4 shamans and....a prot pally?

[Shalman]

You could do a 5v5 and put the free slot up for auction , 4 chars is still good, 3 can still pwn in BG's and if you need a tank for an instance you can press "i".

[TMNT]

Thanks for the help

[caldvn]

As for the ability of a 4x shaman 1x prot pally to perform in comparison to a more "standard" group, let's compare Suvega's 1x war, 3x mage, 1x priest group with mine. I was able to clear Ramps at 61 (dinged 62 upon downing the last boss) while Suvega struggled with 3 mages, a 65 warrior, and a 70 tier 5 priest.

It's not an issue of class makeup or the "perfect group", as it was adapting to the fight. Some people multi-task better then others. This is bad comparison/argument. It's a question of the person playing the toons, vs the actual group.

Fights are also situational, warrior/druid/paladin have advantages one way, vs another way. Paladins aoe tank the best, but against same boss, will take more damage vs a warrior/druid, etc... (this is also a discussion onto itself.)

[Jusa]

If you would like to damage more than 2 mobs at the same time while holding agro. Pally is the best way to go as a multi boxer. I have a feral druid that tanks archimond but I'd hate to have a druid over my pally with 4 shadow priests or 4 ele shaman. And Range taunt is amazing for a multi boxer.

[caldvn]

Fights are also situational, warrior/druid/paladin have advantages one way, vs another way. Paladins aoe tank the best, but against same boss, will take more damage vs a warrior/druid, etc... (this is also a discussion onto itself.)

Disagree. Since you want to talk about specifics, if you take a Paladin and a Warrior with approx. equal gear and similar specs (prot - prot), the Paladin will do better on the last boss of Ramparts.

Why? Fire Aura and a ranged taunt. Warriors won't get any way of pulling a mob back from range until 70 (Intervene, which isn't exactly a taunt either).

AOE side paladin was an example. Again, just so that you understand. (this is also a discussion onto itself.) I even bolded to to make it easier on your eyes.

I can do Heroic Ramparts fine with my Warrior, Druid or Paladin tanking. I don't need to rely on Fire Resist gear or Aura, nor do I need to pull out theories vs actually doing it.

[caldvn]

I was making discussion. There is / was no need to be a jerk about it.

May have been harsh on my response, problem is there's no point getting into debate about who makes the best tank, plenty of posts on worldofwarcraft.com forums. It all depends on your play style and what guild/or yourself do with what you got. (Not everyone has time, to roll every class in game to 70. I'm short a rogue 63, and shamans 44.)

My point was to counter Vyndree's argument that one person struggling with certain group makeup does not mean their makeup was bad.

[aetherg]

My (not yet 70) team has a pally tanking for four shamans. I'm very happy with the choice to use a pally rather than a druid or warrior.

1. Amazing AoE tanking
2. Better buffs (BoK/BoW/JoW)
3. Magic is (overall) more dangerous than curses, so cleanse > decurse.
4. You can heal one of your minions in a pinch, without losing all your defensive power like a druid would.
5. Ranged taunt (not as necessary as everyone says, but still good)
6. Ridiculously easy to get and hold aggro in general

I feel like pallies, in general, are the best tanks for 5-man content, which is what you're going to tank as a multiboxer anyway.

[Otlecs]

Im curently 4 boxing 4 shamans (named after the ninja turtles ) but i have a freind that has a 30 pally and he said i can have him. hes only 3 levels behind but i could spec him prot. would this be better for leveling via instances? Currently what i do is have 70's run me through over and over and its pretty good exp.but that will only last till so long. So should i take the slower rout and level this guy up with me?

Reading just the original post, and disregarding the two pages full of less-than-helpful comments, your ORIGINAL question distills down to this:

"Would a prot spec pally be better for levelling via instances once I get beyond the instances where a level 70 can run me through?".

In a nutshell the answer is YES, it's worth taking the hit and levelling him in line with your team, even if that means swapping characters in and out with your 70 while you blitz the low level instances.

It just gives you so many more options.

