Enhancement Shaman Class Guide
Written by: McGoo (Bartuck) of <Peachy Keen> of US-Stormreaver
Overview and Specializations
The Enhancement Shaman is a hybrid melee that utilizes a combination of melee strikes with instant cast spells to do damage. While it is primarily a Dps spec, it is capable of efficient off healing and raid wide utility.
When you choose Enhancement as your specialization at level 10 you gain access to the following abilities/passive effects:
When you choose Enhancement as your specialization at level 10 you gain access to the following abilities/passive effects:
Lava Lash
arguably the backbone of the Enhancement rotation, this spell is one of your higher priority abilities.
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Mental Quickness
This is your only source of spellpower, which is used to power your offensive and defensive spells.
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Dual Wield
Allows you to wield a weapon in each hand, parry incoming melee attacks and grants a moderate amount of hit rating.
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After that, you gain the rest of your skills as you level up. These are the Enhancement specific ones:
Level Skill
20 Flurry
26 Stormstrike
30 Windfury Weapon
34 Searing Flames
40 Static Shock
44 Fire Nova
50 Maelstrom Weapon
55 Unleashed Rage
60 Feral Spirit
60 Spirit Walk
65 Shamanistic Rage
80 Mastery: Enhanced Elements
We also see quite a few new and altered abilities for MoP. Totems in general saw a huge re-work and we lost all of our static buff totems. Strength of Earth, Windfury and Flametongue are gone, but we have gained many totems that grant active effects for the totems duration. Here is a quick list of some of our abilities and totems:
Level Skill
20 Flurry
26 Stormstrike
30 Windfury Weapon
34 Searing Flames
40 Static Shock
44 Fire Nova
50 Maelstrom Weapon
55 Unleashed Rage
60 Feral Spirit
60 Spirit Walk
65 Shamanistic Rage
80 Mastery: Enhanced Elements
We also see quite a few new and altered abilities for MoP. Totems in general saw a huge re-work and we lost all of our static buff totems. Strength of Earth, Windfury and Flametongue are gone, but we have gained many totems that grant active effects for the totems duration. Here is a quick list of some of our abilities and totems:
Cleanse Spirit
While this isn’t a new ability entirely, it has been changed to remove all curses from a friendly target, but now having a 8 second cooldown.
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Flurry
While not new to Enhancement, it has been changed. In addition to its old effect, it grants a haste bonus for its duration based on our overall haste rating.
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Healing Stream
Healing Stream is no longer a long term minor healing totem. It now lasts 15 seconds and has a 30 second cooldown and heals party members starting from those who are most injured.
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Burning Wrath
A passive aura that grants 10% spellpower to all friendly party members. Has no effect on Enhancement due to our only source of spellpower being Mental Quickness.
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Feral Spirit
No longer a pet summon, they have changed to guardians. This means less less control, but they have gained the ability Spirit Bite, which is a nature based attacked that works well against armored targets.
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Spirit Walk
An excellent sprint that used to be tied to Feral Spirit.
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Capacitor Totem
A mostly PvP based totem, it can have relevant uses in PvE. Adds on Ragnaros come to mind, but there might uses for it in future PvE encounters.
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Stormlash Totem
A new raidwide dps cooldown. This makes every attack performed by any friendly unit (pets, players, totems) grant an extra attack that does nature damage. Lining this up with Bloodlust/Heroism will make your raid dps shoot up pretty high.
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Grace of Air
Another raidwide passive aura, this one grants mastery.
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Ascendance
This is the big, our brand new cooldown. This effects all three specs in different ways, and in Enhancements case it makes our Stormstrike and auto attacks work from 30 yards and they deal pure nature damage for its duration. This is in excellent cooldown and should be used as often as possible.
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Rotation and Priorities
Rather than follow a set “rotation” of which spells to use, Enhancement utilizes a priority system based on ability procs and individual ability cooldowns. The basic priority is as follows:
Priority Abbreviation Meaning
1 ST_0 Searing Totem with zero ticks remaining
2 UE_EF Unleash Elements if specced into Unleashed Fury
3 MW5_LB Maelstrom Weapon x5 stacks + Lightning Bolt
4 SS Stormstrike/Stormblast
5 LL Lava Lash with 5 Searing Flame stacks
6 UE Unleash Elements
7 MW>3_LB_UF Maelstrom Weapon >3 stacks + Lightning Bolt and UF debuff up
8 FS_UEF Flame Shock if the Unleash Flame buff is present and FS is about to fall off
9 ES Earth Shock
10 SW Spirit Wolves//Feral Spirit
11 EE Earth Elemental
12 MW>1_LB Maelstrom Weapon >1 stacks + Lightning Bolt
13 ST Re-drop Searing Totem if it’s about to expire
While this may seem confusing to the initiated, it really falls into place in actual practice. One major thing that I want to point out is that while LL typically hits harder than SS, the cooldowns on both abilities can become synchronized if the priority is not followed. This leads to dead GCD’s and less dps.
