Deceptionsz 19 Twink Resto Shaman 8.01 Guide

Deceptionsz

Grandfathered
Due to some request I have decided to make a guide on how to effectively and efficiently play Restoration shaman in both duel and BG settings.

I will keep this guide updated throughout BFA and update everyone interested on any gear/playstyle changes that may occur. If you have any questions on my thought processes or any suggests on how I may improve something, feel free to let me know!


*Race is dependent on what you want. Would you rather have an incap or a leap? I personally think the leap as a healer is better in most situations. So goblin would be my #1 race pick, #2 would be panda.*

Contents:


I. Stat Priority

II. Gearing + Enchant List
III. Talent Pro's and Con's
IV. Playstyles

I. Stat Priorities

Main Stat Priority for resto shaman should look something like this;

Int (At least 195) > Haste (At least 10%) > Vers (At least 7.5%) > Crit (At least 5%) > Stamina

I believe with these stat choices you will effectively be the most offensive and defensive healer on the battle ground.

Having a high amount of intellect right now makes your damage abilities hit like an absolute truck. It should be noted that the heals are very effective as well.

I've decided to prioritize haste over versatility in this stat setup because I feel it's more important to get damage out quicker, rather than slower for a slight damage increase. So far my experience with this setup has been nothing but successful.

Also something to note, stamina isn't as big of a deal as most people think. I strongly believe as long as you're above 1200HP, you're set! With having a lower health pool however, you MUST be good at predicting when damage is coming your way and pre-casting damage (Pre-healing). I will get more into detail on how to look at for that later on in the Playstyles section.

II. Gearing + Enchant List


Helm: Spellpower Goggles Xtreme Plus OR Green Lens of the Aurora
Neck: Eternal Amulet of the Redeemed + Enchant Neck - Mark of the Hidden Satyr
Shoulders: Aged Pauldrons of The Five Thunders + Greater Inscription of Faith
Cloak: Cape of the Brotherhood + Enchant Cloak - PvP Power
Chest: Slither-Scale Hauberk + Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats
Bracers: Greenhorn's Armbands of the Aurora + Enchant Bracer - Greater Spellpower
Weapon: Jagged Star of the Aurora + Enchant Weapon - Elemental Force
Off-Hand: Any shield of choice with +5 secondary stats OF Aurora + Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect
Gloves: Slither-Scale Gauntlets + Glove Reinforcements
Belt: Slither-Scale Cord
Legs: Slither-Scale Britches + Light Armor Kit
Boots: Slither-Scale Boots + Enchant Boots - Greater Versatility
Ring #1: Advisor's Ring + Enchant Ring - Gift of Versatility
Ring #2: Black Widow Band + Enchant Ring - Gift of Versatility
Trinket #1: Discerning Eye of the Beast OR Arena Grand Master
Trinket #2: Discerning Eye of the Beast

Now some items that are gf'd (not listed here) are clearly a better option, for example if you have Inferno Robe that is easily the better option, as well as Arctic Buckler. I should also mention that if you cannot afford the Black Widow Band, a healthy alternative is the Recruit's Band of the Aurora, blue quality of course.

III. Talent Pro's & Con's


Talent choices are dependent on playstyle. I think all 3 talent choices are viable in their own ways. Let's go in detail on each talent choice.

Torrent:
This talent increases the initial heal from Riptide by 30%.

This talent is very good when you're pushing offensively and you need a quick heal to keep your team alive. This talent is chosen over Unleash Life when you know you'll have to either manage your globals effectively, or if you need faster instant output healing. Unleashed + Riptide combo heals for more than this talent, but is on a 9 second longer cooldown, giving you more instant healing output in a 20 second period if you were to use Torrent.

Undulation:
This talent makes it so every third Healing Surge you cast heals for 50% more.

This talent is great for turret healing. What I mean by this is if you're struggling to find globals to press anything else except Healing Surge, then this talent is for you until you're more comfortable. I personally think this is the weaker talent choice of the 3, but it's a great talent choice if you're just starting off on Resto Shaman and aren't familiar with global management.

