WoW Classic Restoration Shaman Leveling Guide 1-60
On this page, you will find our Level by Level Restoration Shaman leveling guide for WoW Classic. Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. For more general leveling information, please refer to our Shaman leveling guide. We also have an Elemental Shaman leveling guide and a Enhancement Shaman leveling guide.
If you were looking for TBC Classic advice, please refer to our TBC Classic Restoration Shaman leveling guide.
Restoration Shaman Leveling Rotation, Talents, and Trainer Skills
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
Leveling Talent Tree & Build
Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.





- Levels 10 to 14 — 5 points in
Improved Healing Wave
- Levels 15 & 16 — 2 points in
Improved Reincarnation
- Levels 17 to 19 — 3 points in
Ancestral Healing
Improved Healing Wave makes your main
healing spell faster to cast. Maximizing
Improved Reincarnation will make
you more likely to be able to self-resurrect when needed. Finally,
Ancestral Healing
will give a large armor bonus to whoever you critically heal, which is great in dungeons.
- Levels 20 to 22 — 3 points in
Nature's Guidance
- Level 23 — 1 point in
Totemic Mastery
- Level 24 — 1 point in
Healing Focus
- Levels 25 to 29 — 5 points in
Tidal Mastery
Nature's Guidance provides a much needed
hit boost, which will increase your damage.
Totemic Mastery improves the
range at which your allies can benefit from your totems.
Healing Focus
will, for now, provide a small chance not to be interrupted when casting healing
spells. Finally,
Tidal Mastery is both a damage and a healing boost.
- Level 30 — 1 point in
Nature's Swiftness
- Levels 31 to 34 — 4 points in
Restorative Totems
- Levels 35 to 39 — 5 points in
Purification
Nature's Swiftness provides a great
emergency cooldown that easily save someone's life.
Restorative Totems
improves the effect of your
Mana Spring Totem slightly. Finally,
Purification
improves your general healing significantly.
- Level 40 — 1 point in
Restorative Totems
- Level 41 — 1 point in
Mana Tide Totem
- Levels 42 to 46 — 5 point in
Convection
- Levels 47 to 49 — 3 point in
Call of Flame
Finish Restorative Totems, and proceed
to
Mana Tide Totem, which will give you a burst of Mana regeneration, albeit
with a large cooldown.
Convection will make your main damage spells more
Mana efficient, allowing you to go longer without drinking, and
Call of Flame
will improve your
Searing Totem's damage significantly.
- Levels 50 & 51 — 2 points in
Concussion
- Level 52 — 1 point in
Elemental Focus
- Levels 53 to 55 — 3 points in
Concussion
- Level 56 — 1 point in
Reverberation
- Levels 57 to 59 — 3 points in
Elemental Devastation
- Level 60 — 1 point in
Reverberation
At this point we will be looking to maximize Concussion
to increase damage output,
Elemental Focus for more Mana efficiency when DPSing,
Reverberation for slightly more DPS from shocks and
Elemental Devastation
for a slight damage boost to your melee attacks from your shock critical strikes.
These talents are great if you are mostly soloing
and went Restoration for added sustainability. If you are leveling in a group, you
might want to play with a pure healing spec instead, such as the ones we list in our
Restoration Talents page.
Also, if you are leveling with a group, remember to buy and use all ranks of
Windfury Totem and
Strength of Earth Totem, which increase leveling
speed a lot when used in melee groups.
Leveling Rotation
Good usage of Earthbind Totem can help you
avoid a lot of damage. Place it between yourself and your enemies to slow them and
give yourself at least one extra
Lightning Bolt cast before taking any damage.
Windfury Weapon is a strong weapon enchant
that can allow you to one shot an enemy out of nowhere, but is generally outclassed
by
Rockbiter Weapon during leveling, which does more overall damage and
also has less potential to waste damage when an enemy is low health.
- Make sure to always heal yourself with
Healing Wave if you are low health after a pull, this will allow you to quickly get back to action with minimal downtime, as you will be able to regenerate that Mana until you next need to heal again.
- Make sure
Rockbiter Weapon is active on you at all times, to maximize your potential damage output.
- Make sure both
Rockbiter Weapon and
Lightning Shield are active on you at all times, to maximize your potential damage output.
- Use
Searing Totem before you start fighting enemies, for the extra damage.
