Enhancement tank?

[Oyani]

I'm seriously considering respeccing to tank on my Shaman.
It would be pretty damn cool as there's like no other Shaman tanks.

The spec i'm considering would be this: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hVfzZVic0Exut

I mean, it might actually work at least in 5 man dungeons, and as OT in raids. Rockbiter poundings would be equivalent to a warriors sunder armor... there's no reliable taunt spell per se, it would be earthshock and hope you get aggro. But then again do Paladins actually have a real taunt spell? IIRC they didn't in Vanilla and they can tank fine.

Keeping stoneskin totem up and getting the armor bonus talent and you'll have about as much damage reduction as a plate wearer. Popping improved stoneclaw totem when you lose aggro on more than 1 mob, just to keep it off the clothies (though i'm not sure how effective as that totems taunt is pretty weak, might be better to just spam earth shock)

I'd like to give it a try...

[Theloras]

I'm seriously considering respeccing to tank on my Shaman.
It would be pretty damn cool as there's like no other Shaman tanks.

The spec i'm considering would be this: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hVfzZVic0Exut

I mean, it might actually work at least in 5 man dungeons, and as OT in raids. Rockbiter poundings would be equivalent to a warriors sunder armor... there's no reliable taunt spell per se, it would be earthshock and hope you get aggro. But then again do Paladins actually have a real taunt spell? IIRC they didn't in Vanilla and they can tank fine.

Keeping stoneskin totem up and getting the armor bonus talent and you'll have about as much damage reduction as a plate wearer. Popping improved stoneclaw totem when you lose aggro on more than 1 mob, just to keep it off the clothies (though i'm not sure how effective as that totems taunt is pretty weak, might be better to just spam earth shock)

I'd like to give it a try...

Paladins didn't get a pseudo taunt until BC and then an actual taunt until LK - in Vanilla we used Righteous Fury which boosted threat to our Holy dmg attack by 60% (Prot talents can boost it higher).

The reality though is that Paladins put out stupidly higher amounts of threat than Warriors to begin with and with RF going (talented or not), it's very hard to out agro a Paladin tanking - so a taunt isn't needed.

In any AoE fight, you will never pull agro off of a Paladin - especially if they are using Force Reactive Disk

That being said, give Shaman tanking a try and post your results and if nothing else, have some fun playing around with it!

[Oyani]

Yeah, now i remember how Paladins tanked. You would need consecration though in AoE tanking.

Shamans also do a lot more aggro than other classes already with Rockbiter and Earthshock. But we don't have anything like consecration... (un)fortunately fire totems bring aggro to the totem itself and not the Shaman. So what are we left with? Opening with a chain lightning targeted at the 3rd target. Then start pummeling 1st target (and 4th and 5th if there are any) with Rockbiter. Throwing an Earthshock if you lose aggro. Maybe not as stable as a paladin but it might work.

I will give it a try once i get my epic mount, can't afford it before then It will take some time though...

Problem is though it would never be possible on mobs with Nature resistance, as both chain lightning and earthshock would fail... so a Shaman could never tank Sunken Temple or Maraudon.

[illutian]

Rockbiter?

Hell, I'm pulling threat with Windfury...because apparently it likes to proc on the first swing and crit

[Aethelwulf]

Nostalrius is still in Patch 1.5 content-wise, so you can still AoE tank fine as a Shaman. To pull AoE aggro, your best bet is to spam heals (remember that you get no threat for overhealing). Paladins have their healing threat halved to avoid making healtanking a viable option, but iirc Shamans still have the full multipllier (50% heal:threat ratio while Paladins have 25%). There are two gear pieces you want to augment your AoE tanking. One is Force Reactive Disk, and the other is Invulnerable Mail. In Patch 1.7, Invulnerable Mail gets savaged, but before then Invulnerable Mail makes AoE tanking a joke for shamans since it has a 5% chance on hit to make you invulnerable to all melee attacks for 8 seconds. It also has 20 defense. Post-nerf it has 13 defense, 3 sec duration, and a 30 sec cooldown (as opposed to no cooldown). Anyway, if you attack, it breaks the invuln shield, but not if you cast spells.

For single-target tanking, if you want strong aggro, enhancement shamans can use Rockbiter with Ironfoe and Stormstrike (into Earth Shock) to build more serious single-target threat, but Ironfoe is a pain to grind.

Mana is generally an issue though so you might need resto shamans to tide you over.

After 1.7 your Invulnerable Mail becomes disenchant material, so you've been warned.

[Oyani]

Yeah i don't know if tanking by healing is such a viable option... you'll barely be able to get a cast in edge-wise unless you spec resto to get the 70% chance to not get casting delay when hit... the amount of healing your healer would have to put on you would get them aggro before you will ever get one healing spell in yourself.

Probably best to do as i said before, open with chain lightning then spam tab to hit all enemies in rotation with rockbiter, and use Earthshock as taunt and Stormstrike as mocking blow.

I'm going to give it a go eventually when i can afford it.

[Aethelwulf]

Yeah i don't know if tanking by healing is such a viable option... you'll barely be able to get a cast in edge-wise unless you spec resto to get the 70% chance to not get casting delay when hit...

The idea is that you spec enough resto to get the 70% chance to not get casting delay when hit.

[Oyani]

Yeah i don't know if tanking by healing is such a viable option... you'll barely be able to get a cast in edge-wise unless you spec resto to get the 70% chance to not get casting delay when hit...

The idea is that you spec enough resto to get the 70% chance to not get casting delay when hit.

What, you mean like this? http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hZVic0ExuzVchx
It seems too unconventional to me. I'd rather use stormstrike as warriors use their mocking blow.
Also if you're gonna spam heal you'll go OOM really fast and then what're you gonna do? It'll take a lot of heals to hold AoE aggro, not to mention the main DPS target will be totally out of your control... any rogue will have got aggro on that one in a second.

No, i don't think you know what you're talking about, i'll stick with my spec tyvm

[Aethelwulf]

No, I mean more like 0/30/21 with Nature's Swiftness. If you like Stormstrike then certainly Resto is less viable without NS. And heals are the only real ability a Shaman has for pulling AoE aggro. Also, for ranged classes you can position a Tranquil Air Totem so that they do 20% less threat while you remain outside the Totem's range.

As for running out of mana, I assume you're mostly AoE tanking trash mobs in an instance, so those fights shouldn't last that long.

[Skrofler]

I'm seriously considering respeccing to tank on my Shaman.
It would be pretty damn cool as there's like no other Shaman tanks.

The spec i'm considering would be this: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hVfzZVic0Exut

I'd like to give it a try...

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#hVfzZVic0Exut
Pretty much the same but I reckon Reverberation will be important for threat. Imp LSh does less damage per point and Guardian Totems isn't that strong.