Resto Shaman Guide

[Sillybones]

Resto Shaman Guide

Hi I am Zugzuhg of Undermine, and I decided to make this guide for newly 80 Resto Shamans for our loyal Tankspot readers. As a healer, you play such a vital role to the success of your group’s progression. And through this, you will enjoy the pleasure of knowing that you played a big part in your groups progression.

First I'd like to congratulate you on your choice to playing a Resto Shaman. It is a very fun class to heal with and I have enjoyed every minute of it. In this guide I'd like to cover topics such as Stats, Spec & Glyph, Spell Rotations, and some simple Macros & Add-ons to begin your journey to the top of your healing meter.


STATS
Prioritizing your stats is essentially gear dependent, but your gems and enchants is what i'd like to focus this discussion on. As a new 80, your going to need to new gear of course; And on that gear, I recommend you prioritize your gems and chants to what is most important to you as a new 80. I will list the stat priority in a descending order of importance:

1. Intellect- Increases your mana pool, spell crit, and mp5 all rolled up in one stat. This is by far your most important stat. As a rule of thumb, you want to have a mana pool of minimum 20k, and an mp5 of 400 unbuffed. Until you have reached this bare minimum, you want to stack intellect gems and enchants till you're blue in the face.
1 Int = 15 Mana (Scales with Blessing of Kings)
80 Int = 1% Spell Crit (Scales with Blessing of Kings)

2. MP5- This will allow you to generate this number of mana points. Since we can't spam our abilities like a paladin, or have the luxury of mana regen like a druid, we have to make sure that this stat is at a comfortable level for your healing style. I like to keep mine higher as my play style calls for it.

3. Haste- Haste is a large topic for debate as the most important stat for a Resto Shaman. But I am sure that most all Resto Shaman will agree that until your Intellect and MP5 are where they should be, you mustn't stack this stat. Spell Haste at level 80 = (Haste Rating / 32.79). This means that for every 32.79 Haste points, you will gain 1% haste.. 327.9 haste points, will give you 10% haste. As another rule of thumb, 10% haste is a good figure to shoot for while initially gearing your Resto Shaman. But lets not forget, that Intellect and MP5 take priority over this until your mana is at 20k and MP5 is 400 minimum.
Since this guide is intended for newly 80 resto shamans, we'll emphasize the importance of: Intellect > MP5 > Haste.


Enchants & Gems:
Helmet: Arcanum of Blissful Mending- +30 SP and +10 mp5. (Wyrmcrest Revered).
Insightful Earthsiege Diamond- +21 INT and chance to restore mana on spell cast.
Ember Skyflare Diamond- +25 SP and +2% INT.
Revitalizing Skyflare Diamond- +11 mp5 and 3% Increased critical Healing effect.

Shoulder: Lesser Inscription of the Crag- +18 SP and 5 pm5. (Sons of Hodir Honored).
Greater Inscription of the Crag- +24 SP and 8 mp5. (Sons of Hodir Exalted).
Inscription of Dominance- +23 SP and 15 resillience. (Wintergrasp 30 Shards).

Cloak: Darkglow Embroidery- Chance to restore 400 mana when you cast. (Tailoring 400).
Lightweave Embroidery- Chance to increase SP by 295 for 15 sec. (Tailoring 400).
Springy Arachnoweave- +27 SP and Parachute for 30 sec. (Engineering 380).
Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed- Increase Haste rating by 23.
Encahnt Cloak – Speed- Increase Haste rating by 15.

Chest: Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats- Increase all stats by 10.
Encahnt Chest – Super Stats- Increase all stats by 8.

Bracers: Fur Lining – Spell Power- Increase SP by 78. (Leatherworking 400).
Enchant Bracers – Exceptional Intellect- +16 INT.
Enchant Bracers – Superior Spellpower- +30 SP.
Enchant Bracers – Restore Mana Prime- +8 MP5.
Socket Bracer- Add a socket to your bracer. (Blacksmithing 400).

Weapon: Enchant Weapon – Mighty Spell Power- +63 SP.
Enchant Weapon – Exceptional Spell Power- +50 SP.

Shield: Enchant Shield – Greater Intellect- +25 INT.

