Restoration Shaman Healing Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Sep 09, 2024 at 18:00 by Seksixeny 52 comments
General Information

On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Restoration Shaman in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Restoration Shaman spells.

1.

Restoration Shaman Spell Summary

If you are new to Restoration, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section, we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2.

Main Resource for Restoration Shaman

Your main resource as a Restoration Shaman is Mana. Mana is restored periodically in combat through your Mana regeneration, and you are also refunded a percentage of the maximum Mana from your spells by your Resurgence Icon Resurgence talent. Some of your spells have a high Mana to healing ratio, meaning their output, when compared with their cost, is very high compared to other spells in your kit. These spells typically provide more convenience or have faster cast times, allowing you to potentially save lives. Learning to select the right spell for the right situation in order to properly conserve and spend Mana at the correct times is very important to playing a Restoration Shaman skillfully.

3.

Unlocking Abilities

Note that this page simply lists all the different abilities, assuming you are at max level. If you are leveling, check out our dedicated Restoration Shaman Leveling page, which has detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

4.

Hero Talents for Restoration Shaman

These abilities are available depending on what Hero Talents you pick between Farseer and Totemic.

4.1.

Farseer

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Call of the Ancestors Icon Call of the Ancestors CA Allows you to summon Ancestor-friendly NPCs with Undulation Icon Undulation or Unleash Life Icon Unleash Life which help you heal by casting damage spells, single target heals, or area heals depending on the spells you cast while they are active.
Latent Wisdom Icon Latent Wisdom LW Causes your Ancestor spells to be 20% more powerful.
Ancient Fellowship Icon Ancient Fellowship AF Ancestors will call a new Ancestor to aid you 20% of the time when despawning.
Offering from Beyond Icon Offering from Beyond OfB Whenever you summon an Ancestor, you will also reduce Riptide Icon Riptide's cooldown by 2 seconds. This has good synergy with Riptide Icon Riptide talents.
Natural Harmony Icon Natural Harmony NH Reduces the cooldown of Nature's Guardian Icon Nature's Guardian by 15 seconds and causes it to heal you for an additional 10% of your maximum Health.
Earthen Communion Icon Earthen Communion EC Increases the maximum charges of Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield to 12 and makes it heal you for 25% more. This has good synergy with Reactive Warding Icon Reactive Warding.
Heed My Call Icon Heed My Call HMC Makes Ancestors last 4 seconds more.
Routine Communication Icon Routine Communication RC Causes Riptide Icon Riptide to have a 15% chance to summon an Ancestor. This has good synergy with Riptide Icon Riptide talents.
Primordial Capacity Icon Primordial Capacity PC Increases your maximum Mana by 5% and allows for 4 Tidal Waves Icon Tidal Waves to be stored instead of 2.
Maelstrom Supremacy Icon Maelstrom Supremacy MSup Increases the healing done by Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave, Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge, Wellspring Icon Wellspring, Downpour Icon Downpour, and Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal by 8%.
Elemental Reverb Icon Elemental Reverb ER Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst and Riptide Icon Riptide are 5% more effective and gain an extra charge. This makes Echo of the Elements Icon Echo of the Elements mostly redundant, saving one specialization talent point.
Spiritwalker's Momentum Icon Spiritwalker's Momentum SwM Using spells with a cast time increases the duration of Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace and Spiritwalker's Aegis Icon Spiritwalker's Aegis by 1 second, up to a maximum of 4 seconds.
Final Calling Icon Final Calling FC When an Ancestor expires, it will cast a small absorb shield on a nearby injured ally that lasts for 10 seconds and steadily decays over its duration.
Ancestral Swiftness Icon Ancestral Swiftness AS Replaces Nature's Swiftness Icon Nature's Swiftness and causes your next healing or damage spell to have a 10% increased effect, on top of being free and instant cast. If you also know Nature's Swiftness it will also summon an Ancestor for 6 seconds when used.
4.2.

