LEVELING
1-10 |
11-
20 |
21-30 |
31-40 |
41-57 |
58-70
1 - 10
Like most classes, starting out as a Shaman is simple. Until you get a decent weapon, or if you decide to level as elemental, you'll pretty
much be spamming Lightning Bolt. After you get a nice weapon, pull with Lightning Bolt and then smack the mob until it's dead. Throw in shocks to
take enemies down quicker, especially when they try to run. Make sure you have an enhancement imbued on your weapon (Rockbiter, Flametongue,
Frostbrand, or Windfury), and keep a shield up (Lightning, Water, or Earth), especially against tougher enemies. Only drop totems against harder
enemies to conserve mana. You shouldn't often need to heal yourself in combat, unless you are fighting multiple or high level enemies. Try to heal
only between fights so you can spend more time hurting the enemy. Gear is pretty simple, and most rogue or hunter gear will work fine for
leveling. Stamina, strength, agility, attack power, and critical strike rating are all things to look for on gear.
Level 1
Lightning Bolt - This is your bread and butter ranged spell. Cast it to pull, spam it if you're elemental.
Healing Wave - This will be your most efficient single target heal in terms of both healing per mana and healing per time.
Level 2
Rockbiter Weapon - Increases the damage done by your weapon. Unfortunately, it is only useful at low levels.
Level 4
Earth Shock - Interrupts spells with cast times in addition to doing damage. It is great to use when an enemy tries to heal itself or cast a spell
on you. It's a good idea to keep rank 1 handy even at level 70, in case you want to interrupt a spell with low mana usage.
Stoneskin Totem - your first totem spell is worthwhile to drop if you have to pull multiple enemies, but unfortunately it doesn't scale very well
at high levels
Quest: Call of Earth
This quest gives you your Earth Totem! As a shaman it is important to collect all of your totems, as they unlock some of your key abilities.
Dranei
Your quest starts at the Shaman Trainer at the Crash Site. First, go to the Spirit of the Vale to the northwest. The Spirit wants you to kill four
Restless Spirits of Earth. Go to the valley behind the Spirit and kill them. Return to the Spirit, who sends you back to the Shaman trainer for
your reward.
Tauren
Your quest starts at the Shaman Trainer in Camp Narache. First, kill Bristleback Shaman for two Ritual Salves. Return to the trainer and receive
an Earth Sapta. Next, go south to Kodo Rock and drink the Sapta, then speak with the Minor Manifestation of Earth. Return to the trainer for your
reward.
Orcs and Trolls
Your quest starts at the Shaman Trainer in the Valley of Trials. First, kill Felstalkers for two Felhooves. Return to the trainer and receive an
Earth Sapta. Next, take the Hidden Path that begins in the southwest of the Valley of Trials, south of the Den. Next drink the Sapta and speak
with the Minor Manifestation of Earth. Return to the trainer for your reward.
Level 6
Earthbind Totem - Great to use when fighting humanoids that run away in fear when they get low on health, or to kite enemies as elemental.
Level 8
Lightning Shield - some of the most mana efficient damage available. Keep that up as much as possible, especially against tougher enemies.
Level 10
Start spending talent points. Enhancement is generally the fastest leveling spec with the least down time, so that will be the focus of this
guide, though other specs will be mentioned briefly. In any case, focus on gear with stamina, agility, intellect, and strength. It should be
plentiful all the way up to 70.
Flame Shock - the most mana efficient shock in your arsenal, a good portion of the damage is done over time, so make sure it has time to
complete its duration.
Flametongue Weapon - A new enhancement for your weapon, the fire damage done bypasses armor, making it quite useful.
Searing Totem - Has a 20 yard range, just make sure it doesn't shoot something you don't want it to.
Strength of Earth Totem - Great for increasing your damage against tougher enemies.
Quest: Call of Fire
This one is your Fire Totem quest. Make sure you pick it up!
Dranei
This quest starts at Sulaa, the Shaman trainer in The Exodar.
First, go to Azure Watch and talk to Tuluun.
Next, speak with Temper at Emberglade.
Kill owlbeasts at Stillpine Hold for the Ritual Torch and return to Temper.
Go to Silvermyst Isle in the southwest. Open the bag in your inventory, light the effigy there with the Ritual Torch, kill Hauteur, and use the
Orb of Returning to return to Temper.
Return to Tuluun in Azure Watch. Go to Prophet Velen at the Vault of Lights in the Exodar.
Finally, speak with Farseer Nobundo at the Crystal Hall in the Exodar for your reward.
Orc, Tauren, Troll
This quest can start at three NPCs - the shaman trainer at Bloodhoof Village, the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar, or the shaman trainer in Razor
Hill
First, go to the farm west of Far Watch Post in the Barrens and speak to Kranal Fiss.
