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Spec guide

Restoration Shaman — guide and builds

The WoW Forever Restoration Shaman stays simple and gains Riptide, which empowers Chain Heal, and Mindfulness, which finally makes Spirit useful for Shamans.

Class: ShamanData 1.60.1.70009By ForeverGuide team · updated Sep 26, 2026

Overview

Restoration changes little: mostly comfort, and the return of Water Shield and Riptide. Riptide, the new final talent, heals your target directly, then restores health over 15 s, and makes your next Chain Heal on that target 25% stronger. Chain Heal therefore hits harder than ever, which is very promising at max level.

Healing Way becomes a static bonus to Healing Wave instead of stacks to build up: Healing Wave becomes a good baseline spell. Mindfulness lets part of your mana regeneration continue while casting, which makes Spirit far more useful than in Classic.

The playstyle stays simple: one area heal, one main single-target heal and one heal over time on a short cooldown. The spec is useless solo and overkill for low-level content: level as Enhancement and keep Restoration as a second spec or for max level. At level 20 on the beta, it ranks in tier B among healers, lacking the free damage other healers bring before Windfury Totem.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Empowered Chain Heal
    Riptide turns it into a very strong group heal.
  • Valuable totems
    Your totems bring a lot to the group.
  • Healing Wave upgraded
    Healing Way makes it a good baseline heal.

Weaknesses

  • Very weak solo
    Level as Enhancement and keep Restoration as your second spec.
  • Little free damage
    At low level, you bring less of it than other healers.
Read the details

Riptide makes Chain Heal a very strong group heal, and your totems bring a lot to the group. Healing Wave becomes a good baseline heal.

On the other hand, you are very weak solo. At low level, you bring less free damage than other healers, even if Searing Totem and Fire Nova give you a little.

Key spells

Key talents

Rotation and priorities

Dungeon healing:

  1. Priority 1: Strength of Earth Totem
    Your support totems first. Call of the Elements drops 2 or more totems at once, or before the pull.
  2. Priority 2: Healing Wave
    On badly hurt targets, especially the tank.
  3. Priority 3: Searing Totem
    Drop it, then Fire Nova on every cooldown.
    When: Low damage intake
  4. Priority 4: Attack
    Your melee swings, to save mana.

Stats

  1. 1Healing power
  2. then 2Spirit
  3. then 3Haste
  4. then 4Intellect
1 Healing power
Along with spell power.
2 Spirit
With Mindfulness.

Order to be confirmed: the exact priority is not settled yet.

No list is established. Aim for bonus healing and spell power, Spirit thanks to Mindfulness, haste and Intellect. The order is still to be confirmed.

Leveling

The level 20 build is to be confirmed: it comes from an old link format, consistent with the spec advice. Improved Healing Wave 5/5, Mindfulness 3/3, Tidal Focus 2/5 and Water Shield. With 5 Legacy points: finish Tidal Focus, one point in Healing Focus, then Mana Tide Totem.

If you insist on leveling as Restoration, play in a group. Otherwise, level as Enhancement: fight with Rockbiter Weapon on a slow two-handed weapon, drop a Fire totem and cast Fire Nova as soon as it is ready. Hall of Thanes and the Deadmines have gear for you.

Changes compared to Classic

Builds

The 3 guide builds open in the calculator below, with the point order. You can then change points there.

  • Level 20 with Legacy (+5 points, to be confirmed)

    Level 250/0/1616 points, levels 10 to 25

    The level 20 build, plus Tidal Focus 5/5, one point in Healing Focus and Mana Tide Totem. Read from an old link format, to be confirmed. The number of Legacy points available on the beta is also to be confirmed; the simulator opens this build at level 25 to count its 16 points.

    Calculator page
  • Popular level 60 build

    Level 600/10/4151 points, levels 10 to 60

    0/10/41: Riptide, Purification, Nature’s Swiftness, Healing Way, Mana Tide Totem and Mindfulness in Restoration, Thundering Strikes and Ancestral Knowledge in Enhancement. One of the most popular level 60 builds before launch, not yet testable in game. Automatic point order.

    Calculator page

Calculator

“Level 20 (beta, to be confirmed)” build · level 20 view

Calculator page

Talents

Split: Elemental 0, Enhancement 0, Restoration 11

Points left:0

Level needed:20

Water Shield, level 20

Point 11/51, Water Shield 1/1, Restoration

Elemental

next row at 5
0 points of 51

Enhancement

next row at 5
0 points of 51

Restoration

next row at 15
11 points of 51
  • Available
  • In progress
  • Maxed
  • Locked
  • New
  • Planned · 1st point
  • Taken · 1st point lv. 20

Spellbook

The Shaman spellbook, open on the Restoration tab. It follows the calculator: its level, never above the max level, and the talents of the build. Switch tabs, pages or views as in the game.

Level shown: 2030 spells known

Restoration

  • A talent spell joins the book when its talent gets a point.
  • Tooltip numbers are the beta client’s at level 60, with no gear.

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