This follow-up to our Shaman starter guide and the Enhancement leveling post covers Restoration healing in dungeons, levels 20–30. It's based on Icy Veins' Restoration Shaman guide (updated Oct 18), WoW Forever Tier List, BrokenMeta and Blizzard's beta development notes through the October 15 build. Forever launches Nov 4, 2026. The beta is capped at level 30, so Riptide and Chain Heal haven't been tested in play. WoW Forever Tier List notes that neither is available in the current beta.
Talents by level 30 (Icy Veins)
The Icy Veins build takes:
- Improved Healing Wave: up to 0.5 seconds off Healing Wave's cast time.
- Tidal Focus
- Mindfulness: keeps 50% of your mana regen while casting.
- Ancestral Healing and Healing Focus
- Water Shield
- Tidal Mastery
- Mana Tide Totem and Nature's Swiftness at level 30.
If you have Talented points from the Legacy system, Icy Veins puts them into Healing Way (25%).
How you heal at 30
- Healing Wave is your main heal at level 30 (Icy Veins).
- Keep your buff totems down for the group. Since Oct 15, totems affect the whole raid (Blizzard).
- When nobody needs healing, Icy Veins suggests Fire Nova or Lightning Bolt for damage. Blizzard nerfed Fire Nova on Oct 15, so that advice may be weaker now.
- Nature's Swiftness gives you an instant Healing Wave in an emergency.
Totems: Icy Veins says you get Water totems from the level 20 quest and Air totems from the level 30 quest. Windfury Totem comes at 32.
Ghost Wolf: Icy Veins says it has a 1-second cast, and a talent makes it instant. The same guide mentions a 2-second cast elsewhere, so check it in game.
Stats (Icy Veins): Spell Healing > Crit > Intellect > Spirit > MP5 > Stamina.
Races: Icy Veins picks Orc and Dwarf. Its racial descriptions (such as Mace Specialization) predate Blizzard's Oct 15 racial changes, so check the current racials.
Gear: Icy Veins recommends Tidebringer's Claw with Elementalist's Guard from the level 30 quest chain.
Beyond level 30 (not testable yet)
- Riptide: 6-second cooldown and a 15-second HoT. It makes Chain Heal 25% stronger on that target (community talent notes).
- Chain Heal: 3 targets, with each jump healing 50% less than the one before.
- Mana Tide Totem ranks: 25, 38, 48 and 58 after the Oct 15 build (Blizzard).
What changed in recent builds
Oct 15 build (Blizzard):
- Mana Tide Totem gained an extra rank at 38.
- Restorative Totems now boosts all of Healing Stream Totem's healing.
- Tidal Focus and Totemic Focus swapped tiers.
- Water Shield now triggers on any spell crit.
- Totems now affect the whole raid.
- Chain Lightning costs about 35% less mana.
- Fire Nova was nerfed.
Earlier: Sept 24 made Riptide able to crit. Oct 1 made Totemic Recall restore mana again.
Still unclear
- Whether Fire Nova is still worth weaving after the Oct 15 nerf. Icy Veins' guide predates the change.
- Ghost Wolf's cast time. Icy Veins says both 1 and 2 seconds.
- Riptide and Chain Heal are past the level 30 cap.
Sources
- Icy Veins: WoW Forever Restoration Shaman Guide (updated Oct 18)
- WoW Forever Tier List: Shaman Healer Guide
- BrokenMeta: Restoration Shaman guide
- WoW Forever DB: Restoration Shaman talents and builds
- Blizzard forums: WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated October 15
Images: header and talent card by Systematic, using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Ability icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic-era icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ).
Fan community guide by Systematic. World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment; we're not affiliated with Blizzard. Healing as Resto on the beta? Share your totem setups below!
