Restoration Shaman Healing Spec, Builds, and Talents (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

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Restoration Shamans in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

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. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Undulation	✔ Unleash Life	✔ Torrent
30	✔ Gust of Wind	✔ Graceful Spirit	✔ Wind Rush Totem
45	✔ Lightning Surge Totem	? Earthgrab Totem	? Voodoo Totem
60	✘ Crashing Waves	✔ Ancestral Guidance	✘ Deluge
75	✔ Ancestral Protection Totem	✔ Earthen Shield Totem	✔ Ancestral Vigor
90	✘ Bottomless Depths	✔ Cloudburst Totem	✔ Echo of the Elements
100	✔ Ascendance	✔ Wellspring	✔ High Tide

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Restoration Shaman

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

2.1. Raid Encounters

This build is an okay starting point as a "standard" raid setup. It is very highly recommended you read the individual talent points as this specialization, in particular, is highly situational with respect to talent choice.

• Level 15: Torrent
• Level 30: Graceful Spirit
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Guidance
• Level 75: Ancestral Protection Totem
• Level 90: Cloudburst Totem
• Level 100: High Tide

2.2. For General Use

This build is an excellent starting point for questing, dungeons, or general purpose usage.

• Level 15: Undulation
• Level 30: Graceful Spirit
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Guidance
• Level 75: Ancestral Vigor
• Level 90: Echo of the Elements
• Level 100: Ascendance

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✔ Undulation

✔ Unleash Life

✔ Torrent

Tier 15 talents offer a boost to sustained healing.

• Undulation causes every third Healing Wave or Healing Surge to heal for an additonal 50%.
• Unleash Life heals a friendly target for a moderate amount and increases your next direct heal's potency by 45%.
• Torrent increases the initial heal from Riptide by 30%.

Torrent is a good choice for most situations, as it gives your Riptide a little more instant punch. It can be very helpful for qu ickly getting low health party members back up to safe levels, and given Riptide is already one of your most efficient heals it is a great talent in nearly all situations. Extremely potent when combined with Intact Nazjatar Molting, but keep in mind this is one of the weaker legendaries overall.

Unleash Life provides a great boost for a Chain Heal oriented build, as you can reliably increase Chain Heal output by 45% for low Mana and only a single global cooldown. This ability should be used on cooldown, and used on Chain Heal whenever possible. If Chain Healing would cause heavy overheal, you should instead use it on Riptide.

Undulation's performance depends mainly on the total amount of Healing Wave + Healing Surge numbers you are putting out. If these 2 spells account for a total of 20% of your healing or more, then this talent is easily the best choice on the tier. If the total is closer to around 10%, it will be a weaker option than the other choices. This is the best talent on the tier for spot/surgical healing.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✔ Gust of Wind

✔ Graceful Spirit

✔ Wind Rush Totem

Tier 2 talents focus on improving mobility for both you and your raid members.

• Gust of Wind launches you forward 20 yards.
• Graceful Spirit makes your Spiritwalker's Grace a 1-minute cooldown and increases your movement speed by 20% while Spiritwalker's Grace is active. Your speed in Ghost Wolf is also increased by 10%.
• Wind Rush Totem summons a totem for 15 seconds that increases the speed of allies within 10 yards by 60% for 5 seconds. The speed buff is continually refreshed as long as they are within range.

Wind Rush Totem should be your go-to talent in situations where your group requires a group movement speed buff.

Graceful Spirit should be your go-to talent in situations where additional raid movement speed or Gust of Wind is not required.

Gust of Wind allows you to quickly cross otherwise unpathable, dangerous or slowing terrain and cancels forced movement imposed on you, such as knockbacks. This talent can be a great choice on specific encounters, such as Mythic Kil'jaeden.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✔ Lightning Surge Totem

? Earthgrab Totem

? Voodoo Totem

Tier 3 talents offer a variety of totem choices that increase your ability to control mobs.

• Lightning Surge Totem explodes after 2 seconds to stun all enemies within 8 yards for 5 seconds. This is an upgraded version of the old Capacitor Totem from previous expansions.
• Earthgrab Totem pulses a root effect to all enemies within 10 yards for 5 seconds. If the roots are broken, the next pulse will instead slow the targets.
• Voodoo Totem summons a totem for 10 seconds that Hexes all targets within 8 yards.

Lightning Surge Totem is the default choice for this tier. It provides a lengthy 5-second stun with only a short charge time and has the widest variety of use out of the 3 totems. Earthgrab Totem and Voodoo Totem could see very specific use on fights that require AoE roots or crowd control, but should be avoided for general usage.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✘ Crashing Waves

✔ Ancestral Guidance

✘ Deluge

Tier 4 talents grant additional utility to your standard spells and the choice of a powerful cooldown.

• Crashing Waves causes Riptide to grant an additional charge of Tidal Waves.
• Ancestral Guidance lasts 10 seconds and converts 20% of damage and healing to healing on 3 nearby party or raid members.
• Deluge causes Chain Heal to heal targets that have Riptide or are standing within Healing Rain to heal for 20% more.

