Shaman builds This article is a guide on shaman builds . As a hybrid class , shamans can adapt to a wide variety of tasks . The three talent trees each result in a rather different game experience . Talent trees By purpose . Leveling / Solo PvE . Enhancement The designers stated intent that the Enhancement tree is the leveling spec for Shamans . It combines little to no down time and high damage output . The important spells and abilities are Windfury Weapon , dual - wielding , Stormstrike , and Lava Lash . The drawback of this spec is that it ' s melee and thus takes a solid amount of damage from most mob types . At higher levels , Maelstrom Weapon allows regular instant heals , which helps to remedy this problem greatly . Elemental As the ranged DPS tree , Elemental can also be used for leveling . It ' s much safer since mobs are usually seriously hurt ( or even dead ) , before they are in melee range . However , it uses a lot of mana and thus leads to higher downtime . Another rare , but serious problem is that , due to most of Elemental damage being nature damage some creatures immune to nature damage force the player to fall back on their fire , ice and melee damage . There are few spells that deal this kind of damage , so these creatures are best avoided . Restoration For the purpose of solo play , Restoration is a rather poor choice . The tree offers next to no enhancements to damage output and therefore killing mobs takes a very long time . It grants high survivability though , meaning a Resto Shaman will almost never fall in combat against normal mobs , especially if Earth Shield is taken later in the game . Restoration is a nice spec when leveling in a group environment with many instances . This method has become viable with the introduction of the Dungeon Finder . Group / Raid PvE . Restoration Healing was the traditional role for Shamans in all groups or raids . Over the years , the other specs have become viable too , but Restoration is still a very well liked specialization for raiding Shamans . Since 3 . 0 . 1 , healing Shamans even got an interesting spell rotation ( since 2 . 0 it had been mostly Chain Heal spam ) . At least one Earth Shield is still wanted by every raid leader . Shamans are good point ( tank ) healers and decent AoE ( raid ) healers . Elemental An elemental shaman is a ranged damage dealer who contributes a strong raid - wide buff of 3 % crit for all other damage dealers ( including melee ) . This buff alone may be worth bringing an elemental shaman . If no Moonkin druid is in the raid , elemental provides a similar buff ( Elemental Oath , exclusive with Moonkin Aura ) for another 5 % crit . The drawback is that an elemental shaman has only some limited AoE abilities which cannot compete with Mages , Warlocks or Druids in that department . Enhancement Enhancement Shamans are melee damage dealers with high burst capabilities and very good point damage output , but again ( simliar to elemental ) only mediocre AoE capabilities . Additionally they provide AP to the whole raid ( Unleashed Rage ) and their totems are a little more effective than those of other shamans due to Enhancing Totems . PvP . Elemental This tree has great potential to throw off both melee and caster opponents . Elemental Warding fends off up to 6 % damage from all sources . Astral Shift further reduces damage if placed under one of the conditions . Thunderstorm is an amazing way to fend off melee attackers for enough time to throw in a quick heal . Finally Eye of the Storm ( Talent ) helps when trying to get a cast in when there are multiple attackers . These damage - reducing talents along with the high damage output allow for a well - rounded PvP Shaman . Enhancement This tree can be very fun to mess with people , especially when they are caught off guard . The key talents are Toughness which reduces both movement - impairing effects and a good amount of damage , Static Shock for 9 charges of Lightning Shield , and Maelstrom Weapon which makes one spell instant after a certain number of melee hits . Jumping an enemy by surprise with both Feral Spirit s , Bloodlust ( Heroism for Alliance players ) , and both instant - strike attacks can make enemies feel helpless and intimidated . Restoration Restoration shamans are not the easiest build to play in PvP . Players need to put some effort into understanding and familiarizing themselves with the various abilities . The low damage output makes restoration shamans rather easy prey for enemy damage dealers . Nature ' s Swiftness is a highly useful spell when a fast , big and uninterruptable heal is needed . Also , Nature ' s Guardian is more useful than it seems at the first glance . PVE Talent builds . Elemental . This is your basic PvE leveling and raiding build for Elemental Shaman . There are 5 points available to move around as you see fit . It is nice to have the extra passive speed - boost and instant Ghost Wolf from Ancestral Swiftness , and the extra range from Totemic Reach can extend the life of a totem drop , and couples nicely with Elemental Reach . Focus on haste , then spellpower , then crit ( up to 20 % + ) . Glyphs : Lightning Bolt , Flame Shock , and Totem of Wrath . The Lava glyph is probably not worth it . Totem of Wrath is around 80 SP , which benefits all spells , while the Lava glyph only benefits the eight - second cooldown ; that ' s about 300 dps per lava burst and 80sp benefits your lava burst + all the lightning bolts between the cooldown ( which is > 300dps total ( atleast 500dps depending on gear ) ) . Rotation is simple on bosses : Flame Shock - > Elemental Mastery - > Lava Burst - > Lightning Bolt / Chain Lightning ( Never cast chain lightning if the cast time gets below 1 second or you will hit the GCD ! ) Then repeat from Lava Burst onward , Renew Flame Shock whenever necessary and make sure to cast Earth Shock for big damage when your Lightning Shield hits 9 stacks . Addons such as Shock and Awe or TellMeWhen , which notify you of spell availability , can be very helpful with keeping track . On AoE the rotation is no longer Flame Shock - > Chain Lightning - > Fire Nova - > Lava Burst - > Chain Lightning - > Lightning Bolt - > Chain Lightning - > Fire Nova . We have a viable AoE spell now that ' s calle Earthquake and it ' s pretty sweet . The spell effect is pretty cool , and the damage is solid . We can now compete with other caster classes in AoE damage . On single trash the rotation is Flame Shock - > Lava Burst - > Chain Lightning ( That ' s because CL is a faster cast than lightning bolt and doesn ' t cost much mana after a crit . ) If the target isn ' t dead after that , spam Lava Burst when it ' s available , else Lightning Bolt . Remember to reapply Flame Shock when its effect wears off , although " not " simply when it ' s available . No point overlapping , as LvB does more damage . Enhancement . This build focuses on being a solid leveling spec . With this build you rarely stop for mana or healing and it focuses on a rotation of stormstrike , lava lash and your choice of shock spells . Glyph of Lightning Shield is a must for this build as soon as possible , making soloing much simpler and nicer ( infinite charges of shield along with your Static Shock ) . Crits are key to this build with Flurry ( shaman talent ) and Elemental Devastation . The points put into Ancestral Swiftness or Frozen Power can be transfered to Improved Shields for extra lightning shield damage ( or if you prefer Windfury Weapon to Frostbrand Weapon ) points can also be moved into Totemic Reach if you want to be able to plop down your totems and fight all the mobs around you more easily . Totems to use for this build while leveling would be Strength of Earth Totem , Flametongue Totem until Searing Flames . Restoration . With the talent and stat revamp in Cataclysm , we Shaman no longer have unlimited mana - pools . It ' s time to become more active and smarter about who we heal and how much healing we do . There is no longer an option for extreme over - healing or simply spamming chain - heal . In fact , Chain Heal is no longer the go - to heal in emergencies or for general healing in raids . It is all about biding your time , recovering mana whenever possible , and throwing big targeted heals on the raid - members who are in the most danger . We also need to recover mana actively rather than waiting for MP5 / Spirit regen to save us . We have talents that help us recover mana when casting damaging spells . Throw lightning bolts when not casting heals to recover mana , a perfect time for this is immediately after casting Healing Rain . Pre - WotLK ( 3 . 0 . 2 ) patch . For older builds , see External links . < ! - - Elemental Enhancement Resto Builds Builds Builds Elemental Enhancement Resto