Shaman Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic
A caster and fighter in leather, and later mail, who calls on the elements with shocks and totems. Shamans heal, deal damage with Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, or fight in melee with weapon enchantments.
- Roles
- Damage, Healer
- Specializations
- 3
- Popular builds
- 7
- Version
- WoW Classic
How the shaman plays
Shamans are hybrids that heal, fight in melee or cast lightning, and support their group with totems. Each element (earth, fire, water and air) can have one totem down at a time, and totems such as Strength of Earth, Mana Spring, Windfury and Grace of Air make a party much stronger. In Classic Era only the Horde has shamans; the Alliance has paladins.
Shocks share a cooldown: Earth Shock interrupts spells, Frost Shock slows and Flame Shock burns over time. Weapon enchants such as Windfury and Rockbiter decide your melee damage.
Shamans are mana-hungry in every spec. Totems cost mana and need dropping again after every move, so good shamans plan where each fight will happen.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Windfury Totem and Mana Spring make melee and caster groups much stronger.
- Chain Heal is one of the best raid heals in Classic.
- Reincarnation lets you return from death on your own.
- Mail, a shield and Healing Wave make shamans hard to kill while leveling.
Weaknesses
- Totems cost mana and must be replaced after moving.
- Few escapes besides Ghost Wolf.
- Enhancement and Elemental have unreliable raid damage in Classic.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Classic. Single and several targets mean damage for damage specs, healing for healers and threat for tanks; a spec's own guide names its ratings for its role.
| Rating |  Elemental |  Enhancement |  Restoration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single target | |||
| Several targets | |||
| Survivability | |||
| Utility | |||
| Solo and leveling | |||
| Ease of play |
- Elemental
Damage · 3 builds
Ranged nature and fire damage: stronger, cheaper Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, and Elemental Mastery.
Top talent:
Elemental guide
Elemental Mastery - Enhancement
Damage · 3 builds
Melee damage with weapon enchantments, Stormstrike and Flurry. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Enhancement guide
Stormstrike - Restoration
Healer · 1 build
Healing with Chain Heal, Healing Wave and healing totems.
Top talent:
Restoration guide
Mana Tide Totem
Gear
- Leather until level 40, then mail.
- Maces, axes, staves, daggers and fist weapons, plus shields; two-handed axes and maces need an Enhancement talent.
- Healers want +Healing and mana per 5 seconds; Enhancement wants Strength, Agility and crit; Elemental wants spell damage and crit.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.
Shaman class quests
The quests that unlock class abilities, by the level each route starts at.