by horlicks
Shamans are a very versatile class which offer a plethora of options for both DPS and healing. I’ll focus on the healing in this guide at level 80 for both 5 man dungeons and then raid content. Like Paladins, Shamans are a utility class whose strength lies almost as much in what benefits they bring to others in the party/raid as their actual performance itself. The main difference in how this is achieved is our totems and one very ‘heroic’ ability. Yes they can be confusing, and it will take a while to figure out the best situation to use them in, but you’ll get there sooner than you think. This guide will be broken up into eight main sections: Spells/Abilities, Totems, Talent Builds, Glyphs, Gems, Enchants, Healing Guide and Macros. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Chain HealThis has long been the target of most Shaman button clicks. The spell ‘jumps to 3 targets’ (or 4 with a major Glyph). Who it heals is based on who is missing the most health (by absolute value and not percentage). Each jump reduces the healing done by 50%. The range for each ‘jump’ of the spell is approximately 10-15 yards.
Chain heal can crit on any of the three jumps or all) but the healing done to the next target is based on the non-crit healing done. Crits from chain heal will proc Ancestral Fortitude and Tidal Waves.
This is a great spell for when your party/raid is taking a lot of damage and players are bunched. Useful scenarios are for AOE bosses or anytime a group needs to be bunched. Think Loken from Halls of Lightning or Sapphiron from Naxxramus.
Another point of note is that Chain Heal will proc Tidal Waves, which is a must for all healing scenarios. Whether you use Chain Heal or Riptide for its proc depends on if it is single target damage you are facing or clustered damage.
RiptideA new addition with WoTLK, Riptide is an excellent addition to the Shamans arsenal. Riptide is a talent that gives us our only instant heal (not counting Nature’s Swiftness). It has a 6-second cooldown. If you cast Chain Heal on someone with Riptide, it consumes the remaining healing left on the Riptide and increases your Chain Heal by 25%. Only a direct Chain Heal will proc Riptide though, not the jumps. The other big plus, as I mentioned above, is that it ill proc Tidal Waves.
This spell is very useful for any fight involving movement or burst damage. Earth shield your tank and cast a riptide before the pull and keeping him up during the initial pull is a simple task with your 30% quicker Lesser Healing Waves and Healing Waves.
Healing WaveThis is our big heal, It takes 2.5 seconds to cast (3.0 seconds without talents) and is not as powerful as other classes’ big heal spells. In the past this spell was buried in many Shaman’s spell books because of its high mana cost and the greater effectiveness of other spells. However, with the Tidal Wave talents mentioned above and also the Healing Way talent it can be very useful in certain high damage situations.
Lesser Healing WaveThis is the fastest heal a shaman can cast. With a nominal amount of haste and with the Tidal Waves buff this spell is a ~1 second cast. It does not stack Healing Way, but it is relatively cheap with talents at 626 Mana. This is the staple heal for many Shamans for light to mid single target damage. A combination of Chain Heal > Lesser Healing Wave x 2, or Riptide > Lesser Healing Wave x 2 makes full use of ease Tidal Waves proc and if you have a decent amount of crit it is very mana efficient thanks to the Improved Water Shield talent. Stack enough crit and with decent raid buffs you can chain cast Riptide > Lesser Healing Wave x 2 for a very long time.
Earth ShieldThis is the Shaman’s version of the Priest’s Power Word: Shield if you like. It has 6 charges (8 with talents) that heals the wearer every few seconds while taking damage.
What it heals for is based on the spellpower at the time it is cast, not when it procs. Hence, if its a tricky healing intensive pull you can drop a Flametongue totem if needed to boost its healing power.
It is important to note that it does generate aggro – 0.725 threat divided evenly among the mobs present. That is no problem for the tank to keep them off of you usually but if your tank is running into a set of mobs to round them up for an AOE tank and spank don’t be surprised if one lunges for you.
This spell is very mana efficient, in that it heals for 2-3k depending on your spell power. Given that it has 8 charges, you can see why it is a must to have it up at all times on any target taking sustained damage. 626 mana with talents is damn good for 16-24k in heals.
Water ShieldOne of the hardest things to manage when playing a Shaman is your water shield. This is absolutely critical for your mana regen and ability to heal. Not only does it give you an obscene amount of MP5, but thanks to the Improved Water Shield and Improved Shields it becomes even stronger and gives you back mana on each critical heal from Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave and Riptide. It cost no mana to cast, but it does steal GCDs, which can get tricky in a very healing intensive fight. You need to time it well, if no healing is required at any given moment it is often wise to refresh your shield even if you still have a charge or to left.
