Season of Discovery Shaman Guide - Best Builds, Runes, and Rotation

A big welcome to the most extensive WoW Season of Discovery Shaman guide for all wow fans.  In this one, we’re going to talk about the most diverse class in the game that can take all 4 roles - Tank, Healer, melee DPS, and range DPS! This class was already a pretty multi-purpose class in group content, but with the addition of runes in WoW SoD, Shamans can now also tank, which is new to this class.

We'll go over everything you need to succeed as a Shaman in SoD. First, we’ll go over the PROs and CONs of playing a Shaman Season of Discovery with any role, and then we’ll get to talking about leveling tips, the best runes, etc.

Initially, choosing the right race is crucial, especially considering which ones offer the best passives for Shamans. This guide will delve into that topic. Following that, we'll explore stat priorities to help you discern between top-notch gear and less desirable options. Most thrillingly, we'll introduce the best Shaman build for each role, equipping you with everything necessary to excel as a Shaman in the Season of Discovery.

 

Shaman Changes in Season of Discovery Phase 4

Like the three phases before, phase 4 brings even more depth to Shaman Customization. The improvements and enhancements come from none other than the new runes of which there are over a dozen. This time around, Shamans are getting runes for the ring and cloak slots.

1. Storm, Earth, and Fire - Cloak
2. Feral Spirit - Cloak
3. Coherence - Cloak

4. Axe Specialization - Ring

5. Defense Specialization  - Ring

    

6. Fist Weapon Specialization - Ring

7. Mace Specialization - Ring

8. Pole Weapon Specialization - Ring

We have prepared a guide that will help you locate and obtain all of the runes from all Phases, including these new runes. What's more, there's a new raid called Molten Core. It will be your next endgame challenge that will reward you with new armor sets and other rewards.

 

Shaman PROs and CONs

When it comes to Shaman PROs and CONs in Season of Discovery is a jack-of-all-trades kind of class that can be anything you want it to be. This in itself is its greatest advantage and greatest weakness at the same time. Other strengths and weaknesses include:

The Shaman PROs are:

• High Burst Damage: Elemental and Enhancement Shamans offer strong burst damage, particularly useful in PvP.
• Excellent Utility: Shamans excel in utility across all roles, with totems and abilities like Windfury Totem and Tremor Totem fitting various situations.
• Great Healing and Support: Enhancement Shamans provide on-demand healing, while Shaman Healers excel in area healing with Chain Heal and Healing Rain.
• Strong Group Support: Shaman Tanks and other roles offer robust group support with a variety of totems.
• Flexibility in DPS and Tanking: Shaman Tanks have flexible DPS options and above-average AoE damage, while DPS Shamans exhibit strong cleave with abilities like Molten Blast.

And, of course, there are Shaman CONs:

• Mana Issues: Elemental Shamans and Enhancement Shamans can struggle with mana, impacting their sustained damage and overall DPS output.
• Low Sustained Damage: Both Elemental and Enhancement Shamans face challenges with low sustained damage.
• Weak Single-Target Healing: Shaman Healers have weaker single-target healing capabilities with long cast times or poor mana efficiency.
• Survivability Concerns: Shaman Healers have low survivability, only slightly mitigated by Reincarnation. Shaman Tanks lack defensive cooldowns.
• Reliance on Specific Mechanics: Shaman Tanks heavily rely on blocking for mana and cannot parry in Phase 4, while Enhancement Shamans are sometimes forced into healing roles.

Naturally, each of the roles for Shamans has its own set of advantages and disadvantages that you will have to play around. Besides, let’s not forget that all this can be subjective, and some WoW players may simply not agree with some of the points above. Nevertheless, these were Shaman’s main PROs and CONs.

How to Play Shaman in Season of Discovery

Want to know how to play Shaman in WoW SoD but don’t know where to start? Decide on the role first because the gameplay for each of them will be very different. With or without Shaman best runes you need to understand what your goals are. 

Playing a Shaman in WoW Season of Discovery requires a nuanced approach for each role.

