty seconds.  (It happens less for mastery stacked, but you probably still see it at least once a minute.)  I suppose you could ABC, but then sometimes cancel your spellcasts (which is absolute sacrilege for any caster spec), but since you don't get white hits while hardcasting you're better off just idling in the first place.

I was thinking about putting in something to say 'for Enh in transit anyway', as I totally understand what you mean.  With the ABCs, I would consider autoattacking waiting for a GCD-length gap to be included in casting.  That being said, I've seen Enh Shamans in transit without Spirit Walk not casting anything.  That's wasted activity and your DPS is then near 0.

 

That's some indepth rotational gauging, though.  Nice stuff.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Hybrys

[Valanar 0]

This is my first time since black temple came out that I'm main speccing enhancement. To say a lot has changed would be understatement. Outside of the usual priorities, some good advice has helped me provide good utility while supporting the raid.

 

(1) You can help heal too without losing dps. Healing Stream and Ancestral Guidance (if you spec'd for it) are sitting on your buttons looking pretty. Use them, healers like this.

(2) When dealing with moving adds - like bloods on paragons - you have frost shock and earthbind. Help out the dps.

(3) Are people getting slowed during the Thok fight? Be useful and drop Windwalk.

(4) Maelstrom is not the end all be all of priorities. Unleashed Fury and Stormstrike both buff damage from LB. Don't forget this.

(5) Macroing stormlash to drop with heroism keeps you from forgetting one or the other.

(6) Have some kind of say alert when you interrupt. 3 interrupt CDs on the same spell is a waste. Same goes with Hex.

(7) Mana isn't an issue as enhancement. Use Rage to reduce your damage. Helps the healers and keeps your butt alive. Nature's Guidance is particular useful in case you do stand in something stupid.

 

And for pete's sake, don't tunnel. Your dps and hps become 0 if you "die to fire."

[Stoove 347]

Unleashed Fury's Earthliving effect does indeed put a buff on the player casting it, and is consumed on any single target heal.  You get two buffs, one called Unleash Life (spell ID: 73685, the other called Unleashed Fury (spell ID 118473).

 

Interesting, it's changed since release then - that was when I last checked (and cared). Certainly on release, the buff was on the target not the Shaman. Ah well, you learn something new every day :)

 

Checked it ingame; the tooltip hasn't changed (".. on the targeted ally" being the operative phrase), but the buff does actually apply to the Shaman (tested by casting on someone else).

 

Sorry about the confusion ^__^

 

Unless you're elemental spec on AoE.  You could cast things that aren't chain lightning/lava beam.  Could.  Generally shouldn't.  That's excellent advice for resto (or any healer), though.

 

But even then, you should be making sure each cast is optimal (i.e. your cleave target is still in the group, and there are enough targets to make it worth doing). Just spamming is literally just ignoring everything going on and hitting "the heal/DPS button" (i.e. bad play for any spec) :)

[SparkSovereign 61]

I think the Unleashed Fury change for Earthliving was done in 5.3, or maybe 5.4.  Saw it in patch notes, continued to use Primal Elementalist on everything except Durumu anyway.

 

But even then, you should be making sure each cast is optimal (i.e. your cleave target is still in the group, and there are enough targets to make it worth doing). Just spamming is literally just ignoring everything going on and hitting "the heal/DPS button" (i.e. bad play for any spec)

An excellent point.  You also need to be careful your spamming doesn't pull aggro off, I dunno, the dogs on Dark Shamans, if for no other reason than it separates the mobs and thus lowers your AoE dps.  (Also the murderous pain and risk of floor-tanking.  Ow.)  So even if you're casting the same spell repeatedly, you do still need to think, this is true.  When chaincasting Lava Beam, I usually target whoever I think the tanks are least likely to be paying attention to for two reasons; one, Lava Beam increases damage as it jumps, so hopefully the highest aggro will be on the ones the tanks have locked down, and two, I will know immediately when I need to yell "I made a friend!" into mumble.

