The Egregious TBC Resto Shaman Progressive BiS Guide

This guide will detail progressive BiS lists for Restoration Shamans in The Burning Crusade Classic, from Pre-Raid BiS to Sunwell BiS. Info on Gemming and Trinkets is also included.

Pre-Raid BiS

Doesn’t fucking matter. Get as much gear as you can to fill your shit slots while gearing in T4 or catching up post-T4. I’ve worked on dozens of pre-raid BiS lists and each and every one of them suffers a fatal flaw. If you want to know what gear to look for while you fill out your T4 BiS then you should head over to SeventyUpgrades, select the default T4 Resto EPs (I provided them from the calculator linked above) and grind the obtainable BiS pieces for each slot.

If you’re looking for a “best possible gear obtainable from Classic, questing and attunement dungeons prior to a week 1 Kara clear”…. you’re already way better than the content and you’re going to smash Kara. If you’re coming into the game late -post T4- and want to farm absolute BiS prior to entering a guild raiding T5+… just get T4 BiS. Don’t spend your money on crafted gear outside of LW which offers both early and late game BiS options and the Drums raid consumable(s).

I will update this if anything changes but there is no indicator that content will require crafted gear. Plan your professions around T5+ and around the newly introduced Tinnitus, [4/29/2021]. This could easily mean going Engineering for speed runs, boss speeds, DPS parses, etc. may be ideal or become the new meta. (I will update this section as the communities understanding changes.)

T4 BiS

• There is no profession cycling in TBC. You can choose two, and only two, professions to receive benefits from. This means LW and Enchanting offer the most benefit to you and your raid as you cannot pick up and drop professions to obtain more than two profession benefits.
• No WB, world drop or Season 1 gear is considered.
• You should get Elemental T4 2pc as opposed to Resto T4 2pc. You lose less than 0.5% throughput to gain 100 SP and Healing for your party (20×5). Very worthwhile.
• Comparison between Ele T4 2pc and Resto T4 2pc BiS

SeventyUpgrades Link

Gem as follows:

• Meta: Bracing Earthstorm Diamond
• Red: Teardrop Living Ruby
• Blue: Teardrop Living Ruby
• Yellow: Teardrop Living Ruby

Ideal gemming included in 7Up link

T5 BiS

• No profession cycling.
• Continuing with T4 profession selections.
• No World Boss, world drop or PvP gear is considered.
• You should still run Elemental T4 2pc in T5 as you only suffer about a 1-1.5% throughput drawback for increased raid DPS. If you are not in a caster group this strategy will not apply to you.
• Comparison between T5 BiS and T5 w/ Ele T4 2pc alternative

SeventyUpgrades Link

Gem as follows:

• Meta: Bracing Earthstorm Diamond
• Red: Teardrop Living Ruby
• Blue: Teardrop Living Ruby
• Yellow: Teardrop Living Ruby

Ideal gemming included in 7Up link

T6 BiS

• No profession cycling.
• Continuing with T4/T5 profession selections.
• No World Boss, world drop or PvP gear is considered.
• At this stage do not run Elemental T4 2pc. It will force you to break T6 4pc at a notable loss to your raid healing capability.
• You will notice we have selected Felstone Bulwark and Naturewarden’s Treads over what would appear to be their superior counterparts Bastion of Light and Boots of the Divine Light (or WB boots). This is because the value of Ancestral Fortitude uptime gained from Crit surpasses the marginal loss in throughput you suffer from running these items.

SeventyUpgrades Link

Gem as follows:

• Meta: Insightful Earthstorm Diamond
• Red: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• Blue: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• Yellow: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• You can use Bracing Earthstorm Diamond if you feel your mana is fine

Ideal gemming included in 7Up link

ZA BiS

• No profession cycling.
• Continuing with T4/T5 profession selections.
• No World Boss, world drop or PvP gear is considered.
• At this stage do not run Elemental T4 2pc. It will force you to break T6 4pc at a notable loss to your raid healing capability.

SeventyUpgrades Link

Gem as follows:

• Meta: Insightful Earthstorm Diamond
• Red: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• Blue: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• Yellow: Teardrop Crimson Spinel
• You can use Bracing Earthstorm Diamond if you feel your mana is fine

Ideal gemming included in 7Up link

Sunwell BiS

• No profession cycling.
• Continuing with T4/T5/T6 profession selections.
• No World Boss, world drop or PvP gear is considered.
• You can go back to running Elemental T4 2pc in Sunwell, however, you will suffer about a 1.5-2.5% reduction in throughput.

