Contents
Overview
Shaman is a Horde-only class in Classic, and it levels as a melee hybrid that can heal itself, kite, and drop a totem for almost every problem. The build below is Enhancement from the first point: a slow two-hander at 20, 
Flurry in your mid-20s and 
Stormstrike at 40.
What most guides skip is that the first 20 levels are the hard part. You’re swinging a staff or a one-hander with nothing in your talents to back it up, and mana runs out fast. Once you pick up a two-hander and start kiting with 
Earthbind Totem, the class turns into one of the safest solo levelers in the game. Your character doesn’t come together fully until Stormstrike at 40, so don’t judge the class by level 15.
Your totems need their matching totem item in your bags. Lose the Earth, Fire, Water or Air Totem and you can’t cast any totem of that element until you replace it, so never sell or destroy them to make bag space.
Talent Build
Hover over any talent to read its tooltip. Calculator not loading? Open the Shaman talent calculator on Wowhead.
The final split is 18 Elemental and 33 Enhancement. Here’s the order to take it in:
Key Choices:
Ancestral Knowledge first. It adds 5% maximum mana, and mana is the thing that ends your fights early from level 10 to 20.
Improved Ghost Wolf at 18-19 looks odd since Ghost Wolf doesn’t arrive until 20. Those two points are what get you to 10 in the tree, so 
Two-Handed Axes and Maces lands on the same level you can train Ghost Wolf. They also cut its cast time by 2 seconds, which you’ll feel on every run between quest hubs.- Two-Handed Axes and Maces at 20 is the turning point of the build. A slow two-hander is what makes Earthbind Totem kiting work and what gives Stormstrike its damage later.
Thundering Strikes and Flurry are a pair. Five percent more crit means more Flurry procs, and every proc gives your next 3 swings 30% more attack speed.
Elemental Weapons raises the attack power bonus of 
Rockbiter Weapon by 20% and Flametongue Weapon damage by 15%. 
Weapon Mastery adds 10% damage to every weapon hit.- After Stormstrike, the Elemental points make your shocks cheaper and harder-hitting.
Elemental Devastation is the payoff: a crit from a shock gives you 9% extra melee crit for 10 seconds, which keeps Flurry rolling.
Warcraft Tavern’s fastest-route alternative starts in Elemental and respecs into this Enhancement build at 20, since the early Enhancement talents add little before you have a two-hander. It saves time if you don’t mind paying the respec fee. Either way, you end up here.
Totems & Class Quests
Shaman totems come from class quests, not the trainer. Each element has its own quest, and each one rewards the totem item you need in your bags to cast that element’s totems. Here’s when and where:
Earth and Fire are not optional. Without the Earth quest you have no Earthbind Totem for kiting at 6 or 
Stoneclaw Totem at 8, and without Fire you have no 
Searing Totem, which is a big share of your damage from 10 to 30. Do both the moment you hit the level.
Water is the one you can delay. The chain is long and sends you across three zones, and 
Healing Stream Totem is a nice extra rather than a core leveling tool. Fold it into a trip you’re already making, or pick it up before you need 
Mana Spring Totem at 26. Air is close to free: the trip to Thousand Needles is the whole quest.
Rotation
Levels 1-9: buy a staff from a vendor as soon as you can, open with 
Lightning Bolt, and finish with melee and 
Earth Shock. Don’t refresh 
Lightning Shield the instant it drops. Every cast stops your Spirit regeneration for five seconds, so time it alongside spells you were going to cast anyway.
Levels 10-39: this is where Earthbind Totem kiting starts paying off. The totem slows the mob, and with a slow two-hander you step in to swing, then step back out of its reach while your weapon resets. Warcraft Tavern’s example: a 3.8-speed weapon against a mob with a 2.0-speed attack cuts the damage you take by 47.4%. Install a swing timer addon; this doesn’t work without one.
Single Target (10-60)
OPENER
- 1.
up before the pull, not between every fight.
- 2.
drop it as the mob reaches you and start kiting.
- 3.
from level 40, your opener. It costs a lot of mana, so plan on one per fight unless you’re swimming in Spirit.
PRIORITY
- 1.
from level 10, keep it down on anything that lives longer than a few seconds.
