Introduction
Hello, my name is Theun, and most people know me from my activity in the Earthshrine and Ancestral Guidance discord communities, which are focused on Shaman.
I was a Resto Shaman main for BDGG throughout Shadowlands and was an analyst for them in Vault of the Incarnates, achieving up to World 4th in Sanctum of Domination.
What has changed
Changes in Patch 10.1.7
There haven't been any changes to Restoration Shaman in Patch 10.1.7 that have required updates to the guide.
Patch 10.1.5 Restoration Shaman Changes
There was really only 1 significant change for Resto Shaman coming into 10.1.5. To combat off-healing from Ancestral Guidance, the potential healing per tick will now be capped at 20% of your maximum health (up to 3 targets).
Essentially, this change means you will no longer ever want to pair AG with any other cooldowns, and will lose quite a bit of feeding to Cloudburst Totem during your cooldowns, as it’s the only healing cooldown that contributes to Cloudburst Totem. To offset this change we are being aura buffed by 3%, but I still expect this change to be a nerf overall for the spec.
Our damage is also being buffed by 10% to offset the nerfs to the Onyx Annulet ring. We will no longer wear this ring, and this should be roughly a neutral change overall.
Patch 10.1 Restoration Shaman Changes
- In Patch 10.1, Deeply Rooted Elements will now proc much more consistently
Patch 10.0.7 Restoration Shaman Changes
- Current Control and Tide Turner are both new 10.0.7 talents that act as upgrades to Healing Tide Totem.
- Resonant Waters and Spiritwalker’s Tidal Totem are both new 10.0.7 talents that act as upgrades to Mana Tide Totem
- Acid Rain damage was nerfed by 20% (10.0.7)
- Ancestral Awakening heals for 15%/30% of the amount healed (was 10%/20%) (10.0.7)
- Earthen Harmony was redesigned. It now gives 3%/6% DR to the player with Earth Shield and its healing is increased by 50%/10% on targets below 75% health (10.0.7)
- Ancestral Awakening and Ancestral Guidance now feed Cloudburst Totem (10.0.7)
- Call of Thunder and Improved Lightning Bolt are no longer on the tree and instead their damage has been baked in baseline (10.0.7)
- Wellspring healing reduced by 30% (10.0.7)
- Improved Earthliving Weapon and Improved Primordial Wave were both buffed in 10.0.7
- Tidebringer, previously a pvp talent, is now on the Resto Shaman tree in 10.0.7
- Water Shield is now baseline (10.0.7)
- Earth Shield healing was buffed by 60% (10.0.7)
- Resto Shamans healing was buffed by 8% overall (just before 10.1 this was nerfed by 5.5%, though it is still a net buff since 10.0.5)
These changes help Resto Shaman shore up a lot of its weaknesses in burst healing with the change in how Ancestral Guidance and Cloudburst Totem interact and offer much more ways to achieve healing when people are spread out with Tidebringer.
Dragonflight First Impressions
Going into Dragonflight, the restoration shaman looks quite similar to the one we got used to in Shadowlands. Our biggest strength is still stacked healing with the ability to spot/spread heal thanks to the Primordial Wave that we can talent into.
The return of a few abilities from previous expansions like Ancestral Guidance or Gust of Wind and rework to Unleash Life makes our spec way more fun but still not too complex.