WotLK Classic Elemental Shaman Spell Summary

This page will list the relevant skills for an Elemental Shaman, and explain what they do. It is recommended that you read through this page in order to have a basis to better understand the various topics that are discussed throughout the rest of this guide.

Lava Burst is a new spell which always critically strikes if Flame Shock is present on the target. This spell will be part of your Wrath rotation and its guaranteed crit makes it great when burst damage is needed, especially in PvP!

Thunderstorm is another new spell which causes some damage and returns some Mana to you, but also knocks back all targets hit a large distance, making it very useful when soloing, in PvP, and in all situations when used with Glyph of Thunderstorm.

Hex is a new crowd control spell for Shaman, similar to Polymorph but it will not heal the target or break instantly upon any damage, while also letting the target slowly move around. It is a Curse effect, making it harder to be dispelled by some classes.

Wind Shear is your new interrupt (Earth Shock now slows melee attack speed, instead), and is off the global cooldown, making it extremely powerful as the only low cooldown ranged interrupt in game.

Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors, and Call of the Spirits allow you to customize up to one totem of each type to instantly be dropped down when these abilities are used, saving significant time.

Lightning Bolt deals damage to a single target from range. This will be your main damage spell in PvE due to having the best damage-to-Mana ratio in our kit and no cooldown.

Chain Lightning deals damage to three targets from range. It does more damage than Lightning Bolt, even to its primary target, and has a lower cast time, but it also has a 6-second cooldown and a huge Mana cost. Use it for area-of-effect damage or when bursting down an enemy.

Earth Shock deals damage and slows the melee attack speed of its target. Useful against melee enemies if you cannot avoid their attacks.

Frost Shock deals damage and slows its target by 50% for 8 seconds. This makes it useful when chasing or fleeing from enemies.

Flame Shock deals damage-over-time to its target. This can contribute a small, but consistent chunk of damage in a fight and has the added usefulness of preventing Rogues and Druids from staying in stealth while it is active.

Lesser Healing Wave casts much faster than Healing Wave, but also heals for much less baseline and also gains less benefit from your gear's Spell Power as a result of its fast casting speed. Use it in PvP or as an emergency heal.

Healing Wave is a strong-but-slow single-target heal. This makes it likely to overheal, so be prepared to stop casting at the last moment if it looks like that will be the case.

Chain Heal is the best area-of-effect heal in the game due to its high healing relative to cost and smart-heal properties, which will cause it to jump to the most-injured targets in range regardless of the party they are in.

A Totem is instantly placed on the ground near you when you cast it, does not move, and generally has a single digit of health, allowing it to be destroyed by your enemies with any single-target ability. Their effects only apply to your 5-player party, even when you are in a raid group.

Every Shaman Totem has a specific niche role to fill and a distinct ability. There are four types of Totems: Air, Earth, Water and Fire, and you can have only one Totem of each element placed at a time, which will be replaced if you cast a new Totem of the same element. Your relic slot items will now count as a totem of all types, allowing you to stash your original 4 totems away.

Totemic Recall allows you to destroy your current totems in order to recover 25% of their Mana cost. You can use this to avoid pulling patrols with your totems, to recover some Mana when moving to a new place and even just to recover some Mana for free when your totems are about to expire!

Wrath of Air Totem provides a Shaman-exclusive buff, and should always be placed down if you are the only one in a raid group.

Windfury Totem provides 20% melee Haste to nearby players and is one of the best melee buffs, but can also be provided by Death Knights.

Grounding Totem will redirect to itself any harmful spell cast at a nearby party member which is great to handle problematic spells in PvP, such as Counterspell.

Nature Resistance Totem increases the Nature Resistance of your party, allowing them to survive Nature-based attacks better.

Sentry Totem grants vision over an area when the buff it leaves on the casting Shaman is right-clicked, which causes your vision to swap to the Totem's. It also gives warnings to you when it is being attacked, which is useful when exerting control over an area, especially in PvP.

Earth Elemental Totem creates an Earth Elemental that taunts and generates threat on nearby enemies. Due to its relatively high health, it can serve as an emergency tank for you and your group.

Strength of Earth Totem grants extra Strength and Agility to your raid and is the best buff of its kind when Enhancing Totems is taken, making it an important totem to drop if you are the only Shaman with the talent.