Ring: Enchant Ring – Stats- +4 stats. (Enchanting 375 & Lower City Honored).
Enchant Ring – Spell Power- +12 SP (Enchanting 375 & Lower City Honored).

Boots: Enchant Boots – Greater Vitality- +7MP5 and +7HP5.
Nitro Boosts- +24 Critical Strike and Super Speed for 5 secs. (Engineering 400).

Pants: Master’s Spellthread- +50 SP and +30 Stam. (Tailoring 405).
Sanctified Spellthread- +50 SP and +20 Spirit. (Tailoring 405).
Azure Spellthread- +35 SP and +20 Stam.
Shining Spellthread- +35 SP and +12 Spirit.

Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle- Add a socket to your waist.

Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spell Power- +28 SP.
Hyperspeed Accelerators- Use to increase Haste by 340 for 12 secs. (Engineering 400).

GEMS:
Yellow – Brilliant Dragon’s Eye- +34 INT. (Unique Equipped x3 Jewelcrafting 350).
Brilliant King’s Amber- +20 INT.
Brilliant Autumn’s Glow- +16 INT.
Quick Dragon’s Eye- +34 Haste (Unique Equipped x3 Jewelcrafting 350).
Quick King’s Amber- +20 Haste.
Quick Autumn’s Glow- +16 Haste.

Green – Dazzling Eye of Zul- +10 INT and +5 MP5.
Energized Eye of Zul- +10 Haste and +5 MP5.
Dazzling Forest Emerald- +8 INT and +4 MP5.
Energized Forest Emerald- +8 Haste and +4 MP5.
*Only use Green gems if you HAVE to have a blue meta gem requirement or socket bonus*

Blue – Place a yellow gem in here, otherwise use a Green gem in place.

Purple – Royal Dreadstone- +12 SP and +5 MP5.
Royal Twilight Opal- +9 SP and +4 MP5.
*Only use Purple if you HAVE to have a Red or Blue meta gem requirement or socket bonus*

Red – Runed Dragon’s Eye- +34 Spell Power. (Unique Equipped x3 Jewelcrafting 350).
Runed Cardinal Ruby- +23 SP.
Runed Scarlet Ruby- +19 SP.
*Only use Red Gems if you HAVE to have a Red meta gem requirement or Socket bonus*
*Orange is probably a better choice to fulfill your Red meta gem requirement or Socket bonus*

Orange – Luminous Ametrine- +12 SP and +10 INT.
Reckless Ametrine- +12 SP and +10 Haste.
Luminous Monarch Topaz- +9 SP and +8 INT.
Reckless Monarch Topaz- +9 SP and +8 Haste.
*Only use Orange Gems if you HAVE to have a Red meta gem requirement or Socket bonus*

Selection of Gems can be tricky. It is recommended by me that you stack nothing but Yellow gems, unless you need to fulfill your meta gem requirement. But how do you decide which piece of armor gets the hybrid gem to gain your meta gem requirement? To answer this, let me create a scenario. Lets suppose you are using the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond for your meta gem. You would need to have at least, 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 blue gem to benefit from this gem. Now looking at all your gear, you decide that you are going to be a good shaman and stack Intellect in every slot regardless of what the socket bonus is. But you recognize that you need a blue and a red gem. But you cant decide which armor to drop a red or a blue gem. Fortunately you are smarter than your average shaman, so you decide to go with the piece that has the best red and/or blue socket bonus. The reason for this is if you drop a Purple gem, such as the Royal Twilight Opal, this gem will count as either a red or a blue gem. There problem solved; Meta gem requirement fulfilled.

Spec & Glyphs

This is a well rounded Talent tree that focus on group heals via Chain Heal and Lesser Healing Waves.
For a Link to this build click here.

OR

This tree assumes you have Riptide always on cooldown. Furthermore, this build will grant you great mana regen. If you find that you dont really use Healing Wave much at all, then you can drop the 3 points out of tier 5 of the resto tree and put those into Elemental Weapons on tier 3 of the Enhancement tree, for more reliability on your Earthliving weapon as seen in this build:



I've tried this tree, and have had great success with my Earthliving procs on my Chain Heals and Riptides. If you've decided that you want to be a group healer this is the build for you. Healing Wave is a better choice if you want to be a Main Tank healer and you have the haste and crit chance to back it up.