Next, go east to Durotar and travel south along the river. Look for a rock pillar with a symbol on it which marks a path leading up the mountains.
Follow the path to Telf Joolam.
Next, kill Razormane Geomancers at Thorn Hill in the Barrens for Fire Tar and Burning Blade Cultists at a cave in northeast Durotar for a Reagent
Pouch.
After collecting these two items, return to Telf Joolam. Follow the path up the mountain and drink the Fire Sapta at the top. Kill the Minor
Manifestation of Fire and use the Glowing Ember to light the brazier.
Go back to Kranal Fiss in the Barrens for your reward.
11-20
Level 12
Ancestral Spirit - Your Resurrection Spell
Fire Nova Totem - This one goes off after a time for a decent size AoE. It generates a lot of threat, so it often gets killed before it gets a
chance to go off, wasting a bunch of mana.
Purge - This may not be incredibly useful at this point in your leveling, but helps immensely against mobs later on when they buff themselves or
cast HoT spells. Another good thing about it is it only casts when there is something to dispel, so spamming it usually doesn't hurt you.
Level 16
Cure Poison - handy against certain mobs, addons like Decursive let you keep an eye on who is poisoned
Level 18
Tremor Totem - Not super useful while solo leveling, this one helps against warlocks, priests, and warriors in PvP. Also handy against some
enemies who do AoE fears.
Level 20
Ghost Wolf - This is an invaluable spell, and can be relied upon even past level 30, in lieu of a mount, in case you are too broke to afford one.
It is even more powerful if talented to become instant. Whenever you aren't killing things, use Ghost Wolf to get to and from places quicker than
anyone else at your level. Once you get a mount, you can still use it to escape from a losing situation.
Frost Shock - A great shock for runners. If it doesn't kill them, it gives you time to finish them off.
Frostbrand Weapon - A new enhancement for your weapon that procs a snare. Useful when fighting runners or fighting players before you get
windfury.
Healing Stream Totem - A bit mana intensive for lower levels while soloing. It does scale with +healing, which makes it pretty useful in groups.
Lesser Healing Wave - This is a quick heal, but is very inefficient in terms of healing/mana. Use it if you need to get a heal off quick, such as
when you are low in health or worried about being interrupted.
Quest: Call of Water
This one is your Water Totem quest. It's a more difficult quest than the other totem quests, and may take a while to complete. It is worth the
time though!
Dranei
Your trainer will send you to speak with Farseer Nobundo in the Exodar.
Nobundo sends you to Aqueous at the Hidden Reef, located in northern Bloodmyst Isle. He is just off the coast, underwater. You don't need to use
the potion you are given as long as you regain your breath at a bubbly fissure.
Aqueous directs you to collect 6 Foul Essences from the Fouled Water Spirits to the southwest. Return them to Aqueous.
Next you need to travel to Astranaar in Ashenvale, then south to the small island in the middle of a lake. Once there, go the fountain and fill
the bota bag. Return to Aqueous
Next, return to the Foul Pools and use the pure water on the barrels in the camp there. Killt Tel'athion the Impure and bring his head and the
remaining water back to Aqueous. Go back to Farseer Nobundo in the Exodar for your reward.
Orc, Tauren, Troll
Your trainer will send you to speak with Islen Waterseer in the Barrens southeast of Ratchet.
Next, go to Brine in the Barrens, south of Camp Taurajo.
Fill the Empty Brown Waterskin from the pool below Brine's hut and return to Brine.
Go to Tarren Mill and fill the Empty Red Waterskin from the well there. Return to Brine
Go to the small island in the middle of a lake in Ashenvale, south of Astranaar, and fill the Empty Blue Waterskin from the fountain there. You
may have a little trouble with this part, as some of the enemies in the area are around level 23. You may want to bring a friend, or just run to
the fountain and die, then res at a safe spot to fill the waterskin.
Return the Brine, then go back to Islen Waterseer.
Go to the western coast of Silverpine Forest, west of the Sepulcher. Drink the Sapta, and kill the elemental that you can fight. Loot the bracers
and use the brazier. Once you finish, the Minor Manifestation of Water appears. Speak to it, and return to Islen for your reward.
21-30
Level 22
Cure Disease - Again, check out Decursive to keep track of who might need this spell.
Poison Cleansing Totem - A great totem to drop against rogues, and more mana efficient than single target if there's more than one person to
cleanse.
Water Breathing - This makes some quests much easier, just make sure to keep a stack of Fish Scales in your inventory.
Level 24
Frost Resistance Totem - a very situational totem. Increases frost resistance (who woulda thunk it).
Level 26
Farsight - Useful in battlegrounds mostly. Lets you see anywhere you can target.
Magma Totem - An AoE pulsing totem. Decent for AoE pulls in instances, but can sometimes pull threat and get killed.
Mana Spring Totem - A highly useful totem, especially in groups, this makes your mana pool a bit larger.