- Use
Mana Spring Totem and
Searing Totem before you start fighting enemies, for the extra Mana regeneration and damage, respectively.
- Use
Mana Spring Totem and
Searing Totem before you start fighting enemies, as they will slowly contribute to your Mana regeneration and damage, respectively. Also, remember to use
Mana Tide Totem whenever possible, to regenerate a significant amount of Mana.
Nature's Swiftness causes your next spell to become instant cast. Use it alongside
Chain Lightning or
Lightning Bolt for additional damage, or as an emergency heal with
Healing Wave.
- Use
Lightning Bolt to initiate combat, and use a
Flame Shock once the target is in range (typically you will have time to cast two Lightning Bolts before the Flame Shock). Keep casting Lightning Bolt until the enemy is close enough that you will not have time to cast another one before you get hit in melee range.
- Use
Lightning Bolt (single-target) or
Chain Lightning (multiple-targets) to initiate combat. Mix in a
Flame Shock once the target is in range. Keep casting Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning until the enemy is close enough that you will not have time to cast another one before you get hit in melee range.
- Auto-attack the enemy until he dies. The idle time
you get here will allow you to regenerate some Mana, as you will not be casting any
more spells until you are pulling the next enemy. Consider using
Earth Shock to deal damage and interrupt enemies, when applicable, but be aware of its high Mana cost.
List of Trainer Skills to Buy
Strength of Earth Totem,
Windfury Totem
and
Ancestral Spirit are examples of very powerful skills that should always
be bought if and when you start playing in a group. These skills, among others, will
not be listed below because they are of limited usefulness for the average solo /
questing player but feel free to buy them if you ever play in a group or do dungeons.
- At Level 1, as soon as you have the copper, buy
Rockbiter Weapon. It provides a significant damage boost that lasts for 5 minutes. Also, buy
Healing Wave, allowing you to heal, when needed.
- At Level 4, buy
Earth Shock. Earth Shock is an instant, high damage spell that also interrupts any casts the target was doing when it hits. You will be using it to interrupt enemies and activate
Elemental Focus in the process throughout your leveling.
- At Level 6, buy
Earthbind Totem and Rank 2
Healing Wave. Earthbind Totem slows enemies around itself, enabling kiting strategies.
- At Level 8, buy
Lightning Shield, Rank 2
Lightning Bolt, Rank 2
Earth Shock and Rank 2
Rockbiter Weapon. Lightning Shield is a Mana-efficient way to damage enemies you are in melee combat with, and should always be kept up on yourself.
- At Level 10, buy
Flame Shock,
Searing Totem and
Strength of Earth Totem. Flame Shock is an instant damage spell that also leaves a damage over time effect on the target, generally dealing more overall damage than
Earth Shock, for the Mana cost. Searing Totem slowly deals damage to enemies around it, contributing significant damage in prolonged fights. Finally, Strength of Earth is meant to be used when in a group with melee damage dealers.
- At Level 12, buy Rank 3
Healing Wave.
- At Level 14, buy Rank 3
Lightning Bolt and Rank 3
Earth Shock.
- At Level 16, buy Rank 2
Lightning Shield and Rank 3
Rockbiter Weapon.
- At Level 18, buy Rank 4
Healing Wave and Rank 2
Flame Shock.
- At Level 20, buy
Ghost Wolf, Rank 4
Lightning Bolt and Rank 2
Searing Totem. Ghost Wolf allows you to transform into a Wolf while outdoors which moves much faster than your normal run speed. Use it to speed up your leveling, especially before a mount is available.
- At Level 24, buy Rank 3
Lightning Shield, Rank 2
Strength of Earth Totem, Rank 5
Healing Wave, Rank 4
Rockbiter Weapon and Rank 4
Earth Shock.
- At Level 26, buy
Mana Spring Totem and Rank 5
Lightning Bolt. Mana Spring Totem should be kept up whenever you are fighting enemies, as it grants you some Mana regeneration.
- At Level 28, buy Rank 3
Flame Shock.
- At Level 30, buy
Reincarnation,
Astral Recall and Rank 3
Searing Totem. Reincarnation allows you to recover instantly from dying, saving time in the process. Finally, Astral Recall allows you to get a second Hearthstone, but with half the cooldown, allowing for a lot of extra mobility.
