4 shammies and a ?

[Kyudo]

Ok so I got the popular 4x shammies and a pally, which is working pretty good so far, but I also have 2 optional other chars on the back burner with full rested. I'd like to bring one of them up to 70 to try a different combo on my 5 box, but I can't make my mind up which, and cant spare the time to do both (both on the same acct). Options are either my Druid L47 or my 5th original shammy L42. I already have the tanking side sorted with the option of either a pally or a warrior, so I'd make them a caster for sure. Any insights from anyone already running either of these setups would be appreciated.

Pros and cons as I see them:

Shammy:
Pros:
- Could possibly respec the shammy team back to all being elemental (one resto atm to be able to do heroics with the pally), and still be able to manage heroics.
- Gives 5x TOW instead of the current 3x, or 5x Instants if 41/0/20
- Greater casting synergy with timings etc.
- Already totally familiar so setups would be easy.
- An extra reincarnation for wipes

Cons:
- No moonkin aura
- More competition for drops
- He'd miss out on arenas

Drood:
Pros:
- Moonkin aura (is this really gonna give me extra DPS above and beyond what the extra TOW would)?
- Extra buffs, not quite as good as BoK, but helpful nonetheless
- Could respec to healer for certain circumstances if required.
- Combat res
- Less competition for drops (probably a minor one really, as my shammies are happy to wear leather if it's an upgrade.

Cons:
- Different spell timings/rotations etc.
?

All chars are in the link below.

Cheers

K

[opt]

i use the druid and 4shaman combo its really good, spell synergy doesnt bother me too much, mash the keys and we're good.
the real cons i believe are:
MOTW, Moonkin aura > extra set of totems
There is no need for a 5th set of earth/fire elemental totems
Moonkin Form's +400% armor means that if you starfire, moonfire and insect swarm and wrath spam you can most often keep agro off your shamans, so for parts where mobs hit hard, like the gate keepers in mechanar it works as a very effective tank without wasting a earth elemental totem.
I love the combo for pvp and pve, but the only problem i find with PVP is the fact that when your getting a name for yourself in the bg everyone will often make sure they target the moonkin first.

[Anozireth]

I opted for a boomkin for my 5th as well. I'm not sure it's really optimal for PVE or PVP, but I do enjoy it. As far as tanking, it can't really hold more than one mob well at all. I doubt it would be good enough in heroics (I'm not there yet), but I have a pally for that anyway. I haven't done a lot of PVP, but from what I have it seems like people love to go for the giant laser chicken first. I might consider having him as a follower in the future.

[Khazrael]

Moonkin Form's +400% armor means that if you starfire, moonfire and insect swarm and wrath spam you can most often keep agro off your shamans, so for parts where mobs hit hard, like the gate keepers in mechanar it works as a very effective tank without wasting a earth elemental totem.

I absolutely love the idea of having a moonkin druid as my primary for a tank. Sounds awesome.

[Khazrael]

Thats the whole point though. At some point it gets boring sticking with what makes things mindlessly easy (paladins) and try to get something else to work in place of it.

Sounds fun imo, but not something I'd try out just yet.

[Khazrael]

I'm speaking from experience here. Getting steamrolled by mobs and wiping over and over again is not my idea of fun.

Boomkins work as tanks... but only for so long. It becomes a choice - where you have to either get a "true" tank, or start using Shaman tricks to get the job done (earth elemenals, kiting, etc)

I wouldn't contest that, I'm just saying after you've done it all for a while sometimes you want to try something different. Not trying to say it's a good idea or that it would even work, but that it could be fun to pursue.

Coming from the guy putting up a post about an 8 man Gruul, you know as well as anyone else that if you have enough gear you can make anything work ;).