Totemic

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem ST A longer duration, higher impact Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain replacement.
Totemic Rebound Icon Totemic Rebound ST A passive Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal boost that makes your Totems do an additional, less powerful Chain Heal of their own.
Oversized Totems Icon Oversized Totems OToT Makes your totems larger in both size and radius and increases their Health.
Swift Recall Icon Swift Recall SR Causes some of your support totems, such as Poison Cleansing Totem Icon Poison Cleansing Totem, to have a reduced cooldown after performing their duties.
Imbuement Mastery Icon Imbuement Mastery IM Increases the duration of Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon's heal over time proc by 3-seconds.
Amplification Core Icon Amplification Core AC Increases your damage and healing by 3% while Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem is active.
Oversurge Icon Oversurge OS Makes Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem 150% more effective while Ascendance Icon Ascendance is active. Good synergy with Deeply Rooted Elements Icon Deeply Rooted Elements.
Wind Barrier Icon Wind Barrier WB Grants a large absorb shield every 30 seconds if you have any totem active.
Pulse Capacitor Icon Pulse Capacitor PC Increases the healing of Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem by 25%.
Supportive Imbuements Icon Supportive Imbuements SI Allows you to imbue your shield to increase your healing by 2% and increase the duration of Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem and Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem by 3 seconds. Good synergy with Living Stream Icon Living Stream.
Lively Totems Icon Lively Totems LT Causes your Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem, Mana Tide Totem Icon Mana Tide Totem, Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem, Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem, and Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem to cast an instant free Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal that benefits from all of your Chain Heal talents and procs such as High Tide Icon High Tide. Massive synergy with Chain Heal talents.
Reactivity Icon Reactivity Reac Makes your Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem heal a second target at 50% effectiveness and increases the healing stored by Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem by 25%. Good synergy with Living Stream Icon Living Stream, as the Cloudburst bonus is much weaker.
Earthsurge Icon Earthsurge ESurge Increases your healing by 10% on allies affected by Earthen Wall Totem Icon Earthen Wall Totem, Ancestral Protection Totem Icon Ancestral Protection Totem, or your Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon heal over time proc.
Totemic Coordination Icon Totemic Coordination TC Causes the Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal effects cast by totems to be 25% more effective. Good synergy with Chain Heal talents.
Whirling Elements Icon Whirling Elements WE Using Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem grants you 3 motes with special effects: the Water mote causes your next Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave or Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge to also heal a different ally within the Rain; the Air mote reduces the cast time of your next heal by 40%, and the Earth mote causes your next Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal to apply a 150% effect Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon proc effect on all targets hit.
5.

Baseline abilities for Restoration Shaman

These abilities are available no matter what talents you choose and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Lightning Bolt Icon Lightning Bolt LB Your main single-target damage filler.
Flame Shock Icon Flame Shock FS A damage-over-time spell you should keep applied to your primary target at all times. It deals weak damage-over-time but has an important interaction with your Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst: it guarantees that all Lava Burst casts will be critical hits.
Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge HS Heals for a significant amount with a fast cast time. It also has very significant talent support, making it one of the strongest single-target abilities you can use if you take them many of them together.
Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust/Heroism Icon Heroism BL Formerly the signature Shaman cooldown, increasing the haste of all your party and raid members by 30% for 40 seconds, with a 5-minute cooldown. Presently available to Mage, Hunter, and Evoker as well.
Reincarnation Icon Reincarnation Ankh A passive ability allowing you to self-resurrect with partial Health and Mana. This has a 30-minute cooldown, which does not reset on wipe and is a unique and incredibly powerful ability when it is available.
Earthbind Totem Icon Earthbind Totem - Projects a totem that slows everything around it by 50% for 20 seconds. Very useful, especially if you kite around the totem.
Lightning Shield Icon Lightning Shield - Deals damage to enemies that hit you in melee; not very useful.
Flametongue Weapon Icon Flametongue Weapon - Not used as Restoration.
Primal Strike Icon Primal Strike - You will never use this. Take it off your bars.
Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf - Transforms you into a wolf, preventing you from casting but increasing your movement speed as long as you stay in this form. In addition, your movement speed cannot go below 100% while in this form.
Ancestral Spirit Icon Ancestral Spirit - Allows you to resurrect allies after a very long cast. It is not usable in combat.
Astral Recall Icon Astral Recall - A second Hearthstone Icon Hearthstone charge with a 10-minute cooldown. It is still linked to your Hearthstone, and you can only use this to teleport back to the location you picked with your Hearthstone.
Far Sight Icon Far Sight - Is one of the least useful spells in the game; it allows you to see at a distance. You can safely remove this from your bars.
Water Walking Icon Water Walking - Allows you or whoever you target to walk on water as long as no damage is taken.
6.

