Restoration Shaman Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic

Healing with Chain Heal, Healing Wave and healing totems.

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. More about the shaman

Class: Shaman
Roles: Healer
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Mana Tide Totem
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Classic

How to play

Restoration is the shaman's healing tree and one of the strongest raid healers in Classic. Chain Heal jumps to two more targets, healing the most damage in a stacked raid; Healing Way makes Healing Wave stronger on one target; Mana Tide Totem refills the party's mana; and Nature's Swiftness turns one big heal into an instant.

Your group gets more than heals: Mana Spring or Mana Tide for casters, an air totem for everyone and Tremor Totem against fear. Totems only reach your own party, so the group you're placed in matters.

Most shamans use lower ranks of Chain Heal on light raid damage and keep the top ranks for spikes.

At a glance

Single-target healing
Group healing
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Classic.

Rotation and priorities

1Mana Spring (or Mana Tide when you need it), plus the totems your group needs.
2Chain Heal on stacked, hurt players; a lower rank when damage is light.
3Healing Wave on the tank, stacking Healing Way.
4Lesser Healing Wave when someone needs a quick heal.
5Nature's Swiftness into a top-rank Healing Wave for emergencies.
6Cure Poison and Cure Disease between heals; Earth Shock to interrupt.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Chain Heal is one of the most efficient raid heals in Classic.
Mana Tide Totem helps the whole party.
Mail and a shield make you tougher than other healers.
Reincarnation: you can come back without anyone's help.

Weaknesses

Totems only help your own party.
Little damage while leveling as Restoration.
Few ways to escape attackers.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
+Healing
2
Mana per 5 sec
3
Intellect
4
Critical strike
5
Stamina
6
Spirit

What to look for

+Healing and mana per 5 seconds: shamans regenerate mostly from mana per 5 and Mana Spring rather than Spirit.
Mail healing gear is scarce in Classic, so leather and cloth healing pieces are common.
A one-handed healing mace with a shield.

Items worth chasing

Rejuvenating GemHealing and mana regeneration in a trinket.
Cauterizing BandA strong healing ring.
Malistar's DefenderA healing shield.
Hide of the WildCrafted cloak with healing and Intellect.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Elemental
Enhancement
Restoration

Mana Tide Chain Healer
HealerPvE
546
0/5/46
Deep Restoration for raids: Mana Tide Totem and Tidal Focus stretch your mana, Purification and Tidal Mastery strengthen every heal, and Nature's Swiftness saves a tank.
- Totemic Mastery 1/1
- Restorative Totems 5/5
- Nature's Swiftness 1/1
- Purification 5/5
- Mana Tide Totem 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Mana Tide Totem · top talent, up to 1
Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 170 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 20 yards.
Improved Reincarnation · tier 2, up to 2
Reduces the cooldown of your Reincarnation spell by 20 min and increases the amount of health and mana you reincarnate with by an additional 20%.
Ancestral Healing · tier 2, up to 3
Increases your target's armor value by 25% for 15 sec after getting a critical effect from one of your healing spells.
Healing Focus · tier 3, up to 5
Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any healing spell.
Totemic Mastery · tier 3, up to 1
The radius of your totems that affect friendly targets is increased to 30 yd.
Healing Grace · tier 3, up to 3
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 15%.
Restorative Totems · tier 4, up to 5
Increases the effect of your Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems by 25%.
Tidal Mastery · tier 4, up to 5
Increases the critical effect chance of your healing and lightning spells by 5%.
Nature's Swiftness · tier 5, up to 1
When activated, your next Nature spell with a casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
Purification · tier 6, up to 5
Increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 10%.

Restoration abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.