shaman-pvp
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Patch 4.0.6: Bloodlust's arena nerf
The first round of patch notes for patch 4.0.6 went up on the PTR today, and among them is a long-anticipated change to arena: Official patch 4.0.6 patch notes Bloodlust, Heroism, Time Warp and Ancient Hysteria can no longer be cast while in Arenas. source To some players (mainly my fellow shaman), this change has been viewed as a huge nerf. Bloodlust has long been one of the main assets a shaman brings to an arena team. Ever since Season 1, shaman have been able to cite Bloodlust / Heroism as one of the main reasons they were allowed to PvP at a competitive level. However, Bloodlust has been both a blessing and a curse for shaman. In nearly every season of Wrath of the Lich King, one of the most frequently cited complaints by enhancement shaman in arena was that Bloodlust was the only reason they were on the team. Beast cleave and enh/arms/holy paladin were both comps that relied on the shaman to Bloodlust so that their arena partners could dish out the major damage. Elemental and restoration shaman fared better towards the tail end of the expansion, but there still was an overall feeling that the strongest contribution to the team a shaman could offer was its Heroism cooldown.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting shamans
Zach first ground out the Battlegrounds on a PvP server on a shaman, refusing to spec restoration during a time when shamans were only brought to raids because of Mana Tide. Man, those days sucked. This guide shouldn't take us very long unlike the past two weeks' unexpectedly lengthy detour into all manner of backstabbery and ambushness because, as we all very well know, shamans don't PvP. Alright fine, that's not true. But we just don't see them around much. Historically, shamans have always been underrepresented in Arenas and Battlegrounds although not necessarily because the class has serious failings but also because fewer players play shamans than any other class in the game if census numbers are to be believed. Rogue and warlock numbers dropped over the years, too, but shamans have always been in last place for most of the game's existence. Shamans are great, but have never really been established as a threat in PvP and very few players really quake at the sight of a shaman entering the battlefield. Undeserved reputations aside (or lack thereof), shamans are a very versatile class and any player underestimating them could easily be on the receiving end of a fatal shock spell. After the jump, let's quickly go through the shaman's commonly used abilities in PvP before moving to the different specs and what to expect.
Forum Post of the Day: How to Shaman
Just in time to cheer up us diehard Shamans, Halbrium has stepped up to be our Alamo, and put together a "Shaman's PvP Guide" just for us totem-droppers. Class by class, he goes over, in hilarious almost English (he's from Quebec, but there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on here), just what we need to do to beat everyone else in the game. From Druids ("OH NO WHY IS ANIMALS ON MY FACE?!") to Priest ("If they turn dark, you have made them angry and your brain may start to smell like burning"), he runs down custom strategies, all the while giving out great Shaman tips: "USE EARTHSHOCK CONSERVATIVLEY (like your bush!!) Because when you do that it will be very difficult for them to destory you when you are weaked at the end of the fight."Use Earthshock conservativley (like your bush!!) indeed. The only thing missing are the hastily Paint-shopped photos of Shaman totems, but otherwise, we've got a Shaman guide for the ages. Great show, and definitely worth a Forum Post of the Day.
