WotLK Shaman Guide – Resto (Level 80)
Wrath Shaman Guide
Introduction:
I want to introduce you in Restoration Shamans in PVE, most likely you will see people are asking for restoration shamans in raids, most of people think it is cause Bloodlust (Heroism) but real need of Restoration Shamans in raids are capability of healing multiple targets at the same time providing raid with totem buffs, carrying high amount of healing done and as far as i know Restoration Shamans can do biggest HPS along with Restoration Druids. To sum up every successful raid needs restoration shaman.
Spec and Glyphs:
You could talk whole day about right spec for restoration shamans,in truth there is no best spec or bad spec ( ofc you can always fail much ;)) Here i want to run you trough some must have talents in order to get your shaman do healing job properly.
First i want to start with talents that are not in restoration tree, those talents are in enhancment tree
Ancestral Knowledge 5/5 Increase your intelligence by 10% (filler and nice int boost)
Improved Shields 3/3 Improves your Earth Shield healing done and provides more mana from Water shields (must have 100%)
Thundering Strikes 2/5 or 5/5 provides with additional critical strike (u must be asking why 2/5 or 5/5 and i will get to that point later,cause its for advanced players)
Elemental Weapons 3/3 increase healing bonus of your Earthliving Weapon Enchant
Now i will get to the Restoration tree part
Improved Healing Wave 5/5 reduces cast time of healing wave no argue with that talent
Tidal Focus 5/5 Reduces mana cost of your healing spells and filler
Improved Water Shield 3/3 Must have
Healing Focus 3/3 Yes u will get pushback in loads of situations in pve, especially in ICC
Tidal Force 1/1 Not obligatory but it comes in handy sometimes
Ancestral Healing this talent gives me hard time to decide,i don’t use it at all since i raid only with guild,and i find it useless but it might come in handy in pug raids and i advise you to take 3/3 points for that
Restorative Totems 3/3 Must have, Healing stream totem is very nice in 25 man raids,and mana totem provides you with nice mana boost in 10 mans
Tidal Mastery 5/5 additional critical for healing spells very nice talent
Nature Swiftness 1/1 Comes in handy when u need to heal someone really fast
Healing Wave not really obligatory i use 3/3 since i most likely end healing Valithria Dreamwalker in raids,and it really helps me,but you don’t really need 3 points there
Purification 5/5 must have no argue with that
Mana Tide Totem 1/1 Must have too,it will save you loads of times of getting oom
Cleanse Spirit 1/1 not really must have but it comes in handy when you are only one to Cleanse
Next talents are must have and every restoration spec uses these:
Blessing of the Eternals 2/2
Improved Chain Heal 2/2
Nature’s Blessing 3/3 yes
Ancestral Awakening 3/3
Earth Shield 1/1
Improved Earth Shield 2/2
Tidal Waves 5/5
Riptide 1/1
Now i want to talk about Glyphs,and there is loads of shaman glyphs that are useless,but i wont bother about those,i ll just name few glyphs that u should use
Major:
1. Glyph of Chain Heal your chain heals heal additional target its must have glyph
2. Glyph of Healing Stream Totem additional healing for your HST
3. Well 3rd glyph is optional,you can go for Earthliving or Earth Shield i would advise to use Glyph of Earth Shield,since i tested both and i got better results for Earth Shield glyph
Minor:
1. Glyph of Water Shield (adds additional orb)
2. Glyph of Reincarnation (no reagent needed)
3. Glyph of Ghost wolf or Glyph of Water walking your choice,doesn’t really change alot
Gear:
Now I want to speak about gear and stats u want for your restoration Shaman. 4/5 t10.5 Restoration Shaman set bonus is your goal, with that bonus your healing done will get really boosted, I advise you to go Head,Shoulder,Chest,Hands set items and legs as offset item. You ask why legs offset? It is really simple,leatherworking provides you with best in slot item that doesnt require token to upgrade to 264 lvl item,and it doesnt cost so much. Lightening Infused Leggings.
Now lets talk about accessories
Neck: Blood Queen’s Crimson Choker (Blood Queen 25 or weekly quest from icc,or loads of money on AH)
Back: Frostbinder’s Shredded Cape Valithria Dreamwalker 25 mode
Bracer: Bloodsunder’s Bracers Rotface 25 mode
Waist: Deathbringer Saurfang 25 man or AH (it is BoE)
Feet: Leatherworking ICC recipe
Ring #1: Exalted with Ashen Verdict
Ring #2 : Marrowgar 25 or AH (it is BoE)
Trinket #1: Emblem of Frost Vendor (60 EoFs)
Trinket #2: Silver of Pure Ice (marrowgar 10 man) or Sollace of the Fallen (Lord Jaraxxsus 25) both trinkets are great,but i would go for sollace
Weapon: Rotface 25 Mode
Shield: Lord Marrowgar 25 mode
Totem: Totem Of Calming Tides (cant find link but its item from Emblem of Triumph Vendor)
Here we come to stats that u want on your gear: Spellpower, Haste, Crit, Mp5 and that is the order u should look for stats, you dont need to much mp5 since u use 2 mana trinkets and few items gives you mp5 only,so dont stack mp5 like noob.Spellpower 1st ofc since it is engine of healing.
