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Intro
Can Shamans tank in WoW? The short and to the point answer is, yes. You might be rubbing your eyes in disbelief of this answer. Perhaps conjuring a ten page manifesto about how only warriors can and should tank. Although, I can go on a long rant about how there are many other classes that can tank, today, I’ll be focusing on our totemic friend, the shaman.
The topic of viable and optimal is contentious as some don’t see the difference or mix them up and levy a misguided philosophy onto it. Optimal is the most efficient and foolproof solution that eliminates as many negative variables as possible and favors an easier path. Viable or often referred to as: possible, seen as the more challenging path but to many is a greater personal triumph. Shaman Tank is labelled as viable.
Many Shaman tanks agree their motivation is from the glory of seizing a feat the rest of the realm dares not try. If this resonates with you, please continue reading. You shaman tank if you want a challenge and a refreshing perspective from a 15 year old game. If it wasn’t obvious before, shield bearing is a sizable undertaking.
When experienced players Shaman tank and put in the effort, it shines tenfold. Shamans can fully tank 5mans, 10mans, off-tank & main-tank raids. But, this is reliant on personal and guild experience. Our overall defensive statistics won't reach a warrior’s. However, it isn’t necessary to do so, to tank.
Race
You’ll be staring at your character for a while. Consider a character’s appearance as a factor as it may entice you to play more. Racial benefits are minor compared to other aspects. See
Professions
Engineering: 
Goblin Sapper Charge, 
Masterwork Target Dummy, 
Force Reactive Disk, 
Gnomish Battle Chicken, etc... It helps if party engineers use Gnomish Battle Chicken since 
Battle Squawk stacks to 25%. The other profession is to gain gold to buy consumables.
Threat Management
Deal threat: Earth Shock, Stormstrike, Rockbiter Weapon, etc... (see
Ally Threat
Items reduce threat, ex: 
Fetish of the Sand Reaver. Mage: 
Burning Soul. Shaman: 
Tranquil Air Totem. Rogue and Hunter wipe threat w/ 
Vanish & 
Feign Death and so can 
Flask of Petrification. Items prevent aggro: 
Limited Invulnerability Potion & redirect aggro Masterwork Target Dummy. Classes at 30-40 yards compared to melee must deal more damage to aggro. (
Totems
Totems can't deal threat for you. Common totems: 
Grace of Air Totem, 
Stoneskin Totem & 
Healing Stream Totem. AoE Tanking: 
Stoneclaw Totem afterwards Fire Nova Totem. See
Talents
The optimal talent setup for a Shaman Tank: (
Rotations
1. PrePull: Cast Lightning Shield. Get all Buffs the group can supply. Cast Rockbiter Weapon. Place: Stoneskin Totem, Grace of Air Totem & Healing Stream Totem. Mark the mobs in front of you by right-clicking their portrait, pick Raid Target Icon, choose from either a Skull = kill first, a red X = kill second, a blue square = Hunter trap and a moon = Polymorph.
2. Pulling: Cast 
Lightning Bolt, followed by as many Lightning Bolt possible to trigger, 
Elemental Focus. Lastly, 
Earth Shock.
3. Combat: For raids, use 
Nat Pagle's Broken Reel to assure the first few Earth Shocks hit. In a fight, use relevant ranks of Earth Shock that suits your mana & threat. Stormstrike can’t be downranked but is also used in similar cases. If 
Lightning Shield expires, cast it. If you suddenly might die, equip a defensive weapon, ex: 
Spineshatter w/
Enchant Weapon - Agility & 
Rockbiter Weapon, use Masterwork Target Dummy (taunts boss), use 
Juju Escape, possibly Major Healthstone & Major Rejuvenation Potion (see Video).
Buffs
Avoid nearing the 32 buff cap, as it may result in Buffs being mistakenly removed, the addon: Buff Cap Tracker helps. (see
Debuffs
16 Debuffs can be on a mob. There's defensive Debuffs, ex: 
Insect Swarm & threat Debuffs, ex: 
Faerie Fire. Suggest ideal Debuffs without overstepping.
Gear
Solidify defensive stats when gearing, threat is second. 4k HP & 5k Armor unbuffed for Molten Core. Blackwing Lair, ~4800 to 5k HP & 6500-7k Armor. For threat, 2% melee Hit for dungeons, raids 4%. See
Enchants
There are two types of enchants, defensive, ex: Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility. And offensive, ex: Enchant Gloves - Threat. See the list of
AOE Tanking
Actions can solidify AoE cases, ex: 
Oil of Immolation, Force Reactive Disk, Thorns, etc... Tabbing & attacking mobs also helps. (see
Raid Composition
Suggest a raid comp without overstepping. In our group, Warlock: 
Blood Pact, Warrior: 
Battle Shout, Shadow Priest: 
Vampiric Embrace, Resto Shaman: Mana Tide Totem. See
Nice read. I love the thought off non-cookie cutter builds. Lot's of undefined items/spells for me, will read it through once more when the undefined is fixed. ̶B̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶W̶e̶a̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶P̶r̶i̶e̶s̶t̶?̶ Edit: Shadow weaving, I get it now.
