Cataclysm Classic Restoration Shaman Talent Builds

Last updated on Sep 17, 2024 at 12:00 by Seksixeny

On this page, you will find out the best PvE talent choices and builds for your Restoration Shaman in Cataclysm Classic, as well as advised glyphs.

1.

Talent Builds for Restoration Shaman

RestorationRestoration Shaman, like most Cataclysm specs, is heavily restricted to its namesake specialization tree, Restoration. You will always want to put points into this tree first and foremost, with the few leftover points after you hit the capstone talent, Riptide Icon Riptide, being dedicated to passive healing increases in the Elemental and Enhancement trees.

1.1.

25-man Restoration Shaman Talents

While the build below is an example of a 25-man talent build, keep in mind there are many talent swaps and adaptations possible for 10-man or trade offs between mobility and Mana sustain, as explained below.

Elemental

3

Enhancement

7

Restoration

31

Prime Glyphs

Glyph of Earthliving Weapon
Glyph of Riptide
Glyph of Earth Shield

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Chain Heal
Glyph of Healing Stream Totem
Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem

Minor Glyphs

Glyph of Water Walking
Glyph of Renewed Life
Glyph of Astral Recall

Select PrimeMajorMinor Glyph

  • Glyph of Earth Shield Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Flame Shock Increases the duration of your Flame Shock spell by 50%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Flametongue Weapon Increases your spell critical strike chance by 2% on each of your weapons with Flametongue Weapon active. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lava Lash Increases the damage dealt by your Lava Lash ability by 20%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lightning Bolt Increases the damage dealt by Lightning Bolt by 4%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Shocking Reduces your global cooldown when casting your shock spells by 0.001 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Unleashed Lightning Allows Lightning Bolt to be cast while moving. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Water Shield Increases the passive mana regeneration of your Water Shield spell by 50%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Stormstrike Increases the Nature damage bonus from your Stormstrike ability by an additional 10%. Lv. 29
  • Glyph of Windfury Weapon Increases the chance per swing for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 2%. Lv. 32
  • Glyph of Lava Burst Your Lava Burst spell deals 10% more damage. Lv. 34
  • Glyph of Earthliving Weapon Increases the effectiveness of your Earthliving weapon's periodic healing by 20%. Lv. 54
  • Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 5 minutes. Lv. 66
  • Glyph of Feral Spirit Your spirit wolves gain an additional 30% of your attack power. Lv. 69
  • Glyph of Riptide Increases the duration of Riptide by 40%. Lv. 69
  • Glyph of Frost Shock Increases the duration of your Frost Shock by 2 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Ghost Wolf Your Ghost Wolf form grants an additional 5% movement speed. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Healing Stream Totem Your Healing Stream Totem also increases the Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by ${$cond($lte($PL,70),$PL,$cond($lte($PL,80),$PL+($PL-70)*5,$PL+($PL-70)*5+($PL-80)*7))}. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Healing Wave Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the healing effect when you heal someone else. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lightning Shield Your Lightning Shield can no longer drop below 3 charges from dealing damage to attackers. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Thunder Reduces the cooldown on Thunderstorm by 10 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Chain Lightning Your Chain Lightning spell now strikes 2 additional targets, but deals 10% less initial damage. Lv. 28
  • Glyph of Fire Nova Increases the radius of your Fire Nova spell by 5 yards. Lv. 28
  • Glyph of Totemic Recall Causes your Totemic Recall ability to return an additional 50% of the mana cost of any recalled totems. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Grounding Totem Instead of absorbing a spell, your Grounding Totem reflects the next harmful spell back at its caster, but the cooldown of your Grounding Totem is increased by 35 seconds. Lv. 38
  • Glyph of Chain Heal Increases healing done by your Chain Heal spell to targets beyond the first by 15%, but decreases the amount received by the initial target by 10%. Lv. 40
  • Glyph of Elemental Mastery While your Elemental Mastery ability is active, you take 20% less damage from all sources. Lv. 49
  • Glyph of Shamanistic Rage Activating your Shamanistic Rage ability also cleanses you of all dispellable Magic debuffs. Lv. 49
  • Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem Your Stoneclaw Totem also places a damage absorb shield on you, equal to 4 times the strength of the shield it places on your totems. Lv. 58
  • Glyph of Hex Reduces the cooldown of your Hex spell by 10 seconds. Lv. 80
  • Glyph of the Arctic Wolf Alters the appearance of your Ghost Wolf transformation, causing it to resemble an arctic wolf. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Thunderstorm Increases the mana you receive from your Thunderstorm spell by 2%, but it no longer knocks enemies back. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Water Walking Your Water Walking spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Astral Recall Cooldown of your Astral Recall spell reduced by 7.5 minutes. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Renewed Life Your Reincarnation spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Water Breathing Your Water Breathing spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 46

Restoration has a lot of optional talents:

  • Ancestral Awakening Icon Ancestral Awakening is very strong whenever you mostly cast single target spells such as Greater Healing Wave Icon Greater Healing Wave, making it great in 10 man.
  • Blessing of the Eternals Icon Blessing of the Eternals has the opposite dynamic, and is much stronger when you mostly cast area spells such as Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal, making it stronger in 25 man.
  • Ancestral Swiftness Icon Ancestral Swiftness is a great mobility talent and a must-pick on any fight you are expected to move around often.
  • Elemental Precision Icon Elemental Precision is better on fights where you can stand and cast, especially if the boss has an increased damage taken phase which will allow you to fully restore your Mana regularly with Telluric Currents Icon Telluric Currents. You get most of the benefit of this talent with 2 points due to our preference for Spirit, and if taking it, Concussion Icon Concussion is preferable to Convection Icon Convection.
1.2.

