> [Guide] Druid/Shaman/Warrior

[Iluwen]

Resto-Druid Enhancer-Shaman MS-Warrior

Introduction

Since there isn´t a guide for this specific comp yet, I will try to give all the Enhancers out there some love. We had and still have a great time playing this setup and I even quit playing 2's competitively with my Warrior. All three of us are in one RL-guild, we raid SWP together so this is not a „How can we rule the arena“-made team.

It all started out when our Enhancer asked my Warrior and me if we could help him getting to 1.850 for the Season 3 weapons for PvE. So we teamed up and tried it. We climbed up the rankings with ease, getting to 2.000 almost accidently. We finished the season as the second best 3's team of our server and in the Top25 of our relatively small battlegroup. We could have been even higher than the 2.2XX rating at the end, but we could only play 10-15 games a week, because we are PvE specced for 6 out of 7 days a week.

I will also try to get my teammates to comment on things that I don´t know exactly – like „What do Shamans do apart from setting up Totems and casting Chain-Heal?“

I hope this guide will help some other Enhancer Shamans to at least get their Season 4 weapons with a fun setup to play!


Strengths & weaknesses:

The strength of this setup is obvious: You can kill almost everything within a few seconds. An Enhancer with decent gear might have the best PvP-burst you can get. Paired with a good Warrior and the Mortal-Strike debuff it will be hard for any opponent to survive if you set up a killing blow. Warrior and Shaman support each other pretty good. Add Heroism at the right time and your damage dealers go berserk. Purge also enables you to get rid of buffs like Shields or Blessings of Protection on your focus target and you can keep going at it.

There are a lot of weaknesses, though. The biggest one being the lack of a dispell. A mage on the other team can ruin your whole game plan if one of your damage deales runs around as a sheep or sits in a nova all the time. You also have very few real crowd control options. Basically your druid is the only one whon can really take one opponent out of the game with Roots or Cyclone.

The key to winning games is simple: pressure, pressure, pressure! If the other team is able to use their crowd control excessively, you won´t be able reseize control of the game. Usually you will have to hit hard and win fast. With perfectly timed Earth-Shocks, Charges, Pummels and Intercepts you will be able to cancel a lot heals in a row in order to kill someone.


Specializations:

Warrior – Mortal Strike (41/17/3 or 3X/2X/3)
Basically every spec with Mortal Strike and TM is viable and you should stick with your favourite spec. Sword or Mace specialization are equally good, choose what suits you more.
Our Warrior: http://www.wow-europe.com/de/info/ba...00000000000000

Shaman - Enhancement (0/47/14)
You will be tanking most of the time so get everything that improves your survivability. Also Totems and Shocks are important and may decide games for or against you.
Our Shaman: http://www.wow-europe.com/de/info/ba...01000000000000

Druid - Restoration (13/11/37 or 8/11/42)
Dreamstate is not an option as long as you don´t play alongside a rogue so I prefer any spec with Feral Charge. With my 8/11/42 I still raid and contribute in SWP so it saves a lot of gold for re-speccing, too.
Our Druid: http://www.wow-europe.com/de/info/ba...50031500321351


Gear:

Warrior: You won´t be focussed a lot so you can go with some PvE items if you have acces to BT or SWP gear. Anything from 260 to 320 resilience should be enough. If they try to gib, you should be able to switch to a good shield and Defensive Stance immediately.

Shaman: You are the tank so get as much PvP items as possible and two slow DPS weapons. You, too, should have the best shield available since you will have to use it a lot when focussed. Gemming für stamina or resilience is not nececessary though.

Druid: For a lot of heavy melee teams you will be the target sooner or later in the game so go for 400+ resilience. Gemming für stamina or resilience is not nececessary though.
One thing I recommend for all Restoration Druids out there is to bring a staff with as much spirit as possible on it to use in long fights and for innervate on yourself. I got http://thottbot.com/i34608 with three +10 spirit gems and the +20 spirit enchant.


General advices:

Generally, playing this comp is about pressure, pressure and pressure! Hit hard and win fast. Use Heroism whent the other team is under heavy pressure so the Priest oder Shaman has to choose whether to heal, kite or dispell. Against opponents without Dispell or Purge, use Heroism early to gain control of the game early on. Both, your Shaman and Warrior should be able to use a focus target well in order to interrupt casts, drop a Grounding Totem or reflect them.


