Best Professions For Shamans in WoW Forever

What are the best professions for Shamans in WoW Forever? If you've played a Shaman before, you can probably guess: Leatherworking and Skinning. Shamans wear mail, and Leatherworkers make most of it. But WoW Forever gives that old answer a lot more weight - and a few twists. Leatherworking now has a separate crafted mail set for each Shaman spec, the levelling gear in the 30s comes from a different profession entirely, and once you raid, the picture changes again.

We went through our Elemental, Enhancement and Restoration Shaman BiS lists - at level 40, level 50, in pre-raid gear at 60 and in raid gear - and counted every crafted item: which profession makes it, and whether it's Binds when picked up (only the crafter can wear it) or Binds when equipped (you can buy it). Here's what the data says about Shaman professions in WoW Forever - and why the best professions for Shamans in WoW Forever change a little from spec to spec, even though all three start in the same place.

Best professions for Shamans in WoW Forever: the short answer

• Best professions for Shamans overall: Leatherworking + Skinning. Leatherworking makes 19 of the 23 crafted items in our Elemental pre-raid list at 60, 17 of 23 for Enhancement and 22 of 27 for Restoration - more than for any other class we've checked.
• The reason: three new Leatherworking mail sets - Skycaller's for Elemental, Skirmisher's for Enhancement and Mender's for Restoration - and every piece is Binds when picked up.
• Levels 30-40: the crafted picks are mostly Blacksmithing chain mail, also BoP.
• Once you raid: every crafted item in our three Shaman Raid lists is Binds when equipped, so Alchemy + Herbalism becomes the better choice for mana and flasks.
• Worth knowing: Enchanting makes Shaman Totems, including the Totem of Thunder for Lightning Bolt.
• Every Shaman: First Aid (it now makes Healing Potions) and Cooking (it builds the campfire).

How we picked the best professions for Shamans

Every Shaman spec on our site has a BiS list with up to four ranked picks per slot, for level 40, level 50, pre-raid gear at 60 and raid gear at 60. The lists come from the WoW Forever game files (build 1.60.1.70532) and each spec's own stat weights - spell power, hit and mana regeneration for Elemental, weapon damage, Strength and crit for Enhancement, and mana regeneration and healing for Restoration. We took every crafted item in those lists and noted which profession makes it and how it binds.

Binding is what decides whether a profession is worth it. A Binds when equipped (BoE) item can be crafted by anyone and sold on the auction house. A Binds when picked up (BoP) item is soulbound to the crafter. A profession that makes BoP gear for your spec gives you something no amount of gold can buy.

Shamans lean on crafted gear more than most classes: 23 to 27 crafted entries in every pre-raid list at 60. Leatherworking dominates from level 50 on. At level 40, Blacksmithing does. And in raid gear, crafted items drop to between 4 and 11 per spec, none of them BoP.

Leatherworking: the best profession for Shamans in WoW Forever

WoW Forever Leatherworking has 592 recipes in the current game files, the most of any profession, and Kami Labs came to the same conclusion from its own lists: of all classes, the Shaman takes the most Leatherworking items. In ours, Leatherworking makes 58 of the 73 crafted entries across the three pre-raid lists at 60.

The biggest reason is new to WoW Forever: three mail sets, one per spec. Each has boots, shoulders, bracers, sabatons, gauntlets and a belt, made between skill 205 and 270, for levels 40 to 50 - and every piece is Binds when picked up.

• Skycaller's Mail (Elemental): Intellect, spell damage and healing, Spirit and Stamina. Skycaller's Mail Belt has +12 Intellect, up to 16 spell power and +10 Stamina.
• Skirmisher's Mail (Enhancement): Strength, spell power, Intellect and Stamina. Skirmisher's Mail Gauntlets has +14 Strength, +6 Intellect, up to 11 spell power and +9 Stamina.
• Mender's Mail (Restoration): Intellect, healing and Stamina. Mender's Mail Belt has +12 Intellect, up to 30 healing and +10 Stamina.

The three sets share most of their materials - Thick and Rugged Leather, Cured Hides, Pristine Hide and Heavy Silken Thread - and differ in one special ingredient: Elemental Water for Skycaller's, Citrine for Skirmisher's and Iridescent Pearl for Mender's. That makes it cheap to make a second set if you play two specs.