Class Tree Spells for Restoration Shaman

The Shaman Class Tree has most of your situational utility abilities and is likely to change slightly but frequently to counter the specific content you are doing.

6.1.

Rows 1-4

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal CH One of the few no-cooldown multi-target heals in the game, and its healing jumps prioritize the most injured players in range, making it a very powerful spell. It is also the spell with the most powerful talent support in the Restoration Shaman kit, making it a cornerstone of some of our recommended talent builds.
Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst LvB Is an automatic critical strike when used on a target with Flame Shock Icon Flame Shock, making it a strong DPS spell.
Astral Shift Icon Astral Shift AS Your main defensive cooldown and an important talent which provides a lot of defensive power, especially in the hands of an experienced player.
Chain Lightning Icon Chain Lightning CL Is your main area effect damage spell, and while its 3-target cap is quite low for Mythic+, and its damage is quite decent, making it a good pick whenever you expect to face multiple foes.
Earth Elemental Icon Earth Elemental EE Provides an emergency tank for your party, which can save you in emergencies, and a 15% health boost for a full minute, as long as the elemental survives, making it a decent extra defensive cooldown.
Wind Shear Icon Wind Shear WS Your interrupt, and a good one as it has the lowest cooldown among ranged interrupts, although it compensates by having lower range and lower lockout time. In Mythic+ or whenever you are planning to fight enemies with interruptible casts, you should take this.
Frost Shock Icon Frost Shock FrS With Explosive Icon Explosive having been removed in Season 2 of Dragonflight, this is mostly a dead talent for Restoration Shamans in PvE.
Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield ES Provides a lot of healing for the single global it takes to cast, and also increases your healing on the target by 20%, making it a great pick whenever you will be casting heals on the target regularly.
Winds of Al'Akir Icon Winds of Al'Akir - Increases the movement speed bonus of Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf by 10%. Additionally, when you have 3 or more totems active, your movement speed is increased by 15%.
Brimming with Life Icon Brimming with Life - Increases your maximum Health by 10% when Reincarnation Icon Reincarnation is off cooldown. Additionally, while you are at full Health, Reincarnation cools down 75% faster.
Capacitor Totem Icon Capacitor Totem Cap totem Is your area stun, and a great pick whenever you will be facing many targets that can be stunned, mostly in Mythic+.
Improved Purify Spirit Icon Improved Purify Spirit Cleanse Great whenever there are dangerous Curses that can be dispelled.
Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace SWG Great movement tool, which allows you to move while casting for a short duration.
Tremor Totem Icon Tremor Totem Tremor Is of great value in fights where you can remove Fear, Charm and Sleep effects with it.
Purge Icon Purge - Useful whenever there are dangerous magic effects that you can remove from enemies.
Greater Purge Icon Greater Purge - Removes 2 beneficial magic effects from an enemy target. It has twice the mana cost of Purge Icon Purge and a 12-second cooldown. Currently does not seem to have a useful niche.
Planes Traveler Icon Planes Traveler - Reduces the cooldown of Astral Shift Icon Astral Shift by 30 seconds.
Astral Bulwark Icon Astral Bulwark - Increases damage reduced by Astral Shift Icon Astral Shift by 20%.
Spirit Wolf Icon Spirit Wolf - Increases your movement speed and damage reduction by 5% every second you stay in Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf form, up to 4 times.
Ancestral Wolf Affinity Icon Ancestral Wolf Affinity - This talent allows you to cast most of your utility spells and totems in Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf form, which is especially useful in PvP scenarios in order to keep the damage reduction benefit of Spirit Wolf Icon Spirit Wolf for as long as possible.
Thunderous Paws Icon Thunderous Paws - Increases the movement speed of Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf form by an additional 25% for the first 3 seconds and removes any snare effects on you. This effect can only occur every 20 seconds.
Fire and Ice Icon Fire and Ice - Increases all Fire and Frost damage you deal by 3%.
Elemental Orbit Icon Elemental Orbit EO Increases the number of Elemental Shields you can have active on yourself by 1 and allows you to have Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield cast on yourself and one ally at the same time.
Static Charge Icon Static Charge - Reduces the cooldown of Capacitor Totem Icon Capacitor Totem by 5 seconds for each enemy, it stuns up to a maximum reduction of 20 seconds.
Guardian's Cudgel Icon Guardian's Cudgel - Spawns a secondary Capacitor Totem Icon Capacitor Totem when it fades or is destroyed.
6.2.