Druid:
Positioning: Always watch your positioning. Stick to a pillar as much as you can and don't put yourself in a bad spot. Try to stay out of the Line of Sight (LoS) and/or range of mana burns, fears, blinds and so on. You are the key to these games. If you are in a bad position and no cooldowns like Nature´s Swiftness or your Insignia are ready, you can get killed pretty fast and lose the game.

CC: Crowd control will be crucial. You have to keep Rogues and Warriors off of your Shaman by cycloning and rooting them as often as possible in order to free up the Shaman. If your DPS is in postition to kill someone, you have to be ready to cyclone the other healer (or one of them against two-healer teams).

Apply pressure: Support your teammates by applying pressure whenever possible. Every charged heal/sheep/fear will save their interrupting ability. Every Feral Charge on a mage after he blinked will enable your Warrior to save his Intercept. This is crucial for the constant pressure that you need to apply.

Warrior:
Peeling: Warrior is great at peeling, keep everybody harmstringed and disarm/intercept/intervene on crucial moments – most of the time you will have to save your druid.

Survivability: Watch enemy switches on you. Sword and board if you have more than one damage dealer on you. Being able to Spell-Reflect is also crucial.

Shaman:
Totems: Your main job after DPSing. Dropping the right Totems at the right time is everything. Tremor should always be there to save Insignias for other crowd controls. Drop Grounding Totems if you see a Mage cast sheep or a Druid casting cyclone/roots. And, of course, Windfury should always be up. Against heavy melee teams drop an Earthbind Totem whenever possible and, if possible, out of their range.

Survivability: Switch to sword and board if you are focus fired by melee(s) and if you need to buy time for your team. This will happen most of the time, but don´t let it bother you. Using Dual Wield while being focussed would make you die without giving the Druid the chance to keep you alive.

Shocks: Use your Shocks! Earth-Shocking a heal or crowd control while you burst down an opponnent will be deciding. Also killing Rogues with Evasion with Flame-Shocks is nice.

Purge: Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Freedom, Shields, HoTs – purge them all on your target and as soon as possible.

Do something: Use every Global Cooldown! Your Totems are set? Your target and focus target purged? You are standing in a Frost Nova and nobody in range to pound on? Then fry someone with a Chain-Lightning! Usually people don´t expect you to do anything if you are not in melee range - surprise them!

Addons & macros:

Addons:
Nothing that will win arenas for you but they can be pretty handy.
Refer to http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=24814 for information.

Macros:
Macros can be found here http://www.arenajunkies.com/macros/


Matchups:

I will cover the most common matchups here. You can ask about them or other matchups in the comments and I will try to give some advice there. I will also add other matchups later.

If you play against a team that has a Rogue, let the Shaman start in Travel Form so he cannot be sapped. If they are Alliance and they could have a Human Rogue, have the Druid wait in Bear Form so he won´t get caught in Cat Form. This way you avoid being sapped and your opponent can´t focus your Druid as easily. Against double Rogue teams, your Druid should always start in Bear Form.

Important note: If the other teams play well or almost perfect, you will lose You have to exploit every mistake or weakness they offer.

Mage/Priest/Rogue

F*ck the mage! That is what you have to try. Have your Druid opening with Pounce on the Mage, while Warrior and Shaman rush him. This will save the Intercept of your Warrior to get after the mage when he blinks. The Druid then has do be ready to Feral Charge the first sheep, because the melees will most likely be standing in a Frost Nova. Pressuring the Mage constantly will take away sheep from them, your Druid will (try) to control the Rogue as much as possible. The Priest will not be able to heal through the game, because the Mage is getting purged constantly by the Shaman. You will have to keep the pressure up through both Ice-Blocks. If the Mage blocks, get after the Priest so he can´t heal the Mage. All three of you have to chase the Mage and interrupt every sheep he tries to cast. Grounding and Tremor Totems are also crucial.
Going after the Priest often is not as good as it may seem. One of your teammates will be CC´ed full time AND the Mage will be able to DPS. However, if the Mage is low on mana and the Priest has used some of his cooldowns (Pain Surpression, Insignie etc.), a switch to the Priest can end the game quickly.


Druid/Rogue/Warrior

Very hard comp to play against. They offer almost no viable target. Most of the games simply end up in chasing the other teams Druid to try to kill him first. Try to not load the opponent´s warrior with rage.
Your Druid hast to try to get at least one Cyclone off on the other Warrior so he uses his insignia and then, hopefully, gets trapped in Nature´s Grasp. Your Warrior should Hamstring the Rogue and Warrior and disarm the Warrior. Charging and Bashing the other Druid is a good move to put pressure on him and get some distance to the Rogue and Warrior. Your DPS should be higher due to the synergy of Enhancer/Warrior and thus give you a little edge. A Warrior Fear at the right time can also peel of the Rogue from your Druid so use it wisely (i.e. after the Rogue used his Insignie).