Spell Rotation

Frequently new healers will ask me what is my spell rotation or how do I choose which spells to cast in what order. And I usually will tell them, “It's not which spell you cast, but rather which spell you commit to.” What I mean by this is as a healer it's your job to keep everyone alive. Even if you've been assigned Main Tank healing duty. So you need to decide which spell you're going to cast next.

For example, Suppose I am waiting for my Chain Heal to hit the melee group, and now I see that a caster is standing in fire. Immediately I am going to commit myself to a Riptide – Lesser Healing wave combo. That means that while I am casting, I am button mashing Riptide till it goes off. Then I am button mashing Lesser Healing Wave while I am waiting for my global cooldown to refresh. The emphasis on this is that while my cast bar is going I am looking to see who is taking damage and committing myself to casting my next spell to that person.

But a typical spell rotation for fights that are pretty straightforward is as follows:

Earth Shield on Tank → Riptide → Lesser Healing Wave x3 → Riptide on next target.

While I am waiting for Lesser Healing Wave to cast, I commit myself to Riptide on myself or DPS. If you have Riptide always on cooldown, which you should be, you can keep Riptide up on 3 targets. Riptide is your bread and butter when it comes to group healing. Suppose Riptide lands on your target and Crits for 5k. It will tick for about 1k, seven times over 12 secs. Add all that up and you have healed that target for 12k. Keep this up on 3 targets, and you have healed for about 36k with little to no effort.

Chain Heal is probably the most powerful heal in your arsenal of abilities. Chain heal will bounce to 2 targets, 3 if glyphed. Each bounce will reduce by 40%, BUT it has the ability to proc Earthliving on each target it hits. Suppose you get a 10k heal out on your first target. The next target it hits, will be 6k. The next target will be 3.6k. Add these three up and you have just healed for just under 20k. And that's not including any Earthliving procs which will put this combined healing very close to 25k.

This is why a Resto Shaman is the premier group healer. You can easily heal for close to 40k in about 2.5 seconds, if you add a single Riptide in that rotation. Factor this in with your smart healing commitments and you will have people begging you to heal them on a nightly basis.

Macros & Addons

Macros:


How to create a macro:

1. Type /macro in your chat window.
2. Click “New” and select the “Question Mark” Icon.
3. Name your macro something easy to understand and click Okay.
4. Now fill in the text field with your macro as shown below for each macro.

The first macro I present to you is a must have for every Resto Shaman.

1. Nature's Swiftness Macro, otherwise known as the “OH SHOOT Button” :
#showtooltip Nature's Swiftness
/use 13
/cast Tidal Force
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Healing Wave

*The above macro will give you a familiar Nature's Swiftness Icon that when pressed will use your top trinket to boost the effects of your Healing Wave, which is now an Instant cast from Nature's Swiftness and will increase your next few heals crit chance greatly with Tidal Force. This macro can also be used to make Chain Heal an instant cast. *

2. Purge enemy target with a mouseover macro.
#showtooltip Purge
/cast [target=mouseover,harm,exists] [ target=target,harm,nodead] [target=targettarget] Purge

3. Announce to party/raid that you have dropped Mana Tide:
#showtooltip Mana Tide Totem
/cast Mana Tide Totem
/p ***Mana Tide down***

4. This is great if you find yourself in a raid where you do NOT want too much lag (Note they are two separate macros)
Particle density change:
High
/console particleDensity 1.0
Low
/console particleDensity 0.11

5. Use this when you rez so two separate rez's aren't cast on the same target:
#showtooltip Ancestral Spirit
/say Resurrecting %t.
/cast Ancestral Spirit

6. Duel specced? Try this macro to go between:
/usetalents 1
/usetalents 2

7. For battles where you want to interrupt your targets spell casting:
#showtootip Wind Shear
/stopcasting
/cast Wind Shear

Addons
XPERL – A raid interface with many customizable features.
Bartender4 – A User Interface that allows you to place your buttons anywhere you see fit.
OmniCC – Allows you to add a timer to your action bar to keep track of cooldowns.
DeadlyBossMods – A requirement for any raider.
Recount – An addon to keep a tally on your healing and other healers in the party. (Don't Spam it!)
EavesDrop – An Addon that will replace your combat log and allow you chose which events to see.
Quartz - Great casting bars.