The pieces need levels 40 to 50 to wear, and they last a long time. Skycaller's Mail Bracers, a level 45 item, are still the top bracers in our Elemental pre-raid list at 60, and the Mender's bracers and belt are still first for Restoration. Few items from your 40s stay in your best gear that long.

At level 50 these sets are the backbone of every Shaman list. In our Restoration list, the Mender's shoulders, bracers, gauntlets, belt and sabatons are all the top pick in their slot - 21 of the 25 crafted items in that list are BoP. Elemental and Enhancement look the same, with four set pieces each in first place.

Leatherworking at level 60: the best Shaman gear is BoE

At 60, Leatherworking makes even more of the Shaman lists, but the best items change. The new top picks are mostly Binds when equipped:

• Pristine Scorpid Leggings - up to 33 spell power, +18 Strength and +14 Critical Strike Rating. The top pre-raid legs for all three Shaman specs.
• Blue Dragonscale Helm - +18 Intellect, up to 25 spell power and +10 Hit Rating; the top helm for Elemental and Restoration.
• Storm Gauntlets - up to 18 spell power, +10 Hit Rating and Lightning damage on your melee attacks; the top gloves for Elemental.
• Eternity Pauldrons, Red Dragonscale Breastplate, Green Dragonscale Gauntlets and Broodwatcher's Treaders - top healing pieces for Restoration.
• Black Dragonscale Helm, Tranquil Wristguards, Mourning Handguards, Heavy Timbermaw Belt and Scalegut Treaders - top pieces for Enhancement.

The set pieces that still lead their slot at 60 are BoP: Skycaller's Mail Bracers for Elemental, and Mender's Mail Bracers and Mender's Mail Belt for Restoration. So a Leatherworker still has an edge - but most of the best Shaman gear at 60 can be bought from someone else.

Some of these recipes are expensive. The Blue Dragonscale Helm and Pristine Scorpid Leggings each take 20 Fel Leather, 12 Enchanted Leather and 10 Pristine Scale on top of 40 dragonscales or scorpid scales. The Eternity Pauldrons need two Malleable Essence of Nature, which comes from disenchanting items from Hyjal Summit or Barrow Deeps. Leatherworkers who get these patterns early will make a lot of gold.

Blacksmithing: the surprise at levels 30 to 40

Look at our level 40 lists and the picture flips. Blacksmithing makes 12 of the 16 crafted entries for Elemental, 16 of 19 for Enhancement and 17 of 23 for Restoration - almost all of them BoP. These are chain mail pieces made between skill 95 and 175: the Acolyte's and Crusader's Silvered Chain shirts, helms and leggings, and gauntlets and belts like the Prefect's Gauntlet and Prefect's Belt.

That's a short window - from level 50 the Leatherworking sets take over - and nobody should pick Blacksmithing just for a few levels of gear. But if you're levelling with a Blacksmith friend, it's worth asking them for a few pieces.

Blacksmithing matters for weapons too. The top two-hander at level 50 for all three specs is the Thorium Greatmace (BoP), and at 60 the best two-handers are Blacksmithing BoE: Stormcarver for Elemental and Restoration, Forest Defender's Axe for Enhancement. Stormcarver needs 20 Legionite Bars - an Alchemy transmute with a 47-hour cooldown - so it will be rare and expensive for a while.

Elemental Shaman professions

Our Elemental Shaman BiS list has 23 crafted entries at 60: 19 Leatherworking, 3 Blacksmithing and 1 Enchanting. Crafted gear is the top pick in five slots - the Blue Dragonscale Helm, Skycaller's Mail Bracers, Storm Gauntlets, Pristine Scorpid Leggings and Stormcarver.

Elemental values hit and mana regeneration highly, and the crafted pieces deliver both: the Blue Dragonscale Helm and Storm Gauntlets each carry +10 Hit Rating. Enchanting adds the Truesilver Conduit off-hand (BoP) to the list.

Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning while you level and gear up. Once you raid, Alchemy + Herbalism - Elemental burns mana fast, and Alchemy makes the Flask of Supreme Power, Mageblood Elixir and Major Mana Potions. Herbalism's Incense Candle (Intellect) and Alchemy's Mana Well (mana every 5 seconds) are both caster camp buffs.

