Shaman build - is Evocation focus/damage spell focus worth it?

[TheBlueWizard]

So, casual player. Only have a few hours here and there to play. Wanting to start playing a Shaman. Going for race of Svirfneblin as well for RP reasons and stuff, so that's more or less a slight hindrance to some builds I imagine.

Otherwise, I have a couple of questions as to the best way to build the character. Namely;

- is Evocation and damage spells a valid way to play the character? Both in PvE and PvP (not that I'm too bothered about PvP, but I suppose it should be taken into account)

- How decent is the character as a melee/ranged character with summon support?

- in terms of current Arelith 'meta', what's the most effect way to play a Shaman?

Normally I'm not too fussed about builds and happy to play something sub-optimal, and I'll admit that I'm not too au fait with the Arelith meta as it were, but when reading through all the Wiki specs of the Shaman class it seems to get a fairly decent amount of damaging spells.

Normally I quite enjoy a character that can make a big boom, but from looking at the Wiki's cookie cutter build section, the Shaman builds all seem to focus on giving the character Conjuration and Transmutation foci. Is there a reason to avoid the big booms of Evocation with the class and instead focus on just boosting and summoning?

Cheers for any help!

[Eyeliner]

There are some good evo spells but the problem with damage spells on Arelith, especially when they effect the whole room, is you usually just do partial damage and make all the enemies mad.

Conjuration has nice damage spells, boosts your summons and has two great disablers (stonehold and storm of vengeance) so it's considered preferable on a shaman. Transmutation is also good for entangle, spike growth and aura of vitality plus some others. Necromancy is another way to go too.

If it interests you give it a try though. It's not a terrible option.

[xf1313]

Agree with above, angry mob was the common cause of death.

Shaman has planner conduct, before then pice gsf conjuration as soon as u can, use buff and some melee/ranged to help with combat. Only cast if you can ensure no angry mob can get u.

Currently u can dip into ranger for melee combat or ranged, at 27/3 split, you end up with... lv 28 shaman and 21 ranger, similar applies for bab or monk dip