I've got about ten characters I've been playing in LFR modules over the past year or so. When I first saw the Shaman in PHB2, my initial reaction was "damage sink!" I made a Shaman without much thought about how it would progress at later levels. Now that I'm getting more of a handle on what my Shaman is capable of (she's currently level 6), I thought I'd ask for some suggestions. Naturally, with Primal Power coming out tomorrow, there are a lot of new possibilities in the offing. :-)
Night
(I'd really like a version of this image with jet-black skin and tawny fur. 
Beginning stats:
STR - 12 (currently 13)
Con - 13
Dex - 14+2 (Razorclaw Shifter) = 16
Int - 13 (currently 14)
Wis - 16+2 (Razorclaw Shifter) = 18
Cha - 8
My initial approach was to jack up Dex. My thought was that the faster she could get her spirit companion out, protecting the team, the better. I'm not so sure jacking it up to a 16 was such a good idea, though.
At level 6, her AC is currently 20: +2 leather armor, +1 enhancement, +3 ability, +3 level, +1 light shield. My current plan is to give her chainmail proficiency at 8th level and get Eladrin Finemail +2, giving her an AC of 24: +6 chainmail, +1 masterwork, +2 enhancement, +4 level, +1 light shield. I'm also considering jacking up Str so I can get a heavy shield proficiency at 11th, but I'm not so sure that's worth it. Having her spirit companion serve as a faux defender which can absorb damage has often made a big difference in play, but the lack of being able to take OAs on enemies if they do a ranged attack next to the spirit companion makes it nowhere near as useful as a real ally.
As you can see, I sacrificed Int in order to take the character in this direction. My impression is that the extra damage to bloodied enemies when an ally is next to the spirit companion doesn't make that big of a difference in play. Other people may disagree, of course, but what I've found is that allies end up taking advantage of the additional damage maybe 2-3 times PER MOD. Boosting Int in order to optimize for a situation which happens that rarely just isn't as optimal as attempting to make the spirit companion into the best damage sink it can be, IMHO.
One of the most common situations I find myself in is where there are a lot of enemies around and my allies and I only have a very thin "front line." I often end up tossing the spirit onto the front line to prevent enemies from making havoc of the squishies in the back ranks. Another common situation I find myself in is dropping the spirit companion next to an enemy with an aura or some sort of attack that carries nasty status effects. Naturally the spirit companion is immune to both of those, making it an excellent "defender" against such creatures.
On the other hand, I'm curious to hear how effective other people's Shaman's spirit companions are at higher levels. I've heard that as damage sinks, they get less effective since the average amount of damage dealt goes up quite a bit whereas the spirit companion's ability to absorb that damage doesn't really keep pace. What do you guys think?
Other character stats...
Init +7 (at level 6)
hp 50
F 17
R 19
W 20
PP 22
PI 17
Acro 8
End 9
Heal 12
Nature 12
Perc 12
Rel 10
Stealth 8 (+1 to hide for camouflaged clothing)
Feats:
1st - Acolyte of Divine Secrets (MC Invoker)
2nd - Implement Expertise (Totem)
4th - Shield Proficiency (light)
6th - Shared Healing Spirit
Planned feats:
8th - Chainmail proficiency
10th - Stalker Spirit Adept
11th - Improved Init (?)
Current powers:
At-Wills:
Stalker's Strike
Wrath of Winter (yes, I know they're both vs. Fort, but teleporting the SC is very useful. At Paragon, I'll retrain this to something else once I get Nimble Spirit.)
Encounter powers:
Vanguard's Lightning (Great for dropping my spirit companion into the middle of a bunch of minions, getting them to crowd around it, then dropping this power on top of the bunch and clearing 'em out.)
Call to the Ancestral Warrior
Call to the Savage Elder
Utility powers:
Spirits of Battle (incredibly useful!)
Spirits of Dawn
Daily powers:
Wrath of the Spirit World
Spirit of the Hawk's Wind
Equipment:
Camouflaged Clothing (+1 stealth)
Repulsion Leather Armor +1 (push enemies away from me if they get too close!)
Light Shield
Pure Spirit Totem +1
Hungry Spirits Totem +1
Amulet of Protection +2
Battle Standard of Might
Helm of Battle (+1 to init for me and allies within 5 squares is awesome!)
Gloves of Piercing
Iron Armbands of Power (my spirit hits harder!)
Damon
Shamans are one of the hardest classes to play in pick-up LFR. Most players have trouble remembering that the bard can shift them on a heal, let along that they should factor a spirit companion into their every decision! Thus, a lot of what you choose should probably be based on what you see at the table with your group(s). Online is even harder, though you can spam some reminders/instructions.
Similarly, the issue of defenses is a tough one. I somewhat failed to realize my spirit would use my bad defenses, then rued that, then actually ended up happy. You see, most DMs will tell you that, meta-gaming-wise, it is better never to attack the spirit. Even if the monster kills the spirit, it has served as DR. The damage threshold is actually high enough that even at paragon some attacks can fail to bring it down. Damage just scales poorly/slowly for monsters. Thus, it is usually more effective to ignore the spirit. So, if you find DMs not attacking your spirit too often, then I would stay away from the armor feats, since they end up being either a waste or take away from the benefit of that DR effect. You actually want the foes attacking you sometimes so you can get DR from it and prevent damage/effects (your spirit cares little about conditions, ongoing damage, etc. Not true for your allies!).
I play a protector, so I can't really comment on your specifics. In general, choose encounter powers or dailies that your party will be likely to use. Some of them are huge, but only if the party stands by your spirit or in the zone or... etc. Thus, educate your party or choose something simpler. I'm more of the educate type. "I'm thinking of dropping this power. Until the end of my turn, you get an 18-20 crit range. This only works if you are adjacent to my spirit. Do you want this power now? It is only a good idea if you will stay here and attack this guy." Only when everyone nods do I use that power. (And they may have valid reasons not to want it, but I don't want to waste it.)
Um. My concern about AC and defenses in general is that I want my spirit companion to be middle-of-the-road when it comes to AC. Not really bad, but not really great either. In the 7-10 range I'll often see defenders with ACs around 27-29, and super-squishies with ACs around 20-22. I don't want the spirit companion getting popped all the time, hence my desire to bump its AC to 24. Consider that an "average" enemy in that level range has a to-hit modifier of around +15, so it would take a *6* to hit the spirit companion w/o the armor feat and a *9* to hit it with the feat. Big difference.
I guess what I'm really after are suggestions on what else people have done w/ their Shamans. There just doesn't seem to be a lot in the way of cool options for them yet, so I'm hoping Primal Power will change that.
EDIT: Wow, great crunch!
I'm tempted to swap out Wrath of Winter for Claws of the Eagle or Spirit of the Tempest (new at-wills). Ironbreaker Claws (1d10+Wis damage and an ally adjacent to the target can make a melee basic attack on it) is totally made of win, too.
The Sudden Call feat, which lets you summon your spirit companion as a free action, is another awesome choice.
Gah, so many choices! Too bad I can only retrain one thing per level. I hope the Shaman guides get updated soon, too...
Damon