WoW Forever Shaman Guide

Blizzard has not published a Shaman deep dive. These are the Shaman changes from the September 13 deep dive recap and the beta development notes (September 24 and October 1 updates). Each line links to its source.

• Dwarves can be Shamans in Forever. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Lightning Bolt ranks 3 and 4 hit harder to smooth the rank curve. [Blizzard blue post, September 24, 2026]
• Tranquil Air Totem, Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem no longer stack with each other, and several Flametongue Totem stacking bugs were fixed. [Blizzard blue post, September 24, 2026]
• Elemental: Elemental Fury and Elemental Alacrity swapped rows. Lava Burst ranks 1 and 2 deal about 10% more than a comparable Lightning Bolt. [Blizzard blue post, September 24, 2026]
• Enhancement: Rage of the Farseer no longer speeds up spell casting. [Blizzard blue post, September 24, 2026]
• Restoration: Riptide can crit. [Blizzard blue post, September 24, 2026]
• Disease Cleansing Totem lasts its full 5 minutes, and Totemic Recall restores Mana as intended. [Blizzard blue post, October 1, 2026]

What the beta client shows

Our own read of the client tables. Blizzard has not posted these, so treat them as beta data that can change.

• A totem toolkit is in the client: Call of the Elements (level 20), Call of the Ancestors (30) and Call of the Spirits (40) each drop up to 4 totems you set on the Totem Bar, Totemic Recall (20) returns your totems and refunds part of their Mana, and Totemic Projection (22) moves your active totems to a new spot. That is how the client tooltips describe them; Blizzard has not posted them.
• Fire Nova Totem is gone. Fire Nova, new at the same level (12), damages enemies near your active Fire totem instead of being a totem itself.
• Spirit Weapons' threat line (30% more threat with Rockbiter Weapon) is the only tank hint in the client. Blizzard has not said Shamans can tank.

The Shaman has three trees and 51 talent points at level 60, one per level from 10. Each tree opens a new row every 5 points. The 1-point picks behind the 10, 15, 20 and 30 point gates are the milestones Blizzard talks about: the 11, 16, 21 and 31 point talents. [Blizzard, September 30, 2026] The text below is the client's own tooltip at full rank, from build 1.60.1.70205. Plan a build in the Shaman talent calculator.

Elemental

The caster damage tree. Its milestones are Elemental Focus, Call of Thunder, Earthbound (Earthbind Totem roots for 5 seconds on cast) and the new Lava Burst. The tree has 16 talents worth 46 ranks; the first row is Convection, Concussion.

Point	Milestone talent	What it does (client text)
11	Elemental Focus	Gives you a 10% chance to enter a Clearcasting state after casting any Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%.
16	Call of Thunder	Increases the critical strike chance of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells by 3%.
21	Earthbound	Your Earthbind Totem Immobilizes nearby targets for 5 sec when cast.
31	Lava Burst	You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 164 Fire damage. If your Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst deals 20% increased damage.

Enhancement

The melee tree. Its milestones are Shamanistic Focus, Stormstrike, Spirit Weapons and the new Rage of the Farseer (30% attack speed for 25 seconds). Spirit Weapons also raises threat by 30% while Rockbiter Weapon is active. The tree has 18 talents worth 51 ranks; the first row is Earth's Grasp, Thundering Strikes, Ancestral Knowledge.

Point	Milestone talent	What it does (client text)
11	Shamanistic Focus	Reduces the mana cost of your Shock and Lightning Shield spells by 45%.
16	Stormstrike	Instantly strike for normal weapon damage and increase the damage you deal to the target with your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Earth Shock spell by 20% for 12 sec.
21	Spirit Weapons	Gives a chance to parry enemy melee attacks, reduces all threat generated by your attacks by 30% while Rockbiter Weapon is not active, and increases all threat generated by 30% while Rockbiter Weapon is active.
31	Rage of the Farseer	Increases your attack speed by 30% for 25 sec.

