Shaman VS Mage: best in spell-DPS output

[ShasVa]

A plan I'm considering hinges on the answer to this question -> who does spell-DPS better: the Shaman, or the Mage?

[Ualaa]

The Shaman has more controlled burst, big damage when you want it. They're also easy to macro for both PvE and PvP play. They can heal themselves in their DPS form, have high armor and a shield. Totems add a ton of utility for a boxer, virtually negating fear and provide high resists, regeneration, spell protection etc. Also, you can dual-spec to a full blown healer. Far superior (boxed) class, for both PvE and PvP.

The Arcane mage is easy to macro, and unquestionably puts out higher sustained DPS. That is, until you run out of mana and need to drink. The mage brings the utility of ports, which is very nice. One-boxed, a Frost Mage is probably superior to any one-boxed Shaman spec in PvP; but boxing multiple toons, Shammies are far superior in PvP.

[ShasVa]

Thanks Ualaa. I was also wondering about PvE, and what class would be superior there when boxed.

I saw a youtube video last night of a bunch or Arcane Mages burning through Vortex Pinnacle. It was just spamming Arcane Blast, and I don't believe they suffered any casualties either. This lead me to consider that Mages could be superior to Shamans in PvE.

[Ualaa]

I really like at least one Elemental Shammy, on any caster based PvE group. They buff casters to a very large degree.

For the mages, the rotation is very simple. Straight Arcane Blast is high damage, or you can Arcane Missiles and/or Arcane Barrage, once you get the proc. That uses up your charges which resets the damage/mana cost of the Arcane Blast. Or just have Mana Gem, Evocation and conjured food/water and drink every 2-3 pulls and be inefficient on mana, but blow stuff up.

Tank + Healer + Elem. Shaman + 2x Caster DPS is a pretty solid group. If your tank is the Paladin, then the whole team uses mana and benefits from the Shammy buffs. Three mages as the DPS is very solid too, but I'd rather have 1 shammy in there.

[ShasVa]

In that case I don't think I'll be going with Mages. The extreme DPS is attractive, but burning through mana quick isn't appealing. Elemental Shamans at least have ways of restoring mana during combat. If gear and specs are correctly setup, I think ten of them could be a match.

Would Restoration Shaman make decent tanks? I had been thinking of setting two of them up as healer-tanks, able to Frost Shock bosses into aggression so that the Elementals would be (relatively) safe from harm and able to spam spells from a distance.

[Tim]

Pretty much for any heroic on up instance, you really are going to need a tank class to be a tank. Unfortunately Shamans were removed as tanks something like 4 years ago, so you'd need a traditional druid/pally/etc.

[ShasVa]

Protection (?) Paladins apparently make GREAT tanks, so I'd go with them. In a 10-box setup, I'd have primary control of the two pallys, whilst slave-controlling the eight elementals/mages.

Five box would be viable if there was a way to get Essence of the Forlorn outside of raids (there is for VP). So ten box is the answer.

EDIT:...unless a person five-boxed, and all five toons joined the same guild. Having five-toons to yourself would then only require five other players. Hmmm....! Lot to consider here.

[Ualaa]

If you're considering five-box content, you'll probably want: 1x Tank, 1x Healer and 3x DPS. You can run: 1x Tank, 4x DPS, provided the 3+ of the DPS can heal in their DPS form. Once you outgear content, you can run 5x DPS that cannot heal, and even if you lose a toon here or there, you'll beat content.

If you're considering ten-boxing the 10-man raids, I'd really look at 2x Tank classes (even if they dual spec) probably both tanks as Prot Pallies. Then go with 3x Healers, even if they dual-spec and you don't always have three healers, sometimes you will need them. Then pick up your DPS, to provide you with a variety of raid buffs, spell buffs, debuffs and crowd control options. Most successful 10-boxers run mixed compositions of six or seven classes. Healing is the main challenge, at least once you've made the dozen or so macros you'll need to defeat the mechanics of a given fight.

[ShasVa]

EDIT: Once again considering 25-boxing Elemental Shamans. Did the math and they could potentially do hundreds of thousands of DPS, which would come in handy with raids. Costs would be approx 380AUD per month just for the subscriptions alone.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by ShasVa

EDIT: Once again considering 25-boxing Elemental Shamans. Did the math and they could potentially do hundreds of thousands of DPS, which would come in handy with raids. Costs would be approx 380AUD per month just for the subscriptions alone.

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