Elemental Shaman Leveling Guide 0-30 - Talents, Gear, Stats and More

Elemental Shaman have been updated significantly from the start of Beta. Most of the changes are specifically to make the leveling journey more fun and satisfying without needing to go into the Enhance tree. If you love the elements, big bursts of spell damage and a ton of utility totems, this will be for you.

WoW Forever unique aspects of Elemental Shaman:

• Elemental Mastery in revamped form, has been added as the capstone talent, acting as almost a Bloodlust/Heroism decreasing cast time of Lightning Bolt / Chain Lightning to burst your enemy.
• Lava Burst , able to get at level 30, has been added to the tree as a strong single target cooldown, increased damage significantly if the target has Flame Shock
• Fire Nova is now a spell, and allows for AOE damage at lower levels
• Elemental Alacrity (the old Lightning Mastery) reduces cast times of all offensive cases by 0.5 seconds (20% generally)
• Eye of the Storm has been updated to have more value, and avoid pushback more often
• Trial by Fire increases AOE damage of Fire Nova, and most importantly increases the duration of Magma Totem for huge AOE.
• Call of Flame extends Flame Shock duration
• Totems are much easier to use. One cast drops four totems, they can be relocated, and they can be recalled for mana.
  • Totemic Projection allows moving all of your totems

And other talents from Enhance/Restoration which are now revamped as options:

• Improved Ghost Wolf allows Ghost Wolf can be instant cast and can be used inside, the fastest movement speed before mounts
• Water Shield now gives 2% mana when you get hit, or critically strike with a spell

All of these tools make Elemental Shaman fresh and exciting for WoW Forever.

DISCLAIMER: This is based on beta testing, and will not include Legacy talent points for talent build. Further updates to be build will come in the future with launch reaching beyond level 30.

Gearing in WoW Forever has changed with increased amount of gear with Spell Power.

Priority:

1. Spell Power: This is the most important stat to maximize damage of all casted abilities
2. Intellect: Increases mana pool, and increases spell critical strike chance, this does not give spell power!
3. Spirit: Increases mana regeneration when not casting for 5-seconds, or if you have Mindfulness
4. Critical Strike Chance: A more uncommon stat while leveling, this increases critical strike chance
5. Hit Chance: Not a priority while leveling since you will generally be fighting mobs around your level

If you find yourself sitting between mobs too much, you can stat more Spirit.

Consumables are not required, but can help keep make leveling smooth.

Experience buff food. New in WoW Forever, there is food which increases experience gain by 5%. Most food gives this buff, select the cheapest option, even if from lower level as the main objective is to get +5% experience from kills:

• Smoked Sagefish
• Longjaw Mud Snapper
• Bristle Whisker Catfish
• Smoked Bear Meat
• Crispy Bat Wing
• Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice

Health potions can help you avoid death to allow you to keep leveling:

• Search "Healing Potion" in the auction house to find which is cheapest and/or at your level. You can take lower level potions if cheap to consume very frequently.

Mana potions reduce time between mobs and are usually very cheap:

• Search "Mana Potion" in the auction house to find which is cheapest and/or at your level. You can take lower level potions if cheap to consume very frequently.

Consumables increasing stats for more damage and survivability:

• Level < 10:
  • Minor Mageblood Elixir giving 3 mana every 5 seconds for 30 minutes.
  • Minor Arcane Elixir giving 5 Spell Power for 30 minutes.
  • Elixir of Minor Spirit buffing Spirit by 3 for 30 minutes.
  • Minor Wizard Oil to increase spell damage and healing by 8 for 30 minutes
• Level 10-20 new items:
  • Elixir of Wisdom giving +6 intellect for 60 minutes.
  • Minor Mana Oil for 5 mana per 5 back to the caster for 30 minutes.
• Level 20-30 new items:
  • Lesser Mageblood Elixir giving 6 mana every 5 seconds for 30 minutes.
  • Lesser Arcane Elixir: This gives you 15 Spell Power for 30 minutes.
  • Elixir of Lesser Spirit buffing Spirit by 6 for 30 minutes.
  • Lesser Troll's Blood Elixir: This lets you regenerate 6 Health every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.

