World of Warcraft: Forever Restoration Shaman Guide

Restoration is in a good spot when compared to the other healer options, and its simple rotation makes it one of the easiest healers to pick up in WoW Forever, which is a strong perk of its own.

The extremely low complexity of the kit due to the absence of rotational cooldown spells outside of Riptide leaves Shaman with not much of a skill ceiling to master, it would be interesting for more skill intensive tools to be added to the rotation, such as a way to actively recover Mana during healing downtime.

Mana is the resource Shamans use to cast abilities. It is a resource that replenishes slowly over time, forcing you to be careful with how you use it in long fights where you cannot get out of combat to drink safely in between combat sessions.

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 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 unlocked through a long Level 20 quest line which also provides Healing Stream Totem. You can also unlock Mana Spring Totem and Poison Cleansing Totem, all of which are strong in different scenarios.
• Air Totems unlock through a Level 30 quest, and are some of the most powerful totems, with Windfury Totem (unfortunately unlocked at Level 32) being a must-have melee buff and Grounding Totem being a great counter to CC and other spell casting, especially in PvP.

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 30, 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.