A Quick Guide to Playing the Shaman in World of Warcraft

by Paul E. Web
World of Warcraft shamans are a balanced class, with a assortment of skills. Those who master the shaman skills will be well rewarded in WoW game play.

This is a quick overview on playing a Shaman. Shamans are spiritual leaders of the orcs, trolls and Tauren. Being a very balanced class, a shaman has many skills, although they may not be as specialized as other classes. Shamans can not only fight well in combat, they can heal themselves and others, cause direct or damage over time.

Shamans can not only melee and cast spells, they also have something unique only to them. Totems are something only the shaman’s can use but everyone can benefit from them so long as they are in the party. Totems give an AoE buff around them ranging from reduced damage to mana regen to even extra attacks!

Shamans must quest to obtain their totem, each representing one of the elements of nature. Earth, Fire, Wind and Water each give their own benefit to the Shaman and his party. Shamans are the only healers that can wear mail, the only other with such strong armor is the Paladin.

Shamans not only make good healers, but if spaced correctly and having the right items they can easily destroy many enemies in PvP. With their healing capabilities they last much longer in PvP and can kill more people before being taken down. Several of their abilities can crush other players and totem buffs only help make them stronger.

Shamans make one of the best back up healers in the game due to the paladin wearing plate and the ability to take more damage, but none the less shamans can heal very well. Along with their totems Shaman make excellent party members when grouping.

For end game, most shamans have to respect to Restoration, called “resto” for short by players, such as “are you a resto spaced shaman?” Shamans who are not resto spaced are not allowed to join end-game guilds for the fact that they cannot heal as well as a full resto shaman. Also resto spaced shaman’s totems are much more effective. Their mana spring totem can regen a lot of mana over time and help give people a few more spells to work with. Now just because they are resto speced, doesn’t mean that they lose anything, it just means that they are better at healing than a non-resto spaced shaman.

Shamans also get “Ghost Wolf” which allows only the shaman class at level 20 to get a 40% movement speed increase. Which is a lot, because when you hit level 40 you can pay 80 gold to train in mounts which give you a 60% increase. “Ghost wolf” is a great talent only comparable to the druid’s travel form, which can only be learned at level 30.

All in all shamans in World Of Warcraft are an awesome class, you can call them a very balanced class. Shamans are now available to both factions in WoW, due to a new race being added.