WoW Forever Shaman buffs and nerfs
Every change Blizzard made to the Shaman's abilities and talents in each WoW Forever beta build, read from the game client. 2 buffs, 2 nerfs and 35 other changes since 2 October 2026.
How buffs and nerfs are worked out
From the numbers, never from the words. A change is a buff when every number that moved moved your way: more damage, healing or effect, a lower cost, cooldown or cast time, a longer duration or range, a higher spell power coefficient, or learned at a lower level or with fewer points in other talents. It is a nerf when every number moved the other way. Anything else is listed as changed: a mix (cheaper but weaker), a tooltip whose words changed, or numbers in other units, such as a cost of 125 Mana that became 8% of base Mana. Read the before and after to judge those. Not listed: Season of Discovery spells left in the client that nobody can learn in Forever, and tooltips whose numbers only grew because the beta's level cap went from 20 to 30 on 2 October.
28 October 2026: beta build 1.60.1.70658
- Changed: Elemental Focus. Proc chance: 10% → 100%
24 October 2026: beta build 1.60.1.70532
- Changed: Eye of the Storm. Rank 1 tooltip: “Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst by 23%.” → “Gives your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst spells a 23% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage.”
- Changed: Healing Focus. Rank 1 tooltip: “Gives you a 23% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any healing spell.” → “Gives your healing spells a 23% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage.”
16 October 2026: beta build 1.60.1.70425
- Buff: Chain Lightning. Rank 1 cost: 225 Mana → 145 Mana
- Nerf: Elemental Fury. Requires: Call of Thunder at 1/1 → Lightning Overload at 3/3
- Nerf: Lightning Overload. Place in the tree: tier 5, column 2 → tier 5, column 3; Requires: nothing → Elemental Alacrity at 3/3
- New: Lava Burst (Rank 4): You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 192 to 248 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.
- New: Mana Tide Totem (Rank 4): Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 290 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.
- Changed: Call of Flame. Rank 1 tooltip: “Increases the damage done by your Fire Totems and by your Flame Shock, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 5%.” → “Increases the damage done by your Fire Totems and by your Flame Shock, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 5%, as well as increases the duration of your Flame Shock spell by 3 sec.”; Place in the tree: tier 2, column 3 → tier 2, column 4
- Changed: Earthbound. Tooltip: “Increases the critical strike chance of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by 3%.” → “Your Earthbind Totem Immobilizes nearby targets for 5 sec when cast.”; Name: Call of Thunder → Earthbound; Place in the tree: tier 4, column 3 → tier 4, column 4; Requires: Elemental Alacrity at 3/3 → nothing
- Changed: Elemental Alacrity. Rank 1 tooltip: “Reduces damage taken from Fire, Frost, and Nature effects by 3%.” → “Reduces the cast time of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst spells by 0.17 sec.”; Name: Elemental Warding → Elemental Alacrity; Place in the tree: tier 2, column 1 → tier 2, column 3; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Elemental Devastation. Rank 1 tooltip: “Your offensive spell critical strikes will increase your chance to get a critical strike with melee attacks by 3% for 10 sec.” → “Your Critical Strikes with direct damage spells increase your chance to get a Critical Strike with melee attacks by 3% for 10 sec.”; Place in the tree: tier 2, column 4 → tier 2, column 1
- Changed: Elemental Focus. Place in the tree: tier 3, column 2 → tier 3, column 1
- Changed: Elemental Mastery. Tooltip: “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 143 to 185 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.” → “Gain mastery over Fire and Lightning, reducing the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst by 0.5 sec, and removing the cooldown from Chain Lightning. Lasts 15 sec.”; Name: Lava Burst → Elemental Mastery; Requires: Lightning Overload at 3/3 → Lava Burst at 1/1; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Elemental Reach. Rank 1 tooltip: “Increases the range of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 3 yards, and increases the range of your Flame Shock spell by 8 yards.” → “Increases the range of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 3 yards and reduces the cooldown of Totemic Projection by 10 sec.”
- Changed: Elemental Warding. Rank 1 tooltip: “Reduces the cast time of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst spells by 0.17 sec.” → “Reduces damage taken from Fire, Frost, and Nature effects by 3%.”; Name: Elemental Alacrity → Elemental Warding; Place in the tree: tier 3, column 3 → tier 3, column 2; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Fire Nova. Rank 1 tooltip: “Instantly inflicts 48 to 56 fire damage to enemies within 10 yd of your active Fire totem.” → “Instantly inflicts 30 to 36 fire damage to enemies within 10 yd of your active Fire totem.”; Rank 1 cost: 95 Mana → 65 Mana
- Changed: Fire Resistance Totem. Rank 1 tooltip: “Summons a Fire Resistance Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that increases the fire resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by 30.” → “Summons a Fire Resistance Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that increases the fire resistance of party or raid members within 30 yards by 30.”
- Changed: Flametongue Totem. Rank 1 tooltip: “Summons a Flametongue Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem enchants all party members' main-hand weapons with fire if they are within 30 yards. Each hit causes 6 to 22 additional Fire damage, based on the speed of the weapon. Slower weapons cause more fire damage per swing. Lasts 5 min.” → “Summons a Flametongue Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem enchants all party or raid members' main-hand weapons with fire if they are within 30 yards. Each hit causes 6 to 22 additional Fire damage, based on the speed of the weapon. Slower weapons cause more fire damage per swing. Lasts 5 min.”
