Shaman + Prot Pally 2s: Resto or Ele?

Post by JaxOmen

My friend and I have been doing 2s on my shaman and his prot paladin. With me as resto, we managed to make 1700 fairly easily. However, upon reaching that point, we are now facing enough healers wielding PvP weapons that my prot pally friend can no longer kill them, and every fight is turning into a mana war, something that I lose against all warrior/rogue teams due to my inability to use Water Shield against those two classes.

It took us 31 games to go from 1700->1750 because we'd win two, lose one, win one, lose two, etc.

I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps the comp would fare better if I were to go elemental instead. With his silence->stun->silence combo (Avenger's Shield, HoJ, Arcane Torrent racial) plus an elemental shaman's burst, we should still be very capable of killing people, I think.

He's not interested in speccing ret for his own personal reasons (not the least of which is the fact that he's terrible at ret, which makes no sense to me but whatever).

Would our team do better with me as elemental or should I stay as resto and hope we can countercomp enough people in a row to reach 1800?

Post by Gnostik

Absolutely go Elemental. Resto/Prot has no burst.

Also, why can't you use Water Shield against Warriors or Rogues?

Post by Anarchy

I agree, go elemental, you'll still be able to heal decently with that mana pool and spell power when needed.
Plus you have a huge additional burst, try it out.

I am playing ret/rogue and what I would give to be able to cast a few more heals.

Post by JaxOmen

Because a warrior or rogue will kill me if I do not put Earth Shield on myself, 1100 resil be damned.

I cannot escape from a warrior, period, rogues are tough to escape from for any length of time, and any peels my partner can throw, the melee is right back on me the moment the peel duration ends.

It's basically a problem with being MSed, but at least with hunters I can pillar hump them enough to get away with water shield anyway. Warriors seem to charge me through pillars o_O

Glad to see some support for me changing specs, I'll give it a shot.

Post by Gnostik

Right now I, as an Ele Sham, run with under 700 res. (I'm still getting this character geared.)

While Elemental is decidedly harder to do well with, I believe it is actually more survivable than Resto against melee (assuming a 2v2 situation where the Ele has support with at least some healing.) The reason I say this is that yes, as you say, healing through MS is painful. Better to just blow them up.

But your partner will be key. Ele has tools to deal with melee - for a time. But if you've got dedicated support that is going to heal and peel for you, there is a lot you can do.

Your AoE root is absolutely key to winning against melee. Thunderstorm is too - in most situations. The problem with Thunderstorm is that it's somewhat unreliable. I can't tell you how many times I've used TS on a Rogue, on flat land, and that Rogue doesn't move one inch. And no, it's not when they have Cloak of Shadows up.

Speaking of CoS, dealing with certain cooldowns from your opponents will be key to winning:

Bladestorm is the hardest. The only real advice I can give is to pop Ghost Wolf and stay away.. Alternately, if you think you can live, you might continue to burst through a Bladestorm. (Though I wouldn't recommend ever eating the entire duration.)

Cloak of Shadows is also a pain. Always be ready for it, and remember that it doesn't last that long. Similarly to Bladestorm, run away during its duration if at all possible. If you can wait it out, you can probably win. Immediately apply Flame Shock to prevent a vanish, then root. Now you've regained control.

Blessing of Freedom will be a huge pain as well. Purging it isn't easy through all of a Paladin's other buffs (and dispel protection) so you will need to decide in each situation whether it's worth it to try to purge it off (preferrably while running away) or to do something else while he is root-immune: Hex, TS him away, continue to burst, run away and heal/recover, etc.

Anti-Magic Shell can be somewhat of a pain, but overall I don't find DKs to be a problem. Between Grounding Totem, Cleansing Totem, and Cure Toxins, I can mitigate a lot of their disease. AMS is similar to CoS in that you just need to wait it out, then immediately take control with Earthgrasp. Oh, and don't forget that you can completely negate their Chains of Ice spam in Ghost Wolf form.

Those are the big ones. You will probably suck it up as Ele if/when you make the switch, but once you get the hang of reacting to melee you will start to see its potential. Again, your partner's support will be crucial to your survival, but if you can stay alive you can do some great damage.

One last point about melee is that they are susceptible to Fire Nova and Magma Totem in a way that ranged are not, so use that to your advantage as well.

Shaman + Prot Pally 2s: Resto or Ele?

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