Paladins and shaman(s), together and alive at last
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 1st 2007 at 4:02PM
Pallies and shammies probably hold more enmity towards each other than any other two classes in WoW. Both fulfill similar functions in PVE, both have extremely annoying tricks in PVP (windfury and bubble), and until recently, each faction only had one of them.
But now that pallies and shammies are guilded, raiding and living together, how are the former enemies getting along? I asked a couple long-term shammies and new pallies on my server about how their alliance was going.
- Elemental shaman, guild and raid leader: Paladins are definitely a plus in raids. Blessings and stuff make them pretty awesome. I've got no problems with paladins -- they don't take my spots. We both offer a lot to raids, and with paladins being such great, efficient healers, it allows shaman to spec other ways in order to help DPS and whatnot. As for shamans, I haven't faced them 1v1 in PVP yet.
- Resto shaman, officer: I hated paladins before TBC and I still hate them.They represent how one-sided this game is towards the Alliance, and they make shamans almost inferior for raids. Better healers, better buffs, and they can tank too. You can see how truly underdeveloped the shaman class is when you compare them to the pallies. I wish they weren't part of the Horde. I liked it better when everyone hated them, not just me. But it doesn't bother me sharing loot. At this point anyone who has a 70 paladin has to be either good or dedicated, and I have no problem sharing loot with good people. In PVP ... I fought a shaman and he made me sad. He had full Tidefury!
- Elemental shaman: I don't like that their mana last forever, but I like them. Thanks to pallies I can go pew pew spec. And shammies still own in healing. I don't worry about raid spots and loot. Pallies rarely want to get anything that is not plate, and as for spots, I can still backup heal as elemental. We are lucky, we have two really good pallies, but I have met dumb pallies that buff my warlock with might. Shammies are entering a really good point right now, guilds have to accept that being all resto is not a requirement anymore and that shamans can do more than just heal.
- Resto shaman: Blizzard fixed all claims of bias by making horde pallies and ally shammies. I no longer hate pallies. I still hate Alliance, but now I can hate them without feeling like Blizzard is helping them every time they buff pallies or nerf shammies. It's a more pure hate.
- Holy/Prot paladin, formerly rogue class officer: I haven't had enough raid experience to really tell, but I've done a few five-mans and whatnot with 'em. You'd think the two classes would complement each other, they were made to sort of balance each other out on either faction. The issue is that Blizz has made it so a lot of their abilities don't stack, like the resists or the threat reduction. So it really doesn't pay to have both of them. at least not as much as one would think. For raids, paladins are better because of buffs and items. However, in five mans, I'd have to go with a shaman. Shamans might go to more of a DPS role -- you certainly won't see any DPS paladins anytime soon. I'm glad I rerolled. I feel a lot more important in raids and groups.
- Holy paladin, formerly DPS warrior: I think they're working out rather well. Pallies are a new class in raids and are expected to heal, which gives shamans some versatility with their specs and whatnot. I think pallies are kind of overpowering shamans right now, a little bit anyway. The rez totems in particular don't stack with pally auras, pallies can give raid buffs ... shamans cannot. Pallies can heal mostly better than shamans, save for their healing wave, and DPS wise, well, there are mages and locks to bring up the DPS now. I don't think they're useless, but they have lost some of their usefulness.
I tried to talk to some Alliance paladins and shamans, but for some reason they killed me before I could start the interview. How are pallies and shammies working together in your guild or raid? Do you think they're competitive or complementary roles?
Filed under: Paladin, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Barod Mar 1st 2007 3:00AM
Some of the fruitiest paladins you will see on Mag.
Chrisjall Mar 1st 2007 11:55AM
I agree with Barod.
The Mo Mar 1st 2007 12:39PM
Lets do a little research shall we? For the sake of not making this a 3 page essay, I'm omitting all the math and the explanations that would go with it. If you want detailed specs about the spells I'm discussing, there are plenty of sources out there to provide you with the information you need to make the same calculations I did.
Earth Shield is by far the most effective heal AND HoT that is available to any class. It CAN proc every 3 seconds, just like a regular HoT except that it only procs when the person is damaged. A regular HoT will heal every 3 seconds, regardless of wether the target has full HP or not. Also, Earth Shield can crit. Thats a huge bonus. Its a very efficient spell.
Healing Stream is always underestimated. With the help of Blood Fury and a Trinket, at +1600 to healing, my healing stream heals 120hp every 2 seconds. It doesn't seem like much but it lasts for 1 whole minute, it affects all 5 players in your group and it only costs 71 mana, or 95 mana without Totemic Focus. Needless to say, its very efficient.
Ancestral Healing: Another very good shaman ability that is sometimes overlooked. Increasing your tanks armor means he isn't taking as much damage. Combine Ancestral Healing with Grace of Air totem and Devotion Aura has more then met its match.
Healing Wave: With talents, this spell is more efficient then any of the paladins. Even more efficient then Flash of Light if the Paladin had specced for Improved Sanctity Aura(6% more healing done to targets affected by the aura). The only advantage paladins have is that Holy Light heals more damage per second then any shaman spell, at a huge cost however. One thing I'd like to mention though is that when I was doing all the math, I forgot to include Blessing of Light, but the difference in efficiency was quite large so I'm guestimating that Healing Wave is still more efficient.
