Boxed/Grouped Shaman

Discussion in 'Priests' started by Randomized, Aug 29, 2021.

  1. Randomized Augur

    So I’m doing the infamous SK + Shaman combo. SK I’m familiar with and comfortable with, and the Shaman…I feel confident in, but will need some more time with.

    Any who, I alt + tab and run the Shaman off of macros for the most part so I can keep my attention on tanking and pulling more mobs. What I’m curious about is that I’ve read up on people using their boxed shaman as their main healer in a group with no issues, while also being able to add in a decent chunk of DPS. And I’m wondering if anyone had any tips and hints and or set ups to help me achieve this. I’d like to essentially not run a healer merc, just use the Shaman, and run 2 DPS mercs.

    <macro 1> - on the pull
    /target SKs target
    /Malo AA
    /Slow AA
    /DoT
    /DoT
    /Twincast heal nuke

    <macro 2> - throw out some heals
    /target SK
    /ST direct heal
    /group hot heal
    /target SKs target
    /DoT
    /DoT

    Assuming single pulls, and how fast things are dying, the DoTs on the second macro might land on the new mob while the other mob is about dead, would that be adequate healing? I’d be focused on the SK for the majority of it. Pull with SK, dot dot, lifetap, switch to Shaman, auto attack, pet attack, macro 1, swap to SK, spam a couple life taps/pull another mob, swap back to Shaman and macro 2.

    Can and will top off heals as needed while on the Shaman after firing off macro 2. I’m not sure how efficient this will be and unfortunately I’ll be MIA from the game for about a week so cannot go out and test it. So figured I’d do a little research and ask around and see what I can learn
  2. Szilent Augur

    The shm nuke that procs Twinheal for the shm (Wintry Gift) targets a player, not the enemy.
  3. Tucoh Augur

    Tips:

    * Consider using inner space boxer
    * Consider adding a third char to roll with a full group. Bard, nec, mage, berserker are good choices.
    * Don't ignore the two AA punt / roots shaman get
    * Be sure to use your epic / roar of the lion and all the other buffs shaman get
    * Shaman synergy + the pulsing group heal combo is extremely powerful. Not sure if sk lifetaps will benefit from the shaman synergy or not.
    * In terms of DPS and mercs, you might get into a situation where you have to decide between a healer merc that enables you to use 2H vs a melee merc where you have to use a shield with
    Skuz likes this.
  4. Randomized Augur

    Good catch - just have to swap around the last line of the first macro and the first line of the second macro to make that work out. Gives room for 1 more damaging spell in there.

    Not a huge fan - tried it out before and, I know I didn't use it to its best abilities, but I was still better off alt + tabbing - had more control, so I felt, if things went sideways.

    I thought about it - it'll probably be a Bard or Enchanter honestly. But still getting my feet wet with the game after a bit of a break, so trying to box a full team from the get go may be a bit overwhelming

    Right, I had no intentions of ignoring the rest of the Shaman toolkit. Roar and Epic will be manual use as to not waste them firing at inopportune times (like my Mage not having a lower leveled DD spell memmed and wastes 8% mana to kill a fleeing mob >.<). Once I get more comfortable and used to how the group set up works, I'll change macros around to get things firing off at different/better times. Just seeing about getting some training wheels set up

    I would assume that an extra DPS merc would more than make up the difference I'd gain from sword and board to 2h no? I mean I fully intend to use a 2hander whenever possible anywho.

    And on the subject of mercs....when I last left, each merc had their "appropriate" merc gear. Now I'm hearing that the thing to do is just tank merc gear regardless of the merc. Why is that?
  5. Tucoh Augur

    Not sure. It's been a while since I parsed the melee merc. A bit (yearish) ago they seemingly accidentally made them quite powerful (like, several times more DPS than caster mercs?) and haven't nerfed it from what I know. With an shaman providing buffs they should perform quite well and you will probably want to roll with 2 melee mercs in most scenarios and want to invest in points in them with higher priority.

    However, don't be afraid to experiment with 1 or 2 healer mercs too in some situations. I don't know where you're at gear-wise but plate tanks are the most gear-dependent type in EQ. If you're doing what I'd do and limp toward the level cap with whatever gear you can scrounge up and minimal AA investment you'll have a lot of difficulty tanking until your gear / AAs catch up. This can be supplemented with healer mercs. Also don't neglect the Shaman's alliance spells if you pop a healer merc.
  6. Randomized Augur

    Right now they’re just Heroic toons. I made them, went through their AAs, spells, Discs, and set up some hotbars. My last 3 box team I made was SK/Ench/Mage and it steamrolled everything. Ran with 1 healer merc and 2 caster mercs. Never really had any issues, never needed to run more than 1 healer merc. My 2 accounts have up to 4 merc spots available so I’ll definitely make sure they’ve got one of each merc available in case I do ever hit that point of needing 2 healers.