Level 28
Fire Resistance Totem - Similar to frost resistance, has a few more uses though.
Flametongue Totem - Good to use in groups if your melee doesn't have any temporary enchants on their weapons (sharpening stones, poisons, etc).
You probably won't drop this very often.
Water Walking - Allows for faster travel over water, although it isn't possible to use ghost wolf or mount while water walking. Again, make sure
to keep a stack of Fish Oil for this spell.
Level 30
Astral Recall - allows you to hearth every 15 minutes in addition to the once an hour Hearthstone. If you need room in your inventory, this allows
you to destroy your hearthstone.
Grounding Totem - absorbs one single target spell cast at you or someone in your party. Combined with Earth Shock, this can allow you to kill
casters without them hitting you with a single spell. Drop it before pulling a caster, wait for the most of the cooldown to finish, then start
spamming Lightning Bolt. Once the totem absorbs a spell, drop it again. Interrupt the next spell with Earth Shock, then melee the caster down.
Once the next spell is absorbed by the totem, you should be able to interrupt again. The caster should be dead shortly after that point.
Nature Resistance Totem - Another situational totem.
Reincarnation - great to use whenever you don't want to have to run back to your corpse, need to recover from a wipe, or even if you die mid-fight
but can save a wipe or finish off a boss before a wipe. This is another spell that requires a reagent, don't get caught without Ankhs, our only
reagent available from the reagent vendor.
Totemic call - nice for reducing the effective cost of casting totems and preventing them from pulling mobs.
Windfury Weapon - the best weapon enhancement available. Keep this on your weapon if you are speccing enhancement. Flametongue or Frostbrand is
generally better for Elemental or Restoration, as long as you have a decent amount of spell damage.
Finally, you'll be able to purchase a standard mount at level 30. At 60% increased speed, it is worth the cost if you afford it, but if not, using
Ghost Wolf until you can isn't going to hurt much.
Quest: Call of Air
Now you get your Air Totem. After the Call of Water, you may be dreading the final totem quest. Fear not, as it is the easiest of the bunch.
Dranei
Your trainer will send you to speak with Farseer Nobundo in the Exodar.
Go to the north side of the mountain that the Exodar crashed into. Follow Wildwind Path and speak with Velaada.
Speak with Susurrus at Wildwind Peak
Speak to Nobundo in the Exodar for your reward
Orc, Tauren, Troll
This quest starts at Searn Firewarder, in Orgrimmar or Xanis Flameweaver, in Thunder Bluff
Go to Splithoof Crag, East of Freewind Post in the Thousand Needles. North of Splithoof Crag, along the canyon wall there is a path that leads you
up to the Weathered Nook.
Speak to Prate Cloudseer for your reward.
31-40
Level 32
Chain Lightning - this is your highest damage spell, but also costs a chunk of mana. If you're in a group, make sure not to cast it near a crowd
controlled mob. For elemental Shaman, using Elemental Mastery, Nature's Swiftness, then Chain Lightning is a guaranteed instant crit with no mana
cost on up to 3 targets.
Windfury Totem - Great for groups with rogues and warriors. Increases their damage and rage generation.
Level 34
Sentry Totem - You might drop this to see how it works after you train it. That's when you'll figure out that it wasn't worth the money it takes
to train it.
Level 36
You may want to start picking up some mail quest rewards, since you are only four levels away from training in its use.
Windwall Totem - A situational totem for fighting ranged enemies. Considering all of the great air totems available, this is just another totem
you won't be dropping very often.
Level 38
Disease Cleansing Totem - A great one to drop against enemies that constantly poison to save mana.
Level 40
Chain Heal - Iconic healing spell of the shaman, when talented, will be the most mana efficient heal you have. Jumps for this spell are dictated
by who is missing the most health within its range. One of the most effective group heals available.
You can now train in Mail armor, which opens up worlds to you. For now, you shouldn't worry about upgrading all of your gear from the AH, just
stick to grabbing quest rewards and drops.
Level 40 will also bring your 31 point talent, as long as you've been sticking to one talent tree.
For Enhancement, Dual Wield is going let you do much more damage, especially with both weapons imbued with Windfury. Save Stormstrike for your
next talent point. Look for two slow weapons to maximize your damage.
Elemental shaman will open up Elemental Mastery, an automatic spell crit with no mana cost. Combine it with Chain Lightning since it offsets the
major downside of the spell, high mana cost.
Shaman who are leveling as Restoration, pick up Mana Tide totem. It is great to recharge your mana when it gets low in a fight and is extremely
useful in groups with other casters.
41-57
Level 41
Enhancement shaman should pick up Stormstrike now. This combined with Dual Wield and Windfury will allow you do to great melee damage without
relying as much on shocks. Open up with Stormstrike and let dual WF do its thing. Heal up between fights and you should be able to fight normal
mobs nonstop.