There are many more addons to use, but I think this package will allow a new healer to customize his UI to fit his/her playstyle. I dont use healing addons such as Healbot, Grid, or Clique. These healing addons should be used in place of XPERL, as it will essentially provide a raid interface from which you can use the mouse to heal your targets with customizable buttons.

Thank you for taking the time to reading this Resto Shaman Guide. Please keep in mind that this is a guide and not a bible. It is intended to give new players to the class or spec, a foundation by which they can become their own Shaman. Hopefully this thread can be used to bring out better players and shed some light on anything I may have missed or neglected to mention. I am eager to engage any other shamans in an open discussion about our class mechanics and play styles. Thanks again

[jafager]

"MP5- This will allow you to generate this number of mana points while standing still and 80% of this number while casting."

Unless something has changed that I completely missed, MP5 always runs at 100%.

If you are looking at the numbers on the character sheet, one of them takes spirit-based regen into account and one of them ("while casting") does not; that probably accounts for the difference you are seeing.

[Sillybones]

"MP5- This will allow you to generate this number of mana points while standing still and 80% of this number while casting."

Unless something has changed that I completely missed, MP5 always runs at 100%.

If you are looking at the numbers on the character sheet, one of them takes spirit-based regen into account and one of them ("while casting") does not; that probably accounts for the difference you are seeing.

You are correct. And i have made this change in my post. Thank you

[klor]

You should remove the other meta gems.. They should not even be mentioned in a beginner resto shaman thread. The only one to ever use is the 21 int and chance to restore mana on spellcast. The 2% int one requires you to have over 3000intellect before it scales higher than the 21int meta. Just fyi.. also.. you should remove the 50sp/20spirit leg enchants from this list as well. Shaman dont stack spirit. Stamina > spirit for a shaman thanks to their low health pool and spirit being absolutely worthless for them.

Also, Shaman Friend is a good mod for beginning shaman. Has a nice earth shield watcher and helps with things like earth living weapon and for informing you when water shield is up etc etc.

[WarTotem]

You neglected crit rating. In fact, you missed crits as a useful healing bonus completely!! You're also off with the int-crit ratio (should be 500int for 3% crit at 80)
You missed mp5 on chest and Tuskarr's on boots as enchants.
Your gemming focus is too simplified,
I think you swapped the pics of your suggested specs.
Water Mastery over Earth Shield glyph? Really??
Chain Heal bounces to 2 people or heals 3 (unglyphed), it bounces to 3 people glyphed.
Your NS macro should also include Tidal Force imo.
And lastly, you seem to emphasise a lot on Shamans being raid healers, while we're definately on par to Disc priests as tank healers.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good start of a guide, but I just think you missed some key details of the Restoration Shaman.
If you want, you can read the guide I wrote for my guild's site (see sig). It's been proof-read by several of the Shamans on my server that I know and if you didn't beat me to it, I probably would've posted it here soon, as I was just starting out with a small public (because healer guides are the hardest to write and I didn't want to lose face to a big reading public like TankSpot has incase I made a big mistake :P)

[Ion]

I guess this is why I don't heal anymore...int? mp5? really? Are you the only healer in a 25 man? I can't imagine why you'd need that much regen...

Haste I can see...and you didn't even mention crit...and no earth shield glyph?

This guide confuses me...

[loquatious]

I'd suggest checking out EJ's beginning shaman guide and look for discrepancies.

Shaman: Restoration - Elitist Jerks

[Sillybones]

You neglected crit rating. In fact, you missed crits as a useful healing bonus completely!! You're also off with the int-crit ratio (should be 500int for 3% crit at 80)
You missed mp5 on chest and Tuskarr's on boots as enchants.
Your gemming focus is too simplified,
I think you swapped the pics of your suggested specs.
Water Mastery over Earth Shield glyph? Really??
Chain Heal bounces to 2 people or heals 3 (unglyphed), it bounces to 3 people glyphed.
Your NS macro should also include Tidal Force imo.
And lastly, you seem to emphasise a lot on Shamans being raid healers, while we're definately on par to Disc priests as tank healers.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good start of a guide, but I just think you missed some key details of the Restoration Shaman.
If you want, you can read the guide I wrote for my guild's site (see sig). It's been proof-read by several of the Shamans on my server that I know and if you didn't beat me to it, I probably would've posted it here soon, as I was just starting out with a small public (because healer guides are the hardest to write and I didn't want to lose face to a big reading public like TankSpot has incase I made a big mistake :P)

I grant your opinions, though i still stand by mine. As a "fresh to 80" healer, until you reach the comfortable mana pool and mp5 numbers, your gemming should be simplified. Why would you spread yourself so thin with your gems using hybrids.

