Matchups:
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Specific techniques for dueling specific character builds.
Sorceresses
Fire Sorcs:
These guys are the most basic character in D2. They teleport, and they shoot projectiles in a straight line at you. Thats it. Yet the duel can be deceptively tricky. Crappy fire sorcs, ones without massive tank gear, are exceptionally easy duels: Just drop a Volc/Bear combo and watch them die. Nothing at all going on there. In fact, even good sorcs you cross are often just 1 volcbear away from a Your Deeds Will Be Remembered screen. But it becomes tricky once you duel very good fireball sorcs. When they pack ES, or mass vita/dr/mb, and know how to telestomp against you, they can put up a notable fight. The tactics are everything I've listed in the techniques section; Lay down supression from fissures, and when you get the chance, drop volc/bear combos. This is not complicated whatsoever. HOWEVER, there is a trick. Against fire sorcs, you should never be namelock teleporting on them; instead, when you volcano/bear them, try to teleport directly BEHIND the sorceress. This way, your grizzly will still hit them, but you'll be out of shot of the fireballs. So namelock the volcano, then shift to just the side for the teleport, simple trick.
Lightning Sorcs:
Honestly, these guys are just weaker fireball sorcs. They attack slower, which makes them easier prey for your bear. Just make sure not to underestimate them, and to stack your resists if need be; they often have great deals of -resists. Use the exact same tactics as above; teleport behind them, etc. Lightning sorcs are more likely to be energy shield based, and often stronger at it, but using the proper bear-badgering, tech chasing is all it takes to drain them to 0 mana and win this duel.
Blizz Sorcs:
Without stacked resists, this can be a very difficult duel. WIth stacked resists (and ravens), its trivial. But if you die in a single hit to blizzard, this can be a real tricky duel. In the end, you need to completely outplay the sorc to win; you have bigger fissures which are easier to hit with, but their blizz will deal much more damage. Cater to your strengths. Get your opponent to start offensively blizzarding, so that they aren't camping and blizzing their feet, and then drop volc/bear combos for the kill. A blizz sorc can make this very tough for you with ES/200% fcr, but its only difficult if you don't stack your resists at all.
Orb Sorc:
They can't hurt you, but most of these take ages to break down. Grizzly renders you mostly immune to orb, but this duel will leave you frequently recasting your bear, almost every few seconds, since grizzly is the only way to penetrate their ES. Drop supression from fissures and keep them from teleporting too much with it, and then its just a matter of trying to land a volc/bear before your grizzly gets frozen. In the end, you'll crush them much faster than they can widdle you down, they simply don't do enough damage and they get blocked by your bear.
Nova Sorc:
This can be tougher than it looks at first. While fissures will fry them, they can win if you don't stack your resists against infinity/frost nova. Drop fissures at your feet, drag them through a few, and finally crush them with your bear. If you get trapped in nova/conviction without stacked resists, however, you'll be dead faster than you'd expect. Don't try to tank them out, but instead keep on your toes and dance fissures all over the place to drain their ES. If they're vita, its a laughable duel anyway.
Enchantress:
Just teleport in their face and laugh, ffs.
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Amazons
Bowazon:
I want to list these guys as medium, but I just can't bring myself to do it. 99% of bowazons just get mowed down by shamans. Theres one or two I've seen that can go even with me, demonstrating that with a proper player, they can be effective. But crushing them is trivial in pubs and such. There are so many tools at your disposal. You're immune to guided arrows thanks to bear, half immune to multishot, and you can plant a fissure at their feet and they have no choice but to run out of it, and a namelocked volcano will dodgelock them so they can't react, and a grizzly often 1-hit's them. However, its best not to underestimate bowazons. Teleport around them in a strafing pattern, going circular to the angles orbitting them. Drop a fissure from the edge of your screen under their feet, and then as they choose to move, move in for the kill with volcano/bear. A bowazons main tool against a shaman is strafe. Strafe is worthless at range, but if you teleport on top of a strafing amazon you WILL die, period. If they don't strafe, volc/bear owns them. If they DO strafe, fissure owns them. Outplay them and switch between the two. If they move out of a fissure, you can land your big hit.