- At Level 32, buy
Chain Lightning, Rank 6
Healing Wave, Rank 4
Lightning Shield and Rank 6
Lightning Bolt. Chain Lightning is our strongest damage spell, even for single-target, but also has a massive Mana cost, so try to save it for AoE situations.
- At Level 36, buy Rank 5
Earth Shock and Rank 2
Mana Spring Totem.
- At Level 38, buy Rank 3
Strength of Earth Totem and Rank 7
Lightning Bolt.
- At Level 40, buy Rank 2
Chain Lightning, Rank 7
Healing Wave, Rank 5
Lightning Shield, Rank 4
Flame Shock, Rank 4
Flame Shock and Rank 4
Searing Totem.
- At Level 42, buy
Grace of Air Totem Grace of Air will not generally be useful to you, personally, but its amazing for the physical damage dealers in your group!
- At Level 44, buy Rank 8
Lightning Bolt.
- At Level 46, buy Rank 3
Mana Spring Totem.
- At Level 48, buy Rank 3
Chain Lightning, Rank 8
Healing Wave, Rank 6
Lightning Shield, Rank 6
Earth Shock and Rank 2
Mana Tide Totem.
- At Level 50, buy Rank 9
Lightning Bolt, Rank 5
Searing Totem and Rank 5
Searing Totem.
- At Level 52, buy Rank 4
Strength of Earth Totem and Rank 5
Flame Shock.
- At Level 56, buy Rank 4
Chain Lightning, Rank 9
Healing Wave, Rank 2
Grace of Air Totem, Rank 7
Lightning Shield, Rank 10
Lightning Bolt and Rank 4
Mana Spring Totem.
- At Level 58, buy Rank 3
Mana Tide Totem.
- At Level 60, buy Rank 7
Earth Shock, rank 6
Searing Totem and rank 6
Flame Shock.
Shaman Macros and Addons
By setting yourself up with an upgraded user interface and macros from the get go, you will make your leveling process much easier. Check out our Restoration Shaman Macros and Addons guide in the link below for the full list.
Restoration Shaman Quests and Weapons
While leveling, you will need to keep open for weapon opportunities. You will
also need to complete various class quests for the baseline totems which allow you
to use key totems for Restoration, such as Mana Spring Totem. To help you
with that, we have made two dedicated guides.
How to Advance your Restoration Shaman at Level 60
Once you hit maximum level, we suggest you to read the Healer Shaman Guide, which covers all there is to know about healing on your Shaman at level 60.
Some of the most relevant pages to skim over are:
- The Healing Shaman Talent builds guide has multiple builds for Healing Shamans. Some are purely healing oriented, with a heavy investment on the Restoration tree, others mix in Enhancement talents for extra powerful totem support;
- Our PvP Shaman guide is where you can find the various recommended PvP builds. While healing will surely be a big part of your duties, you can expect to find some damage dealing builds in there as well;
- Goldmaking Guide for Healing Shamans exists to explain to you some simple techniques you can employ to farm gold quickly at level 60, even while on a healer specialization;
- Our Healing Shaman Rotation guide teaches you how to actually heal in a variety of situations, and you can find some advanced tips on how to manage your totems and specialty skills here as well;
- Browse Healing Shaman Stats guide if you wish to learn more about your different stats and how they affect your gameplay;
- Finally, the Gear guide for Healing Shamans will tell you which gear pieces to farm at level 60 and where you can farm them at. There is also a section for special gear that will help you and your group in interesting ways.
Changelog
- 18 Nov. 2024: Page updated for Classic Anniversary.
- 28 Feb. 2021: Changed the slider starting point to maximum level.
- 05 Jan. 2020: Added a Macros and Addons section.
- 23 Sep. 2019: Added a final section with useful links for players who just hit 60.
- 14 Sep. 2019: Guide added.
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
Classic Race Guides
Classic Class Overviews

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 Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
- Season of Discovery Hotfixes: February 11th
- Big Reputation Item and World Buff Material Gain From Commendation Signets in Season of Discovery
- Hunter Set Pieces Adjusted and Exchange Available in Season of Discovery
- Cataclysm Classic Hour of Twilight PTR Dev Notes: February 7th
- Hour of Twilight Arrives to Cataclysm Classic on February 18th + Raid Release Schedule
- Season of Discovery Hotfixes: February 4th
- Transfers from Hardcore Realms Temporarily Disabled
- Cataclysm Classic Hour of Twilight PTR Notes: January 30th