- Author: Furious
- Date: July 31, 2024
- Updated: July 31, 2024
- Expansion: WoW Classic
Welcome to our WoW Classic leveling guide for shamans! Shamans are true elemental masters, harnessing their abilities to shock and strike their enemies down. They represent the Horde exclusively, serving as the counterpart of the Alliance’s paladin class. No shaman is complete without an arsenal of totems, which they use to either empower themselves and allies or affect monsters directly.
Shaman are often viewed primarily as healers at level 60, but Restoration just isn’t an effective way to level. On the other hand, Enhancement is actually phenomenal for leveling despite not being a terribly desirable DPS class in raids. With the combination of healing, utility, crowd control, increased movement speed from Ghost Wolf, and versatile damage output, shaman are easily one of the better classes for leveling.
With so many different spells and abilities at your disposal, it can certainly be overwhelming trying to figure out what works best. We’ll explain that thoroughly in this guide, covering gameplay advice, stat priorities, what order you should select your talents, useful professions, and what abilities will help you level faster. You might feel pretty silly until you can use two-handers at level 20, but once you start to flesh out the rest of your abilities, like the iconic Stormstrike, you’ll know what makes a shaman so fun!
Pro
- Excellent upfront damage.
- High survivability with the combination of utility and healing spells.
- Flexible class that can fulfill any role.
- Can use Ghost Wolf for extra movement speed at level 20.
- Fairly good leveling speed.
- Extremely popular in groups due to Windfury Totem.
- Can self-resurrect every 30 minutes.
- Every primary stat is useful to a shaman.
- Astral Recall is a second Hearthstone on a short 15-minute cooldown which can be extremely useful for getting back and forth quickly.
Con
- Can quickly run out of mana if spamming spells.
- Totems require completion of quests.
- Can’t use two-handers until level 20, and can never use swords of any type.
- Can be confusing to know what totem/weapon buff/shock to use.
- Requires constant movement to take advantage of Earthbind Totem, allowing you to massively reduce incoming damage.
General Leveling Tips
Unless you’re trying to speed your way right to max level, you’ll take quite a while to get there. While this might not sound appealing at first, there’s really not a huge need for you to be level 60 to enjoy the game. All aspects of the game are relevant, from dungeons to questing, and you shouldn’t view anything as irrelevant! Azeroth is absolutely a world you’ll want to immerse yourself in, allowing yourself to feel a connection with your character. It might sound cheesy, but you know deep in your heart you grow a special love for your main character.
You can hasten that connection with the use of this advice:
- If you only pick one consumable, make sure to have plenty of water that corresponds with your level. You can restore your health with healing, but you don’t have anything that effectively restores your mana in a quick time frame. Solve this by remembering to upgrade your water every 10 levels.
- Take some time to learn what zones are optimal for leveling. Shaman can only play as Horde, so make sure you learn what zones are best for the Horde. Zones like Westfall and Loch Modan will never be useful to you, but The Barrens is definitely the place to be.
- Dungeons are a great source of experience and gear. Most of your leveling will probably be questing, but you can avoid burnout by doing some dungeons for variety. There’s nothing better than a nice new weapon too!
- Any time you have the flexibility for it, only fight enemies that are your level. Lower level enemies give less experience, but so do tougher high level enemies. This will also ensure you have a quicker leveling experience.
- Consider learning Astral Recall ASAP so you have an additional Hearthstone. Set them to wherever you’re questing at to cut out several minutes of returning to town to turn in quests.
- You’re definitely going to want to only fight one enemy at a time. You’ll need to constantly be moving so that enemies won’t be freely swinging at you (since they’ll be slowed by Earthbind Totem), making it so that you only take damage when you go in to attack.
- While shamans definitely are one of the best classes for leveling solo, they’re also excellent in a group environment. Your heals are certainly useful, but your totems (specifically Windfury Totem) are extremely powerful for other melee attackers. Shamans are the perfect class to pick if you’re leveling with a friend.
- It might be a little annoying to hop out of Ghost Wolf, but you’ll appreciate killing enemies in between your quests. You just can’t reach level 60 by questing (unless you’re constantly resting, in which case it would take you several months), so some casual grinding will reduce your workload towards the end of leveling.
