• Geomancer (Elemental Shaman):

A very effective soloing, grinding, and questing build, the elemental shaman still is a hybrid between melee and casting. Offensive spells are the focal point of the title build, but not completely at the expense of hand-to-hand combat, but you will have to watch your mana pool between casting and healing. A common variation is to spend a few more points in the enhancement tree for more PvP and/or melee oriented action as seen here. Another alternative is to drop the enhancement tree all together and go into restoration for a more group/raiding oriented shaman as seen here, however you'll need to have a large mana pool with good casting gear to even consider this build.

• Theurgist (Enhancement Shaman):

It's a shame that the end tier talent in this tree pales in comparison to almost any talent available to the shaman. Nearly all enhancement shamans stay far away from Stormstrike which is a shame as it does have great potential, just not with the current ridiculous mana cost. As seen in the title build, the enhancement tree is often fortified with the restoration tree for a balanced shaman able to effective handle nearly any situation in the game (PvP, grinding, raiding, etc). Some shamans may wish to go down the elemental path which can be seen here.

• Isangoma (Restoration Shaman):

If end-game raiding is your goal your likely to end up, either by your choice or your guilds, a healer. The title build goes all out on the restoration tree and you'll be limited to healing as your one and only role in almost all aspects of play. If you're like most shamans though you'll want to actually have a little more versatility while still retaining your role as a healer in raiding as seen here.

• Matross (Hybrid Shaman):

A truly versatile shaman which also happens to be one of the favorite PvP setups, this shaman is very casting oriented. You'll want a decent amount of casting gear with this setup, but the nice part of the title build is that you won't need extremely high-end gear to compete with most other classes. If more in-your-face melee combat is your style you might want to try a deeper enhancement build as seen here, but you'll defiantly need to acquire good gear with lost of bonuses to almost all stats to get the most out of this build.

• Instance Loot & Notable Instance Quest Rewards
• BoE World Drop Loot
• Crafted Loot
• The Elements Compilation
• Sample Caster Build
• Sample Enhancement Build
• NEW: Shaman Talent Guide

Some abbreviations used:

• BoE: Bind on Equip
• BoP: Bind on Pickup
• 1h: One-Hand (Can be used in either main or Off-Hand)
• MH: Main-Hand Only
• OH: Off-Hand Only
• 2h: Two-Hands
• (B): Boss NPC - Level Hidden

The shaman throughout all patches has remained a very strong classes for almost all aspects of the game. The shamans versatility gives the player a wide range of play styles and roles that the they can choose from. Shamans make great healers, decent (albeit somewhat inconsistent) damage dealers, and although not quite as potent as they once were, are still a great class for PvP. The only real issue with the class is end-game equipment; the shaman is a hybrid class leaning towards casting and begins to suffer the same problems as all caster classes with end-game damage scaling. Most late game shamans, like pre 1.8 druids, are sadly relegated to healing duty in end-game instances which hopefully will come under review in the near future.

Shamans have some pretty diverse gear choice, but luckily for them, their caster mail is almost always uncontested and fairly prolific. Most shamans will want gear with a mix of +INT, +STA, +SPI, and +heal/nature/spell power. More melee oriented shamans will look for +STR, +AGI, and +crit but not completely at the sacrifice of caster stats. I'll be marking gear with a C for Caster Shamans, an E for Enhancement (or melee oriented) Shamans, and a U for Utility for aspects of both melee and casting. Keep in mind that 2h axes and 2h maces are only usable with the talent in the enhancement tree, and will be noted by an asterisk before the item type, ie: E*.

Please note: This list is by no means a "shaman's have exclusive rights to this" equip list. Please be considerate of your group members and respect loot rules. You will most likely be in direct competition with the druid until lvl 40, and your talent tree choices will probably put you in competition with other classes.