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Shamans are a very versatile class inWorld 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 inWoW Classic: WotLK. The three specializations for Shamans areElemental(Ele) a range Spell Damage Caster,Enhancement(Enh) a hybrid of Melee and Spell Damage, andRestoration(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
Elemental
Ele Shamans get 2 new skills,Lava BurstandThunderstorm. 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 talentEye of the Stormand reduced chain lightning cooldown fromStorm, Earth and Fire.Totem of Wrathis now used instead of Flametongue Totem for spell crit chance.Earthbind Totemcan now also root targets withStorm, Earth and Fireproviding much-needed crowd control in PvP.
Restoration
Resto Shamans can now cure Poisons, Diseases, and Cursesall in one talentCleanse Spirit. There are also a lot of talents that providebetter healing crits,mana efficiency, andtargeted healingfor low health targets.Riptideis a new powerful instant cast heal with healing over time.Earthliving Weaponimbues 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, andFeral 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 Rageandmany 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,Trollsare typically seen more often across all types of Shamans.
For PvP,OrcsandTaurenare more favored over Trolls due toHardinessandWar Stomp, respectively.
Orc
Axe Specializationpassively increased Expertise with Fist Weapons, Axes, and Two-Handed Axes. This benefits Enhancement more than the other specs.Blood Furyis 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.Hardinessreduces 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 haveCommand, which increases the damage dealt by pets, this includes the damage of elementals summoned by totems and the Enh spec’sFeral Spirit.
Troll
TrollRegenerationpassively increases the rate of health regeneration, even while in combat.Beast Slayingpassively increases damage dealt to beasts, very few raid bosses are beasts.Berserkingis known as a mini Heroism/Bloodlust as it increases the attack and casting speed for a small durationDa Voodoo Shufflepassively reduces the duration of movement impairing effects. The remaining racial buffs,Bow SpecializationandThrowing Specialization,don’t benefit Shamans at all as they can’t equip either of those weapons.
Tauren
War Stompis a 2 second stun with a 2 minute cooldown that is quite strong in PvP.Enduranceprovides 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,Cultivationis 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 Presenceis a nice passive buff for the player and the raid to increase their hit chance.Gift of the Naaruis a small heal over time.Shadow Resistancepassively reduces the chance to be hit by shadow spells. And finally,Gemcuttingincreases theJewelcraftingskill by 5.
Best Professions in PvE for WotLK
As always,Engineeringis 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)
Jewelcraftingallows players to choose the stat that is most powerful for them with their Jeweler’s Gems.Leatherworkingis 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.
