Class Guide: Shaman

[Alkhara Majere]

Overview
The Shaman is a healer - warrior - mage hybrid class, and as such Shamans are considered one of the most versatile classes in the game. They are designed to enhance all parts of a party while not being particularly focused on any one aspect of the game. Depending upon how one chooses to customize their character's talent points, they can specialize in offensive spellcasting, melee combat, or healing. Their primary support buffs come in the form of stationary totems, which (when placed on the ground by the shaman) provide various benefits to party members within a totem's 20-40 yard radius.

The Shaman class was originally only available to three of the Horde races: Tauren, Orcs, and Trolls. They were the counterpart of the Paladin of the Alliance in the sense that they were not available to the opposing faction. This was said to create much trouble in developing both classes since they needed to be balanced against each other. With the release of the Burning Crusade expansion, Alliance Draenei are able to play Shaman, thus making it possible for both classes to be developed independent of each other.

In parties, Shamans make the quintessential fifth member, supplementing the other members with off-healing and totem buffs while adding intermittent magic or melee damage. Shamans have the ability to resurrect themselves once per hour(which can be reduced with talent points) using their Reincarnation ability, which saves their party the time of running back in the case of a wipe. Combined with their ability to resurrect other players, this becomes a primary source of wipe control. Parties with Druid healers also benefit from the Shaman resurrection powers, as Druids can only resurrect other players once per 30 minutes.

Melee-specialist Shamans are sometimes employed as off-tanks, capable of holding aggro on a same-level elite monster while healing themselves. In this role, they lack the survivability of Warriors, Druids or Paladins, but their high-threat spells do allow consistent aggro management.

Races
The Shaman class can be played by the following races:


Alliance

• Draenei (Draenei are not playable unless you own the Burning Crusade expansion)

Horde

• Orcs
• Trolls
• Tauren

Until Burning Crusade, the Shaman class was exclusive to Horde, as the Paladins were exclusive to Alliance. The balance of power has been essentially upheld, however; only one Alliance race can play shamans, just as only only Horde race can play as Paladins.

While each Race has its own distinct advantage, no matter its class, most prefer Tauren for their Warstomp racial ability, as Shamans themselves do not possess any ability to stun. Others prefer Orcs as they have a large chance to resist stuns which is extremely helpful vs. a rogue, as well as against a shadowpriest. Blood Fury can be very useful for a shaman because they get a bonus to both their melee attacks and spell damage. Both of these abilities are very useful in PvP. However, if you are looking for a boost in healing for PvE or even PvP, the Draenei's useable racial ability, Gift of the Naaru is an effective heal over time spell that can be cast on yourself or on another player. For further information on racial abilities, look under Racial Traits. Truthfully, the choice of race is up to you, as long as you can stand looking at your character while playing through 70 levels.

Talent trees


Elemental

The Elemental tree focuses on the Shaman's spellcasting ability, in the form of offensive totems (fire totems), spells, and 'shocks' (instant-cast spells of various elements). One of the major effects of this tree is to decrease the mana cost and casting time of offensive spells and totems while increasing their damage. Another is that it increases the critical chance of spells and possibly melee attacks. The seventh tier ability is Elemental Mastery, a spell usable every three minutes that guarantees a mana-free critical hit on the Shaman's next offensive spell. Elemental greatly improves the damage output of a shaman's magical offense. It is a mana intensive play style, but works well for combat casting making the Shaman a ranged and melee DPS character. This works well in PvP and for soloing, though some argue it is less effective in end-game raids.


Enhancement

The Enhancement tree focuses on the Shaman's ability to cast timed enchants on their own weapons, and expands on their melee ability in general as well. This is a very appealing tree to lower-level shamans because of the 5% mana increase, reduced cast time on their travel spell, Ghost Wolf, and the ability to wield two-handed weapons. At later levels, Enhancement specialized Shamans can deal large amounts of melee damage, nearly approaching that of a Warrior sometimes even a Rogue. One of the seventh tier abilities is Stormstrike, which grants an extra attack and increases the damage of the next two Nature spells on the target by 20%. Combined with other abilities to gain extra strikes, particularly Windfury Weapon, Stormstrike can be used to great effect. Enhancement greatly increases PvP survivability, while also offering PvE improvements for the shaman's primary melee buff totems. With the release of 2.0, Shamans are now able to dual wield weapons.

Restoration

The Restoration tree focuses on the Shaman's healing capability, reducing the casting time and mana cost of healing spells and totems, while increasing their effectiveness. Shamans specced in Restoration are preferred in end-game parties, where they are quite useful as effective healers, buffers, and backup casters. The end-tree talent in the Restoration tree is the Mana Tide totem, which restores 6% mana every 3 seconds to party members within 20 yards (which can be increased to 30 yards with proper talent points). Restoration greatly enhances shaman contribution to group/raid PvE content, but severely limits a shaman's damage output. With the new changes (as of the 2.0.1 patch) deep restoration has become a very viable PvP spec because of the new shaman spell Earth Shield.

