Restoration Shaman PvP Guide for TBC Classic

Restoration Shamans are, unfortunately, relatively weak in 2v2 and 3v3 Arenas. This is due to their reliance on high cast times for their healing, which leaves them vulnerable to being interrupted or crowd controlled by the enemy team.

That being said, 5v5 and battlegrounds are where a Restoration Shaman thrives, as the extra amount of players involved makes it much more likely that you will be able to cast as the other players in your team will also be important targets for the enemy team to disrupt. Bloodlust is a killer in this format, and it will be hard for the enemy team to get kills in while you are powered by it!

This is a build designed for 2s, and it sacrifices healing and Mana efficiency in order to get Toughness, which is important for staying mobile and surviving in an environment where you will not be able to count on much help from your teammate.

In 3s and 5s you will have more teammates to help you out and keep the enemy team busy, lowering the need for extra mobility. Instead, it is preferable to gain more survivability from Nature's Guardian and more Mana sustain for yourself and your team from Mana Tide Totem.

Rather than a fixed rotation, Shaman gameplay is about treading a fine balance between healing, drinking, casting utility spells, and also damage spells, if given the chance. Here is the general idea:

• Keep yourself and your teammates alive and out of crowd control with Frost Shock, Earthbind Totem, Grounding Totem, Earth Shield and Lesser Healing Wave.
• Pressure enemies with Purge, Bloodlust and Earth Shock. You can also slip in the occasional Chain Lightning, if enemies are low on health and your team is not being pressured.
• Keep an eye on your Mana pool, as it is also easily possible to lose due to running out of Mana. Make sure you drink whenever possible, preferably out of enemy line-of-sight to make yourself harder to interrupt.

You can find our recommended gear, gems, and enchants for PvPing as a Restoration Shaman in the link below.

Restoration Shaman has a few good compositions, but are mostly a niche pick in 2s and 3s. 5s will always benefit a lot from having a Restoration Shaman in the group, especially if it is the only Shaman!

In 2v2, Shaman + Retribution Paladin, Shaman + Warrior, and Shaman + Rogue are your best compositions. The idea is to have a partner who can take advantage of Windfury Totem for massive burst damage, especiall1y during Bloodlust windows. Paladin is an especially good fit, as it has a defensive dispel, while Shaman has an offensive one.

In 3v3, you want to pair with a Rogue and Warlock, Warrior and Retribution Paladin, or Warlock and Shadow Priest. These diverse compositions all benefit greatly from the burst provided by Bloodlust and either provide massive spread damage or great burst damage, both of which can easily secure kills.

In 5v5, Shaman can fit into just about any team, and does not have any specifically-favored composition. Matches tend to be quick and explosive, which makes Bloodlust a must, and Shaman's burst healing with Lesser Healing Wave almost impossible to stop during the Bloodlust window.

In order to become the best Shaman possible, you should understand what your talents and spells are for. The amount of details that can go into this section of the guide is endless, but we will try to keep things brief in order to give you a general idea which you can use to jumpstart your PvP experience.

Totems can be destroyed by totem-stomping macros. These are basically pet commands for Warlocks and Hunters which try to target and destroy all totems with the pet. While these are extremely annoying to deal with, they also force the enemy pets to run after your totems which can be exploited by killing the pets behind line-of-sight when you coordinate properly with your team.

Due to your reliance on cast times, learning and mastering fake casting is fundamental. This is the act of starting a cast just to cancel it at some point before it finishes, hopefully baiting enemy interrupts while you were not casting and thus wasting them. The main difficulty with fake casting is timing it correctly, as canceling too late means you get interrupted, and too early means enemies see you stopped and do not waste their interrupts.

Bloodlust is the main reason to bring a Shaman to any team. This makes all of your team attack and cast much faster, allowing you to quickly overwhelm your opponents, especially when combined with Purge and Earth Shock pressure!

Grounding Totem allows you to instantly nullify incoming enemy spells, which is of great value against any caster team. Earth Shock serves a somewhat similar purpose, but has a shorter cooldown and requires line-of-sight to the enemy caster in order to interrupt.

Purge allows you to remove up to two beneficial magic effects from enemy players. You should generally strip kill targets clean of their magic buffs, paving the way for kills to happen, especially against the magic heals-over-time and shields of Priests and Druids! Beware of spam purging Lifebloom, as it does a large healing burst in the process.

Tremor Totem pulses every few seconds, removing charm, fear and sleep effects from nearby allies. This is amazing against fears especially, but beware of totem-stomping macros or Priests fearing at the same time they attack your totem!