Restoration Shamans are arguably the best healer in TBC Classic. They come equipped with a very powerful and wide toolkit, including powerful single target and area of effect healing, as well as very strong utility in the form of totems. 

At first, the class can look somewhat intimidating, as there are over a dozen different totems and quite a few healing spells to manage. However, it’s actually a lot easier than it looks and in this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about playing a Restoration Shaman! 

1. Restoration Shaman PvE Talent Build

One of the simplest things about Restoration Shaman is the talent build. You almost cannot go wrong with it, as practically every Resto talent is powerful in PvE. 

In fact, the standard build (0/5/56) puts the majority of its points into the Resto tree, increasing healing, utility strength, and mana regeneration. Here’s what the build looks like: 

2. Gameplay and rotation

Resto Shaman gameplay mainly revolved around a handful of key spells, as well as totem management. Most of the time, you’ll want to place your totems at the start of the fight, then follow this rotation:

1. Cast Water Shield
2. Cast Earth Shield on a Tank
3. Cast Chain Heal Rank 4 or 5 when a party member is damaged
4. Use Nature’s Swiftness with Healing Wave Rank 12 for a burst heal
5. Use Lesser Healing Wave if a quick heal is needed 

This rotation is fairly simple, just make sure to keep your Shield spells up, then use one of the three different healing spells depending on the situation. 

3. Totems

Things do get slightly tricky when it comes to totems, but it’s more of remembering what things do, rather than a skill-intensive process. 

There are a total of 23 different totems available to Resto Shamans and a lot of them are quite useful, some are as simple as dropping them down and forgetting about them for a fight, while others are based on specific utility. Here are the key ones to note:

Earth Totems

• Strength of Earth Totem: This is the totem you’ll use in the Earth slot most of the time. It increases damage for melee DPS and should be up unless you are using one of the other Earth totems. 
• Tremor Totem: This totem breaks fear, charm, and sleep mechanics. It only lasts a short while, so this is a reactionary totem to use if an effect happens, or is about to. 
• Earthbind Totem: This totem slows nearby units, it’s not super important most of the time, but can be useful in a pinch. 
• Earth Elemental Totem: Summons an Earth Elemental that taunts units. Should only be used if a tank dies. 

Fire Totems

• Frost Resistance Totem: This totem increases Frost Resistance, useful in fights with frost damage.
• Searing Totem: This totem does single target damage to enemies, should be used on single target fights. 
• Fire Nova Totem:This totem does area of effect damage, should be used against groups of enemies.
• Fire Elemental Totem: Summons a Fire Elemental that damages enemies, should be used on longer fights to maximize damage.

Air Totems

• Windfury Totem: This totem gives melee attacks a chance to strike twice. Top priority if in a group with melee DPS. 
• Wrath of Air Totem: This totem increases spell damage and healing. Top priority if in a group with caster DPS or healers. 
• Nature Resistance Totem: This totem increases Nature Resistance, useful in fights with nature damage. 

Water Totems

• Mana Spring Totem: This totem increases mana regeneration. It should be used as much as possible. 
• Mana Tide Totem: This totem provides a large burst of mana regeneration, it should be used every time it’s off cooldown (if you’re missing mana!).
• Poison Cleansing Totem: This totem removes poisons, useful in fights with poison damage. 
• Fire Resist Totem: This totem increases Fire Resistance, useful in fights with fire damage.

4. Stat priority

For Restoration Shamans, the stat priority list is as follows:

1. Spell Healing
2. Mp5
3. Intellect
4. Spell Haste
5. Spell Critical Strike 

As a Resto Shaman, you’ll want to focus on getting as much Spell Healing as possible. However, it’s also very important to not ignore the other stats on this list. Mana regeneration, Intellect, Spell Haste, and Crit are all very important and the best gear will have a combination of multiple of these stats. 

5. Gems, enchantments, and consumables 

Gemming as a Resto Shaman is very simple. You’ll just want to fill your gear with red gems as they provide the most raw value, however, you might want to consider some orange or blue alternatives, if there’s a particularly strong socket bonus. 

Best gems for PvE Restoration Shaman 

• Bracing Earthstorm Diamond
• Teardrop Living Ruby
• Luminous Noble Topaz
• Royal Nightseye

Enchantments

Again, enchants are fairly simple. You’ll want to go for extra Healing Power where available, and pick up things like Intellect and Mana Regeneration in slots where you can’t get Healing. Here’s a list of all the best enchants for Resto Shaman:

• Head – Glyph of Renewal
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Faith
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak - Subtlety
• Chest – Enchant Chest - Restore Mana Prime or Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats 
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer - Superior Healing
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves - Major Healing
• Legs – Golden Spellthread
• Boots – Enchant Boots - Boar’s Speed
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon - Major Healing
• Shield – Enchant Shield - Intellect

Consumables

Consumables provide a temporary stat boost to your character and are important for getting an extra boost during dungeons and raids. Here’s a list of key consumables needed for Resto Shamans: 

• Flask: Flask of Distilled Wisdom
• Elixirs: Elixir of Healing Power and Elixir of Draenic Wisdom
• Mana Oil: Brilliant Mana Oil
• Food: Golden Fish Sticks
• Other: Dark Rune or Demonic rune

6. Best professions for Restoration Shaman

If you want to get the most out of your Resto Shaman there are two key professions to pick up: Tailoring and Enchanting. 

Tailoring allows you to make a lot of very powerful items, such as the Primal Mooncloth and Whitemend sets. Meanwhile, Enchanting provides the overall biggest stat boost, with unique ring enchants giving a total of 40 extra Healing.