[2023] How to Fix Shaman

I imagine that updating Primalist, an already finished and broadly popular class, is very low on the list of EHG priorities right now. And yet, I'm posting this totally unrealistic wishlist anyway. I genuinely think there is a ton of bang for your buck in updating Shaman, because with a relatively minimal amount of new content you can achieve the impact of adding a whole new mastery.

It is not controversial at this point to say Shaman is lackluster. The reason for this is not to do with power in the abstract, but rather a lack of a defined and broadly viable niche. If Beastmaster is about companions and melee, and Druid is about transformation, what's Shaman about? What's the fantasy? Totems and casting.

I submit that we have two problems here. The first is that Shaman casting is not good. The second half of the tree is nothng special and Avalanche by itself is just not enough of a draw. There's a build there, I suppose, but it's not what you would call a robust playstyle.

The second problem is that totems are not a sufficiently diverse and engaging subset of minions to build a whole mastery around. There are two of them, and those two have a relatively limited range of viable permutations.

To the problem I have defined I offer the following remedy:

1. Create a new Shaman exclusive skill, a spammable spell. Probably cold with the option to convert to lightning or vice versa. It has to be a strong, build-around skill with diverse options. I think Frost Claw is the gold standard for what's needed here. Throw in a unique that converts it to necrotic damage or something weird like that if you're feeling generous.
2. Create a 1-point node in the second half of the Shaman tree that doubles their companion limit but disables all companions except storm crows.
3. Update the thorn totem and storm totem trees and give each a new branch that does something transformative. Maybe thorn totem spawns some type of locust-like minion? Maybe storm totem stops being a totem and becomes a channeled ability? I don't know, think on it. The point is that each needs a way to be built in a transformatively different way.

Right off the bat, #1 is giving us two builds minimum, one cold and one lightning. #2 will also give us two new builds at the very least, one straight minion the other melee (imagine that, a good melee shaman build). For #3, who knows. The sky is the limit.

With these three changes I think Shaman would feel brand new.