[Quick Guide] Leveling a Shaman

[str4jo]

I've noticed these boards don't have a leveling guide, so I took the liberty of writing a short guide myself.



Let's start off with the basics- preparing your shaman for leveling, aka:

Heirlooms

As you probably already know, a shaman can be both a melee and a spellcaster class. First off melee heirlooms:

MELEE

- Champion's Deathdealer Breastplate is an obvious choice, even though it is mail your character will be able to equip it without being at least lvl 40 (when you learn the mail proficiency). If you maybe have a Stained Shadowcraft Tunicyou can use it also, it's the exp bonus that really matters.

-As for the shoulders obvious choices are Champion Herod's Shoulder and Prized Beastmaster's Mantle. They're both good enough but the first one has obvious advantage over the other. Again, if you have a leather version Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders you can use it, nothing noobish about it.

-As for the weapons, a Bloodied Arcanite Reaper will reduce the amount of time needed for you to go through the first 40 levels (until you get dual wield). At 40 ( or a few levels later, more on that further down) 2x Venerable Mass of McGowan is the right choice. Good stats for a shaman, excelent speed- no brainer since the rest of the 1h melee weapons aren't wield able by shamans.
For the trinkets it would be wise to have one of each- both a Swift Hand of Justice and a Discerning Eye of the Beast. Both stats can be useful, as well as the effect.


CASTER

For a caster shaman an obvious chest choice is the Mystical Vest of Elements, unfortunately, the leather and cloth chest pieces have spirit on them, making them not very useful to you. You can use them but... that's not it.

-For the shoulders, again, obvious choices are Mystical Pauldrons of Elements and Aged Pauldrons of The Five Thunders. Also, Exquisite Sunderseer Mantle has no spirit on it. If you have it you can choose not to waste emblems so go for it.

-Weapon choices are rather "small"... you can choose The Blessed Hammer of Grace or a Devout Aurastone Hammer. And that's pretty much it, since staves aren't really recommended.

-Two Discerning Eye of the Beast seems like the right choice, although you can use a Swift Hand of Justice in one slot... having two Swift Hand of Justice seems a bit like an overkill.

[str4jo]

Ok now, there's two ways to level a shaman: The fastest way (enhancement), and "omg i wanna shoot lightning" way. The first is kinda self- explanatory, and the second involves using elemental talents.

Enhancement:

- For the maximum efficiency in the first 20 levels you should invest all your points into the tier 1 of the elemental talent tree ( Convection first, then Concussion), then, at level 20 respec to this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xG0o. The instant Ghost Wolf is a life saver, either if you aggro too many mobs or some lonely member of the opposite faction starts whacking you. It's a nifty thing to have. Always use a 2-hander, a staff with nice dps rating, a big axe, a mallet... anything as long as it's two hander. One-hand+shield just kills things way too slowly. Enchant your weapon with Rockbiter all the way up to lvl 30 (when you get windfury- huzzah).

-Let's make an example- you're level 18, just got your new rank of flametounge and you're not quite sure what to use- the new ranked spell or the Rockbiter. Let's say that FT does maximum dmg with the heirloom axe ( i don't know, lets presume)- the max dmg is 19, so the overall dps increase is 5, and the rockbiter increases weapon dps by 6. It's not a big difference, but it's still there. Now FT can crit, but i doubt you will have that much crit to push it over RB.

-Back to the talents; continue to put points in Thundering Strikes, max out Improved Shields, put two points in Flurry, then max out Elemental Weapons, get Spirit Weapons, and finaly max out Flurry, max out Weapon Mastery, then put two points in Unleashed Rage, and finaly get Stormstrike http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xgIoxzMh0o.

-Now, if you did dungeons and have some hit gear (or enchants), put a point in Dual Wield and go directly for it. If not, max out Dual Wield Specialization, then use 2 one-handers ( use Windfury on both of them).
Then put points in Improved Stormstrike and take Lava Lash ( it's another button to press, makes your rotation more fun), and put a point into Mental Dexterity. Get Shamanistic Rage, max out Mental Quickness, put an aditional point in Mental Dexterity, then fill out Maelstrom weapon, and get the Spirit Wolves and then put that last point into Mental Dexterity. Leaving you with http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xgIoxzIhuoRuVo.

-Then start investing points into the elemental tree: Max out Concussion, max out Elemental Warding, put two points in Convection, take Elemental Focus, and max out Elemental Fury at which point you will be using FT on your offhand. So it all looks like this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hic0qZ0xgIoxzIhuoRuVo. Put the last few points in any way you like- preferably Elemental Devastation.

[str4jo]

Elemental:
Can't say i recommend this, but if you want to play a caster shaman let none tell you otherwise.

- Up to level 20 put the same points as if you were choosing the other leveling way (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hE). Then at 20 respec to http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xMho, use shocks every damn cooldown, every, you will get hit alot so the Imp Shields will help with mana regen. I'm not going to BS you, you will be hit alot, you will drink alot.

- Then put points into the Elemental tree in the following order: Max out Concussion, max out Elemental Warding, 2 points in Convection, Elemental Focus, 4 points in Elemental Fury, max out Eye of the Storm, and then get back to Elemental Fury. So it looks like this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hic0qcZ0xMho. At level 40 go to a shaman trainer (duh).

- Then respec to http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hAc0qckux. Then; max out Elemental Precision, put a point in Elemental Mastery, and the last point in Elemental Reach. Max out Elemental Oath, max out Lightning Overload, get Totem of Wrath, max out Storm Earth and Fire, and get another point into Convection, max out Shamanism, and get Thunderstorm. So it's about this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hyc0qcdIthfzVo.

- Then put 5 points in Ancestral Knowledge, max out imp. Ghost Wolf, put a point into Shamanistic Focus, put a point into Thundering Strikes, then max out Lava Flows, max out Thundering Strikes, and then gz on lvl 80. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hyc0qcdIthfzAo0xguo

[str4jo]

How to play (not much i can tell you, shaman is not a very complicated class, but still, here goes):

Enhancement:
For the first few levels pull with 2 Lightning Bolts, Shock, then whack until dead. Heal when needed, bring food and water. When you get Stormstrike you can stop pulling with lightning bolt, just start whacking. Another thing, about shield usage. Naturaly, use Lightning Shield up until 20, then switch to Water Shield. When you max out Imp. Stormstrike you can get back to Lightning Shield- it all depends on you and your gear. On how much healing you need, how fast do you kill mobs, what kind of weapons do you have... Do whatever think it's best . Try to solo Elite quests, you have instant heals, you can summon an army of pets, it's great fun and a great way to learn your class. Cast Stoneclaw on every cool down.
As for stats go for Agility, Attack Power, Stamina...

Elemental:
Basically you're a pre-stormstrike Enhancement shaman until you get Elemental Mastery, then start firing off Lightning Bolts like mad. When you get Storm Earth and Fire start utilising the Eartbind totem. Also, don't forget lvl 75 and the awesomeness of Lava Burst, it is then when the Elemental Spec is truly enjoyable for leveling. You will have a harder time soloing elite quests. Stoneclaw on every cool down.
Go for Spell Power, Crit, Haste, Intellect...

Totems:
When soloing, don't put them down, unless you're doing a group quest, you waste mana because you're constantly on the move, you can aggro more mobs by accident and it can get you ganked. Also, don't do the totem quests until you're ~2 levels above them ( 22 and 32- at 40 you just kind of "get" air totems), the quests are boring and somewhat hard if you don't have friends to help out.

Also... use the most wonderful thing since Sliced bread, the LFG- the shaman shines when s/he's in a group, queue up as a healer also... who knows, you may enjoy it.

Glyphs:
Enhancement- Stoneclaw Totem, then Stormstrike
Elemental- Stoneclaw Totem, Lightning Bolt
Minor glyphs- Water Shield, Astral Recall ( Whatever you like can be used)

[str4jo]

Can anyone tell me how to link tooltips from the database? =\

[Cearat]

Can anyone tell me how to link tooltips from the database? =\

Go find a spell on wowhead, and copy paste the URL.

