WoW Forever shaman quest: The Tempest's Weapons

In Classic, warriors had the Whirlwind Axe and shamans had nothing like it. The level 30 beta changed that within a day: players found a new shaman chain that ends with The Tempest's Weapons, a quest that hands out a two-handed mace with the Whirlwind Axe's exact damage^[1]. Both factions can do it, and dwarf shamans, new in Forever, get an Alliance version that starts in Ironforge.

The whole chain is on the new shaman class quests page, with a tick for every step. Every class has that tab now, under Classes in the top bar.

The rewards: a weapon for each spec

You pick one of three weapons, and everyone also gets a shield^[2]. All four are item level 40, bind when picked up and ask for no level, so a level 30 character can wear them.

Rage of the Storm has the Whirlwind Axe's damage to the decimal: 102 to 154 at speed 3.60. Where the axe has Strength and Stamina, the mace has Stamina and Intellect, and an equip line that makes Stormstrike hit 10% harder. The Intellect is new: the game files had 16 Strength on it until the beta build of 4 October swapped it, as the mace's change log shows. An enhancement shaman now takes it for its damage rather than its stats. That line works at the cap: Forever moved Stormstrike up to the fourth row of the Enhancement tree, 15 points in, where Classic kept it at the bottom. You can check where it sits in the shaman talent calculator.

Lightning's Grasp adds up to 46 spell damage and healing and 1% more critical strike chance for Lightning Bolt. Tidebringer's Claw is the healer's pick: up to 86 healing, and 2% more critical strike chance for Healing Wave and Lesser Healing Wave. These are the spells they push, at the ranks a level 30 shaman has:

Elementalist's Guard is a shield with 1,078 armour, Stamina, Intellect and 2 mana every 5 seconds. Elemental and restoration shamans can wear it beside either fist weapon. An enhancement shaman with the mace has no hand left for it.

Where the chain starts

The chain opens at level 30, and how it starts depends on your side.

On the Alliance side, Eldrun Stormbreaker in Ironforge gives you Call of Air, which sends you to Veyric Thunderhame in Arathi Highlands. The quest text spells him Thundervein; the NPC himself is Thunderhame^[3]. From there it is five quests in all.

Horde shamans start with Classic's own Call of Air, from Searn Firewarder in Orgrimmar or Xanis Flameweaver in Thunder Bluff, which still ends at Prate Cloudseer in Thousand Needles. Forever's new quests start from Prate, so the Horde chain runs six quests counting Call of Air.

Call of Air gives the Air Totem on both sides. Players report the new chain is offered as soon as that quest is done^[1].

The chain, step by step

Elemental Aid

This level 33 quest sends you to defeat Charlga Razorflank in Razorfen Kraul and take the information on the quilboar's plans, a Tattered Note only shamans can carry. Charlga is the quilboar matriarch who rules the dungeon, so this is a full run.

Storm, Earth, and Fire

This one asks for twenty totems: five each of Twisted Fire, Earth, Air and Water Totems. Veyric hands you a book for the road, The Walks of Shaman^[4]. The first shaman to finish the chain collected the totems from four groups of mobs, five from each: murlocs in Dustwallow Marsh, centaurs in Desolace, the Lost Ones in Swamp of Sorrows and troggs in the Badlands. They put the drop chance at about one in four, as a guess^[1].

Heed My Call

The hard step is a level 40 quest: you use the Twisted Totems to break up a quilboar ritual at the steam pools in Thousand Needles. The same player describes waves of elementals, and a last wave with an elite quilboar of level 39 or 40 next to an elite water elemental^[1]. What you take from it is the Eye of the Tempest.

The Tempest's Weapons

The last quest is the walk to Bath'rah the Windwatcher in Alterac Mountains with the Eye. It is the same troll who hands warriors their Whirlwind weapons, and he turns the Eye into the reward you choose.

Can you finish it at level 30?

Yes, with help. The beta's cap is 30 and players there finished the chain within a day of the cap going up^[1]. Razorfen Kraul is a dungeon for levels 32 to 42 on the dungeon list, and Heed My Call is level 40 with elites at the end, so bring a group for both. The totems are the slow part: four zones, and a drop you may need many kills for.

What it does to the shaman BiS lists

All four rewards go straight onto the shaman BiS lists at 30, because the lists now count class quests as a place to get gear:

For restoration the shield is second in the off hand, behind Heart of Agamaggan, which has more for healing. Lightning's Grasp is restoration's third main hand, because its spell power heals as well.

What is not known yet

Wowhead's page for the Horde version still lists a rune from Season of Discovery as its reward^[5]. It is the same quest, with the same text and the same turn-in at Bath'rah, so we show the Alliance rewards for both sides until someone confirms otherwise. Wowhead does not give a level for every step yet, so those show as not known on the class quests page. And since this is the beta, the rewards can still change before launch: the item pages show their stats as Forever's game files have them today.