Shaman Class Overview & Changes

Shaman have seen some sizeable adjustments in WoW: Forever whilst still keeping their extraordinary niche of being a powerful utility class that can fulfil a lot of roles within a party such as ranged casting dps, melee dps, healing as well as potentially able to tank some group content due to some interesting new talents introduced.

Elemental Summary

Elemental’s adjustments have set it up to be quite the contender in WoW: Forever. Lightning Overload giving Elemental’s main heavy hitter spell Lava Burst as well its filler a chance to double cast at half effectiveness while not generating threat or costing mana opens up a lot of high powered barrages without risking ripping aggro or draining the mana bar even faster than in Classic. 

Dipping into the Restoration tree as an Elemental Shaman will yield incredible results for mana regeneration in longer fights due to Mindfulness granting mana while casting along with Mana Tide Totem being moved to row 3 instead of a capstone ability. That coupled with Restoration’s Natural Grace talent now lowering the threat generated from ALL spells cast, an Elemental Shaman can really start pumping without worrying about drawing a bosses fire and getting clobbered 2 seconds into an engagement. 

Gaining a reliable 5 second immobilise through the talent Earthbound will give Elemental a lot more leg room when it comes to kiting and chasing in PvP as well as a way of easing pressure on their group when a mob pull gets a bit too spicy for the tank.

Elemental Shaman will be perfect for players who want to output a barrage of high powered spells while having the tools to assist their allies in dire situations.

Enhancement Summary

WoW: Forever has given Enhancement a lot of amazing new toys to play with, most notably its own personal granted by Rage of the Farseer as well as getting a large chunk of extra damage from Intellect for both spells and attacks, making Spellhance a rather intriguing option. 

Improved Ghost Wolf gives Enhancement some much needed mobility and chase potential in PvP while also providing a quick getaway if things turn sour, both in said PvP and also out in the open world. 

WoW: Forever has also added a few ways that would assist in the Enhancement Shaman tank dream with the new Talent Spirit Weapons providing a solid boost to its threat generation. It’s not enough to make Enhancement a dedicated tank spec but it could prove to be an effective tank for lower end group content. Having easy access to Restoration talents like Mindfulness and Healing Tide Totem can give Enhancement a much needed boost to its throughput in sustained fights while notable talents like Elemental Devastation and Call of Flame from the Elemental tree will help Enhancement pump out a lot more damage while still not ripping aggro thanks to the aforementioned Spirit Weapons talent.

Players who want to feel like a true battlemage, flinging out spells and chopping up foes will love Enhancement Shaman.

Restoration Summary

Restoration hasn’t seen nearly as many changes in WoW: Forever as the other two specs, but it already had a solid foundation. They are shaping up to still be the Kings and Queens of powerful group healing, and with newly added mana regeneration talents like Mindfulness and Water Shield, along with the Spirit stat being slightly reworked, they are going to feel more forgiving to play with their resource management.

Restoration Shaman’s ability to heal on the move has been greatly increased thanks to their new capstone Riptide which also grants a sizable bonus to their bread and butter spell Chain Heal. Having easy access to Improved Ghost Wolf will also help Restoration to move quickly across the battlefield to assist allies in danger, both in PvE and PvP situations as well as enabling them to get out of tight scrapes in a pinch.

Those who enjoy pumping out large amounts of AoE healing while being able to support their allies with high impact utility can be excited about playing the Restoration Shaman in WoW: Forever.

Totemic Projection - Will move all totems to a location designated within 30 ft

Totemic Recall - Was spotted during the Blizzcon demo, originally not in Classic as it was introduced in TBC under the name “Totemic Call” but was renamed “Totemic Recall” in Wrath. It’s currently unknown but likely it will retain it’s TBC iteration, that is destroying all placed totems with each refunding 25% of the mana spent to cast them

Call of the Elements - Will drop up to four totems from an assigned totem bar after a 3 second cast

While not exactly new, several abilities have been altered in some way, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning have had their base cast time reduced by 0.5 seconds. In the same vein, Ghost Wolf has had its cast time reduced from 3 to 2 seconds, while Fire Nova Totem is no longer a totem based ability. It has a 30 yd range, is instant cast and will deal fire damage in a 10ft radius around a placed Fire Totem.