• As an Elemental Shaman DPS, position yourself within range but away from direct enemy attacks or environmental hazards, focusing on casting your damage rotation and utility spells as needed.
• For Enhancement Shaman DPS, lay down totems like Strength of Earth Totem and Searing Totem, maintaining the Flame Shock DoT for Lava Burst crits. Use Frost Shock or Earth Shock based on mana availability and melee with weapons imbued with Rockbiter Weapon, being mindful of the threat it generates.
• For Shaman Healers, the focus is on casting healing spells like Healing Rain, Healing Wave, and Lesser Healing Wave while utilizing the Rune system for additional powers like Ancestral Guidance and Earth Shield. Be aware of the limitations of gear slots for these runes. Shaman Healers excel in area healing and bring strong utility with totems, though they have weaker single-target healing and lower survivability.
• Shaman Tanks should keep Flame Shock active and use Molten Blast regularly. Frost Shocks and appropriate totems should be used tactically. The key is to balance offensive spells and totem utility to maintain control and support the group effectively.

Each Shaman role offers unique strengths and requires specific strategies for optimal play in any activity in the game, whether it is the solo content, WoW Season of Discovery Shaman PvP, dungeons, or raids.

Shaman Best Race in WoW Season of Discovery

There are a lot of roles you can pick from, but luckily, there aren’t that many races who can be Shamans. Actually, this class is exclusive to Horde, and only a handful of races can become this class.

This table presents the best Shaman race in WoW SoD, highlighting their unique racial passives and the advantages they bring to the respective roles in PvE and PvP scenarios.

Shaman Stat Priority

Stat Priorities are a bit different for each role.

Elemental Shaman DPS Stat Priority

1. Spell Hit
2. Spell Damage
3. Spell Crit
4. MP5
5. Intellect
6. Spell Penetration
7. Stamina

As a level 25 Elemental Shaman, focus on throughput stats mixed with Mana stats to maintain Mana and utilize your full kit effectively.

Enhancement Shaman DPS Stat Priority

1. Weapon Skill
2. Crit
3. Hit
4. Strength
5. Agility
6. Intellect
7. Stamina

Enhancement Shamans should prioritize Weapon Skill for reduced glancing blows, followed by stats that boost melee power, crit chance, and mana pool.

Shaman Healer Stat Priority

1. MP5
2. Intellect
3. Healing Power
4. Spell Crit

Level 25 healing Shamans need to focus on regeneration and Mana stats first, then Healing Power for enhanced spell effectiveness.

Shaman Tank Stat Priority

1. Agility
2. Strength
3. Stamina
4. Intellect
5. Armor
6. Hit Rating

Shaman Tanks should aim for a balance of defensive stats for survival and stats like Agility and Strength for threat generation and minor defensive boosts. Intellect is valuable for mana sustainability.

Best Shaman Runes Season of Discovery

Shamans have access to a number of powerful runes. Your best Shaman Season of Discovery runes will depend on the role that you choose to pursue. Therefore, here are your best runes for tanks and DPS. BLOG20 

Best Runes for Elemental Shaman DPS - Phase 4

• Burn — Flame Shock ability can be used on multiple targets.
• Overload Rune — Increases damage significantly, a must-have for Elemental Shamans.
• Lava Burst Rune — Always crits with Flame Shock on the target, becoming a core part of the DPS rotation.
• Shamanistic Rage Rune — Great for Mana management and reducing damage taken, also benefits the party.

Best Runes for Enhancement Shaman DPS - Phase 4

• Dual Wield Specialization Rune — Enables dual wielding, increasing hit chance with spells and melee attacks, and makes Stormstrike hit with both weapons.
• Lava Burst Rune — Deals substantial damage and always crits if Flame Shock is on the target.
• Molten Blast Rune — Useful for cleave and AoE, but be cautious of the high threat it generates.
• Shamanistic Rage Rune — Reduces damage taken and regenerates mana, scaling with Attack Power.