Unleash Life:
This talent not only heals your target for around 300 non-crit, but it also increases the effect of your next heal by 45%.

This talent choice is by far my favorite. It's an extra instant heal and paired with Healing Surge it gives me a HUGE heal to top anyone I need. Or if a rogue is opening on me, I can normally save my trinket with ease by pressing this talent followed by Riptide. It can be a bit weird getting familiar with this talent, but if you're really good at managing your offensive/defensive globals, this is the talent to use!


IV. Playstyles


For playstyles Rsham has quite a few. You've got the Passive Rsham, Medium Aggro and Aggro Rsham playstyles.

In a Passive rsham playstyle, your objective is to keep people alive while making sure you're the furthest away from danger. Essentially, you'll be positioning yourself behind everyone else. This playstyle is especially good when your team fight isn't the best, making you a less viable kill target.


In a Medium Aggro rsham playstyle, your objective is to be pushed up with your team, not initiating anything but shearing and keeping your flame shock dot up on the team kill target. With this playstyle you rely more on your other healers to keep your team up while you're shearing and applying flame shock for pressure. Keep in mind to use your Healing Stream totem, it's a great tool for AoE healing while you're offensive.

In an Aggro rsham playstyle, your objective is to kill. Your team mates are still important, but the taste for blood is more important. You'll position yourself just behind your teams main pusher casting as much damage as possible with offensive shears on healers. In most situations if you're going to go Aggro you need to inform your team and pick a healer to kill. CC MUST be landed on the other 2 healers with your shear on the kill target. This is where your instant heals also kick in, you aren't going to have much time to cast heals, so the instants are necessary for keeping yourself aggro.

I mentioned above something called "Pre-healing". This is as simple as it sounds, you take your best judgement on when damage is coming your way and you heal before the damage hits you. For example Marksmanship hunters aimed shots do a decent chunk right now. If you time your healing surge with the cast of the aimed shot, you can top yourself right after the aimed shot lands, pre-healing acts almost like an absorb in a sense. You can get better at this simply by playing and gaining awareness. :)


I hope this guide helps you new and veteran Rshams get into the BFA swing of things! Like I mentioned above if you think there's something I should also mention or improve, please let me know!

This is my Resto Shaman. any gear changes/updates you'll be able to see here in case I don't mention it on this post.

Deceptionsz



*Guide has been updated as of 7/31/2018*


 
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Great guide. Love the playstyle breakdown. Gearing is easy, but then actually playing the shaman is something else.

Only thing I find missing would be to link a few armories of various resto shamans as examples/variety (not just your own).

Probably the best thing we've gotten out of the Level 50 Honor bug is your guide.

;)
 
Great guide. Love the playstyle breakdown. Gearing is easy, but then actually playing the shaman is something else.

Only thing I find missing would be to link a few armories of various resto shamans as examples/variety (not just your own).

Probably the best thing we've gotten out of the Level 50 Honor bug is your guide.

;)
Yeah I was trying to do some another armories as well, but for some reason everyone I clicked on gave me a Error 500 on the armory page, I planned on posting Purj's shaman as the Gf'd guy :p @Purj you mind?.

Thank you for the kind feedback also! X)
 
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I strongly disagree on gearing as I'm a fan of stamina, and your choice of enchants is questionable
On the other hand, talents and playstyle sections are informative, thanks
 
I strongly disagree on gearing as I'm a fan of stamina, and your choice of enchants is questionable
On the other hand, talents and playstyle sections are informative, thanks
I am curious, what is your mind set on stamina, why do you think it's such a necessity? I'd agree with you in prior expansions where stamina would've been more relevant, but so far in pre-patch I've noticed that stacking your primary stat (Agi/int/strength) is by far more beneficial than having a few hundred additional health.
 