Rows 5-7

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Wind Rush Totem Icon Wind Rush Totem WRT Summons a totem for 15 seconds that increases the speed of allies within 10 yards by 60% for 5 seconds. The speed buff is continually refreshed, as long as they are within range.
Ascending Air Icon Ascending Air AsA Making Wind Rush Totem Icon Wind Rush Totem lower cooldown can be excellent for specific encounters, as can the added duration.
Jet Stream Icon Jet Stream JS Becoming even faster and having Wind Rush Totem Icon Wind Rush Totem remove snares can also be great, making this the most generally useful of the two Wind Rush Totem nodes.
Earthgrab Totem Icon Earthgrab Totem EG Summons a totem at a target location for 30 seconds with a 30-second cooldown. Every 2 seconds, all enemies within 8 yards of the totem is rooted in place for 2 seconds. Enemies previously rooted by the totem instead suffer a 50% movement speed slow.
Hex Icon Hex - Is the Shaman equivalent of Polymorph Icon Polymorph. This spell transforms 1 enemy into a frog for 60 seconds, preventing it from attacking or casting spells as long as you do not attack it. It only works on humanoids and beasts.
Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem HST Heals allies up to 40 yards away over 15 seconds. It can be transformed into Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem with a Restoration tree talent.
Totemic Projection Icon Totemic Projection - Is a 10-second cooldown ability that allows you to move all your active totems to a location within 40 yards.
Spirit Walk Icon Spirit Walk SW Removes all movement-impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 60% for 8 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown.
Gust of Wind Icon Gust of Wind GoW Propels you forward on a 20-second cooldown.
Graceful Spirit Icon Graceful Spirit GS Reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace by 30 seconds and increases your movement speed by 20% while it is active.
Spiritwalker's Aegis Icon Spiritwalker's Aegis SWA Enhances your Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace by making you are immune to Silence and interrupt effects for 5 seconds when you cast it.
Nature's Fury Icon Nature's Fury - Increases the critical strike chance of your Nature spells by 4%.
Totemic Surge Icon Totemic Surge - Reduces the cooldown of your totems by 6 seconds.
Elemental Resistance Icon Elemental Resistance - Reduces Fire, Frost, and Nature damage taken by players healed by Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem or Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem by a slight amount and a short duration. While it is not very impactful, it will usually be taken for pathing reasons.
Elemental Warding Icon Elemental Warding - Reduces all magic damage taken by 6%.
Nature's Guardian Icon Nature's Guardian NG Heals you for 27% of your maximum Health whenever your Health is brought below 35%. This effect has a 45 seconds cooldown
Voodoo Mastery Icon Voodoo Mastery - Reduces the cooldown of your Hex Icon Hex spell by 15 seconds and makes it slow the target while active and for 6 seconds afterward.
Thunderstorm Icon Thunderstorm TS Does very little damage but knocks away enemies around you and slows them by 40% for 5 seconds. Quite useful, especially when you use it to displace an enemy in a specific direction.
6.3.