Other important Support Spells
Nature’s Swiftness – Alt tabbed for a second while your tank pulled? Or need an emergency heal for an aggroing dpser? Then this is a godsent. Use this in conjunction with a Healing Wave and you can survive many mistakes.
Ancestral Awakening – There is much debate as to how useful this is in the Shammy community but I for one think its a godsent. Every little bit helps at times, and this has saved countless wipes for me already where a key DPS or healer gets damaged while i’m in the middle of a spellcast, and when it procs it saved them from certain death. No its not going to heal for a massive percent of your heals but the ~5% of your total heals that it does will often be the difference between a wipe and a clear on progression bosses/tough heroics.
Tidal Force – I use this with Nature’s Swiftness thanks to a nifty macro is part of my ‘Oh Crap’ solution. Use it with a Healing Wave since it has a large chance proc ancestral awakening if you are talented for it, for a large amount.
Back to the TopNow here we go. Totems are what set us apart from other classes. Think of them like pets, you need to keep an eye on them, make sure they are still alive, make sure they are in range of those they need to effect and be sure to refresh them on time. Also, never underestimate the power they possess to change the outcome of a fight. Yes their buffs may seem small, but small differences can be the difference between a wipe and a clear. Get to know fight encounters, and know hat totems would be the most beneficial. Also, get to know what totems stack with other raid buffs. If you have a Pally with Fire Resistance Aura up then don’t waste your Water totem on Fire Resistance since they don’t stack. One last thing, again it may seem insignificant, but always recall your totems! The mana returned means less downtime drinking, and in some cases it can prevent a wipe since an errant pat might sniff them out and get pulled to your unsuspecting group.
Earth Totems
Stoneskin Totem – This should be your totem of choice for Earth totems while in a party or raid. It helps mitigate tank damage taken, which is always a huge plus.
Earthbind Totem – Great for running away from mobs while soloing, also very valuable for fights where it is necessary to slow down the bosses, such as Gluth in Naxxramus.
Strength of the Earth Totem – Huge boost to dps, but it does not stack with Deathknight’s Horn of Winter spell. Only useful for when there is not Deathknight in the party/raid, and tank healing is not stressful.
Tremor Totem – Situation specific, but invaluable when needed. This is one of the most useful totems you have. If a boss or mob fears then you want to drop this totem during the pull. Simple.
Stoneclaw Totem – Really only useful for soloing, especially when you get unexpected adds. Can be a lifesaver in that situation, but keep it far away from dungeons/raids.
Earth Elemental Totem – This guy can save a lot of dungeon wipes if your tank does something silly and gets himself killed. It has a decent taunt and decent enough HP that you can keep it up for short periods of time if you need to. It will be one shot in most raid scenarios, but if things are falling to high hell around you it doesn’t hurt to bring him out and hope for a miracle.
Fire Totems
Flametongue Totem – This is your totem of choice for most situations for Fire Totems. Huge boost to spell power is great for your heals and all casters in the group and unless fire or frost resistance is needed there really is no other viable option.
Fire Nova Totem / Magma Totem / Searing Totem – These are mainly offense totems which you will seldom use for raids or dungeons. Better to save your mana for healing, besides the raid or party ill usually get much more of a buffs from Flametongue. Searing Totems can sometimes have utility for bosses which have an aggro wipe since they will often go for the Totem first, giving the tank more time to pick them up. But, for the most part stay away. I don’t even have them on my main toolbar.
Frost Resistance Totem – Pretty self-explanatory. If you need extra Frost resistance for some reason then this is an option. Remember that it does not stack with the Pally Frost Resistance Aura so plan accordingly.
Fire Elemental Totem – Useful in situations here AOE dps is needed, but chances are if your group is looking for help from their healer to DPS that you are in a fail group anyway. Aside from the novelty of it, save this for soloing if you are in a pinch.
Air Totems
Windfury Totem – Your staple air totem unless there is an Enhancement Shammy or Frost Deathknight. Excellent boost for melee DPS and your tank’s aggro.
Wrath of Air Totem – Decent boost for spellcasters, use when you have a Frost Deathknight or Enhancement Shammy around.
