Will be comparing Shaman to the Paladin rework, along with suggestions to improve Shamans.
Overall
Even with some QoL improvements, Shaman still has some of the same pain points from Classic that are visible well before you reach level 60. Shaman only requires a few spells that should be baseline, along with a few adjustments to the talent trees, to bring it on par with Paladins.
Baseline Spells That Should Be Added
- Feral Spirits – The Wrath/Cata version of the spell. Learned at level 40, lasts 25 seconds, and has a 5-minute cooldown. This is an iconic spell from Warcraft III. It’s like not giving Paladins Divine Shield.
- Nature’s Swiftness – Gives Shamans a strong baseline spell to compete with Paladins’ baseline abilities. Learned at level 26.
- Primal Strike – Learned at level 6. Gives Shamans an early melee attack while also giving Elemental and Restoration Shamans a melee attack ability. It is upgraded to Stormstrike if talented. It functions similarly to the Paladin ability Holy Strike.
These three baseline abilities remove about 90% of Shaman’s problems from Classic.
Elemental
New Spell
- Elemental Aegis – Add to Row 3. Grants immunity to Silence and Interrupt effects for 8 seconds. (Paladins get 6 seconds on a similar ability, despite having 97% of their spells as instant casts.)
Enhancement
- Stormstrike – Make this a real melee ability rather than just an extra auto attack.
- Maelstrom Weapon – Two-handed weapons have a 100% chance to grant a stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
- Rage of the Farseer – Move it, make it baseline, or remove it. Shamans already have Flurry, which makes this a poor capstone talent for a melee specialization.
New Capstone Suggestions:
- Add a new melee ability.
- Earth Shock no longer shares a cooldown with Flame Shock and Frost Shock.
Restoration
- Mana Tide Totem – Move it to Nature’s Swiftness’s old position.
- Add Healing Tide Totem – Place it in Mana Tide Totem’s old position.
Reasoning: You already have Water Shield in the previous row. Having back-to-back mana regeneration rows doesn’t feel like meaningful progression or like you’re becoming a stronger healer as you move through the tree.
Quality of Life Changes
- Totem Health – All totems should have 25% of the Shaman’s health when summoned. This change would help in both PvE and PvP. It’s 2026—totem stomping needs to go. There are so many ways to target totems now that they are too easy to destroy. At the very least, make it so that it takes two auto attacks to destroy a totem.
- Call of the Elements and Similar Spells – Make these instant-cast abilities with a 5-minute cooldown.
- Lightning Shield – Increase the number of charges from 3 to 9 or 12.
- Stoneskin Totem – Completely rework this ability. One suggestion would be: when summoned, it grants the Shaman and party members an absorb shield for 8 seconds, with a 1-minute cooldown.
- Healing Totem and Mana Totem – Increase their effectiveness.