Platehelm of the Great Wyrm

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
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Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
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Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

This is an article on Shaman abilities. Nearly all of the Shaman's abilities are mana-based and are split into three disciplines.

Elemental

The focus lies on the shaman's offensive spell casting abilities. It increasing their damage and critical strike chance.

Enhancement

Enhancement spells include those which increase your melee damage output and your chance to survive.

Restoration

Includes healing capability, reducing the casting time and mana cost of healing spells, while increasing their effectiveness.

Trainable abilities

These abilities are available to all Shamans, at the appropriate level, regardless of Talents.

Icon	Ability	Min Level	Description
	[Lightning Bolt]	Starts with	Causes X Nature damage to the target.
	[Primal Strike]	3	An instant weapon strike that causes X addition damage.
	[Strength of Earth Totem]	4	Summons a Strength of Earth Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the strength and agility of all party and raid members within 30 yards by X. Lasts 5 min.
	[Earth Shock]	5	Instantly shocks the target with concussive force, causing X Nature damage and reducing melee attack speed by 10% for 8 sec. This ability shares the cooldown of all other shock spells.
	[Healing Wave]	7	Heals a friendly target for X.
	[Lightning Shield]	8	The Shaman is surrounded by 3 balls of lightning. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for X Nature damage. This expends one lightning ball. Only one ball will fire every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one Elemental Shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.
	[Flame Shock]	10	Instantly sears the target with fire, causing X Fire damage immediately and Y Fire damage over 18 sec. This periodic damage may critically strike and will occur more rapidly based on the caster's spell haste. This ability shares the cooldown with all other shocks.
	[Flametongue Weapon]	10	Imbue the Shaman's weapon with fire, increasing total spell damage by X and increasing spell critical strike chance by 2%. Each hit causes Y additional Fire damage, based on the speed of the weapon. Slower weapons cause more fire damage per swing. Lasts 30 minutes.
	[Searing Totem]	10	Summons a Searing Totem with 5 health at your feet for 30 sec that repeatedly attacks an enemy within X yards for Y Fire damage.
	Ancestral Spirit	12	Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with X health and Y mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
	[Fire Nova]	12	Causes the shaman's active Fire totem to emit a wave of flames, inflicting X Fire damage to enemies within 10 yards of the totem.
	[Flametongue Totem]	12	Summons a Flametongue Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. Party and raid members within 30 yards of the totem have their spell damage and healing increased by up to X. Lasts 5 min.
	[Purge]	12	Purges the enemy target, removing X beneficial magic effect.
	[Ghost Wolf]	15	Turns the Shaman into a Ghost Wolf, increasing speed by 40%. As a Ghost Wolf, the Shaman is less hindered by effects that would reduce movement speed. Only useable outdoors.
	[Wind Shear]	16	Instantly blasts the target with a gust of wind, causing no damage but interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec. Also lowers your threat, making the enemy less likely to attack you.
	[Cleanse Spirit]	18	Removes one Curse effect from a friendly target.
	[Earthbind Totem]	18	Summons an Earthbind Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 45 sec that slows the movement speed of enemies within 10 yards.
	[Healing Stream Totem]	20	Summons a Healing Stream Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that heals group members within 30 yards for X every 2 seconds.
	[Healing Surge]	20	Heals a friendly target for X.
	[Water Shield]	20	The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water, granting X mana per 5 sec. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, Y mana is restored to the caster. This expends one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one Elemental Shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.
	[Frost Shock]	22	Instantly shocks the target with frost, causing X Frost damage and slowing movement speed by 50%. Lasts 8 sec. Causes a high amount of threat.
	[Water Walking]	24	Allows the friendly target to walk across water for 10 min. Any damage will cancel the effect. Requires Fish Oil.
	[Frostbrand Weapon]	26	Imbue the Shaman's weapon with frost. Each hit has a chance of causing X additional Frost damage and slowing the target's movement speed by 50% for 8 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
	[Chain Lightning]	28	Hurls a lightning bolt at the enemy, dealing X Nature damage and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Each jump reduces the damage by 30%. Affects 3 total targets.
	[Astral Recall]	30	Yanks the caster through the twisting nether back to the home inn. Speak to an Innkeeper in a different place to change your home location.
