The shaman is a healer, melee and ranged damage dealer hybrid class. As such, the class is considered one of the most adaptable and versatile in the game. They are designed to enhance all parts of a party while not being particularly focused on any one aspect of the game. Depending upon how players choose to customize their character's talent points, they can specialize in offensive spellcasting, melee damage dealing, or healing. Their primary support buffs come in the form of stationary totems, which when placed on the ground by the shaman, provide various benefits to party members, or offensive versus enemies within a totem's 30 to 50 yard (depending on the totem) radius.
The shaman class can be played by the following races :
> Draenei ( Burning Crusade ) – Alliance
> Dwarf ( In Cataclysm ) – Alliance
> Goblin ( In Cataclysm ) – Horde
> Orc – Horde
> Tauren – Horde
> Troll – Horde
Talent trees
Draenei shaman
Elemental
The elemental tree focuses on the shaman's offensive spell casting ability. It decreases the mana cost and casting time of spells while increasing their damage and critical strike chance. The 31 point ability is Elemental Mastery, a self buff usable every three minutes that gives you a 15% increase to haste lasting for 15 seconds. The 41 point talent is Totem of Wrath, which increases the raid's spell power, and makes any enemies in its radius more likely to be critically hit. The 51 point talent is Thunderstorm giving elemental a AOE that can throw opponents.
Overall, elemental is the best build for shamans who want to maximize their damage output in PvP. In raids, elemental shamans are more of a general utility class, so raid spots may be a little harder to find. In 5-Man instances and PUGs, elemental shamans bring great flexibility and utility capable of high DPS, buffing and healing (due to excellent spec and equipment synergy).
Enhancement
By spending talent points in enhancement, a shaman greatly increases melee damage output. This is a very appealing tree to lower-level shamans because dealing melee damage does not cost mana. At level 40, the Dual Wield weapon skill can be learned. Together with the powerful Windfury Weapon buff, an enhancement shaman's melee damage output is second only to rogues and retribution paladins. Additionally, with their 51 point talent, Feral Spirit, enhancement shamans can quickly destroy small groups of enemies while soloing and bring an impressive amount of DPS to raids.
Enhancement builds generally have the highest damage output potential of all shaman builds. In raids, enhancement shaman are highly desirable because their buffs to the other melee damage dealers are substantial. In PvP, enhancement shamans usually have problems due to low survivability (compared to plate-wearing classes and rogues) and susceptibility to snares.
Restoration
The restoration tree focuses on the shaman's healing capability, reducing the casting time and mana cost of healing spells, while increasing their effectiveness. Restoration shamans are well suited for any healing situation in the game. On top of that they offer good utility (like Mana Regeneration by Mana Tide Totem), and the best multi-target heal spell in the game (Chain Heal), giving them excellent potential as raid-wide healers. The 41 point talent Earth Shield acts as a very mana-efficient single-target HoT with a long duration. The 51 point talent, Riptide give the shaman an instant cast heal and a HoT.
This tree is highly useful in PvP and group PvE, the only drawback being the rather low damage output, so solo play is more difficult. In return, a restoration shaman hardly ever dies while questing/soloing.
Abilities
Totems
Totems are unique to the shaman, and must be obtained by completing certain quests. Each Totem corresponds with one of four element (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind) and only one of each elemental type can be used at a time. Once a totem is put down, it cannot be moved, but a new totem can always be summoned to replace it.
With the spell Totemic Call (available at level 30), shamans can instantly remove all of their totems for no mana and receive 25% of the mana spent on the totems back.
However, as of 2.4, shamans who have not yet reached level 30 and trained the spell 'Totemic Call' will see "Totem Timers" below their character portraits. As with buffs, a simple right-click to the "Totem Timer" icon, and the totem will be destroyed with no mana gain.
• See the shaman totems page for complete list of totems, and additional details.
Spells
Shaman spells include direct damage spells, heals, and weapon buffs among others. Their spells are mostly based on the elements.
Talents
Shaman talents are split into 3 categories:
• Elemental — improvements in offensive spells and offensive totems.
• Enhancement — improvements in melee related skills and enhancement totems.
• Restoration — improvements in healing and restoration totems.