Restoration

The healing tree. Its milestones are Water Shield, Mana Tide Totem, Nature's Swiftness and the new Riptide. The tree has 16 talents worth 51 ranks; the first row is Improved Healing Wave, Totemic Focus.

Point	Milestone talent	What it does (client text)
11	Water Shield	The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee, or ranged attack hits the caster or when one of the caster's healing spells gets a critical result, 2% of maximum mana is restored to the caster, expending one water...
16	Mana Tide Totem	Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that restores 88 mana every 3 seconds to group members within 30 yards.
21	Nature's Swiftness	When activated, your next Nature spell with a casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
31	Riptide	Heals a friendly target for 480, an additional 445 over 15 sec, and increases the effectiveness of your Chain Heal casts directly on that target by 25%.

Changed between beta builds

We hold 5 snapshots of the Shaman trees (70009, 70058, 70124, 70170, 70205). These are the differences, oldest first. Wording-only fixes are left out.

Only wording changed between these builds.

These apply to every class, so they change how you play a Shaman too.

• Talents open at level 10 and use the same number of rows as Classic. The 1-point milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points in a tree are joined by a new 16-point milestone. [Blizzard, September 30, 2026]
• Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40. Talents, including Legacy talents, are changed at a class trainer in a major city. [Blizzard, September 30, 2026]
• Talents that used to hand out a key group buff are now baseline: Divine Spirit (Priest), Blessing of Kings (Paladin) and Improved Mark of the Wild (Druid). [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are one stat now, and so are spell, melee and ranged critical strike chance. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Bonus healing also gives one third as much bonus damage, so healers are not stuck when questing. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Weapon skill works as before, but items give less of it per item. Some items add a new stat that lowers the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried, and caster weapons carry spell damage and healing. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Riding follows the Burning Crusade model: the cost moves into riding training and you get a mount when you learn the skill. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]
• Each race now has two active and two passive racial abilities, tuned to give a similar amount of offensive power. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]

Every Shaman spell rank the beta client (1.60.1.70205) lists from level 1 to 30, the level cap of the beta. Read from the client's SkillLineAbility and SpellLevels tables on the class skill lines. Spells marked talent need the talent first; the level is the level the client requires. Training costs are set on the server and are not in the client.

Level	Spells and ranks
1	Healing Wave (Rank 1), Lightning Bolt (Rank 1), Rockbiter Weapon (Rank 1)
4	Earth Shock (Rank 1), Stoneskin Totem (Rank 1)
6	Earthbind Totem, Healing Wave (Rank 2)
8	Earth Shock (Rank 2), Lightning Bolt (Rank 2), Lightning Shield (Rank 1), Rockbiter Weapon (Rank 2), Stoneclaw Totem (Rank 1)
10	Flame Shock (Rank 1), Flametongue Weapon (Rank 1), Searing Totem (Rank 1), Strength of Earth Totem (Rank 1)
12	Ancestral Spirit (Rank 1), Fire Nova (Rank 1), Healing Wave (Rank 3), Purge (Rank 1)
14	Earth Shock (Rank 3), Lightning Bolt (Rank 3), Stoneskin Totem (Rank 2)
16	Cure Poison, Lightning Shield (Rank 2), Rockbiter Weapon (Rank 3)
18	Flame Shock (Rank 2), Flametongue Weapon (Rank 2), Healing Wave (Rank 4), Stoneclaw Totem (Rank 2), Tremor Totem
20	Call of the Elements, Frost Shock (Rank 1), Frostbrand Weapon (Rank 1), Ghost Wolf, Healing Stream Totem (Rank 1), Lesser Healing Wave (Rank 1), Lightning Bolt (Rank 4), Searing Totem (Rank 2), Totemic Recall
22	Cure Disease, Fire Nova (Rank 2), Poison Cleansing Totem, Totemic Projection, Water Breathing
24	Ancestral Spirit (Rank 2), Earth Shock (Rank 4), Frost Resistance Totem (Rank 1), Healing Wave (Rank 5), Lightning Shield (Rank 3), Rockbiter Weapon (Rank 4), Stoneskin Totem (Rank 3), Strength of Earth Totem (Rank 2)
26	Far Sight, Flametongue Weapon (Rank 3), Lightning Bolt (Rank 5), Magma Totem (Rank 1), Mana Spring Totem (Rank 1)
28	Fire Resistance Totem (Rank 1), Flame Shock (Rank 3), Flametongue Totem (Rank 1), Frostbrand Weapon (Rank 2), Lesser Healing Wave (Rank 2), Stoneclaw Totem (Rank 3), Water Walking
30	Astral Recall, Call of the Ancestors, Grounding Totem, Healing Stream Totem (Rank 2), Nature Resistance Totem (Rank 1), Reincarnation, Searing Totem (Rank 3), Windfury Weapon (Rank 1)

