1. June 9, 2012  

    Restoration Shaman PvP Guide (4.0.6 Cataclysm)

    Outdated
    Don't bother reading unless you're really bored >_<

    Spoiler: Show
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    First of all, you need to choose a race.
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Choosing a race

    Horde or Alliance:

    Alliance:
    - Dwarf [Stone Form - Reducing Damage taken by 10 per cent] (This is can be useful, but it is not that great)
    - Draenei [1% Increased Hit Chance, quite useful. Gift of the Naaru - Heals 20% of your maximum health on your current target]

    Draenei is by far the best in the Alliance.

    Horde:
    - Orc [Blood Fury - Increase Spell Power by 585. Reduced Stun Effects by 15%]
    - Tauren [War Stomp - Stun up to 5 enemies in 8 yards for 2 seconds. Base health increased by 5%]
    - Troll [Berserking - Increase casting speed by 20%. Reduced Movement Impairing Effects by 15%. 10% of
    total Health regeneration continues during combat]
    - Goblin [Rocket Barrage - Launch Rockets at your enemy (damage depends on your spellpower power).
    Rocket Jump - Jumps forward, can be used in Ghost Wolf. 1% Haste Increase]

    Many of these races are good for Shamans. I play Tauren for the stun.
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    Setting up your Character

    Talent Tree

    (Ignore the Spirit Link Totem - That is from the latest retail patch, not in 4.0.6.)

    Here is the Link.

    Gear

    Set:
    - Restoration: Chest, Hands, Shoulders
    - Elemental: Head, Legs.

    In this patch, the 4 Set Bonus decreases the cooldown of Grounding Totem by 1.5 seconds, I don't find it to be that good. The extra +400 Resilience is better.

    Offsets:
    - All Restoration (spirit gear).
    - Rings: Spirit Ring and Hit Ring.

    Trinkets:
    - Medallion of the Alliance/Insignia of the Horde.
    - Blood of Isiset (IMO the best Rare Trinket) / Darkmoon Card:Tsunami (Amazing if you can get it)

    Weapons:
    - Main-Hand: PvP Spirit / Elementium Hammer
    - Off-Hand: PvP Spirit Shield / Crepuscular Shield

    Gems

    Red/Prismatic:
    - Brilliant [+40 Intellect]
    - Brilliant [+67 Intellect, maximum of 3] (Jewelcrafting Profession)

    Yellow:
    - Artful [+20 Intellect, +20 Mastery] / Reckless [20 Intellect, +20 Haste]

    Blue:
    - Veiled [+20 Intellect, +20 Hit Rating] / Timeless [+20 Intellect, +30 Stamina]

    Meta:
    - Ember Shadowspirit Diamond [+54 Intellect, 2% Maximum Mana] / Revitalizing Shadowspirit Diamond [+54 Spirit, 3% Increased Critical Healing Effect

    Professions

    Any of the following combinations will give you an extra 160 Intellect:

    - Blacksmithing (Socket in Bracer and Glove)
    - Leatherworking (Wrist enchat)
    - Enchanting (Ring enchants)
    - Jewelcrafting (Not advisable, getting the recipes are a mission)
    - Inscription (Shoulder Inscription)
    - Alchemy (Flask of Enhancement)

    I use Enchanting and Leatherworking.

    Enchants

    Weapons:
    - Main-Hand: Power Torrent [+500 Intellect Proc for 12 seconds. It has an Internal CD of 45 seconds and the average proc rate is 33%]
    - Off-Hand: Superior Intellect [+40 Intellect]

    Bracer:
    - Might Intellect / Draconic Embossment - Intellect [+130 Intellect] (If you have Leatherworking)

    Chest:
    - Peerless Stats [+20 All Stats] / Might Resilience [+40 Resilience] (I prefer Peerless Stats)

    Cloak:
    - Superior Intellect [+50 Intellect]

    Shoulder:
    - Greater Inscription of Vicious Intellect [+50 Intellect, +25 Resilience]
    - Felfire Inscription (Inscription Profession) [+130 Intellect, +25 Haste]

    Head:
    - Arcanum of Vicious Intellect [+65 Intellect, +35 Resilience]

    Hands:
    - Greater Mastery [+65 Mastery]

    Belt:
    - Ebonsteel Belt Buckle [Socket: +40 Intellect]

    Legs:
    - Powerful Enchanted Spellthread [+95 Intellect. +80 Stamina]

    Boots:
    - Lavawalker [+35 Mastery, Minor Run Speed Increase (8%)]

    Rings:
    - Intellect (Enchanting Profession) [+40 Intellect x2]

    Reforging

    You need alot of Mastery, for powerful heals when your target is at low health.

