Shaman PvP in WoW Forever: Enhancement, Elemental and healer builds and rotations against every class

Shaman is a hybrid that does a little of everything: melee damage, casting, healing and totem support. You lack hard control and immunity, but have Earth Shock to interrupt spells, Purge to remove two enemy magic buffs at once, and totems against fear, Polymorph and poisons.

Totems are your main weapon. Tremor Totem removes fear, Grounding Totem absorbs Polymorph or Fear, and Earthbind Totem slows pursuers. In Forever, placing a totem triggers a 1-second global cooldown; persistent totems last 5 minutes with a 30-yard radius. But a totem has only 5 health: any attack, shot or wand destroys it, and counterplay against Shamans revolves around that.

Mana is your resource. At level 60, lightning and shock base damage is substantially lower in Forever than Classic. Gear provides more spell power, however, and nobody has measured the final level 60 damage yet. Shamans therefore win through windows rather than long mana duels: Stormstrike and a shock, Lava Burst into Flame Shock, or an instant heal at the right moment.

Shamans have three roles, each viable in battlegrounds, world PvP and duels. Enhancement, or Enh, uses a two-hander to kill in a few swings when Windfury procs. Elemental, or Ele, casts lightning, roots and Lava Burst. Restoration, or Resto, heals battlegrounds with instant Riptide and Mana Tide Totem. Each role's plan for each setting is covered below.

Since October 15, Grace of Air, Strength of Earth, Windfury and Flametongue Totems buff the raid. Grace of Air can coexist with either weapon buff, but Windfury and Flametongue are mutually exclusive and affect only players. Chain Lightning costs roughly 35% less. Fire Nova deals less base damage and gains 14.3% of spell power rather than 21.4%. Water Shield triggers from critical hits by any Shaman spell.

Classic's main PvP Shaman was the Elemental/Restoration 30/0/21 hybrid with Nature's Swiftness: instant lightning or healing every 3 minutes. Wowhead calls it the best all-round build; Icy Veins uses it as the default. Enhancement 20/31/0 played the Windfury lottery: a proc could kill in one swing, while damage without it was low. Deep Restoration healed battlegrounds; Shamans rarely carried flags in Classic.

On October 15, Elemental Mastery returned to the 31st point: for 15 seconds it shortens Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst casts by 0.5 seconds and removes Chain Lightning's cooldown; 3-minute cooldown. Lava Burst now requires the 21st point and Earthbound the 16th. This differs from early beta talent overviews. Stormstrike remains at the 16th point, with an 8-second cooldown and 8% base mana cost. Rage of the Farseer and Riptide remain their trees' capstones.

Restoration gained instant Riptide at the 31st point; Mana Tide Totem moved to the 16th, and Water Shield restores mana while you take hits. Crucially for hybrids, Stormstrike and Nature's Swiftness fit together for the first time. In Classic, that required 52 points.

Assessments from before the October 15 update: on the level 30 beta, Mobalytics' duel tier list puts Shaman in A, calling Enhancement a monster when everything aligns, but noting unreliable procs and weakness to kiting. Supatease puts Enhancement in S and Elemental and Restoration among the weaker specs. RankedBoost's level 60 tree assessment places Elemental in A and the others in B. Enhancement's main beta forum complaint is the lack of a panic button; an Elemental-is-useless thread exceeded two hundred posts. Our level 60 expectation: Enhancement for duels and world PvP, the Nature's Swiftness hybrid as an all-round fighter, Restoration for battleground healing. These rankings predate the latest patch and are not an up-to-date class comparison.

Spec	In Classic	In Forever	Use
Enhancement 20/31/0	The Windfury lottery	Stormstrike every 8 sec, Rage of the Farseer, instant Lightning Bolt	Duels and world PvP
NS Enhancement 0/30/21	Only without Stormstrike	Stormstrike and Nature's Swiftness together, Water Shield	Duels, world PvP, battlegrounds
Elemental 31/7/13	31/0/20 with Elemental Mastery	Lava Burst, Earthbound, instant wolf	Battlegrounds, world PvP
Elemental/Restoration 30/0/21	The main PvP Shaman	The same, plus Mana Tide Totem and Water Shield	Battlegrounds, world PvP, duels
Restoration 0/13/38	Healer 8/9/34	Riptide, Mana Tide Totem at the 16th point	Battleground healer
Restoration with Stormstrike 0/20/31	Not possible	Riptide, NS and Stormstrike	Resilient fighter; niche

Five races can be Shamans in Forever: Orc, Tauren, Troll and Skyborne for the Horde, and only Dwarf for the Alliance. PvP favours racials that provide burst or break control. This section includes the October 15 racial changes.