And sure resto shamans can be great tank healers, they shine when it comes to raid healing. As a raid leader I wouldnt use a resto shaman as a MT healer unless I had to.

Ofcourse I didnt get into a discussion about crit, because crit will be supported by your gear when you hit 80 and will roll out of the spec I posted. Again this is a "fresh to 80" guide. These healers should be focusing on bringing their mana pool and mp5 to where it needs to be first.

I have updated my NS macro, and i'm embarrased i didnt add it before, as I myself have it on my macro at home. And I am further shocked I didnt recognize CH bounced to 2 targets then 3. Hard to judge me as a healer as you've never seen me play, but I will certainly thank you for engaging my post and helping me improve on it.

[Sillybones]

I guess this is why I don't heal anymore...int? mp5? really? Are you the only healer in a 25 man? I can't imagine why you'd need that much regen...

Haste I can see...and you didn't even mention crit...and no earth shield glyph?

This guide confuses me...

Typically I raid heal in 25s with two other healers. And that regen number is unbuffed. Fully raid buffed with my water shield up, i get close to 800 mp5. I did this guide late at night and I may have left out some important glyphs. I was so focused on those two specs that I left them out. I'll update what I can when i get home tonite. Thanks

p.s. Many of you can poke holes in this guide all day, but I hope someone has found it useful.... Just trying to help those out who need it.

[WarTotem]

I grant your opinions, though i still stand by mine. As a "fresh to 80" healer, until you reach the comfortable mana pool and mp5 numbers, your gemming should be simplified. Why would you spread yourself so thin with your gems using hybrids.

Having the right stats and having those stats bundled up on different gear pieces has nothing to do with eachother imo. Also, I don't see how you want to keep it simple, yet you already got 18 different gems linked already, not including metas. A simple one is:
Use SP/Int in red, full Int in yellow and Int/mp5 in blue
Met requirements will always be met and socket bonuses will pick up any difference in stats anyway.

And sure resto shamans can be great tank healers, they shine when it comes to raid healing. As a raid leader I wouldnt use a resto shaman as a MT healer unless I had to.

I hope you're not talking putting Druids over Shams on tanks there, but even then, discussion not relevant to thread, not going to comment further on it.

Ofcourse I didnt get into a discussion about crit, because crit will be supported by your gear when you hit 80 and will roll out of the spec I posted. Again this is a "fresh to 80" guide. These healers should be focusing on bringing their mana pool and mp5 to where it needs to be first.

So you advertise haste over crit to people that need to conserve mana? Weird logic

I have updated my NS macro, and i'm embarrased i didnt add it before, as I myself have it on my macro at home. And I am further shocked I didnt recognize CH bounced to 2 targets then 3. Hard to judge me as a healer as you've never seen me play, but I will certainly thank you for engaging my post and helping me improve on it.

YW

[Kavtor]

I've just recently geared up a resto shaman, and certainly MP5 / Int was a -big- deal.

Remember a few things. As a new player, you're likely to be pugging a lot of 5 mans, without many raid buffs. You'll also be playing with other new players, who will make mistakes. Not a good time to go OOM. Plus, drinking every few pulls sucks.

You'll also likely be pugging a lot of 10s / 25s (even if it's just VoA) You'll often find yourself in groups with very poor DPS, which gets even worse when they die, so having as much endurance as you can get is important.

When I'm running with my main's raiders, mana isn't important at all. But I'll often end combat in pugs completely dry.

Trinkets are a very helpful thing to look for as a new shaman.
Tears of the Vanquished - Item - World of Warcraft from ToC5 made a big difference once I was able to pick it up.

Two of the things I've been trying to wrap my head around are crit rating, and the talent Tidal Waves.

Crits do a few things. You get a return on mana on some of your spells from Improved water shield. You also keep up the ancestral fortitude buff (10% less damage physical damage taken) It's not critical to keep it up on the tank at all times, but it's certainly a helpful buff to watch and keep up when you can.

