Totem Talk: Gearing your casual or alt enhancement shaman
by Rich Maloy 
Aug 24th 2010 at 8:00PM
Casual raider? Or not fortunate enough to play a shaman as your main, but instead stuck on another, lesser class? This article is for you. If you need to go out and gear up your shaman from guild alt runs, PUG raids and mucking about in daily dungeons for your two frost emblems, then read on for your gear choices.
From the applications we received over the past few months at Big Crits, it seems that guilds and PUGs alike had a hard time getting past Deathbringer Saurfang -- that is, until the bigger ICC buff hit. Now the breaking point is 6/12 ICC, with kills on Festergut and Rotface being commonplace but little experience beyond that available. Taking into consideration how far casual guilds or alt runs can realistically get into ICC, I've listed the loot in order of progression, from easy to hard.
A frost emblem strategy
To fill four pieces of tier 10 set of Frostwitch's Battlegear, the best-in-slot totem and the accompanying best-in-slot trinket, would require 435 Emblems of Frost. The maximum number of frost emblems you can possibly obtain in one week is 60. That takes into account full clears of both ICC and Ruby Sanctum in 10s and 25s of each, plus completing two ICC weekly raid quests, plus the weekly raid quest in Dalaran, plus running one random dungeon every day, and finally one lowly VoA.
Even collecting the maximum number of emblems each week, it would still take 7.25 weeks to fill out all of that gear. Let's face it, you're reading this article because you don't have access to 60 Emblems of Frost each week for the next two months, so you need a strategy for emblem expenditures.
While the two-piece and four-piece set bonuses are awesome for enhancement, I recommend that fresh 80s go for the Herkuml War Token first. Trinkets are harder to come by than other items, and we're fortunate to have one of our BiS trinkets so readily available. Spend the emblems on the trinket first.
Next spend on shoulders, chest, helm and legs of tier 10, depending on which is the biggest upgrade at the time. The hands are the piece to leave out of your tier 10 set. Finally, if you still have some emblems left after it's all done, buy Bizuri's totem.
The big list
But where's the rest of the loot coming from? Killing stuff -- where else? What follows are two lists for gear, one organized by slot, the other by boss. Use the first list to find your best upgrade options and the second list to prioritize your raid nights. Not that you're one of those players who only shows up when it's a boss you need, right? You're one of those faithful dedicated players who is around every night, for every kill, whether or not it benefits you. Right? Right.
Not every item listed is a best-in-slot item for enhancement, but even an i251 mail piece stacked with armor penetration is better than an i200-level crafted item. If you want a rough approximation of what to replace, simply go for gear with agility plus haste or hit first; next, go for gear with agility and ArP as a second choice; and finally, if no one else is taking it and it's a significant upgrade, take strength gear. I'm not including leather gear, which due to the lack of intellect is normally inferior than mail gear. I also didn't include the strength gear, just out of principle.
The loot below is not ordered by preference; I simply list 10-man loot first, followed by 25-man loot, followed by Halion loot.