Rows 8-10

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Nature's Swiftness Icon Nature's Swiftness NS Is a one-minute cooldown ability that makes your next healing or damaging Nature spell instant and cost no Mana.
Mana Spring Totem Icon Mana Spring Totem - Summons a totem for 2 minutes that restores a small amount of Mana to you and 4 allies within 30 yards of the totem whenever you cast Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst or Riptide Icon Riptide. Decent for long fights in a raid setting.
Lightning Lasso Icon Lightning Lasso Lasso Is a channeled ability that stuns a target within 20 yards and deals considerable damage over 5 seconds. You can move while channeling and it has a 45-second cooldown.
Poison Cleansing Totem Icon Poison Cleansing Totem - Removes all poison effects from a nearby party or raid member within 30 yards every 1.5 seconds for 6 seconds on a 45-second cooldown.
Totemic Recall Icon Totemic Recall Resets the cooldown of your most recently used totem that has a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes.
Ancestral Guidance Icon Ancestral Guidance AG Converts 25% of your damage and 10% of your healing done into healing on up to 3 nearby party and/or raid members, making it one of your best healing cooldowns, especially when combined with Ascendance Icon Ascendance and Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem. Lasts 10 seconds, with a 2-minute cooldown.
Stone Bulwark Totem Icon Stone Bulwark Totem SBT Long cooldown totem, which grants you a personal absorb shield that is reinforced every 5 seconds it stays up. While the shield is not huge, this is a decent extra defensive at your disposal.
Totemic Focus Icon Totemic Focus - Increases the radius of your totem effects by 15%. Additionally, it increases the duration of your Earthbind Totem Icon Earthbind Totem and Earthgrab Totem Icon Earthgrab Totem by 10 seconds, and the duration of your Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem, Tremor Totem Icon Tremor Totem, Poison Cleansing Totem Icon Poison Cleansing Totem and Wind Rush Totem Icon Wind Rush Totem by 3 seconds.
Thundershock Icon Thundershock TShock Makes Thunderstorm Icon Thunderstorm knock enemies up instead of away and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
Traveling Storms Icon Traveling Storms TStorms Traveling Storms Icon Traveling Storms allows you to cast Thunderstorm Icon Thunderstorm on an ally within healing range, knocking and slowing enemies more than a regular Thunderstorm would.
Call of the Elements Icon Call of the Elements CaE Reduces the cooldown of Totemic Recall Icon Totemic Recall by 60 seconds.
Creation Core Icon Creation Core CrC Makes Totemic Recall Icon Totemic Recall affect an additional totem.
7.

Restoration Tree Spells for Restoration Shaman

The Restoration talent tree also has some utility talents but is mostly focused on throughput talents, allowing you to choose between single-target healing and damage, area healing and damage, or a mix.

7.1.

