Shaman

Masters of the primal elements, Shaman manipulate nature’s forces to call up healing rains, unleash torrents of lava, or conjure spiritual allies to aid them in battle. A Shaman’s arsenal reflects the balance of the natural forces they wield: versatile and powerful minions, spells, buffs and damage.^[1]

Shaman is one of 11 classes in Hearthstone.

Heroes[]

Shaman is represented by the following heroes. Thrall is the default hero of Shaman.

Heroes

Alternate portraits

Background[]

Main article: Shaman

Shaman are spiritual guides and practitioners, not of the divine, but of the very elements. Unlike some other mystics, shaman commune with forces that are not strictly benevolent. The elements are chaotic, and left to their own devices, they rage against one another in unending primal fury. It is the call of the shaman to bring balance to this chaos. Acting as moderators among earth, fire, water, and air, shaman summon totems that focus the elements to support the shaman’s allies or punish those who threaten them.

These masters of the elements can also call upon elemental forces directly, unleashing torrents of lava and bolts of lightning against foes. The elements can create, destroy, support, and hinder. The experienced shaman balances the vast spectrum of these primordial forces into an array of diverse abilities, making shaman versatile heroes and valued members of any group.^[2]

Hero Power[]

Main article: Totemic Call

Activating the Shaman’s Hero Power will randomly summon 1 of 4 possible Totem minions: Healing Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, Searing Totem, or Strength Totem.^[1]

The shaman's Hero Power is Totemic Call, which randomly summons 1 of 4 possible Totem-type minions, each with different stats and abilities: Healing Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, Searing Totem, or Strength Totem.

Formerly, Totemic Call always summoned a Totem the hero did not already have in play in the battlefield; if the shaman already had all 4 different Totems in play, the Hero Power could not be used until one of them was removed. However, this restraint has been removed. Totems are created directly by the Hero Power, not played from the hand or drawn from the deck. Most Totems start with 0 Attack but cards like Bloodlust or even Raid Leader can turn a board of weak Totems into a force to be reckoned with.

Replacement Hero Powers[]

Totemic Slam is the upgraded Hero Power.
Charged Hammer Deathrattle will replace the current Hero Power with Lightning Jolt.
Thrall, Deathseer will replace the current Hero Power with Transmute Spirit, as well as replace the hero.
Hagatha the Witch will replace the current Hero Power with Bewitch, as well as replacing the hero.
Corrupt the Waters will replace the current Hero Power with Heart of Vir'naal once the Quest is completed.
Galakrond, the Tempest will replace the current Hero Power with Galakrond's Fury, as well as replace the hero.
Bru'kan of the Elements will replace the current Hero Power with Command the Elements, as well as replace the hero. Each turn, Command the Elements is replaced with Earth Invocation, Water Invocation, Fire Invocation, or Lightning Invocation at random.

Traits[]

Totems[]

Though typically inexpensive with smaller stats, Totems represent the Shaman's mastery over the elements and can sport powerful effects or overwhelm the opponent when enhanced.^[1]
Featured cards

Overload[]

Overload cards allow the Shaman to immediately tap into powerful effects by temporarily reducing their available Mana Crystals on the following turn.^[1]

Overload is an ability which reduces the amount of mana available the next turn by the stated amount. Most cards with Overload have a lower printed mana cost than similar cards from other classes (for instance, compare Forked Lightning and Cleave). This allows powerful spells and minions to be played for a low mana cost, allowing the shaman to gain a great amount of value in a turn at the cost of being able to play fewer cards the next turn. The shaman has many cards allowing him to put massive power into the board in one turn, such as Bloodlust, Lightning Storm, and Lava Burst. You can also overload more mana than you will have the next turn. Cards with this ability are limited to the shaman class.

Featured cards

Evolution[]

Shaman can unlock the secrets of life itself, evolving their minions into random minions of a higher cost or rarity.^[1]
Featured cards

How to get cards[]

Core cards[]

Raising Shaman up to level 10 awards 17 Core Shaman cards (32 copies), while winning up to 500 games in Ranked, Arena and Duels awards golden copies of existing cards. All Core cards are uncraftable and cannot be crafted or disenchanted.

Up to level 10, reaching each level will award the player two copies (one at level 10) of new Core Shaman cards.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 1.

Unlocked at level 10.

Unlocked at level 10.

Unlocked at level 2.

Unlocked at level 3.

Unlocked at level 4.

Unlocked at level 5.

Unlocked at level 6.

Unlocked at level 8.

Unlocked at level 9.

Expansion cards[]

Main article: Card pack

Shaman's expansion cards can be obtained mostly by obtaining corresponding card packs or Shaman class packs. The player can buy them in Shop with gold or real money, or get them through various sources. Some cards may be available through various promotions, like logging in to get them.

Mini-set cards, while can be obtained like expansion cards, can also be obtained by buying its bundle available in Shop for a limited-time. The player can buy the bundle with gold or real money.

Expansions cards are also craftable and can be obtained by crafting them with Arcane Dust.

Adventure cards[]

Main article: Adventure

Adventure cards can be obtained by completing their Adventure's encounters. They are uncraftable until the player completes the Adventure or their set rotates to Wild format. The player can buy the Adventure with gold for each individual part, or real money for the whole of it.