Shaman also are graced with [Astral Recall], a second hearthstone which sits on a seperate cooldown that is half as long as a traditional Hearthstone.
Weapons
Starting
• Maces (1-handed)
• Staves (2-handed)
• Shields (off-hand)
Trainable
• Daggers (1-handed)
• Fist Weapons (1-handed)
• Axes (1-handed)
• Maces (2-handed)
• Axes (2-handed)
Two Handed Maces and Axes were originally 10-point talents in enhancement and were replaced with Shamanistic Focus in Patch 2.3
Talent-based enhancements
• Offhand weapons ("Dual Wielding")
Cannot use
• Swords (1-handed or 2-handed)
• Polearms
• Ranged weapons (wands, bows, throwing weapons, crossbows, guns)
End-game expectations
Totems are a major part of the end game and knowing what totems will benefit the shaman's group members best in different situations is all part of the strategy involved in playing a shaman. With the versatility that comes with a shaman you will always be the one patching up on various issues that your group might run into. If your party runs into an encounter which is very DPS heavy, you will find yourself supporting DPS, occasionally throwing in a heal if needed. The same goes for encounters that require lots of healing.
A shaman's role in parties and raids will vary depending on how they choose to spend their talent points and equip themselves, as some of the shaman's versatility is diminished if they focus heavily on one tree. For example, a shaman who has specced enhancement (and geared accordingly) may have problems healing, due to the lack of crucial intellect/+healing/MP5 bonuses on their gear which restoration requires, but will greatly enhance melee group DPS in raids (enhancing warriors, rogues, and feral druids via Windfury Totem, and all physical damage classes via Unleashed Rage and Strength of Earth Totem). On the other hand a restoration shaman gets very little benefit from going melee due to the lack of +hit/+attack power, whereas elemental shamans can cast ranged DPS and still cast the occasional support heal (and possibly main heal any 5-man instance), still getting the bonuses (in most cases) from +heal/+spell damage.
Specialization is all a matter of preference. Some shamans choose to go restoration, some elemental, and others enhancement. No matter which tree they follow, there are a lot of abilities that will benefit raid/party DPS, protection and healing. Patch 2.0 (just prior to Burning Crusade) added such talents as Totem of Wrath, and Unleashed Rage (depending on whatever you wish to go Melee or Caster shaman), so although you may not be the number one DPS class or number one healing class, your choice of playstyle and talents will greatly benefit the classes who do heavy DPS and/or heals, leading to an overall successful achievement in the end.
• Remember that the beauty of the shaman is its versatility, and even though you tend to go one way with talents, remember that you still have access to the rest of your spells and abilities.
edit Wrath of the Lich King Changes
Itemization
Shamans now receive one point of attack power from both strength and agility. Additionally, every point of intellect provides one attack power with the talent Mental Dexterity. Also, critical rating and spell critical rating, as well as hit rating and spell hit rating, have each been condensed into a single stat.
Totems
Totems have been "condensed" into a smaller amount of totems, for example Grace of Air Totem was removed and its agility bonus was merged into Strength of Earth Totem. Totems were moved to physical school and cannot be counterspelled. Most totems now also affect raid members, not just the local party.
Weapon enchants
A new weapon enchantment has been added, Earthliving Weapon. It increases the healing power of the shaman. Flametongue Weapon now gives spell damage bonus to the shaman.
The effect of the Windfury Totem is not a weapon enchant anymore and has been changed to a buff granting melee haste.
Hex
Shamans were given Hex, a polymorph spell with a 45 second cooldown allowing them to turn an enemy into a frog. The enemy cannot cast or attack but is still in control of his character. It will last up to 10 seconds on PvP targets with diminishing returns, similar to other crowd control, or up to 30 seconds on monsters.
Unleashed Rage
Unleashed Rage affects the raid, not just the party.
Wind Shock
Shamans now have Wind Shock, a threat-reducing spell that does no damage but has an interrupt effect. Wind Shock shares a cooldown with the other shaman shock spells but is not affected by the global cooldown.
As of Patch 3.2, Wind Shock has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.
Water Shield
Water Shield got moved to an earlier level and has more ranks now.