Equipment
Shamans wear leather armor up until level 40, at which time they gain the ability to wear mail armor. Because of this, many shamans take up the leatherworking profession, which can make certain mail armor around the time they get the ability to wear it. Additionally, the Dragonscale Leatherworking specialization can make several mail armor items with stat bonuses that are very beneficial to the shaman class.

Shaman can use one-handed maces with shields and staves by default, and can train daggers, fist weapons, and one-handed axes at a weapon master. In addition, by spending talents in the Enhancement tree, shamans can learn to wield two-handed axes and maces.

After reaching level 40, a Shaman can learn to wear Mail armor from their trainer. For Shaman casters, the Turtle Scale Mail available from Leatherworkers is good, other items such as the Chain of the Scarlet Crusade are better for melee Shamans.

The Shaman's endgame sets are The Elements (Dungeon 1), The Five Thunders (Dungeon 2) and Tidefury Raiment (Dungeon 3a TBC) / Desolation Battlegear (Dungeon 3b TBC). The class-specific epic sets are The Earthfury (Tier 1), The Ten Storms (Tier 2), Stormcaller's Garb (Tier 2.5), The Earthshatterer (Tier 3), Cyclone Regalia (Tier 4 TBC) and Cataclysm Armor (Tier 5 TBC). The 20-man raid sets are Zandalar Augur's Regalia (Zul'Gurub) and Gift of the Gathering Storm (Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj). Pre-Tier 4 sets only benefit Shaman casters, as yet there are no dedicated Enhancement sets which directly benefit melee Shamans before Tier 4. As a result of this many Shamans use non-class-bound mail items which give melee critical strike bonuses, as well as attack power and agility bonuses.

Weapons

Starting

• Maces (1-handed)
• Staves (2-handed)
• Shields (off-hand)

Trainable

• Daggers (1-handed)
• Fist Weapons (1-handed)
• Axes (1-handed)

Talent-based Enhancements

• Maces (2-handed)
• Axes (2-handed)
• Offhand weapons ("Dual-wielding")

Can't Use

• Swords (1-handed or 2-handed)
• Polearms
• Ranged weapons (wands, bows, throwing weapons, crossbows, guns)

Note: the inability of Shamans to use ranged weapons makes the Troll's Throwing Weapon Specialization and Bow Specialization racial traits worthless for them.

End-Game Expectations

Totems are a major part of the end game and knowing what totems will benefit the Shaman's group members best in different situations is all part of the strategy involved in playing a Shaman. With the versatility that comes with a Shaman you will always be the one patching up on various issues that your group might run into. If your party runs into an encounter which is very DPS heavy, you will find yourself supporting DPS, occasionally throwing in a Heal if needed. The same goes for encounters that require lots of healing.

A Shaman's role in parties and raids will vary depending on how they choose to spend their talent points, as some of the Shaman's versatility is diminished if they spec heavily into one tree. For example, a Shaman who has specced Enhancement will most likely have problems supporting the healing needs of a party, due to the lack of crucial intellect bonuses on their gear which Restoration requires. On the other hand a Restoration Shaman have absolutely no benefit from going melee with a heavy restoration spec. Currently many Shamans tend to go Restoration end game, since the other Trees are currently not very viable for raiding, but there are lot of options in the Elemental and Enhancement Tree that will benefit raid DPS (more than Restoration) in the Burning Crusade such as the Wrath Totem and the Unleashed Rage talent (depending on whatever you wish to go Melee or Caster Shammy), so although you may not be the number one DPS class or number one healing class, your choice of playstyle and talents will greatly benefit the classes who do heavy DPS and/or heals, leading to an overall successful achievement in the end.

*Remember that the beauty of the shaman is its versatility, and even though you tend to go one way with talents, remember that you still have access to the rest of your spells and abilities.

See Also

• See Starting a Shaman for some advice when starting out.
• See the Shaman FAQ for the answers to many common questions.
• See Shamanism and Nature Worship to learn more about the shamans' beliefs.
• Spirit to see how it changes your mana regeneration and what are your base values.
• Enhancement Equivalency Points (EEP), a system to help you choose Enh Armor.

Some good info at the official WoW Shaman forums

Many thanks to WoWWiki.
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[Squirllz]

a great guide

[Partyboy03]

great guide, but i have one question. i started enhancement and am planning on doin lots of raids, should i respec to resto at lvl 50+ or stick with enhancement?

[Alkhara Majere]

great guide, but i have one question. i started enhancement and am planning on doin lots of raids, should i respec to resto at lvl 50+ or stick with enhancement?

Stay whatever spec you enjoy playing. Remember that when you hit 50, you still have 20 more levels until the cap. If you plan to be doing some instances a lot, try spec'ing Enchantment/Restro.

[Detzett40]

Good guide. are you working on ones for the other classes that you havent done yet?

[ausgeo]

Nice guide +rep

[Alkhara Majere]

Good guide. are you working on ones for the other classes that you havent done yet?

I sure am.

[StGulik]

Good guide. are you working on ones for the other classes that you havent done yet?

If you look carefully, you will see this:

Many thanks to WoWWiki.

You can go there as well for the other class guides, along with tactics, builds, trainers, quests, etc. And it's all free as well.