Waves
Grandfathered
Wavesjr’s 29 Restoration Shaman Guide
Patch 6.1
Table of Contents
Introduction
Race Selection
Talents & Glyphs
Stat Priority
Arena Comps
Arena and Battleground Positioning
Tips and Tricks
Introduction
Race Selection
Talents & Glyphs
Stat Priority
Arena Comps
Arena and Battleground Positioning
Tips and Tricks
Introduction
So, you want to be a 29 resto shaman? First thing’s first - it’s pronounced shaw-man; not shay-min, not shay-mun, not shamalamadingdong, repeat after me - shawman. There’s a couple of reasons why one would want to play Resto Shaman at any bracket; you like getting globaled, you like getting trained to the ground by rogues, or you simply hate yourself. Really though, it is a great class and has the potential to be a lot of fun if you find good partners to play with. In terms of healing output, I’d say shamans are second best, trumped only by the Disc priest, but by a small margin.
They’ve got decent survivability, somewhere in the middle of the spectrum ahead of Mistweaver Monks, but behind Holy Paladins and Discipline Priests. They have pretty good mobility, behind Druids and Mistweaver Monks but definitely ahead of the others. In battlegrounds we’re generally competing for the #1 spot for healing with Disc Priests. And in Arenas, we’re in a pretty great spot, our only hard-counter are Arms Warriors with the healing debuff their Mortal Strike causes.
Race Selection
In this section I’ll be going over every possible race that a Shaman can choose as well as the pros and cons to each one. Obviously some races outshine others, and more often than not you may see people telling you to “Play whichever you have the most fun as”..unfortunately, in lower level twink brackets, Race has a pretty big influence and can benefit you immensely if you capitalize on it correctly.
Horde
Tauren:
Arguably the best race for Restoration Shamans due to:
Arguably the best race for Restoration Shamans due to:
- Brawn: Grants a slight increase to critical strike bonus damage and healing.(2%)
- Endurance: Increases your Stamina by X(Scales with Level)
- Nature Resistance: Reduces Nature damage taken by 1%
- War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
A phenomenal choice due primarily to Endurance, War Stomp, and Brawn. Endurance allows us to become a bit more tanky, as well as Brawn increasing critical strike chance, and War Stomp gives a nice little stun to melee attackers.
Orc:
Not too shabby, definitely a viable option for Rshams, however may be better suited towards Enhance.
Orc:
Not too shabby, definitely a viable option for Rshams, however may be better suited towards Enhance.
- Blood Fury: Increases your melee attack power by X or you spell power by Y, lasts 15 sec.
- Hardiness: Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 20%.
Blood Fury is great for short bursts of healing in a clutch situation perhaps, but I don’t think it’s really optimal due to the 2 minute Cooldown.
Hardiness: Another neat racial, however most stuns at this level aren’t that long, and the ones that are (e.g. Hammer of Justice) you can just trinket out of and not worry about. Maybe handy against Windwalker Monks and their fists of fury, but there are very few Windwalker Monks that can kill you in a global. Also, you have a crutch against WW monks. Fists of Fury has a 25 seconds Cooldown while, your Nature’s Guardian has a 30 second Cooldown, so if your partner and/or teammates can peel them off of you for 5 seconds, you should be okay.
Troll:
Another neat choice for shamans primarily because of trolls’ passive which reduces movement impairing effects, as well as the mini-bloodlust which is really nice for tight situations, especially when battleground healing.
Hardiness: Another neat racial, however most stuns at this level aren’t that long, and the ones that are (e.g. Hammer of Justice) you can just trinket out of and not worry about. Maybe handy against Windwalker Monks and their fists of fury, but there are very few Windwalker Monks that can kill you in a global. Also, you have a crutch against WW monks. Fists of Fury has a 25 seconds Cooldown while, your Nature’s Guardian has a 30 second Cooldown, so if your partner and/or teammates can peel them off of you for 5 seconds, you should be okay.
Troll:
Another neat choice for shamans primarily because of trolls’ passive which reduces movement impairing effects, as well as the mini-bloodlust which is really nice for tight situations, especially when battleground healing.
- Berserking: Increases your melee, ranged, and spell haste by 15% for 10 seconds.
- Da Voodoo Shuffle: Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 20%
Goblin:
Goblins don’t really provide much incentive to play as a resto shaman, but they have a few racials that still make them a viable option.
Goblins don’t really provide much incentive to play as a resto shaman, but they have a few racials that still make them a viable option.
- Rocket Jump: Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. (Nice to escape getting trained by melee.)
- Time is Money: Cash in on a 1% increase to haste(Haste is our best stat, so this is pretty neat)
Alliance
Dwarf:
Dwarf is perhaps the best race for Restoration Shamans on Alliance, just slightly ahead of Draenei due to Stoneform.