Grounding Totem – This is often a forgotten totem, but can really be a huge boost to you and your raids survivability. Lay it down whenever you can to soak up errant shadowbolts or frostbolts from bosses and mobs. If you are getting pwned by a caster that your tank hasn’t picked up yet rather than sit there and eat them all, drop a Grounding Totem to take one or two off of you. Can help to avoid a wipe.
Nature Resistance Totem – Pretty Self-explanatory. If you need nature resistance then this is an option. Note that this does not stack with the Hunter Nature Resistance Aspect.
Sentry Totem – Useful for some PVP situations, but never used in a raid or dungeon setting. Leave it in your spellbook unless you feel like having some fun.
Water Totems
Point of note here is that water totems only affect your 5 man party, not the whole raid like the others.
Mana Tide Totem – Ok so this is a talent, but no quarter decent Resto Shammy would ever not spec it. It is just awesome for all mana users in your party. Between this, water shield and the below Mana Spring Totem it is going to take a lot to make you OOM. One thing to watch though is that since this is a water totem it ill replace all other mana totems when used, be sure to drop them again once this is finished pulsing.
Mana Spring Totem – Unless you know you aren’t going to have mana issues during a fight then this is your staple totem. It stacks with other Shaman’s Mana Spring Totems also for uber regeneration in a raid.
Healing Stream Totem – If mana is not going to be an issue due to your party makeup or it isn’t a healing intensive fight then this is often a valid choice. 200-300 health every couple seconds stacks up very quickly and can be a great help for fights which are short but healing intensive. Loken in Heroic Halls of Lightning comes to mind. Forget running away from the lightning. Drop this, heroism and chain heal till the cos come home and he’s dead in < 1 minute.
Disease Cleansing Totem / Poison Cleansing Totem – These will take preference in fights where a mass poison or disease is put on your group. To important things to bear in mind, is that it only affects your party, so just cause you drop it in your 25 man raid doesn’t mean it will take care of everyone, also, though it immediately takes off the poison/disease when placed, it then only does it every 5 seconds. In some fights 5 seconds is too long, and you ill still have to cleanse vital people faster than that, up to you to gauge.
Fire Resistance Totem – Gives fire resistance. Go figure…Also doesn’t stack with the Pally aura, if there is a pally in your group get them to use their aura if fire resistance is needed, your other water totems are far more valuable that his silly Ret or Devotion Aura.
There are a ton of outdated Shaman talent guides on the web, most of which haven’t been updated for WoTLK. There really isn’t much wiggle room when it comes to talents, and most build are exactly the same minus a talent or two.
Here is what I currently run with – 0/14/57
This build maximizes crit by choosing Thundering Strikes. I also chose to go with Healing Focus which some skip for Healing Way but since I never use Healing Wave I rather have the minimal pushbacks. Lastly, some people chose to forgo a few points in Thundering Strikes to get Elemental Weapons. Personally I rather the crit for the extra heals and Water shield procs but to each their own.
Here is a slightly different build – 0/14/57
This build utilizes both Healing Way and Elemental Weapons.
Experimental Dual Wield Build – 0/31/40
No i’ve never run with it but with it you can get a heap more SP easily by using two healing weapons and enchanting both*. Also you get almost double the chance to proc Earthliving Weapon. You also get to carry many Enhancement Shaman raid-wide talents which can prove useful if there is no other Enhancement Shamans in your guild. The drawbacks are no Riptide, Earthshield, Ancestral Awakening or Tidal Waves but if you are going to be spamming Chain Heal all day long the benefits might outweigh the drawbacks. Up to you to decide.
It’s been pointed out that most healing weapons are Main Hand only, however, it really doesn’t change the fact that you get double the chance to proc Earthliving plus the extra heals from it), get an extra 63 spell dmg from the enchant and are a pseudo-Enhancement Shaman also so provide many important raid buffs. Even off hand +haste fist weapons might be useful. Again, not that I’d necessarily recommend it, but I can see it being useful for certain guilds/situations.
Now that Inscription has been added to the game, it offers a huge array in play style choices. Depending on what glyphs you chose you can radically change how your Shaman can be played. Below are a list of all the Resto Shaman friendly Major Glyphs.