[Eteocles]

PvP: Yes, Space Turkeys with Lazers tend to get focus fired on cuz we're huge like Tauren, and we can heal + put out some serious dmg if left alone to cast Starfire instead of Wrath. You WILL get targeted early alot :p

PvE: You will NOT tank heroics. Period. You'll be lucky to tank any 70 instance, as Boomkin aggro is purely single target and requires an opening Starfire volley or two if you want to keep ahead of Shamen. You will NOT tank a group of mobs for long, either due to not being able to Starfire once the fight begins(and Wrath is a mana-eating slut of a spell that doesn't put out half the aggro OR dmg per mana/second Starfire does, trust me on this), or from simply being Smashed by the mob; there's little GOOD spelldmg leather, almost all of it is tier gear, if you stick to pure leather you'll have less dmg and crit than if you wore cloth, which means your threat gen potential takes a giant steaming shit in exchange for armor; but what good does the armor do if you don't do enough dmg to hold aggro in the first place?

Questing and Elites however, with heals especially, are piss easy as a boomkin. Open with starfire x1 or 2 if you can get it in there before being hit, then abuse Celestial Focus's anti-knockback on Wrath to keep aggro. Take a look at my hp ('http://home.comcast.net/~gotnks2/WoW/21vsBaln.jpg') here vs a piddly pre-bc lv62 boss; no heals and I was pretty low already, and compared to outland mobs he doesn't hit all that hard, let alone outland BOSSES. Take that as you will :p

[Eteocles]

You only JUST saw that Fur? I've been pimping it in enough threads for like 3 months now to make it like throwing a hotdog down a hallway...lol

[Diamndzngunz]

You Know I know this is a bit OT, but when I read the title I thought 4 shamans and a Cup.. Only because me and some friends were cracking jokes in vent about it last night.

[Eteocles]

I lol'd

[Kyudo]

Thanks for the insights folks. My thinking wasn't ever really that the moonkin would ever be a tank. I appreciate that they'd never really be able to take a bashing from more than one heroic mob.

However, could you blast down heroic mobs as quick with a Boomx1 and Shammyx4 as with Shammyx5? If all my shammies are elemental as it is, as my gear steadily improves, they can handle some groups without a tank. Given that I'll get an additional mini cc, roots, could this team be as good as 5x shammies?

Cheers

K

[Kyudo]

Ok it's decided then, gonna go use up some of that rested on the drood...

Cheers again for the thoughts people.

[Smegster]

dont listen to people..... it should be shammy shammy shammy shammy ROGUE!! omg look at him gooo ^^ hehe..

i know youve alredy decided but i would go for pally :P lol

[Kyudo]

dont listen to people..... it should be shammy shammy shammy shammy ROGUE!! omg look at him gooo ^^ hehe..

i know youve alredy decided but i would go for pally :P lolGot the palla already, want an alternative to try out.... And rogue? :O he's L34, you've got me thinking now, hehe.

[Smegster]

lol see! im usefull.... wak on evasion... take down anything :P

this post is for humor only, do NOT try this at home.. i repeat do NOT try this at home..

[Kyudo]

Ok so I've made my decision, and now I've got to thinking, I wanna get him to 70 asap, I've used up his rested and he's L48 now, so my boosting options are as follows:

1) Super speed quest following a guide. I can recruit 4 dps of various functions to support for this, but that's probably overkill, so I could boost with any 1 of 4 shamen, a priest, a well geared hunter (Kara and Pvp stuff), a reasonable blues type mage or any combination of these. I'm thinking probably hunter is the most efficient in which case I'd stay feral for leader of the pack. If I go with a caster booster, it'd obviously be boomkin for the aura.
2) Grab my 2 locks that are a similar level and do instance boosts. Group makeup would probably be 70 hunter, low lockx2, the druid, and a 70 shammy. I did a few runs like this earlier in the week in BRD and it wasnt that efficient as the shammy and hunter always pull aggro off the pet (even as BM). Probably BRD till 50, then whatever 60 instance till 55. I could always drop the locks and replace with 70s, but I'm sure this'd really hit my XP per hr. I could go Mage/Priest boosters, specced frost and disc for AOE heals, but my mage's gear doesn't stand up that well to big groups of 60 elites.

After this I'll almost definately do speed runs through ramparts with the 4 shammies, perhaps pugging 1 or 2 to improve the XP rate, or inviting an L62 warrior.

I would have potentially boosted with a warrior or my pally, but they share the same account, and transferring isn't an option... so that's what we are left with.

Either option strikes me as pretty darn boring tbh, but which is quicker? Watcha reckon?