I have 2 points in the paladins favor however. 1. Holy Shock is definately a big advantage for keeping the tank alive under heavy damage. Its cooldown is only 15 seconds, which is obviously much much better then the 3 minutes for Natures Swiftness. 2. Improved Sanctity Aura is definately a very good bonus to have in the Main Tanks group, especially if there is a shaman in there aswell :)
Ragbar Mar 1st 2007 4:34PM
From a PvP standpoint, Resto-Shamans are almost becoming usless. They are becoming squishies in Arena and the basic goal is to purge and heal himself as long as possible to serve as a distraction while the rest of the team focus fires an enemy.
As far as Horde-side, Paladins are HUGE. I play a Shadowpriest and if we're doing a 5-man with a Paladin healer, he never runs out of mana, EVER. It really is so disgusting it makes me laugh.
Calaf Mar 1st 2007 4:50PM
That fourth Shammy you interview sounds particularly smart and handsome.
Robert Mar 1st 2007 6:34PM
My regular instance group consists of a holy paladin (main healer), resto/elem shammy (2nd healer and dps), feral druid (tank), 2nd feral druid (dps, off-tank and 3rd healer), and mage.
I have to say, BoK+GoA+SoE is pretty sick. I see nothing wrong with having a paladin and shaman, they complement each other well. The few abilities that don't stack (resistances and threat reduction) aren't the reason you take them anyway. With wisdom and the mana totems, we chain pull everything and almost never go OOM (if we do, we have two innervates).
Guernia Mar 1st 2007 5:24PM
"I hated paladins before TBC and I still hate them. They represent how one-sided this game is towards the Alliance, and they make shamans almost inferior for raids."
One-sided towards Alliance now that they gave pallies to Horde? Um, okay? Rational logical thought FTL I guess.
Krystian J Mar 1st 2007 5:44PM
@The Mo
I am going to have to go with this one.
Gman Mar 1st 2007 7:42PM
As a Shaman, I'm glad to finally have Paladins on our team! It certainly adds a bit more spice to raid/group composition. I've run a couple instances with one of our guild's 70 Paladins. We traded off main-healing and off-healing throughout, and there wasn't any difference--we were both equally effective. Actually though, since I'm resto-spec, I felt that Earth Shield made the job that much easier for him...
Karl Mar 1st 2007 6:26PM
Went one run through Blood Furnace after I hit 70 (I'm a Ret Pally_ just for fun with a couple of Shaman (62 and 70), a Shadow Priest and a Feral Druid. the 62 shaman would occasionally run low on mana, but that was about it. We were able to tear that plece apart in record time. The 70 Shammy brought out his Fire Elemental during on fight that we purposefully pulled aggro on 3 groups. We just healed the pet and laughed as it slaughtered everything. I think Shaman are a great addition to the Alliance. Of course, the 70 Shaman was also a 70 Horde Shammy as well...so he knew what he was doing. Given time, I think that we will see both Alliance and Horde make some very good use out of their new classes. Horde will just need to learn to use Pallies to hit and not just heal.
K Mar 1st 2007 10:13PM
@ #3
Wtf? You're comparing resto shaman to a ret pally? FYI take a closer look at a pally's holy tree. Sanctity aura is not in that tree. Pallies have a whole lot more +heal% than the piddly 6% from Imp Sanc aura.
Also, paladin healing efficiency comes mainly from 5/5 Illumination. A pally with high spell crit will outlast any healer.
chris poloncic Mar 2nd 2007 1:08AM
I've run many instances with my current guild lately leveling up as a shaman. The group is this:
Myself - Enhancement / tank when needed
Shaman - Enhancement
Paladin - Ret but has been holy and often main tanks.
Shaman - Resto Heals.
Random other player usually a warlock.
The combination rocks.
The Mo Mar 2nd 2007 8:54AM
#11
Lol I hope to hell you dont play a paladin. If you do, I feel sorry for your guildies.
38/0/23. If you cant figure it out then explaining it wont save you either.
Also, Illumination is nice and all but do you seriously think you're going to find pallies with a high enough crit to "outlast any healer."?
Just incase you where as uninsightful in researching shaman abilities as you where in those comments of yours, shamans have an ability called Manatide to get regen some mana. goto www.thottbot.com for more info.
Also, just like any other class, mana pots are available aswell. If you need any more mana then that then you have people in your raid who dont know what they are doing.
Zuuler Mar 2nd 2007 10:06AM
I have never played a shaman, and the only pally I started got to lvl 15 before I went back to my main. So I really don't know what I am talking about here.
What I do know is the one instance I have run with a paladin and a shaman in the group. We consisted of a druid tank, me (warlock) a pally, a shaman, and a priest. I do not know what the pally, shaman, or priest was specced. But the priest was main heal.
Between the pally's blessing and the shaman's totem, the priest never once ran out of mana, never even saw him stop to drink. The druid tanked, I DPSed, and the pally and shaman did anything else that needed done.
We ran underbog without wiping once, considering the numerous bad pulls we made, runners, and the fears that brought in other groups, I am amazed at some of the fights we had where I would have expected a wipe, yet no one died.
gor Mar 2nd 2007 10:22AM
So you spend 21 points in the ret tree with no benefit to your healing just so you can stick the last 2 points into imp sanctity aura. Why would any raiding healing pally do that?
"Lol I hope to hell you dont play a paladin. If you do, I feel sorry for your guildies."
So, in your previous post you were comparing shammies with 41pts into Resto (I assume 41pts since u rave on about the benefits of earthshield) to a 38/0/23 hybrid? Then by all means the 41pt resto shammy is the better healer. I assumed you were talking about +41pt holy pallies.
My mistake.