Shaman

Both factions

Three sources confirm that both factions can play Shaman. Blizzard's race and class article lists Dwarf Shaman among the new combinations, and says the Horde-aligned Windshaper Skyborne can be Shaman. ForeverDB lists five Shaman races and notes Dwarves are the only Alliance option. The Alliance's High Order Skyborne can't be Shamans. Wowhead's spec guides also call Dwarf the only Alliance choice.

Dwarves start in Coldridge Valley (ForeverDB). Totem spells need the matching totem item in your bags, earned from the Earth, Fire, Water and Air class quests at 4, 10, 20 and 30. ForeverDB couldn't confirm from the client how Dwarves and Skyborne get these quests. Wowhead's level 30 guides list Dwarf and Skyborne versions of Call of Earth, and Alliance versions of the other three.

How Forever changed the class

Blizzard's Mage and Shaman deep dive aims to cut repeated setup in combat:

• Totems: a 1 sec global cooldown, 5 min durations for buff totems and a tracking bar where a right-click dismisses a totem. Resistance totems cover the whole raid.
• Weapon imbues: they last 60 min and can sit alongside sharpening stones and wizard oils.
• Fire Nova: a spell that erupts from your active Fire totem. The old Fire Nova Totem is gone.
• Windfury and Flametongue Totems: now plain group buffs. You don't benefit from one if your own weapon carries the matching imbue. Blizzard's 16 October notes made Windfury, Flametongue, Strength of Earth and Grace of Air Totems raid-wide. They also let Grace of Air run alongside the other two, though Windfury and Flametongue still exclude each other (ForeverDB).
• New totem tools: Totemic Projection at 22 moves your totems. Call spells hold preset four-totem sets. Totemic Recall returns 25% of their mana.
• Baseline talents: Two-Handed Axes and Maces, Enhancing Totems, Weapon Mastery and Improved Weapon Totems are no longer talents. Blizzard says every Shaman now has them.
• Spell scaling: Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning cast faster but start lower, gaining more from spell power. Lightning Bolt rank 1 went from 0.123 to 0.429 (ForeverDB).

The 16 October build then reshuffled the Elemental tree (ForeverDB). Lava Burst moved up to tier 5, reachable at level 30. A redesigned Elemental Mastery returned as the tier 7 talent, even though Blizzard's deep dive had said it was removed. Chain Lightning and Fire Nova also became cheaper. One more mismatch: the deep dive puts Call of the Spirits at 30, but the client teaches Call of the Ancestors at 30 and Call of the Spirits at 40.

Choosing a spec

• Elemental: a ranged caster with strong area damage from Fire Nova and Magma Totem. Wowhead finds its single-target damage weak at low levels, and Icy Veins sums up its level 30 damage as weak.
• Enhancement: melee with a slow two-hander, Windfury Weapon and Stormstrike. Wowhead calls it easy to learn, and says every melee group will want a Shaman for Windfury Totem. Icy Veins warns that mana runs out fast.
• Restoration: Healing Wave, then Chain Heal and Riptide at 40. Its healing talents suit a regular group, at the cost of slower solo kills.

Blizzard's own summary calls Shamans among the sturdiest classes, but short on reliable crowd control.

Levelling

ForeverDB and Wowhead both point new Shamans to Enhancement, and Icy Veins rates Elemental's damage weak at 30. As Enhancement you fight with a big weapon, heal between pulls, and from level 20 Improved Ghost Wolf makes Ghost Wolf instant and usable indoors. Wowhead's Restoration guide says to level as Enhancement and keep Restoration for Dual Specialization, which unlocks at 40. Wowhead's Elemental guide goes further, calling Elemental a poor choice below 40 and suggesting a melee-caster hybrid instead.

The level 30 Call of Air chain rewards a choice of weapon: Lightning's Grasp, Rage of the Storm or Tidebringer's Claw, plus Elementalist's Guard (Wowhead). Icy Veins recommends Lightning's Grasp with the shield for Elemental, and Tidebringer's Claw for Restoration.

Race and profession picks

• Race: older guides favour Orc or Skyborne, but their racial comparisons predate the 26 October changes below. The Alliance has only Dwarf.
• Professions: ForeverDB suggests Leatherworking and Skinning. Wowhead's Elemental and Restoration guides and WoWSims suggest Leatherworking and Enchanting; Enchanting makes the Polished Driftwood Icon relic.