- 2.
from level 10, your main shock. Its damage over time runs while you kite.
Flame Shock- 3.
save it to interrupt casters and healers once you have Flame Shock.
- 4.
your weapon imbue on a slow two-hander, even after 30. Switch to Windfury Weapon only if your weapon is fast.
Front-load your spells. Cast what you need at the start of the fight, then auto-attack. The longer you go without casting, the more Spirit regen you get, and that’s what lets you chain pulls without drinking. Put /startattack in your ability macros so you still swing when a spell fails for lack of mana.
AOE
Shaman is at its best one mob at a time, so don’t go looking for big pulls. When two or three end up on you anyway, swap Searing Totem for 
Magma Totem (26) and keep the rest of the rotation the same. 
Fire Nova Totem (12) is a burst of damage after a short delay, and 
Chain Lightning (32) hits more than one target if you have the mana.
When a pull goes wrong, Stoneclaw Totem pulls attacks off you for a few seconds, Earthbind Totem slows everything around it, and 
Lesser Healing Wave (20) is a fast heal to buy time. If you need out, Ghost Wolf and run.
Gear & Stats
Strength comes first while leveling, then Agility, Stamina, Intellect and Spirit. Strength turns straight into attack power for your two-hander, and Agility adds crit, which feeds Flurry. You wear leather until 40 and learn Mail at 40 from your trainer.
For weapons, pick raw damage and slow speed. Stormstrike scales with weapon damage, and a slow weapon makes Earthbind Totem kiting easier. Shamans can never use swords, polearms, bows, guns, crossbows or thrown weapons, so ignore them. A vendor 
Battle Axe at 20 is fine to start. Dungeon upgrades worth chasing include 
Manual Crowd Pummeler in Gnomeregan, 
Corpsemaker in Razorfen Kraul and 
Ravager in the Scarlet Monastery Armory.
Don’t spend long chasing any one low-level weapon, though. Better ones show up fast, and the next quest reward is usually close behind.
Race Choice
Shaman can be Orc, Tauren or Troll, all Horde.
Orc is the strongest pick for an Enhancement leveler. 
Axe Specialization adds 5 weapon skill with axes, and 
Blood Fury is a burst of attack power on a two-minute cooldown. 
Hardiness gives extra resistance to stuns. Tauren gets 
War Stomp, a two-second stun on up to five enemies when a pull goes wrong, and 
Endurance for 5% more health. Troll brings 
Berserking, 
Regeneration and 
Beast Slaying, which adds 5% damage against beasts. All three level fine, so pick the one you want to look at for 60 levels.
Professions
- 1
- Skinning and Mining (or Herbalism)
two gathering professions for the most gold while you level, which helps with the mount at 40.
- 2
- Skinning and Leatherworking
you wear leather until 40, and Leatherworking feeds into the Black Dragonscale gear Enhancement uses at 60.
- 3
- First Aid
learn it early. Bandages heal without costing mana, and mana is always your limit.
Tips & Tricks
Upgrade your water every 10 levels. You can heal your own health, but nothing brings your mana back quickly.
Learn 
Astral Recall at 30 and use it as a second hearthstone. Keep your regular hearthstone set to wherever you’re questing.
From 30, carry an 
Ankh for 
Reincarnation. It brings you back in the same spot with 20% health and mana, which saves a corpse run when a pull goes wrong.
Use Ghost Wolf for short hops between quests and your mount for longer runs. Improved Ghost Wolf makes the cast short enough that it’s worth it for almost every trip.
Spend your teens in the Barrens and fight mobs close to your own level. Every fight costs mana, so the ones well above you cost more than they’re worth.
Related Guides
- WoW Classic Leveling Guide (1-60) — the zone-by-zone route to pair with this build
- WoW Classic Dungeon Leveling Guide (15-60) — if you’d rather level in groups, where Windfury Totem makes you welcome everywhere
- Shaman Enhancement DPS Guide (Level 60) — where this build goes once you hit 60
- Shaman Restoration Healer Guide (Level 60) — the spec most raids will ask a Shaman to play
- Wailing Caverns Guide (WoW Classic) — a Barrens dungeon and a good stop in your late teens
- WoW Forever Shaman Guide — everything that changes for Shaman in WoW Forever