Druid/Warlock/Warrior

Your gameplan against any team with a Warlock is simple: Nuke him till he dies! If he has his Fel Hunter out, kill it first. Your Shaman and Warrior should then nuke the Warlock, purging him and stacking Sunder Armor. The should be able to interrupt every Fear he tries to get off. Even if one gets crowd controlled by the other teams Druid, one of your melees should be enough to put severe pressure on the Warlock. Your Druid should be able to control the Warrior and the other Druid will have trouble to keep the Warlock alive. Time Deathwish and Cyclone on the Void Walker (20% more damage on the Warlock) to kill the Warlock.
If you don´t mess up, this should be a fairly easy matchup.


Paladin/Shaman/Warrior

Also a very hard comp when the Paladin is specced Retribution and the SHaman heals as they have an easy time hanging on your Shaman OR Druid for quite a long time and are able to switch very fast. Trading healers (Shaman against Druid) is not a good option here as the Shaman will survive longer than your Druid if left alone. Positioning of your Druid is crucial, because the other team will start on your Shaman and will most likely switch to your Druid later on. You have to be able to keep one of their melees away from your Druid most of the time. Use LoS, Earthbind Totems, Hamstrings, Frost Shocks, Fear, Intercept, Intervene and Disarm to help your Druid. The Druid should Feral Charge the Shaman whenever possible to get away from the Paladin and Warrior. Since you don´t want to load the enemy Warrior with rage, the Paladin is your target. You will have to survive his bubble somehow and then kill him.


Druid/Rogue/Rogue

Start out with the Druid in Bearform and the Shaman in Travel Form in order to not get sapped. They will most likely choose to kill your Shaman, if your Druid starts in Bearform and positions himself well, so he has to play sword and board from the start. Your Warrior has to keep Hamstring up on both Rogues and disarm them whenever possible. Have your Shaman drop Earthbind Totems on cooldown and Grounding Totem if the Druid tries to cyclone or root you. If the other team plays well, this is also a very hard setup to beat, but if they don´t, one of their Rogues will fall very fast. You have to try to survive the first 15-20 seconds, then time is on your side.


Thats it basically. I hope the guide is understandable. Feel free to correct any mistakes I made since we´re only German and no native speakers

I will try to update this guide whenever possible and confer with my teammates, if they have something to add. We will also try to check the comments and replies in order to answer any questions. We hope you enjoy this guide and that it may even help you.

Iluwen Talunaar Aglaranna - Immota Fides - EU-Forscherliga

[Iluwen]

No replies?

Is it so good or so bad?

[Yenni]

very good, I want to try it on my shaman nurfme

[Shyc]

If you fight against a warrior / ret pala / resto shaman, go for the resto shaman imo. Let your warrior peel their warrior off you with hamstring / disarm.

If you put your shaman (+ warrior) on their shaman he can't do shit. His ES will be purged the whole time and he can't get heals off (pummel / ES).

[Iluwen]

Small Update:

Mages and Warlocks have become MUCH harder to kill or even pressure

[Fulhamfc]

Yep I play this comp and we struggle vs RMP, RLD we farm so easily tbh, start off on rogue when he pops on the shaman, then switch to the druid => he usually travelsforms away at this point, and shaman/war can then go back to the rogue and get him low, forcing the druid to come back and cc, or his rogue dies.

As for locks, you're right they still die fast unless they start with a voidwalker, in which case, a timely cyclone on voidwalker once the warrior has 5 sunders + faerie fire up.

[Pyrounleashd]

i got glad with this setup last season...soo fun =D

i definatley support getting ER as u need rage asap to get a kill asap.
(41/17/3)

"warrior / ret pala / resto shaman" is really hard. They can out dps you, have a BOP which gives the shaman enough time to heal, and bloodlust....its so hard to kick a 0.5second cast.

[Lolpewpewpew]

Warlocks have become MUCH harder to kill or even pressure

LMAO yeah, double melee with enh shaman have a really hard time vs locks teams, REALLY

[Fulhamfc]

well 20% harder :PP

But mages have for sure, frostbite proc + one sheep and thats the whole comp CC'd

[Naax]

This guide has been added to the Official Strategy Section.

Additions or edits can be made by PMing me or creating a new thread here in the Strategy section.

Thanks Iluwen!