Shaman Specific Gameplay Advice
- Try to strategically place your totems so that you can kill multiple enemies without needing to put them down again. Most of your totems last at least 30 seconds, which means you can easily kill a few without needing to waste mana on popping down more totems.
- Make an effort to do your totem quests whenever they are available, with the exception of your water totem. Your earth and fire totems are absolutely essential, but your water totem isn’t and is gated behind a long and difficult questline. Your air totem isn’t as important, but it is basically freely given to you.
- There are several totems you can use, but you should try to only use Earthbind Totem, Searing Totem/Magma Totem, and Grace of Air Totem/Windfury Totem. Other totems are less valuable than these respective counterparts.
- Anytime you need to travel, switch into Ghost Wolf. With 2 points in Improved Ghost Wolf, the cast time becomes just one second. Once you have a mount, use it instead if you are traveling for more than 20 or so seconds.
- One of the most important things to know about leveling a shaman is the earthbind shuffle. This involves placing your Earthbind Totem to slow an enemy by 50%, and dancing around the totem to avoid attacks from your target. By doing this, you can make it so that you only take damage when you actually go to attack. Normally, enemies attack far faster than you, so this allows you to massively reduce your incoming damage.
- Only use Rockbiter Weapon until level 30, at which point you should switch to Windfury Weapon. If your weapon is really slow, you can keep using Rockbiter Weapon as it will deal more damage.
- Try to frontload all of your damaging abilities so you spend plenty of time auto attacking. This will allow you to benefit from Spirit regeneration, helping to reduce your overall downtime.
- Once you start using Flame Shock at level 10, save Earth Shock for whenever you need to interrupt a spell.
- Stormstrike is definitely your strongest ability, but it is quite mana intensive. Using it whenever it is available will quickly run you out of mana. Unless you have plenty of Spirit and no problem with mana, you’ll want to try and only use it once a fight to prevent yourself from going out of mana every few fights.
- After level 30, you’ll always want to have an Ankh around so you can use Reincarnation. This allows you to self-resurrect every 30 minutes, but you revive in the exact same spot and only have 20% health and mana. If you died in a dangerous spot, don’t waste your Reincarnation.
Stat Priority
- Agility
- As a melee-oriented shaman, your primary stat is definitely Agility. Agility is an excellent stat because it gives you Attack Power and Crit chance, making all of your attacks more potent. It also gives a small Dodge chance, something you’ll also learn through talents.
- Increases Attack Power with melee weapons. Shamans gain 1 melee Attack Power per point of Agility.
- Increases chance to score a critical hit with a weapon. You gain 1% Critical chance increased for each 20 points of Agility.
- Increases chance to dodge attacks. For every 20 points in Agility you will gain 1% chance to Dodge.
- Strength
- Strength is also very effective for helping you deal more damage. It gives more Attack Power than Agility at the expense of offering nothing else. Prioritize Strength over anything that isn’t Agility.
- Increases Attack Power with melee weapons. Shamans gain 2 Attack Power for each point of Agility.
- Strength does not improve the chance to block but it increases the amount of damage that can be blocked with a shield.
- Stamina
- You’ll also want some Stamina to help you dish out some more smackings. You have great survivability innately because you can heal, but this gives you more breathing room before you need to cast a heal.
- Increases health points by 10 per point.
- Intellect
- Don’t neglect picking up some Intellect. Shamans are that special class that loves every stat they find, and Intellect is no exception. Enhancement can be quite mana intensive (especially if you foolishly spam Stormstrike), so you’ll want a bigger mana pool to give you some wiggle room.
- Increases mana points by 15 per point and the rate at which weapon skills improve.
- Spirit
- You can also find some good use of Spirit as a shaman. This will give you some passive regeneration, enabling you to quest and kill longer before needing to drink.
- Increases out of combat health & mana regeneration rates.
Rotation
Playing a shaman is no passive task because you’ll need to kite if you want to be most effective. No matter where you fall in your rotation, remember to stay out of melee range until you need to attack so you only receive damage when you actually go in to attack.
Before you even begin to pull, you’ll want to use Lightning Shield. Reapply this whenever it falls off, as it is the most mana efficient spell you have. Prepare for a fight by planting your Earthbind Totem so you can kite. If you have Stormstrike, you’ll definitely want to open with it. Otherwise, put down your Searing Totem (before level 10, you’ll simply skip straight to the next part).