Best Runes for Shaman Healer - Phase 4

• Tidal Waves — reduces cooldowns of healing abilities based on the amount of charges of Tidal Waves on your character.
• Riptide — gives you a new healing ability, that also improves the Chain Heal.
• Overload Rune — Affects Healing Wave, ideal for single-target healing in early dungeons.
• Healing Rain Rune — Excellent for stacked area healing in sustained damage situations.
• Water Shield Rune — Critical for Mana management, allowing longer healing durations.
• Earth Shield Rune — Provides instant cast healing and pushback reduction, useful in PvP and for Tank Warlocks.

Best Runes for Shaman Tank - Phase 4

• Overcharged — Lighting Shield no longer loses charges, has lower cooldown and deals AoE damage.
• Mental Dexterity — increases your attack power by the Intellect value as you deal melee damage.
• Shield Mastery Rune — Increases Block chance and value, provides Armor buff and regenerates mana upon blocking.
• Way of Earth Rune — Enhances tank stance with increased threat, health, damage reduction and turns Earth Shock into a taunt.
• Molten Blast Rune — High threat AoE nuke vital for maintaining aggro, especially on trash mobs.

These rune selections are tailored to optimize the performance of Shamans in their respective roles, enhancing their abilities and effectiveness in both PvE and PvP scenarios in WoW Season of Discovery. However, getting those runes can be quite a difficult task. To make it easier for yourself, you can buy Season of Discovery Rune boosting from Skycoach, which will guarantee that experienced WoW veterans will quickly acquire the needed runes for your build without you needing to spend any of your time on it.

 

Shaman Leveling Guide in WoW Season of Discovery

Regardless of your chosen role, Shaman leveling in WoW Season of Discovery requires a blend of strategy and efficient use of abilities.

Shaman Tank Leveling Tips:

• Always keep a Weapon Enchant active for optimal performance.
• Complete Totem Quests early for access to essential abilities.
• Utilize Earthbind Totem and Searing Totem for effective kiting.
• Use lower-rank heals to conserve mana.
• Place Totems strategically to maximize their utility and conserve mana.
• Leverage Ghost Wolf for increased mobility, especially with Improved Ghost Wolf.
• Solo leveling is feasible with abilities like Molten Blast and Shield Mastery, using Earthbind Totem for kiting in challenging situations.

Elemental Shaman DPS Leveling Tips:

• Use bandages to save Mana for more critical situations.
• Be efficient with Mana usage, avoiding unnecessary expenditure on high-cost abilities.
• Utilize slows like Earthbind Totem to minimize damage taken and control fleeing enemies.
• Stoneclaw Totem can serve as a distraction or emergency escape tool.
• Elemental Shamans offer steady ranged damage with self-healing and slowing tools for tough situations.

Enhancement Shaman DPS Leveling Tips:

• Apply Damage over Time effects and use shocks for utility.
• Heal frequently using Rapid Regeneration and bandages.
• Utilize Ghost Wolf for faster movement outdoors.
• Enhancement Shamans excel in leveling due to their burst damage, healing ability, and mobility.

Shaman Healer Leveling Tips:

• Always level in a group, as solo play is inefficient for Restoration Shamans.
• Focus on dungeons for consistent group play and faster leveling.
• Be Mana efficient, using the most effective single-target heals to maintain a good pulling rate.
• Restoration Shamans are best suited for group play, particularly in dungeons.
• These general tips cater to the unique aspects of each Shaman 1.15.3 role, ensuring an effective and enjoyable leveling experience.

Depending on the chosen role, your leveling may be harder or easier. But taking into consideration the complexity of the class and its utilities, you might be better off using SkyCoach’s Powerleveling services that will properly level up your Shaman without you needing to go through the torture of doing it yourself. The game is notoriously slow when it comes to living, and most gamers would rather do anything else than level. Relief yourself from this burden and let PRO players take care of it for you. BLOG20

Best Shaman Builds Season of Discovery

As we’ve said before, there are many roles for Shamans, and there could be many best Shaman builds for WoW SoD, but we’re going to start this list with the most interesting one - the Tank.

