Shaman Abilities and Talents

Elemental Combat
Elemental Combat is the domain of the shaman that chooses to let his spells do the talking. Most of your direct-damage spells are here, including your instant-cast nukes that you’ll be using so often in combat, but you also have a number of non-damaging, yet still useful spells, such as the oft-mentioned Earthbind Totem. As you play through to the middle levels of your character’s lifespan, you’ll get a feel for whether you want to emphasize the direct-damage spells that are available to you, in which case you’ll want to soak your talents into this tree, or whether you prefer to go for a more emphatic approach with your weapons, in which case you’re more likely to favor Enhancement.

The Elemental Combat talents are straightforward and, if not tremendously exciting, then at least useful in a utilitarian fashion. There are, of course, a number of Improved versions of spells, with a few that will let you decrease your mana cost or increase the chances of a critical hit with a spell, which are plainly useful for the distance-casting shaman. Most of the Improved totems, on the other hand, have underwhelming effects, so you may not want to invest in those. At the high end of the talent tree, you have the Elemental Fury/Elemental Mastery talents, which, when combined, will give you a 100% chance to deal triple damage on your next offensive spell, which is great for opening a fight or finishing off a wounded enemy in PVP.

Enhancement
Enhancement, as the name implies, is the buffing branch of the shaman’s ability tree, with most of the spells here focusing on increasing your attacking ability with weapons or increasing your defensive capabilities via Totem spells. There are a lot of great spells available here, including the useful Lightning Shield, which will punish physical attackers if you can recast it often, and the must-have Ghost Wolf, which lets you travel 40% faster when you access it at level 20.

Enhancement talents are mostly focused towards passive buffs to your weapon and defensive abilities, with bonuses to your Defense stat, armor, and critical strike chances. Some of these talents, such as Two-Handed Maces and Axes, and Parry, are the equivalent to the skills of traditional melee classes, such as warriors and paladins; you’re effectively penalized by having to allocate a talent slot to these abilities rather than paying gold for them, but them’s the shakes.

Restoration
Not much to say about the Restoration tree; most of the abilities here mirror those of priests, with a number of healing options and disease/debuff removers. All shamans will want to have these spells packed away close at hand. The one aspect of healing that shamans don’t have access to is a Renew-type spell that heals over time; all of their healing spells take the form of one big lump of healing, save for the Healing Spring Totem.

Again, a cursory glance at the talent tree here will give you an idea of what you’re in store for; if you choose to sink your talents into the Restoration tree, then you can easily become a primary healer in any group, as these talents will reduce the casting time and mana required for your healing spells, give you a better chance for critical effects, and increase their general efficacy. One of the best unique talents available to shamans is Nature’s Swiftness, which will let you cast a Healing Wave instantaneously; use this if yourself or a teammate needs an immediate burst of health. If you intend to play in groups more often than solo, then Restoration is a great tree to specialize in.