WoW Classic Shaman Leveling Guide 1-60
Welcome to our Classic leveling guide for Shamans. Here, you will learn how to efficiently level your Shaman all the way to Level 60.
If you were looking for TBC Classic advice, please refer to our TBC Classic Shaman leveling guide.
Introduction
This guide will aim to provide you with a clear skill and gear path to max level in WoW Classic. While detailing every single quest and the optimal leveling routes is beyond its scope, you can find detailed talent builds for all tastes, their rotations and which skills to buy, as well as guides for class quests and weapons below.
Specialization Options for Leveling Shamans in WoW Classic
Shamans have three talent trees: Enhancement, Elemental, and Restoration.
Enhancement is the generally recommended leveling build, due to its consistency and Mana efficiency, as well as the raw power of Shaman's weapon enchants such as Rockbiter Weapon.
Elemental is also viable to level with, as long as you can stomach having to sit and drink every few kills.
Finally, Restoration is generally slower than the other two specs, due to its lower damage output, but if you are going to be leveling in a group or dungeons, then it is likely you will be healing more often than not, anyway.
Ultimate / Best Leveling Strategy and Talents
If speed is what you care about, the best way to proceed in WoW Classic as a solo Shaman is to use our Enhancement talent build until level 40, at which point you should respec to our Elemental talent build.
The reason for this is that Enhancement has much stronger talents early on, and melee attacks are also much stronger earlier in the game. By the time you hit Level 40, Elemental will already have access to its killer talents:
- Elemental Fury increases your critical strike damage and has great synergy with the next talent;
- Elemental Mastery makes your next spell free and a guaranteed critical strike, allowing for huge Chain Lightning bursts;
- Lightning Mastery increases your DPS massively by heavily reducing your cast times.
This will make killing enemies much faster than if you were to keep the Enhancement talent build all the way to 60. Fast enough, in fact, to be a faster leveler even when you consider the time lost to drinking.
Dungeon Leveling as a Shaman - Melee Cleave
Leveling with a premade group in dungeons has become popular in WoW Classic. While leveling this way will not be for everyone, as it requires a group of people of certain classes for maximum efficiency, Shamans are a core part of a melee cleave group, where they are off-healers and Windfury Totem / Strength of Earth Totem providers!
It should be noted that most dungeons in WoW Classic can be done with more than 5 people. While this will ruin your experience gain, it is an option if you are struggling to get through.
Feel free to give it a try with your friends, in which case we recommend following Hakurai's video guide for dungeon leveling in a melee cleave group.
Leveling 1-60 as a Shaman in WoW Classic
In order to get to 60 as a Shaman you will also want to know which professions / gear / stats to pursue and how to complete your class quests. In the following sections we will be discussing each of these at length.
Shaman Macros and Addons
By setting yourself up with an upgraded user interface and macros from the get go, you will make your leveling process much easier. Check out our Shaman Macros and Addons guide in the link below for the full list.
Leveling Professions for Shamans in WoW Classic
Learning professions early on is very useful, as you can naturally level them as you go, avoiding extra work at max level. This is especially true for gathering professions, but crafting professions compensate your efforts by giving you extra tools to level with.
We recommend that you learn First Aid as soon as possible for easy self-healing. Skinning, Herbalism, and Mining are great primary professions for a leveling Shaman, allowing you to make extra gold, or accumulate materials that you can use to level crafting professions later.
Preferred Gear and Stats Options for Leveling Classic Shamans
While leveling, if you are Enhancement specced, your weapon is the most important piece of your gear. You should look for high raw damage, as Stormstrike scales with it, making slower weapons generally stronger when they have equal damage per second values. Slower weapons also allow you to kite with Earthbind Totem more efficiently.
The rest of your gear should have Agility or Critical Strike on it, as these stats increase your damage the most due to the synergy with Flurry. Strength will also increase your DPS. Finally, try to get some Stamina and Intellect, so that you can kill more enemies before having to rest.
For the other specialization options, Elemental and Restoration, gear is less important but try to aim for Intellect first and foremost, as it will allow you to kill more enemies or cast more heals before having to rest.
Weapon Options for Leveling Shamans in WoW Classic
While all gear is relevant while leveling, weapons are especially important, as they contribute a great part of your damage, especially when you rely on melee hits as Enhancement and also Elemental and Restoration early on. Read our full guide on weapons below.
Important Shaman Quests in WoW Classic
Every class in WoW Classic has important class-specific quests that allow them to gear up and learn new active abilities, which are often critical to the class. Every single one of your totems, Earth, Fire, Water and Air comes from doing these quests, and we will detail every single step of the way for you in our full guide for quests below.
Progressing your Shaman at Level 60
By the time you hit maximum level, it will be very helpful to read the rest of our guides. Pick Restoration Shaman if you intend to heal at maximum level, which is the preferred specialization for a Shaman looking for a raid group, but Elemental Shaman and Enhancement Shaman are also great supports, and do well in dungeons and PvP.
You are also welcome to catch up on what to do in PvP combat with our PvP Shaman Guide, and to start you epic mount grind with the help of the Goldmaking Guide for Shamans!
Changelog
- 05 Jan. 2020: Added a Macros and Addons section.
- 23 Sep. 2019: Added a quick link section to level 60 relevant content.
- 03 Sep. 2019: Added Corpsemaker and Ravager as weapons to look for while dungeon leveling. Also moved weapons to the bottom, as a general section.
- 02 Sep. 2019: Reworked all talent builds, sorry for the respec costs! Also, changed rotations and added the order in which you should take the recommended talents for all specs along with a small explanation.
- 26 Aug. 2019: Reworked the Enhancement rotation and added details on when to refresh Lightning Shield.
- 19 Aug. 2019: Added a melee cleave dungeon leveling section.
- 13 Aug. 2019: Removed unnecessary Alliance related leveling information.
- 12 Aug. 2019: Fixed the two-hand weapon recommendations and changed Windfury recommendation to Rockbiter based on new information from the stress test.
- 03 Aug. 2019: Added useful questing guides to follow, Elemental and Restoration leveling information and Shaman-specific quest information.
- 02 Aug. 2019: Page added.
More Classic Shaman Guides
Classic Leveling Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
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 Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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