Classic Restoration Shaman Healer Guide

Shaman is arguably the best support class in WoW Classic. With their powerful and flexible totems, such as Windfury Totem, Tremor Totem and Poison Cleansing Totem, they keep their allies safe and increase their damage potential significantly.

While only Horde players can be Shamans, every group will benefit immensely from having at least one, and due to Totems only being able to affect one group at a time, a 40 man raid will want to have at least 8 Shamans to have totems in every group.

This guide will be covering Restoration Shamans, the best area of effect healer in WoW Classic and, arguably, the most powerful role a Shaman can assume in the end game.

Strengths

• The highest area of effect healing in the game with Chain Heal, from Molten Core to Naxxramas.
• Totems for every type of situation, including Windfury Totem, one of the greatest DPS increases a group can have in WoW Classic.
• Great support tools even outside of totems, such as Earth Shock and Purge, which contribute to the high skill cap of the class.

Weaknesses

• Weak sustained damage-dealing potential pigeon-holes most Shamans into healing in raids.
• Mana hungry, especially while leveling, which forces you to rest or drink often.
• Squishy and has no real escapes once focused.

Restoration Shamans are a great area healer with Chain Heal and also provide great support with their totems, making them a very viable class for Horde groups.

Among Shaman specs, they are the most likely to be brought, and because their totems are party-only, there is plenty of space to bring multiple Restoration Shamans to any Horde raid without diminishing their value, as almost every type of group can benefit immensely from having totems active.

Mana is a Restoration Shaman's main resource and it can be hard to avoid running out of it during a long raid encounter. Since you lack talents which interact with the Spirit stat, you will generally avoid it and thus not be able to regenerate a lot after not casting for 5 seconds. However, the Mana per 5 seconds most of your gear has, as well as talents such as Mana Tide Totem, will still help your Mana and that of your party.

Ultimately, what you need to avoid is overhealing, in order to make every point of Mana count. Consider using lower ranked spells when healing low amounts of damage to avoid wasting Mana, and always be ready to cancel your casts when they are close to finishing, if there is no damage to be healed on your target anymore!

Totems are the unique Shaman mechanic, allowing you to place an immobile and low health totem on the ground which grants buffs or special effects while active around itself. These typically provide powerful effects which are balanced in PvP by the ease of destroying the totem, and essential in PvE for Horde players.

Restoration Shamans do not benefit as much from Engineering as DPS classes, but it is still a good profession to have if you are min-maxing. Keep in mind that, with our weak farming capabilities, it will be hard to gather materials for this profession.

Thus, we would like to recommend learning Alchemy and Tailoring, instead. Both of these professions allow you to make a lot of gold without requiring any combat, from Transmute: Arcanite and Mooncloth, respectively. You can also make money in a peaceful manner with most other crafting professions, as long as you secure a rare recipe.

Make sure to head to our profession guides in order to learn more about professions in WoW Classic!

Find our new guides for Shaman in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

With the introduction of new Runes in Season of Discovery, not only will old builds be increased in power, but Shaman now has the option of being played as a Tank.