Cards[]

For Standard format cards, see Shaman/Standard format.

For Wild format cards, see Shaman/Wild format.

For Classic format cards, see Shaman/Classic format.

Breakdown of Shaman cards in both Standard and Wild formats can be seen in the following table.

**Shaman** card statistics
Rarity	Hero	Minion	Spell	Weapon	Location
Free	0	6	14	0	0
Common	0	56	59	5	0
Rare	0	45	52	10	1
Epic	0	27	26	8	0
Legendary	5	42	5	2	0

Strategy and gameplay[]

Shamans are highly flexible, boasting a wide variety of class cards that lend themselves to many different methods of achieving victory. With their unique mechanic Overload, Shamans can also play very strong spell and minion cards for little mana, at the cost of losing available mana the subsequent turn, but even their overloaded crystals can be used to their benefit with cards like Tunnel Trogg and Vessina. Their board control is excellent with removal and transform effects such as Lightning Storm, Hex, and Earthquake. Shamans also a wide range of powerful minions to choose from, ranging from low-cost (Flametongue Totem, Totem Golem), medium-cost (Flamewreathed Faceless, Earth Elemental), to the late-game (Fire Elemental, Al'Akir the Windlord).

Totems support the Shaman throughout a match, and can even be made into a fighting force in their own right. Totemic Call provides a steady stream of reinforcements, although their effects are random and they are unlikely to do much without more proactive minions to support. However, cards such as Bloodlust, Thunder Bluff Valiant, Totemic Surge, and Thing from Below reward a shaman for amassing totems.

Shamans have many ways to close out a game. Bloodlust and Windfury allow for game winning turns with super-buffed minions. The shaman can also deal huge burst damage with spells such as Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst, or even with their own weapon - a Rockbiter Weapon-enhanced Doomhammer is an iconic and devastating way to finish the game. Alternatively, a more control-oriented shaman can starve out enemies with massive heals (Healing Wave, Jinyu Waterspeaker, Hallazeal the Ascended), making them very difficult to remove.

As wielders of the elemental forces, Shamans have an affinity with Elementals, possessing more Elemental synergy effects out of any other classes. Shamans have access to both early-game Elementals with tons of utility like Fire Plume Harbinger and Hot Spring Guardian and synergy effects like Earthen Might, and late-game Elemental finishers like Stone Sentinel and Kalimos, Primal Lord for a huge tempo swing.

Another element unique to Shamans are cards that transform minions into an entirely new and random minion. Evolve, Unstable Evolution, Master of Evolution, Thrall, Deathseer, and The Storm Bringer transforms their own minions into a more costly minion, while Devolve does the opposite to their enemies. Although the effects are random, with proper setup their multiple high-cost, low-stat minions can turn into something else with stats and possible effects to better match their costs.

Shamans also have an affinity for murlocs. They can call upon lesser murlocs with cards like Primalfin Totem and Call in the Finishers and have cards that reward swarming with murlocs like Everyfin is Awesome and Unite the Murlocs. After all, the first murloc hero in Hearthstone is also a Shaman.

Battlecry is a common keyword that Shamans associate with. Along with their wide range of powerful Battlecry cards, the quest Corrupt the Waters, once completed, lets them double their Battlecry effects, making their already powerful cards even stronger. What's more, the dreaded Shudderwock repeats all the Battlecries they've played to create one incredibly devastating turn. Some more subtle related cards are cards that return minions back to the Shaman's hand, like Spirit Echo and Grumble, Worldshaker, so they they can be played again.

Counters[]

Totems will be a continuous part of the game when playing against a shaman, especially the slower kinds. Try to control the number of totems, since they can give the shaman strong beneficial effects along with minion count. This is especially important when playing against Totem Shaman/Bloodlust decks. The totems can range from being 1/1, 0/2, or 0/3 so they are quite fragile and nonthreatening by themselves, but totems like Mana Tide Totem which allow an extra draw per turn will give an enormous advantage if left unchecked. Totems are treated as minions and can be buffed with increased Attack as well as Health so leaving too many on the field at once may become dangerous if the shaman plays cards like Raid Leader or Bloodlust, or even Flametongue Totem for unexpected trades. You may even be able to use the totems against the shaman if you play cards like Sea Giant or Flesheating Ghoul which benefit with more minions on the field, but this is rarely worth the risk of leaving them in place. Good methods of removing totems include AoE damage like Hellfire or Holy Nova, or low-Attack minions that can trade with them without wasting too much face damage. The druid's Swipe can also be extremely effective against totems, especially when paired with Spell Damage.

Bloodlust and totem buffs like Thunder Bluff Valiant can allow the shaman to abruptly win the game if they have lots of minions on the field, so make sure to keep the number of minions the shaman has to a minimum. This includes 0-Attack Totems and other seemingly unthreatening minions. Remember that shamans often include a lot of burst damage spells like Lava Burst and Rockbiter Weapon, which when combined with a strong board can defeat even full-Health opponents.

When you play large drop cards, remember your opponent might have Hex. Try and bait out this card by playing threatening minions before playing your biggest minions or strong buffing spells, and keep in mind there are only 2 maximum in a deck (outside of Arena). Shamans also have Lightning Storm, so try to not have a large field when your opponent hasn't played them yet.