Enhancements AoE potential is pretty strong, but requires a certain degree of execution. Lava Lashing a target that is currently afflicted with your Flame Shock will spread that FS to up to 5 nearby targets. Casting Fire Nova will cause all FS’d targets to “explode” and cause fire damage to all nearby enemies. During AoE, you can typically continue your normal rotation while weaving in Fire Nova into open GCD’s. Replace Lightning Bolt with Chain Lightning.
Priority Abbreviation Meaning
1 ST_0 Searing Totem with zero ticks remaining
2 UE_EF Unleash Elements if specced into Unleashed Fury
3 MW5_LB Maelstrom Weapon x5 stacks + Lightning Bolt
4 SS Stormstrike/Stormblast
5 LL Lava Lash with 5 Searing Flame stacks
6 UE Unleash Elements
7 MW>3_LB_UF Maelstrom Weapon >3 stacks + Lightning Bolt and UF debuff up
8 FS_UEF Flame Shock if the Unleash Flame buff is present and FS is about to fall off
9 ES Earth Shock
10 SW Spirit Wolves//Feral Spirit
11 EE Earth Elemental
12 MW>1_LB Maelstrom Weapon >1 stacks + Lightning Bolt
13 ST Re-drop Searing Totem if it’s about to expire
While this may seem confusing to the initiated, it really falls into place in actual practice. One major thing that I want to point out is that while LL typically hits harder than SS, the cooldowns on both abilities can become synchronized if the priority is not followed. This leads to dead GCD’s and less dps.
Enhancements AoE potential is pretty strong, but requires a certain degree of execution. Lava Lashing a target that is currently afflicted with your Flame Shock will spread that FS to up to 5 nearby targets. Casting Fire Nova will cause all FS’d targets to “explode” and cause fire damage to all nearby enemies. During AoE, you can typically continue your normal rotation while weaving in Fire Nova into open GCD’s. Replace Lightning Bolt with Chain Lightning.
Cooldowns
With MoP, the number of cooldowns available to Enhancement will rise from 1 to 3. Like nearly every other class, our cooldowns will be most effective when lined up with other cooldowns, racial effects, potions, bloodlust, and other major buffs.
Spirit Wolves
Spirit Wolves remain from Wotlk/Cata, and should be used during an open GCD when available
Ascendance
Our brand new cooldown that will become available at level 87, will allow Stormstrike (renamed to Stormblast during the duration of Ascendance) and our melee attacks to deal pure nature damage and be useable from 30 yards. Ascendance lasts 15 seconds and should typically be stacked with other cooldowns and whenever available.
Fire Elemental Totem
While not technically “new” for MoP, is our Fire Elemental totem. While this spell has been in the game for some time, it has never been a viable option for Enhancement due to Searing Totem being the only avenue we have to attain Searing Flame stacks. However, as of patch 5.0 the Fire Elemental will grant stacks of Searing Flames. The damage this thing deals is pretty extraordinary and should be used whenever possible.
Talents
Talents saw probably the biggest re-work for the expansion. No longer assigning points into a specific talent tree relevant to your spec, we now have 6 total talent points that our used in one class wide tree. All 3 specs have access to the same talent tree now and can have multiple uses. Each tier of talents of tree have a set “theme” and all 3 of the talents within that tier adhere to that theme.
Tier1—Survival
Tier2—Movement/mobility
Tier3—Totems
Tier4—Dps/Hps
Tier5—Raid/Group Healing
Tier6—Dps/hps
Only 2 tiers directly affect our dps in any large manner, but the other 4 tiers can prove to be useful in a PvE setting.
Tier1—Survival
Tier2—Movement/mobility
Tier3—Totems
Tier4—Dps/Hps
Tier5—Raid/Group Healing
Tier6—Dps/hps
Only 2 tiers directly affect our dps in any large manner, but the other 4 tiers can prove to be useful in a PvE setting.
