Everquest 2 Beginner Class Guide – Shaman

The class system of Everquest 2 is divided into 4 arch-types, and then further divided into alignment specific classes, making a total of twenty-four different classes available. Shamans are in the Priest sub-class, and have an affinity for channeling the spirit world to buff and heal their friends and debuff and damage their foes. The two Shaman sub-classes are Defiler and Mystic.

Defilers are the evil oriented sub-class of the Shaman class. This restricts the races that may play the Defiler class to the neutral and evil races. These include Arasai, Iksar, Sarnak, Ogre, Troll, Ratonga, Dark Elf, Human, Erudite, Barbarian, Erudite, Gnome and Half Elf.

Defilers are able to wear chain armor and their primary stat is wisdom. They are able to take a fair amount of damage from enemies, but in soloing situations, the Defiler must heal himself almost every time. Defilers are able to equip Hammers, Spears, Staves, Great Hammers, Great Spears and Symbols for weapons and can equip Bucklers, some Round Shields and Symbols for shields.

Defilers are offensively oriented and have a rather high amount of DD (Direct Damage) spells, DoT (Damage over Time) spells and debuffs, all to weaken the enemy and allow the Defiler to heal any damage taken. They also have a series of direct heals and a series of Ward spells. Wards prevent a certain amount of damage while active on the player. If the amount of prevented damage isn’t used up, the remaining damage that would potentially be prevented is instead healed.

Mystics are the defensive, good counterpart to the Defilers. They are only able to start in Kelethin and Qeynos. Due to this, the only races able to choose Mystic are Barbarians, Humans, Erudites, Half Elves, Kerran, Gnomes, Wood Elves, High Elves, Dwarves, Fae, Frogloks and Halflings.

Like Defilers, Mystics are able to wear chain armor and have the ability to use great and normal Hammers, great and normal Spears, Staves and Symbols. Their shield selection is the same also and their primary stat is wisdom. Mystics aren’t made to deal large amounts of damage to enemies. They are more designed to cast buffs and wards to keep party members alive.

Mystics have a wide range of healing spells, Wards, cures, buffs for all stats and even a fair amount of resurrection spells. Due to this, Mystics are widely sought after in groups and can easily heal well enough to keep the entire group alive. They also have spells that reduce the attack speed of enemies, which also effectively reduces the amount of healing a Mystic must do to keep his tank alive.