Shaman PvE guide

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Things Shamans want Non-Shamans to know

Shamans and groups

It seems that often Shamans are thought of as nothing but Priests with shocks, which isn't true. We straddle the border between 3 worlds: we're good (but not great) damage-dealers, we're good (but not great) damage-takers, and we're good (but not great) healers, with those abilities becoming great depending on which talents we choose. A shaman who specializes in Enhancement becomes a very good melee damage dealer. So don't be surprised to find us up with the warriors, at least at the start of the battle.

Elemental and/or Enhancement shamans typically come in guns blazing at the beginning of a fight (dropping totems as needed), then gradually fall back to a healing position to keep everyone else alive. Warriors & Rogues will always be at the front kicking ass, Mages and Priests will always be in the back throwing out spells and heals, but a shaman will be where he's needed most. Don't expect us to hang around in the back waiting for you to bleed. Not only is that boring for shamans, but it's also a waste of a slot in your group. If you want a priest, get a priest.

Shamans are (as at patch 2.1) arguably the best healers for large groups of people taking damage in raids. This is thanks to Chain Heal. Chain Heal is not only extremely mana efficient (512 if the shaman is specced for it), but also extraordinarily good at utilizing +heal. Chain Heal has for a long time been the shamans trademark spell, but has only recently become the best healing spell in the game. Compare to other Shaman heals; Lesser healing wave has a +healing coefficient of 43%. That means that a LHW that would heal 1500, would heals up to 2145 with the addition of 1500 +healing. Healing Wave is slightly better, using 86% of +healing, but Chain Heal has a healing coefficient of 126%. To stop the number-crunching and finish this off, when you have good gear chain heal is absolutely awesome.

Shamans can make capable off-tanks. If you ask a shaman to do this, however, their capacity to heal is seriously reduced, as much of the time they will be forced to heal themselves. Shamans can main tank instances, but often at such a high level that the shaman is unlikely to see any point for being in the instance. Though Blackrock Depths is generally considered the highest level instance a shaman can hope to tank, few shamans have been known to have tanked Karazhan. (See here)

Enhancement shamans will greatly increase your group's melee DPS, because of Unleashed Rage.

Much like Druids, shamans should bring multiple gear sets, and use mods such as ItemRack to quickly toggle between them. A versatile shaman should not hesitate to go between 2H weapons, 1H and shield, or stepping back into a healing role, with gear choices that complement these tasks.

If a shaman drops three or four totems, whether in combat or just outside aggro range of the next group to kill in an instance, it's probably a pretty good idea to do what you can to fight within the limited range of those totems rather than outside of them. They do cost mana and time to reposition, so waiting for a shaman to drop their last totem then charging after the next group rather than pulling them to the totems or running around outside their range can be fairly frustrating.

If you want a shaman to drop Windfury Totem or Wrath of Air, just ask politely. And if you do ask for Windfury Totem, just make sure to cancel anything that is on your main hand weapon. With the release of WotLK, totems were changed to buff the entire raid (within range), hence it is no longer required to juggle shamans between groups during raids for their totem buffs. Enhancement shaman love Leader of the Pack, for the 5% critical rate, so its always nice to have the feral druid and shaman together. Elemental Shamans and Restoration Shamans will enjoy being in a group with a Balance Druid for the 5% spell crit bonus. Also, Tremor Totem doesn't cancel all fears, so don't yell at us if we don't have one down.

Things Non-Shamans want Shamans to know

If you're not off-tanking (or tanking), consider not using Lightning Shield. Since you're not tanking, you don't want to maintain aggro when you get it, and Lightning Shield will only do damage in this case anyway, increasing the difficulty for the tank to re-acquire aggro from your attackers.

If you are tanking, especially main-tanking, please use a shield. You won't survive without a miracle otherwise.

Mages can Polymorph, but be wary of your Chain Lightning spell as it can interrupt the often-wandering sheep. We can't DPS or CC properly if our sheep gets interrupted!

Squishies (Mages, Priests, and to a lesser extent Warlocks) might like a Frost Shock to get their mob's attention if they get aggro. This is especially true when they have Crowd Controlled a mob as it will run right at them when the CC wears off. Frost shock is best for this, because it is instant, doesn't have a DoT, it slows target and generates extra threat to boot.

When you're in an instancing group, watch the puller's target and get ready to Earth Shock. There are times where the puller shoots his bow on a caster, who starts casting and ruining the pull. Mages' Counterspell can help, but your Earth Shock has a lower cooldown (30 sec. vs. 6 sec.). Consider this when you have a mage in your instancing party.

When in doubt, Grounding Totem in boss encounters.

General tips

Rogue

Windfury Totem is a great totem for rogues.
Strength of Earth Totem is good as well, because it gives them additional strength and agility.