Javazon, Light:
Nonteleporting javazons simply do not have a chance, and they're all the rage. Just drop fissures on them, honestly. It fries them alive. I've very rarely had to use anything else. And even if they teleport, fissures still fry them. But if they DO try to tele, keep in mind volcano will shut down their teleports pretty hardcore, since it will dodgelock/interrupt them. You will rarely need your grizzly in this duel, since fissure does it all on its own.
Javazon, Poison:
Same deal, honestly. Just be wary about teleporting into traps, and keep frying them. You can feel safer to hound them with chain-teleports in order to badger them to death, which works great if they aren't CS hybrids.
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Necromancers
Bone Necro:
Honestly, this is the most fun duel there is. Shaman vs Bone Necro is somewhat even; you'll be at a clear advantage, especially if they aren't mb/dr, but its still anyones game. Theres no secrets to this duel, its all player skill. You'll have to be plenty used to dueling with your Shaman to know how to do this. You will need to take full advantage of your fissure fields, volc/bear combos, bearstrikes, etc. Keep switching tactics to even up the score. This is an incredibly deep and involved duel. Keep overly offensive necros who are trying to telestomp you off your back with fissure fields, and always be looking to land your volc/bear combo. Now, remember that this is a duel that can swing any which way at any time and requires shifting tactics, but overall you should be trying to accomplish this little trick of an order of objectives:
1) Kill the clay golem with fissure
2) Take down the bone armor with 1 bear pass (even if it misses the armor breaks)
3) Volcano/bear before he recasts.
The key is to kill his clay golem first. If your bear strikes it, it doesn't strike the necro, and you'll have to recast him because of the slow effect. So you need to drop fissure fields to kill the golem, and when it is down, move in for the kill. This is just a loose objective you'll be trying at all times. I swear, just check out that video of the other guy I posted, to see what this duel is like
Poison Necro:
I seriously haven't gotten to duel enough of these to know for sure. But the ones I've seen, well, you need to be cautious; they'll drain you in 1 hit with nova, and kill you with the next. You'll be thankfully immune to fire golem's aura due to cyclone armor. But most of these guys can be blitzed with volc/bear and killled; if you are directly on top of them, the poison nova with not strike you, and thus you're quite safe. But its quite risky. Keeping them at a range and widdling them down with fissures tends to kill most of them; they'll be in such a rush to get to close range you can drag them through your fissures and exploit your superior range. If you get poisoned down to 1, just keep playing normally. These guys need 2 hits on you to win, and that second one could be any other spell, sure, but its hard enough for them to hit you with teeth/spear/spirit, luckily. Properly made, these guys can be a real treat to duel, but the vast majority of them are just free ears.
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Druids
Melee Druid:
You can't lose to a melee druid without rabies. Just drop fissures on em, drag them through fissures, hell, let your bear have his playtime like in advanced techniques. Its easy as pie. Without teleport, melee druids simply cannot win this duel, its laughable. Many have lots of HP and move quickly, and will travel at angles to you, so don't sit still, and as long as you keep teleporting to stay out of range, you'll be safe. The only way you'll die is if you get overconfidant.
Rabies Druid:
These guys have one trick they can use against you and one trick only- they can poison your summons, and it will spread to you. This is dangerous! It WILL kill you if you teleport around. So instead, beating them is quite trivial- just unsummon your grizzly & spirit, and duel as a 'naked' fire druid. They'll just be like melee druids without your bear, thats all. And thus, they will die, and die horrific burning deaths of agony, serves em right, those furrys with aids.