Race	What it offers a PvP Shaman	Best suited to
Orc	Hardiness reduces stun duration by 20%. Savage: +1% critical strike chance regardless of weapon. Blood Fury every 3 minutes. Shatter Curse removes curses and banes and reduces magic damage taken by 5% for 8 seconds, but grants no immunity.	Enhancement, Stormstrike burst
Troll	Berserking: +10% attack and casting speed, off the global cooldown. Rapid Regeneration heals 50% health over 6 seconds if you take no damage. Passive regeneration is increased by 20%.	Enhancement and Elemental
Tauren	War Stomp: a 2-second stun with a 90-second cooldown; works in Druid forms. +5% health and +2% critical damage and healing.	Healer: time to heal under focus fire
Skyborne	+3% attack and casting speed. Walk on Air every 90 seconds; the racial's speed or recovery effect can be activated while moving.	In our assessment, weaker than the alternatives for PvP
Dwarf	Stoneform removes bleeds, poisons and diseases. Earth Fury increases critical damage and healing by 2% regardless of weapon; it does not increase critical strike chance.	The only Alliance Shaman

Totems are to Shamans what stances are to Warriors: they determine whether you win. You can have one totem per element; a new one replaces the old. Forever allows placing a set through Call of the Elements, but its 3-second cast means individual totems, each with a 1-second global cooldown, are faster in a fight.

• Tremor Totem: removes fear, charm and sleep every 4 seconds. This includes Fear, Howl of Terror, Psychic Scream, Intimidating Shout, Seduction, Hibernate and, according to data, even Mind Control. It does not remove Death Coil, Polymorph, Sap or Repentance. Place it before fear: you cannot place it while feared.
• Grounding Totem: absorbs one harmful targeted spell aimed at a group member: Polymorph, Fear, Death Coil, Frostbolt, Pyroblast or roots. Since October 15 it is destroyed right after that; the cooldown is 15 seconds. It does not absorb area damage. Place it when the enemy begins casting; a pre-placed totem gets wanded down.
• Earthbind Totem: every 3 seconds, slows all enemies within 10 yards by 50%; 15-second cooldown. With the Earthbound talent, placement also roots them for 5 seconds.
• Poison Cleansing Totem: removes a poison every 5 seconds, including Crippling Poison, Viper Sting and, according to data, Blind, which counts as poison. Pre-place it against Rogues.
• Group and raid support: since October 15, Strength of Earth, Grace of Air, Windfury and Flametongue Totems buff the raid. Grace of Air works alongside either weapon buff; Windfury and Flametongue are mutually exclusive and affect only players. This does not make other totems raid-wide. Persistent totems last 5 minutes with a 30-yard radius.
• Weakness: every totem except Stoneclaw has 5 health. Any attack, shot, wand, pet or area damage destroys it. Place totems behind cover or behind you, not in the centre of the fight.
• New Forever buttons: Totemic Projection moves all totems up to 30 yards (1-minute cooldown); Totemic Recall removes them and refunds 25% mana; Fire Nova is now a spell that explodes around your fire totem.

The following groups cover Shaman abilities at level 60. Level means the trainer level or the talent point at which an ability becomes available. A quick reference follows at the end.

• Enhancement burst: wolf into melee, Stormstrike, immediate Earth Shock (+20% and an interrupt), then Windfury procs. Rage of the Farseer and an off-global racial make the sequence hit even harder.
• Maelstrom: at 5 stacks, use an instant free Lightning Bolt, 20% stronger after Stormstrike.
• Elemental: Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt and Earth Shock to finish. During Nature lockout, use Lava Burst and Frost Shock.
• Roots and retreat: place Earthbind Totem with Earthbound beside a melee attacker; the 5-second root lets you retreat and cast.
• NS: Nature's Swiftness immediately into Healing Wave to save someone or Lightning Bolt to finish. Do not sit on the buff: it can be dispelled.
• Grounding into a cast: when an enemy begins Polymorph, Fear or Pyroblast, place Grounding Totem. If destroyed, the next is available in 15 seconds.
• Tremor before fear: see a nearby Warlock or Priest? Place Tremor in advance; it pulses every 4 seconds.
• Flag carrier: protect yours with Earthbind under pursuers, Frost Shock and wolf. Stop theirs with Frost Shock, Earthbind in their path and Purge on Freedom and shields.