Best Saman Tank Build
 

This build focuses on upgrading Elemental and Enhancement talent trees. Only their combination gives you the most ideal tank build.

Enchancement talent tree provides defensive essentials such as Shield Specialization, Lighting Shield, Enhancing Totems, and Flurry. These talents will increase your survivability by a lot.

Meanwhile, the Elemental talent tree will be the base of your offensive skills. Talents like Call of Flame and Elemental Fury suggest that you should be using more totems to help you in the fight. This build is fully optimized for Molten Core raid at level 60.

Best Shaman Healer Build
 

In Phase 4, Shaman healers tend to level up the Restoration talent tree. Some talent points are being invested into one single talent from the Enhancement talent tree. Specifically, you want to be gunning for talents like Ancestra Knowledge to increase your Mapa pool, Improved Ghost Wolf, Enchancing Totems, Guardian Totems and Thundering Strikes. The power of Shaman healers doesn't come just from their healing abilities, they also utilize totems to buff their allies. So, get these talents to make the most of your totem skills.

Best Shaman Melee DPS Build
 

The melee DPS build for Shamans is achieved through the Enhancement talent tree. This is the one that lets you buff yourself to add powerful effects to your melee attacks. To make the most out of this build, you're going to want to get a few Elemental talents as well. Namely, you want to get - Concussion and Call of Flame. Eventually, your goal is to get to the final Echnacement talent, which is Stormstrike, which gives you an extra attack and increased Nature damage.

Best Shaman Ranged DPS Build
 

The ranged DPS build is all about that Elemental talent tree. You do want to focus on its talents mostly, but not all of them. Some of the talents are worth skipping, such as Earth's Grasp and a few others. In return, you can spend your talent points on two essential Enhancement talents - Ancestral knowledge that increases your maximum mana (essential if you want to dish out as much DPS as possible) and Improved Lighting Shield, a very popular talent for Lightning Shield users. BLOG20

Shaman Best in Slot Gear WoW Season of Discovery

These next few tables represent Shaman Best in Slot gear recommendations for each of the roles as of Phase 4.

BiS For Shaman Tanks

BiS For Shaman Healers

Most Shaman roles share BiS equipment, so, as a healer you only need to worry about getting a different weapon and a few other pieces of gear. 

BiS For Shaman Melee DPS

This role is best when equipped with a specific Axe weapon. There’s some choice in what you equip into your Legs slot, though.

BiS For Shaman Ranged DPS

This is essentially the same recommendations as for the Healer role.

While this guide highlights the best pre-raid gear for Phase 4, it's important to note that this phase also includes a raid offering even better BiS gear. To secure these top-tier items, you will want to Buy Molten Core Raid Boost from SkyCoach. This service ensures that experienced WoW experts will efficiently complete the raid on your behalf, helping you acquire the coveted rare gear.

Shaman Rotation

Naturally, depending on the role, your WoW Shaman rotation Season of Discovery will be unique.

Shaman Tank Rotation:

1. Keep Flame Shock running at all times.
2. Cast Molten Blast on cooldown for maximum damage.
3. Drop appropriate Totems based on the situation.
4. Use Frost Shock if all targets have Flame Shock.
5. Rebuff Lightning Shield when needed.
6. Default Totems: Strength of Earth Totem, Searing Totem, Healing Stream Totem.
7. Situational Totems: Fire Nova Totem (AoE), Stoneskin Totem (high damage pulls), Tremor Totem, Poison Cleansing Totem, Frost Resistance Totem.

Shaman Healer Rotation:

1. Deploy utility totems as needed: Strength of Earth Totem, Healing Stream Totem, Frost Resistance Totem.
2. Use Healing Rain on a group of injured players for area healing.
3. Cast Healing Wave on highly damaged targets or Lesser Healing Wave for faster healing.

Enhancement Shaman DPS Rotation:

1. Place Strength of Earth Totem and Searing Totem. Use Fire Nova Totem for AoE or if mana permits.
2. Maintain Flame Shock DoT on the boss at all times.
3. Use Frost Shock or Earth Shock based on mana availability.
4. Cast Lava Burst (or Molten Blast with the rune) on cooldown.
5. Continue auto-attacking throughout.

