Shaman Tank Guide - Playing WoW as a Shaman Tank

[CaperfinWoW 21]

I'm Caperfin. Got questions? see my Shaman Tank Livestream: www.twitch.tv/caperfin

Intro: Can Shamans tank in WoW? The short and to the point answer is, yes. You might be rubbing your eyes in disbelief of this answer. Perhaps conjuring a ten page manifesto about how only warriors can and should tank. Although, I can go on a long rant about how there are many other classes that can tank, today, I’ll be focusing on our totemic friend, the shaman.

   

Caperfin's Shaman Tank

The topic of viable and optimal is contentious as some don’t see the difference or mix them up and levy a misguided philosophy onto it. Optimal is the most efficient and foolproof solution that eliminates as many negative variables as possible and favors an easier path. Viable or often referred to as: possible, seen as the more challenging path but to many is a greater personal triumph. Shaman Tank is labelled as viable.

Many Shaman tanks agree their motivation is from the glory of seizing a feat the rest of the realm dares not try. If this resonates with you, please continue reading. You shaman tank if you want a challenge and a refreshing perspective from a 15 year old game. If it wasn’t obvious before, shield bearing is a sizable undertaking.

When experienced players Shaman tank and put in the effort, it shines tenfold. Shamans can fully tank 5mans, 10mans, off-tank & main-tank raids. But, this is reliant on personal and guild experience. Our overall defensive statistics won’t reach a warrior’s. However, it isn’t necessary to do so, to tank.

Video: Tank Races - Video Explanation
You’ll be staring at your character for a long time. So, consider your character’s appearance as a key factor as it may entice you to play more. All races have benefits but they’re minor compared to other aspects. There is no wrong race. See Video to learn more about race options.

 

Video: Professions
Engineering for:  Goblin Sapper Charge,  Masterwork Target Dummy,  Force Reactive Disk, Gnomish Battle Chicken, etc… It also helps if party engineers use Gnomish Battle Chicken since Battle Squawk stacks to 25%. As a second profession, pick an easy or high gold generating one, this helps you buy powerful potions.

Video: Tank Threat - YouTube
We can increase threat in many ways, notably:  Earth Shock,  Stormstrike,  Rockbiter Weapon &  Lightning Shield. Install a threat tracking addon, ex: ThreatClassic2. Consumable items deal threat, ex:  Major Rejuvenation Potion based on half of the Health & Mana gained. Damage items, ex: Goblin Sapper Charge deals threat equal to the damage so do reflective Buffs, ex:  Thorns. Lastly, certain items ex: Gift of Arthas deal threat each time their Debuff is triggered  (see Threat List).


Video: Ally Threat
Allies can reduce their threat, through items, ex:  Fetish of the Sand Reaver. Mage have:  Burning Soul. Shaman:  Tranquil Air Totem. Rogue and Hunter wipe threat with  Vanish &  Feign Death and so can  Flask of Petrification. Items prevent aggro:  Limited Invulnerability Potion & redirect aggro Masterwork Target Dummy (taunts the mob). Classes in the 30-40 yard range won’t get aggro t'ill they surpass the threat level of the mob’s current target by 30%, as opposed to 10% for melee classes. (See More)

 

Video: Totems
Totems can't deal threat for you. Common totems:  Grace of Air Totem,  Stoneskin Totem &  Healing Stream Totem. AoE Tanking:  Stoneclaw Totem followed by Fire Nova Totem. To learn more about totems, watch the Video.

 

Video: Tank Talents
The talent setup: (16/35/0) has steady threat per second for raids & excels on short fights.

 

Video: youtube.com/watch?v=aNHiqdqbKUg

1. PrePull: Cast Lightning Shield. Get all Buffs the group can supply. Cast Rockbiter Weapon. Place: Stoneskin Totem, Grace of Air Totem & Healing Stream Totem. Mark the mobs in front of you by right-clicking their portrait, pick Raid Target Icon, choose from either a Skull = kill first, a red X = kill second, a blue square = Hunter trap and a moon = Polymorph.
2. Pulling: Cast  Lightning Bolt, followed by as many  Lightning Bolt possible to trigger,  Elemental Focus. Lastly,  Earth Shock.
3. Combat: For raids, use  Nat Pagle's Broken Reel to assure the first few Earth Shocks hit. In a fight, use relevant ranks of Earth Shock that suits your mana & threat. Stormstrike can’t be downranked but is also used in similar cases. If  Lightning Shield expires, cast it. If you suddenly might die, equip a defensive weapon, ex:  Spineshatter w/ Enchant Weapon - Agility &  Rockbiter Weapon, use Masterwork Target Dummy (taunts boss), use  Juju Escape, possibly Major Healthstone & Major Rejuvenation Potion. To learn more, see the Video.

 

Video: Buffs
There's a max of 32 Buffs, avoid nearing the max as it may result in Buffs getting mistakenly removed, the addon: Buff Cap Tracker helps. (here's a detailed List of Buffs). Prioritize getting defensive Buffs, ex: Elixir of Fortitude before Threat Buffs, ex: Juju Might.

Video: Debuffs
A max of 16 Debuffs can be on a mob. Reaching the max is major in raids. There's defensive Debuffs:  Insect Swarm & threat Debuffs:  Faerie Fire among others. With the raid leader’s consent, suggest ideal Debuffs without overstepping. We can apply Gift of Arthas & Stormstrike. To learn more, see the Video.

