Restoration Shaman Healing Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot (Legion 7.3.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Restoration Shaman
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. Restoration Shaman Strengths
  • 5. Restoration Shaman Weaknesses
  • 6. Restoration Shaman Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Talent Choice for Restoration Shaman
  • 3. Stat Choice for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. Basic Priority List for Restoration Shaman
  • 5. Healing Cooldowns for Restoration Shaman
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Restoration Shaman Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource for Restoration Shaman
  • 3. Basic Spells for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. Important Procs for Restoration Shaman
  • 5. Healing Cooldowns for Restoration Shaman
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns for Restoration Shaman
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Restoration Shaman
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Restoration Shaman
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression for Restoration Shaman — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Golden Trait
    • 1.4. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path for Restoration Shaman
  • 3. Relic Priority for Restoration Shaman
    • 3.1. Raids
    • 3.2. Dungeons
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority for Restoration Shaman
    • 2.1. Highest Priority
    • 2.2. Low Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority for Restoration Shaman
    • 3.1. Raids
    • 3.2. Mythic+
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Important Notes for Restoration Shaman
    • 2.1. Mana Management
    • 2.2. Dealing Damage
    • 2.3. Mastery: Deep Healing
    • 2.4. Wind Shear & Purge
    • 2.5. Cloudburst Totem
    • 2.6. Tier 5 Talent Comparison
  • 3. Core Concepts for Restoration Shaman
    • 3.1. Cooldown Usage
      • 3.1.1. Healing Tide Totem
      • 3.1.2. Spirit Link Totem
      • 3.1.3. Spiritwalker's Grace
      • 3.1.4. Ancestral Guidance and Ascendance
    • 3.2. Mana Management
    • 3.3. Spell & Target Selection
    • 3.4. Movement Management
      • 3.4.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Important Note
    • 1.1. Legendary Notes for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Restoration Shaman Boss Advice: Antorus, the Burning Throne
    • 2.1. Garothi Worldbreaker
    • 2.2. Felhounds of Sargeras
    • 2.3. Antoran High Command
    • 2.4. Eonar the Life-Binder
    • 2.5. Portal Keeper Hasabel
    • 2.6. Imonar the Soulhunter
    • 2.7. Kin'garoth
    • 2.8. Varimathras
    • 2.9. The Coven of Shivarra
    • 2.10. Aggramar
    • 2.11. Argus the Unmaker
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Stat Priority for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Restoration Shaman: Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons for Restoration Shaman
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
    • 1.7. Alternative Raid Frames
    • 1.8. Blizzard Raid Frame Indicators
  • 2. Restoration Macros
    • 2.1. Wind Shear
    • 2.2. Purge
    • 2.3. Mouseover Macros
    • 2.4. Healing Rain Macros
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 21 Set Bonuses for Restoration Shaman
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses for Restoration Shaman
  • 3. Best in Slot for Restoration Shaman
  • 4. Trinket Discussion for Restoration Shaman
  • 5. Legendary Items for Restoration Shaman
  • 6. Loot Competition for Restoration Shaman
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

This page is a gear reference for Restoration Shamans. It lists your best items and Legendaries, gives you gearing advice, and shows you how you will be competing for loot with other classes.

The other pages of our Restoration Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Seksixeny, Restoration Shaman and general healing expert. He has been raiding in Group Therapy since Cataclysm and currently creates articles for Chain Heal as well as heavily participating in Discord healing discussion at various WoW healing channels. You can find him for questions / suggestions on Earthshrine, in the Restoration Shaman lounge.

1. Tier 21 Set Bonuses for Restoration Shaman

The Tier 21 set bonuses improve Healing Rain and improve the functionality of Healing Wave and Healing Surge when players are inside your Healing Rain.

• 2-piece bonus: When you cast Healing Rain, up to 6 allies within its area are immediately healed for [225% of Spell Power].
• 4-piece bonus: Healing Wave and Healing Surge casts have a 100% chance to heal a player standing in your Healing Rain for 40% of the amount.

The Tier 21 set bonuses are quite potent, particularly the 2-piece. Obtaining this bonus greatly improves your raid healing, while the 4-piece adds a nice smart heal to patch up targets in its radius. Put a priority on obtaining the 2-piece as soon as possible, even if you have to take an item level hit. Try to use 2-piece Tier 21 with your old 4-piece Tier 20 until a full Tier 21 4-piece bonus can be obtained.

