Restoration Guide to MoP

[Table]

Hello and welcome to Table's all inclusive guide to Restoration Shaman!

Table Of Contents

1. Basics
2. Talents
3. Glyphs
4. Gearing
5. Spell Usage
6. Specific Fights
7. Macros/UI
8. Math




1. Basics (tl;dr)

1.1 Introduction
-Shaman do not have big changes from MoP to Cata. Our basic healing spells are still the same and we heal in a way very similar to T11. The biggest change we received is our totems. They are now activated abilities instead of buffs for the raid. Mana has been changed for all healers. It is now a static 300000 mana at level 90 with intellect no longer giving mana. This makes regen much move valuable as stacking intellect will no longer prevent healers from going OOM. The talent system has been completely redesigned. The new talent trees allow the player to choose a new ability out of three possible choices. These talents can be switched to and from between fights which will create a system where there is not best set of talents for all situations. The glyph system has also changed drastically. Glyphs now either add a buff to a situation ability or change a spell to make it different, with a positive and negative change. This makes glyphs much more interesting and encouraging constant switching of glyphs on a fight to fight basis.

Note: These talents and glyphs only serve as a guide for 5 mans/entry level raiding. There are no best set of talents and glyphs as their value changes on a fight to fight basis.

Basic Spec - http://www.wowhead.com/talent#s\E|
Glyphs – Glyph of Riptide, Glyph of Telluric Currents, Glyph of Healing Wave

1.2 Stat Priority

Int = Spirit > Haste Soft Cap 871 (2017 without AS) > Crit = Mastery > More Haste

1.3 Spells

1. Water Shield and Earthliving Weapon
2. Keep Earth Shield on the Tank
3. Put down HST whenever it is off CD
4. Roll Riptides on Tanks
5. Spot heal with HW/GHW or Riptide
6. Lightning Bolt when there is nothing to heal (If Glyph of TC is used
7. When stacked – Chain Heal off a person with Riptide
8. When spread – Roll Riptides on group/raid (Chain on CD if you use the glyph or there are enough people in range)
9. Whenever there is AoE damage going out and you can fit at least 4-5 people in a HR, use UE then HR.

2. Talents



It is no longer Cataclysm. Talents are now something that will be changed out on a fight to fight basis so make sure to bring lots of Tome of the Clear Mind to raids.

Tier 1 – Survivability Tier

Nature's Guardian
-This talent will be very strong in 5 mans and early raiding, but it is not as useful in heroic modes as it it not able to prevent an attack which would other wise kill you like the other two talents of the tier. It is good for constant damage but not for an attack which brings you from 50% to 0. It is very strong for entry level raiding as it automatically goes off when needed.

Stone Bulwark Totem
-Evolved from glyph of stoneclaw on live, this talents shield can come in handy in long phases of AOE damage. Because of the damage absorbed over a fight, this should be the standard for raiding.

Astral Shift
-A very nice defensive CD, can be very good for certain fights where there is predictable heavy damage. A long CD and short duration make this talent less appealing, but still viable because of its ability to save you from death with proper usage. It should be taken when a boss has an ability that would would otherwise kill you (think Ultraxion). Very nice on HMs.

Tier 2 – Slow/Rooting Tier (PvP Mostly)

Frozen Power
-Can be useful in certain fights where a root/snare is needed. Very situational, not very useful for PvE.

Earthgrab Totem
-Useful is AOE rooting is needed, but since most mobs are immune to root when a slow is needed (Heroic Madness, Beth, Rhy, ect.) it would be just as good to have Earthbind. Could be useful in some dungeons.

Windwalk Totem
-This will most likely not work against most boss encounter's slows, but it looks to be the most useful of the tier. There will be a list of raid bosses where this is useful in the Spell Usage section.

Tier 3 – Totem Utility Tier

Call of the Elements
-Good for resetting the CD on HST and situational totems, such as Grounding Totem and Tremor Totem. This will also work with Stone Bulwark Totem so the two talents go very well together.

Totemic Restoration
-This talent is situational as your totems will not be destroyed much. Can be used with SLT in order to get the shared health tick, but reset the CD to half of normal. This will be very useful on fights like Spine where SLT is very good for the health distribution, but after the first tick does not do as much. This is also nice if you find your HST being destroyed by mobs/other totems as it sets the CD half. Goes well with Glyph of Totemic Recall.

Totemic Projection
-A good utility talent, gives us the chance to move all our totems on fights where we move out of range of them and can also be used with SLT in order to use it on a tank without having to move to him.

Tier 4 – Output Tier

Elemental Mastery
-This talent could be nice for situations where there is intense healing followed by little to no healing. This could be nice for a fight like Chimaeron, where there are short times of intense healing broken up by long times of little healing. It can be very powerful because, if you are at 9.98% haste, it adds 2 ticks of HST, HTT, and Earthliving and 1 tick of Riptide and HR. This is a very good choice if you find yourself not using single-target spells much and not able to reforge down to around 872 haste. 2017 haste is the aiming point if you take this talent.

Ancestral Swiftness
-Gives you a free extra tick of Riptide, Healing Rain, and Healing Tide while also giving spell haste for all your other spells. A must have if you are looking to hit the haste break points. Unfortunately, since the haste points are so easy to hit now, this talent has diminished in power. Still extremely powerful for straight throughput.