The beta class spell list (1.60.1.70205) compared with Classic Era (1.15.9.70003), levels 2 to 60, matched by spell name. A renamed spell shows up once as removed and once as new. Passive form auras and helper records are left out.

New in Forever

Spell	First level	Ranks	Type
Fire Nova	12	5	Trainer
Call of the Elements	20	1	Trainer
Totemic Recall	20	1	Trainer
Totemic Projection	22	1	Trainer
Call of the Ancestors	30	1	Trainer
Call of the Spirits	40	1	Trainer
Lava Burst	40	3	Talent
Riptide	40	3	Talent

No longer in the class spell list

Field by field changes to every Shaman spell (damage, costs, cooldowns) are on the Shaman spell changes page.

The beta client (1.60.1.70170) allows 5 races to be a Shaman. "New" means the pair is not in the Classic Era client (1.15.9.69722). Blizzard can still switch a pair off on its servers. All pairs are on the races and classes page.

Racial notes from Blizzard

Every race has two active and two passive racials in Forever. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026] Blizzard has described these so far:

• Dwarf: Stoneform focuses on removing and blocking Bleeds, Poisons and Diseases, and its defensive bonus now lowers physical damage taken. Find Treasure can stay on with other tracking. Mace Specialization raises critical strike chance with all spells and abilities while a mace is equipped. Big Game Hunter adds damage against Beasts. [Blizzard, September 13, 2026]

We do not publish guesses. These wait for launch or for Blizzard to say more:

• Stat priorities. Itemization is still moving in the beta, and Blizzard has posted no stat weights.
• Best in slot lists. The two new raids in the client (Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps) have encounter names but no loot data yet.
• Raid roles and group makeup at 60. The beta stops at level 30.
• Training costs. Trainer prices are set on the server and are not in the client files.
• Whether Enhancement is meant to tank. Nothing official says so.

Blizzard

• Blizzard: WoW Forever launches November 4, September 12, 2026
• Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever deep dive panel recap, September 13, 2026
• Blizzard: Class Deep Dives, Priest and Warrior, September 30, 2026
• Blizzard: The WoW Forever beta is live, September 17, 2026
• Blizzard blue post: Beta development notes, September 24 update, September 24, 2026
• Blizzard blue post: Beta development notes, October 1 update, October 1, 2026

Beta client data

• Talent trees: the beta client's Trait tables, build 1.60.1.70205, decoded into our talent snapshots (beta builds compared: 70009, 70058, 70124, 70170, 70205).
• Spells by level and the Classic Era comparison: SkillLineAbility, Spell and SpellLevels for build 1.60.1.70205 against Classic Era 1.15.9.70003, read from our datamine on October 5, 2026.
• Races: the client's character creation table, build 1.60.1.70170, against Classic Era 1.15.9.69722.

How we work: Blizzard statements are quoted in our own words and linked with their date. Client data is shown as the client stores it, with its build number, and is not a promise about the live game. Press reports and datamining rumors are not used on this page.