Glyph of Chain Heal
Glyph of Earthliving Weapon
Glyph of Healing Stream Totem
Glyph of Healing Wave
Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave
Glyph of Mana Tide Totem
Glyph of Water Mastery
Since you can only chose 3 there are some definite choices here that you need to make which ill change your play style. Glyph of Water Mastery is almost universally taken since regardless hat play style you adopt mana regeneration will be very important. Glyph of Chain Heal is very very valuable for raid scenarios if you will be doing a lot of raid healing. Not so valuable for party scenarios since most times your group won’t all be in range for heals. Glyph of Healing Stream I found very valuable for heroic runs, especially if you are undergeared. The extra healing is very nice. Glyph of Healing Wave can be valuable if you playstyle suits, personally since I almost never cast it there is no need for it. Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave is a very intriguing option, especially for MT heals in raids. This really boosts the performance of your Lesser Healing Wave. Thanks to this Glyph and Improved Water Shield spamming Lesser Healing Wave like a Pally click drunk on Flash of Light is actually a valid playstyle.
If you are going to be primarily solo and running a few heroics i’d recommend Glyph of Healing Stream Totem , Glyph of Water Mastery and Glyph of Earthliving Weapon. Whereas if you raid often i’d recommend Glyph of Chain Heal , Glyph of Water Mastery and either Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave or Glyph of Earthliving Weapon. But fear not, the beauty of Inscription is that it is cheap and very easy to try things out. Most of these glyphs run for 5-20G in the AH so its not like trying out an enchantment which costs significantly more. Now onto Minor Glyphs…
Glyph of Astral Recall
Glyph of Ghost Wolf
Glyph of Renewed Life
Glyph of Water Breathing
Glyph of Water Shield
Glyph of Water Walking
Glyph of Water Shield is a must have for every Resto Shaman, and a close second is Glyph of Renewed Life which can greatly help on tough bosses. The rest are a crapshoot, I went with Astral Recall which helps with my dailies grinding.
Ah gems, the bane of many pocket books around. I’ll list both blue and green gems for the financially challenged. I won’t list the JC only gems since that ill just confuse non-JCers. One point of note is that Perfect green cuts are a random proc for JCs as they cut gems. No one can cut perfect gems always, its just luck of the draw. Giving a JC a gem and getting pissy when you don’t get a perfect cut back is very pedestrian, don’t expect it, its just a nice surprise when you are getting things cut.
Red
Rare
Uncommon
Perfect Runed Bloodstone
Runed Bloodstone
Blue
Rare
Uncommon
Perfect Lustrous Chalcedony – (No its not a typo this has the same Mp5 as the blue gem)
Lustrous Chalcedony
Blue
Rare
Dazzling Forest Emerald
Energized Forest Emerald
Sundered Forest Emerald
Uncommon
Perfect Dazzling Dark Jade
Dazzling Dark Jade
Perfect Energized Dark Jade
Energized Dark Jade
Perfect Sundered Dark Jade
Sundered Dark Jade
Yellow
Rare
Brilliant Autumn’s Glow
Quick Autumn’s Glow
Smooth Autumn’s Glow
Uncommon
Perfect Brilliant Sun Crystal
Brilliant Sun Crystal
Perfect Quick Sun Crystal
Quick Sun Crystal
Perfect Smooth Sun Crystal
Smooth Sun Crystal
Purple
Rare
Uncommon
Perfect Royal Shadow Crystal
Royal Shadow Crystal
Orange
Rare
Luminous Monarch Topaz
Reckless Monarch Topaz
Potent Monarch Topaz
Uncommon
Perfect Luminous Huge Citrine
Luminous Huge Citrine
Perfect Reckless Huge Citrine
Reckless Huge Citrine
Perfect Potent Huge Citrine
Potent Huge Citrine
Meta
Beaming Earthsiege Diamond
Bracing Earthsiege Diamond
Ember Skyflare Diamond
Insightful Earthsiege Diamond
Revitalizing Skyflare Diamond
There is no right or wrong way to gem. If you are very lo on spell power I would look at ignoring all socket bonuses and just going with Runed Scarlet Ruby (unless the socket bonus is very good). If your spell power is looking good then you might want to look at your haste rating, or crit. I included all the crit gems because many Shaman’s overlook how important crit is to us for regen of mana. Depending on your play style you can get tons and tons of mana back through your crits, making it very very important just from a regen standpoint, forget the fact that it makes you heal more.
Ah the great money suck that is enchanting. Enchanting your gear is a must, it gives huge boosts to your effectiveness and also demonstrates your dedication to your character. That having been said, just because you’ve dinged 80 and bought a BOE blue from the AH doesn’t necessarily mean you want to sink a 200G enchant on it. Use your head and you’ll be fine.
Head
Arcanum of Blissful Mending – Needs revered with the Wyrmcrest Accord. Available from their quartermaster in Dragonblight.
