QUICK START
Enhancement is a practical solo start. Keep your weapon imbue active, save a shock for a dangerous cast when needed, and use totems where their benefit justifies the setup.
ROLE
Melee / Ranged damage · Healer
RESOURCE
Mana
01
One mana bar, several jobs
Damage spells, healing and totems all draw on the same resource. Before spending, decide whether the fight needs more damage, an interrupt, protection or support. An unnecessary spell can leave you short when the useful one is needed.
A weapon-focused approach gives you damage between casts. Treat those swings as part of the fight, not as empty time that must always be filled with another spell.
Read more: Enhancement mana and combat.
For named training milestones, quest upgrades and your first dungeon checklist, read the Shaman levelling guide.
02
Three talent paths
You create a Shaman first, then develop a talent path as you level. Read the choices below as playstyles: early points and a fully developed build are different stages of the same character.
Elemental
Ranged damage built around Lightning and elemental spells. Early talents such as Convection help costs; deeper talents add casting interactions and damage tools.
Enhancement
Weapon attacks supported by spells. Thundering Strikes improves critical chance; Mental Dexterity makes Intellect contribute to attack power, and Shamanistic Focus reduces key mana costs.
Restoration
Healing and supportive totems. Mana efficiency and choosing the right heal are central. Totemic Focus reduces totem costs, while deeper talents expand group-healing options.
Use the planner to read the current talents and check row requirements. Legacy’s Talented bonus adds points separately; leave its rank at zero unless your character has earned the bonus.
＋ Plan your talent points
Read talents and plan a route for your Shaman. Open the full Shaman calculator for more space.
Loading talent trees…
03
Keep the priorities simple
Prepare
Keep a suitable weapon imbue active and use your learned shield buff.
Engage
Start the fight with a useful spell, then let your weapon work.
Interrupt
Keep Earth Shock available when an enemy has a dangerous cast, rather than spending every shock on damage.
Support
Place a totem when it will contribute for enough of the fight. Heal safely before another pull if needed.
Different imbues serve different jobs. In a group, avoid generating unnecessary threat with an option intended to help you hold an enemy.
Read more: Weapon imbues and shock priorities.
Keep Rank 1 Earth Shock available for a cheap interrupt. Higher damage ranks are a separate purchase. In a dungeon, check the threat interaction and avoid turning an interrupt into an unintended tanking assignment.
Place a totem for the fight you are actually taking. A Searing Totem near a fresh pack can attack something you did not intend to pull; use Totemic Recall when moving on rather than leaving unattended damage behind.
Use one weapon imbue at a time. Rockbiter gives dependable early damage; Windfury becomes another option at 30. Compare your own weapon and several similar kills instead of judging the choice by one unusually large proc.
Leave enough mana for a heal or emergency control. Adding every available shock to an ordinary melee kill can increase drinking without reducing the whole quest loop. Keep a caster set if you intend to heal an early dungeon.
04
Compare the whole weapon setup
Attributes, in numbers
Shaman stat conversions
Ordinary single-weapon swings only. Spells, weapon imbues and talent effects require separate calculations.
Level 30: class baseline, before buffs and talents.
The AP contribution is added to the weapon's base DPS. It is not total combat DPS. Listed weapon speed is used; haste, misses, crits, armor, procs and special attacks are excluded.
Agility
+0.868 ppWeapon crit contribution at this level
- Baseline melee AP
- +0
- Tooltip armor contribution
- +20
Intellect
+0.355 ppSpell crit contribution at this level
- Mana gained
- +150
Uses existing plus added effective Intellect: the first 20 contribute 1 mana per point; above 20, 15 per point. This is neither Spell Power nor mana regeneration.
“pp” means percentage points: +1 pp takes 5% to 6%, before other modifiers. Crit contributions are not total crit chances.
- Stamina
- The first 20 effective points add 1 health each. Above 20, the client uses your character’s current health-per-point rate; health buffs and talents can change the gain.
- Mana per 5 seconds
- +5 MP5 gives 60 mana over one minute, assuming a constant effective rate and enough missing mana to receive it.
- Spirit
- Mana recovery depends on class rules, talents and when you spend mana. See the regeneration mechanics.
- Spell Power
- Applied by each spell and rank's coefficient. It has no universal damage or healing conversion. Inspect the spell-rank data.
