WoW: Forever
Shaman
Shaman got the largest quality-of-life change of any class in Forever: weapon imbues last an hour instead of five minutes, totems last five minutes and reach thirty yards, and a totem bar drops four at once.
Which spec?
| Spec | Role | Levelling | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elemental | Ranged DPS | Viable | Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, with the best burst of the three |
| Enhancement | Melee DPS | Best of the three | Weapon imbues and melee, and the tree two sources agree on exactly |
| Restoration | Healer | Viable, slower | Chain Heal and Nature's Swiftness |
Enhancement is the levelling answer, and it is the one build where two independent sources publish the same eleven points in the same order.
Two facts that will save you a mistake. Shamans cannot dual wield in Forever — if you have played a later expansion, unlearn that. And a widely-published level-30 Elemental build is not legal on the current client: it spends 5 points on Elemental Fury, which Blizzard moved to row 6 on 24 September, putting it out of reach at 21 points. That build predates the change.
A note on Enhancement tanking. You will see it discussed, usually pointing at Spirit Weapons. There is no Blizzard statement either way, no published tanking build, and the three positions in circulation disagree. Forever has three tanks — Protection Warrior, Protection Paladin and Feral Druid. Treat Shaman tanking as an experiment, not a plan.
Is Shaman for you?
Play Shaman if you like solving the fight in front of you rather than running the same sequence, and you want to be able to switch roles without rerolling.
Levelling milestones
| Level | What you get |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lightning Bolt, Healing Wave, Rockbiter Weapon — now 60 minutes, was 5 |
| 4 | Earth Totem class quest → Stoneskin Totem, now reducing all physical damage |
| 8 | Stoneclaw Totem — your emergency taunt, Lightning Shield |
| 10 | Fire Totem class quest → Searing Totem, Flame Shock, Flametongue Weapon (60 min) |
| 12 | Fire Nova — renamed and reworked: no longer a totem, now an instant burst around your active fire totem |
| 20 | Water Totem class quest. And Ghost Wolf — 40% run speed, faster than Aspect of the Cheetah, and with the talent it becomes instant and usable indoors. Also Frost Shock, Healing Stream Totem, Call of the Elements and Totemic Recall |
| 22 | Totemic Projection, new — relocates every live totem |
| 30 | Air Totem class quest, Windfury Weapon (60 min), Reincarnation, Astral Recall |
| 32 | Chain Lightning — half a second faster than vanilla |
| 40 | Chain Heal, mount |
| 42 | Grace of Air Totem — the last new Shaman ability in the game. 43 to 60 is ranks only |
Tranquil Air Totem is not in Forever.
Which race
Alliance — Dwarf, and it is forced, being the only Alliance Shaman. It is fine anyway: Stoneform is a real solo cooldown, and Mace Specialization gives +1% crit to spells and abilities merely for holding a mace, which Shaman train by default — so it is free crit for Elemental and Restoration too.
Horde — Orc. Blood Fury now gives +10% attack power and spell power, so it is good for both damage specs.
Tauren is newly competitive, because Endurance now adds +1% hit alongside its health. Do not pick Skyborne for mobility — a tester established that Skysight does not stack with any movement ability, and the author of the guide that claimed otherwise conceded the point.
Quality of life
- The four totem class quests are mandatory and they gate the class. You cannot use any totem of an element until you finish its quest, and each gives you a physical totem item you must keep in your bags. Earth at 4, Fire at 10, Water at 20, Air at 30. The Alliance water chain is new content and takes roughly two hours of running — at least you have Ghost Wolf by then.
- Do not assume dual wield. No Forever source grants it to Shaman, and one guide explicitly declines to infer it from a removed talent. An Enhancement leveller also does not want a shield —
Shield Specializationwas removed from the tree, so nothing pays for one. - Mail armour at 40, not level 1 — this is single-sourced and contradicts vanilla, so verify it in game. If it holds, you are a leather-wearer for 39 levels.
- The Legacy perk
Permanencedoubles long buffs, which reads directly onto totems — five minutes becomes ten.
What changed from Classic
| Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Weapon imbues last 60 minutes, not 5 | The single biggest quality-of-life change in the class |
| Totems last 5 minutes and reach 30 yards | "Per pull" is no longer the unit. Totemic Mastery was removed because 30 yards is now baseline |
| The totem bar | Three saveable four-totem loadouts, one button to drop a set, one to pick them all up and refund 25% of the mana, one to teleport them |
| Fire Nova is no longer a totem | It bursts around your active fire totem instead |
| Improved Ghost Wolf makes it instant and indoor-usable | Vanilla never allowed either |
| Alliance Shaman exist | Dwarf only |
At level 60
Unknown. No source publishes a Shaman build past 30, and nobody has seen the level-30 Air totem quest. On the persistent question of whether Enhancement can tank: there is no Blizzard source either way. The threat talents are real — Spirit Weapons swings threat by 30% depending on your imbue — but the role claim is not supported, and Shaman has no taunt, no defensive cooldown and no Defense support. Raids open 9 December.