Rows 1 to 4

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Riptide Icon Riptide RT Core ability that is Mana efficient and provides high healing on a short cooldown.
Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave HW Slow, Mana-efficient heal that provides a way to heal efficiently during periods of low damage and is used to activate Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave.
Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem HST Must-have, as it contributes significant healing, especially when transformed into Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem. If you took the talent with the same name in the general tree, you will have two charges of this spell.
Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain HR Low cooldown, high-efficiency spell, but only when at least 3 injured players will be standing inside it for its full duration, which makes it much more circumstantial than most of your kit. It is still worth casting on cooldown in raids for its healing and in Mythic+ if you also have Acid Rain Icon Acid Rain, however!
Deluge Icon Deluge - Empowers some of your spells significantly, as long as they hit allies inside your Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain or with Riptide Icon Riptide. That makes it a decent talent for increasing your general healing, and you will generally want to take it.
Tidal Waves Icon Tidal Waves TW Causes Riptide Icon Riptide casts to give you two charges that reduce Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave and Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal cast time and increase Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge critical strike chance. This is a fantastic talent that ties your kit together and boosts many of your core spells significantly.
Overflowing Shores Icon Overflowing Shores - Causes your Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain to instantly heal allies when dropped and grants it a slightly larger radius, both of which are fine bonuses if you will be using Rain heavily.
Acid Rain Icon Acid Rain AR Turns your Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain into a heal that also deals damage. The amount of damage dealt is good enough that you will always want to use rain on cooldown if you picked this talent, even against a single target, as long as it will stay inside for the duration.
Ancestral Vigor Icon Ancestral Vigor AV Good talent that works well in any situation. Your highest priority with this talent is to ensure it is running on the tanks and other priority targets at all times to grant them additional survivability.
Resurgence Icon Resurgence - Significant Mana sustain talent, which will return a huge amount of Mana to you throughout a fight. Logically, if Mana is not an issue, then this talent loses some value, but it is a very important talent in a Mana scarcity situation.
Water Totem Mastery Icon Water Totem Mastery - Reduces the cooldown of your water totems by a decent amount as long as you are spending your Tidal Waves Icon Tidal Waves regularly. The gain is small but requires no extra Mana to get going, and the talent is required for Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem anyway, making it an easy pick for most builds.
7.2.

