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Shaman Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

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
4
Version
WoW Forever

How the shaman plays

Shamans in WoW Forever gain Lava Burst, Riptide and Maelstrom Weapon from later expansions, and totems are easier to manage: Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors and Call of the Spirits drop sets of totems, Totemic Recall picks them up, and Totemic Projection moves them.

Fire Nova is now a spell rather than a totem. Shocks still share a cooldown, and Earth Shock still interrupts.

Every spec uses mana heavily, and Enhancement in particular now draws power from Intellect.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Totems for the group, now easier to place.
  • Chain Heal and Riptide for healing.
  • Lava Burst and Maelstrom Weapon give strong spell damage.
  • Reincarnation.

Weaknesses

  • Mana-hungry in every spec.
  • Few escapes.
  • Totems still only cover a party.

Specializations

The specs compared

Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Forever. 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.

RatingElementalEnhancementRestoration
Single target
Several targets
Survivability
Utility
Solo and leveling
Ease of play
  • Elemental

    Damage · 1 build

    Ranged nature and fire damage: stronger, cheaper Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, and Elemental Mastery.

    Top talent:Elemental Mastery

    Elemental guide
  • Enhancement

    Damage · 2 builds

    Melee damage with weapon enchantments, Stormstrike and Flurry. The usual leveling tree.

    Top talent:Rage of the Farseer

    Enhancement guide
  • Restoration

    Healer · 1 build

    Healing with Chain Heal, Healing Wave and healing totems.

    Top talent:Riptide

    Restoration guide

Gear

  • Leather until level 40, then mail.
  • Intellect matters for every spec: Enhancement turns it into attack power and spell damage.
  • Healers want +Healing, mana per 5 seconds and Spirit for Mindfulness; Elemental wants spell damage and crit.

Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.

What WoW Forever changed

Against Classic Era, the shaman in WoW Forever has these changes. New spells: 9. Changed spells: 31. Spells no longer trained: 2. Talents that Classic Era doesn't have: 17. Each spec guide lists its own. The spell list shows every change.

Shaman class quests

The quests that unlock class abilities, by the level each route starts at.

More for the shaman