Ancestral Guidance is a flexible talent to suit any situation, be it raids or Mythic+. It can allow for an immense burst of healing, particularly when combined with Cloudburst Totem, allowing you to easily power through the spookiest of situations with relative ease. It can also be an exceptional choice on encounters where high incoming damage on a spread group is an issue.

Deluge is an unbeatable talent in situations where your raid will stay stacked within your Healing Rain for an extended period. It should always be paired with Unleash Life and High Tide to create a truly superlative combination that cannot be matched for sustained healing. Unfortunately there are not (m)any good uses for this talent in the Tomb of Sargeras.

Crashing Waves is usable for situations where your single target healing needs a bit of a booster. It also smooths out the rotation nicely. Definitely an option for fights where tank or single target damage is the limiting factor. Generally speaking, however, Ancestral Guidance will be a better choice and outperform Crashing Waves in virtually every scenario.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✔ Ancestral Protection Totem

✔ Earthen Shield Totem

✔ Ancestral Vigor

Tier 5 talents provide some interesting new totems and utility.

• Ancestral Protection Totem lasts 30 seconds and allows an ally to reincarnate at 20% health and Mana if they fall, consuming the totem.
• Earthen Shield Totem redirects a flat amount of damage taken from nearby allies to the totem.
• Ancestral Vigor causes targets healed by Healing Wave, Healing Surge, Chain Heal, and Riptide to grant their targets 10% increased maximum health for 10 seconds.

Ancestral Vigor is the most flexible choice and works well in any situation. Your highest priority with this talent is to ensure it is running on the tanks at all times to grant them additional survivability.

Ancestral Protection Totem can be extremely potent if you can predict a situation where lethal damage is likely to occur. This is a great choice for healers that are experienced at reading the relative health of the raid (e.g. how many cooldowns are available, when a certain mechanic might not be healable, etc.) and will be able to reliably use the cooldown to save a life. It can also be used reactively, as it grants nearby allies 10% increased health, reducing the chance of fatalities.

Earthen Shield Totem is good for reducing stable incoming damage on a stacked group of players, though it is more of a throughput tool and its actual lifesaving potential is relatively low compared with Vigor. It can also save you and the other healers Mana when placed correctly, though its uses are very limited if few targets are taking damage.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✘ Bottomless Depths

✔ Cloudburst Totem

✔ Echo of the Elements

Tier 6 talents offer unique changes to existing abilities and a powerful totem.

• Bottomless Depths causes your Resurgence passive to always trigger when healing targets below 60% health.
• Cloudburst Totem absorbs 30% of your healing for 15 seconds, then releases the stored healing when it expires, split between all allies within 40 yards. You can recall the totem early to release the healing.
• Echo of the Elements grants an additional charge to Riptide, Healing Stream Totem, and Lava Burst. You also have a 10% chance to gain a charge of Riptide when you consume Tidal Waves.

Cloudburst Totem is the clear winner in most situations, as it allows you to preempt major bursts of raid damage with ease. It can also be cancelled early, which makes timing a non-issue. The cooldown is very short, and the Mana cost to heal ratio is very low.

Echo of the Elements is good for high movement fights where throughput is less of a concern. Also quite good in dungeons as it provides good damage and flexibility.

Bottomless Depths does not really have enough Mana return to justify taking it over the other options, and it devalues Critical Strike.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Restoration Shaman

✔ Ascendance

✔ Wellspring

✔ High Tide

The Tier 7 talents offer new abilities and powerful augments to staple spells.

• Ascendance lasts 15 seconds and causes all healing to duplicated and evenly split between allies.
• Wellspring is a wave of healing, traveling in a cone, with a short cooldown.
• High Tide allows Chain Heal to bounce to 1 additional target, and decreases the falloff penalty with each bounce by 50%.

Ascendance is the most versatile talent on this tier. It allows you to deal with a large spectrum of situations and has extremely potent synergy with Cloudburst Totem and Ancestral Guidance, allowing for a massive burst of healing to carry you through difficult moments of an encounter.

High Tide is the best choice if the encounter dictates the frequent casting of Chain Heal. There is really no other option than High Tide for situations where you are leaning very heavily on your Chain Heal.

Wellspring allows for widespread group healing, a limitation Restoration can struggle with. It should be combined with Cloudburst Totem for frequent large bursts of healing. This is a good option if the encounter has frequent, but not constant, bursts of incoming damage.

10. ChangeLog

• 30 Nov. 2017: Small note added about Gust of Wind.
• 28 Aug. 2017: Updated Tier 6 talents and "General Use" cheat sheet.
• 28 Jun. 2017: Updated several talents and their viability/descriptions.
• 13 Jun. 2017: Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 21 Jan. 2017: Modified several talent usage descriptions and added Undulation as a potential talent.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Slight update for Patch 7.1.5.
• 16 Nov. 2016: Fully updated talents and descriptions with the aim of also offering more information for Mythic+ dungeons.
• 25 Oct. 2016: In Patch 7.1, Torrent provides a 30% bonus to Riptide’s initial heal (was 40% before).
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.

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