How crit changes as you level +10 attribute examples
| Level | Agility → weapon crit | Intellect → spell crit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +1.65 pp | +1.286 pp |
| 10 | +1.375 pp | +0.964 pp |
| 20 | +1.065 pp | +0.519 pp |
| 30 | +0.868 pp | +0.355 pp |
| 60Future/reference | +0.508 pp | +0.169 pp |
“pp” means percentage points: +1 pp turns 5% into 6%, before other modifiers. These are contributions, not total crit chances.
Assumptions & sources Build 1.60.1.70205
Interactive figures use class baseline: race, buffs, talents, form overrides and server-side changes are not applied. The client data describes configured conversions; it is not a combat-log measurement or a gear ranking.
- Attack Power: added Strength × the class's AP-per-Strength field. Agility's melee and ranged AP fields are kept separate.
- Crit: added attribute × its exact class-and-level coefficient × 100. No interpolation or Classic fallback is used.
- Ordinary swing contribution: added AP ÷ 14 × listed weapon speed. The divisor and +2 armor per Agility come from the matching client tooltip code.
- Configured mana contribution at effective Intellect I: min(I, 20) + 15 × max(I − 20, 0). An increase across the breakpoint is the difference between the old and new totals.
- Stamina's first-20 breakpoint is present in the matching constants file. The exact above-20 Forever rate has not been verified; the UI obtains it from the game's runtime API.
Class conversion data · Level conversion data · Matching client tooltip source · Intellect and Stamina constants · Read the stat mechanics
Game data and icons © Blizzard Entertainment. Public client exports: wago.tools; client UI mirror: Gethe. Values rounded for display.
For weapon damage, compare the weapon itself with useful attack stats. Intellect can serve more than one purpose with the appropriate talents; that does not mean every Intellect piece beats a better weapon.
Keep a caster set if you want to heal. A shield can offer a different balance of safety and damage than a two-handed weapon. Try the setup that addresses your current problem before copying an endgame preference.
RFC · melee
Bone Knuckles from Oggleflint are a fist-weapon comparison. Check weapon training and skill before equipping them; a sword drop is not a Shaman weapon upgrade.
RFC · healing
Trogg Scepter from Oggleflint is a healing-set option. A spell-power weapon can support a dungeon-healing assignment without being the right solo melee upgrade.
Hall of Thanes · mail
Kindlegem Girdle from Magmatus and Golemguard Chest from Plunder are named armour targets. Compare their stats with the role you are taking.
05
Place support where the group fights
Choose totems for the party and the encounter, then place them where the fight will happen. Watch their range and leave no forgotten totem beside a route the group intends to skip.
Agree whether you are damage or healer before entering. A healer should prepare mana and healing gear; a damage player can still interrupt and help an ally without taking over the healing role.
06
Ability and build milestones
Level 10
Searing Totem. Complete the Fire Totem unlock. Place it where it can attack your intended fight without pulling fresh enemies.
Level 12
Fire Nova. An area-damage option around the active fire totem. Keep the fight in the correct area; it is not a free ranged opener.
Level 20
Ghost Wolf. Travel becomes faster. Improved Ghost Wolf is valuable when your talent route makes the transformation convenient.
Level 20
Water Shield. A mana-sustain tool. Read its charges and refresh it when appropriate rather than filling every gap with another shock.
Level 25
Stormstrike. An Enhancement talent at its earliest normal unlock. This is a build milestone, not an ability every Shaman buys at 25.
Level 30
Windfury Weapon. A new weapon-imbue choice. Compare sustained fights on your current weapon against Rockbiter, including the recovery afterwards.
These are toolkit changes, not measured percentage-DPS claims. Talent unlocks assume enough points in the required tree; Legacy bonuses and off-tree points can change when a build reaches them.
07
Sources and beta updates
Written for WoW Forever beta. Ability values and talent choices can change with updates; check your current in-game tooltips when a detail differs.
NickTew / Mobalytics — Enhancement levelling and mana · Method — Shaman levelling · Icy Veins — Ragefire Chasm rewards · Wowhead — Hall of Thanes quests and rewards · TalentsForever — licensed beta spell and talent records
Community tips are linked beside the relevant advice. They describe player experience; they are not measured class rankings.