Now you’ll want to use a shock spell. If you’re under level 10, you can use Earth Shock, but after that you want to use Flame Shock. The rest of your fight will generally consist of auto attacks and kiting.
To simplify:
- Single Target: Lightning Shield > Earthbind Totem (begin kiting, only be in melee range when you are attacking) > Stormstrike > Searing Totem > Flame Shock/Earth Shock
- Multiple Targets: The same as single target, but replace Searing Totem with Magma Totem.
Rotation by Level
Swing Timer
Before you get started leveling it is of vital importance that you download and setup a swing timer.
A Swing Timer is an addon that measures the time between your weapon swings. It is useful to know this information so you can use abilities and move freely without clipping into your natural auto attack cycle and losing damage. It is extremely important to have this addon as we will be using a technique called “Earthbind Kiting” all the way to 60.
While the bar is loading to full it means you can move freely – you are not wasting any damage. As it starts to fill back up this signals that your auto attack cooldown has almost reset and you should position yourself to swing again.
Earthbind Kiting
From level 6 onwards (when you get Earthbind Totem rank 1), you can start Earthbind Kiting, using Earthbind Totem to slow enemies by 50% (equivalent to rank 3 Hamstring Warriors obtain at 54), weaving in and out of their hit box to mitigate damage. If a mob has 2.0 attack speed and you have a weapon with 3.8, this is a 47.4% damage reduction!
Mobs out in the open world generally have higher movement speed and higher attack speed than you. If you were to stand still and trade hits with a mob back and forth, you may end up trading 1 of your auto attacks for 2 or more of theirs. If executed properly, Earthbind Kiting allows you to trade 1 hit for 1 hit with a target, drastically reducing your damage taken while not reducing your own damage at all since you are monitoring your natural auto attacks with the swing timer.
Step by step breakdown:
- Place down Earthbind Totem, Searing Totem, then Flame Shock the target.
- Melee the mob, then strafe through it out of range of its hitbox while your auto attack is resetting.
- As your swing timer is resetting, position yourself to re-enter the mobs hitbox and swing again.
- Reapply Flame Shock / Lightning Shield if efficient to do so.
Side strafing through the target is preferable to walking directly through them as exposing your back to an enemy will make you susceptible to getting dazed.
Start Attack Macros
Start attack macros are important so you don’t have to manually right click mobs to attack them. You bake them into your abilities as a macro so even if you don’t have enough mana to use an ability such as Stormstrike, you will still attack the target.
Example start attack macro:
#showtooltip Stormstrike
/startattack
/cast Stormstrike
Combat Efficiency
Slow 2H Weapon + Rockbiter Weapon = Most Efficient
- Damage reduction through Earthbind Kiting (3.6 speed vs 2.4 mob = 33% Reduction, 3.8 vs 2.0 = 47.4%)
- Easier Earthbind Kiting, more value out of Stormstrike, better with Windfury in PvP, better with Parry.
- Better weapon progression.
- You’ll also spend less gold on water.
Lvl 40+ Elemental = Second Most Efficient Overall
- Highest single target kill speed, however you can’t mitigate damage through Earthbind Kiting, therefore I feel it’s not as efficient overall.
- Even factoring in drinking time, this is still more efficient than any melee build 40+ that face-tanks damage.
Fast 1H + Shield + Windfury = Third Most Efficient Overall
- Can use different earth totem instead of Earthbind.
- Best damage reduction if you have to face-tank.
- Less APM intensive, can tank group content more easily if you have more up to date 1H / shield.
Ghost Wolf vs 60% Mount
When does it become more efficient to ride your 60% mount to your next objective versus using Ghost Wolf? If you plan to ride for 14 seconds or longer upon finishing your 3 second mount cast time.
Therefore, if your next point of travel is 17 seconds or less away, you should use Ghost Wolf to get there instead.
Talent Path
With this build, you’ll have some nice defense with dodging and parrying in addition to boosting your offensive capabilities. Even though the first 20 levels will feel brutal, you’ll want to go Enhancement all the way. At this point you’ll unlock two-handed axes and maces, which is obviously a massive damage increase. Unfortunately your character doesn’t really come together until level 40 when you learn Stormstrike. With Improved Ghost Wolf, you can effectively use Ghost Wolf just about anytime you’re traveling, which makes the road to Stormstrike (and a mount) just that much easier.