Elemental Shaman DPS Rotation:

1. Deploy utility totems as needed: Searing Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Healing Stream Totem.
2. Cast Flame Shock and refresh it upon expiration.
3. Use Lava Burst when Flame Shock is active on the target.
4. Cast Lightning Bolt as the primary spell or when mana is low.

These rotations provide a structured approach to each Shaman role, ensuring effective ability usage for tanking, healing, and DPS in various group scenarios.

Shaman Best Professions in WoW Season of Discovery

Choosing the Shaman best professions in WoW SoD can significantly impact your class effectiveness in various roles, whether you're tanking, healing, or dealing damage. Each profession offers unique advantages that can enhance your gameplay. 

• Engineering (Tank, Healer, Elemental DPS) — Essential for Classic WoW. Engineering at level 25 is even more impactful than at level 60. It provides AoE damage options like Iron Grenade and Solid Dynamite, useful goggles like Bright-Eye Goggles, and trinkets such as Minor Recombobulator and Gnomish Cloaking Device. For Tanks, it offers threat-generation tools and utility. Healers benefit from additional crowd control and survivability options, while Elemental DPS gains access to damage-boosting gadgets. This versatility makes Engineering a valuable profession for all Shaman roles.
• Herbalism (Healer) — Ideal for gold making and independent consumable farming, especially for items like Black Lotus. It's also a good pairing with Alchemy for crafting your own consumables.
• Leatherworking (Enhancement DPS) — Allows crafting of specific items like Void-Touched Leather Gloves, making it a valuable profession for gear enhancement.

These professions are tailored to enhance the capabilities of Shamans in their respective roles, providing both practical and strategic benefits in WoW's Season of Discovery.

Shaman Best Consumables

As for the best Shaman consumables, most roles share some items. As you will see from the following list, most items are great for each of the roles, which makes it a bit easier to get them. Refer to this list whenever you want to make the best PvE Shaman out there.

• Free Action Potion (Tank, Healer, Elemental DPS) - Invaluable against bosses and enemies with stuns.
• Strong Troll's Blood Potion (Tank, Healer) - Provides health regeneration, benefiting both tanks and healers.
• Elixir of Fortitude (Tank, Healer) - Increases your health pool, making it useful for tanking and healing roles.
• Elixir of Defense (Tank) - Boosts your armor, reducing damage taken from boss melee attacks.
• Swiftness Potion (Tank, Healer, Elemental DPS) - Useful for repositioning or engaging effectively in all roles.
• Greater Healing Potion (Tank, Healer, Elemental DPS) - An emergency heal option that's handy for everyone.
• Elixir of Firepower (Tank, Enhancement DPS) - Enhances Fire damage, benefiting both tanks and Enhancement DPS.
• Elixir of Lesser Agility (Tank) - Agility is a favored stat for tanks, providing additional benefits.
• Iron Grenade (Tank) - Provides extra threat, potential AoE interrupt, and can be used while moving. A must-have for tanks.
• Solid Dynamite (Tank) - Offers higher damage compared to Iron Grenade, ideal when you don't need mobility or stun.
• Mana Potion (Healer, Enhancement DPS, Elemental DPS) - Useful for mana recovery, ensuring healers and spellcasters can continue casting.

These consumables cater to the various roles of Shamans, providing essential benefits to tanks, healers, and DPS shamans in both elemental and enhancement specializations.

Conclusion

This marks the end of the Shaman’s guide. This class is unique in the way that it essentially 4 classes in 1 type of deal. Whenever you feel bored from playing one role, all you have to do is respec into another, and you get a completely different gameplay in your hands. Season of Discovery adds the last missing role to the Shaman’s role roster - the tank. Now you can do and be anything you want, which is unprecedented! In this guide, we’ve given you all the tools and knowledge you need to succeed in any of the roles available. Naturally, as more content Phases roll out, this and the rest of the class guides will be updated. So, stay tuned for more updates!

F.A.Q.