 

Video: Gear - Youtube
Solidify defensive stats when gearing, threat is secondary. It’s advised to have 4k HP & 5k Armor unbuffed for Molten Core. Blackwing Lair, ~4800 to 5k HP and 6500-7k Armor. For reliable threat, 3% melee Hit is advised for dungeons. For Raid tanking, 4% Melee Hit. See the Gear List. You can't equip gear in combat, except for a weapon & shield, enabling the equipping of a defensive weapon, ex: Spineshatter, if survival seems grim. To learn more, see the Video.

Video: Enchants
There are two types of enchants, defensive, ex:  Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility. And offensive, ex:  Enchant Gloves - Threat. See a list of relevant Tank Enchants.

 

Video: AoE Tanking
Many actions can further solidify AoE cases, ex:  Oil of Immolation,  Force Reactive Disk, Thorns, etc... It’s crucial to switch and attack another target ever so often. (see a detailed Threat List) In combat, items & spells giving health or mana deal 50% threat divided by each mob. Items also help until a decent amount of threat is gained on all mobs, ex: Masterwork Target Dummy.

 

Video: Raid Comp
With the raid leader’s consent, offer an ideal raid comp without overstepping. In our group, Warlock: Blood Pact, Warrior: Battle Shout, Shadow Priest: Vampiric Embrace, Resto Shaman: Mana Tide Totem. To learn more, see the Group/Raid Comp List. For damage dealing classes, we prefer ranged classes over melee. If melee are needed, rogues are best.

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Warden Discord: http://discord.gg/CJ6c893y5h
Shaman Tank Youtube: youtube.com/caperfin
Shaman Tank Gameplay: twitch.tv/caperfin

Burning Crusade Shaman Tank

Edited May 23, 2022 by CaperfinWoW

[CaperfinWoW 21]

OP here,

I've raid tanked as a Shaman Tank until AQ.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

[Damien 1,514]

Oh I didn't see this before, it's pretty amazing. I've done a few dungeons when we had a friends tank as Shaman and it went pretty smoothly. Remains to see how we'll do at higher levels ?

[Valhalen 1,484]

Really awesome guide.

If I recall correctly, Balance Druids could tank in TBC too, right?

[ClassicRaids 4]

Very well written guide!  I knew that shamans were able to tank 5mans but had no idea they could tank raid bosses (although I have seen 1 video of a sham off tanking an add in Naxx).  Very well detailed and I'll be using this for sure as I level up my alt shaman, thank you!

[CaperfinWoW 21]

On 9/10/2019 at 10:57 AM, Valhalen said:

If I recall correctly, Balance Druids could tank in TBC too, right?

Every class in TBC can tank, it's somewhat silly how easy it gets with how much is implemented in TBC.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Guide is currently being updated. If you guys know anything about how the following functions/behaviours, please let me know:

if Invulnerable Mail effect can be clicked off.

The threat generated by Rockbiter at max rank (not as easy as it sounds).

if Oil of Immolation reset the swing timer.

Apparently Dragon Breath Chili will stacks with food buffs, if you eat Chili after?

Debuff priority of Wail of the Banshee.

The behaviour behind Flask of Petrification. Been told it's like BoP, but can it be clicked off?

The threat caused by the buff: Eye of the storm, Elemental Focus, Elemental devastation.

The threat caused by the buff Headmaster's Charge, Crusader enchant.

The threat caused by Crystal Spire and if it resets swing timer.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by CaperfinWoW

[Shadehallow 8]

I've always loved the early level tanking shaman could do very easily and am always surprised they never pursued locking in some buffs to make enh and optimal tank in future expansions and just made it dps. The breakdowns in this guide are amazing thank you so much for all the info

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Hey all, OP here.

I am slowly updating everything in the guide. I am still testing out a few things, so if you have some insight on the following please let me know.

if Invulnerable Mail effect can be clicked off.
Apparently Dragon Breath Chili will stacks with food buffs, if you eat Chili after?
Debuff priority of Wail of the Banshee and how much threat the debuffs deals?
The behaviour behind Flask of Petrification. Is like BoP, but can it be clicked off?
The threat caused by the buff: Eye of the storm, Elemental Focus, Lightning Shield, Flurry and Berserking.
The threat caused by the buff Headmaster's Charge, Oil of Immolation and Mark of the Chosen.
The threat caused by Crystal Ward and Crystal Spire and if it resets swing timer and if spamming it continues to generate threat?
Behaviour of Gnomish Cloaking Device (can you drop combat in-between boss combat pulse, if timed properly?)
 

[CaperfinWoW 21]

OP here!

Guide has been updated and cross-referenced with Classic WoW.

- Spells, buffs, debuff, etc... are now linking to their own database page.

- Scaling, stacking properties and numbers are adjusted to reflect Classic.

 

P.S. If there's something I missed or anything else, please let me know ?

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Guide author here.

Guide is updated for Phase3. Feel free to give it a look over and let me know if anything is missing. 

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Guide has been updated. If you have questions, ask me: https://www.twitch.tv/caperfin

Also added a new video to the guide, let me know what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW7rOdYMNrs

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by CaperfinWoW

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Guide has been updated for Phase 6. If you have questions about shaman tanking, feel free to let me know.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

Guide has been updated, thanks for the feedback 🙂 I'm currently working on the Burning Crusade Shaman Tank Guide, if you guys would like to see something in particular please let me know.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

On 3/22/2021 at 4:31 AM, SamuelRichards said:

Thank you very much for the information!

My pleasure, if you have any questions, let me know. I'm also working on a Burning Crusade Shaman Tank guide and would love your feedback on it, stay tuned to know when it's publicly available.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

This guide will continue to be updated with changes happening on the Classic-era realms.

[CaperfinWoW 21]

I'm opening a Shaman Tank Discord
for better feedback from you guys.

If you have questions, let me know.

Edited December 19, 2021 by CaperfinWoW