SeventyUpgrades Link

Gem as follows:

• Meta: Insightful Earthstorm Diamond
• Red: Quick Lionseye
• Blue: Quick Lionseye
• Yellow: Quick Lionseye
• You can use Bracing Earthstorm Diamond if you feel your mana is fine

Ideal gemming included in 7Up link

Alternatively, you can run Teardrop Crimson Spinel across the board. The highest throughput you can obtain will be through the use of the red healing gems; however, the tradeoff for throughput to utility haste gain is around 1-2% increased throughput vs 10% haste. What this means is that the practical BiS gemming prefers the haste gems > healing gems. You can attenuate your haste and HSP on a personal level by balancing as many red and yellow gems as you feel best suits you and your raid.

Gemming

If you find the EP of a socket bonus (like Cyclone Headdress) exceeds the EP value of gemming straight HSP (healing spell power) then break from pure Teardrop gems. However, the majority of your socket bonuses are well bellow comparable value to straight +HSP. If you want to be more versatile you can hybridize in every slot.

• At the end of the day, make your own gemming decisions that suit your unique raiding environment. These are guideline recommendations and, as long as your gear and play theory support your raid, there is no wrong way to heal or gear in this role.
• Use tools like the TBC Resto Shaman Calculator to help inform your gearing decisions, spell rank selections and progressive EP understanding.
• Quick note on totems: You should have Totem of Spontaneous Regrowth Totem of the Plains and Totem of the Thunderhead to cover situational needs and for snapshotting WS in any environment.

Trinket Section [in progress]

This is a section in progress. I will continue updates throughout the expansion. Updated; 2/22/22

Rejuvenating Gem is a strong trinket, especially prior to T6 and ZA; however, it’s mostly a “lazy man’s” solution to a trinket slot. While competitive in both surface EP and throughput with most trinkets even into T6, Rejuv Gem suffers from the lack of a meaningful proc or on-use component. Despite TBC adding few useful trinkets to the Resto Shaman’s arsenal, the expansion does provide more Eye of the Dead style trinkets which have both a high HSP value and a strong proc or on-use component. These trinkets are far more versatile and will serve an active and engaged player better than an “equip and forget” trinket like Rejuv Gem. Get used to implementing on-use and proc based trinkets and move away from the “stat stick” trinket model.

Eye of Gruul should not be overlooked as a resource trinket. Though on the surface this trinket’s meager 44 HSP bonus and slim 2% chance to proc may seem unattractive, the mana component of this trinket cannot be overstated. Each bounce of CH has the opportunity to proc this trinket resulting in a 5.8% proc chance instead of two. Further, this trinket scales in benefit with haste. Not terrifically, but it scales none the less. At CH’s base cast time of 2.5 seconds, this trinket is worth about 48 MP5 if continuously casting. That value drops the lower your active time and the fewer CH bounces you average and should be expected to provide closer to 30-35 MP5. In all, this trinket stands as the second highest MP5 item next to Alchemist’s Stone and should be a staple in every Shaman’s inventory.

Scarab Brooch this trinket is amazing due to the manner of healing it provides. Scarab Brooch imbues each direct heal recipient with a shield that absorbs 15% of the total raw value of the heal. These shields cannot stack and will overwrite each other as a higher value shield is applied to the target. If you apply a shield with a value of 10 and follow up a consecutive heal with a value of 100, the shield with a value of 10 will be removed and the shield with a value of 100 will take its place. This trinket is limited in scope by the imagination and skill of its wielder. There will certainly be niche applications of this trinket throughout TBC.

Memento of Tyrande this trinket is a “side-grade” option if you already have double on-use trinkets: Essence of the Martry and Direbrew Hops. Think of this as a middle ground between Eye of Gruul and one of those on-use bad boys. It’s a higher HSP version of Gruul with less MP5 and a more MP5 focused version of one of the on-use trinkets. It’s not BiS but it’s very good for progression, trash and simply as a “leave and forget” piece.

To find more information about Resto Shaman, gearing as a Resto Shaman or the spec/class in general, please visit the Classic & BCC Shaman Discord. Feel free to DM me, Melderon or any of the Shaman Trainers with your questions. Before you do, please quickly search the channel you’re in before asking general questions as there is a solid chance most general questions have been answered.