Restoration Shaman Healing Spell Summary (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Priority List
  • 5. Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• ×Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Spells
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Healing Cooldowns
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — 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
  • 3. Relic Choice
    • 3.1. Raids
    • 3.2. Dungeons
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 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
    • 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
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 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 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Raid Best in Slot List
  • 3. Legendaries
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as a Restoration Shaman.

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. Spell Summary

If you are new to Restoration, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resource

Your main resource as a Restoration Shaman is Mana. Mana is restored periodically in combat through your Mana regeneration, and you are also refunded a percentage of maximum Mana from your spells by your Resurgence passive. Some of your spells have a high Mana to healing ratio, meaning their output when compared with their cost is very high compared to other spells in your kit. There are also many Mana inefficient spells in your kit, but these spells typically provide more convenience, or have faster cast times allowing you to potentially save lives. Learning to select the right spell for the right situation in order to properly conserve and spend Mana at the correct times is very important to playing a Restoration Shaman skillfully.

3. Basic Spells

These abilities are available no matter what talents you chose, and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

Riptide heals for a moderate amount instantly, then continues to heal the target over 18 seconds. This is one of your staple spells, as it is a very efficient investment of Mana and has a lasting effect. Riptide also triggers your Tidal Waves passive, which is helpful for spot healing.

Chain Heal is the most iconic spell in the Restoration kit, and will constitute a high percentage of your healing in raid situations. Chain Heal is exceptionally good at healing targets when there are a number of targets that require healing. Chain Heal bounces between 4 targets total, with the healing being reduced by 30% per bounce. Chain Heal also prefers the most injured targets, which makes targeting selection fairly irrelevant.

Healing Rain is another very efficient AoE heal, placing a zone with a 20-yard diameter that heals up to 6 allies standing inside of it over 10 seconds. This should also account for a vary high percentage of your healing, and due to the massive diameter you should have no trouble always finding 6 targets in a raid.

Healing Wave is an extremely efficient heal with a slow cast time. You should only cast this when it is empowered by Tidal Waves, which should be practically up all the time given the frequency at which you cast the spells that trigger it. This is great for spot-healing single targets and it costs very little Mana.

Healing Stream Totem is a very efficient totem that heals an injured single target in your party or raid periodically and lasts 15 seconds. It is worth keeping this on cooldown as it is very cheap and does all the healing passively.

Healing Surge is an extremely inefficient heal with a short cast time. You should cast this infrequently as it quickly chews through your Mana pool, however, it is slightly stronger than than Healing Wave when it is empowered with Tidal Waves due to the extra Critical Strike chance. This is used when you need to quickly get a target out of danger.

4. Important Procs

Tidal Waves reduces the cast time of your Healing Wave 39% or increases the Critical Strike chance of your next Healing Surge by 52%. This effect can stack twice. It is preferable to use this buff on Healing Wave as it improves the HPS considerably and helps with your sustain.

Resurgence causes your direct heals to refund a percentage of their mana. This is very helpful for your sustain during fights.

5. Healing Cooldowns

Healing Tide Totem is your main throughput cooldown. This totem is placed beneath you and pulses periodically, healing all members within 40 yards. This is a fantastic ability for helping you catch up or help you power through some heavy sustained damage.

Spirit Link Totem is one of the most unique abilities in World of Warcraft. Spirit Link Totem has a 20-yard diameter, reduces damage taken by everyone inside by 10%, and redistributes the health of everyone inside every second so that all members are at the same percentage of maximum health. This ability is your "playmaker" as it can save raids in a manner that no other ability or specialization can. It is arguably the strongest raid cooldown in the game for dealing with massive bursts of damage but it can be used to deal with almost any adverse situation. Learning to get a feel for Spirit Link Totem and when and how to use it is absolutely crucial to mastering this spec.

Spiritwalker's Grace lasts 15 seconds and allows you to cast while moving while active. You can activate Spiritwalker's Grace while casting. This ability is your solution to high movement phases that also have high incoming damage.

6. DPS Cooldowns

Bloodlust and Heroism increase Haste by 30% for 40 seconds for all party and raid members within 100 yards. This ability debuffs everyone with a debuff that prevents the possibility of benefiting from Time Warp, Ancient Hysteria, Netherwinds, Heroism, and Bloodlust for the next 10 minutes.

7. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 28 Jun. 2017: Pruned mention of Mythic Archimonde to avoid confusion.
• 13 Jun. 2017: Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 21 Jan. 2017: Reworded some spell descriptions.
• 16 Nov. 2016: Slight update to Surge's description.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.