15
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Nature's Guardian
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Stone Bulwark Totem
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Astral Shift
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Natures Guardian-This is the one I recommend for most PvE scenarios. It’s a passive effect that will proc when the conditions are met.
Stone Bulwark Totem-I found this most useful while leveling due to its ramp up time and long duration. With that said, its probably the weakest choice on this tier due to its ramp up time.
Astral Shift-This is my personal favorite for this tier. Its essentially a mini shield wall and stacks with Shamanistic Rage. Its also off the GCD.
Stone Bulwark Totem-I found this most useful while leveling due to its ramp up time and long duration. With that said, its probably the weakest choice on this tier due to its ramp up time.
Astral Shift-This is my personal favorite for this tier. Its essentially a mini shield wall and stacks with Shamanistic Rage. Its also off the GCD.
30
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Frozen Power
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Earthgrab Totem
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Windwalk Totem
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Frozen Power-While this is mandatory in PvP, it doesn’t have much use in PvE. Burning a shock cooldown for a root isn’t the best option for this tier.
Earthgrab Totem-This is the better option if you need a dependable root. It’s an AoE effect, lasts just as long as Frozen Power and applies a slow after the root effect ends.
Windwalk Totem-Probably the most interesting in this tier, this makes all friendly units immune to movement impairing effects. The fights where this will be useful are few and far between, but being able to essentially freedom your entire raid will be useful when the time comes.
Earthgrab Totem-This is the better option if you need a dependable root. It’s an AoE effect, lasts just as long as Frozen Power and applies a slow after the root effect ends.
Windwalk Totem-Probably the most interesting in this tier, this makes all friendly units immune to movement impairing effects. The fights where this will be useful are few and far between, but being able to essentially freedom your entire raid will be useful when the time comes.
45
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Call of the Elements
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Totemic Restoration
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Totemic Projection
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Call of the Elements- While this used to be far better than its current iteration, its been nerfed quite a few times to what it is now. Can be used to double up on shield or minor healing totems.
Totem Restoration- The key to this totem is that you as the player can reduce the cooldowns on your totems. You can drop your Fire Elemental for short burst, remove the totem and have it up again for the best short burn.
Totemic Projection- This is my personal favorite of the tier. It allows us to place our totems at range, and has a pretty wide set of uses. Placing a Fire Elemental, Windwalk or Magma totem at 30 yards can be pretty useful, and its interaction with Capacitor Totem finally gives Enhancement a ranged stun
Totem Restoration- The key to this totem is that you as the player can reduce the cooldowns on your totems. You can drop your Fire Elemental for short burst, remove the totem and have it up again for the best short burn.
Totemic Projection- This is my personal favorite of the tier. It allows us to place our totems at range, and has a pretty wide set of uses. Placing a Fire Elemental, Windwalk or Magma totem at 30 yards can be pretty useful, and its interaction with Capacitor Totem finally gives Enhancement a ranged stun
60
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Elemental Mastery
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Ancestral Swiftness
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Echo of the Elements
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Elemental Mastery-Formerly Elemental’s exclusive cooldown, this can be used to for some pretty heavy burst. While this might not be as effective as Echo in full fights, the on demand burst this can provide must not be ignored.
AncestralSwiftness-This used to be in Restoration tree and now it has a added passive effect. The % Haste isn’t that great for us, and the instant spell it provides is already available to us via Maelstrom Weapon but without the cooldown. Ignore this one.
Echo of the Elements-This one is incredibly strong for Enhancement. Its proc rate is 30% (!) and applies to nearly every spell we use. This one currently provides the most dps for us in a full fight scenario and is what we’ll use for nearly every encounter.
AncestralSwiftness-This used to be in Restoration tree and now it has a added passive effect. The % Haste isn’t that great for us, and the instant spell it provides is already available to us via Maelstrom Weapon but without the cooldown. Ignore this one.
Echo of the Elements-This one is incredibly strong for Enhancement. Its proc rate is 30% (!) and applies to nearly every spell we use. This one currently provides the most dps for us in a full fight scenario and is what we’ll use for nearly every encounter.
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Healing Tide Totem
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Ancestral Guidance
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Conductivity
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Healing Tide Totem- A raid wide healing cooldown that we can set for one GCD and continue with our Dps rotation. While this may not scale as well as Ancestral Guidance, this seems to be our best option through T14.