	[Call of the Elements]	30	Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
	[Reincarnation] (Passive)	30	Allows you to resurrect yourself upon death with 20% health and mana. Requires Ankh.
	[Totemic Recall]	30	Returns your totems to the earth, giving you 25% of the mana required to cast each totem destroyed by Totemic Recall.
	[Windfury Totem]	30	Summons a Windfury Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem provides X% melee haste to all party and raid members within 30 yards. Lasts 5 min.
	[Windfury Weapon]	32	Imbue the Shaman's weapon with wind. Each hit has a 20% chance of dealing additional damage equal to two extra attacks with X extra attack power. Lasts 30 minutes.
	[Lava Burst]	34	You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing X Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst will deal a critical strike.
	[Far Sight]	36	Changes the caster's viewpoint to the targeted location. Lasts 1 min. Only useable outdoors.
	[Magma Totem]	36	Summons a Magma Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for X sec that causes Y Fire damage to creatures within 8 yards every 2 seconds.
	[Grounding Totem]	38	Summons a Grounding Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that will redirect one harmful spell cast on a nearby party member to itself, destroying the totem. Will not redirect area of effect spells. Lasts 45 sec.
	[Call of the Ancestors]	40	Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
	[Chain Heal]	40	Heals up to three friendly targets. Each jump reduces the effectiveness of the heal by 40%.
	[Mana Spring Totem]	42	Summons a Mana Spring Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that restores X mana every 5 seconds to all party and raid members within 30 yards.
	[Wrath of Air Totem]	44	Increases spell haste of all party members within 30 yards. Lasts 5 min.
	[Water Breathing]	46	Allows the target to breathe underwater for 10 min. Requires Shiny Fish Scales.
	[Stoneskin Totem]	48	Summons a Stoneskin Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem protects party and raid members within 30 yards, increasing armor by X. Lasts 5 min.
	[Call of the Spirits]	50	Simultaneously places up to 4 totems specified in the Totem Bar.
	[Tremor Totem]	52	Summons a Tremor Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that shakes the ground around it, removing Fear, Charm and Sleep effects from party members within 30 yards. Lasts 5 min.
	[Earthliving Weapon]	54	Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by X and each heal has a Y% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additional Z over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
	[Earth Elemental Totem]	56	Summons an elemental totem that calls forth a greater earth elemental to protect the caster and his allies. Lasts 2 min.
	[Stoneclaw Totem]	58	Summons a Stoneclaw Totem with X health at the feet of the caster for 15 sec that taunts creatures within 8 yards to attack it. Enemies attacking the Stoneclaw Totem have a 50% chance to be stunned for Y sec. Stoneclaw totem also protects all your totems, causing them to absorb Z damage.
	[Elemental Resistance Totem]	62	Summons an Elemental Resistance Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min that increases the Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by X.
	[Bind Elemental]	64	Binds the target hostile elemental for up to 50 sec. The bound unit is unable to move, attack or cast spells. Any damage caused will release the target. Only one target can be bound at a time.
	[Fire Elemental Totem]	66	Summons an elemental totem that calls forth a greater fire elemental to rain destruction on the caster's enemies. Lasts 2 min.
	[Greater Healing Wave]	68	Heals a friendly target for X.
	[Bloodlust] [Heroism]	70	Increases melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by 30% for all party and raid members. Lasts 40 sec. After the completion of this effect, those affected will be unable to benefit from Bloodlust/Heroism again for 10 min.
	[Totem of Tranquil Mind]	74	Summons a Totem of Tranquil Mind with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 5 min, causing party or raid members within 30 yards to lose 30% less casting or channeling time when damaged.
	[Rockbiter Weapon]	75	Imbue the Shaman's weapon with the fury of the earth, increasing all threat generation by 30% and reducing damage taken by 5%. Lasts 30 minutes.
	[Hex]	80	Transforms the enemy into a frog. While hexed, the target cannot attack or cast spells. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Lasts 30 sec. Only one target can be hexed at a time. Only works on Humanoids and Beasts.
	[Unleash Elements]	81	Focuses the elemental force imbued in the Shaman's weaponry, with the concentrated effects depending on the enchantment unleashed. See individual weapon imbue spell tooltips for details regarding the effects of unleashing each.
	[Healing Rain]	83	Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring X health to allies in the area every 2 sec for 10 sec. Healing effectiveness diminishes for each player beyond 6 within the area.
	[Spiritwalker's Grace]	85	Calls upon spiritual guidance, permitting movement while casting non-instant Shaman spells. This spell may be cast while casting other spells. Lasts 10 sec.