Enhancement Shaman professions

Enhancement in WoW Forever can't dual-wield - it fights with a two-handed axe or mace. Our Enhancement Shaman BiS list has 23 crafted entries at 60: 17 Leatherworking, 4 Blacksmithing, 1 Enchanting and 1 Tailoring. Crafted items are the top pick in eight slots, from the Black Dragonscale Helm to the Forest Defender's Axe.

Only one of those eight is BoP: the Frozen Heart of the Mountain, an Enchanting trinket that's the top pick at 50 and 60, mainly for its +9 Hit Rating. Everything else - all six Leatherworking pieces and the axe - is BoE. That makes Enhancement the Shaman spec that needs Leatherworking the least at 60.

Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning to 60 for the Skirmisher's set, then Alchemy + Herbalism for Elixirs of the Mongoose and flasks. If you'd rather stay a crafter, Mining is a good partner for Enhancement: its Lodestone camp feature gives up to 90 melee Attack Power, and Blacksmithing's Sharpening Wheel up to 34 Strength.

Restoration Shaman professions

Restoration is the Shaman spec that gets the most from Leatherworking. Our Restoration Shaman BiS list has 27 crafted entries at 60 - 22 of them Leatherworking - and crafted items are the top pick in 11 slots. Two are BoP Mender's pieces; the rest, from the Hide of the Wild cloak to the Evergreen Shield, are BoE.

Restoration's best weapon setup is a one-hander with a shield, and the shield is the Blacksmithing Evergreen Shield. Enchanting adds the Twisting Essence Jar off-hand (BoP) as an alternative.

Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning to 60, then Alchemy + Herbalism once you raid. Gfinity makes the same call for raiding Shamans: "In raids, Shaman totems combined with Alchemy allow you to keep mana flowing".

Raiding: every crafted Shaman item can be bought

In our Raid lists, crafted items thin out: 4 for Elemental, 11 for Enhancement and 6 for Restoration. Every one of them is Binds when equipped - the Blue Dragonscale Helm, Pristine Scorpid Leggings, Eternity Pauldrons, Hide of the Wild, Forest Defender's Axe and, for Enhancement, the Obsidian Mail Tunic and Nightfall.

So once you raid, no profession gives a Shaman gear you can't buy. That's when consumables matter more than crafting: Alchemy for flasks and mana potions, and Herbalism to supply it. A Flask of Distilled Wisdom takes 30 Dreamfoil, 10 Icecap and a Black Lotus, so an Herbalist-Alchemist saves a lot of gold every raid week.

Enchanting: totems for Shamans

Enchanting has something only Shamans use: Totems, the Shaman relic. The game files have three made by Enchanters:

• Totem of Thunder (skill 320, BoP) - increases the critical strike chance of Lightning Bolt. Kami Labs puts it at +1%. For Elemental and Enhancement.
• Totem of Urgency (skill 310, BoE) - increases the critical strike chance of Lesser Healing Wave. For Restoration.
• Totem of Ancestral Protection (skill 225, BoP) - reduces the cooldown of Grounding Totem. A PvP pick.

Our BiS lists don't score the relic slot, so these don't show up in our counts - but the Totem of Thunder is BoP, which makes Enchanting a real option for an Elemental Shaman. Enchanting also makes Shaman enchants like Spell Power and Healing Power for necklaces, bracers and weapons, and its camp feature, the Enchanted Lute, adds Armor.

Kami Labs suggests Leatherworking + Enchanting for Enhancement and Leatherworking + Tailoring for Elemental and Restoration. Our lists only have one Tailoring item per spec at most, so we'd take Skinning over Tailoring.

Which gathering profession for a Shaman?

Leatherworking is the clear crafting pick, but the gathering half is worth a second look. Here's how the three options compare for a Shaman in WoW Forever:

• Skinning feeds Leatherworking directly. The Skycaller's, Skirmisher's and Mender's sets need Heavy, Thick and Rugged Leather, Cured Hides and Pristine Hide, and most level 60 recipes take 20 to 40 Rugged Leather each. Its camp feature, the Camp Chair, is a crit buff every spec can use.
• Herbalism feeds Alchemy. It makes the most sense if you plan to switch to Alchemy at 60, because you'll already have the skill when you need Dreamfoil and Icecap for flasks. Its Incense Candle gives Intellect - good for Elemental and Restoration.
• Mining doesn't feed Leatherworking at all, but it sells well - every crafter at skill 300 needs Heavy Thorium Bars - and its Lodestone camp feature is a melee buff for Enhancement.