Alternative Builds
Abilities to Train
- Level 1-20 – Go ahead and learn every ability your trainer will offer you.
- Level 24 – Rockbiter Weapon rank 4, Lightning Shield rank 3, Strength of Earth Totem rank 2, Healing Wave rank 5, Earth Shock rank 4
- Level 28 – Flame Shock rank 3, Magma Totem rank 1
- Level 30 – Windfury Weapon rank 1, Reincarnation, Searing Totem rank 3
- Level 32 – Windfury Totem rank 1, Lightning Shield rank 4, Healing Wave rank 6
- Level 36 – Rockbiter Weapon rank 5, Magma Totem rank 2
- Level 40 – Flame Shock rank 4, Searing Totem rank 4, Lightning Shield rank 5, Healing Wave rank 7, Windfury Weapon rank 2, Strength of Earth Totem rank 3
- Level 42 – Grace of Air Totem rank 1, Windfury Totem rank 2
- Level 48 – Lightning Shield rank 6, Healing Wave rank 8, Magma Totem rank 3, Rockbiter Weapon rank 6
- Level 50 – Windfury Weapon rank 3, Searing Totem rank 5
- Level 52 – Flame Shock rank 5, Strength of Earth Totem rank 4, Windfury Totem rank 3
- Level 56 – Lightning Shield rank 7, Magma Totem rank 4, Grace of Air Totem rank 2, Rockbiter Weapon rank 7, Healing Wave rank 9
- Level 60 – Flame Shock rank 6, Grace of Air Totem rank 3, Healing Wave rank 10, Searing Totem rank 6, Strength of Earth Totem rank 5, Windfury Weapon rank 4
Class Quests
- Earth Totem: You’ll need to complete quests for all of your four elemental totems (earth, fire, water, and air), and earth is the first one you’ll acquire at level 4. Fortunately this one is fairly simple and allows you access to Earthbind Totem, one of your most important totems, and also Strength of Earth Totem.
- Fire Totem: At level 10 you can start your quest to grab the fire totem. This one is a little longer, but absolutely worth it because you can now use another important totem, Searing Totem, and also Magma Totem.
- Water Totem: Level 20 will give you access to the questline for the water totem, but be warned because it is extremely long. Considering that you won’t actually use any of your water totems often while leveling, you might want to skip grabbing your water totem altogether. If you do want Healing Stream Totem or Mana Tide Totem, you’ll need to buckle down and complete the quests.
- Air Totem: Level 30 is when enhancement shamans really take off, and that is certainly signified by the arrival of the air totem. Unlike the water totem, the quest for the air totem is extremely simple and easy. After finishing it, you can eventually use Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem!
Equipment
- Your weapon speed will determine whether you use Windfury Weapon or Rockbiter Weapon. You should always be using a two-handed axe or mace, but the type of weapon enhancement you apply will depend on how fast it is. If it has a weapon speed of 3.4 or slower, you should use Rockbiter Weapon. If it is faster than 3.4, you should use Windfury Weapon. With this in mind, try to run dungeons that you know drop a weapon suited for your preferred playstyle.
- At level 40 you can wear mail, but you should continue to favor gear with better stats. A cool feature of shamans is their ability to wear mail starting at level 40. While the extra armor is absolutely nice, this minor defensive gain isn’t worth the loss of precious Agility and Strength. Don’t pick a piece of mail equipment just because it is mail, instead prioritize gear based off which piece gives the better combination of stats.
- Dungeons are your best source of a new axe or mace, but don’t forget about weapon vendors! There is no question that dungeons are fantastic for finding a new weapon, but there’s another source that many forget or don’t know about. Weapon vendors do actually sell good weapons for leveling. For most melee attackers, the damage and speed of your weapon is far more important than the stats it has. This makes common weapons like those found at vendors far more valuable. Check in every few levels to see if there’s something new for you to swing with.
