Cataclysm Classic Restoration Shaman Stat Priority

The stat priority for Restoration Shaman is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Spirit
3. Haste (aim for specific breakpoints such as 7.15% for extra tick on Earthliving Weapon)
4. Mastery (especially good in progression / underhealing raid setups)
5. Critical Strike (above Mastery when using Ancestral Awakening)

Intellect is the new primary stat for all casters, including Restoration Shamans, replacing Spell Power on every gear slot except for your weapon. Intellect increases your maximum Mana, which also increases your Mana regeneration through talents that regenerate a % of your maximum Mana, such as Replenishment.

Every point of Intellect gives one Spell Power, making it the best stat for Restoration. Your Intellect will also get further increased by raid buffs such as Blessing of Kings, making it the stat to stack above all others. You will get more of it on higher item level gear, making that the main factor to consider while gearing.

Spirit is primarily a healer stat that grants increased Mana regeneration while not casting. As Restoration you get Meditation which allows 50% of your Spirit Mana regeneration to continue while casting and, more importantly, Mana Tide Totem which multiplies your Spirit by 200% and grants it to the whole raid group whenever used. For builds using it, it will also serve as your Spell Hit rating with Elemental Precision.

Due to all of these interactions, Spirit is your best secondary stat and you should aim to have it on most of your gear. Your Spirit can also be further increased by raid buffs such as Blessing of Kings.

Haste Rating is also a great secondary stat for Restoration, which allows you to quickly push out heals and make periodic ones such as Earthliving Weapon tick more times within their total duration, as long as you are inside a breakpoint. The main downside of Haste is the added Mana costs derived from casting more frequently. Make sure you have enough Spirit to support the amount of Haste you have to avoid running out of Mana before a fight has ended.

At Level 85:

• 128.05 Haste Rating = 1% Haste

In Cataclysm, Haste adds additional ticks to damage over time and healing over time spells if you reach certain breakpoint numbers. This increases the potency of healing spells such as Healing Rain by giving them more healing within the same total duration.

The breakpoints will vary depending on what buffs or racial you have such as the Dark Intent Haste buff, the Goblin racial Time is Money, Troll Berserking racial, Wrath of Air Totem raid buff, or Bloodlust / Heroism raid buff.

Hitting your closest Haste breakpoint is very important as Restoration, as doing so will improve both your total healing and also the Mana to Healing efficiency of the spell which breakpoint you just hit. Try to avoid stacking Haste past a reachable breakpoint, as that will increase the pressure on your Mana without the equivalent heal over time efficiency benefits.

Compare the Haste percentages on the chart below to the Haste % on your character sheet to gauge where you stand relative to the most common breakpoints in a raid setting with Wrath of Air Totem or a similar buff active.

Ticks Gained	Earthliving Weapon	Healing Rain	Riptide + Glyph of Riptide
1 Extra Tick	916 Rating / 7.15%	608 Rating / 4.74%	260 Rating / 2.02%
2 Extra Ticks	3967 Rating / 30.97%	3049 Rating / 23.81%	2005 Rating / 15.65%
3 Extra Ticks	7009 Rating / 54.73%	5486 Rating / 42.84%	3747 Rating / 29.25%
4 Extra Ticks	10055 Rating / 78.52%	7927 Rating / 61.90%	5493 Rating / 42.89%

You can input these breakpoints into the Reforgelite Classic addon to easily calculate your optimal reforging with any gear setup.

Mastery is a new stat added in Cataclysm for all specializations. It gives unique bonuses, and Restoration Shamans have Deep Healing, which increases your healing done proportionally to the missing health of the target, making lower health targets be healed by much more than full health targets.

This makes it a very powerful stat when underhealing content, as you will be able to do more healing the more injured the raid is, but also means your ability to top players off will be relatively weak and inefficient when stacking Mastery.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Mastery Rating = 1 Mastery = up to 3% more healing on injured targets

Critical Strike Rating has synergy with multiple Restoration talents: Ancestral Awakening, Ancestral Healing, and Resurgence. It also has more value in Cataclysm as your heals over time can now critically strike for 200% healing. Ultimately the main problem with Critical Strike Rating is that you need a lot of Rating to get 1% more chance to land critical strikes and the other stats are all very strong already as well, but it is not a bad stat by any means, especially in 10-mans where you are likely to benefit heavily from Ancestral Awakening.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Crit Rating = 1% Crit