Restoration Shaman Pre-Patch Guide for WotLK Classic
The Pre-Patch period of Wrath of the Lich King Classic is a time to allow players to level or gear up characters while experiencing some of the class changes of the coming expansion before its official launch. Here you will find recommended talents, gear, and some rotation tips for a Restoration Shaman when you can only reach a maximum level of 70.
Restoration Shaman Overview
Restoration Shamans continue to do good area healing in the Wrath of the Lich
King pre-patch with Chain Heal, and gain more single-target healing
from the new
Tidal Waves passive, as well as some of the new glyphs, such as
Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave.
While less Shamans are needed per raid due to Bloodlust and
buff totems such as
Wrath of Air Totem being raid-wide in Wrath, these
two in particular are still unique Shaman buffs, and
Strength of Earth Totem
is the best Str/Agi buff if you have
Enhancing Totems.
This page will go over pre-patch talents, rotation, gear, and consumables for Restoration Shaman, allowing you to quickly get up to date with your character while waiting for Wrath to officially start!
Talent Build for Restoration Shamans
Standard PvE talents for Restoration Shaman
This talent tree takes all Healing Wave talents to make it an efficient
heal, alongside maxed out
Enhancing Totems. You should swap the three
points of this talent into
Ancestral Knowledge if you already have
another Shaman with it talented on your raid.
Easy Mode PvE talents for Restoration Shaman
If you absolutely dislike using Healing Wave (which is an excellent
spell when used properly), removing the Healing Wave talents and using only
Lesser Healing Wave for single-target healing can be a simpler, if worse,
option.
Glyphs
Glyphs enhance or change class specific abilities, and you can have up to two major glyphs and three minor glyphs at Level 70, with a third major glyph being unlocked at Level 80.
Many glyphs will only be available after Wrath launches, so in the pre-patch
Restoration Shaman should use Glyph of Earth Shield and one of
Glyph of Earthliving Weapon (AoE) or
Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave (ST)
as major glyphs.
For minor glyphs, Glyph of Water Shield and any of
Glyph of Water Breathing,
Glyph of Renewed Life, and
Glyph of Water Walking work as quality of life options.
Stat Priority for Restoration Shamans
- Spell Power;
- Haste;
- Mp5;
- Critical Strike;
- Intellect.
Rotation for Restoration Shamans
Healers do not have a formal rotation. As such we will display a priority list, instead.
Weapon Imbues
As Restoration, you should always use Earthliving Weapon on your weapon.
Spell Priority for Restoration Shamans
- Use
Nature's Swiftness,
Tidal Force, and
Healing Wave as an emergency heal for players about to die;
- Use
Lesser Healing Wave for emergency healing if
Nature's Swiftness is on cooldown;
- Remove dangerous debuffs from group members as soon as possible. This includes
preparing for Fear effects with
Tremor Totem;
- Keep
Earth Shield on the tank and
Water Shield on yourself at all times;
- Keep your Totems active and in range of the raid at all times;
- Use
Riptide when available;
- Use
Chain Heal to heal group damage, consuming a
Riptide buff if available and the damage warrants it for extra healing;
- Use
Healing Wave to heal single-target damage.
Gear for Restoration Shamans
Most TBC Phase 5 gear in the guide linked below is still among the best gear available, but due to both Spell Healing and Spell Damage becoming a single stat, you will now be able to use any Spell Power gear you find without Hit on it to great effect. The short encounters of the pre-patch also favor the raw throughput of Haste and Critical Strike rather than the sustain of Mp5.
- Most Sunwell Plateau gear is good enough to enter early Wrath
raids with, especially
Erupting Epaulets and
Cowl of Gul'dan (for non-Engineers), which are pre-raid best in slot items;
- To complement raiding, or if it is not an option, farming Honor in the pre-patch through battlegrounds will allow you to buy the full "Brutal" PvP gear set, which is close in power to gear from Sunwell Plateau and has no randomness in its acquisition.
Enchants
Enchants mostly stay the same in the pre-patch but, due to the Spell Healing and Spell Damage merge, you can now use the old Spell Damage enchants as well as they will typically give the same Spell Power as an old Spell Healing enchant would.
Consumables for Restoration Shamans
Adept's Elixir plus
Elixir of Draenic Wisdom are the recommended
elixirs for Restoration. You can eat any of
Golden Fish Sticks,
Blackened Basilisk,
Poached Bluefish, or
Crunchy Serpent.
Weapon oils are no longer used in the pre-patch: you should be using
Earthliving Weapon, instead.
Haste Potion is the best Healing throughput potion, although you can
also use
Super Mana Potion if you have Mana issues. You can no longer use
two potions during combat, but you can use a
Haste Potion just before
entering combat, which will allow you to use another potion mid-fight if the
encounter is long enough.
Changelog
- 23 Aug. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman and Druid, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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