Tidal waves makes spell choice interesting. It's a talent that tries to encourage you to mix up your healing choices. Any time you cast Rip Tide or Chain Heal you'll gain a haste buff to your next two Healing Wave spells, or a crit buff to your next two Lesser Healing Waves. It's a very helpful buff if used properly, but can really take some practice to get used to how to take advantage of it.

[Sillybones]

Having the right stats and having those stats bundled up on different gear pieces has nothing to do with eachother imo.

WHAT?! So what your saying is the gear pieces you choose, have nothing to do with how you customize your character? I can tell by your tone that you are talking down to me. Let me put it simple for you. The mail gear laid out that has Mp5 on it (thanks to blizzard) is pretty much putting your stats on course with what blizzard intended, AS A HEALER. The gem slots are there for your customization as you gain new pieces.

Also, I don't see how you want to keep it simple, yet you already got 18 different gems linked already, not including metas. A simple one is:
Use SP/Int in red, full Int in yellow and Int/mp5 in blue
Met requirements will always be met and socket bonuses will pick up any difference in stats anyway.

I provided a list of gems for resto shamans to use when chosing a meta socket. I'm not really following how you missed this vital point. And I clearly outlined that the gems you should be stacking are Intellect, UNLESS, you need to meet your meta requirement. Do you get it?

I hope you're not talking putting Druids over Shams on tanks there, but even then, discussion not relevant to thread, not going to comment further on it.

Whats your deal kid? Where have I stated that you should put a druid over a shaman anywhere in my guide. I didn't. If you're referring to my response to another reply then i'm sure you need to re-read it. But Ok.. i dont wanna go there either.

So you advertise haste over crit to people that need to conserve mana? Weird logic

And now i'm sure you're just trying to discredit my guide. Never did I state this. If you're refering to my statement that you need to stack haste AFTER you have your mana regen and INT in the right place. Then i think you have met my point.

[hvidgaard]

I think it's safe to say that this guide isn't perfect, but before people go all out to rag it down - how many guides are perfect from the start? I think it's a very good starting point for a guide, it contains many valid points, but are also coloured by the OPs own personal preference. But that's okay, healing style is a personal preference and consequently gearing will be as well.

If I have to add something useful to it, it would be to cut down the gem section. It boils down to Int > Mp5 for regen and you should gem for that until you have no mana problems on the toughest fight you're currently progressing on, and then you gem Haste. For activating the meta you need one blue and one red gem. I don't see any need to list several as there's only 2 choises for each colour, Mana or Haste gemming.

/edit I just read it again, and it's not really the gems you list that's anything wrong with, but I don't think there's a need to list both rare and epic gems. Just listing the epic gems and people can find the rare one themself if they can't affort the epics.

it can be boiled down to somthing like

fill all sockets with yellow gems
Brilliant (mana) or Quick (haste)

1x to meet the meta
Dazzling (mana) or Energized (haste)

1x to meet the meta
Luminous (mana) or Reckless (haste)

The reason I advise a green and a orange gem instead of just a single purple (and a yellow) is you'll get the exact same stats, but you now have two gems to shuffle around to get 1-2 socket bonuses while meeting the meta requirements.

[Sillybones]

I think it's safe to say that this guide isn't perfect, but before people go all out to rag it down - how many guides are perfect from the start? I think it's a very good starting point for a guide, it contains many valid points, but are also coloured by the OPs own personal preference. But that's okay, healing style is a personal preference and consequently gearing will be as well.

If I have to add something useful to it, it would be to cut down the gem section. It boils down to Int > Mp5 for regen and you should gem for that until you have no mana problems on the toughest fight you're currently progressing on, and then you gem Haste. For activating the meta you need one blue and one red gem. I don't see any need to list several as there's only 2 choises for each colour, Mana or Haste gemming.

/edit I just read it again, and it's not really the gems you list that's anything wrong with, but I don't think there's a need to list both rare and epic gems. Just listing the epic gems and people can find the rare one themself if they can't affort the epics.

it can be boiled down to somthing like

Thank you for the input. I do see your point about slimming down my gem section. Maybe it's because my alt is a Jewelcrafter that I went over the top on this section. I am currently working on an updated version to this post and I am taking these suggestions with me. Thanks again.

