Shaman is a mail-wearing class with totems that covers three roles at once: ranged damage, melee damage and healing. The entry barrier is low, but every specialization plays around its own resource mechanic, and you will not be able to mix them up with one another.
Specializations
| Spec | Role | Artifact | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elemental | Ranged, damage | The Fist of Ra-den | Intellect → crit → mastery → haste → versatility |
| Enhancement | Melee, damage | Doomhammer | Agility → mastery → crit → versatility → haste |
| Restoration | Healer | Sharas'dal, Scepter of Tides | Intellect → crit → haste → mastery → versatility |
The stat priority is a guideline for 7.3.5. The exact order depends on your talents and legendaries, so check the final answer with a simulation.
Elemental
- A mid-range caster: you build up Maelstrom and dump it into your finishing abilities.
- Key buttons: Flame Shock is kept up at all times, Lava Burst on cooldown, Lightning Bolt as a filler, Earth Shock on a large pool of the resource.
- Watch the Maelstrom bar: overcapping the resource is a direct damage loss, which is why Earth Shock is not saved up "for later".
- On packs you switch to Earthquake, and you bank Ascendance for burst phases.
Enhancement
- Melee with two one-handers and a chaotic rotation driven by procs rather than by a rigid button order.
- Key buttons: Stormstrike, Lava Lash, Crash Lightning on several targets.
- Watch your weapon buffs — Flametongue and Frostbrand both have to be up, otherwise part of your damage simply does not work.
- Feral Spirit is your main cooldown; press it together with your legendaries and the group's burst.
Restoration
- An area and totem healer: it heals hardest when the group is stacked up.
- Key buttons: Riptide in advance on whoever is about to take damage, Chain Heal and Healing Rain on the group, Healing Surge on a single target.
- Watch your mana: surges are expensive, and the main stream of healing has to come from Chain Heal and totems.
- Healing Tide Totem is your main raid cooldown for heavy phases.
Legendary items
- Echoes of the Great Sundering — shoulders for Elemental: Earth Shock has a chance to give you a free and empowered Earthquake.
- Smoldering Heart — gloves; spending Maelstrom has a chance to grant Ascendance for 10 seconds. Works for Elemental and Enhancement.
- Akainu's Absolute Justice — bracers for Enhancement: Lava Lash hits 50% harder while both buffs are on your weapons.
- Praetorian's Tidecallers — gloves for Restoration: your totems heal 20% longer.
- Nobundo's Redemption — bracers for Restoration: Chain Heal makes your next Healing Surge half as expensive.
The all-purpose Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus and Sephuz's Secret suit every spec and can comfortably be worn until the spec-specific ones drop.
Class Order Hall
The shaman order hall is The Heart of Azeroth, a sanctum above the Maelstrom; you get there through the class call at level 98. Inside there is the artifact forge, the champion mission table, Artifact Power turn-in and a teleport to any zone of the Broken Isles.
Tips for beginners
- Move Wind Shear onto its own convenient key: the shaman interrupt has no global cooldown, and in Mythic+ it is valued higher than a few extra percent of damage.
- Bloodlust is your responsibility in the group: agree in advance on which phase it gets pressed.
- Level one artifact all the way up: on 7.3.5 Artifact Knowledge is so high that a second spec catches up in a single evening.