Lava Burst
The Lava Burst spell was added at level 75 in the elemental tree.
Earth Shock
As of patch 3.2 the Earth Shock spell was changed from interrupting spellcasting for 2 seconds, to increasing time between attacks by 10% for 8 seconds.
Info from wowwiki.com
The shaman class can be played by the following races :
> Draenei ( Burning Crusade ) – Alliance
> Dwarf ( In Cataclysm ) – Alliance
> Goblin ( In Cataclysm ) – Horde
> Orc – Horde
> Tauren – Horde
> Troll – Horde
Talent trees
Draenei shaman
Elemental
The elemental tree focuses on the shaman's offensive spell casting ability. It decreases the mana cost and casting time of spells while increasing their damage and critical strike chance. The 31 point ability is Elemental Mastery, a self buff usable every three minutes that gives you a 15% increase to haste lasting for 15 seconds. The 41 point talent is Totem of Wrath, which increases the raid's spell power, and makes any enemies in its radius more likely to be critically hit. The 51 point talent is Thunderstorm giving elemental a AOE that can throw opponents.
Overall, elemental is the best build for shamans who want to maximize their damage output in PvP. In raids, elemental shamans are more of a general utility class, so raid spots may be a little harder to find. In 5-Man instances and PUGs, elemental shamans bring great flexibility and utility capable of high DPS, buffing and healing (due to excellent spec and equipment synergy).
Enhancement
By spending talent points in enhancement, a shaman greatly increases melee damage output. This is a very appealing tree to lower-level shamans because dealing melee damage does not cost mana. At level 40, the Dual Wield weapon skill can be learned. Together with the powerful Windfury Weapon buff, an enhancement shaman's melee damage output is second only to rogues and retribution paladins. Additionally, with their 51 point talent, Feral Spirit, enhancement shamans can quickly destroy small groups of enemies while soloing and bring an impressive amount of DPS to raids.
Enhancement builds generally have the highest damage output potential of all shaman builds. In raids, enhancement shaman are highly desirable because their buffs to the other melee damage dealers are substantial. In PvP, enhancement shamans usually have problems due to low survivability (compared to plate-wearing classes and rogues) and susceptibility to snares.
Restoration
The restoration tree focuses on the shaman's healing capability, reducing the casting time and mana cost of healing spells, while increasing their effectiveness. Restoration shamans are well suited for any healing situation in the game. On top of that they offer good utility (like Mana Regeneration by Mana Tide Totem), and the best multi-target heal spell in the game (Chain Heal), giving them excellent potential as raid-wide healers. The 41 point talent Earth Shield acts as a very mana-efficient single-target HoT with a long duration. The 51 point talent, Riptide give the shaman an instant cast heal and a HoT.
This tree is highly useful in PvP and group PvE, the only drawback being the rather low damage output, so solo play is more difficult. In return, a restoration shaman hardly ever dies while questing/soloing.
Abilities
Totems
Totems are unique to the shaman, and must be obtained by completing certain quests. Each Totem corresponds with one of four element (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind) and only one of each elemental type can be used at a time. Once a totem is put down, it cannot be moved, but a new totem can always be summoned to replace it.
With the spell Totemic Call (available at level 30), shamans can instantly remove all of their totems for no mana and receive 25% of the mana spent on the totems back.
However, as of 2.4, shamans who have not yet reached level 30 and trained the spell 'Totemic Call' will see "Totem Timers" below their character portraits. As with buffs, a simple right-click to the "Totem Timer" icon, and the totem will be destroyed with no mana gain.
• See the shaman totems page for complete list of totems, and additional details.
Spells
Shaman spells include direct damage spells, heals, and weapon buffs among others. Their spells are mostly based on the elements.
Talents
Shaman talents are split into 3 categories:
• Elemental — improvements in offensive spells and offensive totems.
• Enhancement — improvements in melee related skills and enhancement totems.
• Restoration — improvements in healing and restoration totems.
Shaman also are graced with [Astral Recall], a second hearthstone which sits on a seperate cooldown that is half as long as a traditional Hearthstone.