Head
- Taldron's Short-Sighted Helm Rotface 10
- Snowserpent Mail Helm Lord Marrowgar 25
Neck
- Wodin's Lucky Necklace ICC BoE drop; buy this from the AH if you can afford it
- Precious's Putrid Collar Festergut 10
- Rimetooth Pendant Sindragosa 10
- Sindragosa's Cruel Claw Sindragosa 25
- Baltharus' Gift Halion 10
Shoulders
- Pauldrons of Lost Hope Gunship Battle 10
- Shoulderpads of the Morbid Ritual Professor Putricide 10
- Twilight Scale Shoulders Halion 10
Back
- Shawl of Nerubian Silk Lord Marrowgar 10
- Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak Gunship Battle 25
Chest
- Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts Deathbringer Saurfang 10
- Carapace of Forgotten Kings Festergut 25
Wrist
- Icecrown Rampart Bracers Gunship Battle 10
- Scourge Hunter's Vambraces Gunship Battle 25
Hands
- Handgrips of Frost and Sleet Lady Deathwhisper 10
- Anub'ar Stalker's Gloves Valithria Dreamwalker 25
Waist
- Linked Scourge Vertebrae Lord Marrowgar 10
- Blood-Drinker's Girdle Blood Prince Council 10
- Nerub'ar Stalker's Cord Festergut 25
Legs
- Legguards of the Twisted Dream Valithria Dreamwalker 10
Feet
- Taldron's Long Neglected Boots Festergut 10
- Wyrmwing Treads Sindragosa 10
- Treads of the Wasteland Blood Princes Council 25
- Returning Footfalls Halion 25
Finger
- Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band Deathbringer Saurfang 10
- Seal of the Twilight Queen Blood Queen Lana'thel 10
- Band of the Bone Colossus Lord Marrowgar 25
- Seal of Many Mouths Rotface 25
- Frostbrood Sapphire Ring Valithria Dreamwalker 25
- Signet of Twilight Halion 25
Trinket
For an in-depth enhancement trinket analysis, check out this pre-Ruby Sanctum post.
- Whispering Fanged Skull Lady Deathwhisper 10
- Deathbringer's Will Deathbringer Saurfang 25
- Tiny Abom in a Jar - Professor Putricide 25
- Sharpened Twilight Scale Halion 25
Weapons
I wrote a separate post about weapons, which you can read at your leisure, or peruse the list below.
- Frost Giant's Cleaver Gunship Battle 10
- Gutbuster Festergut 10
- Abomination Knuckles Rotface 10
- Pugius, Fist of Defiance Lich King 10
- Black Bruise Festergut 25
- Keleseth's Seducer Blood Princes Council 25
- Havoc's Call, Blade of the Lordaeron Kings Lich King 25
Icecrown Citadel 10-man
Lord Marrowgar
Lady Deathwhisper
Gunship Battle
Deathbringer Saurfang
Festergut
Rotface
Professor Putricide
Blood Prince Council
Blood Queen Lana'thel
Valithria Dreamwalker
Sindragosa
Lich King
Icecrown Citadel 25-man
Lord Marrowgar
Lady Deathwhisper
- none
Gunship Battle
Deathbringer Saurfang
Festergut
Rotface
Professor Putricide
Blood Princes Council
Blood Queen Lana'thel
- none
Valithria Dreamwalker
Sindragosa
Lich King
Ruby Santcum
I also covered Ruby Sanctum loot in a post a few weeks ago.
Halion 10
Halion 25
May all your hits be crits!
Show your totemic mastery by reading Totem Talk. Whether it's Matt Sampson's elemental edition, Joe Perez's coverage of restoration or Rich Maloy's enhancement edition, WoW.com's shaman experts have you covered.Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
MeanGreen Aug 24th 2010 8:21PM
I've noticed that Once you get past Fester/Rot, the fights require more coordination than just 'dont stand in the fire' or 'Get near someone then get away once your slime or debuff is gone'
penguinairsauce Aug 24th 2010 8:22PM
What are these "lesser classes" you speak of?
Anathemys Aug 24th 2010 9:11PM
Mainly mages.
Slaight Aug 24th 2010 9:11PM
Us RESTO shaman of course
Now I'm sad :(
Meijnrr Aug 24th 2010 9:05PM
Frost Emblems per Week:
-2 from each boss in ICC
*12 boss in 10 and 25 man each
+48 EoF
-2 from Toravon
*10 and 25 man version
+4 EoF
-Weekly Dalaran Raid Quest
*Only 1 version
+5 EoF
-5 from Weekly ICC Raid Quests
*10 and 25 man quests
+10 EoF
-1 from each mini-boss in Ruby Sanctum and 2 from Halion
*10 and 25 man versions, 3 mini-bosses each
+10 EoF
-2 from doing a Heroic Random daily
*7 days every week
+15 EoF
The number of EoFs you can earn each week Mr. Maloy is actually 92.