Talent granted abilities

These abilities are only unlocked by purchasing them from the appropriate Talent tree.

Elemental

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Thunderstorm]	Elemental Primary	You call down a bolt of lightning, energizing you and damaging nearby enemies within 10 yards. Restores 8% mana to you and deals 1529 to 1745 Nature damage to all nearby enemies, knocking them back 20 yards. This spell is usable while stunned.
	[Elemental Mastery]	Elemental 20	When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, your Fire, Frost, and Nature damage is increased by 15% and you gain 20% spell haste for 15 sec.
	[Earthquake]	Elemental 30	You cause the earth at the target location to tremble and break, dealing X Physical damage every 1 sec to enemies in 8 yard radius, with a 10% chance of knocking down affected targets. Lasts 8 sec.

Enhancement

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Lava Lash]	Enhancement Primary	You charge your off-hand weapon with lava, instantly dealing 200% of that weapon's damage to an enemy target. Damage is increased by 40% if your off-hand weapon is enchanted with Flametongue.
	[Stormstrike]	Enhancement 10	Instantly strike an enemy with both weapons, dealing 125% weapon damage and granting you an additional 25% chance to critically strike that enemy with your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lightning Shield, and Earth Shock spells for 15 sec.
	[Shamanistic Rage]	Enhancement 20	Reduces all damage taken by 30% and causes your skills, totems, and offensive spells to consume no mana for 15 sec. This spell is usable while stunned.
	[Feral Spirit]	Enhancement 30	Summons two Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman, lasting 30 sec.

Restoration

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Earth Shield]	Restoration Primary	Protects the target with an earthen shield, reducing casting or channeling time lost when damaged by 30% and causing attacks to heal the shielded target for X. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. 9 charges. Lasts 10 min. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time and only one Elemental Shield can be active on a target at a time.
	[Nature's Swiftness]	Restoration 10	When activated, your next Nature spell with a base casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
	[Mana Tide Totem]	Restoration 20	Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 10% of the caster's health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec. Party members within 40 yards of the totem have their Spirit increased by 350%.
	[Riptide]	Restoration 30	Heals a friendly target for X and another Y over 15 sec. Your next Chain Heal cast on that primary target within 15 sec will consume the healing over time effect and increase the amount of the Chain Heal by 25%.

Abilities by type

Ranged damage

Long range

Shaman have three long range attack spells (30 yards range), the single target [Lightning Bolt] and [Lava Burst], and the multi-target [Chain Lightning].

Short range

The 3 Shock spells have a 20 yards range and provide good burst damage during a fight. [Earth Shock] reduces enemy attack speed. [Frost Shock] slows the enemies which allows you to catch people running away or slow down attacker coming at you (this is the shaman's best kiting spell), it also causes extra threat, making it great for pulling mobs off of casters. Before talents, a single [Flame Shock] does more damage than either Earth Shock or Frost Shock. However, the damage is spread out over 12 seconds (this is the shaman's only DoT spell). After the changes to downranking in patch 3.0.2, wind shock was added as a possibility for a short range counterspell, instead of rank 1 earth shock - with the additional effect of lowering the aggro on the target.

