Shamans only have two categories of buff they are going to commonly use. The first is a weapon buff, the second is an elemental shield. A weapon can only have one buff on at a time; it is common practice to place a buff on two weapons and dual wield them. A shaman can only buff his/her own weapons. At least once in your career when someone asking you to add Windfury to their weapon, but you can't do it. You can only have one elemental shield active on yourself at a time. Only earth shield can be cast on another player, and then only one earth shield can be active at a time.
Weapon Buffs
Keeping your weapon(s) buffed at all times is important. While two of the three specs of shaman won’t be in melee most of the time, you never know when you might need to hit a mob with your weapon of choice. All weapon buffs last 30 minutes.

Rockbiter
Rockbiter is the first weapon buff you receive, obtained at level one. Rockbiter increases the damage per second (DPS) by X amount. This is a straight forward buff to the weapon. The damage is physical so armor does affect it. Rockbiter is only used when none of the other weapon buffs are viable.
Flametongue
Flametongue is first obtained at level 10. Flametongue enchants your weapon with fire damage. Every hit you do has added fire damage. The base damage scales with the rank and weapon speed, the faster the weapon less damage per hit. Flametongue also gains approximately 10 percent of your plus spell damage, but this does not scale with weapon speed. That means that a faster weapon with high plus spell damage gear is ideal for flametongue enchant. This is the buff most commonly on a elemental shaman’s weapon due to the high plus to spell damage.
Frostbrand
Frostbrand is first obtained at level 20. Frostbrand enchants your weapon with the possibility to proc a frost DD with a snare effect of 25 percent movement reduction that lasts eight seconds. Frostbrand is commonly used by restoration shamans in hopes that it procs and the shaman can get away. Sometimes elemental shamans use frostbrand to help them get out of melee range. Frostbrand gets 10 percent of your plus spell damage like flametongue. Frostbrand’s chance to proc is approximately 9 procs per minute. This means a slower weapon will proc it on a higher percent of hits, but the mob is affected by it the same number of times.
Windfury
Windfury is first obtained at level 30. Windfury enchants your weapon with a 20 percent chance to deal damage equal to two additional hits with X amount of bonus attack power. Windfury’s two additional hits can proc other weapon enchants, and if they critically hit will proc fury (if you have it). Windfury is used by enhancement shamans. When wielding one two-handed weapon, it can produce large hits of critical damage. When dual-wielding, it is used in concert with stormstrike, possibly causing both weapons to proc two triple-hits at once. Windfury is one of the shaman's best abilities in the game. Enhancement shamans make the best use of this ability in conjunction with other abilities in their talent tree.

Elemental Shields
Elemental shields are an important buff that shamans have. The shields are primarily for the shaman, but earth shield is commonly used on someone else in the group. Elemental shields can make a big difference in fights when used correctly.
Lightning Shield
Lightning shield is first obtained at level eight. When cast, this spell places a buff on the shaman that has three charges. Whenever the shaman is hit with a spell, melee, or ranged attack, one of the charges will discharge, and the attack will be hit with XX amount of nature based damage. Only one charge can be discharged every couple of seconds. Lightning shield is an instant cast spell, and will commonly be refreshed in a fight where it is being used. Each charge of lightning shield gets 33 percent of your plus spell damage. The buff lasts 10 minutes, or until all three charges are used. Enhancement shamans commonly use this when they are soloing, or off-tanking. Lightning shield does produce a large amount of threat, so it should not be used in situations where you could gain too much threat and pull the mob away from the main tank.
Earth Shield
Earth Shield is the 41 point talent in the restoration tree. This is the only elemental shield that can be cast on other players. You can have only one earth shield active at a time. Earth shield is a buff that has 10 charges. When hit, a charge will be lost and you will be healed for XX amount of damage. Only one charge will go off every few seconds. Earth shield lasts 10 minutes, or until all 10 charges are used up. When earth shield is first cast, it gains 30 percent of your plus healing gear per charge. This means that you should drop Wrath of Air totem before casting if possible. Also, trinkets that increase healing are commonly used. Earth shield also gives a 30% chance to ignore spell interruption when damaged. This is where a restoration shaman should be putting their 41stst talent point. This is a shield that should be used constantly if possible. The downside to Earth shield is that it can be dispelled, and can be spell stolen.
Water Shield
Water Shield is first obtained at level 62. When water shield is cast, the caster gains a buff with three charges. Spells and attacks will discharge one of the charges, in doing so it will give the shaman XX amount of mana back. Also when Water Shield's duration ends, the shaman will get all the mana held

in the remaining charges. This makes Water shield perfect for gaining mana both in combat and out of combat. The duration of Water Shield is one minute. This can make it very hard to kill a shaman due to the ability to gain mana back quickly if they are being attacked. They get mana back and can heal. This shield is commonly juggled with Earth shield by restoration shamans. Water shield will be commonly used by elemental and restoration shamans.