Shoulder
Greater Inscription of the Crag – Needs exalted with The Sons of Hodir, Available from their quartermaster in Storm Peaks.
Lesser Inscription of the Crag – Needs honored with The Sons of Hodir, Available from their quartermaster in Storm Peaks.
Cloak
Enchant Cloak – Haste
Enchant Cloak – Speed
Chest
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Mana
Enchant Chest – Greater Mana Restoration
Enchant Chest – Restore Mana Prime
Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats
Enchant Chest – Super Stats
Bracers
Enchant Bracers – Exceptional Intellect
Enchant Bracers – Superior Spellpower
Enchant Bracers – Greater Spellpower
Enchant Bracers – Greater Stats
Gloves
Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower
Waist
Yes I know there is no enchants for the waist but be sure to buy an Eternal Belt Buckle for it. Good for another socket for your gear. Very very valuable and usually not too expensive (goes for 60-75G on my server).
Legs
Sapphire Spellthread
Azure Spellthread
Boots
Enchant Boots – Greater Vitality
Weapon
Enchant Weapon – Exceptional Spellpower
Enchant Weapon – Mighty Spellpower
Shields
Enchant Shield – Greater Intellect
Healing rotations for Shamans are very different depending on what you are being asked to do. If you are on raid damage then you might spam Chain Heal almost exclusively, not much fun but effective. If you are on MT duty or in charge of keeping up single targets then it gets a bit more fun. The general panic attack cycle for Resto Shamans is:
Riptide + LHW + LHW
Thanks to the Tidal Waves talent the whole cycle takes 3 seconds (Riptide, 1 sec GCD, LHW ~1 sec cast, LHW ~1 sec cast), and will keep up just about anyone. About 350 haste or so is decent if you heal using this cycle a lot since that will reduce the cast time of Lesser Healing Wave while Tidal Waves is up to ~ 1 sec. Any more haste is wasted at this point since the 1 sec GCD will cap you.
Another valid healing cycle is:
Chain Heal + LHW + LHW
Chain heal also procs Tidal Waves, so this gives you two quick Lesser Healing Waves to splash around the raid before coming back to another Chain Heal. The good thing about this rotation is that since there is no cooldown on Chain Heal you can spam more out in a given window.
Now, you can also substitute Healing Wave for Lesser Healing Wave for the above rotation if there is some seriously injured folk in the raid. This can lead to massive healing since it will get +4% to its healing from Tidal Waves. Also, if you have 4 piece T7 bonus you get +5% heals to Healing Wave. No its is not as mana effective as Lesser Healing Wave or Chain Heal in the right scenarios, but it can be very useful in the right situations.
Healing as a Shaman is pretty damn fun. I’ve raided on a Holy Priest and Paladin extensively before and I must say Shammies rock. First thing you need to realize, is know what you are supposed to do and do it first before anything else. For heroics that is keeping the tank alive. Your priorities in heroics should always be tank/you, then dps in order of how good they are. Might sound crude, but if your party has been hit by a nasty aoe and everyone is dangling at 10%. Get your tank and yourself up ASAP, but then do you chose the 2.5K DPS hunter or the nub 1k DPS Deathknight? You know the answer. When in a raid, if you have been assigned to keep the raid topped up, don’t be healing only the MT and forgetting about the raid. Research your fights, your poison cleansing or disease cleansing totems can often make fights a lot easier, so use them wisely. Learn to anticipate damage and heal accordingly, focus on bosses so you know at all times what they are doing so you can react better.
Here is some more drivel that I will spew while it is fresh in my memory. Always have your water shield in place. If you have a spare second and it is at 2 charges refresh it. Always know where your totems are, how much time they have left. Make sure to recall them after moving so as to not aggro pats. Always have your Earthliving Weapon on your weapon, never be caught without it. Know your party/raid makeup, it will determine what totems you drop. If you are getting pwned by a spellcasting mob, don’t be afraid to break out Wind Shock to interrupt it and save yourself some damage.
In the end there is no substitute for knowing your class well, that will come with time, just read read read, and don’t be afraid to ask other Shaman’s a thing or two.
Totem Dropping can be a pain, make yourself a macro with your most used totem dropping rotation to eliminate the monotony:
/castsequence reset=4 Flametongue Totem, Mana Spring Totem, Windfury Totem, Strength of Earth Totem
Mana Tide Alert Macro
#showtooltip Mana Tide Totem
/stopmacro [nocombat]
/script local u,m = IsUsableSpell(“Mana Tide Totem”) if u and not m and GetNumPartyMembers() > 0 then SendChatMessage(” >>> Dropping Mana Tide <<<“,”PARTY”) end /cast Mana Tide Totem Heroism Alert Macro – Alliance #showtooltip Heroism /stopmacro [nocombat] /script local u,m = IsUsableSpell(“Heroism”) if u and not m and GetNumPartyMembers() > 0 then SendChatMessage(” >>> Popping Hero now! <<<“,”PARTY”) end /cast Heroism Heroism Alert Macro – Horde #showtooltip Bloodlust /stopmacro [nocombat] /script local u,m = IsUsableSpell(“Bloodlust”) if u and not m and GetNumPartyMembers() > 0 then SendChatMessage(” >>> Bloodlust used! <<<“,”PARTY”) end
/cast Bloodlust
Pop both trinks and insta-cast Healing Wave
#showtooltip Healing Wave
/cast Healing Wave [nocombat]
/stopmacro [nocombat]
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Nature’s Swiftness
/cast Healing Wave
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chI have a few 80 charaters so i decided to make a resto shaman im currently lvl 66 and all i gt from players is to spam ch + riptide my views spaming ch is a waste of space unless u need to lik the group is under heavy damage casting time and and healing just not cost efective and wen it crits big on all u get way to much agro and u die i use riptide and lhw with earth sheild on
the tank and ch for emergency thats my views on ch in 5man i dnt even put talents in there i find theres better talents to put it in unles i hit 80 and wana raid dunno if any1 agrees with me. If theres any notes u wana tell me to make me a better healer im always willing to try out sumit new .
Thank mark
To Lividmonkey,
For peopleTo Lividmonkey,
For people that “raid all the time” like you said, chain healing in a heroic is silly.
However, this article is more geared towards people new to lvl 80 shammy healing. People new to lvl 80 shammy healing are most likely undergeared and are getting grouped with other undergeared people in lower dungeons. And more to the point, they’re getting grouped with tanks that are new to tanking and are undergeared. Nothing is more painful that getting a warrior tank that hasn’t learned how get that initial AoE aggro. (Thunderclap then Shockwave. It’s pretty simple.) Mobs are all over the place. Everyone is getting splash damage. No one is at full health. It’s chain heal to the rescue!!!
When you’re epic geared with the best stuff from raids, it’s like you said, “Earth Shield + Riptide + LHW = Tank immortality. Tons of haste helps, too.” But if you’re all epic’ed out, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
Chain heals & 5-manI know the iconic resto shammy spell is chain heal, but unless you’re healing a raid or healing PVP, there’s not much use to it. Now, many of us raid all the time and you spam chain heal like it’s going out of style. You really just need one button, right? But, I’ve seen some people take this strategy into 5-man. I’m here to say, STOP IT! In a 5-man I rarely use chain heal. Some bosses require it. Lousy tanks require it. Otherwise, it’s all about Riptide and LHW.
Example, I was recently in a random 5-man heroic. Something simple like Nexus. There was a shammy healer. Not very experienced either as he had on lightning shield. I asked him if the minor damage done to some random mob that may hit him was better than never ending mana and he said that he liked to use lighting shield sometimes. Wha? In addition, he never used any spell to heal the tank other than chain heal. I asked him to stop using chain heal because it takes too long and it isn’t effective to tank heal, but he was saying the proc on Riptide was better than LHW for the tank. We wiped three times and kicked him. I voted to kick after the first one. Don’t be this shammy. This was the worst case scenerio, but I have seen many 5-man shammy healers that spam chain heal. One last note on chain heal, that last guy in the chain isn’t getting much heals. Hopefully he doesn’t need it. Throw down a Heal Totem if you’re having some party healing issues. It’s not wonderful, but it can help a little.
The truth of the matter is that in 5-man normally you only need to heal one guy. The proc on Ancestral Awakening or a healing totem usually tops off the DPS for me. In addition, Earth Shield should heal the tank quite a bit, so if you need to top off some DPS that’s getting hit from AOE, standing in something or that pulled aggro LHW does the trick there, too. The Earth Shield can normally keep the tank alive long enough to pull off a LHW. Timing is everything. However, if a bunch of DPS’ers are getting smacked, it’s time to pull out the chain heal.
Earth Shield + Riptide + LHW = Tank immortality. Tons of haste helps, too.
I have been healing on myI have been healing on my druid a lot and just got back to the shammy. It feels clunky since I don’t have the dots I did with the druid.
My question is has much changed since 3.2 ?
Is this guide now out of date?
Hmmm, a guide for usingHmmm, a guide for using clique/healbot would be good.
Clique is super super easy to set up, but Grid is not. However, if you are using Xperl or Pitbull or anything else with raid frames, you don’t acutally NEED to have Grid – you can just use Clique.
Healbot is *okay* for setting up, it comes with some defaults that work well for most people, but it’s still a bit confusing and I just think it’s a clunkier addon and have come to not like it over time.
So, I recommend just using Clique along with whatever raid/group frames you usually use.
I will consider making a guide for both of these addons, sometime in the future, but if someone else picks that up that’s cool with me.
Finally I made level 80.Finally I made level 80. Went enh all the way. NOW I am looking to do something new.
I have never played a healer more than 15 minutes at a time LOL
but I am ready to start.
So I am going to give this a go.
1st eq…I kept some quest stuff that had int and other spell stuff, but these are just greens and nothing great.
What should I look for in stats that will help me heal and that I might pick up on the AH cheap?
I think my highest rep is Revered with Kalu’ak so I know I can get the Cuttlefish Tooth Ringmail and the Totemic Purification Rod
to start out.
I wanted to ask there seems to be a LOT of what everyone considers the best talent builds, and I was surprised to see the way I heal was posted by a lot of people.
talent build and prefered healing for a noob 80 ?
I am thinking grid and clique is this the best or healbot? we need a guide here for both
can this same eq be used for ele build ?
improvement?Riptide–>Chain Heal—-> LHW—>LHW ?
Would not the following be better?:
Riptide–>LHW—>LHW—>Chain Heal—->
You still get your 2 quick LHW’s, but during the casting of them you are getting the Riptide ticks. The the Chain Heal then will eat the Riptide for its extra +healing buff, in the same as in your rotation. You can then either cast another 2 quick LHW’s, or go back into the cycle again and Riptide.
Alternatively, am I missing something?
My rotationMy rotation is
Riptide–>Chain Heal—-> LHW—>LHW
Great Guide!Great guide very organized and complet! ill definately use it.
Tip: Add a section where u talk about what stats should a shaman bet on the most
Thank You!
Improved Healing Wave and You!First off well done! This is just the type of guide I like to reference when telling up and coming shaman in my guild to look at since it shows the opinions of more than just me.
I would like to offer another opinion on Healing Wave, and the affects of Improved Healing Wave; especially in a raid situation; 10, and 25 man; why I spec away from it and save it for Mp5, Crit and Haste.
First off it’s 5 points into something you are RARELY going to use now a days. Like the comment above you’re only going to need it for that big heal; WHEN you need it i.e. use the NS macro. LHW can crit for the low end of HW, and if you crit often you’re going to hit for high marks as it is.
We all know CH is our bread and butter, and now that Riptide has been around for a time, your turn in spell casting is going to be as stated above, Riptide, LHW, LHW. Even with the nerf on Improved Water Shield, hitting Riptide is still a guaranteed Mana return.
I put my points in Totemic Focus, the reason for this is simple, the less mana you use, the better, you only get 25% Mana back for Totemic Call anyways. As fights become longer and groups move faster though instances, the time to sit and eat comes less and less often. Yet you are still expected to drop totems to help out.
Look at it like this, in a 5 man run of any instance the length of time for you to cast HW with 350 haste is going to be 2.1 seconds. The more haste you stack can and will make casting it faster, but there are more negatives than positives to this. Most haste gear does not have MP5 paired with it, it’s usually spell power and/or Crit (IE CAST FAST BIG HITS BIGGER MORE OFTEN). My goal has always been to get to @400 haste, and keep as much Crit and MP5 as I can. But then I raid more than I do 5-mans (then again that RL thing forces my hand on that).
So while stacking a ton of haste and going after HW can be a good thing for the heroic you’re running…in a raid you’re generally going to be on the raid heals. Even if you’re going to be on MT and melee (i.e. your CH is going to jump to them anyways); you’re talking about CH nearly exclusively along with the Riptide… LHW… LHW. Making HW a 1/2 a second faster ceases to be important, because either you’re going to have time to cast it, or it’s going to be used with trinkets and NS. Also, odds are in a 10 man you’re going to be one of 3 healers early on; then one of two later on for 10-mans, and one of 5 to 7 for 25-mans. 1/2 a second or not, you’re not going to be using HW except for your macro.