Dwarf:
Dwarf is perhaps the best race for Restoration Shamans on Alliance, just slightly ahead of Draenei due to Stoneform.
- Stoneform: Removes all poison, disease, curse, magic, and bleed effects and reduces all physical damage taken by 10% for 8 sec.(Great for getting out of cc in tight situations as well as removing Rogue poisons[e.g Crippling poison])
- Might of the Mountain: Alliance version of Tauren’s Brawn. Critical Strike bonus damage and healing increased by 2%.
- Reduces Frost Damage taken by 1%.
Draenei:
- Just slightly behind Dwarves in terms of effectiveness due to Stoneform, however still a great option.
- Gift of the Naaru: Heals the target for 20% of the caster’s total health over 5 sec. (Spectacular if you need to get a decent heal off before getting put into CC)
- Heroic Presence: Increases your Strength, Agility, and Intellect by X(scales with level) Another great passive to give a nice boost to your healing output.
Neutral Race
Pandaren:
Honestly, Pandaren don’t really bring anything to the table for us; so I’d say choose something else, however they could be decent in bgs for their food buff.
Pandaren:
Honestly, Pandaren don’t really bring anything to the table for us; so I’d say choose something else, however they could be decent in bgs for their food buff.
- Epicurean: Your love of food allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.
- Quaking Palm: Strikes the target with lightning speed, incapacitating them for 4 sec, and turns off your auto-attack.(Solid for arenas, but the 2 minute Cooldown is inconvenient)
Talents & Glyphs
Talents:
At level 29, all classes only have one tier of talents available. Naturally, it should be self-apparent which one is the best, but I’ll go over all three of them and tell you why one of the truly outshines the rest.
Nature’s Guardian:
Attacks that bring your health below 30% increase your maximum health by 25% for 10 sec, and reduce your threat toward the attacker. Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec.
Stone Bulwark Totem:
Summons an Earth Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 30 sec, granting the caster a shield absorbing X damage for 10 sec, and up to an additional Y every 5 sec. 1 minute Cooldown.
Astral Shift:
Shift Partially into the elemental planes, taking 40% less damage for 6 sec. 1.5 minute Cooldown.
- Nature’s Guardian is the clear winner here because of its ability to be stacked with other health/stamina increasing trinkets. Also, a 30 second Cooldown on an ability this useful is immensely strong if utilized properly.
- Stone Bulwark isn’t really good at all at this level simply because the totem has 5 health, and even if you choose the Glyph that increases the health of your totems, it’s easy to kill, as well as break through the shield it provides. Absolutely not worth it.
- Astral Shift would be phenomenal and perhaps on par with Nature’s Guardian if the Cooldown wasn’t so darn long. But unfortunately, 40% damage reduction for 6 seconds for a 1.5 minute Cooldown is actually ridiculously underpowered.
Glyphs:
There are a lot of useful glyphs available to us at level 29, however there’s a few that really stick out and can really be game changing, both in arena and battlegrounds.
Major:
The two essential major glyphs that you’ll probably find yourself swapping out for each other on a regular basis are:
- Glyph of Ghost Wolf: While in Ghost Wolf form, you are less hindered by effects that would reduce movement speed. (Doesn’t allow your movement speed to drop under 100% while in Ghost Wolf form, great for situations where you know you’ll be needing to kite around.)
- Glyph of Riptide: Removes the cooldown of Riptide, but reduces the initial direct healing by 75%. This glyph really shines in situations where you’ll be needing to heal multiple targets(e.g. battlegrounds and 3s) it greatly improves your healing output especially in battlegrounds where it’ll act as a stronger version of the Druid Rejuvenation.
- Glyph of Purify Spirit: Purify Spirit now has a maximum of 2 charges, but its cooldown is increased by 4 sec. This glyph is best utilized in Battlegrounds where you know there will be a lot of CC(Hammer of Justice, Polymorph, etc.) or against Mages in Arena(dispel Frost Novas and Polymorphs)
- Glyph of Shocks: Increases the range on Earth Shock, Flame Shock, Frost Shock, and Wind Shear by 5 yards. Nice for if you need to play a little bit more offensively but stay out of range in an arena or perhaps a battleground.
- Glyph of Water Shield: Increases the mana generated reactively by your Water Shield when you are attacked by 50%, but reduces the passive mana generation by 15%. This glyph is best utilized in only a few circumstances, mostly when you know you won't be the main focus, but that you'll be taking small amounts of damage(DoTs for example).
Minor:
- Glyph of the Spectral Wolf: Alters the appearance of your Ghost Wolf transformation, causing it to resemble a large, spectral wolf. Basically you turn blue, and that’s pretty sweet in my opinion.