    Reforge:

    - Mastery>Spirit>Crit>Haste>Hit
    (Basically just mastery).

    OR

    - Mastery>Crit>Spirit>Haste>Hit
    (Also effective as when you target is at low health and you have high mastery, you can crit heal insane
    ammounts)

    Mastery is explained in depth further down.

    Glyphs

    Prime:
    - Glyph of Earth Shield
    - Glyph of Riptide
    - Glyph of Earthliving Weapon

    Major:
    - Glyph of Hex (For Arena) / Glyph of Chain Heal (for Battlegrounds)
    - Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem (Essential for PvP)
    - Glyph of Healing Wave / Glyph of Grounding Totem (I prefer not to use this Glyph as it
    increases the cooldown of Grounding Totem by 45 seconds.

    Minor:
    - Glyph of Water Walking (For Arena, so these buffs will be dispell/purged/stolen instead of more
    useful ones.
    - Glyph of Water Breathing (For Arena, so these buffs will be dispell/purged/stolen instead of more
    useful ones.
    - Glyph of Renewed Life /Glyph of the Arctic Wolf (I prefer the wolf, looks awesome).
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Second, you need to understand the basics.
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Restoration Shamans work on a system of keeping up Shields and Totems and using the most efficient spell depending on the situation.

    Spells

    Earth Shield
    - Undoubtedly Shamans best and most useful spell
    - Nine Stacks of a shield which heals the target when they take damage.
    - Should be kept on the target which is taking the most damage
    - While this spell is on another target, keep up Water Shield on yourself.

    Riptide
    - Useful, long lasting HoT with low instant healing.
    - Keep it up on multiple targets.
    - Use it before you get into combat, and keep it on all targets.
    - Essential as it gives the Tidal Waves proc,

    Healing Wave / Greater Healing Wave
    - Low mana cost
    - Only use when your target is at 75% HP
    - Long casting time, so try to use it after casting Chain Heal for the Tidal Waves proc

    Tidal Waves
    - Reduces the cast time of Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave and increases critical heal chance on Healing Surge.
    - Instantly applies two stacks when you cast Riptide.

    Healing Surge
    - Fast, high mana costing, effective heal
    - Generally use when your target is at or below 50% HP, as it heals alot with high Mastery.
    - With Mastery, this spell is more effective the lower your targets HP

    Unleash Elements (Earthliving)
    - This spell heals for a small ammount, but increases the next healing spells effectiveness you cast by 30%.

    Mastery

    - Increases the potency of your direct healing spells by (x)%, bases on the current health level of your
    target. Each point in mastery increase the potency by 3%.
    - Lower health targets get healed for more, so it's good to have alot of Mastery.

    Chain Heal
    - Also procs Tidal Waves.
    - Better to use for Battleground's where you need to mass heal.
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Thirdly, here is some useful things to do in Arenas.
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Rotations

    Preparing

    - Imbue your weapon with Earthliving Weapon , cast Earth Shield onto a target which is most likely
    to take the most damage and cast Water Shield on yourself
    - Cast Water Walking and Water Breathing on all team mates.

    Kiting

    Shamans are good at kiting because of Ghost Wolf, Earthbind Totem, Spirit Walkers Grace, Frost Shock and Frostbrand Weapon's Unleash Elements effect.