Echo of the Elements
-While this talent looks strong because it gives free healing, the actual healing it gives is devalued by the fact that it is only on HW, GHW, HS, and CH which will most likely not be a majority of our healing. This is useful if you are assigned to tank healing and using mostly GHW or HW. It works well when used with CH because when copying the spell, it creates a new smart heal which makes the it overheal less than with single target spells. This is a very strong talent if you are not able to reforge down to around 872 haste and you are using single-target healing spells for the majority of your healing. 2017 haste is the aiming point if you take this talent.

Tier 5 – Healing Tier

Healing Tide Totem
-HTT is the highest HPS and HPM spell in a shaman's arsenal. This is the clear winner for this tier as it only costs one global cooldown and does more healing than the other talents of the tier.

Ancestral Guidance
-This talent is weaker than HTT even if timed perfectly with other cooldowns. It also pigeonholes shaman to only casting single-target heals, namely HS and GHW. Even if it did as much HPS as HTT, it would still be much worse HPM. You must do 41370 HPS with only single-target spells while this is active for it to do as much healing as HTT (at 24000 SP).

Conductivity
-If HTT is used to its full potential (every cooldown, no overhealing) it will be better throughput than Conductivity. Conductivity forces you to use single-target healing spells while targets are inside a HR, meaning they are stacked. In a situation like this, CH would be much more mana efficient. Overall, a situational talent that is really not worth it in 99% of situations.

Tier 6 – Output Tier

Unleashed Fury
-Very strong for single-target tank healing. Most likely the staple for 5 man dungeons. This is very powerful when tank healing because it greatly increases the HPM and HPS of GHW. Unfortunately, this talent does not affect AoE heals or our totems at all, which makes it less viable than Primal Elementalist. The use of UE with HR also makes this talent much weaker.

Primal Elementalist
-Turns our Elementals into 2 new throughput CDs. Each Ele gains a new ability to channel the Shaman giving it a buff which increases all healing by 10%. This buff works with HTT and HST as well as the rest of our spells. The Earth Ele also channel also gives us a 20% reduction to all damage taken. The only real downside to this talent is that using you Eles as buffs takes away the ability for them to be used as extra raid dps or spot tanks on loose adds. The obvious choice for AoE healing raiding situations.

Elemental Blast
-This is an interesting talent that is not very viable for Resto raiding. The stat chosen is random, making the benefit not as good as it would be if it choose your highest stat. The loss of global cooldowns is not worth the small amount of throughput gains, which is less than the other talents in the tier. This could be useful in 5 mans to add extra dps when you are not healing.

3. Glyphs



All glyphs are going to be very situational in MoP. There is no “best” set of glyphs. Be ready to weigh the options of each glyph in a fight to fight basis. Only major glyphs will be discussed as minor glyphs are purely aesthetic now.

Glyph of Chaining
-Can be very good for spread fights. This ups the jump distance on our chain heal from 12 to 24 yards. This will be extremely viable in 10 mans where it is rare to get the full effect of chain heal but most likely not needed in 25 man. It could still be worth using in 25 man based on the fight and the viability of other glyphs in specific encounters.

Glyph of Cleansing Waters
-Not a very good glyph since dispels have a CD. Does less healing than a healing wave and has no chance to proc resurgance. Avoid this glyph.

Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem
-Can be used in conjunction with Primal Elementalist in order to reduce a 5 minute CD to a 3 minute CD. This is nice because you will most likely not need the full minute of healing, and it allows you to use the Fire Ele more depending on the length of a fight.

Glyph of Healing Stream Totem
-Very strong glyph on fights where Fire, Frost, or Nature damage is being dealt. Overall, one of the better glyphs in our arsenal since it comes with no downside. You should be switching this glyph in on a fight to fight basis.

Glyph of Healing Wave
-Strong glyph for 5 mans and entry raiding. Adds 20% self healing whenever you use Healing Wave, which is your go-to heal in 5 mans because of its low mana cost.

Glyph of Telluric Currents
-This glyph has been heavily nerfed since the start of beta. It gives a slight mana return (0.6%) but nothing very big. This still be useful on fights which have long periods of burn phases with nothing to heal. It will still be a standard for 5 mans because of the DPS it adds to the group. This is a nice glyph to throw in if you do not know what to put in the last glyph spot or if you liked the active regeneration style of Shaman in Cata. LB procced by Echo of the Elements do not return mana.

Glyph of Totemic Recall
-Can be used to recall HST, Earth Ele, and Fire Ele right before they despawn to get full mana back, which is about 15k per totem. Over the course of a 5 min fight can save you about 180k mana if used correctly. Unfortunately you will also miss the last tick of your HST and the last second of Fire/Earth Ele. It also takes a large amount of coordination and loss of GCDs to recall all your totems at the last second.

Glyph of Riptide
-This is a very strong glyph and makes Riptide our version of Rejuvination. It is very helpful any sort of spread AOE healing for 10 mans. In 25 mans, HR is able to be used in most cases because of the close proximity of raid members, but this glyph can still be used in situational encounters. It is weaker in 5 mans because unglyphed Riptide can be kept up on 3 targets. It can also be very nice on a movement fight because it gives shaman an instant cast HoT they can cast while moving.

Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace
-This is a weak glyph after you lose T13 4 piece, could still be useful if you need SWG to last an extra 5 seconds for timing on a specific fight or a fight with heavy movement. Increases the uptime of SWG from 12.5% to 16.67%.

Glyph of Water Shield
-You need to trigger Water Shield at least once every 22s to give back more mana than unglyphed Water Shield. This glyph can be very powerful on fights that proc WS a lot. There will be a list of fights where this glyph is useful in the Specific Fights section.