Gems:
Red Socket: 23 Spellpower (Runed Cardinal Ruby) or 12 Spellpower 10 Haste (Reckless Ametrine)
Yellow Socket: 12 Spellwpoer 10 haste (Reckless Ametrine)
Blue Socket: 10 Haste +5 Mana per 5 secs (Energized Eye of Zul)
Meta: +21 Critical Strike and chance to restore mana on spellcast ( Insightful Earthsiege Diamond)
Lets Speak about enchants now,there is no really alot of choice when it comes to enchants
Enchants:
Head: 30 spellpower 20 critical strike (Kirin tor quartmaster) or 30 spellpower and 10 mana per 5 seconds (wyrmrest accord quartmaster)
Shoulders:18 spellpower 10 critical strike or 18 spellpower 5 mana per 5 seconds (both are from Sons of Hodir quartmaster)
Cloak: No doubt +23 Haste enchant
Chest: There is 3 enchants for chest that would work very fine +10 stats, +275 mana or +10 mana per 5 seconds your choice really
Bracers: No discussion 30 spellpower
Hands: Same as bracers, no argue with 28 spellpower
Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle for additional Socket
Legs: Brilliant Spellthread +50 Spellpower and + 20 Spirit
Feets: Ok i would go here for weird enchant cuz,there is no resto shamana feet enchant available,so i would go for Icewakler (+12 Hit and +12 Critical Strike), it will add additional Critical Strike,hit is uselesss indeed,but 12 crit>22 spirit>22 stamina>15 stamina+speed
Weapon: +63 Spellpower only one worthy
Shield: +25 Intellect
Rotation and Spells:
Ofcourse there isn’t any strict healer rotation,but you must do to some things right in order go get maximum from your Shaman. Lets Start with Lesser Healing Wave (LWH in furder guide)
I find this skill useless in PVE. Why? Well its lesser healing wave heals very low,cant really help anyone in danger inside icc, for x1,75 mana cost u can heal for x2.3, ofcourse u can use it in 5 man dungeons where is good enough,but i still find it useless.
Healing Wave (further HW) When it comes to single target healing HW is the way,i also advise to try use it after Riptide. Why? Tidal Waves talent proc, lowers casting time of HW really good,and in my case it goes under .9 sec which is really fast and strong heal. This skill will allow you to heal single targets really hard even if its not your assignment for single target healing,there will be always exceptions.
Chain Heal (further CH) Yes most valuable and most unique spell that Restoration Shaman has, it is carrying all your healing done it heals 3 targets in 1 wave (4 with glyph) each wave heals less,but it doesn’t matter so much since it gives you great AoE healing power. No matter what encounter in icc you are healing you should have 55%+ healing done in your chain heals,and yes i advise you to spam CH whenever you can
Riptide Single target heal,which really doesnt heal so much by itself,but it is really important cause of few things, it places HOT (healing over time) on target which is consumed by CH casted on same target,it provides you with 20% Spell Haste and lowers cast time of HW, so yes use it whenever is off cd
Earth Shield use on Main Tank no argue with that,except there is more Restoration Shamans in raid,then u use on OT or some caster DPS to reduce pushback on that target
Keep Water Shield up,and Earthliving Weapon
Cleanse on need not really your job,but it comes in handy
What totems to use?
Strenght of Earth Totem or Tremor Totem (if boss casts fear)
Flametongue Totem or Frost Ressistance Totem (if there is ele shaman in raid with wrath totem)
Mana Spring Totem in 10 man and Healing Stream Totem in 25 man
Wrath Of Air totem anycase
Role in Raids:
Now lets talk about what others expect from you in raids,like i already said Restoration Shamans arent single target healers your job is to keep raid alive and to do that just keep up with chain heals Another very important role of Restoration Shaman as any shaman in raid is right time to cast Bloodlust (Heroism) in most cases its when boss is down to 50% hp,but in particular situations like example Professor Putricide its when 3rd phase starts and etc, mostly wait for raid leader to ask for BL,dont waste it in some stupid situation eg. when Anub A’rak goes underground u pop BL -.-‘ not pro at all