Resto Shaman 5.4

[1198Corse 0]

Hello! I am pretty new to shaman, just hit 90 a week or two ago. I have full Tyrannical for Ele PvP (initial goal) but now I am gonna try my hand at Resto PvE as well. I have been looking around and see vastly different opinions on stat weights, and since these forums were a major help with my monk I thought I should ask here.

 

What are the ideal stat weights for 5.4 Resto Shaman PvE?

 

Here is my Askmrrobot page for my shaman, 

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/usa/durotan/bscrub

 

I know I am in essentially full Tyrannical Ele gear, though I am running LFRs and such to fix that. Despite my gear, what would you recommend I gun for stat weight wise? Help!

[Stoove 347]

Hi there Corse,

 

The stats for Resto are really very even, and you will certainly find that depending on different things your weights will change. Personal preference is also definitely a factor. Here is a list of things to consider;

 

1. Gear Level - The lower your gear level, the less you will like Haste (which is usually considered "Mana Negative"). This is because your Spirit is too low to sustain very high cast-rate rotations. "Low" counts as about ilvl 500 and below for these purposes. By ilvl 520 you can start to stack Haste if you prefer. The alternatives are Crit and Mastery - it is often advisable to have a nice distribution of these.
2. Average HP Levels - Mastery is a very powerful stat for Resto, but it comes at a cost; When the average health of a raid is usually above a certain threshold, the more Mastery you have the more stats you are wasting. The threshold for Crit overtaking Mastery is about 67%. Additionally, after 50% Mastery you tend to waste any more stat points you put into Mastery.
3. Raid Size & Spell Distribution - these two go hand in hand; in 25-man you tend to cast more multi-target spells, which gain more benefit from Mastery relative to Crit. The reason for this is your Ancestral Awakening passive, which gives you extra healing when your single-target heals hit. In 25s, you do much fewer single-target heals than in 10s or 5-mans.
4. Preference - Different variations on play style (everyone has their own idiosyncrasies) make different stats attractive. I used to prefer getting more healing from Ancestral Awakening (so I used to stack Crit), but I currently prefer Haste because it keeps me competitive at higher gear levels in progression raiding. There is by no means a perfect answer to this.
5. The Legendairy Meta Gem - Seriously, this thing is insane. If you get it, it occasionally lets all your spells cast in a 4s window be mana-free. Haste makes the proc better by 1) increasing the frequency of procs, and 2) increasing the number of casts you get off while the proc is active. It allows you to use less Spirit, and the more Haste you have the more Spirit you can lose. I currently value it at around 3k Spirit (I have about 9k Haste to make the most of it - only recommended for "high" gear levels).
6. Haste Breakpoints - These are specific values of Haste which will gain you an extra tick (for free) in a specific healing spell (e.g. Riptide). The usefulness of this varies, but a typical point people aim for is 12.5%. That's a reasonable one for low gear levels or low-priority Haste. At high Haste levels, you can see people stacking up to 30% or more! Taste comes into this - I am personally of the opinion that the breakpoints for Earthliving and Healing Totems are not worth chasing (this is a complex issue).

There are lots of different factors, and it might help to know what your PvE setting is (raid size, difficulty, fellow healing classes, and whatever else you can think of). In general though, the answer is really to play around and find what works best for you. Eg: some people like to stack 10k Spirit, some prefer 15k Spirit, I prefer 12.5k. It's a matter of taste and circumstances, so experiment.

 

One other thing; unless you decide that your stat priority matches what Mr. Robot's default settings are, I'd just reforge and gem the best you can without him until you learn to use the "Edit Weights" button.

 

If you want to peruse my setup, you can find my profile here. Warning: my ilvl is somewhere around the 540 mark right now - I would not recommend my build for an ilvl below ~520.

 

Best of luck! :)

[Krakir 28]

1. Head over to Totemspot and find the Hastebreakpoints cards. Find a hastepoint that you can reach with your gear.

2. When you've reached a haste point go for crit/mastery

3. Go spirit until you feel comfortable with your regen levels. You should be ooming at the end of the fight. If you have too much mana left, you either have too much regen or you're not healing as much as you could.

 

Basic rotations for PvE

1. Keep ES 100% up

2. Keep Tidal Waves buff 100% up.

3. Practice your uptime on HST.

4. Cast CH on riptide targets.

5. Practic positioning HR,

7. Learn the fights so you can time your CDs.

[Stoove 347]

1. Head over to Totemspot and find the Hastebreakpoints cards. Find a hastepoint that you can reach with your gear.

 

You don't even have to go to Totemspot for Haste breakpoints, they are here in the Icy Veins Resto Shaman Guide! :)

[1198Corse 0]

I am familiar with stat weights, various haste breakpoints, and logs. I have not yet completed anything worth logging on my shaman, or I would supply one. I am currently ilvl 500, still mostly elemental tyrannical gear with as much LFR 502s as I have managed to put together. I frequently am top healer in LFR, and have yet to run into any mana issues that weren't solved easily enough with some lightning bolts here or there. My only real question at this point is: At which points ilvl wise would you recommend going for a crit heavy build with x haste breakpoint, Then for the next say 520 I use a higher haste breakpoint before transitioning into a build like Stoove's current around 535. 

 

Stat weight figures would be even easier, as I am quite familiar with Askmrrobot's little details to get everything correct. 

 

Raid wise:

I will be raiding 10 mans, likely with a much better geared legendary cloak Resto druid. If necessary we have other alternatives for a third healer, but I do not know which would be chosen. Our tanks are Prot Paladin & Guardian Druid. I have experience as a Mistweaver Monk healing ToT heroics with the druid, i'm only switching classes. 

 

I will post a log of the first Flex I get into to give a better idea of where I am and where you guys think I need to be stat wise or rotationally. 

 

Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it!