[Njordus]

Riptide glyphs and Water Master glyphs are really bad. Healing Way is better than 3 points in Tidal master, just to name a few very bad mistakes here.

Guides with horrible errors like this are worse than no guide at all.

[OpForce]

Only a couple things I'd say I disagree with.

Int isn't a priority. it generally comes with gear and the shield enchant. Right now I've got over 20k mana and I don't have single enchant/gem (except maybe a hybrid) that specifically gives me Int. I've replaced just about everything there is in my gear with Haste, Haste+Spell Power, or Haste+MP5. Here's the way I see it:

MP5: Regenerates your mana so you can keep healing. Typically the #1 stat until you reach about 400-500 MP5 unbuffed. I stick for about 500 just so it's an even 100 per second.

Haste: Your spells are cast faster so your target does die. I still have a couple slots I need to fill with more haste, but a good target percent to shoot for in haste is about 15% or more. 10% is a good base and if you don't have that, you're in need of some changes.

Spell Power: Reason I put this last is because your gear is usually riddled with spell power bonuses. You really don't have to stack this with gems because usually the enchants and gear will take care of it. My goal has always been to be around 2500 bonus healing without any buffs at all. I think I may be close (haven't checked it in forever) as I stand right now, but even so, once you put on Earthliving Weapon and drop your totems, you should be hovering close to 2800 or more without other people's buffs.

Focus on those 3 stats and everything will take care of itself really.

[klor]

Hi I am Zugzuhg of Undermine, and I decided to make this guide for newly 80 Resto Shamans for our loyal Tankspot readers.

Seems many of you are missing that point for this guide. When you first ding 80, both mp5 AND int are important stats to acquire. Haste is not so much.

When you first ding 80, the water mastery glyph isn't that bad especially if you're lacking gear. The Riptide glyph is good a bit later. Healing way, is a terrible skill, unless you're tank healing. Most shaman don't tank heal. It's a waste of talent points. Plus healing wave is a mana drain. You're not a paladin. Even in 5 mans i typically spam chain heal over healing wave. It's just more efficient. Chain heal or lesser healing wave.

As for the guide itself, I still believe you should alter some of the meta selections and the spell thread sections. With this being a guide for new shaman, it should not show them an option that is not correct. There is no reason to use any meta but the insightful earthsiege diamond nor is there ever a reason to take the Spellpower/spirit enchants over the spellpower/stam ones. Shaman gain absolutely 0 benefit from spirit. With all the aoe damage that goes out these days, they benefit greatly from the stamina. Especially since even still, shaman have the lowest health pool of all the healers That was even after the 5% stam buff we got in wrath.

All in all the guide looks fine. Just the small things you need to tweak.

[Njordus]

healing wave under Tidal Waves is excellent use for healing a non-tank single target that needs to be healed quickly. There's plenty of encounters I use healing wave on a single raid target. You'll also want the option to toss a nice big, quick healing wave on a tank in ToGC due to the mechanics that can take your normal tank healer out of action.

Shaman healing is all about versatility, and at the very least a guide should have these sort of disagreements in the discussion so that readers can make up their own minds.

[Insahnity]

I disagree with large portions of this guide, having just levelled a resto shaman to 80 recently. Having said that, I want to stress my most important point is that I am glad somebody took the initiative to post something, but people should also read other guides (EJ and Ensidia).

First off, my spec is this. The most notable difference is that I favor increased throughput over push back resistance. My rational is that I don't have situations where I am getting beaten on very often, so it's not very valuble to me. Keep an eye on your threat, and keep up a good tank, nothing will beat on you. I also do this without taking threat reduction talents, since healing is 50% aggro, compounded by exceeding 130% threat when at range. This philosophy applies to all healers, and the only class that begins to approach the threat stripping point is a holy priest spamming PoH.

Int isn't a priority for me and I have a fair number of blues. I get my int from gear and best bang-for-buck enchants (like 25 int to shield).

Haste is the prime stat for resto shamans, always has been and will be for a while. Check out this guide, and not because it's from Ensidia, it makes sense.