Elemental

Earthbound (Passive): Earthbind Totem immobilizes nearby targets for 5 seconds when cast. 1 Rank

Lightning Overload (Passive): Gives Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells a 3/6/10% chance to cast a second, similar spell on the same target at no additional cost that causes half damage and no threat. 3 Ranks

Lava Burst - Hurls molten lava at the target, dealing fire damage. If Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage. 1 Rank

Enhancement

Mental Dexterity (Passive): Increases Attack Power by an amount equal to a 33/66/100% of Intellect. 3 Ranks

Shamanistic Focus (Passive): Reduces the mana cost of Shock and Lightning Shield spells by 45%. 1 Rank

Mental Quickness (Passive): Increases Spell Power by an amount equal to 15/30% of Intellect. 2 Ranks

Improved Stormstrike (Passive):  Casting Stormstrike has a 50/100% chance to gain 25/50% mana regeneration while casting spells for 15 seconds. Stormstrike also has a 50/100% chance to reset its cooldown each time the Shaman dodges or parries.

Maelstrom Weapon (Passive): When dealing damage with a melee attack, has a chance to reduce the cast time and mana cost of the next Lightning Bolt spell by 4/8/12/16/20%. Stacks up to 5 Times. 5 Ranks

Rage of the Farseer - Increases melee and casting speed by 30% for 25 seconds. 1 rank

Restoration

Mindfulness (Passive):  Allows 17/33/50% of mana regeneration to continue while casting. 3 Ranks

Water Shield - The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster or when one of the caster’s healing spells crits, 2% of maximum mana is restored to the caster, expending one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 Minutes. 1 Rank

Riptide - Heals a friendly target and then heals for an additional amount over 15 seconds while Increasing the effectiveness of Chain Heal cast on that target by 25%. 1 Rank

On top of the new talents introduced, Shaman has had a lot of their talents changed with each spec receiving 7-11 changes.

Elemental

Call of Flame - Now increases the damage dealt by Flame Shock, Fire Nova and Lava Burst in Forever. Fire Totems also still receive this benefit like in Vanilla.

Eye of the Storm - Now reduces the pushback suffered from damage while casting Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Lava Burst by 23/47/70%. In Vanilla it granted a chance to receive a Focused casting buff after being critically hit by a melee or ranged hit that prevented casting being pushed back when taking damage

Enhancement

Thundering Strikes - Now also increases the chance to critically hit with spells as well as with base attacks.

Improved Ghost Wolf - Now also allows Ghost Wolf being used while indoors. While it shares the same reduction in cast time to its classic iteration, Ghost Wolf base cast time has been reduced to 2 seconds, making it an instant cast with this talent.  

Stormstrike - Now is an instant strike that deals normal weapon damage and increases Nature damage dealt to the target by 20% for 12 seconds. Used to provide an extra melee swing and only increased the next 2 sources of Nature damage dealt to the target to be increased. Stormstrike also has had a drastic shift in its placing within the talent tree, now being in row 4 instead of the capstone talent.

Spirit Weapons - Still retains the chance to parry enemy attacks but new to WoW: Forever is that it augments Rockbiter Weapon to increase the threat generated with attacks by 30% while active but actually lowers all threat generated with attacks by 30% if Rockbiter Weapon is not active.

Restoration

Natural Grace - Will reduce the threat generated by casting all spells by 5/10/15% instead of just healing spells like it was in Classic. Initially it was called Healing Grace.

Tidal Focus - Now also increases hit chance with all spells and attacks by up to 5% as well as the healing mana cost reduction that was previously.

Healing Way - Now just flat out increases the amount of health restored by Healing Wave by 8/16/24% instead of Healing Wave having a chance to increase subsequent Healing Wave health restored on the same target like in Classic.

While previously a Horde only class back in regular Classic, WoW: Forever has added Dwarves as the sole Alliance race that can roll as a Shaman and while Orcs, Tauren and Trolls can still be Shamans, the Horde has an extra race that can be Shamans in Forever, that being the new neutral race Skyborn.

