Fifth shaman? Rated Battlegrounds

[Eloxy]

My plan in Cata is to run bg's prio to arenas, cuz arenas are..well kinda boring imo ;)
Was thinking, would we fare better of with a fifth shammy instead of running with a healer in bg's?
Im considering leveling up another shaman i have the fifth acc and everything.

What do you think? Especialy you guys that run 5 shamans, what is your oppinnion here?


Elox

[cmeche]

I lvled a 5th over a year ago and love it. An additional grounding totem, chain lightning, magma, healing......pretty much all options stack well.

Only problem is getting all your guys into the same group in a BG.

[Gramzngunz]

Only problem is getting all your guys into the same group in a BG.


I try to join at the last possible second in hopes that the BG has filled up and I'll snag the last group. Doesn't always work of course ;)

[Littleburst]

I lvled a 5th over a year ago and love it. An additional grounding totem, chain lightning, magma, healing......pretty much all options stack well.

Only problem is getting all your guys into the same group in a BG.

Imo it's pretty obvious that 5 shaman is better then 4 shaman :P

BUT if it would be better then 4 shaman + healer. I would say: Never. The simple fact that you have an additional character who's 'stuck' to stick with your group is a downside. Besides that a dps spec, like ele shaman exells at doing dmg. a healer exells at healing. So if you can keep doing dmg on you ele shaman while a fifth healer heals, that maximises efficiency.

Even if i had a fifth shaman on lvl 80 i would not use it, unless i can't find a healer to come with me then i'd probably take him along if it's not wsg/ab/sota.

So my opinion: don't do it, spend your time setting up your own channel with good healers in it to take along.

[Siaea]

I use 5 Eles and love it. A short lesser heal from 5 toons will heal the one being focus fired in less than 2 seconds all the way to full, then back to dishing out the pain. When I run, I use F1 and F2 to heal. F1 causes all 5 to lesser heal the main one (who inevitably gets targeted first), then start throwing the damage. F2 causes all 5 to chain heal. In my opinion, 5 shaman putting out damage and insta-gibbing anyone who's not full arena geared or who has tenacity out weighs having 4 DPSing and having to cast more per target.

Mine are decently geared in Wrathful/Relentless and have a pretty good survival rate except in Wintergrasp, where Alliance always have at least 5 stacks. Alterac Valley, I usually have few deaths if any, but again with the 5 spamming chain lightning I knock out a lot of enemies at once.

EDIT: I didn't see the "rated battlegrounds" part in the title, so my opinion may not apply fully here.

[Multibocks]

Chain Heal is nerfed for Cataclysm(on elementals)so I would think about converting one to a resto. At least that is what I heard.

[Shabu42]

No, dont gib yourself that extra mind to think for you.

[smokebum]

I personally love having 5 shamans for bgs. I used to 5 box shamans in arena in BC and have always play that way until recently where I found it's just not possible to do well 5 boxing in arena without a healer.

Unlike arenas, to me bgs are a whole different story. Losing alittle time to heal and stop dps isnt really an issue (heck even in arenas I have to stop dps to heal my priest all the time). The extra dps really helps.

Only downside is having to switch out a shaman in arenas which isnt so bad. Although not having all your shamans at the same rating is kinda annoying.

Maybe its just me but i feel like i could take on anything in bgs since my 5 guys are geared now. I would feel naked playing 4 in bgs.

Tip of the day: To have all your guys be in the same group in bgs, make a macro to accept bg and spam the shit out of it when the estimated time for bg pop is close. My guys end up in group #1 95% of the time. :)

[ebony]

this addon works for me

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/preform-av-enabler.aspx

[smokebum]

this addon works for me

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/preform-av-enabler.aspx

Does the auto join work? I found most addons with auto join doesn't work anymore.

[Littleburst]

Does the auto join work? I found most addons with auto join doesn't work anymore.

It still works, but it has become useless really. Just join as party/join as group. And if you want to do AV or IoC with more then 5 then just make multiple parties who join at the same time. Did this with 25 chars and we did end up in the same AV pretty easily.