Shaman Restoration - Part 1 - General - Ensidia

Ideally, you want to bring your HW as close to a GCD as possible so you can spam it for tank healing, for throughput on CH, and to lower GCD for LHW. There's just no downside to haste, no matter what role you are assigned.

Final note on haste, Black Magic enchant in future patches will likely proc a haste buff, killing any SP weapon enchants.

Crit is quite important, not only for throughout, but for the ever important Ancestral Healing. Having 10% damage reduction not procced is insanely wasteful, you should be striving to hit it at every opportunity, just as priests (especially holy) trigger their counterpart, inspiration, on as many targets. You can have great AH uptime by Chain healing a Riptide target (such as tank) ensuring greater chance that target (generally tank) gets it going.

MP5 and Spellpower aren't things I specifically go out of the way, except for the following times
-It's the best bang for buck enchant
-Hitting worthwhile blue/red socket bonuses
-meeting metagem requirements

I would prune some entries in the gear. As mentioned before, 21 int + mana on spell cast is the only meta any healer of any class/spec should consider, it's been beaten to death in several places, most notably EJ.

For those who are trying to gear for AH procs, which is quite doable even as a newly minted 80, there is an arcanum from Kirin Tor for SP/Crit. Having large AH uptime is a valuable tool which reduces required healing, less chances of being OOM.

The PvP head enchant is useless, take the time to grind rep, it doesn't take long and you need to run heroics for badges anyways. I also have a pretty dim view of the PvP shoulder enchant.

I personally never have mana issues, between replenishment (remember I don't gear for int), mana spring totem, double glyphed water shield, a potion AND a mana tide totem. If after all that you are still OOM, there's something else wrong. Also, I sometimes mana tide totem to benefit my GROUP rather than just myself. Make sure if you don't have tremor totem requirements, have RL stack your group with mana users, and pop a totem when the group as a whole benefits. Likely by the time somebody needs mana, you will have used enough mana yourself to actually make full use of it as well without wastage.

As per the Ensidia guide, stamina plays a role. Specifically, go with SP/Stam on legs and tuskarrs. You need a bit of extra stam because you don't have Fade, Shadowmeld OR blessing of protection. Stoneclaw totem is there, but really, if you get aggro, you have a bigger problem than most other healers. Between mail armor and a bit of flesh on the bones, you should have enough cushion in giving the tank some time to taunt off you.
Having said that, the leg thread for spirit is a big no-no for me.

As for gemming, aside from meeting worthwhile socket bonuses (YMMV as to what is a worthy bonus), I agree that maximizing yellow gems is the name of the game. I generally favor the haste route, although stacking crit for AH procs works as well. Therefore, there are only yellow gems for haste (or crit), green for haste/mp5 (crit/mp5), or orange (haste/SP). I haven't found a need for purple at all anywhere, having chased after socket bonuses I naturally met my meta requirements.

As for actual play, my shaman is quite fluid. Obviously, ES the tank, even if a raid healer. As a raid healer, I CH to proc tidal waves (generally targetting the tank) and then tossing out LHW. As a MT healer, I will CH and LHW during low damage periods, targetting tank, and for high damage times I will riptide+HW+HW, and for really dangerous situations, NS+Chain heal works wonders. As any experienced healer knows, Raid healers occasionaly back up tank healers, and tank healers will switch to raid once the tank is topped up and coasting on ES and Riptide (along with any other aoe heals, fellow healer hots ,etc.).

My biggest place for improvement is knowing which person to chain heal when its not the MT. The MT will always have melees closeby to bounce heals, but if a large chunk of casters need raid heals, you need to get your first CH off on a ranged raid member who is close enough to others to get the full 3 bounces. I know I sometimes CH somebody only to see a single target healed, because I didn't pay attention to their location.

/edit clarified SP/stam on legs

[WarTotem]

I'm assuming you meant to say LHW the tank after Riptide/Chain Heal, as CH on a Riptide only increase the healing done on that target (by a relatively crap amount compare to what Riptide would tick for if you let it run out) and it's both spells that give your LHW 25% crit chance through Tidal Waves.

Personally I go for SP/Haste in both yellow and red and haste/mp5 in blue. But that's because we usually have 2 Holy PAladins and 1 other REsto sham in our raids, so I'm raid healing 95% of the time with a lot of druids & priests, so I splash on SP for Earthliving HoTs.