Resto Shaman - BfA Questions

Classes Shaman
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Hey guys,
I know this will probably sound quite stupid, but I thought I’d ask anyway since I’ve been reading guides but it is still a little confusing for me.
I’ve started playing retail about 2-3 weeks ago, before that I came from a private WotLK server. I mained a Resto Shaman there, I love the class and spec and all the attributes it brings to raids but I’ve been trying to get used to all the different things, as the difference between WotLK and BfA is 4 expansions, none of which I have played.
A lot of the stats have changed and are fairly new to me, as well as the fact there are no more sets for the different classes.
So a few questions below, all answers will be highly appreciated! :slight_smile:

  • How do resto shamans regen mana in BfA? As in WotLK there is Water Shield, Mana Tide and a fee trinkets who could very effectively keep you going for a long time. I find myself struggling with mana in LFR and I’m wondering if I may be doing something wrong?
    -Is Earth Shield still a talent worth going for(for raids or dungeons)? I have specced it as I’m so used to it being one of my top three spells to have healed the most.
    -What are the primary stats I’m looking for on gear? I’ve read quite a few guides which say Intellect->Crit->Versatility->Haste=Mastery. In WotLK I was quite used to gemming pure +20 haste on every gem slot and a 1 gem somewhere to trigger the meta gem in the head slot, as there was a hard cap of around 1300 haste in order to cap the casting time of Lesser Healing Wave to 1sec. Is anyone able to explain how Versatility works? Is that something like what Spell Power used to be on items?
    -Is there such thing as a rotation or is everything now more situational than anything? I’ve noticed quite a few new(to me) AoE heals, rather than single target healing.
    -Where do resto shamans stand in raids in this new expansion? When I heal in LFR, maybe it’s due to my unexperience with new spells and the modifications to the clasa, but I notice that my healing isn’t very big, yet it’s very mana costly so eventually I am not very useful, being OOM.
    -Is there a BiS list for resto shamans? Or are BiS lists a thing of the past?

I know most of these questions will probably sound ridiculous to some, but I am just trying to make sense of the class and spec I so much love to play.

All answers will be taken on board and very, very appreciated! :blush:

1 Like
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Don’t worry about asking, better to think of asking something stupid than staying ignorant. As for your questions.

  • We gain mana back from Critical heals mainly (different % for different spells), there is an azerite trait that gives back mana once you fall too low. Our priority spell rotation changes a lot, Chain heal is really expensive so you need to weave in a lot of Healing wave to stay mana efficient.
    Alternatively: Retribution Paladin Wisdom buff (in a raid you will rarely see it cause druids are priority), Innervate (here it gives X sec of casting without mana+some haste), Holy priest has their hymn on baseline that makes you cast for free for a bit.
    The golden rule generally to expend mana in the pace the boss’ HP is decreasing.
  • ES is not really worth it in raids aside from specific scenarios where you have to tank heal a lot (Mythic+ it is my go to talent for example, but in raids an example where it can help is MOTHER).
  • You are looking for intellect in general, only drop iLvl imho if you get an item that is 10-15 levels bellow but has a socket.
    Crit is important for us because of how it helps us be a bit more mana efficient and to actually heal something.
    Versatility increases our heal+damage reduction (that is it, 1% Versatility is 1% healing on your spells and 0,5% damage reduction), statistically outweighting Mastery, in general I don’t focus on getting specific stats aside from Crit, that is always a priority for me. Currently you want to gem to: 1 slot for Intellect gem otherwise Crit, Feast for Raid or Crit food. Intellect is spell power.
  • What you should focus on: Keep Healing rain down on stacked fights (Only exception is Fetid, cause he is a crap boss), keep healing stream totem up as much as possible. Try to portion your Mana, which is really more of an experience sort of thing, in time you will learn in a fight when to expend your mana and when to stay on “reserve”.
  • We got some changes recently so we are looking good on stacked healing, Spot healing is mediocre so right now Shaman is considered to be the “worst” healer for M+ (Go with guildies/friends, had been testing out the new High tide for M+ and it does not seem awful), community perception is crap on this aspect.
  • As for BiS you might want to check out a website called AncestralGuidance that has a lot of useful info, I just cannot type links here (new forum, old fart). There are good traits in general so you can set up your BIS azerite list (one for Raid, one for M+), but AG has a good list of what trinkets you want, just keep an eye on it cause Blizzard nowadays changes trinkets without saying a word.

Hope that helps a little.

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Thank you so, so much! That helps a lot and I will definitely check out the websites. Your answer clarified a lot of my queries, so again thank you! :blush:

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No problem, hope you’ll have fun!

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