Can a 5-man Shaman team handle Heroics?

[Yixum]

Hello all!


Well, I've finally got my 3-man Shaman team to 60 and I'm trying to figure out where to go next. I'm thinking I want to switch to 5-man, but I'm not sure. I really enjoy playing all the same class-type because it seems to make combat a lot easier than if I was switching between a melee class (Paladin for example) and the shaman dps'g.



My question to you guys is, if I up to a 5-man Shaman team spec'd ELE, would they be able to handle doing 5-man instances and heroics once I hit 80?



If not, what would be my best route to take? Should I do 1 Pali, 4 Shaman? If that is the case, does one Shaman need to be Heal-spec'd?



Also a really BIG question is, if I'm doing mixed groups like the 1-Pal/4-Sham (with a heal spec'd Shaman), what's the best way to setup my keys so I don't get too confused? I use the Nostromo for just about everything right now, which rocks, but I would think that trying to setup enough macros for the different class-types and abilities would mean I would quickly run out of Nostromo keys to bind!



Thanks for you help guys!

[ahtremblay]

To do any instance with 5 shamans you need to outgear the instance most of the time. It's much harder that it looks on the youtube videos. I have tried it to do normal instances with 5 shamans and even normal you need to outgear it. Heroics are possible once you get full pvp gear and epic items. But once you have these, why would you want to do heroics? I am now running 4 shamans + 1DK and I can do any instances easily with the gear that is expected for these instance.

[HPAVC]

I would agree that stuff just hits too hard for a tankless setup without out gearing the instance. And turning your back on some dual-spec options like earth shield and proc effects will really increase your win/loss ratio. The more my paladin was geared the more the four shaman shined. The focus went to farming the instances rather than trying to figure out how to complete them.

There is a lot of synergy with the group.

[Multibocks]

Check movie section, there is a guy who has completed UK, DTK, and another instance (Gundrak??) with 5 shaman on heroic. It's pretty impressive to watch.

maybe it was UP that he did too....

[Crel]

I am 100% certain that you can however putting a tank on the team is much easier, so much that you'll fall asleep doing heroics. Its really that simple. It's what YOU as a mutli want to accomplish. Good luck!

[Multibocks]

Another UK Heroic multibox ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=23225')

Watch all his movies, very impressive indeed.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Check movie section, there is a guy who has completed UK, DTK, and another instance (Gundrak??) with 5 shaman on heroic. It's pretty impressive to watch.

maybe it was UP that he did too....Yep, and as others have noted that guy outgears the instance (wearing a bunch of Naxx gear).

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Skullcrusher&n=Shemanda
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Skullcrusher&n=Shemande
etc.

When you have that much Sarth/Naxx/Heroic gear already, you can do all sorts of stuff that people still gearing up can only dream of.

[Yixum]

Thanks for the input guys!



So if I do a 1x Pally 4x Shammy team, can all the Shaman be spec'd ele (for dps) and the team still be effective doing instances/heroics or would I need to spec one of the shaman for healing?

[Ualaa]

You've got two choices, with proponents on each side.

If its Paladin plus 4 Shammies, you can either go:

a) 3x Elemental and 1x Resto; or
b) 4x Elemental

With A, you can have dedicated healing and constant DPS.
I've gone this route, and would recommend a macro or hotkey to target each individual.
Then for your main heals, set them up so you assist the tank for each of your heals.
I use:

#show Riptide
/assist Tank
/cast [help] Riptide; [help, target=targettarget] Riptide; [target=player] Riptide

You can change the last [target=player] to target=Tank or whatever.

I really like having Mana Tide and Earth Shield for more difficult content.





With B, you have even more firepower when you want to kill things.
However, when you need heals, there is no dps.

Both methods work, its basically a preference.

[Simulacra]

I run with both as I have 1 shaman dual specced. For content where I don't need so many heals I use 4xele and for more difficult encounters I switch specs on one of them to resto. Works well and gives you some flexibility

[Multibocks]

With B, you have even more firepower when you want to kill things.
However, when you need heals, there is no dps.

Both methods work, its basically a preference.

Not true, the best method is weaving heals in with dps. Your shaman will get out of sync while spell casting on a boss. If you spam LHW button while they are casting you can stop hitting the heal button when you see 2 (or whatever you want) LHWs casting and then continue mashing your dps button. I really liked 4 dps, but the choice is up to you.

[Fef]

I levelled to 80 with Paladin + 4 x Elemenal Shamans.
Once I first tried Heroics, I found that having a dedicated healer made things much easier. I really like earth shield. Now that my gear is a bit better, on heroic instances that I farm (not that many yet), I even DPS with the healer too to makes things quicker. It makes her a bit thirsty, but that not too bad.

Globally, I think hat having a dedicated healer makes my run much easier in the sense that it is less stressful, and I don't wipe as much on stupid mistakes ("I have time for another round of lightning Bolts before I start healing ... OOps, I didn't, tank dead ..." kind of thing).

You should probably try both ways and see what works best for you.

[Otlecs]

I think the original question has pretty much been answered, so here's my tuppence worth on the resto-specced healer question...

With improved earth shield (resto shammy) and the glyph, I literally don't have to heal my pally tank on heroic trash.

My resto guy doesn't DPS by default, but if I hold down CTRL whilst mashing my DPS button then he does. That way I can involve him as much or as little as I want to.

So I have 4 DPS for quick trash clearance and a dedicated healer when needed. Definitely my favourite setup :)

[Ualaa]

Ya..

My group is Paladin + 4x Shaman.

The Paladin is Prot (7/58/6) but dual spec'd to Prot/Holy (19/52/0)
Three Shammies are Elem (57/14/0), one is dual spec Resto (0/15/56)

Most of the time, I run Prot and 4x Elemental.
When its harder stuff I run Prot, 3x Elemental, and 1x Resto.

And then in PvP since I cannot force people to attack my tank...
I run Prot/Holy healer using Grid/Clique to click heal, and 4x Elemental.

Everyone will find something that works for them.
Experiment to find your preference.

[blast3r]

I was starting to try heroics with my 1 prot/4 ret pallies and it didn't work out that great. Tried once with my shaman and that was a total disaster so I decided yesterday to just use 4 shaman and my prot pally. Haven't killed a boss yet but the more I learn the better I am doing.