Restoration Shaman Healing Gear and Best in Slot — Shadowlands 9.0.5

Welcome to our Gearing Page for Restoration Shaman, where we will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

If you have a new piece of gear that you need gems and enchants advice for, you can find everything you need on our dedicated page below.

There are three main paths to gear your characters in Shadowlands:

• World Content (crafting, reputations, quests, world bosses, world PvP)
• Instanced PvE Content (dungeons and raids)
• Instanced PvP Content (battlegrounds and arenas)

You are free to pursue any, or all, of these paths. The more content you do in the game, the faster your gearing up will be, but we recommend that you focus on the types of content you enjoy the most, letting gear come as a by-product of having fun!

Also, keep in mind that you should generally be using your highest item level gear. If you have an Intellect two-hander that is of higher item level than your one-hand + shield combination, use the two-hander, otherwise use the shield for an increase in survivability against physical damage.

The item levels available right now vary a lot depending on both the type of content and the difficulty you are doing it at. Check the picture below for details!

While Legendaries are, technically, gear pieces, they are important enough to have their own dedicated page, which you can consult below!

We will not be listing any legendaries on the best in slot lists down below, as you are expected to be using one, but the slot where you use it in depends on the item level of your gear in the slots the legendary can occupy. Try to craft it on one of your weakest gear slots.

While this is mostly applicable to DPS classes, Restoration Shamans do have a DPS simulation profile, which you can use in order to optimize your gear for DPS. Learn more about how to optimize your damage rotation below.

For Healing, we recommend analyzing your performance in past encounters, instead. Tools such as WoW Analyzer are capable of giving you an accurate stat weight and tips on how to improve based on your logs.

You can find more details on how to make the most out of these tools in the specialized page below.

In Shadowlands, only Helms, Necks, Bracers, Belts and Rings can have sockets. These can show up randomly on the item when it drops, or be crafted into an item, Legendaries included.

By gathering Stygia in The Maw, you will be able to eventually buy Spatial Realignment Apparatus from Ve'nari, unlocking the possibility of obtaining maximum sockets in your gear!

Take note that a trinket's worth might vary wildly between types of content. For example, in PvP a PvP trinket set should almost always be the best due to the powerful set bonus. Mythic+ damage patterns encourage the use of single-target healing trinkets, while Raiding is great for area healing trinkets.

When in doubt, stat increasing trinkets tend to always be valuable, no matter the situation.

The ranking system is as follows:

1. S Tier: the strongest and most generally useful trinkets; these are always good choices.
2. A Tier: these trinkets are slightly weaker than the S Tier traits, but are still solid choices.
3. B Tier: a below-average trinket that should be picked only in the absence of an S or A Tier trinket.
4. C Tier: a weak trinket that provides very little healing output or other utility and should be avoided if possible.

• Cabalist's Hymnal (Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria)
• Soulletting Ruby (Kul'tharok in Theater of Pain)
• Tuft of Smoldering Plumage (Sun King's Salvation in Castle Nathria)
• Manabound Mirror (Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria)
• Unbound Changeling (Ingra Maloch in Mists of Tirna Scithe)
• Sinful Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity (PvP Vendor)

• Darkmoon Deck: Repose (Inscription/Darkmoon Faire)
• Sinful Aspirant's Insignia of Alacrity (PvP Vendor)
• Inscrutable Quantum Device (Dealer Xy'exa in De Other Side)
• Spiritual Alchemy Stone (Alchemy)
• Boon of the Archon (Devos in Spires of Ascension)
• Consumptive Infusion (Hungering Destroyer in Castle Nathria)

• Siphoning Phylactery Shard (Nalthor the Rimebinder in The Necrotic Wake)
• Macabre Sheet Music (The Council of Blood in Castle Nathria)
• Lingering Sunmote (Grand Proctor Beryllia in Sanguine Depths)
• Overflowing Anima Cage (Executor Tarvold in Sanguine Depths)
• Sunblood Amethyst (High Adjudicator Aleez in Halls of Atonement)
• Vial of Spectral Essence (Dessia the Decapitator in Theater of Pain)

None! All of the Shadowlands healer trinkets so far are actually usable, if not at an equal power level or equally easy to use optimally.

Some notes on specific trinkets:

Unbound Changeling changes the stat buff it gives based on the food you recently ate, and can change once per day. Eat critical strike food ( Spinefin Souffle and Fries) once per day until you make it change into the all-stat buff. Since we value all of our stats closely, and this version provides the largest overall amount of stats, that is how you can maximize the value you get from your trinket. You can eat feast food only from that point on to avoid the stat buff changing again. The value of the trinket is similar if you use the critical strike version, regardless.

