41 cave vs 46 cave

[fl3a]

was told in newbie forum to ask it here instead

now then. i have been playing my shammy for a while and always following my original spec: 46 cave 26 mend 10 aug. that is meant to gimme grp friggs, best AE DoT and lots of damage with the DoT too.

yesterday i talked to a lvl 50 shammy, and looked at some forums, for i am about to get lvl 40 and if i want to choose a spec, i gotta respec my mending now (if going less than 16 mend, that i have now)

i have made 3 specs for me, one of which will be my lvl 50 spec:

46 cave (best AE DoT) 26 mend (grp friggs) 10 aug (all points that are left over)

41 cave (best bolt & DD, 2nd best AE DoT), 14 mend (points left over) 32 aug (grp end regen)

46 cave (best AE DoT), 17 mend (points left over), 22 aug (best single-target end regen)

now, that shammy i talked to told me that i rarley use AE DoT in battle anyways, however was in RvR for first time last night and used it quite a lot, it was the main thing i got my 7k rp with.

any support on what spec should i use?

 

[old.Saborion]

Well, I haven`t got a shammy myself, but just a day or so I thought that it would be real nice to have one in an emain group. AE dot and AE disease must be an evil combo. =)

 

[katt!]

32 aug, 41 cave. you are more likely to use single-dot unless you want to annoy healers.

 

[fl3a]

but is there a real damage difference?

i really want to be able to tell people that 'hah my DoT does lots more damage than your cuz i put 5 points more into cave'

and i also heard, that if i am specced 41 cave and a shammy with 46 cave DoT-s a target i will get the message 'target already has the effect'

 

[katt!]

if you are able to get +10 cave through items/rrs there shouldnt be any noticable difference.

a dot will overwrite another if its considered stronger through some calculation which involves spec and piety.

 

[AbPoon]

Get the 1st grp end regen or your just baggage in an rvr grp.

Might sound harsh but the best thing the shammy can give rvr grps is end regen, it doubles tank damage in a large battle basicly.

Personally i'd recommend going for a spec with the 1st grp end buff and the rest in cave, youll still end up with aoe root and the rest of the crap.

 

[Larra]

funny that, seeing how end regen has only just come here

 

[old.Leel]

My shaman is currently level 47 and has 23 aug, 16 mend and 41 cave. I'm going for 46 cave for the best ae dot. The ae dot is GREAT in sieges and mg standoffs. First ae dot, then ae disease, it's a real killer. I don't kill MUCH with my second best ae dot, but it can get nasty with high wild arcana and crits. Another shammie in guild has 46 cave and one time defending bledmeer he got a ridiculous amount of kills due to uber crit) I wish I had the group end regen, it's a real hassle to cast the single one of everyone, even though the 3 value regen is more than enough.
And it's true that the strongest dot will overwrite the lesser one. So if there is a higher cave spec shammie hitting the same target (which doesn't happen often at all) then your ae dot won't have any effect. I am going for the 46 ae dot though, I want it very badly
But anyway, you CAN go 16 mend and 23 aug instead of 17 mend and 22 aug. With 23 aug you get the first heat resist buff, can be handy against those hard hitting fire wizards and light mentalists. Helps against hibbie stun too which is heat based. I would say that 41 cave and 32 aug is probably a more suitable shammie for most situations. The 46 cave template is more suited for sieges of keeps and mg's.

Oh, the best part about ae dot and ae disease isn't that it kills so much, it's that it interrupts casters, and waste the healers's mana. That's why it's so great in sieges.

 

[old.amoeba]

My shamen is currently only level 37, but I have been looking into shaman specs quite a bit.

Frankly either go 36 cave or 46, do not waste points getting the bolt/dd.
Bolts in rvr are not much use (almost always get blocked), and the DD only does 40ish more damage than the lower version.

You would be much better adviced either going higher for the top ae dot (about 130 damage per tick instead of 100-110 iirc), or put the points into aug or mend instead.

My spec is fairly balanced - 36/38/12 cam. I get the 2nd best dot (and most field combat will just use single target anyway), 1 from best line buffs and resists (and buffs will cap anyway), and the end4 group spell. I also get a lowish frigg for powerlevelling, and remove disease/poison for when needed.

 

[old.amoeba]

Originally posted by old.Leel
Oh, the best part about ae dot and ae disease isn't that it kills so much, it's that it interrupts casters, and waste the healers's mana. That's why it's so great in sieges.

Dots ONLY interrupt casters on the first tick, as far as my testing has shown (duels). So really its just like any aoe damage spell.

 

[AbPoon]

Yes dots no longer interupt, they were never ment to every tick in the first place.

As for end regen only coming in, yes fair enough before 1.54 i'd have had picked a 2nd healer in my grp over a shammy any day of the week, shammys only really shone before in keep takes milegate fights and keep defense where they could spam their dots, otherwise their aoe was kind of pointless due to the cc that has to go down.

End regen>All