[str4jo]

ok i feel pretty stupid now, i kept including punctuation into the link so it wouldn't work, ty

[trazer985]

woah there, stop stop stop.

ok - i'll never beat down on someone trying to be helpful, so he's constructive criticism.

Writing a guide is longer and more comprehensive than you think.

You need to include: stats - priority, and preferably what they do - 1agi = 1ap,crit,armour etc.
Also mention what stats are awful.

itemisation - is hit any good? do you need it when levelling in areas 0-2 levels below your level. what about higher.

soloing (60+ enh shammy can solo anything but not lower - many people dont want to have to lfg they just want to pound stuff)

non boa people? what instances worth doing?

rotation: soloing shammies dont have replenishment and get a lot of downtime. what spells are damage effective? (always go water shield)

bonus to going elemental? you can heal instances fine.


sample :

enh:
stats: Agility/expertise/hit/crit/stam (or w.e u think)
strong vs: casting mobs. weak vs. armour mobs.
spec:

lvl 10-15: 5 polints in blargle talent
16-20, 5 in boomboomwakka etc.

remember the people that look for guides want everything written out for them in tl;dr format. tell them exactly what to do.
no thinking. assume you're talking to a 5 year old. more often than not you are.

keep going.

[Bling]

Overall good basic information. Few things I disagree with.

First is telling people to pick up elemental warding as soon as possible. Its a useless talent unless your a raiding shaman doing hard mode content. If you seriously are even getting under 50% health while soloing as a shaman, your probably doing something wrong. It is a waste of talent points for a leveling shaman.

Second telling people to use rockbiter over flametongue isn't completely true. If they have any spellpower at all, flametongue will definitely going to outdps it. And it also crits enough that one crit in a fight will make it outdps rockbiter, also it ignores armor, which makes it a much better low level instance dps seal, as the elites tend to have enough armor to put it much higher than rockbiter. Overall its been proven to outdps rockbiter.

I would also have you recommend to people that go enhance that WF/WF is gonna work best until they max out elemental fury at the higher levels then WF/FT is top dps.

Lastly, Stoneclaw totem glyph isn't needed at all for leveling. It mostly just a pvp glyph. Hell even the totem itself is pretty useless. Only reason to really use it is if you pulled too many mobs and need to get away. Why the hell you would use it over Strength of Earth as enhance I don't know. I'm a bit confused why you think you need it or why you recommend it over everything else?

[FrOsTSh0cK]

Good guide but you shouldnt act like levelling elemental is alot slower. It may not be the faster way but it still works almost as well. I levelled Elemental all my Shaman atleast partially elemental (One from 0-70 and another 30-50 then 75 to 80 and my latest one was enhancement 0-50 and is now elemental at 60). Once you get Water Shield there isnt much downtime at all, next to none, and once you get thunderstorm there shouldnt be any at all.

[Treeninjas]

sticky this guide please.

[Morbidx]

for the record BoA mail/plate gear turns into leather/mail pre 40 :P just thought everyone should know

[Gnobocop]

What about those of us who level resto? 1 - 80 as resto. Sadomasachists? Pretty easy with BoA shoulders and chest, then running LFG as heals all day. I'm level 50 atm and it takes me on average 4 dungeons to get a level. May not be the easiest way, but I wanted my shammy to be resto and know what I was doing soon as I hit 80 so I could start the heroic dungeons.

[serif]

What about those of us who level resto? 1 - 80 as resto. Sadomasachists? Pretty easy with BoA shoulders and chest, then running LFG as heals all day. I'm level 50 atm and it takes me on average 4 dungeons to get a level. May not be the easiest way, but I wanted my shammy to be resto and know what I was doing soon as I hit 80 so I could start the heroic dungeons.

levelling as resto sounds painful. but something should be said about leveling in the spec that you plan to use during end-game content. Like ele for example. Sure enhance may be a bit easier to level with, but if you're really itching to play elemental and you know thats what you want to do when you get to lvl 80 there is still benefit to leveling up 1-80 as elemental rather than starting as enhance and then respeccing later on.