Weapons
Starting
• Maces (1-handed)
• Staves (2-handed)
• Shields (off-hand)
Trainable
• Daggers (1-handed)
• Fist Weapons (1-handed)
• Axes (1-handed)
• Maces (2-handed)
• Axes (2-handed)
Two Handed Maces and Axes were originally 10-point talents in enhancement and were replaced with Shamanistic Focus in Patch 2.3
Talent-based enhancements
• Offhand weapons ("Dual Wielding")
Cannot use
• Swords (1-handed or 2-handed)
• Polearms
• Ranged weapons (wands, bows, throwing weapons, crossbows, guns)
End-game expectations
Totems are a major part of the end game and knowing what totems will benefit the shaman's group members best in different situations is all part of the strategy involved in playing a shaman. With the versatility that comes with a shaman you will always be the one patching up on various issues that your group might run into. If your party runs into an encounter which is very DPS heavy, you will find yourself supporting DPS, occasionally throwing in a heal if needed. The same goes for encounters that require lots of healing.
A shaman's role in parties and raids will vary depending on how they choose to spend their talent points and equip themselves, as some of the shaman's versatility is diminished if they focus heavily on one tree. For example, a shaman who has specced enhancement (and geared accordingly) may have problems healing, due to the lack of crucial intellect/+healing/MP5 bonuses on their gear which restoration requires, but will greatly enhance melee group DPS in raids (enhancing warriors, rogues, and feral druids via Windfury Totem, and all physical damage classes via Unleashed Rage and Strength of Earth Totem). On the other hand a restoration shaman gets very little benefit from going melee due to the lack of +hit/+attack power, whereas elemental shamans can cast ranged DPS and still cast the occasional support heal (and possibly main heal any 5-man instance), still getting the bonuses (in most cases) from +heal/+spell damage.
Specialization is all a matter of preference. Some shamans choose to go restoration, some elemental, and others enhancement. No matter which tree they follow, there are a lot of abilities that will benefit raid/party DPS, protection and healing. Patch 2.0 (just prior to Burning Crusade) added such talents as Totem of Wrath, and Unleashed Rage (depending on whatever you wish to go Melee or Caster shaman), so although you may not be the number one DPS class or number one healing class, your choice of playstyle and talents will greatly benefit the classes who do heavy DPS and/or heals, leading to an overall successful achievement in the end.
• Remember that the beauty of the shaman is its versatility, and even though you tend to go one way with talents, remember that you still have access to the rest of your spells and abilities.
edit Wrath of the Lich King Changes
Itemization
Shamans now receive one point of attack power from both strength and agility. Additionally, every point of intellect provides one attack power with the talent Mental Dexterity. Also, critical rating and spell critical rating, as well as hit rating and spell hit rating, have each been condensed into a single stat.
Totems
Totems have been "condensed" into a smaller amount of totems, for example Grace of Air Totem was removed and its agility bonus was merged into Strength of Earth Totem. Totems were moved to physical school and cannot be counterspelled. Most totems now also affect raid members, not just the local party.
Weapon enchants
A new weapon enchantment has been added, Earthliving Weapon. It increases the healing power of the shaman. Flametongue Weapon now gives spell damage bonus to the shaman.
The effect of the Windfury Totem is not a weapon enchant anymore and has been changed to a buff granting melee haste.
Hex
Shamans were given Hex, a polymorph spell with a 45 second cooldown allowing them to turn an enemy into a frog. The enemy cannot cast or attack but is still in control of his character. It will last up to 10 seconds on PvP targets with diminishing returns, similar to other crowd control, or up to 30 seconds on monsters.
Unleashed Rage
Unleashed Rage affects the raid, not just the party.
Wind Shock
Shamans now have Wind Shock, a threat-reducing spell that does no damage but has an interrupt effect. Wind Shock shares a cooldown with the other shaman shock spells but is not affected by the global cooldown.
As of Patch 3.2, Wind Shock has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.
Water Shield
Water Shield got moved to an earlier level and has more ranks now.
Lava Burst
The Lava Burst spell was added at level 75 in the elemental tree.
Earth Shock
As of patch 3.2 the Earth Shock spell was changed from interrupting spellcasting for 2 seconds, to increasing time between attacks by 10% for 8 seconds.
Info from wowwiki.com