Wind Druids:
This can be a tough duel for newcomers to shamans. Your grizzly is *useless* against windies when their minions are up, it will never hit them. Your fissures get sorbed by cyclone, what do you do!? The duel, however, is rather easy once you're used to it. Simply start of the duel by supressing with fissures, to kill all their minions and weaken their armor. Just one teleport into a fissure and a windy has to fall back to recast. And when he falls back? Destroy him! Once his minions are gone and his armor is slightly weak, a wind druid is like a white boy in the prison showers bending over for his soap. A volcano/grizzly combo wrecks him, up his anus. But be warned that some druids will try to deceive you into stomping on their waiting nados. As a response, you should be ready to just let the volcano widdle them down; their blocking speed & fhr / fcr are conducive to getting stunlocked, and thus its not uncommon to land 2-3 hits from a volcano. Don't be hasty to drop a grizzly on their faces, you can do without it. For offensive wind druids who just love to constantly namelock teleport on you instead of dancing around outside your aoe, abuse them with matador tricks. Drag them through fissure fields, drag them onto waiting volcanos, and hell, go bowling. Drop a boulder and teleport into it and bam, all their minions die, they get knockbacked, take a big chunk of damage, etc. It ruins their shit. Wind druids are tough until you really learn how to duel agains tthem, its something experience teaches best.
Fire Druids:
You are a fire/summoning druid, they are just plain fire. Simply exploit the fact that you can go offensive and they can't. Play along with fissure vs fissure duels until you get an opening to namelock volcano + grizzly, and bam, its over. Offensively you have a HUGE advantage on the fire druids, but they have a defensive advantage with their higher fissure / geddon damage. Don't get fooled into chasing them, which is what they'll want you to do. Simply lull them into false confidance until you get that opening, and then drop the combo. You have the clear cut advantage in this duel, they're literally just a weaker version of you.
Shamans:
If you have ever witnessed this duel, as I have, you will know how unpredictable and insane it is.
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Barbarians
BvB's:
Whirlwind barbs that don't teleport? Lul. They have no chance. Just drag them through fissures, they die even faster than melee druids. BvB's are easy peasy.
BvC's:
The most basic BvC's are easy duels. Lure them into fissure patterns and they'll fry themselves to death as they play offensively. But this will only avail you against the weaker ones, the ones that don't know how to leap/telewhirl/chainlock as properly. A good BvC is a real handful. To win this duel, you need to not just know how to drag them into fissures, but also how to lance a cunning bearstrike on them. Anticipate when whirlwind ends. Catch them offguards, get them while they teleport around. Your grizzly deals huge damage and these guys often don't have entirely maxed DR, and never block, so your grizzly can do a number on them. BvC's can be a right pain in the ass if they absorb (hotspurs). The real key is to keep widdling them down with the fissures, and only bearstriking when their guard is down. No barb is going to mindlessly chase you through fissures, so whenever they hesitate, remind them of your 8500 damage friend. If they leap heavily, your only chance is to stay out of range and drop fissures from long range. It can be a slow, punishing duel, and kill you if you screw up even once, but you should still be able to land at least 20 hits of fissure on them to every 1 whirlwind they land on you. The worst part of this duel is that most pubby BvC's will simply return to town when low on HP, and repeat it. You'll have to frustrate them to really score a win, here.
BvA's:
They're actually better against you than BvC's, since you can't bearstrike them. So you need to rely entirely on fissure, which they'll be a tiny bit weaker against. But its the exact same duel as above, honestly. If they teleport slower and have less HP, just makes them easier to fry with fissure.
Throwers:
Teleport on top of them, volcano them, fissure them, whatever. Their projectiles will not hit you over your bear, and therefore unless they whirlwind, theres not much they can do. Just hound them until they are dead. Play highly offensive if they aren't a hybrid, since they can't deal with someone telestomping them. If they are a hybrid, look to widdle them with fissures just like they were a BvC, just be wary abou invisible axes/javas/etc. They will usually be easier to land grizzly strikes on than BvC's.
