WotLK Classic Restoration Shaman Guide

Restoration Shamans are excellent supports with their buff totems such as Windfury Totem, Wrath of Air Totem, and Strength of Earth Totem, as well as their utility totems such as Tremor Totem and Cleansing Totem, and support spells such as Purge, Wind Shear, and Hex.

Their healing is very versatile, as the new Tidal Waves mechanic empowers single-target spells such as Healing Wave after the new Riptide is used, and also after area healing with Chain Heal, allowing for quick swapping between area and single-target healing!

If you are considering leveling a Restoration Shaman, check out our leveling guide which focuses on leveling as a healer in a small group setting.

This guide will focus on Restoration Shaman, one of the best area-of-effect healers in the game, who also sport strong single-target healing and the massive utility only a Shaman can bring.

In order to properly play a healing role, you will need more than just class-specific information. To better understand healing in general, we recommend that you read our Healing guide.

If you would like to see where Restoration Shamans fall in the overall rankings among healer specs for both PvE and PvP in Wrath Classic, we have created pages dedicated to explaining what classes and specializations are the best of the best through multiple factors. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.

Lava Burst is a new spell which always critically strikes if Flame Shock is present on the target. While not particularly useful for Restoration, it can provide a decent amount of damage when healing is not needed.

Riptide is a new heal-over-time for Restoration Shamans with a strong initial heal component. Chain Heals cast on targets with Riptide active will consume it to make the whole Chain Heal 25% stronger.

Bloodlust / Heroism are now raid-wide but also apply the Sated debuff to everyone who gets the buff, stopping them from getting Bloodlust again for 10 minutes.

Tidal Force is a new cooldown which increases your Critical Strike chance on your next healing spells. Because its Critical Strike benefit is applied (and consumed) on each jump of Chain Heal, it is typically more efficient to use it alongside Nature's Swiftness and Healing Wave, which has a low Critical Strike chance, even when under the effect of Tidal Waves.

Earthliving Weapon is a new weapon imbue for Restoration Shamans, which increases healing done and causes the Earthliving effect occasionally on targets healed.

Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors, and Call of the Spirits allow you to customize up to one totem of each type to instantly be dropped down when these abilities are used, saving significant time.

Most totems are now raid-wide and do not stack with similar effects. Wrath of Air Totem's buff is the only that remains Shaman-exclusive. Utility totems such as Tremor Totem, Healing Stream Totem, and Cleansing Totem are still for your party only.

Windfury Totem no longer enchants the weapon of affected players and is now a flat melee Haste buff.

Fire Nova is now activated from your current Fire Totem rather than having its own Totem. With a small 10-second cooldown, which could be brought down to 7-seconds with Glyph of Fire Nova for dungeon-focused players, it is a very strong area damage option, even for Restoration, as long as you can sustain its high Mana cost.

Hex is a new crowd control spell for Shamans, similar to Polymorph but it will not heal the target or break instantly upon any damage, while also letting the target slowly move around. It is a Curse effect, making it harder to be dispelled by some classes.

Wind Shear is your new interrupt (Earth Shock now slows melee attack speed, instead), and is off the global cooldown, making it extremely powerful as the only low-cooldown ranged interrupt in game.

The overall result of all of these changes and additions is a versatile Restoration Shaman, which excels at PvP with its burst damage and Wind Shear disruption, but can also bring the critical Wrath of Air Totem and Bloodlust raid buffs.

Draenei is the only race available. While it is not one of the most impactful Shaman races, it does provide useful benefits such as its 1% group Hit aura.

• Gemcutting increases your Jewelcrafting skill by 5.
• Gift of the Naaru is an instant-cast spell with a 3-minute cooldown that heals over time. Because it is free, it can be occasionally useful, and being on the Holy school allows you to cast it in PvP even while interrupted on Nature.
• Heroic Presence increases your party's chance to Hit by 1%.
• Shadow Resistance increases your Shadow Resistance by 10.

Troll is the best race for PvE and also good in PvP, Orc is a great race for PvP, and Tauren is the weakest overall.

• Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
• Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you 20% increased attack and casting speed for 10 seconds.
• Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration and allows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.

Trolls are a decent choice if your goal is to maximize your throughput, due to Berserking. Beast Slaying can also be useful against Beast-type enemies.

• Axe Specialization increases your Expertise by 5 while wielding an Axe.
• Blood Fury is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your offensive stats for 15 seconds.
• Command increases your pet damage dealt by 5%.
• Hardiness decreases the duration of stuns on you by 15%.

Orc is the go-to PvP race, due to Hardiness, which reduces the duration of stun effects. Unfortunately Axe Specialization is of little use and Blood Fury does not increase healing, making its PvE bonuses mostly irrelevant.

• Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
• Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• War Stomp is a 2-minute cooldown that stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, with a 0.5-second cast time.

War Stomp is quite reliable in PvP, often allowing for an emergency Lesser Healing Wave cast, but has few PvE uses. The 5% increased health from Endurance is useful, but minor.

In Wrath all professions have unique stat bonus benefits, with gathering professions giving the lowest and Engineering and Jewelcrafting (before Epic gems) having the most powerful and flexible benefits, especially in early phases. Blacksmithing also catches up later when Epic gems are introduced.

Engineering is great because of the unique Hyperspeed Accelerators tinker, which gives 340 Haste for 12 seconds every minute. By using this extra Haste during your cooldowns or on difficult parts of a fight, you can get more benefit than the static stats of other professions. Engineering also provides multiple explosives for extra damage and Nitro Boosts for a burst of speed!

Jewelcrafting is also great because while most other professions force you to take Attack Power, you can pick from any stat with Jewelcrafting's Epic gems, allowing you to adjust your stats as needed.

Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing Wrath Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.

If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Restoration Shamans, check out our guides below: