Shamans are a very versatile class in World of Warcraft Classic. They cast powerful elemental spells and bring a unique set of buffs in the form of Totems. They have 3 different play styles, all of which are viable in all forms of content in WoW Classic: WotLK. The three specializations for Shamans are Elemental (Ele) a range Spell Damage Caster, Enhancement (Enh) a hybrid of Melee and Spell Damage, and Restoration (Resto) a support specialization for Healing

Changes To Shamans in Wotlk

There are a lot of new changes to Shamans in Wrath Classic, mostly changes totems and a lot of them are welcome quality of life changes. Here are some of the new features that Shamans get in WotLK:

All Shamans

• Heroism / Bloodlust is now raid wide.
• 3 Totem Presets allow Shamans to customize which totems get cast in one Global Cooldown. This can be made to include one, two, three, or all four totems at once. Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors, Call of the Spirits are learned at levels 30, 40, and 50, respectively.
• Wind Shear is the new interrupt, decoupled from Earth Shock.
• Hex is a curse that crowd controls enemies.
• The Relic equipment slot replaces all those totems filling up bag space in your inventory going into the thrown item equipment slot.
• Flame Shock scales with haste and the damage over time can crit.
• Fire Nova Totem is replaced with the Fire Nova spell for an instant cast AoE on any fire totem.
• Strength of Earth Totem now provides Agility as well (shared with DK's).
• Windfury Totem provides the melee haste buff (shared with Frost Dk's).
• Stoneclaw Totem provides a shield for other totems.
• Stoneskin Totem provides armor instead of reduced damage taken.

Elemental

Ele Shamans get 2 new skills, Lava Burst and Thunderstorm. This provides them with more variation with skill rotation and more opportunities for burst damage, as well as an AoE Knockback. Some quality of life improvements with less spell pushback from the talent Eye of the Storm and reduced chain lightning cooldown from Storm, Earth and Fire. Totem of Wrath is now used instead of Flametongue Totem for spell crit chance. Earthbind Totem can now also root targets with Storm, Earth and Fire providing much-needed crowd control in PvP.

Restoration

Resto Shamans can now cure Poisons, Diseases, and Curses all in one talent Cleanse Spirit. There are also a lot of talents that provide better healing crits, mana efficiency, and targeted healing for low health targets. Riptide is a new powerful instant cast heal with healing over time. Earthliving Weapon imbues the weapon to add some better healing and a small heal over time.

Enhancement

3 new skills from Talents vary the play style for Enh Shamans, Lava Lash, Maelstrom Weapon, and Feral Spirit. Fumbling with the correct totems is no longer a problem as the buffs are more streamlined and also provided by other classes. Mana conservation is less of a problem thanks to ​​​​​​Shamanistic Rage and many other talent options.

Related: PvE Healer Tier List (WotLK)

Best Races Options For Shaman

While racial traits aren't a huge component of the overall effectiveness of the class, each one has minor trade-offs. We'll go into detail about each Race and you can decide for yourself.

Horde

In PvE content, Trolls are typically seen more often across all types of Shamans.

• Resto Shamans usually choose Troll to as the main benefit for them is Berserking.
• Enhancement could go with either Orc or Troll, however, the Orc traits Axe Specialization and Command to give them a slight edge up.
• Elemental can go with either Troll or Orc, but generally, most players choose Troll for Berserking.

For PvP, Orcs and Tauren are more favored over Trolls due to Hardiness and War Stomp, respectively.

Orc

Axe Specialization passively increased Expertise with Fist Weapons, Axes, and Two-Handed Axes. This benefits Enhancement more than the other specs. Blood Fury is an active skill that provides an increase to the Shamans melee and spell damage for 15 seconds and has a 2 minute cooldown. This is a nice little buff that both Enh and Ele can make use of for times when more burst damage is needed. Hardiness reduces the duration of stun effects; this is great for Player vs. Player (PvP) cases but also has a few rare cases for Player vs. Environment (PvE) too. Lastly they have Command, which increases the damage dealt by pets, this includes the damage of elementals summoned by totems and the Enh spec's Feral Spirit.

Troll

Troll Regeneration passively increases the rate of health regeneration, even while in combat. Beast Slaying passively increases damage dealt to beasts, very few raid bosses are beasts. Berserking is known as a mini Heroism/Bloodlust as it increases the attack and casting speed for a small duration Da Voodoo Shuffle passively reduces the duration of movement impairing effects. The remaining racial buffs, Bow Specialization and Throwing Specialization, don't benefit Shamans at all as they can't equip either of those weapons.

Tauren

War Stomp is a 2 second stun with a 2 minute cooldown that is quite strong in PvP. Endurance provides a passive increase to Base Health Points. Nature Resistancereduces the chance to be hit by nature spells. All in all not a very strong choice for Shamans. And to be complete, Cultivation is a passive buff that increases Herbalism skill level by 15.

Alliance

Draenei

It is the only race that can play Shaman for the Alliance, and there's really not a lot going for them over their Horde counterparts. Heroic Presence is a nice passive buff for the player and the raid to increase their hit chance. Gift of the Naaru is a small heal over time. Shadow Resistance passively reduces the chance to be hit by shadow spells. And finally, Gemcutting increases the Jewelcrafting skill by 5.

Best Professions in PvE for WotLK

As always, Engineering is the top profession to have in PvE. It provides a wide array of useful tools to improve overall performance.

Related: Engineering Guide 1 to 450 (WotLK)

Jewelcrafting allows players to choose the stat that is most powerful for them with their Jeweler's Gems. Leatherworking is another great choice as it will provide shamans with the ability to craft their own mail or leather armor.

Shaman PvE Specializations Guides

Each of the Shaman's specializations varies widely on every factor, so we've created separate guides for each that include the following information: Best in Slot (BiS) Gear, Stat Priority, Skill Rotation, Talents, Gems, Enchants, Glyphs, and Consumables.

• Elemental Shaman PvE Guide
• Enhancement Shaman PvE Guide
• Restoration Shaman PvE Guide

Next: Rogue Class Guide (WotLK)