Rows 5 to 7

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem SLT An iconic Restoration Shaman ability, which has excellent life-saving potential due to instantly restoring the life of whoever is most injured inside a player grouping.
Spouting Spirits Icon Spouting Spirits SpS Excellent talent which increases the damage reduction of Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem and causes it to massively heal everyone inside its effect after a small delay, making it a much stronger ability than it has been in the past few years.
Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem CBT This totem stores some of the healing you do while it is active and releases it all at once evenly among nearby friendly targets. This is a very powerful talent, which acts as a multiplier on your healing, especially during cooldown-boosted periods.
Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem HTT Provides high-spread healing over some time and can be used while moving, which allows you to use it while doing fight mechanics or casting other healing spells.
Current Control Icon Current Control CuC Reduces the cooldown of Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem by 45 seconds. Combined with Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem now doing its maximum healing as soon as you have 5 players in your group, it is now a decent talent.
Tide Turner Icon Tide Turner TT Causes the lowest health player healed by Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem to be healed by 30% more and also receive 15% more healing from the Shaman for 4 seconds. While this can be useful in small groups, it is also a weak effect when compared to many of the alternatives in PvE.
Mana Tide Totem Icon Mana Tide Totem MTT Grants your group a Mana regeneration boost, making it a powerful Mana sustain tool for yourself and allies. It can be combined with Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem Icon Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem to create a strong healing cooldown.
Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem Icon Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem STT Causes your Mana Tide Totem Icon Mana Tide Totem to also reduce the cost and cast time of Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal and Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave by 50% for 10 seconds. This can double your throughput for a short while, and is a powerful healing cooldown when combined with Ancestral Guidance Icon Ancestral Guidance or Ascendance Icon Ascendance.
Resonant Waters Icon Resonant Waters RW Taking this talent makes your Mana Tide Totem Icon Mana Tide Totem last longer and have 20y longer range. These bonuses are negligible when compared to the alternative talent.
Unleash Life Icon Unleash Life UL Provides an extra instant heal and strong boost to your next heal. The boost depends on the spell, but you will generally use this on Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain while raiding, or on a Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave fueled Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave, as those present the highest potential healing gains.
Earthen Wall Totem Icon Earthen Wall Totem EWT Good for reducing frequent incoming damage on a stacked group of allies. Since it only absorbs a small, fixed amount of each attack, it is not recommended to use against enemies that deal slow, powerful attacks, but is great in almost all other situations.
Ancestral Protection Totem Icon Ancestral Protection Totem APT Best choice whenever you plan to intentionally have one ally die to bypass encounter mechanics; just be mindful of the 200% maximum Health killing blow limit. It should also be picked whenever your group is consistently struggling to keep everyone alive through a short, specific part of an encounter.
Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon ELW 1 hour imbue for your weapon that causes some of your healing spells to have a 20% chance to activate a small heal over time on the target. While not particularly powerful, it provides a steady trickle of passive healing that does add up over time.
Ancestral Reach Icon Ancestral Reach - Increases the healing of Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal and causes it to bounce one extra time. This is a strong healing increase for Chain Heal and generally worth picking up for new players who struggle to use Flow of the Tides Icon Flow of the Tides correctly.
Flow of the Tides Icon Flow of the Tides - Increases the healing of Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal by 30% when cast on a target with Riptide Icon Riptide, also consuming the Riptide. It also adds the extra bounce of Ancestral Reach Icon Ancestral Reach permanently, making it a superior option whenever you can reliably consume low-duration Riptide Icon Riptides.
Refreshing Waters Icon Refreshing Waters - Mostly forgettable, as the amount of Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge casts on yourself should be low on most types of content.
Master of the Elements Icon Master of the Elements MotE Increases the healing of your next Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge by 30% after a Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst cast, stacking twice. This empowered Healing Surge will also cast Flame Shock Icon Flame Shock at a nearby target, improving your rotational flow.
Living Stream Icon Living Stream LST Causes Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem to heal for 100% more, decaying over its duration. This allows Healing Stream to pack a much bigger punch when it is dropped, making it a strong reactive healing tool. It also has strong synergy with the Totemic hero talent Reactivity Icon Reactivity.
Torrent Icon Torrent - Increases Riptide Icon Riptide's initial heal significantly, making it a decent use of points but usually not as good as alternatives when used optimally.
Undulation Icon Undulation Und Performance depends on how much of your total throughput consists of Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave and Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge casts. If these 2 spells are your main healing sources, such as in Mythic+, then this talent is a great pick, otherwise, you should probably take a different talent.
Echo of the Elements Icon Echo of the Elements Echo Provides an extra Riptide Icon Riptide and Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst charge. While the Lava Burst charge is only a small damage increase, the extra Riptide charge allows you to perform your rotation without needing to constantly worry about losing potential Riptide casts, and as Riptide is the centerpiece of all Shaman healing, it also makes this talent next to mandatory.
7.3.