2H Weapon Progression
- Primitive Walking Stick – 2.5 DPS – Lvl 2 – Quest Reward “Vile Familiars” Durotar
- Walking Stick – 4.2 DPS – Lvl 3 – White Weapon Sold by Starting Area Vendors.
- Quarter Staff – 9.4 DPS – Lvl 11 – City Weapon Vendors.
- Cauldron Stirrer – 10.2 DPS – Lvl 11 – Quest Reward “Apothecary Zamah” Crossroads in The Barrens
- Wind Rider Staff – 13.0 DPS – Lvl 14 – Quest Reward “Cry of the Thunderhawk” Camp Taurajo Barrens.
- Samophlange Screwdriver – 12.6 – Lvl 15 – Quest Reward “Samophlange Manual” Barrens
- Polished Walking Staff – 16.0 DPS – Lvl 20 – Quest Reward “Torek’s Assault” Ashenvale.
- Arced War Axe – 17.6 DPS – Lvl 21 – Drops from Commander Springvale Shadowfang Keep.
- Demolition Hammer – 17.6 DPS – Lvl 17 – Quest Reward from “Weapons of Choice” The Barrens.
- Crescent Staff – 20.3 DPS – Lvl 14 – Quest Reward from “Leaders of the Fang” Wailing Caverns.
- Living Root – 21.2 DPS – Lvl 20 – 40% Drop off Verdan the Everliving in Wailing Caverns.
- Bullova – 22.4 DPS – Lvl 30 – White Weapon sold by Vendors in capital cities.
- Rod of the Sleepwalker – 23.8 DPS – Lvl 24 – 60% Drop off Twilight Lord Kelris in Blackfathom Deeps.
- Corpsemaker – 28.9 DPS – Lvl 29 – 40% Drop off Overlord Ramtusk Razorfen Kraul.
- Silver Spade – 31.1 DPS – Lvl 31 – Quest Reward “Venture Company Mining” Stranglethorn Vale
- Skullsplitter – 30.2 DPS – Lvl 33 – Quest Reward “Call to Arms” Arathi Highlands.
- Tok’kar’s Murloc Chopper – 32.5 DPS – Lvl 40 – Quest Reward “Threat from the Sea” Swamp of Sorrows.
- Nimboya’s Mystical Staff – 35.7 DPS – Lvl 41 – Quest Reward “Saving Yenniku” Stranglethorn Vale.
- Ravager – 37.3 DPS – Lvl 37 – 25% Drop off Herod in Scarlet Monastery.
- Mograine’s Might – 38.9 DPS – Lvl 39 – 20% Drop off Scarlet Commander Mograine in Scarlet Monastery.
- Will of the Mountain Giant – 39.5 DPS – Lvl 46 – Quest Reward “Weapons of Spirit” Feralas.
- Executioner’s Cleaver – 41.8 DPS – Lvl 43 – BoE Rare Drop (1% Hit).
- Beastslayer – 42.6 DPS – Lvl 50 – Quest Reward “The Mighty U’cha” Ungoro Crater.
- Limb Cleaver – 42.7 DPS – Lvl 50 – Quest Reward “Lost Thunderbrew Recipe” Blackrock Depths.
- Diabolic Skiver – 42.8 DPS – Lvl 44 – 25% Drop off Shadowpriest Sezz’ziz Zul Farrak.
- The Chief’s Enforcer – 43.5 DPS – Lvl 45 – 20% Drop off Chief Ukorz Sandscalp Zul Farrak.
- Headspike – 44.2 DPS – Lvl 46 – 20% Drop off Atal’alarion Sunken Temple.
- Gatorbite Axe – 45.8 DPS – Lvl 48 – 20% Drop off Rotgrip in Maraudon.
- Resurgence Rod – 45.8 DPS – Lvl 45 – Dungeon Quest Reward “Corruption of Earth and Seed” Maraudon.
- Princess Theradras’ Scepter – 46.5 DPS – Lvl 49 – 26% Drop off Princess Theradras Maraudon.
- Sarah’s Guide – 47.2 DPS – Lvl 56 – Quest Reward “The Corpulent One” Eastern Plaguelands.
- Angerforge’s Battle Axe – 48.1 DPS – Lvl 51 – 20% Drop off General Angerforge Blackrock Depths.
