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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGroup buffs as solo buffs and when to use them
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 24th 2008 at 3:30PM
Rufus over on WoW LJ brings up Commanding Shout, the Warrior group buff that increases maximum health of party members for two minutes within 20 yards, and comments that it doesn't work so well in solo play. Which isn't necessarily true-- there are cases when you need as much health as you can get. And he got me thinking about other buffs like that -- buffs that are really meant for group play, but that can sometimes help in solo play.The first one that jumped to my Shaman mind is the Mana Spring Totem -- it's really meant for group play, but every once in a while I'll pull too many, need some extra mana, and drop that to pick up a little blue. Also in the Shaman's Resto tree is Earth Shield, which can be helpful in solo play, too. And while Power Word: Shield is really too mana intensive to regularly be used in solo play (it's really meant to be used in groups), there are lots of times when it's helpful with solo priests.
Usually, you should only use these things when absolutely necessary (and when you've got the resources to use them -- Commanding Shout, for example, doesn't actually give you any health, so using it in the middle of a fight doesn't help). But Blizzard has made sure we don't just have group buffs and solo buffs -- some group buffs are occasionally really useful in solo play. Can you think of any others?
Filed under: Priest, Shaman, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Blizzard, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
FireStar Apr 24th 2008 4:45PM
I figured i'd see lots of flames on this post...
http://www.wowwiki.com/Power_Word:_Shield
Last sentence - useful for priests (Especially in solo combat). I know, some random person (i.e. not a developer of WoW) wrote that wiki, but this post is the same way so I'm not sure how it invalidates the point.
Auriokboy Apr 24th 2008 5:04PM
Heh, I play as a Balance druid and my boyfriend has a Shadow Priest, and both love PW:S, either wen he's playing solo, when we are teaming up, or wen we are in group.
In solo, he uses in every single fight... against one mob, two mobs, three mobs... four or more mobs = Scream, then shield and then run as fast as he can (never actually dies) and when i'm with him, I love when I get to tank (in Panzerkin form) and got PW:S and then Hurricane 5 mobs at same time... so I can save Barkskin for Dmg mitigation (if the mobs are not dead by the time)
We ussually don't spend too much time healing ourselves thanks to that little spell...
Ah, and is useful wen in groups things gone bad and the party is almost dying... BAM!!! PW:S to me and then TRANQUILITY. Saved the day a lot of times when we are togheter :)
Phew, long post, but I thing you got my point.. in any case you don't, PW:S is useful in plenty of situations, either solo or in groups.
Ahh, and we also use Gift of the wild/ Prayer of fortitude when solo 'cause we rather prefer to spend a reagent than being rebuffing every half and hour.
Epoc Apr 24th 2008 5:22PM
As has been stated warriors do use battle shout mostly for grinding ... and in the course of battle if we get aggro from other mobs and need a health boost we throw up commanding (or at least i do - aoe fury farm ftw) however the statement
-- Commanding Shout, for example, doesn't actually give you any health, so using it in the middle of a fight doesn't help).
is completely bogus as using it does indead give you health.
If you are standing at full Health and use CS your max HP increases and is immediately topped off (this is giving you health). However if a priest buffs you with PW:Fortitude your Max HP increases but you current HP is lower (this buff does not give you health just increases max HP).
Several times while farming, I've gotten to about 500 HP on 5-6 mob pulls. Pop CS instantly get about 1k extra HP to survive the last mob that I need to kill.
Ganesh Apr 24th 2008 5:30PM
Mike, you've now changed the text to:
"And while Power Word: Shield is really too mana intensive to regularly be used in solo play (it's really meant to be used in groups), there are lots of times when it's helpful with solo priests."
this is still misleading. yes, PW:S is not mana efficient, but arguing that it's intended for group play is still wrong.
you're better off just striking through the whole part about PW:S since (1) you're pissing off priests (about 25 of the 30 comments on this post are from priests who disagree with what you initially wrote), and (2) the PW:S arguments detract from the main point of your post, about group buffs that can be used for when playing solo.
darian Apr 24th 2008 5:46PM
Mana Spring Totem is useful for solo occasionally, but the situation described is kind of iffy.
It takes 9-12 seconds for you to break even on mana for using Mana Spring Totem. This makes it good for dealing with situations you're going to need mana, not ones where you already need mana.
If you overpull, the time to drop it is right away (which might have been what you were talking about but it didn't seem clear). Having that extra 50-62.5 mp5 is more useful if you have it the entire fight than in the last throes.
Iskur Apr 24th 2008 6:08PM
PW:Shield also has great raid uses despite what some people say here. Yes its mana inefficient but its effect of increasing the relative health of a player is needed. If I know a that my healing assignment is going to be taking a lot of burst damage I keep PW:S and PoM up at all times, such as mage tank for High King, or Warlock tank on Leo. I also use it on myself when I know that there is a good chance I’m going to be taking a lot of damage soon. Like after Tidewalkers earthquake(in case I get tombed) or just before Leo summons inner demons, or Naj'entus is about to go boom.
Oh it has so many uses you just need to know when.
Chris Anthony Apr 24th 2008 6:37PM
Acceptable Risk, so what you're essentially saying is that in order to be most efficient with Spirit Tap, you have to be less efficient with overall mana regen.
Personally, I prefer the overall mana regen.
Chris Anthony Apr 24th 2008 6:37PM
Yay, flaky Reply button. Sorry, Iskur, I was trying to reply upthread.