Where the guides disagree

The old racial disagreement is resolved: Blizzard's 26 October notes set Skyborne Wind-Blessed to 2% haste. Orc Savage was removed and Command restored; its pet-damage bonus does not benefit a Shaman. Tauren Endurance is now only 5% health. Earlier Orc-for-every-spec rankings and 1%/3% Skyborne figures are not a current comparison. Choose race for its actual toolkit and preferences; there is no launch-tested universal winner here.

Blizzard built the trees for it

Blizzard's Mage and Shaman deep dive explains several placements in terms of other specs:

• Elemental Devastation moved to row 2 mainly to give Enhancement a reason to spend points in Elemental.
• Mindfulness sits in Restoration's row 2 so Elemental can reach it for mana regeneration while casting.
• Natural Grace moved up to row 2 for the same reason. It now lowers threat from all spells.
• Thundering Strikes now raises critical chance with spells as well as weapon attacks. WoWSims' Elemental preset takes all five ranks.

Talents can be reset at a class trainer in a major city, and Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40 (Blizzard).

Levelling hybrids

Wowhead describes the Mana Management build as playing like a melee and caster hybrid. You fight in melee with an imbued weapon, use shocks and Fire Nova, and lean on Restoration's mana talents. It suggests switching to Deep Elemental once Lava Burst or Elemental Mastery are within reach, then working back to Mindfulness and Water Shield. With Legacy points it adds Shamanistic Focus and Elemental Weapons. Wowhead's Enhancement guide also mentions putting points into Restoration to afford more Fire Nova in dungeons and to heal when needed.

Endgame mixes (WoWSims, level 60)

These presets are simulator projections for level 60 and have not been played:

• Elemental (32/11/8): Thundering Strikes 5, Ancestral Knowledge 3, Improved Ghost Wolf 2 and Shamanistic Focus in Enhancement. Tidal Focus 5 (for hit) and Mindfulness 3 in Restoration (build file).
• Enhancement (19/32/0): Concussion 5, Elemental Devastation 3, Reverberation 5, Call of Flame 3, Elemental Focus and Trial by Fire 2 in Elemental (presets). That is the cross-tree path Blizzard said Elemental Devastation was moved for.
• Restoration: no default talents yet.

The hybrid tax

On episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast (1 October), the developers set out their position (ForeverDB's write-up):

• The target: hybrid damage specs should do about 5% less damage than Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks. Any class that can fill more than one role counts as a hybrid. ForeverDB reads that as covering Elemental and Enhancement; the team didn't list specs one by one.
• An average: it is a target across fights, so a hybrid can still lead on some.
• Missing tools, not a big gap: the team wants every role competitive, with hybrids lacking some tools pure classes have.
• Trade-offs: each class has a damage budget, so a buff to a hybrid will likely be balanced by a cut elsewhere.

The same episode explains why Enhancement can't heal much mid-fight. The developers said they deliberately avoid giving hybrid damage specs strong healing. That is why Maelstrom Weapon speeds up only Lightning Bolt, which the client confirms (ForeverDB). They also said Shamans cleave only by spending mana, unlike Warriors.

The 5% is a design target, not a number in the client, and level 60 damage can't be measured yet.

Healer, damage and tank in one character

• Off-healing: ForeverDB notes every spec can heal in an emergency with Healing Wave and resurrect with Ancestral Spirit (ForeverDB). Wowhead says an Elemental with the mana build heals levelling groups nearly as well as a dedicated healer at 30. Its Enhancement guide suggests using heals to support the healer or to turn spare mana into health.
• Off-tanking: Blizzard designed Spirit Weapons to cut threat normally but raise it by 30% with Rockbiter Weapon. Improved Stormstrike can reset Stormstrike on a dodge or parry. Together they let Enhancement act as a temporary tank in small groups. Shamans still have no taunt; Stoneclaw Totem can only pull nearby enemies onto itself for 15 sec (ForeverDB).
• Totems belong to the class: Wowhead notes the totems are the same in every spec, so a raid can take whichever Shaman spec performs best.
• Switching roles: Wowhead's Restoration guide treats Restoration as a Dual Specialization pick at 40, with Enhancement for levelling.

General tips

• Wowhead's guide uses Lightning Bolt to show the rank trick: write /cast Lightning Bolt without a rank and the macro always uses your best rank. Kami Labs gives the same advice.
• Wowhead lists Ghost Wolf as [stance:1] for Shamans, for macros that check your form.
• To pin a cheaper rank, write it as the spellbook does, with no space before the bracket, such as Earth Shock(Rank 1) (ForeverDB).

