Shaman in WoW: Forever: what the datamine says is coming

· ForeverDB

What the Forever beta client and official posts reveal for Shamans: 6 new abilities, 2 reworked talent slots, 104 new class items.

Speculation. This outlook is built from datamined Forever beta client data (build 1.60.1.70009) and official Blizzard posts. The beta is capped at level 20; anything above that isn't playable yet and can change.

What Blizzard changed this week

From the official WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated September 24 (Kaivax, 2026-09-24):

  • Lightning Bolt: Damage on ranks 3 and 4 increased to make these spells always upgrades over previous ranks (despite changing cast times).
  • Windfury Totem: Buff from this spell now displays as “Windfury Totem” instead of “Windfury Totem Passive”.
  • Flametongue Totem: Buff from this spell now displays as “Flametongue Totem” instead of “Flametongue Totem Effect”.
  • Flametongue Totem no longer has a duration and is instantly replaced when placing another totem.
  • Flametongue Totem is no longer able to be stacked by repeatedly casting Flametongue Totem.
  • Flametongue Totem no longer stacks with Flametongue Weapon.
  • Flametongue Totem no longer stacks with Windfury Totem.
  • Tranquil Air Totem, Windfury Totem, and Grace of Air Totem no longer stack together even if used by different Shamans in the same group.

Elemental

  • Swapped the positions of the Elemental Fury (Row 3) and Elemental Alacrity (Row 6) talents.
Critical Strike damage increases early on in trees are exciting for other specializations, but its not as exciting for the core specialization while leveling, since they don’t have enough critical strike chance to really appreciate it. So we’re moving one of the better talents for Elemental Shaman functionality, earlier in the tree, to allow them to feel like they’re hitting important progression moments (something Elemental has lacked in the early levels). We understand that this affects Enhancement Shaman’s critical strike damage with spells, but we will use this room created to add more to Enhancement Shaman in the future. Kaivax, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated September 24
  • Lava Burst damage on ranks 1 and 2 increased to be about 10% more base damage than the Lightning Bolt rank learned around the same level.

Enhancement

  • Rage of the Far Seer (Row 7) no longer increases the Shaman’s Spell Casting Speed.
Rage of the Far Seer’s spell casting speed was not necessary to include for the core functionality of this ability. So we removed it. Kaivax, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated September 24

Restoration

  • Corrected an issue and now Riptide can land critical hits.

New abilities in the client

6 Shaman abilities exist in the Forever client but not in Classic Era:

  • Call of the Elements — level 20 — available in the beta now. Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
  • Totemic Recall — level 20 — available in the beta now. Returns your totems to the earth, giving you 25% of the mana required to cast each totem destroyed by Totemic Recall.
  • Call of the Ancestors — level 30 — above the current cap. Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
  • Call of the Spirits — level 40 — above the current cap. Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
  • Lava Burst — level 40 — above the current cap (a former Season of Discovery rune, now a class ability). You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 192 to 248 Fire damage.
  • Riptide — level 40 — above the current cap (a former Season of Discovery rune, now a class ability). Heals a friendly target for 799 to 883, an additional 805 over 15 sec, and increases the effectiveness of your Chain Heal casts directly on that target by 25%.

What the level 30 cap should unlock

Talent trees

  • 2 talent slots (Elemental tier 3, Elemental tier 7) point to spells that have no record in the client. The talent is still in the tree, but its name and effect are defined server-side, which usually means it was reworked.

Tuning signals in the spell data

25 Shaman spell ranks carry a different spell-power coefficient than in Classic Era. The biggest moves:

Shaman-only gear that's new in Forever

Weapon and armor skills

  • Dual Wield isn't taught to this class in Forever. In the Classic Era client it only came from a Season of Discovery rune, so this is SoD content that wasn't carried over.

Class quests hinted in the client

The client contains flight paths named after Forever class quests (the names are internal, so treat details as speculation):

  • Level 40 Shaman quest in Thousand Needles

Our read (speculation)

Shaman leveling in Forever is built around totem convenience. Call of the Elements and Totemic Recall are trainable at 20, Totemic Projection follows at 22, and Call of the Ancestors (30) and Call of the Spirits (40) are further one-button totem drops. At the same time, Blizzard stopped Flametongue Totem stacking with Flametongue Weapon or Windfury Totem, and stopped the air totems stacking across Shamans in one group. The direction looks like less busywork but stricter buff rules, which matters most for groups with more than one Shaman.

Elemental is visibly mid-rework. Lava Burst doesn't arrive until 40, but Blizzard already pushed its first two ranks above the Lightning Bolt rank learned around the same level, and lifted Lightning Bolt ranks 3 and 4 so every rank is an upgrade. The notes describe swapping Elemental Fury (row 3) with Elemental Alacrity (row 6), yet the client shows Elemental Fury in tier 5, a server-side slot in tier 3 and a server-side one-point capstone in tier 7. The client's Elemental tree doesn't match the layout Blizzard describes, so treat it as provisional.

Enhancement has an explicit promise: Blizzard says the room freed by the Elemental swap will be used to add more for Enhancement later, and Rage of the Far Seer, which the notes place in Enhancement's row 7, has no record in the client at all. Dual Wield isn't taught to Shamans, and the client's Enhancement tree keeps its Two-Handed Axes and Maces talent, so two-handers look like the plan for now. The client also hints at a level 40 Shaman quest in Thousand Needles, and the 104 Shaman-only items include totems usable from level 1 and three separate PvP set lines.

Sources