Restoration Shaman Torghast Guide and Best Anima Powers — Shadowlands 9.0.5

While this guide focuses on Torghast, Tower of the Damned, its lessons can be applied to any solo content, including world questing and leveling.

Albeit counter-intuitive, healers are often as good as or better than their DPS counterparts for clearing solo content.

This is because inside Torghast enemy health is reduced by 40%+ to account for healing specializations having a lower damage output, but Restoration Shamans can do a lot of damage when healing is not required, as explained in the guide below.

Shamans are also the most self-sufficient healers inside Torghast, with an interrupt, stun, and offensive dispel, which are all valuable against dangerous enemies (especially the interrupt)!

Overall, your greatest strength in Torghast is your self-sustain and utility, while your greatest weakness is your low area of effect damage, which forces you to do small pulls. Take note that there is no time limit on Torghast, so pulling small and steadily without deaths is a very viable way to progress.

The talents recommended below apply to Torghast / general soloing. If you are looking for a general overview of Restoration talents, check our main page below:

Level	Choices
15	✓ Torrent	✗ Undulation	✓ Unleash Life
25	✓ Echo of the Elements	✗ Deluge	✗ Surge of Earth
30	? Spirit Wolf	? Earthgrab Totem	✓ Static Charge
35	✗ Ancestral Vigor	✓ Earthen Wall Totem	✗ Ancestral Protection Totem
40	✓ Nature's Guardian	✓ Graceful Spirit	✗ Wind Rush Totem
45	✓ Flash Flood	✗ Downpour	✗ Cloudburst Totem
50	✗ High Tide	✗ Wellspring	✓ Ascendance

Because of the AoE healing nature of most of our talents, there are only a few good talents for soloing, and when decisions are required they are mostly down to personal preference, such as Undulation (less work, less power) against Unleash Life (more work, more power).

While the recommendations here apply to Torghast / general soloing, feel free to check the Covenant page for full details on everything this system has to offer.

Your options vary between Covenants:

Our suggested soulbinds and trees are mostly damage-oriented and considerably different from what you would want to use while in group content where you are expected to heal a lot, as you are likely to be doing Torghast solo or in a small group that does not require a lot of healing. Feel free to consult our Mythic+ Covenant suggestions if you are going in with a full 5 stack.

Conduit-wise, your damage-increasing options are mostly limited to the covenant ability conduits, and as such you will be looking for damage-increasing powers (skipping some potency conduit slots) whenever you can, instead. Since you can only heal yourself while solo, Refreshing Waters is very strong and always taken, with the remaining conduits being down to preference.

At early levels of Renown, you might not have your optimal soulbind available, as is the case with General Draven. As long as you focus on grabbing the potency conduit slots, any of the other soulbinds are a good option until you can unlock the best one down the road.

1. Stable Phantasma Lure
2. Chains of Devastation
3. Deeptremor Stone
4. Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem

Stable Phantasma Lure is a specialized Torghast legendary that increases your Phantasma gains when used. While this does not increase your damage or survivability directly, it allows you to buy more (or better) Anima Powers throughout your run, and these are your biggest power source while in Torghast, especially towards the end of a run.

Chains of Devastation is a special legendary that enables a simple rotation of Chain Heal and Chain Lightning. This will result in big self-healing while dealing good area of effect damage, all while moving towards new mobs and having your Mana constantly recharged by being hit with melee attacks while Water Shield is up. You can also get this ability as an Anima Power.

Deeptremor Stone is a great burst damage boost and makes some of the harder Torghast fights easier. Finally, Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem provides you with a very powerful extra healing cooldown for emergencies, although you should not need it. If you run with a full 5-man group, you might want to use our Mythic+ Legendary suggestions, instead.

For extra alternatives and full descriptions, be sure to check out all the legendaries on our guide below!

