PvP Restoration Shaman Guide

PvP Restoration Shaman

Stat Priority

Talents & Builds

Pre-Raid & Best In Slot (BiS)

Gems, Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Welcome to the Restoration Shaman PvP guide for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King! In this guide, you will learn how to properly play a Restoration Shaman in PvP scenarios, whether those might be battlegrounds, arenas, or the open world.

As a representative of the spiritual world and a caretaker of nature, you bring the old magic back into the fold, providing healing for both body and mind for those that seek your aid. The Restoration Shaman is an expert healer, both in the area-of-effect healing, as well as the solo target healing. This build provides several ways to replenish the health of your allies and plenty of mobility and utility for effective control of the battlefield and for providing support.

This guide covers the Restoration Shaman as of the patch 3.3.5., and includes BiS gear, gems, enchantments, gameplay, and spell rotation tips.

Arena Team Setups

When it comes to teams for the Arena you will want to try the following combinations:

2 vs 2 teams:

• Restoration Shaman/Arms Warriors
• Restoration Shaman/Affliction Warlock
• Restoration Shaman/Unholy Death Knight
• Restoration Shaman/Frost Mage
• Restoration Shaman/Subtlety Rogue

3 vs 3 teams:

• Restoration Shaman/Arms Warrior/Unholy Death Knight
• Restoration Shaman/Affliction Warlock/Balance Druid
• Restoration Shaman/Frost Mage/Destruction Warlock
• Restoration Shaman/Subtlety Rogue/Feral Druid
• Restoration Shaman/Marksmanship Hunter/Feral Druid

Best Races

Since the expansion we are reviewing is Wrath of the Lich King, the shaman class has several interesting choices when it comes to PvP content. The most notable choices are Draenei for the Alliance and Orc for the Horde.

Horde

• Orc: Orcs are often considered to be the best race for the shaman class, as offered by the Horde. It brings several interesting racials for PvP content.
  
  The first racial is Command. At first, you might think that it doesn’t count for the shaman class – however, the effect does apply to your spirit wolves, as well as your earth and fire elementals.
  
  The second racial that is quite powerful is Hardiness, offering reduction to Stun effects by 15%.
  
  Although not as impactful, the other beneficial racials are the Blood Fury, which acts like a steroid for your attack power, and the Axe Specialization, which increases your expertise with axes and fist weapons.

• Tauren: Another option offered by the Horde for the Shaman class is Tauren. These mighty spiritual beings have a deep connection with the elements and nature. They provide several powerful racials for PvP scenarios.
  
  First one is Endurance, which increases the Tauren’s base health by 5%. Second one is the War Stomp, which is a stun that lasts 2 seconds. War Stomp provides increased survivability in clutch situations, or a way to chain up crowd control to set up a kill.
  
  Another useful racial is the Nature Resistance, which reduces the chance to be hit by nature spells by 2% – a similar passive to the Blood Elf racial.
  
  Lastly, this race provides a racial which can help guide your profession choices – Cultivation, which increases your base Herbalism skill by 15.

• Troll: The last available race for the Shaman class from the Horde, Trolls provide several interesting racials which can bring you an edge during a PvP encounter.
  
  The first one is Regeneration, which increases your base health regeneration factor by 10%, and also allows 10% of your health regeneration to continue during combat.
  
  Another useful racial is Da Voodoo Shuffle, which offers a 15% reduction to movement-impairing effects, which can help with kiting. Trolls also offer Berserking, which gives you a 20% increase to your attack and casting speed.
  
  This race also provides Beast Slaying, which increases your damage against beasts by 5%. There is also Bow Specialization, and Throwing Specialization, but these two racials do not benefit the Shaman class.

Alliance

• Draenei: This is the only race that allows the choice of the Shaman class from the Alliance. The Draenei have a strong connection to the spirits and the natural world, which comes with some powerful racials.
  
  Gift of the Naaru is an “HoT” ability, healing the target over time for a fixed total amount, which is increased by your spell power.
  
  The second notable racial is Heroic Presence, which increases the hit rating of all party members in a 30-yard radius by 1%. This is a very strong racial when min-maxing is considered.
  
  Other racials from the Draenei race are the Gemcutting (racial which increases your base Jewelcrafting skill by 5, similar to the Tauren racial), and the Shadow Resistance (decreases the chance you will be hit with shadow spells by 2%).

Best Professions

• Engineering has always been the number one profession when it comes to player-versus-player content. Since the early days of WoW, it has provided players with several gadgets that have given them an edge over their opponents, some of those being the Nitro Boots, Saronite Bomb, Mind Amplification Dish, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket, and the Frag Belt.

• Tailoring comes with the ability to craft your own gear in the first phases, which allows for a very powerful advantage. However, as the time progresses, it becomes more obvious that the true benefit of this profession is its Lightweave Embroidery enchantment.

• Alchemy offers a variety of useful potions and flasks. While you are generally unable to use any potions in arenas, you can still use one specific flask dedicated to alchemists: the Flask of the North. It offers either spell power, attack power, or raw strength and is the only usable flask in an arena.
  
  Alchemy also offers potions like Free Action Potion, which can be used as an improvised trinket in dire situations.

• Herbalism will generate you a very good source of income, especially when paired with Alchemy. It also offers one, potentially life-saving ability for PvP scenarios – Lifeblood, which offers a heal-over-time effect that can save you in clutch situations.

• Mining will generate you a good source of income, while also generating enough raw materials to level up professions like Engineering or Jewelcrafting. Most people underestimate the profitability of mining, but rest assured that it will go a long way.
  
  Not only will it provide you with a sustainable source of gold, but it will also grant you a special passive that will enhance your PvP potency – Toughness, which will increase your stamina by 60 at max rank.