Shaman is pretty strong, but it's bad in the meta because of Face Hunter. Even your hero power is more of a liability than a help when you just give them a few more hounds. There are very little healing cards that work well for shaman, and most are too slow.
Shamans are mid-range beasts and pretty competitive late game, but their early game just blows hard.
Shaman is pretty strong, but it's bad in the meta because of Face Hunter. Even your hero power is more of a liability than a help when you just give them a few more hounds. There are very little healing cards that work well for shaman, and most are too slow.
Shamans are mid-range beasts and pretty competitive late game, but their early game just blows hard.
Shamans pretty strong? They're decent, but that's about it. All of the Shaman cards are worse than most other class cards and they have overload tacked on to boot. The whole class is just too RNG based to have a viable deck. The only actual competitive shaman decks I know of are Mech Shaman, Token/Bloodlust Shaman, and Midrange Shaman, and those decks were sparsely used. Shamans were most popular when all of the bots were using them.
Shaman is pretty strong, but it's bad in the meta because of Face Hunter. Even your hero power is more of a liability than a help when you just give them a few more hounds. There are very little healing cards that work well for shaman, and most are too slow.
Shamans are mid-range beasts and pretty competitive late game, but their early game just blows hard.
Shamans pretty strong? They're decent, but that's about it. All of the Shaman cards are worse than most other class cards and they have overload tacked on to boot. The whole class is just too RNG based to have a viable deck. The only actual competitive shaman decks I know of are Mech Shaman, Token/Bloodlust Shaman, and Midrange Shaman, and those decks were sparsely used. Shamans were most popular when all of the bots were using them.
Recently there was an egg shaman deck that went to leg 1 i think
Shaman is pretty strong, but it's bad in the meta because of Face Hunter. Even your hero power is more of a liability than a help when you just give them a few more hounds. There are very little healing cards that work well for shaman, and most are too slow.
Shamans are mid-range beasts and pretty competitive late game, but their early game just blows hard.
Shamans pretty strong? They're decent, but that's about it. All of the Shaman cards are worse than most other class cards and they have overload tacked on to boot. The whole class is just too RNG based to have a viable deck. The only actual competitive shaman decks I know of are Mech Shaman, Token/Bloodlust Shaman, and Midrange Shaman, and those decks were sparsely used. Shamans were most popular when all of the bots were using them.
Recently there was an egg shaman deck that went to leg 1 i think
Shamans do better in Legendary than ladder. Less rush decks, more chance for their strong tools to shine. It's tough to play on ladder because of rush decks. Some of the best cards in the game are in the shaman tool set!
Anyone else come across Druids who use Savage roar? I see it a lot and noticed how its a significant improvement to Bloodlust. I feel they should have switched them, Bloodlust should be the 3 mana 2 dmg, and Savage Roar should be the 5 mana 3 attack. Do that and Shamans would have a better time early and would actually use it, and Druids can deal with the higher mana cost card better. Also it costs 2 less mana and gives the hero 2 attack as well, it's kind of stupid how much better it is then Bloodlust
The issue with shaman, as I see it, is the lack of good class-specific early game. Paladin has Shielded Minibot, mage has Mana Wyrm, and hunter has their entire freaking deck. Shaman, on the other hand, is forced to rely on neutrals for early game minions. And while the 4-drop will be great, what shaman really needed was a sturdy 2-mana minion.
Whirling Zap-o-matic not good enough for ya?
Who on Earth plays that outside of mech aggro, and who else on the earth lets it survive? Shaman needs a solid two drop, not Face Hunter's lost son.
It is certainly strong enough to be used outside of a dedicated mech deck. WZoM is particularly strong with various other staple Shaman cards, including Flametongue Totem, Rockbiter Weapon and Powermace (OK - this one only in mech variants).
It doesn't, on its own, enable a strong aggro archetype but does offer superb early pressure in any mid-range shaman deck.
For sure, it is vulnerable to removal but this is true of the vast majority of 2-drops.
You are missing the point of why those cards are good early game, as opposed to something that is good "aggro" (knife juggler etc.).
What makes cards like Shielded Minibot good early game is how hard it is to remove, same goes for cards like Zombie Chow or Haunted Creeper etc... it's not about the relative power, but how well they can survive on board and establish presence.
PS. BUT WHAT ABOUT DUST DEVIL??? SO OP!!!
Stickiness is a superb trait and one which WZoM lacks - I agree with you on that score.
However, its offensive potential more than makes up for this. WZoM deals 6 damage per turn to the opponent's face and synergises well with other Shaman cards to improve upon this. When going second, it isn't unusual to deal 10 damage on the 2nd turn, in conjunction with Totem.
Do you agree that WZoM would be an auto-include in Facehunter?
I have reached rank 5 twice with shaman only. Once during Undertaker epidemia and last season. Powermace bro, just powermace can't stress enough how good is powermace.