Anima Powers are only available inside Torghast and need to be found or bought with Phantasma. You can accumulate and stack multiple of these (including copies of the same power), and pairing them together synergistically is a big part of what makes Torghast fun!

As a healer you already have great self-sustain from your baseline abilities, so you should almost always pick damage dealing powers. Powers that reduce your damage intake are also great, as they increase the relative value of your heals.

While this also means that the value of each Anima Power can only be evaluated in the context of the powers you already have, we will try to give you an idea of the potential behind each of them in the S - C tier list below.

1. S Tier: the strongest and most generally useful powers; these are always good choices.
2. A Tier: these powers are either slightly weaker than S Tier powers or more situational, but are still solid choices.
3. B Tier: below-average powers that should be picked only when you have strong synergies with them already set up, or in the absence of S or A Tier powers.
4. C Tier: weak powers that have little impact on your Torghast outcome and should be avoided whenever possible.

For a complete list of Anima Powers available to Shamans, please refer to the pages linked just below. We will focus on the most common and relevant powers here, as the complete list is incredibly large, especially when having to account for every Covenant plus Rare Torghast enemy power.

As a rule of thumb, damage powers are the best, followed up by (non-mastery) stat increases and large effective health increases. Most self-healing powers are next to useless for us as a healer spec and there are many undertuned powers which you should avoid, including most of the Covenant ability powers.

• Deathseer's Whip — makes your totems grant your party 15 seconds of Bloodlust or Heroism, once every every 30 seconds. Having 50% uptime on the 30% Haste buff is very good, especially as you can boost this effect itself further with Essence of the Ancestors and other effects.
• Depleted Tesla Coil — Gain the effect of Stormkeeper every 15 seconds. As Restoration cannot usually benefit from this effect, this is one of the best damage increases, especially when combined with Storm Conduit.
• Elemental Core — Each Lava Surge buff you consume increases the damage of Lava Burst by 3%. After generating 20 stacks, the cooldown of Lava Burst is reduced by 50%.
• Bottle of Swirling Maelstrom — makes your Healing Rain deal high damage to all enemies within and stacks up to 3 times. This is a very strong damage increase, especially in large area-of-effect situations which we usually struggle with, and doubles as a defensive due to Rain's high healing.
• Storm Conduit — increases Nature and Frost damage by 50%. This is a great damage increase, especially for area-of-effect damage. Stackable.
• Corruption Antenna — occasionally causes a large damage over time effect when you attack enemies. This effect is very powerful and will likely be a significant part of your damage breakdown whenever you get it.
• Pure Elemental Core — When you drop Spirit Link Totem, immediately heal all allies for 15% of their maximum Health, and harm all enemies in the radius for 15% of their max Health. Stacks up to 2 times. This is a great damage increase, especially against bosses or elites with high maximum Health, and doubles as a strong defensive.
• Blood of Heroes — your first Bloodlust or Heroism on a floor causes no cooldown, no Sated or Exhausted effect, and will apply even if Sated or Exhausted. Essentially this a free Lust per floor, which is usually an amazing damage increase, especially in short floors.
• Heart of the Deathseer — Chain Lightning hits 3 additional targets and its damage increases by 20% per jump. A great area-of-effect damage increase.
• Deeptremor Stone — Earth Elemental has a permanent Earthquake attached to it. While the uptime can be low without Deadened Earth, this will allow you to make large area of effect pulls and speed up your run.
• Deadened Earth — cooldown of Earth Elemental reduced by 40%. It has good synergy with the previous power and will enable higher uptime, or even permanent if you stack it. Stackable.
• Blackened Boulder — stunning or knocking down an enemy increases their damage taken by 25%, permanently. This works on pretty much all Torghast enemies, including bosses, and is one of the best general damage increases available.
• Flames of the Cauldron — Flame Shock's damage-over-time effect now happens 40% more frequently. This allows it to proc more Lava Bursts and is a decent damage increase on its own. Stackable.
• Essence of the Ancestors — Bloodlust or Heroism grants an additional 15% Haste. Since you can use Bloodlust quite liberally inside Torghast this is generally good and amazing if you also have Deathseer's Whip. Stackable.
• Offer of Souls — Obtain 10 Soul Remnants. This is equivalent to gaining 10% extra Intellect, which is a permanent strong throughput boost.
• Gift of Ardenweald — Your spells and attacks have a chance to grant you 35% Haste for 15 sec. This is a powerful throughput boost.
• Venthyr's Gratitude — Your spells and attacks have a chance to grant you 35% Critical Strike chance for 15 sec. This is also a powerful throughput boost.
• Maldraxxian Repayment — Your spells and attacks have a chance to grant you 35% Versatility for 15 sec. This is also a powerful throughput boost.
• Tsunami Relic — increases all healing done by 50%. While defensive powers are discouraged in Torghast for healer specs this is one of the better ones, especially if you are in a group.

