Shaman builds / Pre - WotLK This information is outdated , but is logged here for reference of past builds only . All of these builds have been invalidated by the 3 . 0 . 2 patch . The most common leveling Talent tree is Enhancement . Blue posts on the Blizzard Forums even state that this is the designers ' intent . At low levels , it ' s very mana - efficient and therefore has the least downtime while at the same time dealing high amounts of damage . The only drawback is that it ' s rather gear - dependent , similar to Warriors and Paladins . Strength , attack power , and critical hit are the crucial stats ; and Windfury is the melee Shaman ' s best friend . This Talent tree can also be chosen for leveling . At lower levels , downtime can be a problem , but this is something that elemental shamans deal with at any level . One must simply remember to carry enough water whenever they are questing ; leveling as an elemental shaman then becomes smooth and easy . At higher levels , after Water Shield becomes available , helping but not nullifying elemental shamans ' troubles with mana regeneration . Since items with healing bonuses also grant spell damage , healer specs are not quite as hopeless in solo PvE as they used to be , but it is still not a recommended choice . Damage output is still about half of what ' s possible with other builds , and this disadvantage is not made up for by the extreme survivability . Leveling with this type of build is only recommended when grouping frequently , and the group needs a dedicated healer ( remember that every shaman can off - heal ) . Restoration used to be the only acceptable shaman build in raids , and is the most common one to this day . Resto shamans are fully capable raid / group healers , with some individual strengths which no other healing class provides . Chain Heal is the most mana efficient and universally usable group heal over all classes . As in solo play , this talent tree has high DPS potential if the shaman in question is well - geared . The challenge that enhancement shamans face is that they are , as other melee DPSers , completely gear - dependent . Considering melee damage output it ' s second only to Rogue s , and generally above DPS Warrior s . Beyond the DPS , Windfury Totem can increase the damage output of the other melee classes by as much as 5 % , together with the AP buff from Unleashed Rage and the other totems , raid leaders are usually happy to invite one enhancement shaman to any raid to boost the melee DPS group . A second one may get a spot in the tank group . Elemental shamans bring to a raid many buffs that greatly help caster groups . Their Totem of Wrath , Wrath of Air Totem , and Mana Spring Totems provide powerful benefits to any casters in their group . They are able to pump out massive numbers on DPS meters , and can often top them , with competition only from equally - geared Warlocks and Rogues . Almost any successful 25 - man raid incorporates at least one elemental shaman into a caster group . Elemental shamans may have difficulty getting spots in 5 - man groups due to their lack of CC , but if the leader of the group is at all intelligent , he or she will realize that it is well worth it to sacrifice a bit of CC for the huge damage potential of a well - played elemental shaman . As in group PvE , Restoration is the most frequently seen build for PvP shamans . They are very capable healers , while still having the ability to interrupt enemy CC ' s or heals . Among the healer classes , they are very survivable due to mail armor plus shield . Restoration shamans will often join a PvP team with a Warrior , as their Windfury Totem gives the Warrior a potent DPS boost . Elemental generally fares better than enhancement in PvP . This is because as a ranged DPSer , elemental shamans are less susceptible to being kited / slowed / rooted . Burst damage can be very high when specced 40 / 0 / 21 for Nature ' s Swiftness , and ( like Resto ) , they survive a little longer in melee situations than other caster classes . As all shamans do , however , they constantly face challenges with their lack of CC and anti - CC capabilities . It is well recognized that elemental shamans generally perform poorly against Rogues and in 2v2 arena matches . The characteristics of this tree ( low mana usage and very high damage output ) remain the same in PvP . Unfortunately , the days of legendary Windfury proc one - shot kills are all but over ( anyone remember " Revenge of the Windfury " , starring Creed and his Arcanite Reaper ? ) . Nowadays , the common problem in PvP of all shamans hits melee builds particularly bad - they have no crowd control of their own , and are very susceptible to CC themselves . Elemental . The following elemental builds all use restoration as secondary tree , mainly because the talents match well , and also because elemental gear usually has stats which help healing too ( turning the elemental shaman into a capable off - healer ) . In principle it would be possible to put the remaining points in enhancement , but there are no really good synergies between these trees . Leveling / 5 - Man Instances ( PVE ) . Elemental is considered by some to be a poor choice as a leveling tree until Elemental Mastery becomes available at level 40 . However , the grind to level 40 can be done as an elemental shaman just as easily , if not more easily , than as an enhancement shaman . Casting spells makes elemental shamans less gear dependent than enhancement shamans , and as a result they often have an easier time taking on more difficult mobs . At level 40 , this 31 / 0 / 0 can get in 3 Lightnings and a Shock before the target even reaches melee range , which usually kills said target . While leveling to 70 , this build can evolve into this 41 / 0 / 20 , which is a good endgame build template for elemental shamans . ( Note that this particular talent spec is NOT ideal for level 70 PvP , see below for a more optimal spec ) Raiding ( PVE ) . Raiding is different from small groups and solo play . Spell hit should be maxed , and threat reduction becomes essential . Therefore these talents should be preferred , leading to builds like 41 / 0 / 20 . If enough gear with mana regeneration is available , it ' s possible to move the points from Unrelenting Storm to other talents , and since a certain amount of spell hit is unavoidable in endgame gear ( actually shamans frequently complain that their endgame gear sports " too much " spell hit ) , the points in Nature ' s Guidance are frequently moved somewhere else too , finally resulting for example in 41 / 0 / 20 . PvP . The elemental tree offers some talents which don ' t boost DPS but increase PvP survivability . Also , the top elemental talent is less valuable than Nature ' s Swiftness in PvP . Therefore 40 / 0 / 21 is a good PvP build . Enhancement . The key advantages of this tree are very high DPS combined with good endurance . Enhancement Shamans do maximum damage when dual wielding . The Enhancement tree can usually be complemented either by Restoration ( with its 3 % increased hit chance and increased survivability ) ; or Elemental , which makes the shocks better and thus yields the highest possible DPS , but at the cost of higher mana usage . Leveling / 5 - Man Instances ( PVE ) . The Standard Enhancement Build matches Enhancement with Restoration . Taking Elemental instead results in the Reverberation Build . With points in Improved Ghost Wolf ( making it instant ) along with a point in Elemental Focus , it is perfectly suited for soloing and 5 - mans . Raiding ( PVE ) . Enhancement Shamans are a major DPS class in raids . Since in a raiding environment drawing aggro usually means death for non - tanks , all survivability talents are not needed , and should be replaced with skills that give hit rating or other buffs . An enhancement / resto raiding build would look something like this 0 / 45 / 16 . PvP . Enhancement is somewhat tricky in PvP . Although it has the ability to kill enemies very quickly with extreme burst damage , it lacks crowd control abilities . Enhancement Shamans can still take out any class , but need to know very well what they are doing . Stay up close and personal on casters , and keep your distance from hard melee hitters . Swapping in a shield in fights with warriors , hunters , and rogues can improve the odds dramatically . Since PVP fights are very mobile and resisted Earth Shocks and Frost Shocks can spell defeat , Totemic Mastery and Nature ' s Guidance are extremely valuable talents for PVP . 0 / 47 / 14 is a typical build . Common variants choose Shield Specialization over Ancestral Guidance or move a point from Mental Quickness to Unleashed Rage . This 18 / 43 / 0 build uses Elemental instead . Mixed ( PvE & PvP ) . 0 / 47 / 14 is a multi - purpose build that can raid , instance , solo , and be a surviving force in PvP . It grabs nearly all useful Enhancement talents , and spends only the bare minimum of points in Restoration to get the essential Nature ' s Guidance . It includes controversial talents like Toughness , which now halves movement - slowing time when maxed in addition to increasing armor ; Improved Ghost Wolf , which is a PvP and utility thing ; and Mental Quickness , which is a solo / hybrid Talent . If needed , points can be removed from these Talents and be put into Anticipation , Improved Weapon Totems , Guardian Totems , and / or Improved Lightning Shield . Restoration . It ' s hard to propose a reasonable levelling build , because soloing with a resto shaman is tedious at best . It ' s usually enough to keep a set of healer gear - similar to shadow priests , shamans can heal well enough for the occasional instance even without the proper talents . Restoration is an endgame healer spec to which shamans should switch when they hit level 70 . That is not to say that leveling with a Restoration spec is impossible . The very good survivability , especially at lvl50 + when you get the Earth Shield talent , makes questing actually very easy . You can simply AOE pull mobs and solo almost any elite , allowing you to complete many quests marked as ' group quests ' on your own . Party members in the " occasional instance " will be very pleased if you are specced to healing , and you won ' t have to drink every other pack . The reduced DPS is quite well compensated by the high survivability that allows AOE and reduces downtime . Since Ancestral Knowledge is about the only useful talent for a healer outside the resto tree , shamans usually spend a lot more than the mandatory 41 points in resto ( 0 / 0 / 41 ) . Talents like Ancestral Healing together with Tidal Mastery , Nature ' s Guardian and Improved Reincarnation are highly useful PvE talents , a common PvE build is this 0 / 5 / 56 . If mana is no issue , points from Totemic Focus can be moved to other talents , similarly those in Focused Mind are not mandatory . In PvP , the combination of Nature ' s Guardian with Earth Shield makes a resto shaman very hard to kill . On top of that , they can heal very well , and give the earth shield to others while not under attack themselves . A PvP spec can do away with all the raid - specific talents like Healing Grace , 0 / 7 / 54 is an example . Improved Ghost Wolf is a highly useful talent in the outdoor battlegrounds or world PvP . Actually the difference between raid and PvP resto specs is rather small , depending on playstyle and gear available , shamans can find a dual - purpose spec which is good in both , PvE and PvP . For a more versatile PVP spec could be something to consider . It offers more protection against various classes due to longer range Earthbind Totem and damage reduction from Elemental Warding . Other Resto PVP Specs that are good for arena are the following and . They assume that you ' re using mostly lesser healing waves as your primary method of healing and are using a shield . Hybrid builds . A plethora of hybrid builds can be found in the forums . Many shamans claim they can tank , dps and heal . A common argument runs along the lines " I can dps while no heals are needed , heal if damage spikes come in , and tank in an emergency " . During leveling groupings this brings great flexibility to groups and affords the Shaman to fill in multiple roles as needed . In endgame raids , unfortunately , this line of reasoning is fundamentally flawed . The endgame is all about specialization . The healing argument is always valid , because every shaman can heal in an emergency . The tank argument is true only for emergencies and only if there ' s a large discrepancy in gear or player skill . The Shaman class is not designed to main tank and the main tank should do his job , not the shaman . Here is one viable hybrid spec for the leveling and endgame : The elemental / resto build 31 / 0 / 30 . Taken by itself , this build delivers about 80 % of each , the healing capacity of a resto shaman , and the DPS output of an elemental build . Since the DPS output of an elemental shaman is about 90 % of that of a " pure " ranged damage dealer , a raid would sacrifice 20 % of a healer ( plus one earth shied and a mana tide ) for about 70 % of a ranged damage dealer . The flexibility gained allows to dynamically shift from ranged DPS to healer and back . This can be useful if an instance has different boss types ( DPS race and battle for survival ) , it also speeds up trash clearing .