10-man Restoration Shaman Talents

Taking the above lessons in mind, here is a sample 10-man talent build, also using the alternative Spell Hit tech for Telluric Currents Icon Telluric Currents's benefit:

Elemental

7

Enhancement

2

Restoration

32

Prime Glyphs

Glyph of Earthliving Weapon
Glyph of Riptide
Glyph of Earth Shield

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Chain Heal
Glyph of Healing Stream Totem
Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem

Minor Glyphs

Glyph of Water Walking
Glyph of Renewed Life
Glyph of Astral Recall

Select PrimeMajorMinor Glyph

  • Glyph of Earth Shield Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Flame Shock Increases the duration of your Flame Shock spell by 50%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Flametongue Weapon Increases your spell critical strike chance by 2% on each of your weapons with Flametongue Weapon active. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lava Lash Increases the damage dealt by your Lava Lash ability by 20%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lightning Bolt Increases the damage dealt by Lightning Bolt by 4%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Shocking Reduces your global cooldown when casting your shock spells by 0.001 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Unleashed Lightning Allows Lightning Bolt to be cast while moving. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Water Shield Increases the passive mana regeneration of your Water Shield spell by 50%. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Stormstrike Increases the Nature damage bonus from your Stormstrike ability by an additional 10%. Lv. 29
  • Glyph of Windfury Weapon Increases the chance per swing for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 2%. Lv. 32
  • Glyph of Lava Burst Your Lava Burst spell deals 10% more damage. Lv. 34
  • Glyph of Earthliving Weapon Increases the effectiveness of your Earthliving weapon's periodic healing by 20%. Lv. 54
  • Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 5 minutes. Lv. 66
  • Glyph of Feral Spirit Your spirit wolves gain an additional 30% of your attack power. Lv. 69
  • Glyph of Riptide Increases the duration of Riptide by 40%. Lv. 69
  • Glyph of Frost Shock Increases the duration of your Frost Shock by 2 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Ghost Wolf Your Ghost Wolf form grants an additional 5% movement speed. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Healing Stream Totem Your Healing Stream Totem also increases the Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by ${$cond($lte($PL,70),$PL,$cond($lte($PL,80),$PL+($PL-70)*5,$PL+($PL-70)*5+($PL-80)*7))}. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Healing Wave Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the healing effect when you heal someone else. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Lightning Shield Your Lightning Shield can no longer drop below 3 charges from dealing damage to attackers. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Thunder Reduces the cooldown on Thunderstorm by 10 seconds. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Chain Lightning Your Chain Lightning spell now strikes 2 additional targets, but deals 10% less initial damage. Lv. 28
  • Glyph of Fire Nova Increases the radius of your Fire Nova spell by 5 yards. Lv. 28
  • Glyph of Totemic Recall Causes your Totemic Recall ability to return an additional 50% of the mana cost of any recalled totems. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Grounding Totem Instead of absorbing a spell, your Grounding Totem reflects the next harmful spell back at its caster, but the cooldown of your Grounding Totem is increased by 35 seconds. Lv. 38
  • Glyph of Chain Heal Increases healing done by your Chain Heal spell to targets beyond the first by 15%, but decreases the amount received by the initial target by 10%. Lv. 40
  • Glyph of Elemental Mastery While your Elemental Mastery ability is active, you take 20% less damage from all sources. Lv. 49
  • Glyph of Shamanistic Rage Activating your Shamanistic Rage ability also cleanses you of all dispellable Magic debuffs. Lv. 49
  • Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem Your Stoneclaw Totem also places a damage absorb shield on you, equal to 4 times the strength of the shield it places on your totems. Lv. 58
  • Glyph of Hex Reduces the cooldown of your Hex spell by 10 seconds. Lv. 80
  • Glyph of the Arctic Wolf Alters the appearance of your Ghost Wolf transformation, causing it to resemble an arctic wolf. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Thunderstorm Increases the mana you receive from your Thunderstorm spell by 2%, but it no longer knocks enemies back. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Water Walking Your Water Walking spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 25
  • Glyph of Astral Recall Cooldown of your Astral Recall spell reduced by 7.5 minutes. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Renewed Life Your Reincarnation spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 30
  • Glyph of Water Breathing Your Water Breathing spell no longer requires a reagent. Lv. 46
2.

