Shaman Class Overview
Shamans are masters of the Elements who bring a huge amount of
utility, often through their unique totems such as Wrath of Air Totem. They
can perform three out of the four main roles (Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS),
making them extremely versatile.
As they are also the only source of Bloodlust and
Heroism,
there is rarely a good reason not to invite a Shaman to any group, although
multiple Shamans are not as powerful as they were in TBC Classic.
Shaman Specializations
Shaman are able to choose from 3 specializations: Elemental, Enhancement and Restoration. All three specializations play very differently from each other, focusing on Ranged DPS, Melee DPS, and Healing, respectively.
- Elemental is a Ranged DPS specialization with high baseline damage, causing it to be very powerful at low levels of gear. It has a very simple damage rotation which focuses on pressing short cooldown spells when available.
- Enhancement is a Melee DPS specialization with extreme area damage potential and great single-target, but its single-target in particular requires a very complex and involved rotation which can take some time to master.
- Restoration is the most flexible Healer specialization in Wrath,
capable of doing good single and area healing and often mixing both due to mechanics
such as
Tidal Waves, which grant single-target bonuses after using
Chain Heal.
Are Shamans Viable at 80?
Shamans are the only source of the Wrath of Air Totem buff and
Bloodlust/
Heroism, making the first one in your group
extremely valuable independently of specialization.
As these unique buffs are now raid-wide in Wrath, the value of bringing more
than one Shaman to a raid group is lessened in comparison to Wrath Classic and its
powerful Shaman party buffs. But Shamans can still
produce good DPS and healing, which includes some of the best area damage in the
game with Fire Nova and the unique
Mana Tide Totem, letting them
fill any holes in your composition.
Elemental starts off strong and is one of the best DPS in the early phases, but suffers from lower scaling than competing DPS as gear improves. Thus, they will be very welcome in early raids, but are expected to become less common in PvE as time goes by. Their PvP strength is unmatched in Wrath, however, as their burst DPS and utility is welcome in the most powerful 3v3 composition in game, the Thundercleave (Warrior/Shaman/Holy Paladin) and other strong compositions.
Enhancement DPS have one of the most complex rotations in Wrath when min-maxing and are rewarded with some of the highest area damage in the game and good single-target. They can also use a mix of Attack Power and Spell Power gear, making them easier to gear than most specializations. In PvP they are less dominating but still have a few good compositions such as Turbo and Beastcleave, which is one of the easiest compositions to grind the Arena with.
Restoration is a solid healer, capable of strong area healing with
Chain Heal and strong single-target healing with the new
Riptide
and related
Tidal Waves. They also have a few great PvP compositions,
making them an excellent all-round healer.
Are Shamans Strong Levelers?
Shamans are fine levelers, with Enhancement being particularly strong due to
requiring no drinking downtime and having the capability to constantly do very
large pulls with Fire Nova and
Shamanistic Rage. Regardless, Elemental
can also get the job done with decent efficiency, as can Restoration if you are
in a group.
Races For Shamans
In Wrath Classic Shamans can be Draenei if you are playing Alliance or Orc, Troll, and Tauren if you are Horde.
Wrath Classic Shaman FAQ
Are Shamans good in Wrath?
Shamans are one of the top support classes in Wrath. All three Shaman
specializations have a raiding spot and perform well in the Arena. Bloodlust
and
Wrath of Air Totem are unique to Shaman, but raid-wide, which means you
only need a single Shaman to cover all raid buffs, with other spots being decided
based on their DPS / Healing.
What weapon imbues should I use as a Shaman in Wrath Classic?
For the most part, you will use Flametongue Weapon when DPSing and
Earthliving Weapon when healing. There is extra nuance for Enhancement
where you can use
Windfury Weapon on your main-hand instead of Flametongue
if using a high DPS weapon and focusing on single-target.
What is Spellhance?
Spellhance refers to an unusual gearing approach for Enhancement where you could do great damage by equipping mostly Spell Power gear. Enhancement converts Attack Power into Spell Power and has multiple Physical and magical damage sources, making both stats very useful. Thus, while Enhancement can often make good use of both types of gear, specific best in slot pieces need to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
What is Lightning / Spell / Cast Weaving?
While casting normally resets your swing timer, this does not happen with
Maelstrom Weapon-Hasted casts, allowing you to cast spells with less than
5 stacks as long as you start the cast early enough in your swing timer that it
will finish before the swing would happen. The sync timer WeakAura
also has an indicator for when you need to start casting in order to avoid clipping,
allowing you to know at a moment's notice if you can fit a cast in or not.
Should I Weapon Sync?
Weapon Sync means that your main-hand and off-hand weapons are swinging
simultaneously. This is important because if the swings are landing within 0.5
seconds of each other, only one Flurry charge will be consumed for
two melee hits, drastically increasing the 30% Haste buff uptime. You can know
whether you are synced properly or not with
this WeakAura, and force the sync with
this WeakAura or by taking an action which resets your swing timer, such as
using
Feral Spirit or using a
Noggenfogger Elixir.
Can Shamans tank in Wrath?
Even though they have a few abilities that cause extra threat and can use shields, Shamans lack a taunt ability and are not very durable against bosses, so we would not recommend you to try tanking anything higher than Normal dungeons.
What is the best Shaman race?
If you are playing in the Alliance faction, you can only be Draenei who are a weak race for personal DPS, but do bring a valuable Hit aura racial. In the Horde, Orcs are the best for PvP and Trolls are the best for PvE.
What are the best Shaman professions?
Engineering is the best profession, as it provides you with crafted helms
and the unique enchants Nitro Boosts and
Hyperspeed Accelerators.
Jewelcrafting also has great value due to allowing you to obtain your standard
46 Spell Power profession bonus in the form of any stat of your choice, which
allows for extra versatility, especially for Restoration which values Haste highly.
Shaman Quests
While every class has some kind of class-specific questlines, Shamans need to earn their four elemental totems through questing, and cannot use any totems of an elemental they have not quested for beforehand.
Earth, Fire, Water, and Air are the elements you will pursue across Azeroth. We have every single step of the way detailed for you in our Shaman Questing guide below:
Gearing a Shaman
Shamans are relatively easy class to gear, especially when performing caster or healer roles, as Spell Damage or Spell Healing Mail armor is only used by Shamans and Paladins.
Enhancement Shamans might have a harder time, as their Physical damage loot is also often used by Death Knights, Hunters, Rogues, Warriors, Retribution Paladins, and Feral DPS Druids.
Armor
Shamans are able to wear Cloth and Leather, and can also learn how to use Mail armor at the class trainer after reaching Level 40.
Weapons
Shamans already know, or can learn, how to use staves, daggers, one-handed and two-handed maces, one-handed and two-handed axes, and fist weapons.
You can learn more about weapons for Shamans in our specialized guide below:
Shaman Addons and Macros
Using addons and macros can simplify your life in Azeroth immensely. We have multiple recommendations for both categories in our Shaman Addons and Shaman Macros guides linked below:
Shaman Guides for Wrath Classic
If the rest of the page caught your attention, make sure to check out our in-depth guides for leveling a Shaman and how to play at Level 80!
- Shaman Leveling Guide
- Elemental Shaman Leveling Guide
- Enhancement Shaman Leveling Guide
- Restoration Shaman Leveling Guide
You might also want to check out our full class guides, which teach you how to play your class at the new Level 80 cap!
Changelog
- 31 Aug. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman and Druid, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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