Singers:
Ok a good singer can actually make an incredibly interesting duel, and even a hard one. If they lock you down, you either WSG out of you die, and it is that simple. They often have such ridiculous HP's that you can't reliably tear them apart with your grizzly, which means the best way to really win this duel is to defwhore with your fissures and drag them through them until they are widdled down. Good singers will know how to chainlock and telestomp, which can make it incredibly dangerous to ever be on the same screen as them. They will howl away your bear, and they will leap to stun you in a large aoe. They are a serious threat against a shaman. One of the hardest matchups I ever had was against a singer. Fortunately, most singers suck balls, and you'll tear right through them. They are not nearly as susceptible to fissure as a whirlwind barb, and yet its your best tool against them. I love a good singer, if these guys were more popular, being a shaman could really be difficult. Its a tough duel, done right.
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Paladins
Hammerdins:
The most popular character on d2 (sigh) is a terrible one. They can't hurt you, they can't kill you. The best they can do is absorb you. Walk south, drop fissures, watch them burn. Its a robotic duel thats uninvolved and shallow, the opposite of a bone necro. Mindless namelock-tele-hammer pallys will do nothing against you. Your fissures rip them apart sans sorb, and even then volcanos/bear destroy them. Use matador techniques, grizzly playtime, etc.
Joderdins:
I do not define killing a joderdin as a duel. A joderdin is a hammerdin who loves to charge around spamming desynced hammers at random and praying you'll teleport into one. The best way to duel them is to ignore them. They can't do anything to you unless you try to kill them. Just drop fissures, widdle them down enough to make them akara/juv. Use your grizzly as an "Anti-desync Alarm"; if it starts running towards something, it means a pally is desyncing up to you. Just widdle them with fissures, never chase, and don't teleport all around blood moor. And christ, tell them to make a real char.
Smiters:
Smiters are easy and trivial duels, up until they absorb. Unfortunately, they all absorb. But then its just a medium duel. Drag them through fissures as a matador and bam, they are dead. No problems there at all. Just keep it up. If they have huge absorb, you need to start thinking outside the box, however. Use volcano matador tricks to wear them down, and always be looking for opportunities to land grizzly smashes. If a paladin namelocks you with charge, immediately teleport off screen and shake off the lock. Never try to dick around after being namelocked, and don't let them namelock you in the first place. Just play it safe and be defensive with fissures, and you'll kill any gm smiter. BM ones, well, just take patience.
Zealots:
They're just like smiters except that they suck. Since the only attack either has against you is charge, both smiter & zealot are effectively the same thing, anyway. Zealots tend to have less defense & stacked resists, unless they are melee. That is to say, they tend to have EITHER defense OR resists, and rarely both. So the low resist ones are just fissure food. Zealots are a hell of a lot less likely to absorb, and therefore not a problem at all.
Auradin:
Absorb them. Don't bother trying to duel em, its not a duel. Cyclone armor recast, tgods + rising sun negates all them auradins from ever widdling you down. After that, just duel them like they were a much much weaker smiter/zealot/whatever. Be wary of charge, and drop the law of grizzly upon their arses. If you don't want to absorb, well, I don't understand you since auradins are lame and pathetic. But if you really want, just keep recasting cyclone armor, and play more offensively; trying constant bearstrikes/etc,and shake off a few screens teleport whenever conviction sinks in. Haze them with fissures, but be warned that many auradins will be sorbing (dragon). If they are, its just more reason for you to sorb in return. And in a sorb vs sorb battle, you have volcano/grizzly left over, and they have a crappy crappy charge. You win.
Foher:
These guys can be tricky duels again. FOH is at a terrible disadvantage; they will always end up targetting your grizzly/oak/whatever, and thus have an incredibly hard time killing you. Unlike a windy, though you don't survive as many hits if they DO hit you. The trick to playing against a pure foher is to be utterly offensive when you are near them. You can haze them with fissures a bit, but when you decide to drop your volcano/bear combo, badger them like you would an ES sorc and do NOT let go. Just keep up the namelock teleports until either your grizzly or the foher is dead, then pull back. FOHers suck in close range. Be warned that if you don't recast properly, you WILL die to conviction + foh, and thats never pretty. So don't be ashamed to fall back and recast for a few seconds.