• Untaintable Waters — targets healed by your Healing Stream Totem take 25% reduced damage for 10 sec. This ensures you will take a lot less damage with huge uptime, making it great to survive final boss one-shot mechanics.
• Rimeblood — Frost Shock reduces all damage the target deals by 25% for 10 sec. This works on all enemies in Torghast and can be considered a permanent 25% damage reduction, especially on the final boss, making it that much easier to survive his damage.
• Deathseer Choker — Each active totem increases your damage and healing by 10%. A strong damage increase, but does require some setup and is best combined with the other totem powers.
• Mask of Withering — Door of Shadows weakens all enemies you pass through, increasing their damage taken by 20% for 30 seconds. A strong damage increase.
• Gnarled Key — causes Door of Shadows casts to reduce the ability's cooldown by 6 seconds and cast time by 20% per stack, up to 5 stacks. While not terribly useful on its own, it can be great in combination with the other Door of Shadows Anima Powers.
• Parliament Stone — Your Steward cheers you on, increasing movement speed by 50% and dodge chance by 25% for you and your allies. This provides both a powerful speed increase and a nice defensive boost, making it better than most defensive powers.
• Leeching Lilypad — Hex drains your target's health every 2 sec, healing you for the amount drained. This damage will not break Hex. While slow, this power allows you to kill anything you can Hex for free, and is valuable when facing elite enemies in packs.
• Volatile Flesh — Fleshcraft only lasts 15 sec, but when it is consumed or expires it explodes for 200% of the shield's initial value as Shadow damage to all nearby enemies. While the cooldown of Fleshcraft is somewhat long, this allows it to become a very powerful area of effect damage ability.
• Wailing Winds — Wind Shear cooldown reduced by 4 sec. Many enemies have dangerous interruptible abilities in Torghast, this will allow you to keep them disabled. Stackable.
• Chains of Devastation — Casting Chain Heal makes your next Chain Lightning instant cast. Casting Chain Lightning makes your next Chain Heal instant cast. This power is much better in a group, but can still be of use while solo.
• Cilice of Denathrius — Gain an additional 15% damage and healing when you ascend to a new floor of the Jailer's Tower, but you also lose 5% of your maximum health. While this is a powerful effect, its downside is also significant.
• Generosity of the Winged Seer — Vesper Totem's damage or healing is increased by 50% for each respective charge consumed.
• Vesperwind Bit — Vesper Totem will work on 1 additional damage and 1 additional healing event.
• Wildzeal Wraps — reduce the cooldown of Vesper Totem by 5 seconds.
• Guardian's Cudgel — Capacitor Totem stun duration increased by 100%, and when Capacitor Totem fades, another Capacitor Totem is automatically dropped in the same place.
• Bloody Thorn Stalk — Fae Transfusion channel duration and periodic damage frequency reduced by 15%.
• Crystalline Leaf — Fae Transfusion cooldown reduced by 15 sec.
• Elemental Conduit — targets hit by Chain Harvest have Riptide (allies) or Flame Shock (enemies) applied to them.
• Crystallized Elemental Heart — Chain Harvest doubles the damage of your next 5 Chain Lightnings and the healing of your next 5 Chain Heals.
• Blood Stained Gauntlet — Critical Strike chance of Chain Harvest increased by 10%.

