Shaman

Similar to a Cleric, but closer to a tribal witch doctor, the Shaman can be found amongst the more primitive races. Her primary focus is healing, but she can employ many augmentation and offensive spells as well. - EverQuest manual

=Description=

The Shaman is one of the most understated classes in Norrath. They are well-rounded offering powerful offensive and defensive spells as well as buffs.

With the exception of the Iksar, Shamans can wear two types of plate armours in the world of Norrath. Iksars can't since it chafes their scales, and must resort to chain mail or the special Iksar armours they have crafted over time. This affords them a high amount of protection, which helps greatly when soloing.

Shamans have two forms of offense. Their most powerful damage lies through the damage over time spells (DOT's). Shamans get two powerful lines of these spells. One poison based, and the other disease based. They can stack these spells to achieve efficient damage output. Alternatively, they can also use their cold damage-based direct damage spells. These are good for adding in a little extra punch, or for fights of short durations.

In terms of defense and debuffs, Shamans have the most powerful slowing spells and resistance debuffs in the game. This greatly reduces the damage output of the enemy and also assists the entire party in succeeding in magical attacks.

Shamans also have the best buffs in the game, able to increase all statistics except for Wisdom and Intelligence by over 50 points at higher levels. This not only makes them highly sought after in groups but means that the shamans can be a lot more selective in what equipment they choose to wear. They also have spells to increase running speed and attack rate, as well as increasing hitpoints and AC.

Shamans can use almost any one- or two-handed blunt weapons in the game and have a limited selection of piercing weapons at their disposal also. Shamans can melee reasonably well with their buffs up, and with a pet at their side are capable of doing some serious damage. Downtime is also minimized with Shamans with both a health regeneration spell, direct healing spells, and a hitpoint to mana conversion spell.

Shamans are the only class that can do Alchemy, a trade skill that can help in funding the purchase of spells or equipment as your character progresses.

The downside to Shamans is that they can get repetitive. With so many awesome buffs at their disposal, they are always getting begged for spells. In dungeon raids, their main purposes are buffing and debuffing, with little mana left for damage. Most of the Shaman races are evil, which can make banking and resupplying cumbersome.

In order to be mana efficient Shamans normally use Damage Over Time spells. This normally results in kiting or a drawn-out process of rooting and DOT'ing. These strategies are ineffective against caster mobs which have offensive capability even while rooted.

Shamans can only charm animals up to mid-levels, and they only get a few pet upgrades.

The shaman class is an enjoyable one to play, particularly for those who enjoy role-playing. It is a self-sufficient class, which functions excellently both as a soloist or in a group.

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