Shaman

Rotations & Guide · PvE guide · PvP guide · Talent builds · Abilities · Talent Calculator · Macros · Changes vs Classic

Other classes: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warlock, Druid

Shamans are totem-based hybrids that heal, cast elemental spells or fight in melee. Forever adds Lava Burst and Riptide as the Elemental and Restoration capstone talents, Mental Dexterity and Rage of the Farseer for Enhancement, and quality-of-life totem tools: Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors and Call of the Spirits drop up to four totems in one 3 sec cast, and Totemic Recall returns them for mana.

Elemental (Caster DPS)

Elemental opens with Flame Shock and uses Lava Burst, Forever's tier 7 Elemental talent, which deals 20% more damage when Flame Shock is on the target, as a 10 sec cooldown nuke. Lightning Bolt fills and Chain Lightning handles cleave. Elemental Alacrity (tier 3) and Call of Thunder make Lightning Bolt faster and more likely to crit, Elemental Fury (tier 6) doubles spell crit bonus, and Call of Flame now also buffs Lava Burst.

Enhancement (Melee DPS)

Enhancement is a melee shaman with Windfury Weapon, Flurry and Stormstrike, backed by powerful group totems. Forever builds the tree around Intellect: Mental Dexterity turns Intellect into attack power, Shamanistic Focus makes shocks and Lightning Shield 45% cheaper, Stormstrike moves up to tier 4, and Maelstrom Weapon and Rage of the Farseer sit at the bottom. Call of the Elements drops up to four preset totems, such as Windfury, Strength of Earth, Mana Spring and a fire totem, in one 3 sec cast.

Restoration (Healer)

Restoration Shaman is a group healer with Chain Heal and totems. Forever adds Riptide as the tier 7 Restoration talent: an instant heal plus HoT that makes Chain Heal cast on that target stronger. The loop is Riptide the tank, Chain Heal off them, and fill with Healing Wave or Lesser Healing Wave, while Mindfulness and Water Shield keep your mana flowing.

Tips & tricks: what ForeverDB learned

Elemental

Updated 8 October 2026 for build 1.60.1.70205 · From the DPS simulator, the game client

• Speculation: The class guide's rotation card uses Flame Shock here and the simulator disagrees: check it in game before trusting either: Leave Flame Shock out of single-target fights at level 30: the simulator's 60 s fight did 6% more damage without it. The class guide disagrees, so treat this as a lead to test. (level 30)
• Simulator: Clearcasting (from Elemental Focus): Your next damage spell has its mana cost reduced by 100%. Cast Lightning Bolt within 15 sec, before it fades. In the simulator it comes 2.217 times a 60 s fight. (level 30)
• Simulator: Best consumable at level 30: Lesser Arcane Elixir (+5.8% DPS in the simulator); then Briny Seafood Stew (+5.4%). (level 30)
• Simulator: The party buff that helps you most at level 30 is Arcane Intellect from a Mage: +8.5% DPS in the simulator. (level 30)
• Simulator: Where your damage comes from at level 30: Lightning Bolt 71%, Flame Shock 14%, Searing Totem 13% (simulator: recommended build, best gear for the level, 60 s single-target fight). (level 30)
• Simulator: Searing Totem is worth 6.8% of your DPS at level 30: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. (level 30)
• Simulator: Mana runs short at level 30: in the simulator's 60 s fight you spend 13.5 s unable to cast. Drink between pulls and start full. (level 30)
• Simulator: Stat values at level 30 (simulator, 1 spell power = 1): Intellect 1.51, hit rating 0.31. (level 30)
• Speculation: The class guide's rotation card uses Flame Shock here and the simulator disagrees: check it in game before trusting either: Leave Flame Shock out of single-target fights at levels 20-29: the simulator's 60 s fight did 3.6% more damage without it. The class guide disagrees, so treat this as a lead to test. (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Best consumable at levels 20-29: Lesser Arcane Elixir (+8.5% DPS in the simulator); then Briny Seafood Stew (+7.9%). (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: The party buff that helps you most at levels 20-29 is Arcane Intellect from a Mage: +11.8% DPS in the simulator. (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Where your damage comes from at levels 20-29: Lightning Bolt 69%, Searing Totem 16%, Flame Shock 14% (simulator: recommended build, best gear for the level, 60 s single-target fight). (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Searing Totem is worth 10.6% of your DPS at levels 20-29: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Mana runs short at levels 20-29: in the simulator's 60 s fight you spend 14.3 s unable to cast. Drink between pulls and start full. (levels 20–29)