Tremor Totem removes Fear, Charm, and Sleep effects from your party every 5 seconds. This makes it invaluable in fights with Fear effects or in PvP. Make sure to drop it when slightly under 5 seconds are left for the Fear effect to hit the party, so that it is removed almost instantly.

Earthbind Totem slows nearby enemies, making it easier to flee or kite.

Stoneskin Totem increases the Armor of your raid group and can also be provided by Paladins with Devotion Aura.

Stoneclaw Totem taunts enemies, serving as a distraction for a short period with its small health pool. It is mostly of use while leveling or soloing, or in PvP with Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem.

Fire Resistance Totem increases the Fire Resistance of your party, allowing them to survive Fire-based attacks better.

Mana Spring Totem regenerates the Mana of your party by a small amount every 2 seconds. This improves your party's Mana sustainability, and should be up unless another Shaman or Paladin with Blessing of Wisdom is already providing the regen buff, as they do not stack.

Healing Stream Totem heals your party for a small amount every 2 seconds. While its healing is low, it is still usually worth keeping it out as it also has a long duration.

Cleansing Totem cures your party members from any Diseases or Poisons every 5 seconds.

Totem of Wrath creates a Fire Totem that increases Spell Power for nearby allies and causes nearby enemies to have a 3% higher chance to be critically hit. This will be your main buff totem in any group that lacks a strong Demonic Pact Warlock.

Fire Elemental Totem creates a Fire Elemental that scales with your Spell Power when cast (thus allowing for the use of pure Spell Power gear in a pre-pull min-max situation) and deals significant single-target and area-of-effect damage, making it great for contributing damage to your group or while soloing. You can use the Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem to halve its cooldown, which is also usable as a pre-pull strategy, followed by glyph changing.

Magma Totem deals small amounts of area-of-effect damage to nearby enemies very frequently. Since it has no cooldown, you can use it for extra damage, especially against multiple enemies.

Searing Totem deals a small amount of single-target damage to nearby enemies. It deals less single-target damage than Magma Totem but is also cheaper and available at a lower level.

Frost Resistance Totem increases the Frost Resistance of your party, allowing them to survive Frost-based attacks better.

Flametongue Totem increases the Spell Power of nearby party members. It is a much weaker version of Demonic Pact or Totem of Wrath, and thus should never be used by Elemental Shamans.

Bloodlust / Heroism grant a huge amount of Haste for 40 seconds to the Shaman's raid group and is Shaman-exclusive, making the first Shaman in your raid group have huge value.

Lightning Shield grants you a buff that causes damage to melee attackers when they hit you. Water Shield is generally superior as soon as you get it at Level 20.

Water Shield creates a shield on yourself which provides passive Mana regeneration and extra bursts of Mana whenever you are hit. This is great in all types of content, but especially so if you are being consistently hit for the extra Mana returns while soloing and leveling.

Flametongue Weapon is a weapon imbue that increases your Spell Damage and causes each hit to deal additional Fire damage. This will be your standard imbue of choice.

Rockbiter Weapon is a weapon imbue that increases your Physical damage. It is only useful during the early stages of leveling.

Windfury Weapon enchants your weapon, granting your melee abilities a 20% chance to activate two extra auto attacks with added Attack Power instantly.

Ghost Wolf boosts your running speed by 40% but can only be used outdoors. You can learn it at an early level, making this is a very important movement skill for leveling Shaman.

Reincarnation allows you to return to life after dying, as long as its 30-minute cooldown is ready. You can use it to recover from mistakes.

Ancestral Spirit brings the target back to life, but can only be used while out of combat.

Purge removes two buffs from the targeted enemy. You will typically be using it to remove healing-over-time effects, shields, and buffs.

Cure Toxins cures a Poison and Disease effect from its target. Use it to remove Rogue Poisons, Devouring Plague, or dangerous PvE debuffs.

Astral Recall recalls you to your set Hearthstone location, with a cooldown of 15 minutes. This is pretty handy for quickly traveling the world.

Water Walking allows you or another friendly player to move over water for 10 minutes. Taking any damage will cancel the effect, but you can still use it to quickly move through certain parts of the world.

Water Breathing removes your or another friendly player's need for breathing while underwater for 10 minutes. This is generally useless, but can save you sometimes when doing underwater quests or gathering.

Far Sight grants you vision over an area, allowing you to detect enemy players without actually putting yourself in danger.