    - To kite effectively in Arenas you need to run around an object (in Ghost Wolf form as much as possible), such as a pillar in the Nagrand Arena, while keeping up Earthbind Totem and if possible Frost Shock on the enemy (also good to use Frostbrand Weapon and Unleash elements, but make sure you reapply Earthliving Weapon after).
    - When using LoS to avoid CC's, if the CC is a spell which has a cast time , such as Cyclone or Polymorph (or Mana Burn), you don't need to get behind that object instantly, you can first use Wind Shear to interrupt the spell, then on the second cast use Grounding Totem, which absorbs the spell (or reflects the spellwith the Glyph of Grounding Totem).
    Make sure Riptide and Earth Shield are constantly up on your team mate(s) when you LoS to avoid CC and Mana Burn.
    - Ghostwolf doesn't make you immune to Polymorph, it only makes you immune to Mind Control and Track Humanoids.

    Totems

    You need different Totems, depending on the classes you play with:
    Casters: Stoneskin Totem (Increased Armor), Flametongue Totem (Increased Spellpower), Elemental Resistance Totem (Increased Resistance) and Wrath of Air Totem (5% Increased Spell Haste)

    Melee: Strength of Earth Totem (Increased Strength and Agility), Flametongue Totem (Increased Spellpower, for you), Elemental Resistance Totem (Increased Resistance) and Windfury Totem (5% Increased Melee Haste)

    Set Call of the Ancestors to Casters and Call of the Elements to Melee. Use the Call of the Elements setup for yourself.

    - Use Mana Tide Totem when you are out of your targets LoS.
    - Use Earthbind Totem for kiting and keeping enemies away from you team mates
    - Make sure to keep Totems up as much as possible, don't make sure you don't over use Totems and OOM.

    Shaman CC and Interrupts

    - This is a useful macro:
    #showtooltip
    /cast wind shear
    /cast purge


    If possible, you will Purge an useful effect from the target you Wind Shear

    - Wind Shear is the most OP silence in the game, because of its short CD, so make sure to bind it to a simple key.
    - Try to save Wind Shear for Mana Burn and other CC's.
    - Hex is a quite effective CC. It can be used in conjunction with Natures Swiftness for quick CC in certain situations.
    - Purge is an awesome ability, which removes one useful effect from an enemy. It is very OP versus Restoration Druids that need to stack Lifebloom. It is also good for, Avenging Wrath versus Paladins and many instant cast abilities on other classes.

    Trinket

    - Use your Insignia of the Horde/Medallion of the Alliance when you or your team mate is on Low
    Health and does not have Earth Shield up. If Earth Shield is up, and you think he will survive
    the damage he is taking before you can heal again, don't Trinket the first CC. Wait for another CC then
    use your Trinket and heal up. If you are being attack by two Damage Classes and are getting
    stun/silenced locked, use your Trinket on the second abillity used.

    Survival

    - You need to know how to fake cast.
    - When you know you are about to receive a large ammount of damage, or have just received a
    large ammount of damage, cast Stoneclaw Totem. This will only be effective with the Glyph of
    Stoneclaw Totem
    which gives you a damage absorbing shield. Make sure to put up another Totem
    such as Earthbind Totem once the shield has been depleted.
    - Fake casting is really useful as a shaman, because while casting you take 10% less damage.
    - The only spell to fake cast with is Healing Surge.
    - The more you practice this the better you will get.

    Mana

    - If you are going OOM and you are being attacked, put on Water Shield and reapply it a few times after each stack has gone. You will be taking more damage because of this. You can then use Stoneclaw Totem and reapply Earth Shield when you are taking too much damage.
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Lastly, you just need to get out there and practice the Rotations and get a feel for the class.

    Practice in Arenas, Battlegrounds and Duels.
    Enjoy Restoration Shaman!

    Thanks for reading, I hope this guide helped you
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

  2. nice guide :)
    i was thinking on making a cata pvp guide for enh... but idk, it takes so long lol.

  3. Spellcaster93's Avatar
    Spellcaster93
    Guest
    Nice guide! Verry usefull!

  4. Themanbomb's Avatar
    Themanbomb
    Guest
    Hmmm i dont think youre suppose to reforge into mastery for pvp. Thought crit was better since it throughly has about equal healing output as when stacking mastery but also procs water shield and ancestral healing

  5. July 2, 2012  
    Hmmm i dont think youre suppose to reforge into mastery for pvp. Thought crit was better since it throughly has about equal healing output as when stacking mastery but also procs water shield and ancestral healing
    Crit is not viable for hight rated arenas, due to the fact that it cannot be predicted. It's a lottery. Crit is great stat for PvE but in PvP, you need to know what's going to happen. Mastery always boosts your heals, whether are normal or critical.