4. Gearing

4.1 Stats

Intellect: Gives spell power and a small amount of spell crit. Spell power increases the throughput of all of our spells. This is more powerful than the secondary stats at a rate of 1 to 1, but at a rate of 2 to 1 (gemming) Mastery/Haste/Crit provide more throughput. This means it is not a good idea to socket for Int outside of fitting socket bonuses with purple gems. It also no longer increases mana so it does not help regen.

Crit: Chance to double all of our heals. Gives back mana on all single target heals. It is worth ~0.25 spirit in terms of self-regen at 0 crit and scales down from there. Will be weaker on fights with heavy use of Healing Rain and stronger on fights with less use of Healing Rain. Glyph of Riptide and heavy use of single-target heals makes this the strongest secondary stat after Spirit for 10 mans. Crit also suffers from diminishing returns, so the more crit you get the less value you get out of it. 15% Crit (unbuffed) is a good aiming point before switching to Mastery.

Spirit: Gives mp5 at a rate of 1 spirit = ~0.565 mp5 in combat. Also scales with MTT at a rate of 1 spirit = 9.04 extra mana gained during MTT per healer. Currently the best secondary stat because of the mana return and its static scaling (100 Spirit is worth the same no matter how much you have). Mana is the limiting factor so the more spirit you get the more heals you can cast and the more healing you will do. Socket for this (unless you feel as if you have NO mana issues).

Mastery: The power of our mastery varies on the target's health which makes it hard to put a value on it. Overall, stronger than haste especially in harder content, but does not scale with with regen at all which is a major problem right now. Will outweigh crit the more time the raid spends at low HP and the less you use HW, HS, GHW, CH, UE, and Riptide. This will be the strongest secondary stat after Spirit if you are mostly doing 25 mans and are not using the Riptide glyph. Mastery's value increases in heroic raids because people spend more time at lower HP.

Haste: Cast spells faster and adds extra ticks to hots. 871 (461 for goblins) haste with AS is the aiming point. If you choose to go with EM or EotE, 2017 (1576 for goblins) is a good aiming point. The only regen Haste scales with is TC, and it scales very poorly with that. Haste value is decreased between soft caps, making this the weakest stat in both 10 and 25 mans.





Credit to Binkenstein for charts.
http://www.totemspot.com/vb/entry.php?b=41

4.2 Pre-Raid BiS

Bolded items are regarded as BiS. Profession only items are excluded from being BiS. Subject to change as loot is added/changed.

Because mana is such an issue, you should socket full Spirit unless the socket bonus is huge (LW Chest) in which case you should use a green gem.

Overall Pre-Raid BiS Gear: http://chardev.org/profile/1610.html - Not all items are updated in Chardev yet.

Head
Nightwatcher's Helm - Shado-Pan Revered - 2250 VP
Energized Retinal Armor – Engineering
Waterburst Helm – Temple of the Jade Serpent – Wise Mari

Neck
Mending Necklace of the Golden Lotus - Quest: The Final Power - Golden Lotus Exalted
Links of the Lucid – The Klaxxi Revered - 1250 VP
Mindcapture Pendant – Morgu'shan Palace – Xin the Weaponmaster

Shoulders
Mindbender Shoulders - Goldun Lotus Revered - 1750 VP
Neverdare Shoulders – Temple of the Jade Serpent – Sha of Doubt

Back
Sagewhisper's Wrap – Shado-Pan Revered - 1250 VP
Cloak of Hidden Flasks – Stormstout Brewery - Hoptallus

Chest
Stormbreaker Chestguard
Lifekeeper's Robe – Leatherworking
Shivbreaker Vest – Scholomance – Lilian Voss
Uncasked Chestguard - Stormstout Brewery - Yan-Zhu the Uncasked

Bracers
Brewmaster Chani's Bracers - The August Celestials Revered - 1250 VP
Shadow Puppet Bracers – Scholomance – Instructor Chillheard

Gloves
Ravenmane's Gloves - The August Celestials Revered - 1750 VP
Lifekeeper's Gloves – Leatherwoking
Hexxer's Lethargic Gloves – Mogu'shan Palace – Gekkan

Belt
Klaxxi Lash of the Precursor - The Klaxxi Revered - 1750 VP
Sunheart Waistband – Temple of the Jade Serpent – Lorewalker Stonestep
Belt of Totemic Binding – Siege of Niuzao Temple – Wing Leader Ner'onok

Pants
Swarmkeeper's Leggings - The Klaxxi Revered - 2250 VP
Bradbury's Entropic Legguards – Scarlet Halls – Flameweaver Koegler
Leggings of the Charging Soul – Shado-Pan Monastery – Gu Cloudstrike

Boots
Sandals of the Elder Sage - The August Celestials Revered - 1750 VP
Airbender Sandals – Siege of Niuzao Temple – Wing Leader Ner'onok
Blastwalker Footguards – Shado-Pan Monastery – Taran Zhu

Rings
Leven's Circle of Hope – Golden Lotus Revered - 1250 VP
Vithrak, Gaze of the Deadman – Scarlet Halls – Flameweaver Koegler
Beastbinder Ring – Scarlet Halls – Houndmaster Braun
Viscous Ring - Gate of the Setting Sun - Commander Ri'mok

Trinkets
Scroll of Revered Ancestors – Shado-Pan Revered - 1750 VP
Relic of Chi Ji – Crane Deck
Price of Progress – Scholomance – Darkmaster Gandling
Empty Fruit Barrel - Ook-Ook - Stormstout Brewery
Vial of Ichorous Blood – Siege of Niuzao Temple – General Pa'valak