    Once I get closer to 110, I also plan on breaking the shaman off from the box group and playing it by itself so I can fully grasp it in a group setting. May the lord have mercy upon that groups souls lol. In the 2 box setting though, I’d like for the Shaman to become the main healer of the group. If I do add in a
    3rd (probably bard for group synergy), I may go 2 melee and 1 healer merc and just have the Shaman as back up heals as needed or learn to pull a lot bigger.

    I’ve definitely got time and levels to figure it out :)
    Tucoh likes this.
  7. Ozon Augur



    I can speak to this (at least in part) I run (at times) a SK + bot (sometimes BST, sometimes SHM) both group geared. I am currently working ToV hunters, the incoming DPS from some named (usually its the DoTs/DD) can be enough that if I don't run Sword/Board I will wipe.


    Couple things my group is SK+Shm+ Cleric merc+ DPS merc in these cases, I am absolutely NOT the best at 2 boxxing, some weird issues I need to work on with my comp. But I don't use [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] atm. The DPS increase from the merc is very noticeable, and easily outpaces what I see when I use a 2h. When I say I get smacked, I prefer to not have to use Glyph in group situations, but its a thing at times. I will pop various discs, however overall my group DPS is low enough I might run through 2-4 various discs. If I die its usually a bad melee spike in combination of a DD or no cure of the DoT (I wasn't paying attention or tabbed to slowly).


    TLDR: Sword/Board on named is usually the best route, on trash not needed, on 3+ pulls, Sword/Board
  8. Neale Povar Lorekeeper

    ditch the healer merc and run 2 melee dps mercs and try this:

    Keep Spirit Guardian on tank.

    right before mob dies, cheetah AA and group HoT

    At inc, gift/squall tank

    AA malo, AA slow, Counterbias slow

    Epic/roar or just roar if epic is not up

    once all the HoT's are rolling consider weaving dots in between casts of gift/squall:

    gift
    squall
    chaotic venom
    curse
    squall
    bledrek's pandemic
    evil eye

    then just gift/squall yourself to victory.

    repeat from the top

    add spire/fleeting spirits/union of spirits/ancestral aid/spiritual rebuke/ spirit call ect...during emergencies or whenever is clever.
    bobokatt and Randomized like this.
  9. Neale Povar Lorekeeper

    also if you want to learn how to squeeze every bit out of your shaman...molo current group content with a tank merc for a couple weeks. Or solo last expansions group content with your pet tanking
  10. disclose Buffz, slowz, & healz.

    Slow & Malo: (This needs to be the first thing cast by the SHM)
    /alt act 3729 (Turgur's Swarm)
    /pause 13, /alt act 1041 (Malosinete)
    /g %T slowed and debuffed.

    Epic, Group Pact of the Wolf, Roar Spell (ADPS)
    /pause 12, /useitem 23 11 (Epic 2.0, must figure out which bag slot your epic is in, or this will not work properly)
    /alt act 619 (Group Pact of the Wolf)
    /timer 1800, /cast 12 (Spell slot can be changed to where ever your roar is)
    /g Epic, Group Pact of the Wolf(You can block the illusion under songs), and Roar!(can change this to whatever)

    DoTs(Will have to adjust timers based on your spells, but something like this):
    /pause 40, /cast 1
    /pause 40, /cast 2
    /pause 40, /cast 3
    /pause 32, /cast 4
    /timer 120, /cast 5

    Heals(Same thing as above, will have to adjust timers)
    /pause 40, /cast 1
    /pause 40, /cast 2
    /pause 40, /cast 3
    /pause 32, /cast 4
    /timer 120, /cast 5

    Also remove anything in parenthesis. They do not have to be in the macro Below is the macros without them:

    Slow & Malo:
    /alt act 3729
    /pause 13, /alt act 1041
    /g %T slowed and debuffed.

    Epic, Group Pact of the Wolf, Roar Spell (ADPS)
    /pause 12, /useitem 23 11
    /alt act 619
    /timer 1800, /cast 12
    /g Epic, Group Pact of the Wolf(You can block the illusion under songs), and Roar!