Rows 8 to 10

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Primal Tide Core Icon Primal Tide Core PTC Provides extra free Riptide Icon Riptides that have the same initial burst healing of hard-casted ones. While it will not create an additional Riptide if your 4th cast target has no allies nearby, the effect will try to proc in every following cast until it works. This talent has good synergy with Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave, but suffers from pathing issues.
Tidewaters Icon Tidewaters TWaters Causes Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain to also do massive healing to players with Riptide Icon Riptide active. When used with Totemic Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem it will do double healing to account for the extra cooldown of the totem when compared to regular Rain.
Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave PWave Cheap instant heal that applies Riptide Icon Riptide and makes your next Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave hit all targets with your Riptide active. This effect has no range limit and thus provides an excellent way to heal targets that are spread out from the rest of the group.
Wavespeaker's Blessing Icon Wavespeaker's Blessing - Increases the duration of Riptide Icon Riptide by 6 seconds, which is a small direct healing increase, but also has some impact for Undercurrent Icon Undercurrent uptime and Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave / Tidewaters Icon Tidewaters target count.
Tidebringer Icon Tidebringer TB Causes you to gain a buff every 8 seconds that increases the jump range by 100% and lowers the cast time of Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal by 50%, making it much more useful in every scenario. You can stack this buff twice, allowing for two buffed Chain Heals back to back.
Ascendance Icon Ascendance Asc Creates a healing burst and almost duplicates your healing evenly into nearby injured allies, which means you can use it to rapidly heal a single target when needed, or as a group healing cooldown when combined with your other group heals, especially if you are also under the effects of Ancestral Guidance Icon Ancestral Guidance and Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem.
First Ascendant Icon First Ascendant FA Reduces the cooldown of Ascendance Icon Ascendance by 1-minute making it exactly the same as Ancestral Guidance Icon Ancestral Guidance and thus making their combo much more powerful.
Preeminence Icon Preeminence PR Increases your Haste by 25% during Ascendance Icon Ascendance and its duration by 3 seconds, making it an even stronger cooldown. Great in fights where you cannot get value from a shorter Ascendance cooldown.
Downpour Icon Downpour DWP Post rework, it is a great ability that you can activate after using Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain to do massive healing to targets inside it and increase their Health by 10%, stacking with Ancestral Vigor Icon Ancestral Vigor. When used with Totemic Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem it will do double healing to account for the extra cooldown of the totem when compared to regular Rain.
Ancestral Awakening Icon Ancestral Awakening - Provides a decent healing increase, which scales with your critical strike chance.
Earthen Harmony Icon Earthen Harmony - Helps with keeping your tank and yourself healthy through the large damage reduction and automatic heals, allowing you to focus on other members of the group more often and in making a more efficient usage of your Mana overall.
Reactive Warding Icon Reactive Warding RW This talent will heal your Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield target when you refresh the shield, with the heal being higher the more stacks your target is missing when refreshed. You will also gain Mana when refreshing Water Shield Icon Water Shield with the amount being higher if you refresh it at low stacks. While this can theoretically be a decent talent if you always remember to refresh just as stacks are running out, you will get no benefit if you let the shields run out, so make sure to track its effect if you take this talent.
Undercurrent Icon Undercurrent - Decent healing increases depending on the number of Riptide Icon Riptides that we can keep rolling on a group. The buff will also be at its highest point whenever you use Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave in preparation for burst healing, but has anti-synergy with Flow of the Tides Icon Flow of the Tides.
High Tide Icon High Tide HT Allows you to bank powerful Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal casts to counter incoming burst damage, or simply passively increase your throughput.
Wellspring Icon Wellspring WS Allows for widespread group healing, a limitation Restoration often struggles with. With its relatively low 20-second cooldown, Wellspring works best when the encounter's damage pattern allows you to cast it on cooldown without heavy overhealing.
Deeply Rooted Elements Icon Deeply Rooted Elements DRE This talent can make a huge difference if you get Ascendance Icon Ascendance procs at the correct times during a fight, and has a high overall healing value in fights with high, consistent raid damage.
Improved Earthliving Weapon Icon Improved Earthliving Weapon IELW Increases the healing benefit to Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon from our Mastery and causes Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge to always proc it on the target.

For a more in-depth look at all the Restoration Shaman talents, visit the guide below:

For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.

Once you reach max level, it can be somewhat overwhelming to completely change the way you play by suddenly implementing a large number of addons in a short space of time, especially if they have a heavy visual impact on your UI.

We recommend using some of the more basic addons recommended on our Addons Page below while leveling so that you have more time to get used to them during the easier phases of playing your class. You will want at least some of our Macros as well!

8.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within launch.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
  • 18 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Small adjustments to Ascendance description after Patch 10.2 nerfs.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 13 Jun. 2023: Clarified that Ascendance and Guidance should not be used together.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated with Earthgrab new duration, Explosive affix removal and other changes of Patch 10.1.0.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated with the new spells and talents of Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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