Staves
Inscribed Crane Staff – Inscription
Gustwalker Staff – Siege of Niuzao Temple – Wing Leader Ner'onok

Main Hand
Je'lyu, Spirit of the Serpent - Temple of the Jade Serpent - Sha of Doubt
Masterwork Forgewire Axe – Blacksmithing
Amber Spine of Klaxxi'vess – The Klaxxi Exalted
Carapace Breaker – Gate of the Setting Sun – Raigonn

Off Hand
Inscribed Red Fan – Inscription
Masterwork Lightsteel Shield - Blacksmithing
Metanoia Shield – Scholomance – Jandice Barov

4.3 BiS List

4.4 Enchants

Shoulder
Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Crane Wing Inscription

Back
Enchant Cloak - Superior Intellect
Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike

Chest
Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats
Enchant Chest - Mighty Spirit

Bracers
Enchant Bracer - Super Intellect
Enchant Bracer - Mastery

Gloves
Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery
Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste

Belt
Living Steel Belt Buckle

Pants
Greater Pearlescent Spellthread
Greater Cerulean Spellthread

Boots
Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step
Enchant Boots - Greater Haste

Weapon
Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit
Enchant Weapon – Windsong

Off-hand
Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect

4.5 Gems

Red
Brilliant Primordial Ruby

Orange
Artful Vermilion Onyx
Potent Vermilion Onyx
Reckless Vermilion Onyx

Blue
Sparkling River's Heart

Purple
Purified Imperial Amethyst

Green
Misty Wild Jade
Zen Wild Jade
Energized Wild Jade

Yellow
Smooth Sun's Radiance
Fractured Sun's Radiance
Quick Sun's Radiance

Meta
Revitalizing Primal Diamond
Ember Primal Diamond
Burning Primal Diamond

4.6 Consumables

Flask
Flask of the Warm Sun
Flask of Falling Leaves

Potion
Potion of Focus
Master Mana Potion
Potion of the Jade Serpent

Food
Mogu Fish Stew
Steamed Crab Surprise

4.7 Professions

Alchemy – Mixology - 320 Int or 480 Spirit

Blacksmithing – Socket Bracer, Socket Gloves – 320 Int or 640 Spirit

Enchanting – Enchant Ring - Greater Intellect – 320 Int

Engineering – Synapse Springs 1940 for 10 seconds/per minute = 320 Int

Herbalism – Lifeblood – 480 Haste

Inscription – Secret Crane Wing Inscription – 320 Int

Jewelcrafting – Sparkling Serpent's Eye , Brilliant Serpent's Eye – 320 Int or Spirit

Leatherworking – Fur Lining - Intellect – 330 Int

Mining – Toughness – 480 Stamina

Skinning – Master of Anatomy - 480 Crit

Tailoring – Darkglow Embroidery, Lightweave Embroidery – Int proc is equal to an average of 320 Int (500-180 enchant). The spirit enchant is worth 825 Spirit on average.

Tailoring has the biggest bonus for regen but the worst bonus for throughput, the lack of being able to activate it means that a proc at the wrong time could lead to it being wasted. Leatherworking is slightly ahead of all the other proffesions in terms of Int. Blacksmithing and Tailoring are the best choice if you are looking to stack spirit. Tailoring proc no longer works with MTT.

5. Spell Usage

5.1 Healing Toolkit

Healing Spells

Healing Wave
-HW will now be much more useful than it was in DS. It is now the base heal you will be casting whenever there is not massive damage going out and you need to conserve mana, much like T11. This spell should be used extensively in 5 mans and in raids.

Healing Surge
-Healing Surge is much the same as it has been in Cata. It has slightly lower HPM than GHW with tidal waves, so it is a valid option for raiding, but should not be used unless someone is about to die and you need to heal them up as quick as possible. Can be useful for tanks when you fall very far behind or they are on the brink of death. When used on a person with low health, it will often result in very large heals due to its high crit chance.

Greater Healing Wave
-This is our slow, big heal. It is slightly better HPM than HS with tidal waves, so it will be our big heal spell. Use this on tanks or when someone is low. Try not to use this instead of HW unless it is mandatory.

Chain Heal
-This spell is very low cost for the amount of healing it puts out. If there is no overhealing, it has better HPM than HW. Make sure to always CH off a person with Riptide in order to get the 25% buff.

Riptide
-Riptide still is basically the same as it was in Cata, but the Glyph of Riptide essentially turns it into a Rejuvenation for Shaman to roll on the raid. It is very efficient and does more HPS than HW. It also gives the Tidal Waves so it essential that you use it on CD if not glyphed or keep a charge of the buff at all times if it is. It is no longer consumed by CH so make sure to always CH off a target with Riptide.

Earth Shield
-Should be kept on the tank to maximize the healing procs and healing increase.

Healing Rain
-A very strong but expensive AoE heal. This spell is very viable in most AoE situations in 25 mans but in 10 mans should only be used in AoE situations where the raid is stacked. Use this in combination with UE to increase efficiency.

Spiritwalker's Grace
-A very nice spell which lets a Resto Shaman use their full toolkit while moving.

Unleash Elements
-This spell has become very strong in MoP because it can now be used with Healing Rain to drastically increase you HPS in stack situations. UE should be used with HR every time possible to get the full use of both spells. It is also nice to line up big heals on a tank or low party raid member when spot healing. This should not be used with HW because it less efficient than using HW by itself.

Ascendance
-This is a very powerful throughput CD for Shaman in MoP. It doubles the healing for the duration, spreading out the duplicate healing evenly among the raid. It the identical to the buff granted when you get the green crystal on Ultraxion. Unfortunately, this does not duplicate healing done by totems.

Mechanics and Self-Buffs

Earthliving Weapon
-Our weapon enchant that should be kept on our weapon at all times. It has a chance to proc a powerful HoT which makes it encredible powerful as it is basically free healing. Has a 20% chance to proc on single-target spells, 10% chance to proc off each CH bounce, and a 6% chance to proc on each HR tick. This number goes up when the target is below 35% HP to 100% with single-target heals, 50% with each CH, and 30% for HR.

Water Shield
-Now a basic buff with no charges, keep this buff up at all times to increase your regen.

Resurgence
-The mana given back from resurgence has increased by a large amount in MoP. It will now be our 2nd highest source of mana regen for most fights, behind spirit. This greatly increases the value of crit by making it a regen stat. This only works when Water Shield is a active.

Tidal Waves
-Tidal Waves is granted by Riptide and Chain Heal. It greatly increases the efficiency of HS and the HPS of both HW and GHW. It is very important to keep this buff up as much as possible when you are using HS, HW, or GHW by using Riptide on CD (if unglyphed) or by mixing in CHs when you are single-target healing. If you have Riptide glyphed, you will most likely not have any problems keeping this buff up 99% of the time. The T14 4 peice bonus gives a bonus stack to this buff, which will make it very easy to keep at 100% uptime even if you do no glyph Riptide.

Ancestral Awakening
-This vastly improves the value of crit while single-target healing. Due to this being a smart heal, this will rarely be overhealing.

Meditation
-The standard for all healers, allows us to receive mana back from spirit while in combat. Makes 100 Spirit = 56.5 mp5 while in combat.

Purification
-Increases all heals by 25%. Also increases healing done by water totems by 50%, which is a large chunk of your healing. Now includes Ancestral Vigor, giving the targets of your heals a health increase. You should always keep their rolling on tanks, either with Riptide, Healing Rain, or other heals.

Totems

Healing Stream Totem
-Our new HST is now an active spell that should be cast on CD every 30 seconds. It is very strong right now, even though it is bugged to not get our Purification buff or scale with haste. It will be even stronger when these bugs are fixed.

Mana Tide Totem
-Our basic mana regen CD for the raid. Regens ~6% mana (at 5000 spirit) for all healers in the raid. Use at about 85% mana and on CD after that.

Spirit Link Totem
-This totem is unique in the fact that it evens out health pools among the people standing in it. This can be very useful to quickly heal up groups of low health targets and also to spread healing equally among the raid.

Tremor Totem
-The same old Tremor Totem, still removes fear and other similar effects. Below will be a list of loss of character effects that can be removed in raid encounters:


Grounding Totem
-This totem can be used to absorb a damaging spell that is used on a party member. Below will be a list of spells that can be absorbed in raid encounters:

Stormlash Totem
-This is a very nice raid CD as it adds about 2 million damage when used in a 25 man and 900,000 damage in a 10 man. Try to use this as many times as you can in a fight and line it up with Bloodlust/Heroism to get even more damage out of it.

Fire Elemental Totem
-The Fire Ele will add about 8000 dps for the raid. It costs 16,000 mana so try to use it right when the fight starts or recall it at the end with Glyph of Totemic Recall.

Earth Elemental Totem
-The Earth Ele can come in handy on add bosses if your tank is having trouble pickign up adds. It can buy you a few seconds of keeping adds off dps and healers, and more time if you keep it healed.

Windwalk Totem
-This is a talent that removes all movement-impairing effects. Below will be a list of movement-impairing effects that can be removed in raid encounters:
Cobalt Mine Blast - The Stone Guard - Mogu'shan Vaults

Totemic Recall
-Without the Glyph, this spell is mostly useful when you are running way out of range of your totems or your totems will pull a mob.

Raid Buffs/Utility

Grace of Air
-A passive mastery buff which all Shaman bring to the raid. This does not stack with Blessing of Might.

Burning Wrath
-Our new Flametongue Totem is now a passive 10% spell power increase. It does not stack with Dark Intent from Warlocks or Arcane Brilliance from Mages.

Reincarnation
-This 30 minute CD self-res does not count as a battle res. This is very useful as it gives Shaman a free life every 30 minutes in progression while not hurting the raid.

Heroism/Bloodlust
-A very nice raid damage buff. This gives a 10 minute debuff so it will rarely be able to be used twice per fight. Pop it during burn phases or when instructed to by the Raid Leader. The CD now resets when you kill a raid boss or wipe on a raid boss.

Purify Spirit
-Our dispel works with Curses and Magic Effects. All dispels are now on an 8 second CD, so make sure to pick what you need to dispel first.

Wind Shear
-This spell has been nerfed since T11/12 when interupts were used in raids. It is still the best raid interrupt because of its 30 yard range and 12 second CD.

Ghost Wolf
-The new Ghost Wolf is now instant cast without the need of talents. Use this whenever you need to move fast or to get in range of someone who needs healing.

Purge
-This removes a magic buff from the enemy. Below will be a list of buffs that can be removed in raid encounters:


Earth Shock
-Earth Shock now reduces physical damage done by the target by 10%. Most tanks apply this debuff so it will most likely never be the Shaman's responsibility to use this.

6. Specific Fights



This section will be mostly about talent/glyph setups and Shaman specific strategies. I will have links to videos that explain fight mechanics more in detail.