- Force of Magma – 48.1 DPS – Lvl 51 – 20% Drop off Bael’Gar Blackrock Depths.
- Corrupted Blackwood Staff – 48.2 DPS – Lvl 58 – Quest Reward “Into the Maw of Madness” Silithus.
- The Blackrock Slicer – 49.8 DPS – Lvl 53 – 60% Drop off Rare Spawn in Dire Maul Spirestone Battle Lord.
- Dreadforge Retaliator – 50.5 DPS – Lvl 54 – 20% Drop off Emperor Dagran Thaurissan Blackrock Depths.
- Doomulus Prime – 55.7 DPS – Lvl 58 – Quest Reward “The Perfect Poison” Silithus.
Dagger Progression
- Stiletto – 3.3 DPS – Lvl 3 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Jagged Dagger – 6.0 DPS – Lvl 8 – Quest Reward “Skull Rock” Durotar
- Compact Fighting Knife – 6.0 DPS – Lvl 6 – Quest Reward “Supervisor Fizsprocket” Mulgore
- Blade of Cunning – 6.8 DPS – Lvl 10 – Rogue Lvl 10 Class Quest
- Jambiya – 7.1 DPS – Lvl 11 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Poniard – 8.5 DPS – Lvl 14 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Chanting Blade – 9.0 DPS – Lvl 13 – 20% Drop off Jergosh the Invoker in Ragefire Chasm
- Kris of Orgrimmar – 9.0 DPS – Lvl 13 – Quest Reward “Hidden Enemies” Orgrimmar.
- Serrated Knife – 9.1 DPS – Lvl 14 – Quest Reward “Wand to Bethor” Silverpine Forest
- Harpy Skinner – 9.6 DPS – Lvl 14 – Quest Reward “Serena Bloodfeather” The Barrens
- Kris – 10.9 DPS – Lvl 19 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Tail Spike – 11.1 DPS Lvl 17 – 50% Drop off Skum in Wailing Caverns
- Main Gauche – 16.6 DPS – Lvl 29 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Bite of Serra’kis – 17.7 DPS – Lvl 23 – 30% Drop Old Serra’kis in Blackfathom Deeps
- Meteor Shard – 18.3 DPS – Lvl 24 – 20% Drop off Archmage Arugal in Shadowfang Keep
- Toxic Revenger – 20.5 DPS – Lvl 27 – 33% Chance off Viscous Fallout in Gnomeregan
- Torturing Poker– 21.1 DPS – Lvl 29 – 10% Drop off Interrogator Vishas in Scarlet Monastery
- Swinetusk Shank – 23.0 DPS – Lvl 33 – 40% Drop off Agathelos the Raging in Razorfen Kraul
- Silent Hunter – 23.1 DPS – Lvl 33 – Quest Reward “Call to Arms” Arathi Highlands
- Rondel – 24.1 DPS – Lvl 39 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Orgrimmar, Undercity, Thunderbluff
- Tok’Kar’s Murloc Shanker – 25.0 DPS – Lvl 40 – Quest Reward “Threat from the Sea” Swamp of Sorrows
- Fiendish Skiv – 26.6 DPS – Lvl 40 – Quest Reward “Challenge Overlord Mok’Morokk” Dustwallow Marsh
- Gahz’rilla Fang – 28.1 DPS – Lvl 42 – 50% Drop off Gahz’Rilla in Zul Farrak
- Coldrage Dagger – 29.7 DPS – Lvl 39 – 20% Drop off Amnennar the Coldbringer in Razorfen Downs
- Satyr’s Lash – 33.2 DPS – Lvl 45 – 33% Chance Drop off Lord Vyletongue in Maraudon
- Hunt Tracker Blade – 33.7 DPS – Lvl 55 – Quest Reward “The Remains of Trey Lightforge” Felwood
- Blade of Eternal Darkness – 34.4 DPS – Lvl 49 – 4% Drop off Princess Theradras Maraudon
- Beasthunter Dagger – 35.6 DPS – Lvl 53 – Quest Reward “Shy-Rotam” Winterspring
- Enchanted Azsharite Felbane Dagger– 35.7 DPS – Lvl 55 – Quest Reward “Azsharite Weaponry” STV
- Lifeforce Dirks – 35.9 DPS – Lvl 44 – Dungeon Quest Reward “The God Hakkar” Sunken Temple
- Barman Shanker – 36.5 – Lvl 50 – 8% Drop off Plugger Spazzring in Blackrock Depths
- Dire Nail – 36.7 DPS – Lvl 51 – 28% Drop off Shade of Eranikus in Sunken Temple
- Keris of Zul’Serak – 39.4 DPS – Lvl 55 -20% Drop off War Master Voone Blackrock Spire
- Distracting Dagger – 40.8 DPS – Lvl 57 – 19% Drop off Prince Tortheldrin in Dire Maul
1H Axe Progression
- Barreling Reaper – 16.6 DPS – Lvl 26 – Quest Reward “Defeat Nek’rosh” in Wetlands
- Crescent Axe – 17.1 DPS – Lvl 30 – White Weapon sold by Vendors in Major Cities.