Harvoc Aug 24th 2010 9:21PM
For the last one, shouldn't it be 14 emblems instead of 15 because 7 times 2 is 14.
Harvoc Aug 24th 2010 9:27PM
Also you can get one emblem of frost from Sister Svalna so that makes the total 93 because you can kill her in both 10 and 25 man versions, giving you 2 more emblems.
Pyromelter Aug 25th 2010 11:44AM
The correct answer is 93.
New 80's can easily get 6 on their first day without doing any raids, by running their daily dungeon, and then completing the icc5man dungeon quests (2 of which reward EoF). The "kill halion" quest also gives 5 extra emblems.
Of course, hardly anyone is going to go to that extent to get that many emblems. If you are undergeared, not likely you are going to take down LK25, and if you are geared to the teeth, you don't have much motivation to run through ICC10 or do daily dungeons or the weekly raid (especially if it's failygos).
Sean Aug 24th 2010 10:46PM
I normally enjoy your columns, but I felt a little shortchanged here. When I saw the title, gearing your *casual or alt* shaman, I assumed you meant casual as in "Not raiding ICC 10 and 25 every week."
To me, Casual means heroics, badges of Triumph, and Frost badges from random heroics and VOA.
Think about it, if someone is raiding Icecrown, do they really have any problems getting geared up?
Edge Aug 24th 2010 11:03PM
Love your columns, Rich, but this is right, after reading this I just felt depressed at the things i will never have.
Titusx Aug 24th 2010 11:23PM
Oh... je je je... I have most of the things he stated on that list, the 264 lvl ones... XD. I even have the Bracer in heroic flavor.
He didn't mention the crafted gear, which is very good... and keep that some of those items are BoE... so... if you are not a serious raider but a serious AH seller... you might get some good loot there too.
Any way... just wanted to rub it in. Whats the point of having a gear score above 6,000 if you can't rub it in someone else's face. XP
Joke... of course.
Neirin Aug 25th 2010 12:07AM
I'd generally call anything within the first wing of ICC and maybe fester/rot fair game for casuals because they can generally be cleared in a pug and aren't terribly difficult to allocate time for. I definitely wouldn't have minded him mentioning the ToC or ICC crafted gear as well as gear from the ICC heroics.
When I gear my alts I like to think of it as "what can I accomplish on my own or with a little help?" This ends up with me only really aiming for crafted gear and ilvl 232 (t9/ICC heroics) items with a few 245s from emblems of triumph. When I can either find a pug or get an alt run with my guild I can fill in some slots with ICC gear, but it's definitely just that - filling in.
Titusx Aug 24th 2010 11:19PM
Weak Totem Talk this week? It has a been a little slow lately and since all the good stuff for the current exp is done for and we are in the "things change every week" phase of beta... subjects are hard to pick.
Well, I would like to take this moment to ask all mighty Maloy to perhaps make a small macro edition of Totem Talk. Mainly because I was thinking there might be a way make a macro that casts LvB if its up or LB if LvB is on cooldown.
You see... Im a minimalist when it comes to UI and anything that let me merge 2 or more spells in to 1 I love it. As it is, using no addons (for spell bars) and only the bottom spell bars, I have still 4 unused spaces and plenty of thing to cut off if needed. So, since we will be using LvB instead of LB ... the macro I was hoping for might be something to be prepared. Perhaps in can be turned in to some more of "be prepared for cataclysm" type of post.
omedon666 Aug 24th 2010 11:32PM
Seriously, this column's definition of "casual" is pretty insulting.
First thing I tell anyone playing any class new to 80 is the order you can count on gear while still owning your own soul, by source:
1) Emblems. The only barrier between you and emblem gear is time.
2) 5-man loot. You can have a daily shot at this. Run with friends to increase your chances.