If you've spent 80 levels learning the ins and outs of one spec just so you can respec to a completely new one after you hit 80 you'll have to learn your toon all over again. I'd say pick what spec you want to be when you grow up and then level with that spec. it may not always be easy or fast, but the experience and knowledge you will have gained about the intricacies of your class and spec will be invaluable once you start queuing up for raids at 80.

[melvyl]

Perhaps I shouldn't admit this but my Shaman is using the Dignified Headmaster's Charge enchanted with Enchant Weapon - Spell Power to level Resto. It is the same staff my Shadow Priest used and he currently shares it with a Resto Druid and Frost Mage that I also level as the opportunity presents itself. Since he ahs been pretty much leveling exclusively in instances, it hasn't been a problem so far.

Plus the animations on those occasions when he uses it for melee are the best I have seen in the game.

[chat1der]

Excellent guide. please sticky. I'm leveling my first shaman and am finding this guide very useful.

In response to using the stoneclaw totem- I find it useful not only in pvp, but in pve as well since with the stoneclaw glyph I enjoy having a shield up during bigger pulls soloing.

[Bling]

Although a decent guide, I don't know if its sticky worthy. Too many guesses and not enough factual evidence or proven math to justify a sticky. Seriously, with stuff like getting elemental warding as soon as possible when so many better talents exist just make me laugh at this guide.

[Fornaw]

-As for the weapons, a Bloodied Arcanite Reaper will reduce the amount of time needed for you to go through the first 40 levels (until you get dual wield). At 40 ( or a few levels later, more on that further down) 2x Venerable Mass of McGowan is the right choice. Good stats for a shaman, excelent speed- no brainer since the rest of the 1h melee weapons aren't wield able by shamans.

If you're going to mention 2h choices for enh leveling to DW then Repurposed Lava Dredger should be included. While the speed on the Arcanite Reaper is nice, that doesn't even come into play until 30. On the other hand the stats are really bad, getting anything out of flurry with a slow 2h weapon is hard, and the slow speed is going to contribute mostly to windfury overkill in the 30-40 range. Either weapon is an acceptable choice, and the axe will be more useful if you level another char, but the mace is definitely better for a leveling shaman.

I would only recommend glyph of stoneclaw for chars who are not leveling in BoEs, the superior stats on a BoE mean you are going to take a lot fewer hits and stoneclaw glyph will be mostly wasted. Conversely I would recommend using the glyph of flametongue along with the flametongue imbue until you learn windfury, then swap to windfury and the windfury glyph. Glyph of stormstrike is a key endgame glyph, however until you have elemental fury and maelstrom weapon, by which time you are in the 70's, it isn't going to do nearly as much for you.

Also, something that should be made more explicit, there is no difference in leveling Ele vs Enh for the first 20 levels, you are going to fire off a couple LBs and a shock then melee it down. The reason you should level Enh is that starting at level 20 Enh gets some nice skills and talents, thundering strikes->flurry->windfury->stormstrike->DW. Ele does not. If you really want to play an ele shaman, start around level 62.

[Marath]

To be perfectly honest...

All that should be included in a guide to level any character let alone a shaman is the following:

1) Kill Shit
2) Quest

Its only around lv70 that things start to get interesting, until then explore your characters abilities yourself rather than reading a guide on the fastest way to grind to 80 you will be a better player because of it.

[cyan421]

I hit 32 yesterday with my first shaman, Flametounge with the Glyph was better the whole way. I tested and switched a few times, the crit bonus looks to affect everything while rockbiter was worthless, imo.

I have been using Shadowcraft chest (have a rogue i want to level) , and sunderseer mantle (got for a priest). I got the McGowan mace and grabbed random shields around 25. Around 28, with some nice crafted blues, Barbaric bracers and such, I could not be beat on the dps meeters, unless a mage was AoEing a huge 8-10 mob pull, and I was OOM. I tanked most of BFD, with just frost shock (before i had spirit weapons). Ill be thankful at 40 I won't have to raise my one hand weapon skills for half an hour.