Mind you this also doesn’t account for the Earthliving, Earth Shield, and the Tidal Waves buff that procs like crazy in a raid anyways.
My Spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?tal=000000000000000000000000005050331000000000000000000005005301355010501122331251
Really possible?[quote]Experimental Dual Wield Build – 0/31/40
No i’ve never run with it but with it you can get a heap more SP easily by using two healing weapons and enchanting both. Also you get almost double the chance to proc Earthliving Weapon. You also get to carry many Enhancement Shaman raid-wide talents which can prove useful if there is no other Enhancement Shamans in your guild. The drawbacks are no Riptide, Earthshield, Ancestral Awakening or Tidal Waves but if you are going to be spamming Chain Heal all day long the benefits might outweigh the drawbacks. Up to you to decide.[/quote]
Every high level one-handed caster weapon is specified ‘Main Hand’. As the ‘Dual Wield’ talent ‘allows one-hand and off-hand weapons to be equipped in the offhand’ you may want to remove this talent build from your guide as it is a complete waste of 50g even trying it :p
Also re-read your guide and check for grammar errors. You put “to” instead of “two” a few times. And this bit I quoted lacks capitilisation (“No i’ve…”).
Great guide 😀
Tag. 🙂
Macro’sNothing wrong with it but…
[hr]
[quote]
#showtooltip Heroism
/stopmacro [nocombat]
/script local u,m = IsUsableSpell(“Heroism”) if u and not m and GetNumPartyMembers() > 0 then SendChatMessage(” >>> Popping Hero now! << 0 then SendChatMessage(” >>> Bloodlust used! <<<","PARTY") end
/cast Bloodlust
Maby its just me but IMaby its just me but I thought you was wrong at his:
[hr]
[quote]
Thanks to the Tidal Waves talent the whole cycle takes 4 seconds (Riptide, 1 sec GCD, LHW ~1 sec cast, 1 sec GCD, LHW ~1 sec cast), and will keep up just about anyone.
[hr]
Should be (Riptide, 1 sec Globelcooldown, LHW ~1 sec cast, LHW ~1 sec cast)
Like you see, afther the first LHW there is not a GCD because GCD starts afther you used a Ability. It has an ~1 sec cast time so the GCD will be finish when you finish your LHW meaning you can go on with your next LHW. (Also you should change the ‘4’ in a ‘3’)
Correct me if i’m wrong
Small error. The talentSmall error. The talent builds anchor from the Table of contents doens’t work.
I think it’s better withoutI think it’s better without colors, to be honest..
Where did you get the spellWhere did you get the spell icons from? Did you make a screenshot or is there a better way to do this?
HeheHehe 🙂
Great GuideGreat guide! I have a low level alliance shammy that I have been thinking about leveling, and was curious about how shammys healed end game. The guide is very helpful and concise, with great advice on rotations, glyphs, and talent builds. The text formatting was also great. I will definitely be using this to help my shammy if I ever get him to 80.
“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.”
Welcome to the clubWelcome to the club 😉
*Stealing Ji’s stuff since 2008*
I’m impressed.Hai there,
I’m impressed by this guide, it really has everything covered for healing! You could add a few [color=#00bfff]colours[/color] though.
Also you should switch out something:
At your explanation for Healing Wave:
[hr]
[quote]2.5 seconds to cast (3.0 seconds without talents)[/quote]
[hr]
You should say (in my opinion):
[hr]
[quote]3 seconds to cast (2.5 with talents!).[/quote]
[hr]
Anyway, love the guide and I will certainly use it!
~Trollvink.
My arrowMy arrow! nooo! 😉
A really good guide! I’veA really good guide! I’ve been waiting for one like this. 🙂
Cool thanksAdded. Stole Jiy’s image 🙂
Yay for healing classYay for healing class bibles! Glad to see another guide devoted to a healing class 🙂 I only glanced at this since I really don’t have a shaman anywhere close to the level to worry about this sort of thing, but the formatting looks nice and it looks like there’s a lot of content here. Good job!
Indeed a very very niceIndeed a very very nice guide.
I haven’t read through it yet but i surely will when i have more time.
Nice work 🙂
Really nice!Very nicely done, one can see that you put a lot of effort in it and that you actually read a few things about text formatting 😉
One suggestion: add a few “back to the top” anchors to make it easier to nagivate through your guide.
Keep it up!