3) The auction house. Sadly this dynamic goes from "entry level" (currently largely obsolete given the current state of the two previous sources) to "OMG expensive", which isn't an issue to all, but is to many.
"Banking" on raid loot, of any level, as a "gearing up" mindset is erroneous and horrible advice. Looking at Garfrost and saying "he has my *item*"
is an entirely different and far more sane ballgame than looking at a current raid boss with the same idea.
What this article refers to is not casual, but soul-suckingly chained to dice you only get to roll, at best, once a week. That's not a road, that's a destination. It is this lack of "respect" for raid content that is at the core of so many problems with WoW and its community.
Cataclysm can't come fast enough.
omedon666.livejournal.com
omedon666 Aug 25th 2010 12:04AM
CRAFTING! *facepalm*
Thank you, titusx, for reminding me of the other reliable source... Which is SORTA covered by emblems and the AH, but not completely.
kmurph07 Aug 24th 2010 11:37PM
Wonder if Blizz will fix this gear fight between classes in cataclysm? Instead of having a hunter and shaman fight over one piece of mail, why not make it so that it is 'shaman only' or 'mage only.' Add some real diversity to the game for the "casual" player.
SaintStryfe Aug 25th 2010 1:49AM
Sweet Zombie Jesus, did you play in Vanilla?
Nothing, NOTHING takes the wind out of a good raid more then putting two or three hours of work into a tough boss only to see loot drop that no one can use.
Crossover loot was one of the best things to come out of TBC and they'd be fools to stop it.
Pyromelter Aug 25th 2010 12:35PM
hunters and enhance shaman will fortunately be sharing mail agility armor come cataclysm, and since armor penetration is gone, there should be a lot better itemization. Expertise is still an issue (hopefully blizz puts expertise on all shaman tier pants like they do on plate pants to help the hancers out, and maybe adds a talent similar to what feral druids have in giving enhancers free expertise).
At lower gear levels you can probably use so agility leather too, as the 5% armor specialization bonus won't matter all that much if you are in quest greens.
SaintStryfe Aug 25th 2010 12:05AM
Basic ENH Shaman gearing ideas:
Offhand will be your hardest slot to fill. Run H-CoT:Strat for the offhand off the boss.
Your first Frost badge purchase should be the Hurkmel War Trinket (60 badges), it's pretty much Best in Slot. Second is the Waist (Belt of the Night Raven).
You can get a very strong ENH set just from Triumph badges. here's the list:
Totem of the Electrifying Winds - 25 (it's much better)
Epaletes of the Devourer - 45
Dexterous Brightstone Ring - 50
Shard of the Crystal Heart- 50
Some relatively inexpensive BoEs include the Crusader's Dragonscale Bracers (6 Crusader orbs - going under 100g each on my server) and Rock-Steady treads (5 Prim. Saronites - going under 3k for the Saronites on my server). Titansteel Bonecrusher is a fine temporary main hand.
Look at your professions. JCs will have an edge on some good Pre-raid trinkets, BSes will be able to make a cheap Titansteel Bonecrushers for BSes. Alchemists can make a fine temporary trinket too.
From there, fill out with 232 T9 gear. The first should be the gloves (a big chunk of Expertise). The rest just fill out as you want.
Gem up to the Spell Hit cap (341 for Draenei, 364 for Horde), expertise (141 expertise rating (99 for Orcs)). After that, AP and Haste as appropriate.
omedon666 Aug 25th 2010 12:15AM
THIS is what this article should have been!!
Thank you, Saint!
Remember folks, every time we use the word "casual", we are inferring that everything below that point is not worth taking seriously, and everything above it is "for realz". In the same vein, when we say "gearing up" we infer that "the real game begins" after that point. Parking your "casua gearingl" benchmark in 25 man raids (as this article
does) is kinda silly.
Again, thank you, Saintstryfe, your response was likely what should have awaited people clicking on this article.