Welcome to our Restoration Shaman Healer guide for WoW Forever, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play the Shaman class as Restoration Healer. Click the links #below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
Compendium of Spec Class Information for the World of Warcraft: Forever Beta
Restoration Shamans use the natural elements (mostly Water and Earth/Nature)
to heal their allies with powerful spells such as 
Riptide, 
Healing Wave,
and 
Chain Heal. They also have access to Totems which provide unique buffs
in a short range around them and have the unique 
Mana Tide Totem talent
which restores a lot of Mana to group members on a long cooldown. While only Healing
Wave is currently available at Level 20, we describe the overall kit here as a preview
of sorts for what is to come in later Beta releases.
Riptide,
which synergizes very well with Chain Heal area healing. Their core strength
as a healer is having both strong single target with Healing Wave and strong
area healing with Chain Heal, neither of which is cooldown limited.
Leveling Information
While leveling to Level 20 you will mostly use 
Lightning Bolt and
Flame Shock to single target enemies down as you go as if you were Elemental,
with the downside of having no extra damage from talents.
The strongest Horde Shaman race is usually Orc due to having the
powerful racials 
Blood Fury, 
Axe Specialization, 
Hardiness
(for PvP), and the new Shatter Curse.
On the Alliance side, the only option available is Dwarf, which
has 
Stoneform, 
Find Treasure, 
Mace Specialization, and
Big Game Hunter, making it even stronger than Orc against Beast enemies,
but generally weaker otherwise.
Leveling Professions
In this early stage of the WoW Forever Beta, there are two main profession combos that we would recommend as an Restoration Shaman:
Skinning plus Leatherworking allows you to gather leather from beast kills and turn it into useful equipment for your character, which are likely to be better than quest rewards of a similar level in many cases!
The other good option is Herbalism plus Alchemy so you can gather your own herbs and mix your own potions/elixirs for stat buffs and healing while leveling. While you skip out on gear with this combo, the effect of the consumables is likely to more than make up for the difference in gear power.
Level 20 Talent Build
While early talents are not particularly exciting, you can still reduce your
Healing Wave's cast time by up to 0.5 seconds, enable 50% of your Mana
Regeneration in combat, lower your threat (or cooldown on 
Reincarnation,
which also grants a little bit of extra health in the process now), and finish the
Level 20 build with 
Water Shield for a slightly better Mana economy, or
much better while playing solo and being regularly hit.
Spec Class Spells and Rotation
- Pre-place all of your Totems (with Call of the Elements at Level 20,
individually before), with
Searing Totem being placed last just before
pulling due to its lower duration. - Cast Healing Wave to heal injured targets.
- Use Lightning Bolt to help with damage if there is no healing requirements.
Make sure to keep buff totems such as 
Strength of Earth Totem down when
playing in a party that can use the buffs provided, as long as no one is about to
die. Having good uptime on your buffs is the main way you can contribute to the
damage of your party as a healer!
Totems
Totems are an unique Shaman mechanic which provide unique effects around their
area of effect when dropped. They can quickly be deployed and moved through the
new Call of the Elements and 
Totemic Projection abilities and are
unlocked as you level and do special quests for your Earth, Fire, Water, and (available
beyond Level 20) Air totems.
- Earth Totems sport a mix of offensive
buffs and defensive utility. Strength of Earth Totem is a buff totem that
provides extra Strength to your party,
Stoneclaw Totem is great at holding
aggro on enemies you are not attacking, 
Earthbind Totem slows enemies
around it, and 
Tremor Totem periodically breaks fears, charm, and sleep
effects. - Fire Totems are purely offensive.
Searing Totem attacks your target, while
Fire Nova has been changed
from a Totem that explodes into a spell that causes a large radius explosion around
your current active Fire Totem when used. - Water Totems are only unlocked right
on the cusp of the current Level 20 cap and only
Healing Stream Totem is
available, providing a small amount of healing to your party when used. - Air Totems only unlock at level
30, and are some of the most powerful totems, with
Windfury Totem being
a must-have melee buff and 
Grounding Totem being a great counter to CC
and other spell casting, especially in PvP.
Utility and Unique Tools
Besides their Totems, Shaman has some of the best miscellaneous utility in the game. While the full toolkit is not fully fleshed out at Level 20, you can already get some of these abilities early on:
- Healing Wave and
Lesser Healing Wave are single-target healing
spells that allow you to keep yourself healthy, or save party members in danger. 
Purge dispels up to two beneficial effects from target enemies.
Ancestral Spirit is Shaman's resurrection spell for fallen allies.
Ghost Wolf transforms you into a wolf with 40% increased movement
speed and has a two second cast. This can be made instant (and allows its use
indoors) using Improved Ghost Wolf.
Earth Shock deals damage and interrupts enemy spell casts.
Frost Shock slows its target for 8 seconds, which is useful to kill
elite melee enemies, since you can easily make them never be able to touch you
while slowly killing them.
This toolkit only gets bigger as the level cap increases, so this section will receive new additions as we discover what Forever offers past the current cap.
Level 20 Gear, Stat Priority, and Consumables
As a Healer, the stats you are looking for while leveling are similar to those of end-game: mostly anything that increases your healing and / or Mana sustain so you can heal for more, and for longer.
Consumables
First and foremost, remember to bring Water with you, as Mana tends to deplete faster than its natural regeneration when engaged in prolonged combat, and drinking is the best way to get combat ready again quickly.
First Aid is now responsible not just for Bandages but also Healing potions such as Lesser Healing Potion, which are essential to carry around for emergencies.
Potions and Elixirs made by Alchemy are very useful. Stat Elixirs like 
Minor Mageblood Elixir
increase your Mana sustain while active and Stat Potions such as 
Minor Mender's Potion
increase your healing significantly for a short period.
Cooking Food will now increase your experience gains by 5% for a long time, and give other useful stats, so make sure to stock up on it at all times while leveling!
Cozy Sleeping Bag
The 
Cozy Sleeping Bag from Season of Discovery seems to also be
present in WoW Forever, allowing you to gain extra experience and rested experience,
for yourself and any nearby party members, even if they do not have it themselves!
It has a lengthy unlock process that will take you all around the world:
Horde starts at a charred body near 46,74 in the Barrens, and then goes to the charred body at 37,50 in Westfall, while Alliance does the same in opposite order.
Afterwards, head to 40,52 in Stonetalon Mountains and look for a box next to a tent with a red cross on it. Click the nearby item to turn in the quest and proceed to a pile of dirt nearby at 40,50 for the next part of the quest.
Head to 49,13 in Loch Modan to turn in the next step at the top of the dam, to
a eagle statue. Finish by going up the Thoradin Wall at 87,49 in Hillsbrad Foothills
using a nearby cart to climb up the wall. Inside you will find the final turn in
spot (bag and note) to receive Cozy Sleeping Bag. Make sure to use it on
cooldown to speed up your leveling!
Changelog
- 18 Sep. 2026 (this page): Guide Added.