    Also I found haste as a good stat. It gives you possiblity to play more aggresive, cast more often.

  6. July 7, 2012  
    Themanbomb's Avatar
    Themanbomb
    Guest
    Crit is not viable for hight rated arenas, due to the fact that it cannot be predicted. It's a lottery. Crit is great stat for PvE but in PvP, you need to know what's going to happen. Mastery always boosts your heals, whether are normal or critical.

    Also I found haste as a good stat. It gives you possiblity to play more aggresive, cast more often.
    How is crit not viable for highly rated arena teams. All highly rated shamans prioritize crit over mastery, then haste as the absolute last stat. Even in past 4.1 where mastery for resto shamans get buffed, people still will reforge into spirit then crit before mastery.

  7. July 8, 2012  
    How is crit not viable for highly rated arena teams. All highly rated shamans prioritize crit over mastery, then haste as the absolute last stat. Even in past 4.1 where mastery for resto shamans get buffed, people still will reforge into spirit then crit before mastery.
    Then show me please their armories or youtube videos. I'm really curious in what you're saying.

    Now, claiming that "all" shamans stack crit in PvP in a huugee overstatement.

  8. July 8, 2012  

  9. If you find yourself or party members taking high ammounts of damage I think its better to have high Mastery for bigger heals when at lower health.

    And also, you can't compare retail Shamans in 4.2.2 - 4.3.4 to Shamans in 4.0.6., its not the same...

    Getting alot of resilience is also good for gemming (Intellect and Resilience) but these gems seem to be absent from Molten WoW atm.


  10. bongaa's Avatar
    bongaa
    Guest
    Good Job.Very in detail.My build is a lil bit different but this works too. :):)

  11. Hmm shouldn't we go for resilience in yellow socket?

  12. Couple things to point out:

    There's no point to enchanting boots with Lavawalker if we're already getting +15% movement speed from talents. Just use the +50 Mastery enchant.

    If we're prioritizing Mastery wouldn't it make more sense to use Shield of the Mists? Going along with this, wouldn't it also make more sense to use the head, chest, and shoulders of the resto set and the legs and gloves of the ele set?


  13. Try this

    I must disagree with you..
    Im playing shaman for 3y and there are some important things that you missed..

    Playing shammny (no matter if it is 2's or 3's) you MUST go for resilience..
    Having 4 resto pieces is good (what if mage is casting poly and you have grounding on cd...i think that those 1.5 reduce cd is actually pretty good)
    Head:resto|reforge mastery to spirit
    Sholder:resto
    Chest:resto
    Hand:ele|reforge crit to spirit
    Legs:resto|reforge crit to spirit

    Stats goes like this
    HIT cap>Spell pen cap>spirit>crit>mastery
    Why crit is better then mastery? (Actually crit heals saves me dozens of time)
    Why spirit is better then mastery?(NO MANA>NO HEALS so u can't use your mastery..)

    Gemming (according to 4.0.6)
    40 resil - yellow
    20int 20spirit - red (because there aren't 20int 20resil)
    20int 20spirit - blue

    I will replace Glyph of Earthliving Weapon with Glyph of Water Shied..it's lost of mana regen..Earthliving heals for 1,2k with 8k healing power..so 20% from 1,2k is 240..
    240 WONT SAVE YOUR A*S!

    Also i think your talents aren't so good..
    First of all you wont be able to heal so much in arenas coz of CCes so Ancestral Reslove is tottaly useless..Instead put those 2 in Soothing Rains because it will GREATLY improve your Healing Stream Totem (it heals about 1,2k with 8k healing power)
    You should put only 1 TP in Blessing of the Eternals, beacause with 40% bonus chance (+20% from usually Earthliving Weapon enchant) you will have +60% proc chance..and on tharget who is lowest then 35% ull throw at least 2 heals (UE and GHW(on example)) so there will be proc for sure..if there is no proc then it isn't ur day :)
    Your talents should look like this> http://www.wowhead.com/talent#hZbhMbZMGbGsdfock

    Sorry on my bad English :)

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