How to play it at level 30: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

1. Searing Totem: When it's missing from you: Keep it up: 92% of the sim's fight; worth 6.8% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)
2. Lightning Bolt: Fill the gaps with it: Your filler: cast it when nothing above is ready; worth 66.7% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)

React to:

• When Clearcasting procs: Lightning Bolt within 15 sec: Your next damage spell has its mana cost reduced by 100%. (Simulator, Forever client)

Keep up:

• Searing Totem on you, at least 90% of the time (Simulator, Forever client)

Before the pull:

• Arcane Intellect (Simulator, Forever client)
• Blessing of Wisdom (Simulator, Forever client)
• Lesser Arcane Elixir (Simulator, Forever client)
• Blessing of Kings (Simulator, Forever client)
• Briny Seafood Stew (Simulator, Forever client)
• Scroll of Intellect II (Simulator, Forever client)
• Mark of the Wild (Simulator, Forever client)
• Elixir of Wisdom (Simulator, Forever client)

Avoid:

• Leave Flame Shock out of single-target fights at level 30: the simulator's 60 s fight did 6% more damage without it. (Simulator)

Latest changes:

• 8 October 2026: First profile (first study)

Enhancement

Updated 8 October 2026 for build 1.60.1.70205 · From the DPS simulator, the game client

• Simulator: Best consumable at level 30: Bear Brisket (+1.9% DPS in the simulator); then Scroll of Strength II (+1.7%). (level 30)
• Simulator: The party buff that helps you most at level 30 is Blessing of Kings from a Paladin: +5% DPS in the simulator. (level 30)
• Simulator: Where your damage comes from at level 30: auto attacks 46%, Windfury Attack 17%, Stormstrike 15% (simulator: recommended build, best gear for the level, 60 s single-target fight). (level 30)
• Simulator: Stormstrike is worth 9.5% of your DPS at level 30: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. (level 30)
• Simulator: Searing Totem is worth 7.6% of your DPS at level 30: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. (level 30)
• Simulator: Mana runs short at level 30: in the simulator's 60 s fight you spend 6.1 s unable to cast. Drink between pulls and start full. (level 30)
• Simulator: Stat values at level 30 (simulator, 1 attack power = 1): Intellect 3.03, Strength 2, hit rating 1.26. (level 30)
• Simulator: Best consumable at levels 20-29: Bear Brisket (+1.9% DPS in the simulator); then Scroll of Strength II (+1.7%). (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: The party buff that helps you most at levels 20-29 is Mark of the Wild from a Druid: +4.1% DPS in the simulator. (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Where your damage comes from at levels 20-29: auto attacks 55%, Earth Shock 14%, Searing Totem 12% (simulator: recommended build, best gear for the level, 60 s single-target fight). (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Searing Totem is worth 11.1% of your DPS at levels 20-29: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. (levels 20–29)
• Simulator: Flame Shock is worth 6.6% of your DPS at levels 20-29: the simulator's fight without it did that much less damage. It kept it on the target 89% of the time. (levels 20–29)

How to play it at level 30: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

1. Searing Totem: When it's missing from you: Keep it up: 98% of the sim's fight; worth 7.6% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)
2. Stormstrike: When it's missing from you: Keep it up: 46% of the sim's fight; worth 9.5% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)
3. Flame Shock: When it's missing from the target: Keep it on the target: up 80% of the sim's fight; worth 2.7% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)
4. Earth Shock: Fill the gaps with it: Your filler: cast it when nothing above is ready; worth 3.2% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)

Keep up:

• Searing Totem on you, at least 95% of the time (Simulator, Forever client)
• Stormstrike on you, at least 45% of the time (Simulator, Forever client)
• Flame Shock on the target, at least 80% of the time (Simulator, Forever client)