 

Those dogs are the bane of my existence.  3 tanks and they still end up on my face every time.  Maybe elemental shaman smell like bacon?  Incidentally, did you know Wind Shear has a minor threat reduction component to it?  It's not much, but it helps.

Edited March 5, 2014 by SparkSovereign

[Hybrys 199]

Interesting, it's changed since release then - that was when I last checked (and cared). Certainly on release, the buff was on the target not the Shaman. Ah well, you learn something new every day

 

Checked it ingame; the tooltip hasn't changed (".. on the targeted ally" being the operative phrase), but the buff does actually apply to the Shaman (tested by casting on someone else).

 

Sorry about the confusion ^__^

I honestly thought it still applied the buff on your target as well, so I was surprised when I checked.  I even made a guildie stand still for 10 minutes so I could get repeated casts guaranteeing that it hit them but the buff went to myself.

 

Still kind of an awful talent.

 

An excellent point.  You also need to be careful your spamming doesn't pull aggro off, I dunno, the dogs on Dark Shamans, if for no other reason than it separates the mobs and thus lowers your AoE dps.  (Also the murderous pain and risk of floor-tanking.  Ow.)  So even if you're casting the same spell repeatedly, you do still need to think, this is true.  When chaincasting Lava Beam, I usually target whoever I think the tanks are least likely to be paying attention to for two reasons; one, Lava Beam increases damage as it jumps, so hopefully the highest aggro will be on the ones the tanks have locked down, and two, I will know immediately when I need to yell "I made a friend!" into mumble.

 

Those dogs are the bane of my existence.  3 tanks and they still end up on my face every time.  Maybe elemental shaman smell like bacon?  Incidentally, did you know Wind Shear has a minor threat reduction component to it?  It's not much, but it helps.

It's funny, because my tanks even let me burst to 2mil DPS last night without pulling off of them.  Two Misdirections must help. =P

[kitsu 55]

my group has no hunters and our tanks have all of them on pull. although i now heal the indoors on that fight so i just try to make stone sculptures now. im getting better at it, the long side is inline with your shoulders every time, i just have to remember to take a cap once they get to 10% because the stones all despawn the second the shaman die.

[CptDan 25]

I will work on compiling the tips I to the first post, I really enjoy threads like this.

 

UPDATE: I got sidetracked with raid, but we are done for the week so i'll have time this weekend. On a good note, I finally got the cleave trinket, war forged at that :)

Edited March 7, 2014 by CptDan

[Grahmrook 6]

@stoove: yes, I have had many times where the raid leader is like "alright, so if the healers would just hold on to their mana we would have downed that" (this following 75% of the raid standing in the fire, and chasing damage as if it would buff their DPS by 10000%)

 

I lol'd literally when I read this.  I had read a post on the WoW forums and later experienced myself on a different boss.  I was in LFR doing Norushen and everyone did a great job running away from the beam... then crashed into it on the other side.  I am laughing as I type this because the description given in the post was:

 

"My fave one was my husband tanking, myself and friend in there. The maze hits and the whole group run from the beam of death....all the way around the circle to run face first into it like it was a finishing line. It was amazing. All died, except the 3 of us."

 

Also, this:

 

 

 

• (Restoration) - Don't fight the absorb/HoT guys for topping people off.  Conserve your mana, knock their socks off when real damage comes in.t?

 

 

This has been huge for me.  It has recently resulted in much better mana conservation and I am considering dropping my spirit lower since I do not feel compelled to try an compete with the druid and rather work with him. 

 

I guess for my offer of words of advice which an old RL told me, "Did the boss die? Did we get loot?  (the answer to both was yes) Then don't beat yourself up over those who did die, some things are out of your control.  Your job is to worry about where you are standing and making sure the tanks and other healers stay alive.  Sometimes dps need to take responsibility for themselves and not take the unnecessary risks which make them die.  You cannot make them not stand in fire."

Edited March 6, 2014 by Grahmrook