by Sowslow » Tue May 20, 2008 1:06 pm
This was an old post I had in an old guild so hasn't been updated in a few years but might help.
My opinion on AAs.
Gettting started do these.
General:
Run3 (3) - run faster always helps even if you can SoW
Regen3 (3) - faster regen is good, can go with any of the others in general if you want though. When I used my horse a lot Metabolism was good, but not so much anymore
Archetype: Need to spend 6 points in General first
Mental Clarity (12) - Mana regen is nice, but prereq for Canni 5 so have to have it
Class: Need to spend 12 points in Archetype
Cannibalization (5) - Canni5 make a hotkey and use it every time it pops up
Omens of War:
Mnemonic Retention (3) Lvl 55 req - Extra spell slot, must have with all the stuff we need loaded at one time
Get those 26 AAs as soon as you can.
Next some of the other basics in order of my preference.
Archetype: Spell Casting Mastery3 (12) - 10% reduction in mana on all spells
Archetype: Spell Casting Reinforcement3 (12) - 30% increase in buff duration including HoTs and panther and you also need for SCRM
Class: Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery - (8) - 50% increase in buff duration as above
PoP Abilities: Radiant Cure1 (2) - cures group of all types of effects. Level 1 is almost all that will be needed for groups and most raid encounters up to Anguish
Archetype: Natural Durability3 (12) - 10% increase in your base HPs which is more HPs to canni
OoW: Call of the Wild (9) Lvl 70 req - no exp rez that calls a player back full HP and mana, but you still have rez effects
Archetype: Combat Agility3 (12) - 10% increase chance to avoid being hit helps being able to cast a heal on yourself and take less overall damage. Also better not to be hit than be hit for less which is why this is better than CS. You will need to work on these soon so now is as good a time as any
TSS: Frenzied Cannibalization (5) - Upgrade to Canni5 but I wouldn't get it until you have at least 6kHPS as it eats 4k and you might get low HPS aggro
PoP Abilities: Virulent Paralysis1 (3) - First rank is very nice to have for only 3AAs, roots with a resist mod and has a knock back effect to get mobs off you. Really nice for extra crowd control. Extra lvls add to resist mod and knock back effect
That will take you to a total of 101AAs and will make your life much easier in groups and starting to raid
Next healing, again in order of my preference
Class: Quick Buff2 (9) - Reduce the time to cast buffs, including HoTs and panther, by 25%. You ask why not get rank 3, well there is cap of 50% on spell haste and if you have a worn spell haste effect of at least 25% you will hit this cap. If not go for rank3.
Class: Mass Group Buff (9) - I put this further down the list as although it is a cool AA, you can probably buff a whole raid with Canni-ing and be ok, but this does help out so get it soon
Archetype: Healing Adept3 (12) - 10% increase in direct heals, more healing power is always better, you are a healer remember
PoP Abilities: Advanced Healing Adept3 (12) - now you have a total of 19% increase in direct heals, see above statement
OoW: Healing Adept Mastery3 (18) - now you have a total of 28% increase in direct heals, see above
Archetype: Healing Gift3 (12) - 10% increase in your chance to crit a direct heal in essence doubling you direct heal. I put this below Adept because consistently have more healing>hoping for a crit, but both are important and you can do one level then the other, just make sure you get both
PoP Abilities: Advanced Healing Gift3 (9) now you have a 16% increase in your chance to crit a direct heal, see above
OoW: Healing Adept Gift3 (18) - now you have a total of 22% increase in your chance to crit a direct heals, see above
TSS: Healing Surge3 (18) - now you have a total of 28% increase in your chance to crit a direct heals, see above
OoW: Healing Boon3 (18) - 7% increase in your chance to crit heal on each tick of a HoT, in effect doubling the heal of that one tick, see above
TSS: Healing Ressonance3 (18) - now you have a total of 13% increase in your chance to crit heal on each tick of a HoT, see above
OoW: Ancestral Aid3 (15) - gives group a stat and stat cap boost of 90 per stat and HoT of 333/tick for 5 ticks, the HoT is the better than the stat cap unless you are working tradeskills. Best of all you can MGB it and it stacks with all other HoT including Cleric, Druid, Epic, Ghost spell, etc.