It's hard to say. In constructed it feels a bit weak and unreliable. But If you look at the tournaments, Shaman sometimes has the highest win rate and has recently won tournaments. Doesn't that automatically mean it's viable if you have enough skill to play it?
Shaman isn't my favorite, but I think it's "ok" imo. The gripe I have is that healing totem should heal face as well and searing should be buffed to either 2/1 or have charge. It shouldn't be a normal 1/1 comparable to Pally's power because the randomness of not knowing what you're going to get should count to. It's the same reason Hunter gets such good value cards off the Animal Companion summon, it's precisely because it comes with the downside of not knowing what you will get. There seems to be a huge variance between the value of Taunt and Wind totem vs Heal and Serring totem. I mean come on... random spell dmg, random totem, random dmg on the fireguard, random cards off Neptulon, jesus. There's just too much randomness with Shaman.
Searing Totem could certainly do with a minor buff. It is the least desirable outcome for Shaman and needs some assistance. 1/2 would be my preferred option as this certainly wouldn't make it too powerful and would give it 2 Health as per other basic totems, with its Special Power being +1 Attack.
I'd also like to see a Quartermaster equivalent for Shaman. 4 mana for a 2/3 Totem which gives other Totems +1/+1 and Windfury (not as a battlecry) would be thematic and attractive, primarily offering burst rather than an enduring board. This would be in keeping with the different flavour of Shaman vs Paladin.
I'd also like to see a Quartermaster equivalent for Shaman.
I would actually prefer the other half of the paladin combo, a card that summons 3/4 of your totems, or all of them. That's one thing they need.
Another thing they need is a better 1 or 2 drop, something more defensive like Shielded Minibot. And it can't have overload, because it'll lock you out of your next turn if played too early, which will make it unplayable.
Lastly, Searing Totem needs a buff. All the others have the ability to get you out of a jam, but when you're at a disadvantage, Searing does nothing for you. It should be a 0/2 like all the others, and with the effect "At the end of your turn, deal 1 damage to a random enemy."
I'd also like to see a Quartermaster equivalent for Shaman.
I would actually prefer the other half of the paladin combo, a card that summons 3/4 of your totems, or all of them. That's one thing they need.
Another thing they need is a better 1 or 2 drop, something more defensive like Shielded Minibot. And it can't have overload, because it'll lock you out of your next turn if played too early, which will make it unplayable.
Lastly, Searing Totem needs a buff. All the others have the ability to get you out of a jam, but when you're at a disadvantage, Searing does nothing for you. It should be a 0/2 like all the others, and with the effect "At the end of your turn, deal 1 damage to a random enemy."
Just a note: Searing totem would be better standalone with the passive power to deal 1 damage to a random enemy, however it would be bad in niche situations (enemy Acolyte of Pain on the board) and it would also be worse when used in conjunction with Flametongue Totem. (FT+Searing would no longer kill 3 health minions, which would make it worse as a "combo" style tool. There's pros and cons to changing Searing Totem)
The only thing I agree with is a "Muster" style ability that summons a bunch of random totems at once.
Searing Totem needs a buff. All the others have the ability to get you out of a jam, but when you're at a disadvantage, Searing does nothing for you. It should be a 0/2 like all the others, and with the effect "At the end of your turn, deal 1 damage to a random enemy."
That's an interesting idea, but adds even MORE random to the RNG class. I think a 1/2 is semi-reasonable already. Not sure if that makes the shaman power better than pally in that case, though. But pallies can get 7 units and shamans only 4.
As much as I avoid playing Aggro decks since I hate facing against them, I really think that as of now, Mech Shaman is the only viable option. It really sucks that probably the most viable deck your class has avoids using the unique mechanics and play style that was intended for them initially.
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Unbound Elementalbeaten to it."This isn't a democracy anymore, it's a Ricktatorship"
This is why lava shock should be in your deck, if you do choose to run EE.
Shaman is pretty strong, but it's bad in the meta because of Face Hunter. Even your hero power is more of a liability than a help when you just give them a few more hounds. There are very little healing cards that work well for shaman, and most are too slow.
Shamans are mid-range beasts and pretty competitive late game, but their early game just blows hard.
Shamans pretty strong? They're decent, but that's about it. All of the Shaman cards are worse than most other class cards and they have overload tacked on to boot. The whole class is just too RNG based to have a viable deck. The only actual competitive shaman decks I know of are Mech Shaman, Token/Bloodlust Shaman, and Midrange Shaman, and those decks were sparsely used. Shamans were most popular when all of the bots were using them.
Shaku, the Collector gave me the Plague
Recently there was an egg shaman deck that went to leg 1 i think
Shamans do better in Legendary than ladder. Less rush decks, more chance for their strong tools to shine. It's tough to play on ladder because of rush decks. Some of the best cards in the game are in the shaman tool set!