Totems

Call of the Elements; Shift for Totemic Recall; Ctrl for your second set, Call of the Ancestors (ForeverDB, level 20, Ctrl at 30):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Totemic Recall; [mod:ctrl] Call of the Ancestors; Call of the Elements

Three totems one press at a time, for the levels before Call of the Elements (ForeverDB, level 10):

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat Strength of Earth Totem, Searing Totem, Healing Stream Totem

Every Earth totem on one key: Strength of Earth, or Stoneskin with Shift, Earthbind with Ctrl and Tremor with Alt (ForeverDB, level 10):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Stoneskin Totem; [mod:ctrl] Earthbind Totem; [mod:alt] Tremor Totem; Strength of Earth Totem

Fire Nova, or a Searing Totem with Shift to give it somewhere to erupt from (ForeverDB, level 12):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Searing Totem; Fire Nova

Searing Totem then Magma Totem on two presses (Kami Labs, level 26):

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat Searing Totem, Magma Totem

Grounding Totem that cancels your current cast to go down at once (ForeverDB, level 30):

#showtooltip Grounding Totem
/stopcasting
/cast Grounding Totem

Shocks, interrupts and Purge

Earth Shock on your focus, then mouseover, then target, cancelling your own cast first (ForeverDB, level 4):

#showtooltip Earth Shock
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Earth Shock

All three shocks on one key: Earth Shock, Frost Shock with Shift, Flame Shock with Ctrl (ForeverDB, level 4):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Frost Shock; [mod:ctrl] Flame Shock; Earth Shock

Purge on your mouseover, then focus, then target (ForeverDB, level 12):

#showtooltip Purge
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,harm,nodead][] Purge

Healing, cures and resurrection

Healing Wave on your mouseover, friendly target or yourself; Alt always heals you (ForeverDB, level 1):

#showtooltip Healing Wave
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Healing Wave

Lesser Healing Wave the same way, for when speed matters more than mana (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip Lesser Healing Wave
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Lesser Healing Wave

A cheap low-rank Healing Wave for small top-ups (ForeverDB, level 6):

#showtooltip Healing Wave
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Healing Wave(Rank 2)

Nature's Swiftness into an instant Healing Wave on one press (ForeverDB, Restoration talent, level 30):

#showtooltip Nature's Swiftness
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Healing Wave

Chain Heal starting on your mouseover (Kami Labs, level 40):

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Chain Heal

Riptide on your mouseover, which also strengthens Chain Heal on that target (Kami Labs, Restoration talent, level 40):

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Riptide

Cure Poison on your mouseover, or Cure Disease with Shift (ForeverDB, level 16, Shift at 22):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift,help,nodead][mod:shift,@player] Cure Disease; [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Cure Poison

Ancestral Spirit that only fires on a dead friend (ForeverDB, level 12):

#showtooltip Ancestral Spirit
/cast [@mouseover,help,dead][help,dead] Ancestral Spirit

Shields, weapons and travel

Lightning Shield, or Water Shield with Shift (ForeverDB, level 8; Water Shield is a level 20 Restoration talent):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Water Shield; Lightning Shield

Every weapon imbue on one key: Rockbiter, Flametongue with Shift, Frostbrand with Ctrl, Windfury with Alt (ForeverDB, full use at level 30):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Flametongue Weapon; [mod:ctrl] Frostbrand Weapon; [mod:alt] Windfury Weapon; Rockbiter Weapon

Stormstrike that also starts your auto attack (ForeverDB, Enhancement talent, level 25):

#showtooltip Stormstrike
/startattack
/cast Stormstrike

Ghost Wolf that a second press won't cancel (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip Ghost Wolf
/cast !Ghost Wolf

Both trinkets on one key (Kami Labs):

/use 13
/use 14

Cautions

Some Kami Labs descriptions don't match Forever's versions of these spells:

• Its Flame Shock card says Flame Shock guarantees a Lava Burst critical hit. In Forever, Lava Burst deals 20% more damage with your Flame Shock up instead (ForeverDB).
• Its Fire Nova card describes a burst around the Shaman. Forever's Fire Nova erupts from your active Fire totem.
• It calls Lesser Healing Wave mana-efficient. ForeverDB says it heals less per point of mana than Healing Wave.
• Its four-totem sequence includes both Windfury and Flametongue Totems. Blizzard says a party can't benefit from both at once (deep dive), so it isn't listed here.

ForeverDB adds that a cast sequence only moves on when a step succeeds. Without mana or the right totem item, it waits on that step.