Repeated control of the same type on one target lasts less time: in Classic, 100%, then 50%, 25% and immunity, resetting after roughly 15-20 seconds. Our Forever categories come from client 1.60.1 data, which does not give reset durations. Shamans have little control, and almost all of it has no diminishing returns.

Effect	Diminishing-return category	Shared with
Earthbound roots	Roots, according to data	Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, Nature's Grasp, Entrapment
Tauren War Stomp	Stuns	Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Bash, Charge, Intercept
Frost Shock, Earthbind, Frostbrand Weapon	None	-
Earth Shock interrupt	None	-

Below are six level 60 builds: two Enhancement, two Elemental and two healer builds. Each includes an in-game-style talent tree, an explanation of every talent and a levelling order. The number in an icon's upper-left corner is the level at which you take its first point.

Published level 60 Forever Shaman PvP builds are almost nonexistent: the only one, on RankedBoost, is broken and does not allocate 51 points. These builds are therefore our interpretation of the talent tree, Classic equivalents and testers' plans. Talents unlock at level 10 and reset at a class trainer; dual specialization becomes available at 40. If talents change before the November 4 release, we will update the builds.

Three numbers such as 20/0/31 show talent points in the three trees, from left to right: Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration. They are not character levels.

Enhancement is the most dangerous Shaman in melee. The sequence is wolf into melee, Stormstrike, immediate Earth Shock with +20% damage and an interrupt, then Windfury procs. For burst, add Rage of the Farseer with Blood Fury or Berserking. Forever's Windfury proc is stronger than Classic, and PvP crits have been unreduced since October 8, so a two-hander can again kill in a few swings.

The weakness is staying on target. Shamans have no leap or stun except Tauren War Stomp, so hold enemies with Frost Shock, Earthbind and Frostbrand Weapon. In battlegrounds, your job is the enemy healer: Purge shields and HoTs, rank 1 Earth Shock interrupts heals, Stormstrike and a shock finish.

Pure Enhancement has no instant healing: Maelstrom Weapon only accelerates Lightning Bolt. Beta testers report being burst down in 5 seconds; the forum's answer is Nature's Swiftness instead of Rage, or 0/30/21. If you are often focused, that is your panic button.

On October 15, Elemental Mastery returned to the 31st point: for 15 seconds, it shortens Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst casts by 0.5 seconds and removes Chain Lightning's cooldown; 3-minute cooldown. Lava Burst now requires the 21st point and Earthbound the 16th. This differs from early beta trees. Plan burst around Flame Shock and the buff window; Chain Lightning is now roughly 35% cheaper.

The main addition is control. Earthbound roots melee enemies for 5 seconds when you place Earthbind Totem, whose cooldown is 15 seconds. Testers advise placing it between yourself and the target and maintaining distance so melee cannot reach you. If that fails, rely on a shield, mail and healing.

Elemental's main weakness is that opponents can remove Flame Shock or interrupt casts. Since October 15, Call of Flame extends the shock by 3/6/9 seconds, so old calculations based only on 12 seconds no longer apply. Early power assessments do not account for Elemental Mastery's return.

The beta has one battleground: Darkspear Islands, 15 versus 15, available from level 30. Four bases surround a central flag carried to any base your team owns. Cover is scarce, and fear near water sends players into the shark-filled sea. An Islands tester calls fear the battleground's strongest spell, but Shamans are popular and Tremor usually stands near the centre. Your central Tremor is therefore a major contribution.

Totems hold an objective for 5 minutes. Beside a base flag, place Searing or Magma Totem with Fire Nova, Tremor, Poison Cleansing and Sentry Totem; use Totemic Recall when leaving. Damage interrupted captures in Classic, so Fire Nova and Earthbind against a group at the flag interfere with capping.

Shamans can probably carry the flag in wolf: it is a form, not a mount, and client data does not indicate that it drops the flag. This has not been tested in game. A Shaman carrier has wolf, Earthbind behind them, Grounding, Tremor, Riptide and Nature's Swiftness. Counters are Purging wolf and the Shaman's inability to remove slows.