Level 42
Grace of Air Totem - Great for Druid tanks, Hunters, Rogues, and Enhancment Shaman.
Level 50
The top talents in your tree should be available once you hit level 50.
Enhancement Shaman get Shamanistic Rage. This allows you to last even longer without resting. Once you get low on mana, drop a Strength of Earth
Totem, pop Shamanistic Rage, and watch your mana bar fill back up.
Elemental Shaman will be able to pick up Totem of Wrath. While a decent talent, Searing Totem will increase your DPS more, so it is not
necessarily worth giving up a 21 point talent in another tree for, specifically Nature's Swiftness in the Resto tree.
Restoration Shaman unlock Earth Shield. This is an extremely useful and versatile spell. Keep it up in PvP encounters and against tougher enemies
and you will last a long time. It's also great to keep on the tank when you are grouping. This will increase resistance to spell pushback as well,
which makes it great for tossing on to spell casters who are getting hit.
From here, you can decide whether to spec further into your current spec, or hybridize a bit more and put points into a different tree.
Tranquil Air Totem - this totem reduces your party's threat. It won't help much while soloing, and in groups you'll have to make sure the tank
isn't in its range, or its effectiveness is lost. A DPS group in a raid may like this if they are limiting DPS due to concerns of pulling off of
the tank.
Quest: Elemental Mastery
Reward:
[Azurite Fists] ,
[Enamored Water Spirit]
, or
[Wildstaff]
The rewards from this quest are decent, but eventually outleveled. The [Enamored Water Spirit] is the most useful, granting more mana than Mana
Spring Totem. However, it uses a trinket slot and only lasts 24 seconds. It also uses the water totem, so don't drop a Mana Spring until it is
gone.
All Races
This quest begins at any shaman trainer or Bath'rah the Windwatcher. He is in a small hut along the river north of Tarren Mill.
Bring [Elemental Air], [Elemental Fire] , [Elemental Earth] , and [Elemental Water] to Bath'rah. These can be purchased from other players via the
Auction House or farmed from elementals. Nearby, in Arathi Highlands, are Thundering Exile, Burning Exile Rumbling Exile, and Cresting Exile which
can drop their respective element. Turn them in to Bath'rah.
Next, head to Western Plaguelands, and kill bears, spiders and carrion birds for 8x Bloodshot Spider Eye and 8x Thick Black Claw then return to
Bath'rah.
Finally, get a group together and head to the Sunken Temple, a 5-man instance, and kill the troll priests for six feathers and return them to
Bath'rah for your reward.
58-70
Level 58
This is the moment you have been waiting for. You can now step through the Dark Portal and enter the Outlands. From here, you will be able to pick
up much better gear. If you haven't already, try to decide what your endgame spec is going to be, and keep an eye out for pieces that will help
you gear for that.
For Enhancement you are going to look for strength, agility, attack power, critical strike, and maybe a little bit of hit rating. Also watch for
slow 1-handed weapons, other than swords of course.
If you are going to end up as Elemental, look for spell damage, spell crit, intelligence, mana per 5, and a tiny bit of spell hit.
Restoration is similar but focus on healing, mp5, and int. Often, an elemental piece may be used for resto and vice versa.
Level 60
Now you can get your epic mount, which you should do as soon as you can afford it. You will have to buy the training in order to get a flying
mount at level 70, anyway.
Level 62
Water Shield - This spell is useful in many situations. Keep it up for leveling to minimize downtime. Keep it up in instances to sustain your mana
pool as long as possible. Keep it up in PvP encounters if your enemy is spamming purge or dispel on you.
Level 64
Wrath of Air Totem - Finally, an air totem for casters. This will be what elemental and restoration shaman drop in order to increase spell damage
and healing, and caster groups will love you for it.
Level 66
Earth Elemental Totem - Your first pet totem, your earth elemental is a tank. It taunts anything attacking you onto itself, but it doesn't have a
lot of hit points. If you get a lot of enemies on you, drop this along with a searing totem, and heal your elemental. Take down the targets one by
one, making sure your elemental doesn't die and you should survive.
Level 68
Fire Elemental Totem - This elemental does significant AoE DPS. It is much weaker defensively than the earth elemental, but it is great to use on
bosses for a little boost, or if your group needs a little more AoE. Remember that you'll have to wait two minutes between summoning elementals,
even if one is defeated in combat.
Level 70
Congratulations! You've finally hit level 70. Now you can start collecting gear, badges, arena points, honor points, reputation, and more. Good
Luck!
Bloodlust / Heroism - This 10 minute cool down spell is great for your entire group, whenever you need to step it up. Don't be afraid to use it
while soloing, since the more you use it, the faster things will die. You may not need xp anymore, but there are still plenty of reasons to kill
things.
