Artefacts

TheSolnir

Hello!
I'm a shaman coming in with right about 10k retirement credits, and curious what to use them on.
Perusing the forums, it seems that most people recommend defensive artefacts first, so I compiled a list of what I think would be best, even if it's probably horribly wrong, and I'm hoping some helpful souls out there will let me know what to add, upgrade, or remove! 

Level 2 willpower regeneration - 850 credits

Prismatic ring - 600 credits
Level 2 reserve bracelet - 700 credits

Level 2 health sip ring - 1000 credits

Level 2 health regeneration - 850 credits

Shield of Absorption - 800 credits

Eagle's wings - 800 credits

Permanent Tree tattoo - 100 credits

Permanent Shield tattoo - 100 credits

Ring of Flying - 400 credits

Wyrmskin pack - 100 credits

Level 2 con belt - 1000 credits
A bunch of skills to transcend - 2000 credits
Total: 9300

Couple questions first: Do I need Aldar Diadem? Or the swiftcurse augmenting Skull pendant?
And to note, I'm mainly interested in hunting to at least logosan, preferably dragon, and participating in mild PvP, for now. I may get more into PvP later.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Edit: Misspelled swiftcurse.

Austere

You can probably get the willpower regen a bit cheaper if anyone still has a talisman set.  I'd try @Seragorn @Trey or @Dochitha

[Deleted User]

Hi! And welcome! I am in almost the same situation, and what you have listed there is very close to what I would have initially purchased if Shaman had been my first choice (started as Monk and jumped around a bit).

Defensive artefacts are definitely the way to go, as there's not much that Shaman needs that will scale offensively. This is also a benefit if you're like me and get restless with your class choice, because those artefacts are great no matter what. The only other artefact I would recommend out of the gate if you can afford it is a gem of reincarnation, because besides offering you some room to play with your race/specialisation, it also functions as a self-resurrect on the fly once per IG month, which is valuable for a lot of reasons.

I would recommend diadem as virtually any class. Shaman has a few abilities in Spiritlore that use equilibrium, and the bonus speed is useful for a lot of general skills. I have the first level of the swiftcurse pendant, and it hasn't made much difference - there are probably some applications for having extra swiftcurses or the larger jinx window, but I haven't found them yet, and they'd probably appear in the higher tiers anyway. You will not bash using swiftcurse, as even having the defense active reduces your damage output.

As an aside, shaman is pretty great bashing, especially if you have the artefacts to support you. I prefer it over dragon if I can tank what I'm bashing, and with a nice array of defensive artefacts you have a lot of choices.

Austere

Also, I wouldn't bother with a permanent shield. The fade time on them is stupid linear to be caught with your pants down without one.  If you insist on a tattoo, I'd go with a random fade one like boar, moon, or megalith. Moss has never been an issue for me, though, so probably skip it too. The other three fade a lot more in my experience.

TheSolnir

Thank you for the fast reply, @Issam and thank you @Austere for tagging some people that may be able to help. Obviously, any chance I could get any of these cheaper is a welcome comment.
As for swiftcurse, I was under the impression that the increased speed outweighed the lowered damage, so I'm happy to hear otherwise so I can alter my hunting patterns. 

ETA: Thanks for the note, Austere! I'd just heard those two tattoos are the best ones to make permanent. It seems my information may be a bit off, or possibly outdated.

Frederich

Can't buy a WP artie for cheaper with Retirement CR (since they're bound).

Austere

Frederich said:

Can't buy a WP artie for cheaper with Retirement CR (since they're bound).

 Good call.  I tried

[Deleted User]

Alternating between curse and jinx has worked out very well for me. I haven't done any sort of extended testing or math, but I've heard from more experienced players that swiftcurse DPS is lower than curse/jinx. This also frees up a valuable attunement slot that you would otherwise be using for the chance of a free swiftcurse (which, as it stands, is pretty low anyway).

I would also agree that you can avoid the permanent shield. You can also avoid the prismatic ring for now if you're pressed for credits in your budget, it's convenient but if you're not heavily PvPing you can probably just keep on top of the individual enchantments.

TheSolnir

Ah, maybe I was told to use swiftcurse because I don't have jinx yet. I wanted to be sure where the credits were going prior to using them.

Farrah

Other things to consider:

If you weren't already planning on transing miniskills (not sure if that's already factored in), I think they provide more resistance than prismatic ring for lower cost. Also worth noting that prismatic ring gives you resistance defences that can also be obtained as augmented items IG for gold (or free if you have a nice citymates). Prismatic ring is still more convenient, but it may be worth spending credits elsewhere.

Ring of the Magus, on the other hand, provides extra magic defence you can't obtain a different way.

Lvl 2 willpower is probably not necessary either, though useful for any class.

Possible alternatives are crit pendant for hunting, or gem of reincarnation/wand of reflection/robes of magi/mana regen ring for pk. You might also want a collared mount (you can buy these from people cheaply because of promos) and mithril spurs for balanceless vault so you can mount jump over walls easily.

Mathilda

There's a Spiritlore binding that, IIRC, reduces the willpower drain of curse bleed. That, plus even just trans Philosophy and a megalith tattoo, will make the willpower drain tiny (curse/jinx method, then Arius roar when mob shields).

With those defensive artifacts, Shaman bashing is next tier stuff. 

Aralaya

I would say get a crit pendant as an item, really useful for hunting.

I'll let the artefacty people do the other stuff

TheSolnir

Thank you everyone for your input! I think I have a way forward now, though I would love to hear any other thoughts anyone might have.

TheSolnir

Doing some very simple testing using a stopwatch, and assuming no criticals, no starting battlerage or battlerage cooldowns active, swiftcurse is slightly faster than regular curse for hunting with bleed without transcendent curses for jinx.

Calira

Simply having the Swiftcurse defence lowers the bleed curse damage regardless of the type of curse you use, so watch out for that if you're trying to compare them.

TheSolnir

I ensured swiftcurse was down for the regular curse testing, but thank you!

[Deleted User]

You shouldn't have to worry about this too much longer, anyway. It's an oversight that will be corrected this classlead round.

[Deleted User]

Issam said:

You shouldn't have to worry about this too much longer, anyway. It's an oversight that will be corrected this classlead round.

Good to know, thanks!