Notable Talents

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when you are playing a RestorationRestoration Shaman. Be sure to understand your most important talents as they are vital to play the build to its top strength.

  • Ancestral Resolve Icon Ancestral Resolve — reduces damage taken while casting by 10%. Since you will be looking to constantly be casting, even if it is Lightning Bolt Icon Lightning Bolt for Telluric Currents Icon Telluric Currents, or while moving with Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace, this talent grants a huge amount of damage reduction!
  • Resurgence Icon Resurgence — causes your spell crits to restore Mana. This is a very powerful effect that directly scales with your critical strike chance, making it a much stronger stat, overall.
  • Focused Insight Icon Focused Insight — allows your shocks to reduce the Mana cost and increase the healing done by your next spell, essentially making them mostly free to cast and increasing your DPS. It combos particularly well with Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain since you are limited by its cooldown and thus the extra healing is quite valuable.
  • Nature's Swiftness Icon Nature's Swiftness — causes your next spell to be instant cast. This will typically be used on Greater Healing Wave Icon Greater Healing Wave for emergency healing, but can also be used with Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain or Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal to speed up your rotation or enable casting while moving.
  • Ancestral Healing Icon Ancestral Healing — reduces physical damage taken by 10% on the target of one of your critical heals, increasing the value of critical strike, and also increases the health of anyone healed by you by up to 10% of their maximum health, making them much less likely to die from raid damage mechanics.
  • Improved Cleanse Spirit Icon Improved Cleanse Spirit — converts your Cleanse Spirit Icon Cleanse Spirit into a magic dispel, allowing you to do encounters that involve dispelling such effects.
  • Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem — creates an area around the totem for 6 seconds where the health of allies is equalized every second. This makes it especially powerful against mechanics that hit targets inside a clump of players for deadly damage, as it will spread that damage across the whole clump evenly, making it easy to heal with area heals.
  • Mana Tide Totem Icon Mana Tide Totem — provides extra Spirit to your raid equivalent to 200% of your own Spirit for 12 seconds. This is a great Mana regeneration talent which benefits your whole raid and scales heavily with your Spirit, making it one of the top reasons to stack Spirit in the first place.
  • Ancestral Awakening Icon Ancestral Awakening — is fantastic whenever you are casting a lot of single target spells, and also scales well with your critical strike chance, making it a great 10-man and small group content talent.
  • Tidal Waves Icon Tidal Waves — reduces the cast time of Greater Healing Wave Icon Greater Healing Wave and Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave by 30% and increases the critical strike chance of Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge by 30%. You will gain two charges of this buff whenever you cast Riptide Icon Riptide or Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal, allowing you to have permanent uptime of this massive single target healing bonus.
  • Riptide Icon Riptide — is a heal over time with a strong direct heal component which is often used to save allies close to dying, especially considering our Deep Healing Icon Deep Healing Mastery. You will typically use it with Glyph of Riptide Icon Glyph of Riptide, which increases the heal over time component massively.
3.

Prime Glyphs

Prime glyphs are new to Cataclysm, giving you a third "row" of glyphs you can use on your character. While there are a couple of different options to choose from, there are some very clear front runners for each specialization.

  • Glyph of Earthliving Weapon Icon Glyph of Earthliving Weapon — a nice passive boost to your Earthliving Weapon Icon Earthliving Weapon imbue healing.
  • Glyph of Riptide Icon Glyph of Riptide — huge increase to Riptide Icon Riptide healing and also drastically increases the amount of time you have to use Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal on it for extra healing.
  • Glyph of Earth Shield Icon Glyph of Earth Shield — another passive boost, this time to your Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield healing.
4.

Major Glyphs

Major glyphs typically offer utility-based options and can be highly situational. While there are many different options for RestorationRestoration, we will list below the ones we find more useful.

  • Glyph of Chain Heal Icon Glyph of Chain Heal — increases the smart healing done by Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal while slightly reducing healing to the first target, which is often overhealing anyway.
  • Glyph of Healing Stream Totem Icon Glyph of Healing Stream Totem — removes the need for using Elemental Resistance Totem Icon Elemental Resistance Totem by baking its power into Healing Stream Totem Icon Healing Stream Totem.
  • Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem Icon Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem — converts your Stoneclaw Totem Icon Stoneclaw Totem into a strong personal cooldown.
5.

Minor Glyphs

Minor glyphs typically provide very minor benefits. Your choices will typically depend on what quality of life increase is the most meaningful for you. We give a few suggestions below.

  • Glyph of Water Walking Icon Glyph of Water Walking — allows you to cast Water Walking Icon Water Walking without a reagent, saving gold in the process.
  • Glyph of Renewed Life Icon Glyph of Renewed Life — removes the reagent requirement from Reincarnation Icon Reincarnation, saving some gold over time.
  • Glyph of Astral Recall Icon Glyph of Astral Recall — lowering the cooldown of your Astral Recall Icon Astral Recall allows you to move around more frequently, especially if you have your Hearthstone Icon Hearthstone at your faction's central hub and all its portals.