Shaman are the spiritual leaders of their tribes and clans. They communicate with spirits, have visions of the future, and guide their people through the darkest of times. Many mistake their wisdom and serenity for a pacifist nature. When challenged, though, shaman have a range of powers available for dealing with threats to the natural order.
Comprehensive Guide to Shaman in WoW Forever
Shamans are masters of the primordial elements: fire, water, air, and earth. They commune with them and are stewards of natural balance, being granted deadly and healing powers in return. Their deadly powers can be delivered from range as a caster, or in melee using the elements to empower the Shaman's natural abilities and weapons. Their healing powers are mostly water based, and they have many powerful Totems which support their allies or harm their enemies in a static radius around them. As they can fill most roles in a group with their varied spells and totems, Shaman is one of the most versatile and interesting classes in World of Warcraft.
The announcement of WoW Forever is still very new, and as such information will continue to change rapidly over the course of the next few months. Check back frequently for the newest updates regarding Shaman as we learn more information.
Specializations
Shamans have access to three very different specializations that enable distinct roles (caster, melee, healer) and provide distinct playstyles.
- Elemental — Relying on Air, Earth, and Fire spells and totems, Elemental Shamans are powerful casters that excel at dealing damage from a distance.
- Enhancement — Also based on Air, Earth, and Fire spells and totems, Enhancement differs from Elemental in that their favored abilities are melee attacks and buffs that empower their weapons and those of their allies, making them strong melee supports.
- Restoration — With their strong Water-based spells and totems, particularly
Chain Heal, Restoration Shamans are one of the primary group healers and
supports in the game.
There are also multiple new core talents for each specialization such as 
Riptide,
Lava Burst, and Rage of the Farseer, which will cause specializations
to be more engaging than they were in Classic WoW.
Shaman Changes in WoW Forever
Changes to Shaman Race Choices
Shaman in Classic has historically only been available to Horde players, with the Tauren, Orc and Troll races:
- Taurens benefit from 5% increased health and 1% increased Hit chance from
Endurance, increased Nature Resistance, and have a short area stun
in
War Stomp, which is a great ability, especially for PvP. They also have
a new racial passive, Plainsrunning, which causes them to gain increased
movement speed up to 30% the longer they keep moving. - Orc is the usual go-to PvP race for Shamans, mostly due to the 20% stun duration
reduction provided by
Hardiness, which is a game-changer against Rogues,
Paladins and other classes reliant on stun effects. 
Axe Specialization
causes using axes to increase your global crit chance by 1%, and 
Blood Fury
provides a 10% throughput boost for 15 seconds. Orcs are also getting a new racial
cooldown, Shatter Curse, which grants immunity to Curses and Bane abilities
and reduces Magic damage taken for 8 seconds. - Troll have
Berserking which increases global Haste by 10% for 10 seconds
when used, 
Rapid Regeneration which regenerates 50% of your health over
time when used, 
Beast Slaying which increases damage done to beasts by 5%,
and 
Regeneration which causes 10% of your health regen to continue during
combat.
However, the following Races were also announced as new Shaman races in Classic+:
- Dwarf, which unlock Shamans to the Alliance faction. They have
Stoneform
which grants immunity to bleeds, poisons and diseases and reduces physical damage
taken for 8 seconds when used, 
Mace Specialization which increases global
crit chance by 1% when using Mace weapons and Big Game Hunter which increases
damage done to beasts by 5%. - The new race, (Windshaper) Skyborne, which can be played as a Shaman on the Horde faction! They have the Walk on Air racial which provides a slow fall with movement control capability for 10 seconds, Skysight which increases run speed by 10%, Wind Blessed which passively increases global Haste by 1%, and Elemental Insight which increases damage dealt to elemental enemies by 5%.
List of Shaman Spell Changes
A list of spell changes will be added soon as we learn more about Shaman!
Shaman Specialization Changes and Additions
Listed below are the changes and additions for Shaman's 3 specs in WoW Forever.
Elemental
More information will be added as we learn more about Elemental!
Enhancement
More information will be added as we learn more about Enhancement!
Restoration
More information will be added as we learn more about Restoration!
What Else Could Change for Shaman in WoW Forever?
It would be expected that Blizzard introduces more races that can be Shamans as WoW Forever progresses, such as Ogres, and perhaps new / alternative talents, so keep an eye out for changes as we go through this new journey!
Changelog
- 12 Sep. 2026: Preliminary guide added with Blizzcon announcement.