Alliance

Dwarf

Dwarves are the de facto best race to play as Shaman for Alliance, seeing as they are the only race that can be Shamans for the faction. Their Mace Specialization racial is going to be effective for both Enhancement and Elemental thanks to the added chance to crit while wielding them and Big Game Hunter’s bonus damage to beasts will give them a slight edge while leveling out in the open world. Immunity to bleeds, diseases and poisons as well as physical damage reduction from Stoneform will give Dwarf Shamans a boost to their survivability, both from scary mobs and those pesky Horde Rogues in PvP. (both battlegrounds and World PvP with the new PvP ruleset)

Horde

Orc

Orcs are looking to be powerhouses in WoW: Forever for a Shaman. Elemental will now benefit from Blood Fury now increasing spell power on top of attack power with Axe Specialization increasing the chance to crit with both spells and attacks while wielding said weaponry. Orcs are still highly resistant to stuns thanks to Hardiness while the new Shatter Curse will give Orc Shamans solid staying power against Alliance spellcasters thanks to the magic reduction and flat out immunity to curse and bane spells, which of course, will still be handy while chopping up caster mobs in the open world.

Troll

Trolls will have fantastic sustain thanks to the health regeneration racials they have, with Regeneration lowering their downtime while leveling with Rapid Regeneration providing a sizeable boost to their health regen, which, when coupled with the Shaman’s fantastic burst heals, a Troll Shaman can keep up their momentum, chaining back to back mobs before stopping for a little sit down to recoup. Berzerking grants a solid bonus for all specs thanks to the casting speed granted by it, either by outputting serious damage with Elemental, quickly patching up allies with Restoration while the attack speed bonus will assist Enhancement in stacking up their newly acquired Maelstrom Weapon. As with Dwarves, Beast Slaying’s bonus damage to beast will assist Troll Shamans while out in the open world.

Tauren

Ever the nature lovers, Tauren can Cultivate and grow herbs that do not require the Herbalism tradeskill to gather, useful for making a little bit of money on the side or for supplementing Alchemy while leaving another profession slot open. War Stomp provides a much needed stun to a Shaman’s repertoire, perfect for locking down Alliance in PvP or for giving you and your party some much needed breathing room should a pull go awry in group content. Tauren Shaman’s are a sturdy bunch thanks to the max health they receive from Endurance which also grants a little bonus to hit chance that will be a huge help for Elemental and Enhancement. Finally, Plainsrunning combined with Ghost Wolf will save a lot of time running between quest objectives thanks to the incrementing movement speed bonus while running.

Skyborne

The new race Skyborne embodies the wind with their ability to slow fall thanks to Walk on Air which will come in handy for a quick getaway in case ambushed near a cliff face and even 

giving a slight edge in certain battlegrounds with no need for Engineering. All specs will appreciate the melee, ranged and spellcasting haste provided by Wind Blessed while Elemental Insight’s increased damage to elementals will give Elemental and Enhancement a huge boost in certain zones and dungeons. Horde Skyborne gain access to Skysight which will assist with escaping or engagements thanks to the bonus run speed.

What would be the best race for Shaman

The best race for Alliance is very straightforward as only Dwarves can be Shamans.

Horde however faces stiff competition for the outright best race for a Shaman as each race brings something to the table. Orc would likely be the optimal choice due to Axe Specialization’s crit chance and Blood Fury’s damage bonus would increase both DPS specs burst potential while Tauren’s War Stomp stun add more utility to the Shaman’s toolkit. Troll’s providing on demand haste and regen gives Enhancement more opportunities to proc Windfury Weapon and more survivability while a Skyborne’s added movement speed buff allows for more opportunities for kiting or escaping tough situations.

For the complete side-by-side racial ability list, see our WoW Forever racial abilities guide.

Overall, the Shaman is shaping up to be a great choice in WoW: Forever. 

Elemental and Enhancement are getting some much needed adjustments while Restoration builds on what it already does well and still gets some love in places that it fell short. The added Totem QoL with Totemic Projection and Totemic Recall as well as Call of the Elements allowing quick deployment of totems is going to make Shaman’s feel a lot more fluid and Alliance melee players can rejoice as Windfury is on your doorstep when Forever arrives on November 4th this year.

See how Elemental, Enhancement and Restoration all rank on our WoW Forever tier list.