Currently, this is for 25 player only. I will try to update 10 mans as well when I get the chance. If you raid 10 mans, some of this information is still applicable for you.

Morgu'shan Vaults

Stone Guard

25 Man
Gylphs: Glyph of Healing Stream Totem, Glyph of Healing Wave, Glyph of Water Shield
Talents: Stone Bulwark Totem, Windwalk Totem
Overview: This fight is largly about using the petrification to avoid abilities. When it is jasper petrification, spread the fire chains to make them despawn. When it is cobalt petrification hit the traps to give you more room to maneuver. Run to your chains partner as soon as possible to minimize damage. Move out of ice traps to avoid being rooted and taking damage. Don't stand in amethyst pools when they spawn. Most of the damage is constant low raid damage from the jade shards and the occasional overloads for 25k damage. There is also constant tank damage going out. Any other damage taken is due to avoidble abilities (Pools, traps, and chains).

Glyph of WS is very strong, normally about 30k extra mana. There will not be much time to LB in this fight as damage will always be going out. Make sure to use HW a lot as most of the damage is low and constant, a HW will take care of it while using little mana. Use Windwalk Totem to help people out of ice traps or use it during cobalt petrification to be able to pop all the traps quickly. Make sure to know where the melee are so you can use HR on them.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8hEs-oW50k

25 Man Heroic
Gylphs: Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace, Glyph of Healing Stream Totem, Glyph of Water Shield
Talents: Stone Bulwark Totem, Windwalk Totem
Overview: The main changes from normal are energized tiles. These give a stacking spirit buff, but it is reset at 70% and 40%. Also, everything hits for much harder. Chains damage is much more powerful and both players need to run to each other right when they get the debuff, except during jasper petrification. Ice traps can 1 shot you if you are not at full health or have a DR up. Make sure to move out of them as fast as possible, except during cobalt petrification. Main tank damage is largely increased and will most likely need spam heals for most of the fight.

The spirit buff on this fight helps you mana a lot and it stacks with MTT. Try to pop MTT at above 100 stacks of the buff. Use HS instead of GHW on this fight because HS is greatly superior in HPS and mana is not much of an issue in this fight. Save SWG for when you get chained and need to move with a boss or do tiles. Use Windwalk Totem to pop all the traps during Cobalt Petrification. Use SBT as often as possible.

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlS_Ue8vw20

7. Macros/UI

7.1 Addons and Where to Get the Latest Version

Clique - http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/clique/
-Allows you to cast spells by clicking on unit frames instead of using mouseover macros.

Grid - http://www.wowace.com/addons/grid/
-Customizable party/raid frames. It is re-sizable and has fully customizable auras to allow quick

Vuhdoo - http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/vuhdo/
-Customizable party/raid frames. Comes with its own version of click-casting.

Pitbull - http://www.wowace.com/addons/pitbull4/
-Pitbull is a highly customizable unit frame mod.

BigWigs - http://www.wowace.com/addons/big-wigs/
-More advanced bar mods. Only updated for raids.

DBM - http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/deadly-boss-mods/
-Basic bar mods. Updated for MoP with many new instance and raid timers.

Power Auras - http://www.wowinterface.com/download...oPEdition.html
-Power Auras lets you create custom auras and alerts to let you know when things come off cooldown or you have a specific buff. This is very useful for tracking your Earth and Water shield as well as managing when your CDs are available. It has been updated for MoP with a new interface to allow for more custom triggers.

7.2 Macros

Mouseover Macro

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] SPELL

Primal Elementalist: Earth Elemental Macro

#showtooltip
/cast Earth Elemental Totem
/cast Reinforce

-Click it twice (watch out for lag) to summon your Earth Ele and have him channel his buff on you. Not worth worrying and micromanaging attacking vs. channeling the buff because of his low damage output (~4kish dps).

Primal Elementalist: Fire Elemental Macro

#showtooltip
/cast Fire Elemental Totem
/cast Empower

-Click it twice (watch out for lag) to summon your Fire Ele and have him channel his buff on you. It would be more beneficial to switch between having the Fire Ele attacking (currently doing 13k+ dps) and channeling for the healing buff when needed

Primal Elementalist: Attack Macro

/petstay
/petattack

This stops your Ele from channeling and makes him attack your current target. Click it twice.

Totemic Restoration: Spirit Link Totem

#showtooltip
/cast Spirit Link Totem
/script DestroyTotem(4)

-Click it twice to summon and dismiss your SLT to only get 50% CD while still getting the tick of health sharing.

7.3 References

http://healiocentric.wordpress.com/
http://www.totemspot.com/vb/blog.php
http://www.plusheal.com/forum/m/1833...ewforum/704625
http://www.healadinne.com/HealCalc/index.html
http://elitistjerks.com/f79/t130574-...ling_5_04_mop/
http://www.icy-veins.com/restoration...-healing-guide
http://lifeingroup5.com/

8. Math

Talents

Thanks to Deadralie for doing all this math on talents so I do not have to!
http://healiocentric.wordpress.com/w...man-changes/6/



http://healiocentric.files.wordpress...nts-b16048.jpg



http://healiocentric.files.wordpress...nts-b16048.jpg

Regen: Crit vs. Spirit
Note: These calculations take into the account of mana gained by the whole raid, the Shaman's spirit regen plus the mana given to the raid with MTT. These calculations are for the worth of 100 Crit and 100 Spirit at the casters current rating.