This is a great guide, very interesting!
By the https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=5926/holy-power of https://classic.wowhead.com/object=202003/uther-the-lightbringer , I say ! This https://classic.wowhead.com/npc=10556/lazy-peon outperformed himself with this madness, as if he was the reincarnation of https://classic.wowhead.com/npc=82/crazy-leonetti !!
Interesting guide but has this ever been attempted in a raid or is it just for dungeons at best?
It is definitely something I will work towards on the side, possibly to help dungeon groups if there are no other tanks around, because I think it could prove a lot of fun. Great guide!
This looks amazing! Currently at work, so I don't have the time currently to read it entirely, but I'm really curious. Will definitely read later!
Good job!
Before even reading: thank you. I dreamed about a guide like this. I tried so many time to do a leveling shaman to tank some dungeons here and there (no raiding in my goals) and usually hitted a wall with people not wanting me as a tank. This guide will only reinforce my dream :-) Shaman ALT incoming for sure!
What's interesting is the last time I played and leveled in Vanlla, me and my 5 man group experimented with double tank comps in certain dungeons that had really tough pulls, and it was too much damage for one tank to take. Maybe this only works if you have a druid healer with strong HoTs, but it was me (a bear druid) and the other guy was a prot warrior. And it worked really really well, clearing packs that we wiped on previously.
So I'd be curious if this kind of shaman build would be viable for 5 mans. It would do more damage than a prot warrior and give buffs to the rest of the party. But maybe double tank in 5 mans is just dumb, and even if it isn't, a druid healer is the only thing that makes it viable.
So yeah, that's a long-winded way of saying this seems super cool, and it's clear that Blizzard at least thought about enhancement being a tank spec to mirror protection, but the only place I can see this working, especially at low gear levels, is in 5 man content. I feel like without this god-tier gear shown in the guide, this entire gimmick just falls apart.
Before even reading: thank you. I dreamed about a guide like this. I tried so many time to do a leveling shaman to tank some dungeons here and there (no raiding in my goals) and usually hitted a wall with people not wanting me as a tank. This guide will only reinforce my dream :-) Shaman ALT incoming for sure!
See my post after yours. I think it can be viable as a second tank/buffer/dps in 5 man groups. Not sure about raids.
I have been waiting for this for ages, finally a good & detailed guide for Shaman Tanking.
Something interesting to read when I am bored at work :)
Thanks Devner
A valid case can be made for also having a lvl 1 alt stationed permanently in a major city to disenchant unwanted items through mail and store items at a bank for later use.
Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a level 5 requirement to get professions such as enchanting?
Aside from that, I'm quite impressed! A lovely guide! :biggrin:
Before even reading: thank you. I dreamed about a guide like this. I tried so many time to do a leveling shaman to tank some dungeons here and there (no raiding in my goals) and usually hitted a wall with people not wanting me as a tank. This guide will only reinforce my dream :-) Shaman ALT incoming for sure!
See my post after yours. I think it can be viable as a second tank/buffer/dps in 5 man groups. Not sure about raids.
Gensei Shamans tanking has grown tremendously since Vanilla. They can tank the majority of raid bosses out there. I was capable of reaching AQ, just before the server I was playing on was closed. Keep in mind, I was not using special event buffs. With these buffs, I would confidently see myself tanking NAXX.
Have a nice day :mrgreen:
Interesting guide but has this ever been attempted in a raid or is it just for dungeons at best?
Nymis Shamans tanking has grown tremendously since Vanilla. They can tank the majority of raid bosses out there. I was capable of reaching AQ, just before the server I was playing on was closed. Keep in mind, I was not using special event buffs. With these buffs, I would confidently see myself tanking NAXX.
Have a nice day :mrgreen:
Interesting guide but has this ever been attempted in a raid or is it just for dungeons at best?
@Nymis Shamans tanking has grown tremendously since Vanilla. They can tank the majority of raid bosses out there. I was capable of reaching AQ, just before the server I was playing on was closed. Keep in mind, I was not using special event buffs. With these buffs, I would confidently see myself tanking NAXX.
Have a nice day :mrgreen:
Yeah, that's fair, it's just that I can't seem to find a single video of that or any proof of it happening, private server or otherwise - in anything other than a dungeon setting. Maybe it's just me not looking long enough but I find it hard to believe this actually happened without some proof.