TSS: Ancestral Favor3 (15) - same as about except cap increase of 105 and HoT of 499/tick for 5 ticks and again MGBable
TSS: Union of Spirits3 (15) - gives a single target direct heal of 3000, group stat and stat cap raise of 105 and HoT of 1500/tick for 3 ticks and again stacks with everything except lower versions of the AA and its line
You are now up to a total of 299AAs, it will take awhile, but at this point you will probably be able to main heal most content and be extremely helpful on raids as nice secondary healer or main healer in groups especially against mobs with AE dots
Next on to survival, we get hit a lot and need to be able to take it before a tank can get the mob off
PoP Abilities: Lightning Reflexes3 (15) - if you haven't gotten CA3 yet do so then this for a total of 15% chance to avoid being hit see CA3 above for why this is nice
OoW: Reflexive Mastery5 (25) - now you have a 17.5% chance to avoid being hit, lots of AAs for small increases, but worth it
DoD: Precognition5 (25) - same as above except with a 20% chance to avoid being hit
Archetype: Combat Stability3 (12) - like CA line except this reduce the amount of damage taken when hit by 10%, less damage taken equals longer life and less healing, all good
PoP Abilities: Innate Defense5 (15) - same as about except with a 15% reduction in damage when hit, see above
OoW: Defensive Instincts5 (25) - same as above except with a 17.5% reduction in damage when hit, see above
DoD: Thick Skin5 (25) - same as above except with a 20% reduction in damage when hit, see above
TSS: Shield Block3 (12) - give an additional 3% chance to block melee hit with your shield, you do have a shield right. Like CA3 when you block a hit you take no damage, I have this down further just because there are lots of AAs to spend in this category, do them how you please
GoD: Spell Casting Subtlety3 (12) - reduces the amount of aggro generated by casting spells by 20%. Some shaman don't like this line as you can't snap aggro when you want as well, but then again you don't get aggro when you don't want it either, so you choose if it is right for you
DoD: Silent Casting5 (35) - whereas above is passive this one needs to be activated and last 1 tick reduces aggro/hate up to 100%, remember up to does not means equal to 100% all the time
DoD: Ancestral Guard3 (12) - a self rune that mitigate 75% of melee damage up to 5000hps total, when you start getting hit pop this and lessen the effects until a tank comes and gets the mob
TSS: Sleight of Hand3 (12) - same as Spell Casting Subtlety but more reduction, but I can't find how much
Whew now that is a lot of AAs, 524 total, but you can actually tank some content and survive raids long enough to see boss die
Last now that we can heal and survive better, time to start doing more damage. I put this later as this should be our tertiary role, but some shaman like to do more damage and as such rank these much higher, again you choose your path, just my suggestions
GoD: Critical Affliction3 (12) - 9% increase chance to crit on each tick of a dot, doubling the damage for that tick
OOW: Improved Critical Affliction3 (12) - same as above except with a 18% increase chance to crit on each tick of a dot
DoD: Affliction Mastery3 (21) - same as above except with a 24% increase chance to crit on each tick of a dot
TSS: Blood Tithe3 (21) - same as above except with a 30% increase chance to crit on each tick of a dot
Archetype: Spell Casting Fury3 (12) - 7% increase chance to crit with a direct damage spell, doubling the damage of the spell
PoP Abilities: Fury of Magic3 (12) - same as above except with a 20% increase chance to crit with a direct damage spell
GoD: Fury of Magic Mastery3 (12) - same as above except with a 26% increase chance to crit with a direct damage spell
TSS: Volatile Mana3 (18) - same as above except with a 32% increase chance to crit with a direct damage spell
OoW: Destructive Fury3 (12) - 25% increase in the crit damage done by direct damage spell. Notice that this only affects crit damage not base damage
TSS: Mana Fury3 (18) - same as above except a 45% increase in the crit damage done by direct damage spell
Now you are on your own after 653AAs.
I left out a few like Gift of Mana, because although it didn’t fit nice in a category, but get it as soon as you can. Mana savings are great. The same goes for Gift of Radian Mana.
Some shaman rank Spiritual Channeling high as a way to augment their mana pool, but to me I only go OoM when there is an AE draining both HPs and Mana, so not much help here. It does help for quick buffing after rezzing, but with new OOC regen I don't rank it as high anymore. If getting SC, get rabid bear also. Almost unlimited spell casting for 3min.
Also, the pet AAs are fun, but not a whole lot of damage. They are useful for corning mobs or as speed bumps while you run away. If you like that then make sure to get Swift Journey too
At some point Mystical Attuning for the extra buff slots is really nice and I would work one rank in every so often just for the sake of not having to pick buffs off or block them entirely.
Forgot to mention if the guild is progessing faster than your AAs are, then go ahead finish of the curing AAs including Quickened Curing. Might want to finish off Virulent Paralysis at some point too, the extra resist mod and knock back are worth the few extra AAs.
Hope this helps someone and ask questions if you like.