Anyone else come across Druids who use Savage roar? I see it a lot and noticed how its a significant improvement to Bloodlust. I feel they should have switched them, Bloodlust should be the 3 mana 2 dmg, and Savage Roar should be the 5 mana 3 attack. Do that and Shamans would have a better time early and would actually use it, and Druids can deal with the higher mana cost card better. Also it costs 2 less mana and gives the hero 2 attack as well, it's kind of stupid how much better it is then Bloodlust
Shaman has powerful cards but bad aganist aggro decks so this the problem in ladder but shaman spells are really really good.
I struggle to think of a more powerful 2-drop than Whirling Zap-o-matic. For me, it ranks up there with Shielded Minibot, Knife Juggler, Mechwarper and Mad Scientist.
It is certainly strong enough to be used outside of a dedicated mech deck. WZoM is particularly strong with various other staple Shaman cards, including Flametongue Totem, Rockbiter Weapon and Powermace (OK - this one only in mech variants).
It doesn't, on its own, enable a strong aggro archetype but does offer superb early pressure in any mid-range shaman deck.
For sure, it is vulnerable to removal but this is true of the vast majority of 2-drops.
Stickiness is a superb trait and one which WZoM lacks - I agree with you on that score.
However, its offensive potential more than makes up for this. WZoM deals 6 damage per turn to the opponent's face and synergises well with other Shaman cards to improve upon this. When going second, it isn't unusual to deal 10 damage on the 2nd turn, in conjunction with Totem.
Do you agree that WZoM would be an auto-include in Facehunter?
I have reached rank 5 twice with shaman only. Once during Undertaker epidemia and last season. Powermace bro, just powermace can't stress enough how good is powermace.
It's hard to say. In constructed it feels a bit weak and unreliable. But If you look at the tournaments, Shaman sometimes has the highest win rate and has recently won tournaments. Doesn't that automatically mean it's viable if you have enough skill to play it?
Shaman isn't my favorite, but I think it's "ok" imo. The gripe I have is that healing totem should heal face as well and searing should be buffed to either 2/1 or have charge. It shouldn't be a normal 1/1 comparable to Pally's power because the randomness of not knowing what you're going to get should count to. It's the same reason Hunter gets such good value cards off the Animal Companion summon, it's precisely because it comes with the downside of not knowing what you will get. There seems to be a huge variance between the value of Taunt and Wind totem vs Heal and Serring totem. I mean come on... random spell dmg, random totem, random dmg on the fireguard, random cards off Neptulon, jesus. There's just too much randomness with Shaman.
Murloc Shaman is always viable.
Fuck Dr. Boom.
Searing Totem could certainly do with a minor buff. It is the least desirable outcome for Shaman and needs some assistance. 1/2 would be my preferred option as this certainly wouldn't make it too powerful and would give it 2 Health as per other basic totems, with its Special Power being +1 Attack.
I'd also like to see a Quartermaster equivalent for Shaman. 4 mana for a 2/3 Totem which gives other Totems +1/+1 and Windfury (not as a battlecry) would be thematic and attractive, primarily offering burst rather than an enduring board. This would be in keeping with the different flavour of Shaman vs Paladin.
LOL.
I'd also like to see a Quartermaster equivalent for Shaman.
I would actually prefer the other half of the paladin combo, a card that summons 3/4 of your totems, or all of them. That's one thing they need.
Another thing they need is a better 1 or 2 drop, something more defensive like Shielded Minibot. And it can't have overload, because it'll lock you out of your next turn if played too early, which will make it unplayable.
Lastly, Searing Totem needs a buff. All the others have the ability to get you out of a jam, but when you're at a disadvantage, Searing does nothing for you. It should be a 0/2 like all the others, and with the effect "At the end of your turn, deal 1 damage to a random enemy."
Just a note: Searing totem would be better standalone with the passive power to deal 1 damage to a random enemy, however it would be bad in niche situations (enemy Acolyte of Pain on the board) and it would also be worse when used in conjunction with Flametongue Totem. (FT+Searing would no longer kill 3 health minions, which would make it worse as a "combo" style tool. There's pros and cons to changing Searing Totem)
The only thing I agree with is a "Muster" style ability that summons a bunch of random totems at once.
That's an interesting idea, but adds even MORE random to the RNG class. I think a 1/2 is semi-reasonable already. Not sure if that makes the shaman power better than pally in that case, though. But pallies can get 7 units and shamans only 4.
You should be taking whirling zap-o-matic over dust devil any day of the week, god dust devil is just a bad card IMO.
As much as I avoid playing Aggro decks since I hate facing against them, I really think that as of now, Mech Shaman is the only viable option. It really sucks that probably the most viable deck your class has avoids using the unique mechanics and play style that was intended for them initially.