The Long Standing Issue of Shaman and PI

If you haven't noticed the recent trend around here lately, there's been relentless amounts of drama, **** talking, and anything and everything to do with Europe vs. USA in terms of 5v5 talent. Thanks to CLC, most of the fued was put to rest when they finally produced some much awaited footaged of some high-end 5v5 play. And even though it spawned its own seperate strings of drama, who could possibly complain about seeing more of what has been desired for months?

Now, it just so happens that I was sent a link to even more footage of some CLC play (well...sortof). Kollektiv released a new video with footage of a chunk of games of his team (Ohnoes, Kollektiv, Csik, Dymeira, Kasj, armory link here) against a half CLC team (the point selling team with Crysalid, Inactive, Krslol, Lickerz and Erellnoh(shoutout)). Now, don't forget this was a point selling team from CLC, not their standard lineup, and it's blatently clear that these games are hardly representative of their normal strength.

This movie points out a couple of important things that I feel haven't been portrayed as well in other footage. As with all of Kollektiv's movies, the quality is top notch, the music is comprised of typical PVP tracks, the viewability is great, and the UI is clean and simple. What this movie really brings to the table is a clear view into how ridiculously overpowered Shaman damage can be when combined with PI and a Warrior. Now before I continue, you can find the video here: Recalcitrant VS. CLC sell

Recalcitrant runs the season 2 standard 2345, and obviously can play it quite efficiently, as they've managed to break 2200 with the countless number of 2346 teams and incredibly anti-mage hunter/lock combos. Having played with a Mage for the majority of season 3, I can't tell you how ridiculously stupid it is how much they can get not only torn apart, but made almost completely useless whenever they are exposed to Hunters. Add a Warrior into the equation, as well as spammable tongues,and well..yeah. Regardless, I have to give them some credit for managing to be that successful with it.

The first couple of matches show a pretty neutral style on behalf of Kollektiv. A lot of good purging, well timed rank 1 ES's, and damage when necessary. However, there's an obvious playstyle difference between both teams, and while I think the video isn't exactly the best to use in terms of a deciding factor into which is better, there are a couple of important points. Kollektiv often prefers to back up heal, spamming non-stop, as opposed to relentless offensive pressure like Lickerz does from what can be seen in the video. I can understand possibly doing it sometimes, but there are a couple of points in the movie where it seemed like the extra heals weren't necessary, and more offensive pressure could have accomplished the same thing, if not more.

Later in the movie he switches to a much more aggressive style of play, and I think it works more efficiently for them as a team. In the end, he has a good sense of when to purge, great timing with his ES's, as well as keeping up with his totems.

The fights basically come down to who's mage dies first, or random swaps to inactive followed by ridiculous damage. While Ohnoes seems to be the last man standing in terms of mages, there are a couple questionable moves made by Erellnoh, such as completely outranging Crys and Krslol in the first clip (you can see Crsyalid having to stop casting twice to get within range to heal) followed by Losing them down the stairs into the starting room, and generally playing way too much out in the open (which you can especially see in the second to last clip when he does two giant, wide laps around the tomb). So because of this, it's again, hard to say which stlye of Shaman play is the most efficient based on this movie.

In the second clip, which I think is one of the most important clips of the movie, you can see one of the finest examples of how outrageous PI and Shaman are when combined. Shortly after the fight starts, Kollektiv receives a well timed PI, and unloads seven thousand damage into Inactive instantly. I have no idea how, but he managed to stay alive. If there had been even 1-2k damage from another source, it would have been entirely impossible for him to survive, regardless of his playing ability. Balanced, right?

A lot of people feel that PI lust and shaman are counterable, but here we have one of the best Priest/Shaman duo currently playing, who are both quite efficient at removing lust and PI on Shaman(which can be seen in the clips) yet because of the nature of PI, it is completely unstoppable sometimes unless you tunnel vision the shaman non-stop If you still think the combination is balanced after watching this, I don't know what to tell you.

Now, before you jump in and say, "DONT KILL SHAMAN IN THE ONLY BRACKET THEY'RE GOOD IN", understand that I think it almost entirely comes down to an issue with PI, not Shaman. I've discussed solutions to the issue in articles from more than a month ago, and as it stands now, the issue still exists. You may also say that it's somewhat of a biased perspective considering the damage was on a Warrior in zerker stance (Note :NO DEATHWISH), but even considering that, there's no arguing for it being this powerful.

Another issue that can be seen in this video, which I'm sure anyone who plays with a mage is aware of, is the easability in killing Water Elementals, which really destroys mage efficiency.

In the third clip, once again we can see how awesome RNG is when Inactive get's swapped to after his team uses PS,  get's imp. Hamstrung and blown to hell.

The movie was great, as can always be expected from Kollektiv, and it makes me look forward to and hope that there will be footage from the upcoming 5v5 tournament that is as well produced as this.

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