I've actually been debating on weather gloves of the fang and belt of the fang would be good even for paladin, we lose a little bit of armor but actually gain versatility stamina and intellect
 
I've actually been debating on weather gloves of the fang and belt of the fang would be good even for paladin, we lose a little bit of armor but actually gain versatility stamina and intellect
no man
 
I am curious, what is your mind set on stamina, why do you think it's such a necessity? I'd agree with you in prior expansions where stamina would've been more relevant, but so far in pre-patch I've noticed that stacking your primary stat (Agi/int/strength) is by far more beneficial than having a few hundred additional health.
I'm not advocating pure stamina stacking, but going full glasscanon is not worth it in my opinion. I can't imagine why you'd give up 20sta and 18 secondaries for 14 more int choosing spellpower goggles over green lens.
Healing 30 more hp per gcd wont really win you a game, but survivng 3 rogues open might just do that.
 
I'm not advocating pure stamina stacking, but going full glasscanon is not worth it in my opinion. I can't imagine why you'd give up 20sta and 18 secondaries for 14 more int choosing spellpower goggles over green lens.
Healing 30 more hp per gcd wont really win you a game, but survivng 3 rogues open might just do that.
Intellect doesn't just effect healing on rsham by the way, it's also a noticeable damage increase that haste/vers secondary stats don't provide. I just don't see myself giving up 14 int for 20 stamina and a small percentage of secondary stats. That's why I use spellpower Xtreme +, but to each their own I suppose x) Thank you for the feedback, Stunt!
 
Intellect doesn't just effect healing on rsham by the way, it's also a noticeable damage increase that haste/vers secondary stats don't provide. I just don't see myself giving up 14 int for 20 stamina and a small percentage of secondary stats. That's why I use spellpower Xtreme +, but to each their own I suppose x) Thank you for the feedback, Stunt!

Why not use Green Lens then? It seems like a nice median; still a ton of HP and INT with those sweet sweet secondaries
 
Why not use Green Lens then? It seems like a nice median; still a ton of HP and INT with those sweet sweet secondaries
My playstyle doesn't need the stamina, I'm very offensive with my stats I have, the more intellect the more gain I get from being offensive. I also don't find secondaries being that important for Rsham. While they're nice to have to a certain percentage, too much of it just seems overkill.
 
I think this might be better than titanforged hands and belt, the extra intellect from the bonus piece and stamina from reinforced enchant over shadows the other stats and you actually get more versatility in this trade off
@tence
i did the math you lose a lot of crit and haste and armor but do gain stam intell and verse
Titanforged Fel gear - 12 intell 18 stam 8 crit 8haste 27 armor
Fang Belt and hands - 17 intell 22 stam 13 armor 3 crit 4 verse

Which sounds better to you guys?

oh and sorry to ramble about this on your thread @Deceptionsz
 
i did the math you lose a lot of crit and haste and armor but do gain stam intell and verse
Titanforged Fel gear - 12 intell 18 stam 8 crit 8haste 27 armor
Fang Belt and hands - 17 intell 22 stam 13 armor 3 crit 4 verse

Which sounds better to you guys?

oh and sorry to ramble about this on your thread @Deceptionsz
You're fine x)

I'd use the fang stuff.
 
Interesting; might revisit some more int. I thought the difference in int wouldn’t be that much but your shaman has like 40 more than me, it looks nice!

Also A1 guide +1

p.s the purple text initially made me think it was a warlock guide because I’m illiterate
 
Interesting; might revisit some more int. I thought the difference in int wouldn’t be that much but your shaman has like 25 more than me, it looks nice!

Also A1 guide +1

p.s the purple text initially made me think it was a warlock guide because I’m illiterate
Haha thank you :), I just bought a pair of green lens to test the stat difference with the ideal green lens proc (11 vers / 6 haste)

and for the loss of 14 intellect, i'd gain 3.51% haste, 1.53% vers and 180 health. Just doesn't seem worth it in my point of view.
 
I’m not a big vers guy; I’m rocking the fireflash ones for +6 crit +11 haste; I can see you’re not heavily stacking vers either

(Just to clarify I’m a mage but your guide is super interesting and to be added I was genuinely curious why you picked +27 int over a more balanced choice)
 

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