V/T's:
Lets not kid. Smite does nothing here. These are really just charging fohers as far as you are concerned. This makes them harder to stomp with your grizzly, but the duel is, obviously, just like dueling fohers & smiters at the same time. Drop fissures to haze them down, and keep up your grizzly. Only try bearswipes when they are not charging. If you see conviction active, it universally equates to "Sodomize me now with your grizzly", since it means they won't be charging yah. These guys can be a tough, cheesy duel. Often their main tool against you is just absorb, so get used to it. Overall, you'll end up just mostly widdling them down with fissures, so hey, crack open a beer and get ready for a long duel.
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Assassins
Light Trappers:
These guys are all over the board. Pubby trash defensive trappers are your bitch, since you can simply siege them with fissures and drop the grizzly bomb as you move. Yet offensive mind blast-primary tankasins can be a serious challenge. The thing to remember here is that a Shaman is very very different from a wind druid. You are not weak to trappers, not any more than a sorc or necro is. And that means you can have troubles, yes, but thanks to your long range fissures, its not terrible. The primary idea in Shaman vs Trapper is to keep your distance at first, and as the sin tries to "Fort" with a defensive trap placement, you drop a few fissures in there under her feet; this will get them moving. Now, when a trapper is moving out of her traps, thats when you've got 'er by the nuts. When they move out of trap fortress, drop a volcano bear combo before they can set up another 5 traps. Bam, damage up their wazoo. However, if the sin plays offensively by trying to telestomp you with mindblast/trap spam, it can be a neat little duel. Use defensive fissures to discourage this, and even walk an inch from your grizzly so that it will smack them down while they mind blast your face. This can serious convince trappers not to play offensively. Remember that every time their shadow master mind blasts your grizzly, you must recast it! This can be a lot. With high levels of mind blast, it will paralyze your grizzly. So just keep recasting, chipping away at them from a range, and seizing on them when they move.
Fire Trappers:
These guys can hand your ass to you. Play defensively, and be wary as hell. WoF can stunlock you horribly, and with high mindblast/etc builds, these guys are like ghosts who don't have to whirlwind you. Duel them like you would a ghost, but don't be afraid to risk a grizzly swipe once in a while.
Hybridsins:
Actually not as bad as they seem on paper. You don't need to be terribly scared. Duel them like you would regular trappers, except throw in more matador fissure tricks, since it utterly persecutes their whirlwinds. Landing grizzly swipes can be extremely rare against these guys since volc/bear combos will risk landing in whirlwind, so its more of a defensive-fissure-spamathon matchup. Whirlwind often proves to be more of a liability for these guys, when you start dropping fissures everywhere.
Ghosts:
Easily the hardest matchup for a Shaman. Ghosts are a right pain in the bum. You need to play defensively with fissures to get your chance here. This is really the kind of duel that you'll never win until you're quite good at the character, but once you are, its very possible. You're at a disadvantage, but you've got a great potential. To beat a Ghost, you need to wear her out. Fissures all over the place, defensive teleports, and they'll take damage chasing you and sometimes lose her shadow (if its not spawned immune). But you cannot win this duel with fissure alone. This is where you REALLY need to learn how to do the Grizzly Driveby to have a chance. To beat a good ghost, you must teleport on top of her and off again and let the grizzly do the work. The huge chunk of damage rips right through them, when fissure often bounces off due to sorb/etc. Really though, trying to explain this duel is pointless. You'll never win it unless you're great at a shaman already, and then you don't need me to explain it. It involves a large amount of grizzly whacking, and fissure spamming, and even volc/bear combos. Things that would see all out of place against a ghost, these are your greatest assets.