Healer.. because SHM TANK! What level? Lowbie, use a tank. Higher level, DPS. Or a healer if you feel the extra heals are needed
Healer seems wrong, since they contribute precisely zero DPS, and as a shammy, you can heal better than a cleric merc..... Tank, so you can heal the tank and play like a normal shammy, so maybe. Melee merc... much more DPS than the tank merc, but obviously, doesn't tank as well. Depends where you're camping, if a melee merc can tank well enough, go with that. Caster merc..... pretty much useless til they rebalance them like they did with the melee mercs.
Rogue merc. They more than double the DPS of the tank merc and tank sufficiently. Use your DBC to buy an extra merc slot and also have a tank merc in the pocket. The DPS will be lower, but it does tank much better in the event that you need it. Use tank merc armor for both mercs. No need to swap in the rogue armor. Spend your merc AA on HP / Mitigation because it will help all mercs. Once they get expensive, buy Melee DPS and tank mitigation AA. No reason to buy the aggro AA for either unless you find some sort of need. I don't play SHM. I box ENC, CLR, MAG. I favor War, Rog, Rog but I have used Rog to tank on plenty of content and the rogues tank singles just fine in T1 current content. Plenty of times I lost the tank to an over pull before CC and the rogues get the job done. I guess you could use a cleric merc if you or your pet want to tank, but I just don't see how you can DPS enough to make up for a merc doing 0 DPS unless you are just down right spamming heals to keep the melee mercs alive. Wizard merc is pretty much useless. Could be good for a class that can snare kite but probably not for rooting.
I guess the follow up question is what are you trying to do and where you're trying to do it. I main a 115 shaman and I have at least one of each merc type with me at all times. It really just depends on the target. If I'm by myself named hunting above ROS. I'd use a tank merc just because they tend to be long fights even with a DPS merc. Anything else I almost always just use a DPS merc. I'll use a cleric merc to put righteousness on me but thats about the only time i use that. I don't trust healer mercs to heal. I spend too much time stressing over whether or not the merc is going to do its job and it cuts into my DPS/ADPS because I'm hovering over an emergency heal button. I'd rather main heal and get another DPS in the group. I use a burn AE caster merc only if I'm farming greys for tradeskill supplies.
