Overview
Your job is efficient topping plus totem micro: eat the enemy's important spell with Grounding, break Fears with Tremor, and land a Nature's Swiftness heal when your partner is about to die.
Strengths
- +Best anti-CC totems — Grounding, Tremor, Earthbind
- +Nature's Swiftness instant Chain/Healing Wave saves kills
- +Purge to strip enemy shields/HoTs; strong mana efficiency
Weaknesses
- −No mobility escape and no hard damage-reduction cooldown like Pain Suppression
- −Interrupt-vulnerable; must juke and LoS to keep casting
Stat priority & caps (arena)
Stat caps (arena)
| Stat | Cap | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience | 490 rating | No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken. |
- Resilience: No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken.
Full gear with usage %, gems and enchants is on the Restoration Shaman PvP BiS list.
Recommended talent build
0/5/56 · ArenaThe standard 0/5/56 arena build for Restoration Shaman. Everything funnels into Restoration: Earth Shield is the whole reason the spec dominates 5v5, Nature's Swiftness turns a kill window into a full Healing Wave, and the three PvP-defining utility talents — Healing Focus (pushback), Focused Mind (silence/interrupt duration), and Healing Grace (30% dispel resistance on Earth Shield at max rank) — are all non-negotiable against competent teams. The five leftover points go to Ancestral Knowledge in Enhancement for a flat 5% mana pool, which outperforms anything else you can buy with five points.
Elemental
0Reduces the mana cost of your Shock, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by 2%.
Increases the damage done by your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Shock spells by 1%.
Increases the health of your Stoneclaw Totem by 25% and the radius of your Earthbind Totem by 10%.
Reduces damage taken from Fire, Frost and Nature effects by 4%.
Increases the damage done by your Fire Totems by 5%.
After landing a critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next 2 damage spells by 40%.
Reduces the cooldown of your Shock spells by 0.2 sec.
Increases the critical strike chance of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by an additional 1%.
Reduces the delay before your Fire Nova Totem activates by 1 sec. and decreases the threat generated by your Magma Totem by 25%.
Gives you a 33% chance to gain the Focused Casting effect that lasts for 6 sec after being the victim of a melee or ranged critical strike. The Focused Casting effect prevents you from losing casting time on Shaman spells when taking damage. (Proc chance: 33%)
Your offensive spell crits will increase your chance to get a critical strike with melee attacks by 3% for 10 sec.
Increases the range of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by 3 yards.
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Searing, Magma, and Fire Nova Totems and your Fire, Frost, and Nature spells by 100%.
Regenerate mana equal to 2% of your Intellect every 5 sec, even while casting.
Increases your chance to hit with Fire, Frost and Nature spells by 2% and reduces the threat caused by Fire, Frost and Nature spells by 4%.
Reduces the cast time of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by 0.1 sec.
When activated, this spell gives your next Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell a 100% critical strike chance and reduces the mana cost by 100%.
Reduces the chance you will be critically hit by melee and ranged attacks by 2%.
Gives your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells a 4% chance to cast a second, similar spell on the same target at no additional cost that causes half damage and no threat. (Proc chance: 4%)
Summons a Totem of Wrath with 5 health at the feet of the caster. The totem increases the chance to hit and critically strike with spells by 3% for all party members within 20 yards. Lasts 2 min.
Enhancement
5Increases your maximum mana by 1%.
Increases your chance to block attacks with a shield by 1% and increases the amount blocked by 5%.
Increases the amount of damage reduced by your Stoneskin Totem and Windwall Totem by 10% and reduces the cooldown of your Grounding Totem by 1 sec.
Improves your chance to get a critical strike with your weapon attacks by 1%.
Reduces the cast time of your Ghost Wolf spell by 1 sec.
Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 5%.
Increases the effect of your Strength of Earth and Grace of Air Totems by 8%.
After landing a melee critical strike, you enter a Focused state. The Focused state reduces the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60%.
Increases your chance to dodge by an additional 1%.
Increases your attack speed by 10% for your next 3 swings after dealing a critical strike.
Increases your armor value from items by 2%, and reduces the duration of movement slowing effects on you by 10%.
Increases the melee attack power bonus of your Windfury Totem by 15% and increases the damage caused by your Flametongue Totem by 6%.
Gives a chance to parry enemy melee attacks and reduces the threat generated by your melee attacks by 30%.
Increases the damage caused by your Rockbiter Weapon by 7%, your Windfury Weapon effect by 13% and increases the damage caused by your Flametongue Weapon and Frostbrand Weapon by 5%.
Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast Shaman spells by 2% and increases your spell damage and healing by an amount equal to 10% of your attack power.
Increases the damage you deal with all weapons by 2%.
Increases your chance to hit while dual wielding by an additional 2%.
Allows one-hand and off-hand weapons to be equipped in the off-hand.
Instantly attack with both weapons. In addition, the next 2 sources of Nature damage dealt to the target are increased by 20%. Lasts 12 sec.
