Season of Discovery Restoration Shaman Healer Guide

Shamans are typically brought to groups for their high utility and totem related buffs, such as Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury Totem, or Tremor Totem.

Restoration in particular has always been a great area healer on top of bringing mandatory buffs, and this is even more true in Season of Discovery with Chain Heal becoming able to be supported by the new Overload rune!

Strengths

• Strong utility from totem buffs such as Windfury Totem and Strength of Earth Totem
• Near infinite Mana once Shamanistic Rage is unlocked with a significant part also applying to raid
• Great area healing with Healing Rain and Chain Heal powered by up Overload and Coherence

Weaknesses

• Mana starved until Shamanistic Rage is unlocked
• Weak defensive options and talents, especially when not using a shield
• Mobility issues (especially considering totems are immobile) and susceptible to crowd control

Restoration Shamans can now area heal with Healing Rain at early levels which is also strong for sustained stacked group healing, and alternatively Overload is a huge boost to all the main heals, including Chain Heal! You will also benefit from the new Water Shield rune for more Mana sustain, especially when being the target of attacks yourself.

Shamanistic Rage provides massive Mana returns, making Restoration feel like a completely different healer as soon as you unlock it, and allowing you to cast much more than would usually be possible in WoW Classic.

The waist runes, Power Surge and Fire Nova, enable a choice between even more Mana regeneration and strong area DPS potential. Finally, Spirit of the Alpha provides fantastic utility in the feet slot, but you can also use Ancestral Awakening for extra healing if it is being applied on the tank already.

As a new spec with entirely new abilities and runes, the rotation, gearing options, and talent decisions recommended for Restoration Shamans can be found in the guides in the Table of Content at the top of this page. Within these, you will find all the information you will need to master this new game mode!

The best profession to have as Restoration is Engineering. It provides powerful items that you can use in both PvE and PvP content to either deal damage or help you get out of a tough spot.

Leatherworking is also a great choice for Restoration Shamans due to special bind on pickup crafts such as Glowing Hyperconductive Scale Coif and Wailing Chain Mantle, and further BoP crafts are expected down the line.

The main feature of Season of Discovery is the new Rune Discovery system, which allows you to discover and attach special abilities to your gear slots after finding them across the world. We list all of Shaman's runes and where they can be located in the guide below.