Below is a plan against each class at level 60. Assessments come from Classic guides, Forever data and beta tier lists, not level 60 hands-on experience. The main perspective is Enhancement in duels and world PvP; Elemental and battleground-healer differences are noted separately.

Class	Enhancement	Elemental	Healer	Key point
Shaman	Even	Even	Even	Ground their Frost Shock; dispel their NS
Warrior	Even	Even or favourable	Even or difficult	Purge Free Action, keep them in combat, Tremor for fear
Paladin	Even	Favourable or even	Even	Purge Freedom and Protection; do not interrupt during Voice of Truth
Hunter	Even or difficult	Even	Difficult	Trap at their feet; Poison Cleansing for Viper Sting
Rogue	Even	Even or difficult	Even or difficult	Pre-place Poison Cleansing; wolf cannot be Sapped
Mage	Even or difficult	Even	Even or difficult	Ground Polymorph; dispel Fingers of Frost and Ice Barrier
Warlock	Favourable or even	Even	Even or difficult	Tremor, shock Fear, dispel Soul Link
Priest	Even	Even	Even or difficult	Purge the shield; you can cleanse Plague
Druid	Even	Even	Even	Dispel Innervate, NS and HoTs; attack caster form

• Choose your fight. Attack players fighting a creature, drinking or low on health; do not open on a Mage with Nova and Blink ready. Place totems before contact: Strength of Earth against melee, Grounding against casters, Poison Cleansing against Rogues.
• Escape. Instant wolf, Earthbind behind you, Water Walking across a lake; a zone boundary can break pursuit too. Skyborne can Levitate off a cliff.
• Reincarnation. With an Ankh in your bag, revive on the spot with some health and mana. Against corpse camping, wait until the enemy looks away.
• Windfury. A slow two-handed Windfury proc in Classic sometimes killed a Mage or Priest in one swing; those videos became legendary. Forever's proc is stronger than Classic Era, so the meme will return.
• The Grounding game. A Mage destroys the totem with a cheap spell or wand; the Shaman places a new one into the cast. Whoever outplays the other wins.
• The Paladin answer. In Classic, Shamans were Horde-only and Paladins Alliance-only. Forever gives the Horde Undead Paladins and the Alliance Dwarf Shamans, settling the old argument.
• Totem compatibility. Since October 15, Grace of Air works alongside Windfury or Flametongue. Windfury and Flametongue remain mutually exclusive. Do not apply old totem-twisting restrictions to this updated combination.
• First Aid. Shamans cleanse their own poisons and diseases; bandages cost no mana. See the Rogue guide's table for other First Aid removals.
• Thunder Bluff jump. With an Ankh in your bag, you can escape a chase by jumping off Thunder Bluff or any cliff: die from the fall, revive at the bottom with 20% health and mana, and leave while the enemy looks for a way down. Reincarnation has a 1-hour cooldown, so pick the moment.
• Grounding against Mind Control. Drop Grounding Totem on deck before the ship leaves and it will absorb a Priest's Mind Control aimed at someone in your group. It only protects your own group and catches a single spell, then it is destroyed. Don't count on Tremor Totem here: Season of Discovery players reported that it does not break Mind Control in PvP.
• Totem spy. Sentry Totem lasts 5 minutes and shows everything around it, while Far Sight lets you watch any outdoor spot for a minute. Veterans planted the totem at the Arathi Basin mine and used Far Sight on the Blacksmith. On the beta, one player complains that a Shaman with Water Walking and Far Sight gets too big a head start in the Stranglethorn fishing tournament.
• Wolves don't walk on water. Ghost Wolf cancels Water Walking, as it did in Classic. Cross the lake on foot and shift into the wolf on the shore. Any damage also drops you into the water, so a DoT halfway across ends in a swim.

Potions share a 2-minute cooldown; Healthstones and runes share a separate one. Shamans cannot remove their own stuns or slows, making Free Action Potion and the PvP trinket more important than for many classes. You can cleanse poisons and diseases but not curses; against Curse of Tongues, you need Restorative Potion or an Orc racial.