- Guerilla Cleaver – 17.7 DPS – Lvl 30 – Quest Reward from “Bad Medicine” Stranglethorn Vale
- Pronged Reaver – 24.0 DPS – Lvl 31 – 20% Drop off Charlga Razorflank in Razorfen Kraul
- Glutton’s Cleaver – 23.0 DPS – Lvl 36 – 50% Drop off Glutton in Razorfen Downs
- Ripsaw – 33.3 DPS – Lvl 45 – 20% Drop off Chief Ukorz Sandscalp in Zul Farrak
- Eater of the Dead – 32.0 DPS – Lvl 49 – 33% Drop off Ogom The Wretched in Sunken Temple
- Grizzle’s Skinner – 36.5 DPS – Lvl 50 – 35% Drop off Grizzle in Blackrock Depths
- Ornate Thorium Handaxe – 32.6 DPS – Lvl 50 – BoP Crafted by Blacksmith
- Tooth of Eranikus – 37.1 DPS – Lvl 51 – 28% Drop off Shade of Eranikus in Sunken Temple
- Soulbreaker – 37.5 DPS – Lvl 52 – 20% Drop off The Unforgiven in Stratholme
- Well Balanced Axe – 36.3 DPS – Lvl 56 – 25% Drop off Illyana Ravenoak in Dire Maul
- Bone Slicing Hatchet – 40.6 DPS – Lvl 57 – 20% Drop off Maleki the Palid in Stratholme
1H Mace Progression
- Skullbreaker – 18.8 DPS – Lvl 28 – Dungeon Quest Reward “An Unholy Alliance” Razerfen Downs
- Truncheon – 16.6 DPS – Lvl 29 – White Weapon Sold by Vendors in Major Cities.
- Black Water Hammer – 22.2 DPS – Lvl 35 – Quest Reward “Deep Sea Salvage” Arathi Highlands
- Hand of Righteousness – 29.8 DPS – Lvl 39 – 20% Drop off High Inquisitor Whitemane in Scarlet Monastery
- Galgann’s Firehammer – 27.5 DPS – Lvl 41 – 20% Drop off Galgan Firehammer in Uldaman
- Furlbolg Medicine Totem – 31.0 DPS – Lvl 47 – Rep Reward sold by Gorn One Eye in Winterspring
- The Hand of Antu’Sul – 32.2 DPS – Lvl 43 – 20% Drop off Antu’sul in Zul Farrak
- Beastsmasher – 32.9 DPS – Lvl 50 – Quest Reward from “The Might U’cha” Un’goro Crater
- Grave Scepter – 32.2 DPS – Lvl 51 – Quest Reward from “Return to Tinkee” Winterspring
- Might of Hakkar – 35.8 DPS – Lvl 49 – 28% Drop off Avatar of Hakkar in Sunken Temple
- Serenity – 37.5 DPS – Lvl 52 – BoE Rare Crafted by Blacksmiths
Shield Progression (32-60)
- Captain Rackmore’s Wheel – 678 Armor – Lvl 32 – Quest Reward “Claim Rackmore’s Treasure” Desolace
- Energized Stone Circle – 678 Armor – Lvl 33 – Dungeon Quest Reward “Power Stones” Uldaman
- Heart of Agamaggan – 776 Armor – Lvl 31 – 40% Drop off Charlga Razorflank in Razorfen Kraul
- Thermaplugg’s Central Core – 795 Armor – Lvl 32 – 30% Drop off Mekgineer Thermaplugg in Gnomeregan
- Studded Ring Shield – 771 Armor – Lvl 32 – Quest Reward “Gizelton Caravan” in Desolace
- Pit Fighter’s Shield – 1148 Armor – Lvl 39 – Quest Reward “Trol’kalar” Arathi Highlands
- Olaf’s All Purpose Shield – 1287 Armor – Lvl 37 – 50% Drop off Olaf in Uldaman
- Aegis of the Scarlet Commander – 1548 Armor – Lvl 39 – 40% off Scarlet Commander Mograine – SM Cath
- Optomatic Deflector – 1578 Armor – Lvl 43 – Quest Reward “Rescure OOX-17/TN!” Tanaris
- Stoneshell Guard – 1903 Armor – Lvl 47 – 25% Drop off Lord Roccor in Blackrock Depths
- Shizzle’s Drizzle Blocker – 1691 Armor – Lvl 49 – Quest Reward “Shizzle’s Flyer” Un’goro Crater
- Rock Golem Bulwark – 1994 Armor – Lvl 53 – 25% Drop off Panzor the Invincible in Blackrock Depths
- Crest of Retribution – 2057 Armor – Lvl 55 – 15% Drop off Ramstein the Gorger in Stratholme
