The Shaman is the odd one out in Metin2's class roster. It is the only class that cannot wield a sword, and the only one that can hold a fan or a bell. [1] Its armor is called clothing, and its whole game revolves around intelligence: more INT means stronger skill damage and stronger buffs. [1]
At level 5 you pick one of two subclasses, and the choice defines the rest of the character. [1]
Healing Force: the healer
The Healing Force shaman is built around Cure, which restores HP and has a chance to cure negative effects. Cure scales with the skill's level and the shaman's magic attack power, not with intelligence. [1] Swiftness, the movement speed skill, is the same story: it scales with skill level alone. [1] The rest of the kit is fast thunderbolt attacks and party support:
- Attack Up - strengthens a partner. [3]
- Lightning Claw - summons a thunderbolt to your fist. [3]
- Lightning Throw - attacks with thunderbolts. [3]
- Summon Lightning - summons thunderbolts. [3]
- Aether Ward - protects party members against damage every 12 seconds. [3]
- Summon Lightning Boost - increases the attack power of Summon Lightning. [3]
Dragon Force: the buffer
The Dragon Force shaman is the one parties actually want. Its buffs depend on skill level and intelligence only, which means a low-level weapon with an intelligence bonus casts a better buff than a higher-level weapon without one. [1]
- Blessing - reduces the physical damage taken by the target, by a percentage based on the caster's INT. It does not reduce magic or skill damage, which makes it huge in PvM and far less useful in PvP. [2]
- Dragon's Strength - raises the target's critical hit chance based on the caster's INT. The most sought-after buff in the class. [2]
- Reflect - reflects a percentage of physical damage back at the attacker. It does not reduce damage taken, and Blessing diminishes its effect. [2]
- Flying Talisman - the fastest loading attack in the game, and it homes in on the target. Despite the description, it can only hit two targets if they are standing very close together. [2]
- Shooting Dragon - about a second slower than Flying Talisman, slightly higher damage, a linear splash that hits everything in the line, and a chance to cause lasting fire. [2]
- Dragon's Roar - an AoE circle around the caster, the highest damage of the three, the slowest to load, and the only one you can cast without a target. [2]
Fan or bell?
On horseback, the choice is made for you: fans are ineffective on a horse, and bells generally have higher physical attack value than fans of the same level and quality. [1] On foot, a fan gives you fast casting and quick successive spells. [1] In PvP, a fan is almost always the pick because its magical attack value raises skill damage, with one exception: the bamboo bell at +9 has more magical attack value than any fan. [1]
Stat priorities
Hybrid (the default). VIT and INT. INT feeds skill damage and buff strength, VIT keeps you alive. Most hybrids run Dragon's Strength and Blessing as their two buffs and any two of the three attack skills. [2]
PvP. INT first, full VIT at low levels, then shift some VIT into DEX after level 70 or 75 to push skill damage further. STR has almost no value for a Dragon Force shaman in PvP. [2]
PvM. Sacrifice INT for STR to raise physical damage on horseback. It hurts your PvP, but it makes you a competitive farmer. [2]
A note on names
The official Gameforge wiki calls the two branches Healing Force and Dragon Force. [1] Some private-server guides use different names for the same subclasses; metin2.gg, for example, calls them "Dragon Force" and "Black Magic". [4] If you read a guide that talks about a Black Magic shaman, it is describing the offensive branch of the same class.
Sources
[1] Metin2 Wiki (Gameforge) - Shaman
[2] Metin2 Wiki (Gameforge) - Dragon Force Shaman Guide
[3] Metin2 Wiki (Gameforge) - Shaman Skills
[4] metin2.gg - Metin2 Shaman Guide (private-server naming)