Before the pull:

• Blessing of Kings (Simulator, Forever client)
• Mark of the Wild (Simulator, Forever client)
• Blessing of Might (Simulator, Forever client)
• Arcane Intellect (Simulator, Forever client)
• Battle Shout (Simulator, Forever client)
• Blessing of Wisdom (Simulator, Forever client)
• Bear Brisket (Simulator, Forever client)
• Scroll of Strength II (Simulator, Forever client)
• Elixir of Ogre Strength (Simulator, Forever client)
• Elixir of Agility (Simulator, Forever client)

Latest changes:

• 8 October 2026: First profile (first study)

Restoration

Updated 8 October 2026 for build 1.60.1.70205 · From the game client

• Forever client: No simulation for this spec yet: the order here is the site's rotation card for level 30, with cooldowns and costs from the Forever client. (level 30)
• Forever client: No simulation for this spec yet: the order here is the site's rotation card for levels 20-29, with cooldowns and costs from the Forever client. (levels 20–29)

How to play it at level 30: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

1. Call of the Elements: Whenever it's ready: Before the pull: your water totem, Stoneskin Totem and the rest in one 3 second cast. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
2. Water Shield: Whenever it's ready: Keep it up; each globe restores mana when you're hit or a heal is a critical. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
3. Healing Wave: Whenever it's ready: Main tank heal; Healing Way's first point makes it heal 8% more. Start it early. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
4. Lesser Healing Wave: Whenever it's ready: When the tank drops faster than a Healing Wave can land. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
5. Cure Poison: Whenever it's ready: Remove a poison. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
6. Cure Disease: Whenever it's ready: Remove a disease. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
7. Totemic Recall: Whenever it's ready: After the fight, for 25% of your totems' mana back. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)

Latest changes:

• 8 October 2026: First profile (first study)

Every spec's latest changes. Re-studied every week and after each new game build.

Best in slot gear at any level: Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration

Shaman abilities

• Ancestral Fortitude
• Healing Wave (level 1)
• Lightning Bolt (level 1)
• Rockbiter Weapon (level 1)
• Earth Shock (level 4)
• Stoneskin Totem (level 4, from the Classic class quest Call of Earth (rank 1))
• Earthbind Totem (level 6)
• Lightning Shield (level 8)
• Stoneclaw Totem (level 8)
• Flame Shock (level 10)
• Flametongue Weapon (level 10)
• Searing Totem (level 10, from the Classic class quest Call of Fire (rank 1))
• Strength of Earth Totem (level 10)
• Ancestral Spirit (level 12)
• Fire Nova (level 12)
• Purge (level 12)
• Cure Poison (level 16)
• Tremor Totem (level 18)
• Call of the Elements (level 20)
• Frost Shock (level 20)
• Frostbrand Weapon (level 20)
• Ghost Wolf (level 20)
• Healing Stream Totem (level 20, from the Classic class quest Call of Water (rank 1))
• Lesser Healing Wave (level 20)
• Totemic Recall (level 20)
• Cure Disease (level 22)
• Poison Cleansing Totem (level 22)
• Totemic Projection (level 22)
• Water Breathing (level 22)
• Frost Resistance Totem (level 24)
• Far Sight (level 26)
• Magma Totem (level 26)
• Mana Spring Totem (level 26)
• Fire Resistance Totem (level 28)
• Flametongue Totem (level 28)
• Water Walking (level 28)
• Astral Recall (level 30)
• Call of the Ancestors (level 30)
• Grounding Totem (level 30)
• Nature Resistance Totem (level 30)
• Reincarnation (level 30)
• Windfury Weapon (level 30)
• Chain Lightning (level 32)
• Windfury Totem (level 32)
• Sentry Totem (level 34)
• Windwall Totem (level 36)
• Disease Cleansing Totem (level 38)
• Call of the Spirits (level 40)
• Chain Heal (level 40)
• Grace of Air Totem (level 42)

Data from the WoW Forever beta client, build 1.60.1.70205, extracted 2026-10-04.