- Petrified Bark Shield – 1861 Armor – Lvl 56 – 25% Drop off Tendris Warpwood in Dire Maul
Professions
Another thing to keep in mind is the use and leveling of professions. Quests will naturally take you all across Azeroth and you’ll inevitably find plenty of metal ore, herbs, and skinnable beasts. Taking the time to collect this means gold for you. With gold you can buy better equipment and a mount, both of which will greatly help you in your leveling journey. Alternatively you can use professions to boost your capabilities in combat!
You’ll be just frost-shocked at how useful these professions are for a shaman:
- Mining – Mining is one of the three gathering professions, which makes it a naturally great choice here. Metal ore always sells well, or you can also use it to level up your engineering skill.
- Engineering – If you’re planning on taking mining to save your ore, you should spend it all on engineering. Bombs are quite useful for helping you deal damage, but you can also make useful crafts like Advanced Target Dummy and Mechanical Dragonling.
- Herbalism – Another good option here is another gathering profession, herbalism. Double gathering professions is never a bad choice, but you can also save your herbs to make potions.
- Alchemy – If you’re saving your herbs, you’ll definitely want to use them for alchemy. Alchemy is an incredibly useful profession, offering you tinctures and potions that give you short and long buffs, restore health and mana, and even grant unique effects like invisibility. All of this is excellent for leveling!
Useful Macros
- Flame Shock – Casts Flame Shock on your target while also initiating your auto attacks. This is particularly useful for allowing you to continue dealing damage despite being out of mana.
#showtooltip Flame Shock
/cast Flame Shock
/startattack
- Stormstrike – Once you learn Stormstrike, you’ll use it as your first ability rather than Flame Shock if you are already in range to cast it. If you aren’t directly facing your target or are out of mana, this will ensure that are able to auto attack whenever you do get in the right position.
#showtooltip Stormstrike
/cast Stormstrike
/startattack
You suggest picking up Improved Ghost Wolf at levels 15 and 16, but there’s essentially no benefit to doing so before level 20. Since Two-Handed Axes and Maces comes up after 10 points into Enhancement, it would actually be better to put points into Improved Ghost Wolf at levels 18 and 19 and pick up Thundering Strikes at 15, 16 and 17.
So basically:
15 Thundering Strikes
16 Thundering Strikes
17 Thundering Strikes
18 Improved Ghost Wolf
19 Improved Ghost Wolf
20 Two-Handed Axes and Maces (is actually the level you learn Ghost Wolf)
Hey there. Thanks for your input. You’re correct of course, and we’ve fixed the guide to reflect your suggestion. Thanks again for your time and input.
I’d go a step further and say Ghost Wolf is good at 19 and 20, Two Handed Axes and Maces aren’t needed until about 29 because you will be using Crescent Staff until you get Corpsemaker.
Why is Agility a prio stat? It does not give melee attack power, only ranged attack power. Is it not better to prioritise strenght?