Warrior

Strength of Earth and Windfury Totem are great for warriors as they help then give/take more damage. When you are in a group with 1 or more protection warriors, you might want to use Stoneskin Totem to reduce their damage taken.
Warriors have a ton of HP, so they need big heals. It's best to primarily use Healing Wave on Warriors, unless they're dying fast and you're taking damage. Then use a whole lot of Lesser Healing Wave. Remember: they don't have negative health points, so even a huge Healing Wave is worthless if they're dead.
Try not to use Frost Shock until the end of a battle (after the Warrior has built up a lot of aggro), unless you're using it to stop runners. It causes an enhanced aggro (more than its damage) and will peel mobs off the warrior. Alternate between Flame Shock and Earth Shock - Flame Shock is the most mana-efficient, whereas you use Earth Shock while Flame Shock's DOT is still going.

Priest

When in a group with a priest, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Mana Spring Totem and if you have them Totem of Wrath and Mana Tide Totem.
Keep your eyes on the Priest's HP and Mana bars. They often become so engrossed in keeping others alive that they forget to heal themselves.
If you see their mana bar getting too low, it's time to kick YOUR healing into high gear. Try not to blow your mana early in the battle!
Dropping a Healing totem can help make a priest's job a lot easier by filling in the piddly amounts of damage that are done by AoEs and stuff.
Just like with Warlocks, if you see a mob on a Priest, Frost Shock them to get them off!

Warlock

When in a group with a warlock, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Mana Spring Totem and if you have them Totem of Wrath and Mana Tide Totem.
Warlocks are suicide machines. Keep them alive!
A warlock will usually use Life Tap immediately after combat to regain mana. This will cost them their health and while you do not have to worry that they are getting hit by an invisible enemy, they will be thankful if you heal them up.
If you see a mob on a Warlock (or any caster), Frost Shock will likely get them to attack you instead - better that they're attacking the Mail-user than the Cloth-user. Then find a way to get the tank's attention.
Try to keep their pet alive as well, they are like an extra, minor party member.

Mage

Mages can do a lot of damage with their spells, which may draw mobs onto them. Use Frost Shock to draw those mobs off the Mage, then let the tank pull them off of you.
When in a group with a mage, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Mana Spring Totem and if you have them Totem of Wrath and Mana Tide Totem.
If working with an Frost Mage that is skilled at grinding mobs, it's a good idea to allow the mage to go about their business generally unhindered. Good ways to help are to drop a nova totem between the mage and frozen mobs, so that by the time the mobs unfreeze and head towards the mage it goes off. Keep in mind to drop it far enough from frozen mobs that they won't attack it whilst frozen.
Make sure that you are standing next to the mage, so that if you do aggro mobs they continue to head in the right direction and stay within the mage's AoE.
Drop a magma totem between the mage and mobs after your nova goes off, to increase AoE damage.
Stand next to the mage and cast chain lightning into the mobs, this will aggro mobs onto you but if you are in the right place they will stay on the right path. Drop your nova totem again when it has cooled down, then after it has gone off drop another magma totem.
Get ready to run, as when mobs reach the mage they will cast frost nova again to freeze the mobs and then blink away. The best thing to do is stand slightly behind the mage so that when they cast frost nova you are not in melee distance of the group of mobs. Then skirt around until you are between them and the mage, drop a nova totem and retreat back to the mage's side again.
If any of the mobs are ranged, break free of frost nova, or are not affected by the slowing affect of the mages AoE, use your Frost Shock to aggro the mob away from the mage. If the mob is a melee mob, keep them as close to the mage as possible, so that when the mage next casts frost nova that mob is also affected. If the mob is a caster or ranged, get them down as quickly as possible, then go back to assisting the mage with the other mobs.
If the mage is attempting to AoE grind a group of ranged mobs, they are stupid and deserve to die. Run away and find another mage.

Druid

When in a group with a restoration druid or a balance druid, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Mana Spring Totem and if you have them Totem of Wrath and Mana Tide Totem.
Restoration druids, like priests, will run out of mana if forced to heal too much. Be prepared to throw out some healing to help.
Healing druids can only lose aggro with Cower, and that stops them from healing. Help protect them from adds like any other healer.
Druid tanks have high armor but no block or parry. Expect a steadier stream of damage and be charging up Healing Wave instead of reacting with Lesser Healing Wave.
Druids gain a large amount of dodge per points of agility, so putting down your Strength of Earth totem while a druid is tanking in bear form will make a good impact on his ability to mitigate damage. Druids in cat form also gain attack power from agility as rogues do and will also benefit from Strength of Earth.

Hunter

Hunters are really the only class that you usually don't have to worry about healing much, or keeping aggro off. They can Feign Death, giving them time to heal themselves with bandages or whatever they have.
Remember, with a Hunter, there's another member of your party you need to keep track of, their pet! You can quickly target a pet by pressing the function key of their master twice in rapid succession. In the event that your interface does not show pet health you can press "V" (by default), it'll put a health bar above the pet (if you have that option turned on in the interface settings), which makes it a lot easier to track.
Strength of Earth Totem helps Hunters do more damage and last longer. Enough said.

