Spirit Shaman school

[Sun Wukong]

You should mention Emerald Boots in that build as those grant +3 Charisma, +3 Dodge, and Extra Turning. Bought from the epic merchants in both UD and Surface.

Also, you need to get one more level of Spirit Shaman prior to level 20. Spirit Shamans get level 7 spells at Spirit Shaman 14, not 13. Hence the Hierophant levels get moved a bit.

As for Hierophant, you could settle for 8 levels as Spell Power III does not improve your spell DCs any further. This lets you get Spirit Shaman 19, for Favored of the Spirits, which is a contingency heal. It can literally save your character's bacon.

[Steve]

High DC SS is a PvP build, really. It CAN be good for PvE, but it requires a very specific type of "corral then kill" the mobs, and that isn't for everyone. It certainly isn't for me—I know that a buffed up SS is very strong in melee, and once you support it with epic gear available from merchants, you are golden.

Melee SSs also do not run out of spells. Like, never, in a Rest timer. Even in the Epics. And, if you go the route of SS melee you can make really good use of Shapechange, and in various circumstances, just ROFLSTOMP content to your hearts desire, even solo.

[Sun Wukong]

High DC SS is a PvP build, really. It CAN be good for PvE, but it requires a very specific type of "corral then kill" the mobs, and that isn't for everyone. It certainly isn't for me—I know that a buffed up SS is very strong in melee, and once you support it with epic gear available from merchants, you are golden.

A DC Spirit Shaman learns enough spells per spell level to squeeze in that Shapechange.

But yeah, the typical method of killing is to sit underneath Storm of Vengeance with high AC and immunity to almost everything in game. Maybe fling a few spells to make the mobs around you go down slightly faster.

But again, the biggest flaw of the DC shaman is the road to get those high level ease of use spells. Medium BAB with only weapon EB to Attack Rolls can be bit sluggish to level up. (RCR to level 20... )

Melee SSs also do not run out of spells. Like, never, in a Rest timer. Even in the Epics. And, if you go the route of SS melee you can make really good use of Shapechange, and in various circumstances, just ROFLSTOMP content to your hearts desire, even solo.

I take that you mean a wisdom based Zen Archery Spirit Shaman with Shapechange for melee. As for pure melee shamans with high strength... Well... depends on your build and how often you get dispelled. That high strength often comes at the cost of wisdom, hence slightly less spells per day.

[Steve]

A SS with 19 WIS (16 base + 3 from item) has 6 castings of each Spell Level 1–9
(base, not counting any items that may grant Bonus Spells). That is my SS setup, and I never ever ever run out of spells before I need to Rest. Even with a CL of 26, I'm only getting dispelled infrequently, though...when it does happen, it really sucks!

But interestingly enough, in the Epic levels, a Toon is dispelled less, than the mids or the lows. Maybe it is just my anecdotal experience or I'm just so averse to being dispelled I steer clear of Areas with caster mobs. Can't say for sure.

My SS multi-class build has BAB of 26. I RCR'd into the build at lvl 15, so maybe the earlier levels would have been harmful. But since one can just do Quests for 4 months and breeze through the mid levels without much worry—just a few Invisibility potions for waltzing through the difficult CR areas—and there is no problem whatsoever.

In general, Leveling on BGTSCC is easy peasy. Sure, it takes Time, but really, very little effort, even if going solo. If you catch up with a Group often enough, you can both watch a movie and grind to 30 without much trouble. If your Toon dies, every Tom, (person) and Harry has a Resurrection scroll, and no RP needed.

[Sun Wukong]

If that is an old character, the server used to have a lot more dispells on it. Additionally, once you get past the Dispel and Greater Dispel caster level range, mobs just won't cast those spells on you. Thus it might be a case of just having levelled past the most common dispel throwers too.