Resto Shaman: INT vs MP5

This is a guest post by Chloebelle, a Resto Shaman helping you decide between MP5 or Int as the stat to aim for

There is something that feels really dirty when you start stacking intellect. Like that’s what you would do if you knew nothing but what was on the WoW Tool Tips.

For so long MP5 was vital to ensuring you could last an entire fight. Now, thanks to Replenishment, intellect has stepped into the spotlight.

Replenishment restores .25% of max mana every second. If you have an 18k mana pool then you are getting 45 mana a second or 225 extra mp5. If you have a mana pool of 20k then you are getting 50 mana a second or 250 mp5. That is a lot of additional mana.

Solely looking at gems, check out what intellect could do for you:

Ignoring socket bonuses – if the average person has 7 sockets (not including meta) all gemmed with blue quality intellect gems they would have 123 (including 11 with talent) intellect, 1845 mana, 18 spell power (with talents), 1.5% to crit and 23 extra mp5 from a replenishment buff.

If you gem all your sockets with blue quality royal twilight opal then you have 63 sp and 21 mp5 (but you don’t rely on the buff). Less mp5, less mana, less crit, but 45 more spell power. If you socket all 6 mp5 gems, then you would get 42 mp5. I know it’s not realistic to think that you would socket all one way or another – but just as an idea.

Don’t forget that shamans also have Water Shield and mana stream to that will boost mp5 another 185 at least. That doesn’t even count talent points and glyphs that would increase it even more. On top of this, our gear has a great deal of MP5 on it already. Don’t waste a gem slot on 3 or 6 mp5. Use the slot to increase your intellect and let your raid make up do its job. Let the Ret Pallies, Hunters, and Shadow Priests handle your mana regen while you concentrate on healing.

As you gear up you are going to notice that you are rarely going to run out of mana. If this is the case, you can start replacing some of your intellect gems for haste or crit or more SP, depending on how you like to play. Chain heal healers will most likely enjoy haste, while Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave healers will most likely enjoy crit.

If you are guaranteed to have the replenishment buff – socketing for intellect is the smartest solution.

On the other hand, if you don’t have the buff – your larger mana pool will likely not make up for the mp5 and SP you will miss.

8 thoughts on “Resto Shaman: INT vs MP5”

  1. There is another solution that accomplishes both goals. Stacking int is good, but if you completely ignore MP5 you’re going to be cutting yourself short. Added gems like Dazzling Forest Emerald ( http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40094 ) Make it very easy to balance the both. It also ensures that you can roll between groups and raiding with the replenishment buff and without. Can’t always rely solely on the raid makeup to compensate for the mana regen. I choose to look at it as kind of a bonus to my mana regen already =D. I will disagree that intellect has stepped into the spotlight in place of MP5, I believe the two are just simply sharing the lime-light like the couple they should have always been.

    Lodurs last blog post.."I know what you’re thinking, but Naxxramas was merely a setback"

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  2. I see some resto shaman walking around with over 300 unbuffed MP5. It seems like a bit of a waste to me. MP5 isn’t bad, it’s just not as effective as INT. It’s ok to keep an MP5 set for those 10-mans without a replenisher but even then you should be okay. Just keep refreshing water shield and don’t spam heals if there’s no need for it.

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  3. Someone has been poking around in my diary again….

    Every day I log on, and every day there is a guest post that has to deal with my current dilemma.

    Ok, this one doesn’t deal with “my” dilemma, but the dilemma of a newly 80 resto shammy, and I’ve spent the past few hours surfing forums and blogs for any info on what gear, what stats, where, etc.

    I appreciate the guidance on intel vs. mp5.

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  4. I wholeheartedly agree. Healing mail has a ton of mp5 on it already, and that adds up. Likewise, gemming for mp5 provides a relatively low bonus to your overall mp5 simply because mp5 gems have such a small bonus (+3 or 6 each, like you said.) Once you hit the “INT cap” (so to speak, the point at which you have enough mana to keep you going and desire other stats like SP and crit), switching out an INT gem here or there can really rack up some additional stats. From gems, +21mp5 is arguably never worth 63 SP.

    Conspiracys last blog post..Get Your Eyes Out of Your Addons

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  5. Posted by Elitist Jerks previously:

    Although no stat weights are currently available, many shaman will probably be stacking Intellect (at least for early content through 25-man Naxx)

    1) Ancestral Knowledge (AK) now affects Intellect so each point of Intellect is really 1.1
    2) Shaman now have talents that boost crits or proc on crits
    3) Nature’s Blessing converts up to 15% of your Intellect into Spellpower
    4) Mana restored from Mana Tide is based on your maximum mana
    5) Replenishment is based on your maximum mana

    10 Intellect = 6 mp5 if you have a 5-minute fight with Mana Tide and 100% uptime from Replenishment.

    10 Intellect also gives 3.3 crit rating and 1.8 spell power

    Intellect gives mana from three different sources. Four if you include inproved water shield procs.

    No question…….Int>Mp5 for stacking.

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  6. Thanks for the tips on leveling faster. I was wondering if you could show which spec and talents that you picked for leveling to 80. I currently have an 80 human priest(disc) but I’m about to start leveling an undead priest from 70-80 and would like to see which talent’s you felt were best for efficiency.

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