Raiding is the PVE pinnacle of what can be done in World of Warcraft. Raiding is all about the group effort and the group gaining as a whole. PvP individuals only have to worry about four other people. In raids, you are one of 10, 24, or 40 people. Raiding is time consuming and shows devotion to the group, and often times to the guild.
RAIDING 101
So, you’ve gotten into that raid guild, and now you want the inside information on what shamans do in a raid. Lets start with the basics. Very few people raid pre-70, and very few people do pre-Burning Crusades raiding. The reason behind this is, most equipment that is dropped in level 70 instances and Heroic instances is better than what is dropped in pre-BC raids. Most people who raid are raiding to get high end loot. Blizzard has yet to update the older raid instances so they provide a challenge, or decent enough loot to justify doing the pre-BC raids.
Once you start raiding you are going to want to start finding some good raid related Add-Ons. The other big thing that a lot of the regular raiders have is a program called Ventrilo. Ventrilo is a Voice over IP (VoIP) group communications software. This allows players to communicate via headsets, which allows faster response times than typing in game.
As of patch 2.2 Blizzard introduced in game voice chat. This allows you to talk with a microphone to people of your group, raid, or custom chat channels. The voice chat that Blizzard introduced is not as high quality as Ventrilo, but it is free with the game. Ventrilo has a cost that someone commonly donates to the guild to pay for it. Blizzard's voice chat will phase third party voice chats out over time.
With all of that said, let’s move on to what shamans actually do. Shamans are a hybrid class of warrior, mage, and priest. How you choose your talents will determine what kind of shaman you are. The three most common names for shamans are: Restoration shamans, Elemental Shamans, and Enhancement shamans. In most raids, Restoration shamans are the most sought after and Enhancement

shamans tend to be the least sought after. Your role during the raid will depend on what niche you where invited for – Healing, DPS, or Tanking.
Restoration Shamans
As a Restoration shaman, you are probably the most sought after of the raiding shaman specs. This also means you are the one that the other members of your raid watch closest. Restoration shamans fill the healer role. Your job during the raid will be to keep certain people alive. A lot of times a Restoration shaman is placed in the group with the main tank. This is not really because shamans are the best healers, but because the main tank can then benefit from the totems that the shaman lays down. A Restoration shaman’s main job though is healing. A good raid leader will let you know whom your primary healing targets are. You should primarily be using Healing Wave to heal. Remember that even with talents, Healing Wave still has a 2.5 second cast time. In emergencies, you can use Lesser Healing Wave, but due to it not being as mana efficient as Healing Wave, it should only be used when that one second counts. For that wipe saving heal, remember to use Nature’s Swiftness with Healing Wave. When in a raid where there many people being damaged by Area of Effect (AoE) spells, remember your Chain Healing spell. It is not very mana efficient unless you are hitting all 3 targets with it.
Elemental Shamans
So, if you want to be the one dishing out the damage from a distance, you picked the right way to go. Elemental shamans are purely in a raid for DPS. The hard part about this is that, as a DPS character, you are one of the most common types of character. This makes it hard to get a DPS slot due to the fact that DPS slots get filled fast. As an Elemental shaman in a raid you have a very busy job ahead of you. You could be placed in any of the groups. Your job is going to be doing damage, spot healing, and keeping group beneficial totems up. You are going to want to keep your Mana Spring Totem up at all times, because you will be casting a lot of mana intensive spells. You will use your other totems based on the situation. You have five main spells that you are going to be using: Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Earth Shock, Flame Shock, and Frost Shock. Lightning Bolt is your bread and butter, followed by the shock that is most appropriate at the time. Last, for multiple mobs you have Chain Lightning. This is a good direct damage spell as long as it is

hitting the 3 targets it can. Don’t forget to use your Elemental Mastery talent when the cool down is finished and you are not expecting a big fight for another three minutes.
Enhancement Shamans
If you want to be up in the heat of the battle, this is the way to go. Unfortunately, Enhancement shamans have a hard time getting into raids. The reason for this is that most Enhancement shamans don’t have the gear for this spec. Enhancement shamans are a lot of times the off tanks, or support melee. Enhancement shamans should be able to take a decent beating, but because they do not have plate armor, they can not take nearly as much damage as the plate wielding classes. Enhancement shamans normally dual-wield weapons, or use a two-handed weapon, the most common being the dual-wielding sort. When dual-wielding, remember to keep both weapons buffed. This will add substantial damage. The most common buffs are Windfury weapon on your main hand, and flametongue or Windfury on the off hand. Rockbiter is affected by the off hand weapon doing less damage, and frost weapon is not guaranteed damage like flametongue. If you are in melee range and there is only one mob in the area, searing totem will help out a lot.
When/Where To Start
Shamans start their raiding career around level 60-70 just like other classes. The reason most people wait until level 70 is because the equipment that can be gotten with a group at level 70 is in most cases better than equipment from the older raids you could do at lower levels. Level 70 instance and Heroic instance equipment should be what you are wearing prior to becoming a serious raider. If you plan on becoming a healer, you are going to want to get a lot of +healing gear, if you are going DPS, you will want a lot of + spell damage gear, and if you want to do enhancement, you are going to need + attack power and stamina gear. All your raids are either 10 person or 25 person raids. You are going to want to get the full amount of people to do the raids. Also, a pick up raid can mean many deaths, so your best bet is to do it with guild members you know and trust.
A good raid to start with would be Karazhan. The first boss you will be fighting is Attumen the Huntsman & Midnight. This will be a good boss to start on and learn the basics. Karazhan is a 10 person raid zone. Your group should be able to handle Attumen and Midnight before you move on to the next boss. If your group is wiping

repeatedly, the group is going to want to reconsider the group make up, or the equipment everyone has. Raiding is an in-game learning experience. It will take doing raids to learn exactly when you should start that heal, or when you should be able to cast another lightning bolt.
Strategies As A Shaman
Even though shamans tend to be pretty specialized, they are still a hybrid class, which means you can cast a Lightning Bolt or an Frost Shock as a Restoration shaman when needed. The biggest thing with the versatility of a shaman is that you need to know what you are going up against. Find out ahead of time if a mob does a certain type of damage, and be ready to throw down a totem to counter it if possible. Does the mob cast spells that your grounding totem can absorb? If so, you can bet your group will be happy when your grounding totem takes that 4,000 damage nuke. Also, knowing if adds run, or if a mob fears or puts party members to sleep, is great to know so you can lay appropriate totems. This means, as a shaman, you have to ask, or do your own research on bosses. A shaman who just does the same thing at every raid will soon be a shaman replaced. A shaman who comes in knowing what totems will help the raid the most, will be the shaman who is invited every raid. Shamans are versatile, and for that reason try to get into group fulfilling the role they are looking for. It is not uncommon for a shaman to redo his talent points because a raid needs a healer badly, and the raid has a drop you have been looking for, for a while.
Raid Progression
The way that a lot of guilds do raids is by giving them a ranking. Rankings are: not even attempting, testing the waters, comfortable, and farm list. Most of the time you don’t move the next raid in line up to the next level until you have made the previous one at least comfortable. When your guild is testing a raid out, it is a good idea to expect wiping; most bosses take certain strategies that have to be figured out. This mean lots of time trying new things. By the time a boss is considered on the farm list, the guild as a whole is able to get a group together and take said boss out without any major problems. The difficulty of the different raids are as followed in easiest to hardest order; Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair , Serpentshrine Cavern, Tempest Keep: The Eye, Caverns of Time: Battle of Mount Hyjal, and Black Temple.