Death is the Best CC
I didn't play Stoney at all yesterday. I logged on to cut a gem for someone, grabbed all the Shiny Fish Scales and Fish Oils that I had sent to myself from Finn and Nix, disenchanted some stuff, and then that was it.
Part of the problem was that we didn't have the right raid makeup for ZA last night so I canceled the raid. No raid usually means no playing on Stoney. Why is that you ask? It may sound arrogant, but Stoney has become too leet for 5-mans. OK maybe not too leet but I struggle running 5-man instances without Salv from a Pally. My raid gear has a good amount of haste stacked: 96 Haste Rating and while that only translates to 6.09% more fastiness (did I just make that up? yes) that is before DST procs and flurry procs. I end up being completely unable to control my aggro--something I know all enhancement shamans face and our Ele brothers and sisters feel too. Add in the fact that I'm starting to stack leather thus making myself squishier and you get one instantly-dead shaman after an unlucky string of crits.
My options? I can run 5-mans in my PvP gear. It's a gearing downgrade plus with all the resil and armor I can survive long enough to take a few hits for the tank to taunt, me to pop a pot and the healer to toss me few heals. Or I can only run with paladins, but considering they are sadly few and far between in our guild that is easier said than done. I could also run instances completely devoid of Stormstrike and Flame/Earth Shock. But what fun is that?
Really though I've been trying to run heroic Magister's Terrace. I love running it with my guild because we have some awesome tanks and healers. And it's a challenge for me because I go in as one of the CC'ers. Yes, you read that right: I go as CC. For those enhancement shamans out there that are unable to get into heroic MgT groups because of our supposed lack of CC you are missing your unique, unbreakable form of CC: killing a clothie caster. Death is the best CC. My group knows I'll pick up the warlock; I usually rip him down maybe only take one unlucky spell in the face. Here's how I do it.
They key is to start with a Grounding Totem down. You have to do this at least 10 seconds before the pull to ensure your cooldown is up again. When the tank pulls there are going to be multiple caster mobs and you won't always catch your mob's spell in the grounding but you need to have it down early. For the packs on the lower level the tank is going to LoS pull for the most part, so start out peaking around the corner and after he pulls Purge the Fel Armor. He won't recast it, it will get him to pay attention to you and not the tank, and the slightly less spell damage helps. Once he's around the corner if your Grounding Totem has been sucked up already then drop another. Start beating on that lock. Hard. Now here's the trick: on his first cast Earth Shock him even if your Grounding Totem is down and would suck it up anyway. You have 40 seconds before the totem despawns so let it suck up the second cast, if there is one. You need to abuse the CD's blizz gives you. This way if he goes for a quick cast after the first one is shocked your totem picks it up and you have your ES ready for the third cast. The rotation is Grounding, Purge, LoS, Grounding (again if needed), Earth Shock, let Grounding absorb, Earth Shock.
If you let the totem absorb the first cast and you shock the second one, you're completely without means of interrupt on the third cast. And worse, if he gets a heal from the Physician or a Blood Knight you are now behind in the cooldown rotation and going to start taking Immolates and Incinerates. And the latter blows up the former making you one crispy shaman.
When there are Magisters in the group you're going to take a spell in the face because you can't control which spell gets grounded. But for the most part my CC-via-death works wonders. I HIGHLY recommend practicing on regular mode to get a feel for it. Once you do, you're ready to take your CC to the big leagues.
It's gotten to the point that I ask tanks to assign me casters in other heroic runs now. Since my aggro can't be controlled we decided to use my powers for good and not for evil! That rotation plus windfury crits on a clothie = Shaman CC
You read it here first! Shamans have crowd control! It's called: death, and it's unbreakable. Take your sheep and go home magey!
Part of the problem was that we didn't have the right raid makeup for ZA last night so I canceled the raid. No raid usually means no playing on Stoney. Why is that you ask? It may sound arrogant, but Stoney has become too leet for 5-mans. OK maybe not too leet but I struggle running 5-man instances without Salv from a Pally. My raid gear has a good amount of haste stacked: 96 Haste Rating and while that only translates to 6.09% more fastiness (did I just make that up? yes) that is before DST procs and flurry procs. I end up being completely unable to control my aggro--something I know all enhancement shamans face and our Ele brothers and sisters feel too. Add in the fact that I'm starting to stack leather thus making myself squishier and you get one instantly-dead shaman after an unlucky string of crits.
My options? I can run 5-mans in my PvP gear. It's a gearing downgrade plus with all the resil and armor I can survive long enough to take a few hits for the tank to taunt, me to pop a pot and the healer to toss me few heals. Or I can only run with paladins, but considering they are sadly few and far between in our guild that is easier said than done. I could also run instances completely devoid of Stormstrike and Flame/Earth Shock. But what fun is that?
Really though I've been trying to run heroic Magister's Terrace. I love running it with my guild because we have some awesome tanks and healers. And it's a challenge for me because I go in as one of the CC'ers. Yes, you read that right: I go as CC. For those enhancement shamans out there that are unable to get into heroic MgT groups because of our supposed lack of CC you are missing your unique, unbreakable form of CC: killing a clothie caster. Death is the best CC. My group knows I'll pick up the warlock; I usually rip him down maybe only take one unlucky spell in the face. Here's how I do it.
They key is to start with a Grounding Totem down. You have to do this at least 10 seconds before the pull to ensure your cooldown is up again. When the tank pulls there are going to be multiple caster mobs and you won't always catch your mob's spell in the grounding but you need to have it down early. For the packs on the lower level the tank is going to LoS pull for the most part, so start out peaking around the corner and after he pulls Purge the Fel Armor. He won't recast it, it will get him to pay attention to you and not the tank, and the slightly less spell damage helps. Once he's around the corner if your Grounding Totem has been sucked up already then drop another. Start beating on that lock. Hard. Now here's the trick: on his first cast Earth Shock him even if your Grounding Totem is down and would suck it up anyway. You have 40 seconds before the totem despawns so let it suck up the second cast, if there is one. You need to abuse the CD's blizz gives you. This way if he goes for a quick cast after the first one is shocked your totem picks it up and you have your ES ready for the third cast. The rotation is Grounding, Purge, LoS, Grounding (again if needed), Earth Shock, let Grounding absorb, Earth Shock.
If you let the totem absorb the first cast and you shock the second one, you're completely without means of interrupt on the third cast. And worse, if he gets a heal from the Physician or a Blood Knight you are now behind in the cooldown rotation and going to start taking Immolates and Incinerates. And the latter blows up the former making you one crispy shaman.
When there are Magisters in the group you're going to take a spell in the face because you can't control which spell gets grounded. But for the most part my CC-via-death works wonders. I HIGHLY recommend practicing on regular mode to get a feel for it. Once you do, you're ready to take your CC to the big leagues.
It's gotten to the point that I ask tanks to assign me casters in other heroic runs now. Since my aggro can't be controlled we decided to use my powers for good and not for evil! That rotation plus windfury crits on a clothie = Shaman CC
You read it here first! Shamans have crowd control! It's called: death, and it's unbreakable. Take your sheep and go home magey!
Labels: crowd control, haste, heroics, MgT, PvE
posted by Rich @ 7:35 AM
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