• Splintered Elemental Rod — each Healing Wave generated by Primordial Wave increases your Haste by 10% for 10 sec.
• Bloating Fodder — You cause Mawrats to explode on death, dealing significant Plague damage to all other nearby enemies. This is useful for area of effect damage, provided you bring Mawrats with you.
• Astral Bulwark — Astral Shift duration increased by 10 sec.
• Edgelurker — Your movement speed is increased by 60% when close to a wall or the edge of a hallway. While the extra movement speed is great, the restriction can sometimes be annoying to play with.
• Malevolent Stitching — Fleshcraft increases your Intellect by 20% while the shield holds. While this is a great buff with potentially high uptime, you are likely to lose the shield soon after getting it up when soloing.
• Murmuring Shawl — Door of Shadows increases your chance to dodge by 20% for 15 seconds; a decent defensive buff.
• Desolate Chitin — Fleshcraft absorbs 50% more damage and can be obtained 3 times. While this is not a strong power on its own, it can be a decent way to obtain higher Malevolent Stitching uptime if you already obtained that before.
• Deathseer's Satchel — Placing a totem causes you to drop another, random totem. Mostly pointless, but has good synergy with Deathseer Choker.
• Improved Healing Surge — Healing Surge restores 100% more health.
• Vial of Soothing Waters — Healing Stream Totem healing amount increased by 100%.

At the bottom of the C Tier, we have the talent-granting Anima Powers. While these are essentially useless for a solo player, they can actually be extremely useful when running as a dedicated healer in a 5-stack so make sure to evaluate them differently if that is your case!

• Frigid Wildseed — Activating Soulshape stuns enemies within 12 yards of the departure and destination location for 6 seconds. Can be obtained 1 time. A useful group power, but also tied to a large cooldown.
• Crumbling Aegis — Gain immunity to all damage and harmful effects for 1.5 min after choosing this item. As a healer, this item is unfortunately much less useful for you than it is for DPS specs.
• Flowing Streams — When Healing Stream Totem heals a target, you also cast a free, instant Chain Heal at the same target.
• Ethereal Wildseed — Soulshape and Flicker heal you for 20% of your maximum Health. Can be obtained 2 times. Mostly useless due to its large cooldown and our already-strong healing capabilities.
• Seeds of Rampant Growth — Fae Transfusion resets the cooldown of Healing Tide Totem.
• Farseer's Cypher — Torrent;
• Farseer's Gift — Echo of the Elements;
• Farseer's Invocation — Ancestral Vigor;
• Farseer's Legacy — Nature's Guardian;
• Farseer's Lesson — Spirit Wolf;
• Farseer's Mythos — Flash Flood;
• Farseer's Ultimatum — High Tide.
• Hourglass of Soul Dust — Primordial Wave has 2 additional charges.

While stat increasing trinkets are fine, some Shadowlands trinkets have powerful direct damage effects that will help a lot inside Torghast, and should be used if you have them while soloing.

• Dreadfire Vessel (Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria);
• Glyph of Assimilation (Artificer Xy'Mox in Castle Nathria);
• Soul Igniter (Sun King's Salvation in Castle Nathria);
• Cabalist's Hymnal (Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria);
• Soulletting Ruby (Kul'tharok in Theater of Pain);
• Unbound Changeling (Ingra Maloch in Mists of Tirna Scithe);
• Spiritual Alchemy Stone (Alchemy);
• Sinful Aspirant's Insignia of Alacrity (PvP Vendor).

If you want to learn more about trinkets for Restoration Shaman in group situations, check out the gear guide below!