Inscrutable Quantum Device has various effects depending on when you activate it:

• Ally health under 30% nearby = it heals;
• Healer nearby under 20% Mana = grants Mana;
• You are crowd controlled = removes it;
• You have aggro from something nearby = spawns a taunting NPC;
• Your target is under 20% health = deals huge damage to it;
• None of the previous is true = huge secondary stat buff.

We are assuming you will be getting the stat buff effect here, but the other effects can also be valuable, depending on the situation.

Cabalist's Hymnal gains power as more people in your group are using it, which is reflected in the ranking. Make sure to use it if there are other people in your group doing the same! Even at its baseline it is very strong.

Finally, DPS trinkets like Dreadfire Vessel are not listed but can be very valuable as you can use them to contribute significant damage, even as a healer spec.

PvP gear is special for us in Shadowlands: you buy it from the PvP vendor in Oribos and it will always have Versatility as one of its two stats. You can buy blue gear for Honor, which is quite easy to get and upgrade, and epic gear for Conquest, which is obtained more slowly but can is also upgradeable with Honor up to a maximum item level depending on your rated PvP rating.

This makes it often the best itemized gear available, as long as you can get it at an equal or higher item level to your other options. Because you can buy it, you are free to fill in your weakest slots with PvP gear! This ensures you can never get unlucky with a particular gear slot, as long as you are the PvP type. We decidedly recommend giving it a try, as it has been great fun for us so far in Shadowlands!

Below are the recommended dungeon items in Shadowlands. As usual, higher item level drops of different items are preferable to the listed items. Also, feel free to mix and match this gear with the raid best in slot gear from the next section of the guide.

With the new Valor system in Patch 9.0.5, you can upgrade these items up to a cap of 220 item level, which makes them much more competitive relative to raid and PvP gear.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Rattling Deadeye Hood	Bonefang in The Necrotic Wake
Neck	Azure-Venom Choker	Kin-Tara in Spires of Ascension
Shoulders	Plagueborne Shoulderguards	Margrave Stradama in Plaguefall
Cloak	Drape of Twisted Loyalties	Devos in Spires of Ascension
Chest	Forsworn Stalker's Hauberk	Kin-Tara in Spires of Ascension
Wrists	Shackles of Alluring Vitality	Kryxis the Voracious in Sanguine Depths
Gloves	Iron Spiked Handgrips	Grand Proctor Beryllia in Sanguine Depths
Belt	Belt of Wretched Manipulations	Domina Venomblade in Plaguefall
Legs	Blightborne Chain Legguards	Globgrog in Plaguefall
Boots	Striders of Restless Malice	Surgeon Stitchflesh in The Necrotic Wake
Ring #1	Arachnid Cipher Ring	Domina Venomblade in Plaguefall
Ring #2	Entwined Gorger Tendril	Kryxis the Voracious in Sanguine Depths
Weapon	Surgical Pustule Extractor	Globgrog in Plaguefall
Shield	Encrusted Canopic Lid	Surgeon Stitchflesh in The Necrotic Wake

Below are the recommended Castle Nathria items. As usual, higher item level drops of different items are preferable to the listed items. Also, feel free to mix and match this gear with the dungeon best in slot gear from the previous section of the guide.

One thing to note in Castle Nathria is that, instead of direct weapon and shield drops, Shamans will get token drops from the final two bosses: Stone Legion Generals for off-hands with Thaumaturgic Anima Bead and Sire Denathrius for weapons with Venerated Anima Spherule. The items we list for these slots below are purchased with these tokens.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Helm of Insatiable Appetite	Hungering Destroyer in Castle Nathria
Neck	Noble's Birthstone Pendant	The Council of Blood in Castle Nathria
Shoulders	Pauldrons of Fatal Finality	Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria
Cloak	Mantle of Manifest Sins	Sun King's Salvation in Castle Nathria
Chest	Consumptive Chainmail Carapace	Hungering Destroyer in Castle Nathria
Wrists	Bangles of Errant Pride	Sun King's Salvation in Castle Nathria
Gloves	Oathsworn Soldier's Gauntlets	Stone Legion Generals in Castle Nathria
Belt	Double-Chained Utility Belt	Shriekwing in Castle Nathria
Legs	Greaves of Enigmatic Energies	Artificer Xy'Mox in Castle Nathria
Boots	Stoneclas Stompers	Sludgefist in Castle Nathria
Ring #1	Hyperlight Band	Artificer Xy'Mox in Castle Nathria
Ring #2	Most Regal Signet of Sire Denathrius	Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria
Weapon	Grasp from the Grave	Sire Denathrius (token) in Castle Nathria
Shield	Barrier of the Chosen	Stone Legion Generals (token) in Castle Nathria