    DoTs:
    /pause 40, /cast 1
    /pause 40, /cast 2
    /pause 40, /cast 3
    /pause 32, /cast 4
    /timer 120, /cast 5

    Heals:
    /pause 40, /cast 1
    /pause 40, /cast 2
    /pause 40, /cast 3
    /pause 32, /cast 4
    /timer 120, /cast 5

    Hope this helps, I box a SK, SHM, BER, and ENC. If you need any help feel free to shoot me a message.
    Graag Baash, bobokatt and Tucoh like this.
  11. Accipiter Old Timer


    What does Cheetah do for you? Doesn't it have the same "make fragile" as the spell? What I mean is, doesn't it drop when you take any offensive action? I'm probably missing a side benefit of the AA.
  12. Randomized Augur

    Sorry I haven’t seen this response before now. I’ve taken a small break from my Shaman + SK duo. But with your proposed macro (5 DoTs and then 5 heals), does your tank survive the initial onslaught (I was pulling 2-3 mobs at a time)? I never had any issues with aggro so I’d throw out an HoT on the pull, swap back to the tank, establish more aggro/defensives, and then go back to the Shaman to load up slows/DoTs.

    I always threw in a heal after about 2 DoTs just to err on the side of caution and what not. Both Shaman and SK 2.0 would be used whenever possible of course and in that event (I haven’t started their epic lines) I’d be a bit more brave and do bigger/badder pulls. But asking about the all dot and then all heal macro for safety reasons haha. Would it be better to set up 2/1/2 DoT/heal/DoT?
  13. Repthor Augur

    The aa dosent have the make fragile so its just a pure speed increase

    As a side note you should malo b4 you cast slow to limit resist
    Tucoh likes this.
  14. Accipiter Old Timer


    I had no idea! I have a bard in my group so I don't need Cheetah but it's good to know.
  15. Neale Povar Lorekeeper

    correct. its just for the puller...unless of course you pull with a bard, or have a bard in group
    Elyssanda likes this.
  16. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    I mostly use a merc tank, which are admittedly crap, or I tank on my zerk plus 1-2 merc healers
    3 box of ber/shm/brd

    Shaman:
    Pre-engage - Growth & proc slow on tank if refresh needed then Group HoT

    Macro one
    malo, counterbias, turgurs, pet attack

    Macro two
    combo dot 1 (poison/poison)
    combo dot 2 (disease/disease)

    Roar

    twincast & squall

    epic/swarm/bear

    melee with 2hander
    Randomized likes this.
  17. Randomized Augur

    Do you find DPS to be higher this way? Or is it just more manageable since you’re not having to focus on the Shaman so much for heals?
  18. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    mostly this lets me get enough done with very low attention spent on the shaman, but I can switch up to a lot more healing very easily if needed, with a raid geared zerk main & a bard mobs dont live all that long and more than 4 dots from the shammy would just end up in wasted "attention budget" for me.

    I only run into trouble on stuff that hits hard enough to wreck the tank merc faster than I can get the mob slowed & extra heals rolling - but steadily working on levelling up a player tank to solve that issue.
    Randomized likes this.
  19. disclose Buffz, slowz, & healz.

    Sorry for the late reply, I always forget about the forums until downtime.

    It depends on your SK I suppose, My SK is 115, 27k+ AA, tier 1 ToV, augs ranging from EoK to ToV.(I don't have CoV yet, waiting until next expac) in ToV with my group he can take 2 at a time usually np. Even a named and an add, but I always hit slows instantly. The Shaman is my main, and I'm just used to that. The macros are fairly old, they probably could use some reworking in all honesty. I mean if you have an SK better than that, like in raid gear/chase loot, Artisan's Prize maxed, the earring in ToV, etc. I'd feel more comfortable probably doing it the way you said though. There's more than one way to box any combination. So if it works it's correct way. TBF though I'm not uber with the SK, I'm above average at best. I see some of these raid SK's and some just group only SKs that are doing some gnarly stuff. I just try to learn one new thing a session, and try not to forget it.

    I have both of the epics done up to 2.0 for the SK and SHM. It makes a huge difference. The SHM one is practically a necessity in group play. I'd assume similar for SK also. I don't feel it will be a huge issue. Because the SK has a lot of lifetap options at their disposal. So even if you kept the macros the same. The entirety of that macro is a few seconds.So even if you clicked the DoT macro and that's going off the SK should be able to keep themself up with lifetaps until the macro runs, then just hit the Heal macro afterwards. I hadn't had much issue, but I also have a BER, so I throw him in the mix too, and the Enc I'm pretty much using for CC. I mean there's also the option of a healer merc too if you're worried, with reactive set. But then again this depends on your merc too. A lot of people say they suck, but with a good amount of AA in them they're probably better than the worst player(at least stats wise, and possibly playing wise too)

    Tl;DR - Its rarely failed me to pull with SK back to camp, Slow/malo macro with SHM, Heals Macro(technically you can do these in any order, I just prefer the slow first), then back to SK to bash, taunt, and tap, then go back and forth between the two.