- Glyph of Totemic Encirclement: When you cast a totem spell, you also place unempowered totems for any elements that are not currently active. These totems have 5 health and produce no other effects. Nice cosmetic effect as well as making it more difficult for someone to kill your totems while they're surrounded by a bunch of decoys.
- Glyph of Rain of Frogs: You summon a rain storm of frogs at your targeted location. The only useful thing this glyph does it stop other healers from drinking by putting them in combat. Also can be used to get people out of stealth.
Stat Priority
I’ll keep this section short and simple. Haste > Crit > Vers. Restoration shamans already have very strong single target heals, and so it’s not too much of an issue to forgo Intellect/Spellpower in order to get your heals out quicker. Normally, you want to enchant your Neck, Rings, and Cloak with Haste. Try to get your haste somewhere around 25%, your healing surges should be between 1sec and 1.3 sec to cast.
If mana is ever an issue for you(it really shouldn’t be unless you’re solo healing a battleground), I suggest getting the WoD enchant Mark of Shadowmoon, which greatly increases your spirit when it procs; paired with Water Shield, you should never OoM(run out of mana), with this enchant. Alternatively, Healing Power or Jade Spirit are the best to increases healing output, or even Windsong to increase Haste/Crit.
Arena Comps
Here I’ll be going over the best 2s Arena Comps for Restoration Shamans at 29, and why they really make us shine.
- Rsham/Arms Warrior
- This comp is probably the strongest but requires attentiveness on the Shaman’s part because Warriors aren’t really great at running away or mitigating damage. However, they do put out the most single-target damage of any class in this bracket(followed closely by the WW monk).
- In order to succeed as this comp, make sure you’re keeping Earth Shield up on your warrior (unless you are getting trained), as well as dispelling Roots and Slow effects off of you warr to guarantee them maximum damage uptime.
- Rsham/Windwalker Monk
- I’d like to say this is our second best comp and it probably is if you and your monk have good synergy. Little bit less maintenance for the shaman to keep track of due to Monks having more defensive Cooldowns than warriors, as well as having Touch of Karma for when they get low on health.
- WW Monk damage is more about burst than consistent damage. So it could take longer to win a game as this comp.
- Rsham/Brewmaster Monk
- Probably the easiest of all the 2s comps for Resto Shamans due to the fact that Brewmaster Monks at level 29 rarely need any healing. Not as good as the above two comps stated, but still very strong, and great for beginners to get a grasp on the class with a lot of room to fall back on.
- Rsham/Retribution Paladin
- By no means the best, but still viable if you enjoy playing interesting comps. Low maintenance due to the Ret Pally’s ability to self heal, kite, and use Divine Shield whenever a scary situation arises.
- Rsham/Survival Hunter
- Great comp if the Rsham and Hunter are able to communicate effectively and build up synergy. Requires work from the Rsham because Hunters are very squishy at this bracket.
- Rsham/Frost Mage(or Fire!)
- Personally, I have never played this comp, but I’ve seen a few folks play it, and I have to say it looks fun. However, it’s probably difficult to pull off against other twinks due to how squishy mages are, and their lack of burst damage.
Arena and Battleground Positioning
Battlegrounds:
I’d have to say Restoration Shamans do best at the back of a Battleground group, where they can avoid getting focused on, and just dish out large heals and keep their team up. We really shine if we’re paired with a Disc Priest and Mistweaver Monk.
Arena:
Similarly to Battlegrounds, you generally want to stay behind your dps. Specifically, find a pillar and hug it like your life depends on it..because as a Resto Shaman, your life does depend on it. I’d like to present to you what happens to Resto Shamans when they forsake their pillar and get swapped to by enemy dps.
So yeah, it’s a rough life for Resto Shamans. Always ask for peels, especially against Rogues and Warriors.
Tips and Tricks
So tips and tricks..I'll just go ahead and list a few, if you know any more that I've missed in this section - please let me know.1. Dropping Searing Totem before getting sapped often makes you un-sappable(depending how quickly you drop it and it gets into combat), as well as using riptide on your partner if they enter combat quickly.
2. Try and drop your totems out of line of sight and do not use Glyph of Totemic Encirclement against shadow priests as they can gain 3 orbs from a Mind Blast if they use the Mind Harvest glyph.
3. Again...USE THE PILLAR!
4. Try and shear as much as possible, it can really work to pressure the other team into having to fake cast and fall back on defense.
5. Try and swap Earth Shield as much as possible between targets taking damage in order to maximize healing output.
6. Use Glyph of Rain of Frogs in order to get stealthies out of stealth. Kinda like how Blizzard or Rain of Fire works but without the damage.
7. Use Ghost Wolf to your advantage, makes for some great kiting if you can use the glyph and get some peels from your teammates.
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any suggestions feel free to PM me or simply post in the thread below. Cheers =)
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