Read these tips and follow these for a seamless leveling experience:

1. Maximize mana mob to mob: The most important way to level smoothly as Elemental is optimizing mana, it is critical to be aware of how mana generation works in WoW Forever. You must stop casting for 5 seconds, which will trigger mana to start generation. This means you once mobs are <20%, try to finish the mob with melee, or allow Searing Totem and Flame Shock to finish the mob. This allows you to start mana generation early.
2. Don't be afraid to melee as Elemental Shaman: Finding high spellpower or intellect gear can be tough - a strong 2H-hander can help in early levels
3. Focus on Dungeon quests: (Dungeon Journal addon is great to help find quests. Dungeon quest rewards and dungeons drops will help leveling smooth for you.
4. The Relic slot will be empty for a while, unless you pick Enchanting and craft Polished Driftwood Icon, the only accessible option you should seek out early is Totem of Charged Flames from the Fire Totem quest.
5. Buy mana potions, or health potions, if you need them: Buy cheap mana potions/health potions and pop them like candy if they can help keep your leveling experience smooth. Lower level potions are mass produced so grab them!
6. Mana tip: Totemic Recall's 25% refund should be used if moving away from where you place totems to get mana back.
7. Use Rank1 Earth Shock for interrupting mobs, if conserving mana.
8. Learn all your weapon specializations early, as you reach each of the faction cities.

For Shaman, there are multiple strong options for Races. I have listed these in order of which I think are strongest.

Horde

Troll (S-tier)

Strongest of the horde in offensive capabilities, though not as durable as other races (Tauren/Orc)

• Berserking is a strong haste buff and offensive cooldown, stacking this with potentially Elemental Mastery will likely be an insane combinations for AOE burst
• Beast Slaying giving +5% against beasts will surely add value in the future
• Rapid Regeneration is decent while leveling, though does not help with mana
• Regeneration is nice for leveling but generally not too valuable

Orc (A-tier)

Due to recent updates during Beta, Orc is still strong, particularly for PvP but for PvE they were slightly nerfed:

• Blood Fury being a 3minute cooldown for increased damage for attack and spellpower is strong for Shaman
• Shatter Curse is a great cleanse and slight increase defensive against magic
• Savage increasing critical strike chance by 1% overall which is great for Shaman with Elemental Fury
• Hardiness is not use valuable in leveling or PvE, only really PvP

Tauren (A-tier)

Recently buffed Tauren brings multiple offensive, defensive and utility racials:

• The strongest stat racial of all Endurance giving 5% hp, but more importantly 2% critical strike bonus for damage and healing is very significant since critical strike is a priority for Elemental
• War Stomp a great 2 second AOE stun, now on a 1.5 minute cooldown
• Plainsrunning a quality of life movements speed buff which will help before we get Ghost Wolf at level 20
• Cultivation is only for professions/gold.

Skyborne (A-tier)

The new WoW Forever race, with strong base stat buffs, utility and mobility. It is the most unproven and with only +3% haste and dependency on fighting elementals for +5% it is unclear how strong they will be.

• 3% Haste from Wind Blessed , helping out cast and melee speed
• Elemental Insight for +5% damage against elementals, though it is unclear how often we will face elementals
• Skysight giving movement speed as a nice quality of life
• Walk on Air allowing for jumping off cliffs in style

Alliance

Dwarf (A-tier)

The only option on Alliance, bringing strong offensive damage passives:

• Earth Fury 2% critical strike bonus for damage and healing is very significant since critical strike is a priority for Elemental
• Big Game Hunter giving +5% against beasts will surely add value in the future
• Stoneform is a great defensive and cleanse which can be useful defensively
• Find Treasure is only for fun/gold.

For leveling there are professions which can help, though are not "required", but these are my recommendations:

1. Enchanting , which is very easy to level compared to other versions of the game, has a Polished Driftwood Icon from Merchant Favors which come from completing crates like Waylaid Crate: Apprentice Herbs (for example). Since this is Bind on Pickup, you can drop Enchanting after getting this item.
2. Alchemy / Herbalism , in WoW Forever there are significantly more herbalism nodes generally, this will allow you to be self sufficient and create mana potions if helpful to you
3. Leatherworking / Skinning - with skinning being the easiest way to gather materials and there being more crafting recipes than ever this can be a good combination and relatively easy to be self sufficient
4. First Aid is a useful to use the cloth from mobs, and recover health without spending mana on Healing Wave to recover.

17 Oct 2026, initial leveling guide for Elemental Shaman.