Restoration Shaman guide for WoW Forever

The Restoration Shaman in WoW Forever heals with a few simple spells and fills the gaps with utility. Chain Heal is the big group heal, Lesser Healing Wave saves a target in trouble, and your totems buff the whole raid. New in Forever are Riptide, Water Shield and Mindfulness, which help the oldest problem of the spec: mana. This guide covers the level 30 build, the key talents, the healing priority, totems, mana, stats and races.

Role	Healer, single target and groups
Build at level 30	21 points in Restoration, Talented adds Tidal Mastery 5/5 and Restorative Totems 4/5
Key talents	Mindfulness, Water Shield, Ancestral Healing, Tidal Mastery, Mana Tide Totem, Nature’s Swiftness
Strength	Simple and strong heals, raid-wide totems, a lot of utility
Weakness	Mana, no hard crowd control, totem positioning
Other Shaman guides	Shaman leveling, Shaman level build

Strengths and weaknesses

Simple healing. A handful of heals that need little planning, and Chain Heal is one of the strongest heals in the game. In quiet moments you help the group in other ways.

Group buffs. Totems give stats, Windfury to weapons, mana regeneration and resistances. In Forever they work for the whole raid, not only your party.

Utility. Purge removes an enemy buff, Earth Shock interrupts, and you cure poison and disease. With Improved Ghost Wolf you move fast in combat, indoors too.

Mana. Shamans burn through mana. Water Shield and Mindfulness help, but managing mana stays part of the job.

Little crowd control. No hard crowd control. Earthbind Totem slows, and roots with Earthbound from the Elemental tree, but it drops at your feet.

Positioning. Totems have a range. Windfury Totem must reach the melee, Mana Tide Totem the other healers, and Chain Heal only jumps between players who stand close together.

The level 30 build

The beta stopped at level 30, so the build uses 21 points. Talented from the Legacy system adds 5 more. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Improved Healing Wave	5/5
Tidal Focus	3/5
Mindfulness	3/3
Ancestral Healing	3/3
Water Shield	1/1
Tidal Mastery	4/5
Mana Tide Totem	1/1
Nature’s Swiftness	1/1

Open the Talented version with Tidal Mastery 5/5 and Restorative Totems 4/5.

Nature’s Swiftness sits in the fifth row and needs 20 points above it, so it is the 21st point. The same build is in our Shaman leveling guide.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Improved Healing Wave	Healing Wave casts 0.5 seconds faster
Tidal Focus	At 3/5: healing spells cost 3% less mana, and 3% more chance to hit
Mindfulness	50% of your mana regeneration continues while you cast
Ancestral Healing	A critical heal raises the armor of the target by 25% for 15 seconds
Water Shield	Three water globes; a hit on you or a critical spell restores 2% of your maximum mana per globe
Tidal Mastery	Up to 5% more critical strike chance for healing spells
Restorative Totems	At 4/5: Mana Spring Totem 20% stronger, Healing Stream Totem 40% stronger
Mana Tide Totem	A totem that restores 88 mana every 3 seconds for 12 seconds to the group within 30 yards
Nature’s Swiftness	Your next Nature spell with a cast time is instant
Riptide	An instant heal plus a heal over time, and 25% more healing from Chain Heal cast on that target

Water Shield gives no passive mana in Forever, but with a lot of critical heals it adds up. Riptide is the last talent of the tree, in the seventh row, out of reach at level 30.

Healing priority

There is no fixed order for a healer: react to what happens. As a guide:

1. Riptide on your main target, once you have it.
2. Chain Heal when the target stands near other hurt players, preferably on a target with Riptide.
3. Lesser Healing Wave when someone needs a heal right now.
4. Healing Wave for steady damage.
5. Healing Stream Totem for constant healing when your Water Totem slot is free.

For tank healing, Chain Heal only pays off when the tank stands near others who are hurt. Riptide is instant, so you can cast it right after a heal with a cast time lands, for an extra burst. A macro with Nature’s Swiftness and Healing Wave, or with Chain Heal, gives you an emergency button.

Mana

1. Spirit on gear is your main mana regeneration. Take more of it when you run out.
2. Mindfulness keeps 50% of it going while you cast, for only 3 points.
3. Mana Spring Totem all the time, Mana Tide Totem when the group runs dry. Place it so other healers profit too.
4. Water Shield on critical heals.

Totems and movement

• Windfury Totem is the best melee buff in the game and gets you invited. Without the party restriction, it works for the whole raid.
• Tremor Totem removes fear, sleep and charm from allies in range. Good timing saves runs.
• Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem remove one effect per pulse, so you do not need to cure each player.
• Totemic Recall takes your totems back for a little mana. Totemic Projection moves your active totems up to 30 yards, but costs a lot of mana.
• Ghost Wolf with Improved Ghost Wolf is instant and works indoors. Shifting in and out costs a global cooldown.

While moving you mainly have Riptide and Nature’s Swiftness for healing. Think about where the fight goes before you drop your totems.

Mouseover healing

Mouseover casting is built into Forever. Turn it on in Options, Combat: your heals then go to the unit under your mouse, frames included, while you keep your own target. Click Casting in the Keybindings menu gives each mouse button its own spell.

Stats and gear

Stat priorities for level 60 follow after the launch. Until then:

• Healing power: bigger heals, so fewer casts and less mana.
• Spirit: your main mana regeneration in Forever.
• Intellect: a bigger mana pool and more spell critical strike chance.
• Critical strike chance: bigger heals, more Water Shield mana, and heals over time can now critically hit.
• Haste: faster casts and global cooldown, but it does not speed up heals over time, and you spend mana faster.

Armor. Cloth, leather or mail, whatever has the right stats: a lighter armor type has no penalty in Forever. Dungeons and Leatherworking give good leveling gear.

Weapon. Healing power and spell power, then Intellect. A one-handed weapon with a shield is usually best, but a better staff is fine too.

Totems. The relic slot of the Shaman. Still rare; look for one that helps your mana.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Dwarf	The only Alliance Shaman, with 1% hit from Artisan’s Precision
Horde	Orc	Blood Fury, the strongest choice
Horde	Troll	Survival abilities and Berserking
Horde	Tauren	War Stomp and 5% more Health
Horde	Windshaper Skyborne	2% more spell and melee haste

Leatherworking makes well-statted gear while you level, with spell power, which is rare early on. Engineering makes strong trinkets and gadgets. Enchanting makes a strong totem early, Polished Driftwood Icon. More about healing in groups in our dungeon guides.