Weapon buffs

Main article: Shaman weapon buffs

[Windfury Weapon] gives a 20% chance of 2 extra attacks with greatly increased attack power. While this can give inconsistent damage, it can also provide impressive results if the additional attacks score critical hits. Beware, Windfury crits can cause high amounts of threat and can easily steal aggro in group battles.

[Flametongue Weapon] adds a bonus to the shamans damage spells and it does slightly less damage than its peers, but it is a good choice for increasing damage consistently against foes with high armor or frost resistance. It also benefits from spell damage gear and is the best choice for a elemental shaman or an enhancement shaman's offhand, due to [Lava Lash].

[Frostbrand Weapon] provides superior (though less consistent) DPS when compared with Flametongue. It also slows enemies when it procs, though most consider this to have marginal utility considering the availability of [Frost Shock]. For PvP situations, it can be combined with the talent [Frozen Power] for additional damage of other shaman spells.

[Earthliving Weapon] is unique among weapon buffs as it gives bonuses to healing spells rather than providing a damage bonus to the shaman's attacks, and has the chance to add a heal over time effect on the target of a shamans heals.

[Rockbiter Weapon] increases a weapon's DPS, and is currently intended as a low-level alternative to to Windfury Weapon. In Patch 3.0.2, all ranks of Rockbiter Weapon beyond rank 4 were removed from the game.

Which buff to use is a matter of preference and situation. Windfury delivers the highest burst damage, Frostbrand produces a limited snare effect basically for free, and Flametongue delivers constant damage regardless of opponents' armor. Earthliving Weapon is purely for the healing and support role, but its bonuses are not to be underestimated.

Dual-wielding shamans apply buffs to each weapon separately. Procs from offhand weapon buffs suffer the usual damage penalty. See the article of [Windfury Weapon] for quirks about dual-wield buffing.

Healing

Shaman have three types of healing spells. [Healing Wave] is big, slow and relatively mana-efficient heal. [Lesser Healing Wave] is quick and less efficient. [Chain Heal] is an AoE heal of sorts. When a shaman puts enough points in the Restoration tree, he can become a full-fledged healer with special healing abilities through talents, like [Riptide] (a instant heal with healing over time effect) or [Earth Shield].

Shaman can also Cure Poison and Cure Disease (singularly or with group-affecting totems), and cleanse curses with the talent [Cleanse Spirit].

Totem

Totems fall into several different categories. For more, go to Shaman Totems.

Damage

[Searing Totem] is a single target damage totem. [Fire Nova Totem] does a single AoE attack to all nearby. [Magma Totem] surrounds itself with an AoE DoT effect. None of these totems cause substantial amounts of damage.

Buff

Shamans have the ability to buff all party members instantaneously through the use of totems. These totems can increase stats, resistances, armor, spellpower, and melee/casting speed.

Debuff

[Earthbind Totem] and [Stoneclaw Totem] debuff the enemies by slowing them down or distracting them. [Totem of Wrath] also places a debuff on all enemies within range, increasing their chance to be critically hit.

Healing

[Healing Stream Totem] and [Mana Spring Totem] increase the regeneration rate of health and mana respectively. The  [Cleansing Totem] removes poison and disease effects from party members.

File:Shaman spell damage2.gif

Damage-based Shaman spells, displayed as damage-per-mana-point.

File:Shaman damage crits.gif

The same graph, but with Crit values displayed as well.

Other

[Grounding Totem] makes the next hostile spell within its range hit the totem instead of its target.

Non-nature based damage

Elemental and Resto shamans tend to have a hard time dealing with enemies that are resistant to nature based spells, though at later levels this is improved with the addition of [Lava Burst]. One strategy is to switch to an enhancement style of play, using strong melee attacks (2H weapons with [Windfury Weapon] or [Flametongue Weapon]), non-nature based shocks ( [Flame Shock] or [Frost Shock]), and damage totems ( [Searing Totem], [Magma Totem], or [Fire Nova Totem]) as your main sources of damage.