Throughput: Secondary Stats
These calculations are all done with stats attainable with Dungeon/Raid gear. The stats are for someone geared towards crit/mastery and hitting the first haste breakpoint with raid buffs. These calculations do not take Haste Breakpoints into account (will be discussed later). Thanks to Adinne for the formulas. You can see his full (lvl 85) math here: http://plusheal.com/forum/page/1/m/1...afting-for-mop

50% mastery
100 mastery = 0.5%
1/(HD + MP)
@80% HP
1/(1/.2 + .5) = 1/5.5 = 0.182
0.182*.005 = 0.091% Increased Healing from 100 Mastery

@50% HP
1/(1/.5 + .5) = 0.4
.4*.005 = 0.2% Increased Healing from 100 Mastery

@20% HP
1/(1/.8 + .5) = 0.571
0.571*.005 = 0.286% Increased Healing from 100 Mastery

12.51% haste
100 Haste = 0.235%
0.00235 * 1/(1+HastP)
0.00235 * 1/(1+0.1251) = 0.209% Increased Healing from 100 Haste

9.98% haste
100 Haste = 0.235%
0.00235 * 1/(1+HastP)
0.00235 * 1/(1+0.0998) = 0.214% Increased Healing from 100 Haste

20% crit
100 crit = 0.167%
1/(1/1.6 + CP)
1/(1/1.6 + .2) = 1.2121
1.2121*.00167 = 0.202% Increased Healing (single-target) from 100 Crit

1/(1 + CP)
1/(1 + .2) = 0.8333
0.8333*.00167 = 0.139% Increased Healing (non single-target) from 100 Crit

Conclusions: At 50% HP, all the stats are about equal. Mastery is stronger at lower HP and weaker at higher HP. Crit therefore becomes our best stat for single-target healing due to the mana gained along with the throughput increase. Haste becomes our worst stat because the increase in healing comes at the cost of mana while the other 2 stats have free healing.


Throughput: Int vs. Secondary Stats
Healing Increase of 100 Int at 2400 SP which is easily attainable at 90(Note:Calculations do not currently include HST)

Average increase of 100 SP = 0.283%
2533.66 Int = 1% crit
1 Int = 0.01/2533.66
100 Int = 0.000395 Crit = 0.0395% Crit

600 = 0.01
1 crit rating = 0.001667% = 0.00001667
0.000395/.00001667 = 23.695 rating

100 Int = 23.695 Crit Rating

23.695 rating = 0.04786% Increased (Single-Target) Healing
0.03294% Increased (non single-target) Healing

0.2831% + 0.04786% = 0.33096% Increased (Single-Target) Healing from 100 Int
0.2831% + 0.03294% = 0.31604% Increased (non Single-Target) Healing from 100 Int

At 20% Crit, 100 Int = 23.695 Crit rating
Overall throughput gain of 100 Int (At 24000 SP and 20% Crit) = 0.33096% Single-target throughput, 0.31604% Non single-target throughput

@80%
0.182% Increased Healing from 200 Mastery
@50%
0.4% Increased Healing from 200 Mastery
@20%
0.572% Increased Healing from 200 Mastery

0.418% Increased Healing from 200 Haste (12.51%)
0.428% Increased Healing from 200 Haste (9.98%)

0.404% Increased Healing (single-target) from 200 Crit
0.278% Increased Healing (non single-target) from 200 Crit 

0.33096% Increased (Single-Target) Healing from 100 Int
0.31604% Increased (non Single-Target) Healing from 100 Int

Conclusions: Secondary stats are much stronger than Int at a 2 to 1 ratio and therefore Int should not be socketed towards as a throughput stat (unless to fit socket bonuses as the bonus will offset the loss of throughput due to the half value of Int on gems).

Benefit of Haste Breakpoints

Glyphs

Glyph of Telluric Currents

TC gains without meta
(.02*300000) - 4260 = 1740 mana per lightning bolt or 0.58% max mana

TC gains with meta
(.02*306000) - 4260 = 1860 mana per lightning bolt or 0.61% max mana (0.62% of non-meta mana)

Glyph of Water Shield

15% mp5 removed = 2138*.15 = 320.7 less mp5 = 64.14 less mana per second
50% more mana from proc = 2928*.5 = 1464 extra mana per hit
1464/64.14 = 22.825s
1 hit glyphed per 22.825s = unglyphed mp5

Thanks to everyone from the forums for any ideas I might have taken from your posts and your input on the state of Shaman. Please let me know if you find any issues/discrepancies with this guide.

[Cynical Person]

Thats a lot of words for spam riptide and lay mana tide on CD.

But all trolling aside. This is will serve me well. Good work.

[Tiberria]

Nice guide, but a few things that I take issue with that I think are opinion rather than fact.

Stone Bulwark Totem
-Evolved from glyph of stoneclaw on live, this talents shield can come in handy in long phases of AOE damage. Because of the damage absorbed over a fight, this should be the standard for raiding.

When comparing Astral Shift to Stone Bulwark, there's factors you didn't mention in Astral Shift's favor
-Stone Bulwark both costs a GCD and costs mana, so there is a relatively significant resource penalty in keeping it down on cooldown. Astral Shift costs 0 mana and is off the GCD.
-Even when the total damage taken doesn't exceed your 400k-ish number, Astral Shift may be better on fights where the threatening raid damage comes in short bursts. I feel that a lot of the benefit of SBT is exaggerated, because it absorbs non life threatening damage that would otherwise be healed up with passive/smart heals.