Protection paladins are excellent tanks for all the 5 man content. They have strengths and weaknesses compared to Warriors and Druids, but they are excellent tanks and uniquely suited to multiboxing thanks to Consecration and other neat little tricks they can pull.

What you do with him for PvP at 70 is up to you. Either drop him and find a healer to help, only do 2v2/3v3 with your shammies, or re-spec him and try to heal yourself in a 5 man team.

Irrespective of what you do at that point, he will have served his purpose in levelling your team through instances, and opened up a whole bunch of options that you may otherwise not have had. Best of all, it will no doubt have been a whole lot more fun than just relying on that 70 to keep grinding you through.

Go for it. And have fun. Because that's what it's all about.

[Vyndree]

It's not an issue of class makeup or the "perfect group", as it was adapting to the fight. Some people multi-task better then others. This is bad comparison/argument.

Fair enough, but my comparison was that a prot pally and 4 elemental shaman CAN complete instances similar to what is expected of a "balanced" group, and I used a 5-boxer as a relatively even example. I apologize if personal experience doesn't live up to your scientific expectations on experimental data. Suvega raid leads BT/Hyjal, I don't think he has a problem understanding how to 5-box Ramparts nor how to multi-task. Besides, he had a tier 5 holy priest and a level 65 prot warrior tanking, while my characters were all level 61/62. So I think things were in his favor.

The fact that my run was much smoother is just icing on the cake that I get to rub in his face since he bet that I couldn't clear the instance alone at my level.

Anyway...

In some fights prot pallies shine and in some fights warriors shine. Of course that's the way things are. Druids tank other things better than prot pallies or prot warriors. There will always be tanks ideal and non-ideal for any given situation. That's life.

Personally, having used both a warrior and paladin for tanking with my 4 shaman at lvl40, the warrior took less damage and allowed for faster lightning bolt use (specced fury). However, you could use chain lightning every cooldown with the paladin, who took slightly more damage (specced prot). In this situation, a warrior would have been better. Was I unable to complete the instance with a paladin? No, I did just fine with both.



A warrior is better for classes with CC due to their single-target aggro abilities. They can function as tank or dps. They have buffs mostly for melee.

A paladin is better for classes with some form of aoe, and needs little CC. They can function as tank or healer. They have buffs for melee and casters.

A shaman (as the OP has rolled) has no CC. They can function as DPS or healer. They have buffs for melee and casters.

Now, one tank does better in specific situations, and another does better in other situations, but regardless, both can tank every instance in the game, including instances being run by a 5-boxer. Which puzzle pieces fit best together with the OP's 4 shaman?

(I'll give you a hint - they buff each other and they share CC-preferences)

[caldvn]

Fair enough, but my comparison was that a prot pally and 4 elemental shaman CAN complete instances similar to what is expected of a "balanced" group, and I used a 5-boxer as a relatively even example.

Not saying it can't be done, it's just a question of the player behind the toons. My argument still stands, some box better then others, it was never question of class makeup as it was who was driving.

Suvega raid leads BT/Hyjal, I don't think he has a problem understanding how to 5-box Ramparts nor how to multi-task. Besides, he had a tier 5 holy priest and a level 65 prot warrior tanking, while my characters were all level 61/62. So I think things were in his favor.

Leading raids has nothing to do with how well you multibox. You're comparing yourself with boxing 5 toons since the beginning vs another person who leveled 3 toons up and added 2 additional toons into the mix (This is how I understand it.), later, it would not surprise me that he had trouble doing something 5 man style vs 3 man style. and non-ideal for any given situation. Suvega just needs time to adapt to his group makeup, how long it takes? I don't know, how long have you been with your pally and 4 shaman group? (It wouldn't surprise me if you've been playing the same playstyle since level 50.)

In the end, if you put 2 people with same multi-tasking abilities (good) and you compare a "balanced" group and an "unusual" group, you'll see that "balanced" group has more options available vs "unusual" group. But the Shaman set will have advantage in pvp vs pve environment. Pros/cons to both sides, what you do in the long run is the question. Some groups will have more trouble then others in different environments.

Play how you want to play, comparing or, I guess "rubbing" in someone's face doens't really prove how good you are.