Heroic runs 1 DK tank 4 dps shammys or sub out a dps shammy for rest shammy?

[blbjtb]

Lol this next part of this question feels like a school question...

Explain your answer...

at least 3 paragraphs 500 word minimum (LOL JK)

[GizmoxLoW]

I dont run a Dk but a pally tank with a resto shaman and it makes heroics a heck of a lot easier, sure it can be done with 4 as dps and throw a small heal here and there. Earth shield and healing stream totems usually keeps my palidan topped off until i reach a boss

heres my resto shaman spec

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...or&n=Udderduum

i still specced into elemental and if you look the only things im missing that would make a difference would be Elemental mastry and lightning overload. reason i say this is sure, im getting less dps from one character but if your ripping through trash like tinfoil why not make some of the boss encounters less stressful with some extra heals. Specially with riptide, think mine ticks for 1k-ish

[puppychow]

Try heroics with 4 ele shammies, you can do a bunch of them that way without a problem. Eventually however you start wiping a lot on the harder heroics, and you will find having a resto shaman can help out a lot. It really is doable either way imo, it does require adapting quite a bit to put a resto shammy in the group. Some people use /stopcasting macros and have seperate buttons for heals, I don't use that since I found GCDs were causing my heals not to go off (dunno how the ones that DPS & heal deal with that). It does take some time to adapt if you respec one to healing, but I think most of us clearing the harder heroics (Anub/Old Kingdom, Stratholme, Halls of Lightning, Utgarde Pinnacle, etc) found it very helpful.

If you haven't leveled any to 80 yet, you may want to think about multicomp too. imo a priest makes a superb healer when geared up, better than resto shaman for multiboxers. Also a mage or boomkin is nice in the group as well.

[GizmoxLoW]

Some people use /stopcasting macros and have seperate buttons for heals, I don't use that since I found GCDs were causing my heals not to go off (dunno how the ones that DPS & heal deal with that).

my healing macro is
/stopcasting [harm]
/target tank
/cast healing wave

with the [harm] my shaman will stop casting an offensive spell at my target, target my tank then start healing

[Hachoo]

I have no issues running heroics with a DK tank and 4 elemental shamans, and the entire thing will get even easier in 3.0.8 with the DK tank buffs and the elemental shaman DPS buffs.

[Niley]

basically it goes down to this

With resto shaman, Your other shamans never stop dpsing, gives You much more survivability and really makes heroic easier, much much easier. My dps in heroics is same with 4 eles, as it is with 3 eles/resto. Four elemental, at some point in the game might be better, when every heroic gets easy.
Also thanks to resto shaman I completed every damn heroic(ocullus not included) still wearing lots of 70 gear, I tried with 4 x ele(which is the set up i used for all of tbc) and well...failed, there was so much healing required that my shammies would go very low on mana, or all they could do is all 4 spam heal me without doing any dps, my resto can just es/rip tide/ spam heal and not go oom...and resto can still dps pretty well, my does around 1400 dps or so.

[Hachoo]

I don't seem to have that problem (never run out of mana due to healing and never have problems healing in time or anything). Not sure what the difference is... methods I guess.

[puppychow]

How many heroics have you cleared though? Azjol'nerub, Violet Hold, Halls of Lightning, Stratholme, etc are quite a bit more difficult than UK, Gundrak, and Drak'tharon imo and really start showing off the power of a resto shaman. I couldn't really imagine doing Violet Hold w/o a resto, he just spam chain heals on the shadow boss for example while my other guys race to DPS.

[Youngceo]

In my experiences I had no chance of doing any heroics without a dedicated resto, as much as I would like to have 4 elementals it just aint gonna happen in heroics for awhile.

My tank aint at the defense cap yet but is decently geared, enough for heroics anyway, however he still needs constant heals, 4x LHW now and then just doesnt cut it, especially on boss fights where 3-4 hits and theres nothing left of you.

Also with some bosses you just cant afford to stop all dps and go healing for abit, especially with bosses like Trollgore who have a buff that stacks their damage over time, you need to dps them down and quick.

[Youngceo]

my healing macro is
/stopcasting [harm]
/target tank
/cast healing wave

with the [harm] my shaman will stop casting an offensive spell at my target, target my tank then start healing

Just tried the stopcasting [harm] and it didnt work for me, if I spam the button they still stop casting the heal so it never gets off?