3x shaman 3v3, initial results

[yarr]

OK so the first couple of weeks I did pretty badly. Now I seem to be stabilizing at about 1300-1320 rating, with a win ratio about even (6wins 6losses this week). My guys are quite undergeared compared to opponents so I might be able to better judge the viability of the combo once i gear up more (I am saving points for when season 4 is released).

A few thoughts on the combo

1) fights seem to be very short, at least at the low-end rating. They rarely last long enough to use a second bloodlust. Longer-lasting fights i seem to always lose due to running out of mana.

2) Since I only have 3 shamans, the burst potential for 3x em+ns+cl is a bit lower. I think i need to be better at judging if/when to use it. Also, having only 3 shamans means that any 1 of the 3 getting CC'ed or stunned means that my damage won't be enough to kill someone. I seem to need all 3 shamans shooting in order to burst someone down. This may get better with better gear, we'll see. I may get pvp trinkets for all 3 in order to dispel CC. If i need to use the EM NS CL combo, i will want all 3 to be in control of their character.

3) Not exactly sure what I should be gearing for... I have tried to gem for stamina on the main since he will most likely take more heat than the other guys, once people figure out what i'm doing. I am debating whether to gem pure +dmg on the 2 alts, or to also gem for stamina.


All in all, I think i will need to wait to get more gear before I can start getting a higher rating. Once my rating starts to go up and i have comparable gear, I will see how well the 3shaman setup works against the more "traditional" 3vs3 setups. I have been fighting a lot of unconventional setups, as was expected for being low-rated. I see stuff like hunter+hunter+warlock, mage+warlock+holy priest, wierd stuff like that, =P.

I expect to have the most trouble against heavy CC-based groups.

[Unholy[S]haman]

In the lower brackets you should indeed be gemming for stam and resil, once you get you hp up to about 9-10k and your resil to about 260-300 then you start gemming spelldmg+spellcrit or spelldmg+mana etc.

That just my suggestion.

Also what you should do to start off, is bild up 2 peices of the BLUE pvp gear (for the +32 resil bonus), then start collecting S1, once you have all the season1 gear you can get before replacing your two blue items, I suggest farming for vindicator gear.

So you should look something like this:

Gloves and Head: Blue pvp (from faction rewards)

Shoulder, Chest, Leggs: Season1 (Or seasontwo when it comes out)

Neck, braces, rings, trinket, boots, cloak: Vindicator nd badge rewards.

Shield and mace: Season1

Once you have all of that you should have 10k+ hp, 6k+ mana, 300 resil+ (purely out of gear, not including gems) Then you gem +spelldmg and spellcrit and maybe int too. Get the leg enchant from the AH, +20 resil and 18 stam enchant from SSO enchanter to head, scryer or aldor shoulder enchant etc.

Once you get all that you can start gemming for

[Boylston]

I've done this a bit for a diversion, nothing real serious. Here's what has worked OK (again, talking 1400 rating here) for me.

Charging in early and blowing a quick 3xEM+NS+CL plus Shock combo. Then following it up with spammed LB volleys. This is very offensive, totally counter to a good 5v5 strategy, but it helps to take them off guard. Almost all my wins have come from just barreling in and taking out someone early.

[Unholy[S]haman]

That method is win with 3 or more pom pyro mages.
4 Pom Pyro mages + holy pala for Crusader Aura and heals and bubbles.
Rush out with mount aura, pom pyro, fire blast, blink to LOS them and they wont know what the hell hit them.

[Elektric]

Non rogue teams you'll rip in half...

I am running the typical PvP buil 40/0/21 with my 3X Shaman team and we roll almost any team...

Any team with a rogue and theres not enough dps to ignore a good rogue. Theyll keep you stunned, blinded, gouged the entire fight. Its not that they kill so fast or that you cant take the damage, its that inbetween the others LoSing you and the rogue basically being unkillable with CloS unless you get lucky and take the rogue down its trouble.

now on my 5v5 team its another story. I have a healer, I ignore the rogue and its all over. Unfortunately in 3v3 you are lacking the pure burst dmg and heals to be as successful. Mind you I'll easily roll any 1600+ plus team without a rogue or two mages :) (AE is hard to handle with 1XMage and 2X is devastating in this bracket). I recommend you watch Ellay's videos and learn his technique. Its made a huge difference from a 50/50 record to where I rarely barely lose and everything else is a blow out. Kind of crazy when you facing full S3 teams. This combo is devastating in a bracket thats all about FF. 2v2 and 3v3 are more about CC than anything, MEH! :(

[Boylston]

Any team with a rogue and theres not enough dps to ignore a good rogue.

I think your only hope is to ride to a soft target and burn it down so fast that the rogue doesn't do too much CC on one of your guys.

[yarr]

In the lower brackets you should indeed be gemming for stam and resil, once you get you hp up to about 9-10k and your resil to about 260-300 then you start gemming spelldmg+spellcrit or spelldmg+mana etc.

That just my suggestion.

Also what you should do to start off, is bild up 2 peices of the BLUE pvp gear (for the +32 resil bonus), then start collecting S1, once you have all the season1 gear you can get before replacing your two blue items, I suggest farming for vindicator gear.

So you should look something like this:

Gloves and Head: Blue pvp (from faction rewards)

Shoulder, Chest, Leggs: Season1 (Or seasontwo when it comes out)

Neck, braces, rings, trinket, boots, cloak: Vindicator nd badge rewards.

Shield and mace: Season1

Once you have all of that you should have 10k+ hp, 6k+ mana, 300 resil+ (purely out of gear, not including gems) Then you gem +spelldmg and spellcrit and maybe int too. Get the leg enchant from the AH, +20 resil and 18 stam enchant from SSO enchanter to head, scryer or aldor shoulder enchant etc.

Once you get all that you can start gemming for

I won't be upgrading my gear until season 4 comes out. I am pretty sure it is right around the corner, and so id much rather spend my honor points on season2 weapon/shield and season4 honor pieces, than s1 weapon/shield, and s3 honor pieces.

Just my personal preference. I'd rather get the most "bang for the buck" with the honor pieces i am going to buy.