- Changed: Grace of Air Totem. Rank 1 tooltip: “Summons a Grace of Air Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the agility of party members within 30 yards by 49. Lasts 5 min.” → “Summons a Grace of Air Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the agility of party or raid members within 30 yards by 49. Lasts 5 min.”
- Changed: Lava Burst. Tooltip: “Your Earthbind Totem Immobilizes nearby targets for 5 sec when cast.” → “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 107 to 139 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.”; Name: Earthbound → Lava Burst; Place in the tree: tier 5, column 4 → tier 5, column 2; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Lava Burst (Rank 2). Tooltip: “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 171 to 221 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.” → “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 143 to 185 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.”; Cost: 230 Mana → 165 Mana; Required level: level 50 → level 40
- Changed: Lava Burst (Rank 3). Tooltip: “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 192 to 248 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.” → “You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 171 to 221 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.”; Cost: 265 Mana → 230 Mana; Required level: level 60 → level 50
- Changed: Mana Tide Totem. Required level: level 25 → level 1
- Changed: Mana Tide Totem (Rank 2). Tooltip: “Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 197 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.” → “Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 133 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.”; Cost: 30 Mana → 20 Mana; Required level: level 48 → level 38
- Changed: Mana Tide Totem (Rank 3). Tooltip: “Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 290 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.” → “Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 197 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.”; Cost: 60 Mana → 30 Mana; Required level: level 58 → level 48
- Changed: Sentry Totem. Tooltip: “Summons an immobile Sentry Totem with 100 health at your feet for 5 min that allows vision of nearby area and warns of enemies that attack it. Right-Click on buff to switch back and forth between totem sight and shaman sight.” → “Summons an immobile Sentry Totem with 100 health at your feet for 5 min that allows vision of nearby area and warns of enemies that attack it. Right-Click on buff to switch back and forth between totem sight and Shaman sight.”
- Changed: Stormstrike. Cost: 125 Mana → 8% of base Mana
- Changed: Strength of Earth Totem. Rank 1 tooltip: “Summons a Strength of Earth Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the strength of party members within 30 yards by 7. Lasts 5 min.” → “Summons a Strength of Earth Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the strength of party or raid members within 30 yards by 7. Lasts 5 min.”
- Changed: Tidal Focus. Rank 1 tooltip: “Reduces the Mana cost of your totems and any spells that summon or move them by 5%.” → “Reduces the Mana cost of your healing spells by 1% and improves your chance to hit by 1%.”; Name: Totemic Focus → Tidal Focus; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Totemic Focus. Rank 1 tooltip: “Reduces the Mana cost of your healing spells by 1% and improves your chance to hit by 1%.” → “Reduces the Mana cost of your totems and any spells that summon or move them by 5%.”; Name: Tidal Focus → Totemic Focus; Icon: new icon
- Changed: Trial by Fire. Rank 1 tooltip: “Increases the damage done by your Fire Nova spell by 10% and reduces its cooldown by 2 sec.” → “Increases the damage done by your Fire Nova spell by 10% and reduces its cooldown by 2 sec, and increases the duration of your Magma Totem by 10 sec.”; Name: Improved Fire Nova → Trial by Fire
- Changed: Water Shield. Tooltip: “The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee, or ranged attack hits the caster or when one of the caster's healing spells gets a critical result, 2% of maximum mana is restored to the caster, expending one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one Elemental Shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.” → “The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee, or ranged attack hits the caster or when one of the caster's spells gets a critical result, 2% of maximum mana is restored to the caster, expending one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one Elemental Shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.”
- Changed: Windfury Totem. Rank 1 tooltip: “Summons a Windfury Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem enhances the melee attacks of all party members within 30 yards. Each main hand hit has a 20% chance of granting the attacker 1 extra attack with 95 extra melee attack power. Lasts 5 min.” → “Summons a Windfury Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem enhances the melee attacks of all party or raid members within 30 yards. Each main hand hit has a 20% chance of granting the attacker 1 extra attack with 95 extra melee attack power. Lasts 5 min.”
8 October 2026: beta build 1.60.1.70291
- Changed: Ancestral Fortitude. Tooltip: nothing → “Increases your armor value from items by 8%.”
- Changed: Lightning Bolt. Rank 1 tooltip: “Casts a bolt of lightning at the target for 13 to 15 Nature damage.” → “Casts a bolt of lightning at the target for 14 to 16 Nature damage.”
- Changed: Mana Tide Totem. Required level: level 40 → level 25
- Changed: Water Shield. Buff or debuff text: “Attacks and spells used against you and your critical heals restore 0.7% of your maximum mana. 3 charges.” → “Attacks and spells used against you and your critical heals restore 2% of your maximum mana. 1 charges.”; Cooldown: 15 sec → none
2 October 2026: beta build 1.60.1.70170
- Buff: Disease Cleansing Totem. Tooltip: “Summons a Disease Cleansing Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that attempts to remove 1 disease effect from party members within 30 yards every 5 seconds. Lasts 2 min.” → “Summons a Disease Cleansing Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that attempts to remove 1 disease effect from party members within 30 yards every 5 seconds. Lasts 5 min.”; Duration: 2 min → 5 min
Buffs and nerfs for every class
- Warrior buffs and nerfs
- Paladin buffs and nerfs
- Hunter buffs and nerfs
- Rogue buffs and nerfs
- Priest buffs and nerfs
- Mage buffs and nerfs
- Warlock buffs and nerfs
- Druid buffs and nerfs
Every change is also in the build changelog, with the old and new tooltip text.