TBC Classic Restoration Shaman Guide (Phase 3)

Restoration Shaman is a healer in mail armor. Its main strength is healing several targets at once through Chain Heal. Besides healing, it brings the raid totems for a variety of tasks, from buffs to dispels, and support spells: Bloodlust, Earth Shock and Purge. In TBC it gained Earth Shield, and Mana Tide Totem now restores 6% of mana over 3 seconds and stays useful throughout the entire expansion.

• Lesser Healing Wave — emergency healing for someone about to die
• Remove dangerous effects from the group as fast as possible, and prepare for fear ahead of time with Tremor Totem
• Earth Shield on the tank and Water Shield on yourself — keep them up at all times
• Keep support totems active and within range of the group
• Keep Ancestral Healing and Healing Way on the tank if you have them
• Chain Heal — when damage is going out across the group
• Healing Wave — when damage is going out on a single target

• Mana Tide Totem — restores 6% of mana over 3 seconds; it can be moved between groups right in combat, and its full effect plays out over 12 seconds
• Nature's Swiftness — an instant max-rank Healing Wave
• Bloodlust and Heroism — a huge haste boost to the whole group for 40 seconds
• Totemic Recall — removes your totems and returns 25% of their cost
• Earth Elemental Totem — an emergency tank for the group
• Tremor Totem, Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem — drop them a little less than 5 seconds before the effect is applied

A separate trick is cast cancelling. Start casting a max-rank Healing Wave on the tank ahead of time, before damage even reaches them, and cancel the cast if the heal turns out not to be needed by the end: no mana is spent and the cooldown is not interrupted. The trick is great during calm phases when only the tank is being hit.

TBC introduced a downranking penalty: the lower the rank relative to your level, the less it gains from healing done. Even so, a Shaman needs to downrank, otherwise mana will run out on a long fight.

• Chain Heal: rank 1 — economical group healing, rank 3 — a balance, rank 5 — maximum healing.
• Healing Wave: rank 1 — quick and cheap to apply Ancestral Healing and Healing Way, rank 7 — moderate single-target healing, rank 12 — huge healing, convenient for cast cancelling and for pairing with Nature's Swiftness. Rank 5 is the most economical for constant healing: spells available before level 20 gain less from gear, while rank 4 already falls under the penalty.
• Earth Shock: rank 1 for economical interrupts.
• Frost Shock: rank 1 for economical slows.

Draenei

• Inspiring Presence increases the spell hit chance of the whole group by 1%.
• Gift of the Naaru heals the target over 15 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
• Shadow Resistance increases Shadow resistance by 10.
• Gemcutting increases Jewelcrafting skill by 5.

Troll

• Berserking increases attack and casting speed by 10–30% depending on how wounded you are. 3-minute cooldown.
• Beast Slaying increases damage against beasts by 5%.
• Bow Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% while wielding a bow.
• Throwing Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% while wielding a thrown weapon.
• Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and allows 10% of it to be regenerated right in combat.

Orc

• Blood Fury increases attack power by 282 for 15 seconds, but during that time healing received is reduced by 50%. 2-minute cooldown.
• Hardiness increases the chance to resist stun by 15%.
• Command increases pet damage by 5%.
• Axe Specialization increases expertise rating by 5 while wielding an axe.

Tauren

• War Stomp stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 0.5-second cast, 2-minute cooldown.
• Endurance increases the health pool by 5%.
• Nature Resistance increases Nature resistance by 10.
• Cultivation increases Herbalism skill by 15.

Leatherworking

Provides the Windhawk Armor set, which also works great for an Elemental Shaman, and Drums of Battle — a consumable available only to leatherworkers.

Enchanting

Exclusive ring enchants boost your healing throughout all of TBC.

Tailoring

Good only at the very start: the Whitemend and Primal Mooncloth sets are available right in the first phase and give excellent healing stats, but they have no stamina and are quickly replaced by T4-level gear. Plus the profession earns decent gold from periodic cloth transmutes.

Alchemy

A good source of gold thanks to transmutes and the new specializations in elixirs, potions and transmutation.