In Forever, weapon imbues last an hour and stack with sharpening stones, weightstones and oils: Enhancement uses Dense Weightstone or Elemental Sharpening Stone; Elemental and healers use Brilliant Wizard Oil or Brilliant Mana Oil. Keep Ankh in your bag for Reincarnation.

Item	Effect	Note
Major Mana Potion	1350-2250 mana	Core for Restoration and Elemental
Major Rejuvenation Potion	1440-1760 health and mana	For Enhancement and flag carriers
Free Action Potion	30 seconds of immunity to stuns and slows	Use in advance against Rogues, Warriors and Mages
Living Action Potion	Removes stuns and slows; 5 seconds of immunity	Escape a stun lock
Restorative Potion	Removes magic, curse, poison or disease effects periodically for 30 seconds	Curses and Polymorph; does not remove Psychic Scream
Limited Invulnerability Potion	6 seconds of physical attack immunity; casting remains possible	Heal in melee against Warriors and Rogues
Swiftness Potion	+50% movement speed for 15 seconds	Carry the flag if wolf was dispelled
Greater Nature Protection Potion	Absorbs 1950-3250 Nature damage	Against Shamans and Druids
Greater Shadow Protection Potion	Absorbs 1950-3250 Shadow damage	Against Warlocks and Shadow Priests
Major Healthstone	1440 health	Separate cooldown from potions
Heavy Runecloth Bandage	2000 health over 8 seconds	Costs no mana
Greater Insignia of the Horde, Greater Insignia of the Alliance	Removes slows and loss-of-control effects; 5-minute cooldown	Rank 2 reward; the launch reward is still unknown

Shamans use macros to shock a focus target, heal a mouseover ally without manually leaving wolf, and place the right totem with one button. Below are popular PvP macros from Classic and Forever guides.

Commands and bracketed conditions use English; spell and item names must match the English client exactly. The easiest method is to Shift-click a spell from the spellbook into the macro window. Alt defaults to self-casting, so these macros use only Shift and Ctrl.

Focus is a separately saved target: select an enemy and type /focus before using a focus macro. An @focus macro acts on that saved enemy without changing your current target.

Mouseover means the unit under your cursor, including its unit frame. Hover over the intended target before pressing an @mouseover macro.

• Both factions have Shamans; the Alliance option is Dwarf.
• Totems trigger a 1-second global cooldown; persistent totems last 5 minutes with a 30-yard radius. The October 15 update made Strength of Earth, Grace of Air, Windfury and Flametongue raid-wide; other totems are not automatically raid-wide. Call of the Elements, Totemic Projection and Totemic Recall were added.
• Windfury and Flametongue are raid-wide totem auras since October 15, affecting players only and excluding each other. Grace of Air can coexist with either. Weapon imbues last an hour. Your own Windfury is stronger than Classic Era, while the totem is weaker.
• Stormstrike requires the 16th point, has an 8-second cooldown and boosts only your lightning and Earth Shock.
• On October 15, Elemental Mastery returned to the 31st point: for 15 seconds, it shortens Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst casts by 0.5 seconds and removes Chain Lightning's cooldown; 3-minute cooldown. Lava Burst now requires the 21st point and Earthbound the 16th. This differs from early beta talent trees.
• New capstones: Rage of the Farseer for Enhancement and Riptide for Restoration; Mana Tide Totem requires the 16th point.
• Maelstrom Weapon grants instant Lightning Bolt; Water Shield restores mana; instant wolf costs 7 points and works indoors.
• Level 60 lightning and shock base damage is substantially below Classic, but gear has more spell power.
• Fire Nova is a spell around your fire totem, not a totem itself.
• PvP crits are no longer reduced (October 8), and the Greater Insignia removes all loss-of-control effects.
• Shamans cannot dual-wield.

• Shocking on cooldown rather than interrupting an enemy cast.
• Using top-rank Earth Shock just to interrupt: rank 1 does the same for 30 mana.
• Placing totems in the centre of the fight, where they are immediately destroyed.
• Trying to place Tremor after fear: you cannot place it while feared.
• Grounding too early, before the enemy casts: it gets wanded down.
• Leaving Nature's Swiftness active: it can be dispelled as magic.
• Using NS with Lava Burst: it is Fire and will not become instant.
• Combining your own Windfury with Windfury Totem: they do not stack.
• Healing with Lightning Shield instead of Water Shield.
• Having no Ankh in your bag.