Our advice: Skinning while you level with Leatherworking. If you know you'll raid, keep Skinning until your Leatherworking sets are done, then replace Leatherworking with Alchemy and Skinning with Herbalism - in that order, so the gold from your last leather sales pays for the switch. You only lose a few days of levelling the new professions, and at 60 the raid flasks matter more than one more crafted piece you could have bought.

First Aid and Cooking: free picks for every Shaman

• First Aid now makes Healing Potions - from the basic one up to Major Healing Potion at skill 290 - so you don't need Alchemy for those. Its First Aid Kit camp feature gives 3 to 56 Stamina.
• Cooking builds the campfire every camp starts with.
• Fishing feeds Cooking, and its Fish Bowl camp feature gives 8% to all stats.

When each Shaman profession pays off

• Levels 30-40: Blacksmithing chain mail - but only for a few levels.
• Levels 40-55: Leatherworking's Skycaller's, Skirmisher's and Mender's sets. This is where Leatherworking pays off most, because every piece is BoP.
• Level 60, pre-raid: Leatherworking still makes most of your best gear, but most of it is BoE.
• Raiding: Alchemy + Herbalism for flasks and mana.

Most Shamans will get the most out of Leatherworking + Skinning from the start: the two level together while you quest, and the sets cover six slots from level 40 to 50 and beyond. Switching to Alchemy + Herbalism at 60 takes time, but the gold you made from Skinning and selling BoE mail will pay for it.

Making gold as a Shaman

Shaman crafters have a lot to sell. Most of the best Leatherworking mail at 60 is BoE, and Hunters want much of the same Agility and Intellect gear - the Black Dragonscale Helm and Mourning Handguards are top picks for both classes. The items worth watching:

• Caster mail: Blue Dragonscale Helm, Pristine Scorpid Leggings and Storm Gauntlets.
• Healing mail: Eternity Pauldrons, Red Dragonscale Breastplate and Hide of the Wild.
• Melee mail: Black Dragonscale Helm, Mourning Handguards and Heavy Timbermaw Belt.

Best professions for Shamans in WoW Forever: FAQ

• What are the best professions for Shamans in WoW Forever? Leatherworking + Skinning while levelling and gearing up, then Alchemy + Herbalism once you raid.
• Is Leatherworking worth it for Shamans? Yes. It makes most of the crafted gear in all three Shaman BiS lists, and the Skycaller's, Skirmisher's and Mender's sets are BoP.
• Which Leatherworking set is for which spec? Skycaller's Mail for Elemental, Skirmisher's Mail for Enhancement and Mender's Mail for Restoration.
• What's the best profession for Restoration Shamans? Leatherworking + Skinning. Restoration has the most crafted items of any Shaman spec - 27 in our pre-raid list at 60 - and the Mender's set is BoP. Switch to Alchemy + Herbalism for raiding.
• Should a Shaman take Enchanting? It's the best alternative - it makes the BoP Totem of Thunder for Lightning Bolt and Shaman enchants - but it doesn't make much gear in our lists.
• Do gathering professions give passive bonuses in WoW Forever? Blizzard hasn't confirmed any. Lists of Skinning or Herbalism perks have been traced to an AI-generated post - see our professions guide.

More Shaman guides: best race for Shamans in WoW Forever, the best DPS class in WoW Forever, and every camp feature in WoW Forever.

Sources

• Forever Upgrades Shaman BiS lists (Elemental, Enhancement and Restoration, levels 40, 50 and 60, Pre-Raid and Raid), and recipes, materials and item binding from the WoW: Forever game files, build 1.60.1.70532, on our Professions pages (October 28, 2026)
• Gather Around the Campfire in World of Warcraft: Forever (Blizzard, October 21, 2026)
• WoW Forever Professions: Camp Buffs, Changes and Best Picks (Gamer Guides, updated October 18, 2026)
• The Best Profession Pairings for Every Class in World of Warcraft: Forever (Gfinity Esports, October 6, 2026)
• WoW Forever Professions by Class: My BiS List Picks (Kami Labs, October 25, 2026)