Shaman

Organize with them beforehand to make sure you're not dropping the same totems they are, since most effects don't stack.
With 2 shamans in a group, you could have Strength of Earth and Stoneskin, Wrath of Air and Windfury Totem, Healing Spring and Mana Spring, etc. Your party will be MUCH harder to kill.

Paladin

Like Protection Warriors, Protection Paladins also benefit from strength since 3.0 Strength of Earth Totem is very beneficial to them.
Retribution Paladins benefit from strength but not much from spell damage since 2.4, so Strength of Earth and Windfury Totem helps them more.
Enhancement Shamans really shouldn't have too much of a problem keeping their mana bars topped off with Shamanistic Rage, so ask for a Blessing of Might or Kings as opposed to Wisdom. Restoration and Elemental Shamans are another story, and Blessing of Wisdom is probably the better choice. Of course, don't turn your nose up at Blessing of Kings.
If the Paladin is healing and you are DPSing, he'll thank for a Wrath of Air Totem. Nothing beats a Totem of Wrath, however, as the extra spell crit that they receive makes their healing that much more mana efficient.
There's not too much raid synergy between a Holy Paladin and a Restoration Shaman. Aside from 101 +healing, they're not missing out on anything important from not being in your group. Generally, they can spam Flash of Light without the need for a Mana Spring/Tide Totem. Let them group with and heal the tank while you take care of any AoE damage with Chain Heal in the caster DPS group.

The Raiding Shaman

Elemental

As with all PvE casters, it's expected that a raiding Elemental Shaman be spell hit capped against raid bosses.

Spell hit required for raid bosses: 17% (446 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Elemental Precision: 14% (368 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Elemental Precision and Draenei Heroic Presence: 13% (341 hit rating at 80).

Enhancement

Current convention dictates that a raiding enhancement shaman needs to be spell hit capped. Therefore they require the same amount of hit as an elemental shaman for raiding. However, in addition to this, an enhancement shaman needs to consider Expertise, and unlike the elemental talent tree, enhancement has no talents to increase spell hit.

Below, there are three milestones that each enhancement shaman needs to hit to excel in a PvE raid environment. While these are in a somewhat chronological order as to when an enhancement shaman will hit each of these milestones, keep in mind that it's most effective to work on gaining hit in tandem with expertise instead of completely capping one, then the other.

First hit milestone for reaching the hit "soft-cap" for special attacks like Stormstrike and Windfury Weapon hits:

Melee hit required for raid bosses: 8% (263 hit rating at 80).

Melee hit required for raid bosses, with Dual Wield Specialization: 2% (66 hit rating at 80).

Melee hit required for raid bosses, with Dual Wield Specialization and Draenei Heroic Presence: 1% (33 hit rating at 80).

Second hit milestone for reaching the expertise cap to reduce/eliminate the chance all melee attacks are dodged from behind bosses:

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind: 26 (214 rating at 80).

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind, with Unleashed Rage (in 3.1): 17 (140 rating at 80).

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind, with Unleashed Rage (in 3.1) and Axe Specialization (for Orcs using axes in both hands): 12 (99 rating at 80).

Third hit milestone for reaching the hit cap for spells like Earth Shock and Lightning Bolt hits:

Spell hit required for raid bosses: 17% (446 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Draenei Heroic Presence: 16% (420 hit rating at 80).

Thoughts on obtaining more hit than the spell hit cap:

Once an enhancement shaman caps their spell hit, additional hit is not nearly as useful. This is because most of a shaman's damage comes from their special melee attacks (like Stormstrike and Windfury) and their spell attacks (like Earth Shock and Lightning Bolt). It would be more important to focus on obtaining enough critical strike chance to to proc more Flurry and Elemental Devastation, or to focus on Agility or Attack Power so that attacks do more damage.

Summary:

An alliance enhancement shaman requires 420 hit rating and 140 expertise rating against raid bosses.

A horde enhancement shaman requires 446 hit rating and 140 expertise rating against raid bosses.

A Orc enhancement shaman with an axe in both hands requires 446 hit rating and 99 expertise rating against raid bosses.

Disclaimer: The above section is largely a generalization. The mechanics behind the enhancement shaman is very complex, and no single formula works for every shaman. If possible, it's recommended each shaman use simulation programs to determine with stat will give the best benefit at any given time. However, it should be considered that whichever path a shaman takes with respect to stats, in a raiding PvE environment, the above numbers (as well as satisfactory critical strike chance and attack power) will likely be expected from raid leaders looking for well-geared players who can do competitive DPS in boss encounters.