While most shaman are capable of adequately tanking instances prior to reaching level 60, higher level areas and instances require tanks to have stronger passive defenses and damage mitigation than shaman have, despite their versatility and healing abilities.īackground See also: Shaman (Warcraft III) Their lack of heavy plate armor and the various changes made to their talent trees over time phased out their tanking potential in favor of healing and damage dealing. Originally, shaman were almost allowed a tanking role through the old enhancement talent tree. In combination with their ability to resurrect other players, this makes shaman a viable utility for wipe recovery. Shaman have the ability to resurrect themselves once every 30 minutes using their ability. The release of The Burning Crusade expansion introduced shaman to the Alliance through the draenei while the Horde gained access to the blood elf paladin, thus making it possible for both classes to be developed independent of each other.
This purportedly created trouble in developing both classes since they needed to be balanced against each other. Designed as a counterpart to the paladin, the class was once unavailable to the Alliance. The shaman class was originally only available to three of the Horde races: tauren, orcs, and trolls. Shaman can also provide group support in the form of stationary totems that, when placed on the ground by the shaman, either provide benefits to party members or deal damage to enemies. As such, the class is considered one of the most adaptable and versatile.
Shaman is a hybrid class that specializes in offensive spellcasting, melee damage dealing, or healing.