I also think that the Primal Elementalist/Unleashed Fury L90 talent is a pure player choice, with both talents viable. While Primal Elementalist provides about a 4% raw healing buff, Unleashed Fury allows you to fire off 400k+ Healing Surge crits, and is more of a clutch talent that saves people. I think it's an interesting choice, and I don't think that the buffs from Primal Elementalist are significant enough to make it a no brainer talent even for primarily raid healers.

[Table]

Nice guide, but a few things that I take issue with that I think are opinion rather than fact.



When comparing Astral Shift to Stone Bulwark, there's factors you didn't mention in Astral Shift's favor
-Stone Bulwark both costs a GCD and costs mana, so there is a relatively significant resource penalty in keeping it down on cooldown. Astral Shift costs 0 mana and is off the GCD.
-Even when the total damage taken doesn't exceed your 400k-ish number, Astral Shift may be better on fights where the threatening raid damage comes in short bursts. I feel that a lot of the benefit of SBT is exaggerated, because it absorbs non life threatening damage that would otherwise be healed up with passive/smart heals.

I also think that the Primal Elementalist/Unleashed Fury L90 talent is a pure player choice, with both talents viable. While Primal Elementalist provides about a 4% raw healing buff, Unleashed Fury allows you to fire off 400k+ Healing Surge crits, and is more of a clutch talent that saves people. I think it's an interesting choice, and I don't think that the buffs from Primal Elementalist are significant enough to make it a no brainer talent even for primarily raid healers.

I changed the wording to make those two talents seem less mandatory. Stone Bulwark still does more damage absorbed on fights that have constant AoE damage and will have more damage prevented on an average fight which will make it very useful in 5 mans and entry level raiding. Overall, it is easier to get more use out of SBT than AS which will make it the favorite for 5 mans and less competitive raiding.

Primal Elementalist significantly increases you AoE healing compared to Unleashed Fury. Unleashed Fury is strong for big heals when you need them, but other than tank healing you most likely wont be able to line up the buff to get full use of it compared to PE.

[lo0ney]

Excellent guide! Thanks for the effort and information

[Lorthiros]

Outstanding guide! Please sticky this one! A lot o work has gone into it and it's noticeable, gj!

[Deleted]

Tailoring can also give spirit, but it will not work with Mana Tide.

Are you sure about that? It (still) works on live.

[Table]

Are you sure about that? It (still) works on live.

Fixed. I am not a tailor so if anyone in beta could test the proc chance of the tailoring enchants and check if they work with MTT.

[NyghtBlind]

Nice Job! Thanks for the info. Look forward to future updates.

[yopax]

Unleash Elements
-A very useful spell to increase your single-target HPS. It also increases you HPM of HS but it decreases your HPM of Healing Wave. Use this when you need a big heal on a tank or low health raid member.

Might be a bug; but last time I tested on PTR, Unleash + Healing rain worked together, and would give you a nice 30% increased healing rain ticks. I am not in the beta, so cannot tell if this is the same there.

[Bobatea]

You have dropped a little of information here, and it's almost making me think that Resto Shaman is still going to be a good healing class for the new tier of content. Though unless I see them in action I have some very big doubts that a lot of players aren't going to be rolling Elemental as they're not going to want to be subbed, especially since people aren't going to want 2 Resto Shaman in 25 anymore.

[Table]

Might be a bug; but last time I tested on PTR, Unleash + Healing rain worked together, and would give you a nice 30% increased healing rain ticks. I am not in the beta, so cannot tell if this is the same there.

Unleashed should not be working with Healing Rain as it states single-target and it does not work that way on live. Beta is down right now, but I will test it next time I am on.

Edit: Unleashed is currently effecting HR on beta. Still waiting on a Blizzard confirmation to decide whether it is a bug or not.

Update: Blizzard has stated that this is not a bug. Will edit this into the guide.

You have dropped a little of information here, and it's almost making me think that Resto Shaman is still going to be a good healing class for the new tier of content. Though unless I see them in action I have some very big doubts that a lot of players aren't going to be rolling Elemental as they're not going to want to be subbed, especially since people aren't going to want 2 Resto Shaman in 25 anymore.

Shaman are currently in the back of the pack right now but not by much. With Blizzard's plan to buff Shaman and nerf Palidans I think Resto Shaman will be very good in T14. I wouldn't say that there will be 2 in every 25 man, but I would say they will be very common in all types of raiding.

[Deleted]

Where I can request a sticky for this?? =P Very nice guide, imho. This might have changed my mind about keeping my shaman as my main char in MoP!

[Deleted]

I don't have beta access, so I greatly appreciate all this info. Keep up the good work.

Also... Sticky, please.

[Radux]

We'll probably sticky this in the future, but not yet (sorry). Once Cata is basically 'done', we'll get the old guides down and new guides up.

[pouca]

Earthliving Weapon
-Our weapon enchant that should be kept on our weapon at all times. It has a chance to proc a powerful HoT which makes it encredible powerful as it is basically free healing. Has a 20% chance to proc on single-target spells, 10% chance to proc on a CH, and a 6% chance to proc on HR. This number goes up when the target is below 35% HP to 100% with single-target heals, 50% with each CH, and 30% for HR.

---

Hi, you can had it procs on each ticks of HR.
Thanks for the work !!!!

[Deleted]

Very nice guide indeed, very much appreciated.

Thank You

[bofedy]

good job

[Deleted]

Awesome guide, thanks for it mate.

[Funkoar]

Nice guide, looks like a lot of work went into it. I still think mastery might outweigh crit when it comes to heroic content (25's more so than 10's) due to the heavy damage output that is dumped on the raid. It is a new expansion though so mana will be at a premium again (especially taking it out of intellect).