Shaman Healing Spells

Originally here I was going to go and break down every single spell that you get.Thats no longer the plan. If you want details of what everything in your spellbook does, well, thats what tooltips are for. You already know that, or you wouldn’t be here.

I will, however, take a look at the spells and abilities that you will actually be using while healing your way to the top.

One thing to keep in mind as you are healing your way up, there is no rotation. Like a mechanic we have different tools for different jobs. The trick is using the right tool, at the right time, on the right person.

You have to think on your feet, and thats why I love healing.

Here’s the tools you start with.

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Earth shield has two things going for it. First, it’s a “fire and forget” type heal. Simply by keeping this up on the tank it will take care of a good chunk of the incoming damage before you have to worry about it.

This gives more time to react, also it buys you time to heal the rest of the party. As an added bonus it will keep working even if you are out of action for some reason (feared off a cliff for example)

The second benefit is how efficient it is. At 4.3 health per mana (hereafter refered to as HpM) it is actually our most efficient healing spell.

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Healing wave is the first in our “Trinity” of healing spells. It has a relatively slow cast, A relatively low mana cost, and heals for a moderate amount. Sitting at a 1.6 HpM it’s not nearly as efficient as Earth shield, but of our direct cast heals it’s one of the better ones.

Those two will have to do you for a while, as up till level 20 thats all you have.

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Once you hit the ripe old level of 20 you pick up the second of our “trinity” spells. Our fast, expensive heal. Now you have the choice of healing low and slow with Healing wave, or fast and hard with Healing surge.

For the most part, this is my “Why are you dying so fast? Stop that!” heal. It tends to get a lot of use with undergeared tanks, or when a pull goes all to hell with adds wandering thru and such.

Just keep in mind, this is our most inefficient spell at 1.1 HpM. Use it too much, or at the wrong time, and you will burn through your mana before the fight is over. Don’t use it when you need it and someone dies before the next heal lands.

Your call, time to get off autopilot and start thinking. Thats the fun of healing after all.

Moving right along, at level 40 we finally pick up another healing spell. Yes, I know we have gotten a lot of other neat stuff along the way, particularly at 30. We are just looking at healing though.

Chain heal is the first of our AoE heals, and in my opinion the better of the two for healing 5 mans. It is a targatable smart heal, meaning it picks the next most injured person after the initial target and hit them with a smaller heal as well, jumping a total of 3 times.

In all honestly, I find that if the group is working together well I really don’t use Chain Heal very often. It’s an awesome spell when I do use it however.

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At 68 we pick up the last of our three “trinity” spells. Greater Healing Wave takes just about as long to cast as Healing Wave, heals for just about as much as a Healing Surge (maybe a touch more) and costs somewhere in between the two at 1.3 HpM.

I use this when the steady incoming damage is more than Healing Wave can keep up with. It’s not quite as mana efficient that way, but far better than using Healing Surge if I can afford the time it takes to cast it.

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Ah, 69. Once of my favorite levels as a Shaman. We have finally reached the bottom of our talent tree and picked up Riptide.

Now as you can see, Riptide did three things for us. It provided a small initial heal, put a decent heal over time on the target, and greatly boosted the cast of our next Chain Heal.

For the most part, I keep sure that both Earth Shield and Riptide are active on my tank whenever there is combat. Pretty much all the time in an instance. At 4.2 HpM it’s nearly as efficient as Earth Shield, and they stack really well together.

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Our next spell comes along at 81, and actually varies in what it does based on the imbue you currently have on your weapon.

Ideally you will have Earthliving Weapon active,

Since we picked this up at 54 it’s basically been the imbue of choice for the rest of our healing careers. Not only does it give us a nice bonus to healing, but it has a nice little HoT that finds its way onto the target pretty often. Like icing on the cake, it also enables Unleash Life later on, for a nice bonus heal.

Not a bad little heal in and of itself, but the real kicker is the 20% increase on your next heal. Not really something that we will use a whole lot while leveling in normal 5 man instances, but still really nice to have in your back pocket.

One thing to remember with both this, the amount of your next heal is increased by a percentage, not a set amount. If you have the time, a nice big heal after this will net you the most HpM.

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Finally at 83  we have the spell that will scare the heck out of folks that have never seen it. It puts a nice blue circle on the ground, I suppose thats supposed to be the puddle. Since all our players have been conditioned by years of “Stand in the spell effect = Bad” you will undoubtedly find a few that run from your heals out of reflex.

Gotta love it.

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Last, but far from least, is Natures Swiftness. While not really a heal in and of itself, it functions to make your next heal an instant cast. It’s available as early as level 29 via talents, and I would advise taking it as early as possible.

One of my personal favorite uses for Natures Swiftness is when my tank is just about to die I’ll use Unleash Life, Natures Swiftness, and then a Greater Healing Wave. For most of the content I am doing that will take the average tank from damn near dead to damn near full health in short order.