Shaman • Restoration • PVE
Restoration Shaman (PVE)
Totem-based healer with strong group healing and cooldowns.
Overview
Restoration Shamans are widely regarded as the strongest and most impactful healers in The Burning Crusade. They combine exceptional multi-target healing with unparalleled raid utility, anchored by Chain Heal, Mana Tide Totem, and exclusive access to Bloodlust / Heroism. In TBC, Restoration gains powerful new tools such as Earth Shield and Water Shield, further enhancing survivability, mana regeneration, and tank healing support. While Restoration relies heavily on cast-time heals, its strengths overwhelmingly outweigh its weaknesses in PvE, making it a cornerstone healer for nearly every raid composition throughout the expansion.
Strengths
Best AoE Healer in TBC
Chain Heal receives new ranks and benefits enormously from talents and haste scaling, allowing Restoration Shamans to dominate encounters with heavy raid-wide damage.
Unmatched Raid Utility
Restoration brings Bloodlust / Heroism, Mana Tide Totem, Earth Shield, and a full suite of totems that support both melee and caster groups in ways no other healer can replicate.
Exceptional Mana Support
Mana Tide Totem provides massive mana regeneration for healer groups, while Water Shield offers consistent self-sustain throughout long encounters.
Strong Tank Support
Earth Shield provides passive healing and spell pushback protection for tanks, making Restoration Shamans excellent partners for main-tank healing assignments.
Weaknesses
Hard-Cast Reliant
Nearly all Restoration healing requires cast time, limiting mobility and making the spec vulnerable to interrupts and pushback when Earth Shield or Healing Focus are unavailable.
Low Personal Survivability
Restoration Shamans lack strong defensive cooldowns and can struggle when focused, particularly in PvP or chaotic encounters.
Mana Intensive When Overhealing
Excessive Chain Heal usage or heavy overhealing can quickly drain mana, especially when compared to more efficient healers like Restoration Druids.
Races
Alliance
Draenei
Only ChoiceInspiring Presence provides 1% spell hit to the party, while Gift of the Naaru offers a free, mana-less heal.
Horde
Troll
Berserking grants powerful casting speed scaling that directly increases healing throughput during critical moments.
Draenei — Only Alliance Option
Inspiring Presence grants 1% spell hit to the party, which is more valuable for casters than for healers but still provides raid utility. Gift of the Naaru is a free heal with no mana cost that can assist during emergencies. Best for: Alliance raid utility, caster group synergy
Troll — Best Horde PvE Choice
Berserking provides up to 30% increased casting speed when used at low health, making it extremely strong for throughput-heavy healing windows. Best for: Maximum PvE healing throughput
Orc
Blood Fury increases healing power on use, while Hardiness offers valuable PvP utility. Blood Fury reduces healing received, so timing is important. Best for: PvP-focused players, hybrid play
Tauren
Endurance provides increased health, while War Stomp can enable clutch uninterrupted heals in PvP. PvE impact is limited. Best for: PvP utility, survivability preference