Totem Shaman Build
Yo,
I wanted to share my favorite shaman leveling build for hardcore.
For context, I’m just a casual player who loves shamans. I’ve leveled about 4 as every spec, and this is by far the most fun for me.
It has big ol’ aoe damage and you get a lot of survivability.
It works best in dungeons as you can make the most out of your aoe totems, but solo content is also very strong as you can pull multiple mobs with a well place Stoneclaw.
What does the rotation look like?
Run in with tank > Stoneclaw > Fire Nova > Magma > then alternate between Nova and Magma while beating the mobs with your big ol’ weapon.
But don’t stop there! Embrace the totem life. Use your totem utility. Grounding, tremor, earthbind, cleansers. Use them all, all the time! You’ll be surprised about the weird interactions they can have with some mechanics and how much easier it will make the life of the other party members.
What about the talents?
10-30, go into elemental. Since this is a totem build, you want all the ones that increase fire totem damage and reduce trigger times. Also Stoneclaw totem is slept on. It’s not as strong as target dummy, but it will stop mobs from immediately destroying totems, it will give time for tank to grab agro, and it will help you take down 2-3 mobs in the open world consistently, and it will save your life when you pull too much. Grab it. I also like Eye of the Storm even though it’s useless 9/10 times. But that 1 time? Yea that 1 time will determine if you get to 60 or get sent back to Mulgore.
31-41, at this point you’re mana starved. Magma totem takes hundreds of mana and there is no mage in sight. Go to the resto tree and take the totemic focus and mastery. Yea yea, the mana reduction is HUGE, but it’s mostly for the flavor 😏
42-60, finally, go enhancement. Those points are pretty standard.
Regarding gear, mail gear with intellect should be your priority since it’s few and far between. Then you can grab mail with strength. But man, you’re a big strong shaman. I don’t wanna see you in cloth.
Since enhancement js the last tree you’ll go down, you won’t have 2h maces or axes for awhile. So embrace the staves and 1h+shield.
Final Pro and Cons:
Pro:
- Less agro since fire totems have a separate agro pool
- Less gear competition since you’re finding those niche pieces and you’re not rolling for 2h weapons early on
- Big ol’ aoe damage
- You’re doing something different in this 20 year old game.
Cons:
- You meet some weird people who won’t take you into their group if you say you’re a totem build, so maybe keep it to yourself and just say you’re enhancement lol.
Ok that’s it. Hope you have fun. Feel free to ask any questions. I’ll answer what I can.