Ancestral Guidance-This is a pretty powerful ability and has a lower cooldown thatn Healing Tide. This can be timed with your Dps cooldowns to really pump out some smart healing, but greatly loses its value when you cant do as much damage. On a side note, this is amazing for PvP.
Conductivity-This is pretty weak for Enhancement. On top of burning a MSWx5 to drop it, you wont be able to get much healing out of it with just shocks and your melee abilities. Leave this one for your resto spec.
Ancestral Guidance-This is a pretty powerful ability and has a lower cooldown thatn Healing Tide. This can be timed with your Dps cooldowns to really pump out some smart healing, but greatly loses its value when you cant do as much damage. On a side note, this is amazing for PvP.
Conductivity-This is pretty weak for Enhancement. On top of burning a MSWx5 to drop it, you wont be able to get much healing out of it with just shocks and your melee abilities. Leave this one for your resto spec.
90
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Unleashed Fury
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Primal Elementalist
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Elemental Blast
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Unleashed Fury- This one is mostly passive, but quite strong. It synergizes quite well with Echo of the Elements and will typically provide you with the most single target dps. Taking this talent will move UE to the top of your priority queue.
Primal Elementalist- This will make both of your Elemental spells do serious damage and grants you immense burst. This is best coupled with Elemental Mastery and should be used for fights that serious burn phases.
Elemental Blast- Probably the most interesting choice of this tier, however, it seems out to the weakest. While this is affected my Maelstrom Weapon, using it on cooldown to maximize its uptime would have you harcasting it at times. Doing so will make the rest of the rotation clunky and generally not optimized.
Primal Elementalist- This will make both of your Elemental spells do serious damage and grants you immense burst. This is best coupled with Elemental Mastery and should be used for fights that serious burn phases.
Elemental Blast- Probably the most interesting choice of this tier, however, it seems out to the weakest. While this is affected my Maelstrom Weapon, using it on cooldown to maximize its uptime would have you harcasting it at times. Doing so will make the rest of the rotation clunky and generally not optimized.
Stat Priorities and Reforging
Hit and Expertise have seen subtle changes for MoP. Both stats cap at 7.5% and expertise counts towards to spell hit cap. This means you only need 7.5% in hit and expertise be both parry capped AND spell hit capped. This is an excellent change and really frees up some stats for us.
Agility- Still our best stat available. It provides Crit and Attack Power which further converts into spellpower due to Mental Quickness. Aim for Agi based gear and always socket agility.
Mastery- This is has been our best stat through all of Cata and will stay that way with most talent combinations. The big change is that it only has a minor advantage over haste now.
Haste- This was our worst secondary stat throughout all of Cata, but this is no longer the case. In some talent scenarios Haste outdoes Mastery by a fair margin. This is the second stat you want to strive for after Mastery.
Crit- Now with 200% crits as base, Crit has seen a rise in value. However, its still an RNG based stat and is our worst secondary stat. Don’t gear or gem for it.
Spellpower- We are not affected in any way by outside sources of spellpower. We only gain SP through Mental Quickness and should never be geared or socketed for.
In short
Echo of the Elements + Unleashed Fury
Agility>Hit/Expertise>Mastery>Haste>crit
Elemental Mastery + Primal Elemantlist
Agility>Hit/Expertise>Haste>Mastery>Crit
Agility- Still our best stat available. It provides Crit and Attack Power which further converts into spellpower due to Mental Quickness. Aim for Agi based gear and always socket agility.
Mastery- This is has been our best stat through all of Cata and will stay that way with most talent combinations. The big change is that it only has a minor advantage over haste now.
Haste- This was our worst secondary stat throughout all of Cata, but this is no longer the case. In some talent scenarios Haste outdoes Mastery by a fair margin. This is the second stat you want to strive for after Mastery.
Crit- Now with 200% crits as base, Crit has seen a rise in value. However, its still an RNG based stat and is our worst secondary stat. Don’t gear or gem for it.
Spellpower- We are not affected in any way by outside sources of spellpower. We only gain SP through Mental Quickness and should never be geared or socketed for.
In short
Echo of the Elements + Unleashed Fury
Agility>Hit/Expertise>Mastery>Haste>crit
Elemental Mastery + Primal Elemantlist
Agility>Hit/Expertise>Haste>Mastery>Crit
Gems
Red
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Blue
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Yellow
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