Causes your critical hits with melee attacks to increase all party members' melee attack power by 2% if within 20 yards of the Shaman. Lasts 10 sec.
Reduces all damage taken by 30% and gives your successful melee attacks a chance to regenerate mana equal to 30% of your attack power. Lasts 15 sec.
Restoration
56Reduces the casting time of your Healing Wave spell by 0.1 sec.
Reduces the mana cost of your healing spells by 1%.
Reduces the cooldown of your Reincarnation spell by 10 min and increases the amount of health and mana you reincarnate with by an additional 10%.
Increases your target's armor value by 8% for 15 sec after getting a critical effect from one of your healing spells.
Reduces the mana cost of your totems by 5%.
Increases your chance to hit with melee attacks and spells by 1%.
Gives you a 14% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any Shaman healing spell.
The radius of your totems that affect friendly targets is increased to 30 yards.
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 5% and reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10%.
The hidden star of the build: 30% dispel resistance keeps Earth Shield on your kill target through priest/shaman dispel pressure.
Increases the effect of your Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems by 5%.
Increases the critical effect chance of your healing and lightning spells by 1%.
Your Healing Wave spells have a 33% chance to increase the effect of subsequent Healing Wave spells on that target by 6% for 15 sec. This effect will stack up to 3 times.
When activated, your next Nature spell with a casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
Macro it with Healing Wave. This is your answer to swap pressure; using it proactively at 60% HP beats using it reactively at 20%.
Reduces the duration of any Silence or Interrupt effects used against the Shaman by 10%. This effect does not stack with other similar effects.
30% shorter silences and interrupts — directly counters the kick/counterspell rotations every team aims at you.
Increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 2%.
Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec that restores 6% of total mana every 3 seconds to group members within 20 yards.
Whenever a damaging attack is taken that reduces you below 30% health, you have a 10% chance to heal 10% of your total health and reduce your threat level on that target. 5 second cooldown. (Proc chance: 10%, 5s cooldown)
Increases your spell damage and healing by an amount equal to 10% of your Intellect.
Increases the amount healed by your Chain Heal spell by 10%.
The last two flex points. Swap into Nature's Guardian if you face heavy warrior/hunter swap comps.
Protects the target with an earthen shield, giving a 30% chance of ignoring spell interruption when damaged and causing attacks to heal the shielded target for 150. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. 6 charges. Lasts 10 min. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time and only one Elemental Shield can be active on a target at a time. (3.5s cooldown)
Keep it rolling on the training-dummy target at all times; the knockback protection is as valuable as the healing.
Points are filled on each tree above — hover a talent for its tooltip; highlighted talents are the build's key picks.
Healing & totem control
- 1Keep the trained partner up with efficient Lesser Healing Wave; Chain Heal in cleaves.
- 2Grounding Totem to eat a Polymorph/Fear/nuke; Tremor vs Fear teams; Earthbind vs melee.
- 3Nature's Swiftness → instant big heal when your partner is about to die.
- 4Purge the enemy healer's shields/HoTs; Earth Shock/Wind Shear to interrupt a cast.
- 5Trinket the hard CC; re-drop totems after they're killed or expire.
Totem micro is what separates good Resto Shamans — Ground the enemy's key cast, Tremor their Fear, Earthbind their melee, every fight. Heal efficiently with Lesser Healing Wave and bank Nature's Swiftness for the clutch. You have no escape, so use pillars and peels to avoid being trained, and juke interrupts before every big cast.
Shaman macros
Focus macros
Focus Purge
Strip a focus enemy's buffs (Freedom, shields, HoTs) while staying on your target.
#showtooltip Purge /cast [target=focus] Purge
Defensive
Nature's Swiftness + Healing Wave
Instant, full Healing Wave in one press — your emergency answer to a swap.
#showtooltip Healing Wave /cast Nature's Swiftness /cast Healing Wave
Utility
Focus Earth Shield
Keep Earth Shield rolling on a focus ally (your kill-target teammate) hands-free.
#showtooltip Earth Shield /cast [target=focus] Earth Shield
PvP addons
Full list on the Shaman addons page.
Best race (PvP)
Hardiness stun-resist keeps Enhancement in melee and protects your casts; Blood Fury adds burst. Best PvP shaman.
Draenei is the only Alliance shaman. Gift of the Naaru is a free heal and Heroic Presence adds hit.
More on the best race for Shaman page.
Best professions (PvP)
Common mistakes
- ✕Not re-dropping Grounding/Tremor after they're consumed or killed.
- ✕Saving Nature's Swiftness too long and losing the partner.
- ✕Casting into interrupts instead of juking against melee.
Best arena comps
FAQ
Is Resto Shaman a good arena healer?
Yes — top-tier. Grounding/Tremor/Earthbind totems, Nature's Swiftness clutch heals and Purge make it one of the best-supported healers in TBC arena.
How do I survive without an escape?
Positioning and totems — Earthbind and peels to keep melee off, Grounding to eat casts, and the PvP trinket + Nature's Swiftness to break a burst window.