2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses for Restoration Shaman

The Tier 20 set bonuses improve and augment the usefulness of your Riptide, as well as reliably improving your raid healing.

• 2-piece bonus: Your healing spells have a chance to increase the Critical Strike bonus of your next Riptide by 100%.
• 4-piece bonus: When Riptide's initial heal critically strikes, the healing done by your next Healing Rain is increased by 50%.

The Tier 20 set piece bonuses are very strong; in particular, the 4-piece bonus distinguishes itself, greatly improving your raid healing in many scenarios. Most notably, Fallen Avatar and Kil'jaeden both involve heavy raid healing, allowing this tier set to really shine on the tier's heaviest hitters. The full set bonus is worth acquiring as soon as possible, even if you have to use lower item level pieces to complete it.

3. Best in Slot for Restoration Shaman

We currently do not believe a Best in Slot list is worth adding, however, we do feel it important to mention that the Drape of Shame, from the Maiden of Virtue in Return to Karazhan, is an excellent cloak. Its effect is worth around 20 item levels, meaning that an item level 940 Drape of Shame is on par with 960 item level cloaks.

Also noteworthy is the 2-piece bonus obtainable in Court of Stars + the Arcway, worth approximately 25 combined item levels (roughly 12.5 item levels each). This bonus is only worth using if it does not break your current tier set. Finally, the Gnawed Thumb Ring effect, obtainable from the Arcway, is worth about 15 item levels when used together with Healing Tide Totem.

4. Trinket Discussion for Restoration Shaman

The best available trinket for us is currently Aman'Thul's Vision, due to the sheer amount of secondary stats it provides, which prove more valuable than the passive effects of its sister trinket, Eonar's Compassion. The additional benefit of the Pantheon bonus makes this a must if you are raiding in Antorus, the Burning Throne.

Stat sticks and Unstable Arcanocrystal can be incredibly strong throughput providers at high item levels. These are best obtained through opening Relinquished Trinkets on Argus.

Assuming equal item levels, The Deceiver's Grand Design remains an exceptional choice. Sea Star of the Depthmother is close behind, and another strong choice if a competitive item level version is available.

Eonar's Compassion is worth using if your raid has enough Pantheon trinkets to activate the additional passive, but you have not yet acquired Aman'Thul's Vision. Of near equal value are the Carafe of Searing Light and Highfather's Machination, two great choices if they can be obtained with a high item level.

Ishkar's Felshield Emitter can be very strong in specific situations, such as on Varimathras, where the absorb can be taken full advantage of.

5. Legendary Items for Restoration Shaman

Ranked roughly in order of power, with the strongest at the top:

Roots of Shaladrassil are legguards that heal you for 3% of your maximum health every 1 second when you are standing still. These actually feed into your Cloudburst Totem, which is a small boost. They have great stats, and will be worth at least 3% of your total healing or more, which makes them the best legendary overall by a small margin. It is worth noting, however, that they occupy a tier slot, so feel free to use another option if you need the leg slot available for your set bonus. This applies to all Restoration Shaman legendaries in general.

Velen's Future Sight is a trinket that allows the use of an ability that increases healing done by 15% and redistributes 50% of overhealing to nearby allies instead. Lasts for 10 seconds, with a 75-second cooldown. Restoration Shamans rely on the powerful and frequent nature of their cooldowns to excel, and Velen's is a perfect fit into our existing kit. This item allows for Healing Tide Totem, Ancestral Guidance, and/or Ascendance to heal for massive amounts, and supersede the overheal cap without wasting your throughput. It also has great stats on a slot where it can be difficult to find options. Also one of the best in slot legendaries after Roots of Shaladrassil.

Fire in the Deep is a chest that causes Healing Rain casts to have a 15% chance to grant you Ascendance for 6 seconds. The chest has a huge amount of well itemized stats, which makes it a strong item by itself. The strength of the Ascendance proc is somewhat hard to judge, due to its RNG nature. If you can make good use of the procs, it is one of the strongest available legendaries. For general use, it is merely a good legendary, but it is a good item to have as it can be exceptional in the right situation.

Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus is a neck that grants a shield for 30% of your maximum health for 30 seconds, every 30 seconds. This legendary is quite strong, being worth ~4-6% of your HPS in any given fight, and offering a potent cushion that may save your life, particular in a progression environment. It has great stats, a guaranteed socket, and does not occupy a tier slot, making it a great choice in any situation.

Soul of the Farseer is a ring that grants you Echo of the Elements passively when your are Restoration specced. This allows you to use Cloudburst Totem all the time, an effect that should be worth approximately 5% of your HPS on an average encounter. This item is strongest on high movement encounters where Echo of the Elements excels naturally. The stats and budgeting of this item is not particularly potent, however, it is still a solid choice.

Praetorian's Tidecallers is a pair of gloves that increase the duration of your Healing Stream Totem, Healing Tide Totem, and Spirit Link Totem by 20%. This legendary is a decent choice after the aforementioned options.

Focuser of Jonat, the Elder is a ring that causes Healing Wave and Healing Surge to increase your next Chain Heal's throughput by 10% (stacks up to 5 times). Very strong with a Chain Heal focused build, otherwise, lackluster. Average as a legendary for all purpose use.

Uncertain Reminder is a head that increases Bloodlust effects on you by 75%. This legendary is niche, but extremely strong on fights where Bloodlust will help you power through a tough phase (even more potent due to the bonus of Sense of Urgency). Average as a legendary for all purpose use.

Sephuz's Secret is a ring that causes you to gain 10% movement speed and 2% Haste passively. Additionally, successfully interrupting an enemy or dispelling a target increases this effect to 70% Haste and 25% movement speed for 10 seconds (can only occur once every 30 seconds). Can be quite strong on fights where you can reliably proc the active effect, but on an average encounter it is merely a strong stat stick with a socket.

Elemental Rebalancers is a pair of boots that cause allies standing within your Healing Rain to take 10% more healing from all your other spells. Unfortunately it does not increase the healing received from Healing Rain itself. They are a lower tier choice, but not the worst of the available choices.

Nobundo's Redemption causes Chain Heal to reduce the Mana cost of your next Healing Surge by 50%. A bit of a mediocre legendary, although it does ease Mana cost and allows you to commit more Tidal Waves procs to Healing Surge.

Intact Nazjatar Molting is a belt that causes Riptide to reset its cooldown when cast on a target below 40%. This legendary is a little strange in design, as your allies will not often be dipping below 40%. In the events that your targets are that low, Riptide is not generally the first spell you will be casting, limiting the usefulness of this belt.

Insignia of the Grand Army is a ring that increases the Tier 2 effects of the Netherlight Crucible on your Artifact by 50%. Overall, this is likely the worst legendary for us as it offers no significant bonuses or stats, and the Tier 2 bonuses alone are not powerful enough for this legendary to gain ground.

6. Loot Competition for Restoration Shaman

Regarding the loot you will get from raid or dungeon bosses, you will compete with other classes in the following cases:

Item Type	Competing Classes
Tier Tokens	Hunters, Monks, Elemental/Restoration Shamans, and Warrior
Mail Armor	Hunters and Elemental/Enhancement Shamans
Amulets Cloaks Rings	Everyone
Trinkets	Restoration Druids, Mistweaver Monks, Holy Paladins, and Discipline/Holy Priests

7. ChangeLog

• 05 Dec. 2017: Added Trinket Discussion, Best in Slot, and Insignia of the Grand Army.
• 30 Nov. 2017: Updated legendaries and added Tier 21 section. Removed BiS for now.
• 28 Aug. 2017: Updated for Patch 7.3; Legendary items re-orderd and Trinket #2 changed in BiS.
• 28 Jun. 2017: Re-ordered legendary list, updated best in slot, added T20 set bonus explanation.
• 13 Jun. 2017: Added Soul of the Farseer and Fire in the Deep to the Legendary items section.
• 17 May 2017: Updated the description of Nobundo's Redemption.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 25 Feb. 2017: Added a note about Perfectly Preserved Cake.
• 21 Jan. 2017: Further updated legendary descriptions and added Roots of Shaladrassil.
• 20 Jan. 2017: Full update to BiS list and legendaries.
• 16 Nov. 2016: Updated trinket choice.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries