__________ 0. Into __________
Hello all you warmane players out there. Today i wanna teach some of the newer player the shaman enchantment DPS spec. (or some veterans out there who haven't gotten around to playing enchantment shaman yet). Enchantment shaman is, in my opinion, one of the most fun DPS classes out there and one of the classes that can dish out extreme DPS if played properly.
__________ 1. Content __________
0. Intro
1. Content
2. Choosing your faction
3. Choosing your race
4. The basics
5. Talents
6. Glyphs
7. Rotation
8. BiS list
9. Gemming
10. Enchanting
11. Professions
12. Tips
13. Conclusion
__________ 2. Choosing your faction __________
So there are currently 4 races which can play as the shaman. 1 on the alliance and 3 on the horde
Alliance:
-Draenei
Horde:
-Orc
-Tauren
-Troll
Why am i even talking about factions? Well because it's important to know what side you'll chose can impact your DPS. I suggest horde, not because i hate alliance or anything, but horde racial spells / passives are just more PvE oriented while Alliance racials are more PvP oriented. (sounds weird i thought it'd be the other way around since horde are the bloodthirsty things)
Recommended Faction: Horde
__________ 3. Choosing your race __________
If you do chose to play alliance there is nothing wrong with draenei, they get a raid wide buff that increases everyone's hit chance by 1% which isn't that bad.
But if you do chose Horde there are some options you can go with:
Orc - can enrage to deal additional damage
Tauren - has a stun
Troll - can enrage to increase attack / cast speed
Tauren falls off because tauren is the "tanking" class - all his racials are oriented around tanking (increased health, increased nature resistance, aoe stun)
Orc vs. Troll - so i've been recently testing out this and i did come to the conclusion that troll does more DPS then orc as one of the biggest priorities for Troll is Haste and attack speed is basically haste.
Recommended class: Troll
__________ 4. The basics __________
Shaman is a very versatile class. While it can be a melee DPS (enchantment) it can also be a ranged caster DPS (elemental) or a healer (restoration). Shamans can wear mail armor giving them quite a small competition when it comes to gear (their only competition are hunters... really).
Talking about Enchantment shamans your stat priority should be:
Hit (cap) > Haste > Arp > Atp > Crit > Agi
*Arp - Armor penetration
*Atp - Attack power
*Crit - Critical strike rating
*Agi - Agility
_____ 5. Talents _____
16/55/0 build - http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#hVhhVZ0xxIoxdIhusRuVo
Explanations:
Astral Knowledge 5/5 - Though we are melee attackers we still benefit a lot from intellect
Thundering Strikes 5/5 - More crit = more DPS
Improved Shields 3/3 - Lightning shield is part of your rotation so the increased damage from the lightning orbs is a DPS increase
Shamanistic Focus 1/1 - Though we are trying to melee a lot we still use mana and we run out quite a lot of it if not careful with our spells
Flurry 5/5 - Attack speed = Haste, haste is 1 of our most important stats
Improved windfury totem 2/2 - we will keep this thing out 24/7 while bashing bosses so it's another source of haste
Spirit weapons 1/1 - i took this mostly for the tanks to not make their lives harder but sometimes the parries come in handy as your tank can still die and enchantment shamans are capable of "off-tanking certain situations"
Mental Dexterity 3/3 - Gives you 1 Attack power for every point of intellect you have. Great increase in DPS as enchantment shamans have intellect in almost every part of their gear
Unleashed rage 3/3 - raid-wide attack power increase + expertise for yourself. Good DPS increase for the whole raid.
Dual Wield Specialization 3/3 - Hit chance = DPS as if you miss an ability / swing that will completely destroy your DPS (imagine some of your spells doing 0 damage but still being 100% neccessary for your rotation... ugh)
Dual Wield 1/1 - Simply... More DPS
Stormstrike 1/1 - Part of your Rotation
Static Shock 3/3 - This is where improved shields come in handy. It's another way of you doing DPS a.k.a. DPS increase.
Lava Leash 1/1 - Part of your Rotation
Improved stormstrike - gives you 20% of your base mana every time you use stormstrike - bye almost all your mana problems
Mental Quickness 3/3 - Increases spellpower, reduces manacosts. Great talent as part of your rotation consists of spells which scale with spell power
Maelstrom Weapon 5/5 - you're able to get a 100% cast time reduction on a lightning bolt / chain lightning making that spell essentially free DPS
Feral Spirit 1/1 - 3 badass wolves fighting for you increasing your DPS.
Concussion 5/5 - Shock spell damage increase (part of our rotation) and lightning bolt damage increase as you will have a free lightning bolt from time to time why not buff it up?
Call of Flame 3/3 - Fire totems / Fire nova are part of your rotation
Elemental Devastation 3/3 - Increases melee crit chance for every spell crit you get. Good combo
Elemental fury 5/5 - Incrases crit damage bonus of your fire and nature spells. DPS increase.
__________ 6. Glyphs __________
Glyphs i currently use:
1.Major:
-Glyph of Stormstrike
-Glyph of Feral Spirit
-Glyph of Flame Shock
2.Minor:
-Glyph of Astral Recall
-Glyph of Renewed Life
-Glyph of Ghost Wolf
Note: Minor Glyphs are not important, you can chose whichever ones you like.
Glyphs that can be used on enchantment shaman you can consider using:
1.Major:
-Glyph of Flametongue Weapon
-Glyph of Lightning Bolt
-Glyph of Lightning Shield
-Glyph of Windfury Weapon
2.Minor:
>No real impacts on DPS or playstyle overall<
__________ 7. Rotation __________
Priority list:
Maelstrom Weapon 5x Lightning Bolt - Cast a Lightning Bolt when you have 5 Maelstrom weapon stacks - Chain Lightning does less dmg against a single target as it doesn't scale as well. For multiple target fights then naturally using Chain Lightning will be higher dps.
Lightning Shield - Cast Lightning Shield if there are no orbs left on you.
Feral Spirit - Cast Feral Spirit if the ability is off CD. (Use your own judgement for timing with Bloodlust/Heroism)
Shamanistic Rage - Cast Shamanistic Rage if the ability is off CD. (with 2p T10 should be used immediately)
Stormstrike - Cast a Stormstrike if there are no charges left on the target.
Fire Elemental - Cast your Fire Elemental if it is off CD (This will also free up GCDs for other abilities making it very useful during Bloodlust/Heroism).
Magma Totem - Refresh your Magma Totem if it has expired.
Flame Shock - Cast a Flame Shock if there is no Flame Shock debuff on target.
Earth Shock - Cast an Earth shock whenever its off cooldown and the above are not available.
Stormstrike - Cast a Stormstrike whenever its off cooldown and MW hasn't got 5 stacks - this does a fair amount of damage but more importantly refreshes the SS debuff on the target giving 28% extra nature damage (20% base + 8% glyph).
Lava Lash - Cast a lava lash whenever its off cooldown and none of the above abilities are available.
Fire Nova - Cast Fire Nova regardless of single target or AOE targets.
Magma Totem - Refresh your Magma Totem if there are 2 secs or less left.
Lightning Shield - Refresh your Lightning Shield if low number of orbs remaining (2 or less).
Totem refresh - if all else is on cooldown take the opportunity, if required, to refresh your totems.
Ok. Doesn't sound too cool, right? learning all this takes a pretty long time and then mastering this takes even more time.
So...
How to 2 button rotate enchantment shaman 101:
>First off you'll need a macro, to access your macros you can simply type in your chat /macro
>then you'll need to create a new macro and name it whatever you want (Rotation, Rot, Spells...)
>After that you copy this and paste it in "enter macro commands:" field below
Code:
/castsequence reset=6 magma totem, stormstrike, lava lash, flame shock, lightning shield, stormstrike, lava lash, earth shock
This is a macro that will keep casting spells in a specific order as you keep pressing the button over and over again, but if you stop pressing the button for 6 seconds it will reset the rotation.
The macro will cast the following spells in the following order:
Magma totem -> Stormstrike -> Lava Lash -> Flame Shock -> Lightning Shield -> Stormstrike -> Lava Lash -> Earth Shock
And then start over again from magma totem as long as you keep spamming the button
>second step is just putting a Lightning bolt on your action bar
>lastly all you need to do is spam this one button and watch out for when your maelstrom weapon reaches 5 stacks, then you'll instantly want to stop mashing that 1 poor button and use lightning bolt, after that continue mashing that button to continue the rotation.
__________ 8. BiS List __________
Head: Sanctified Frost Witch's Faceguard
Neck: Baltharus' Gift
Shoulders: Sanctified Frost Witch's Shoulderguards
Cloak: Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak
Chest: Sanctified Frost Witch's Chestguard
Wrists: Scourge Hunter's Vambraces
Hands: Handgrips of Frost and Sleet
Waist: Blood-Drinker's Girdle
Legs: Sanctified Frost Witch's War-Kilt
Feet: Returning Footfalls
Ring 1: Frostbrood Sapphire Ring
Ring 2: Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance
Trinket 1: Sharpened Twilight Scale
Trinket 2: Deathbringer's Will
Main-Hand: Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
Off-Hand: Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
Relic: Bizuri's Totem of Shattered Ice
__________ 9. Gemming __________
Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
Red: Bright Cardinal Ruby
Blue: Fractured Cardinal Ruby | 1x Nightmare Tear | Fractured Dragon's Eye (JC)
Yellow: Quick King's Amber
__________ 10. Enchanting __________
Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Cloak: Scroll of Enchant Cloak - Major Agility
Chest: Scroll of Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Wrists: Scroll of Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault
Gloves: Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Crusher
Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Feet: Scroll of Enchant Boots - Greater Assault
Ring 1: Enchant Ring - Assault (Enchanters)
Ring 2: Enchant Ring - Assault (Enchanters)
Main-Hand: Scroll of Enchant Weapon - Black Magic
Off-Hand: Scroll of Enchant Weapon - Berserking
__________ 11. Professions __________
Note: every profession has it's own uses and can be the best choice in certain situations.
1. Blacksmithing - 2 socket bonuses
2. Alchemy - endless buff potion
3. Enchanting - ring enchants
4. Engineering - lots of situational enchantments
5. Herbalism - Heal
6. Inscription - Shoulder enchant
7. Jewelcrafting - 3 unique gems
8. Mining - Stamina
9. Skinning - Crit strike rating
10. Tailoring - Pant enchant
Conclusion: i feel like the best ones are the jewelcrafting & enchanting combo as getting the ring enchants + 3 unique gems in your blue slots gives you a noticeable DPS boost unlike the other professions.
__________ 12. Tips __________
>You can bloodlust/Heroism your own Spirit Wolves so time them properly so they can benefit from the BL too
>Use the following totems: Strenght of earth totem, Magma Totem, Fire Resistance Totem, Windfury Totem (make these as your Call of the Elements). When you run low on mana switch out Fire Resistance totem for Mana spring totem (make these as your Call of the Ancestors). It will help you quickly switch between the 2 totem formations when needed. You can make your third totem formation according to the situation / boss encounter.
>Use your buffs in the following order: Shamanistic rage -> Feral Spirit -> Bloodlust -> Berserking (as your racial will last only 10 seconds and you want the most value out of it)
>Make sure to use Chain Lightning instead of Lightning Bolt on maelstrom procs when you're fighting groups of mobs
>Always apply Windfury Weapon to your Main-Hand and Flametongue Weapon to your Off-Hand because. Windfury is better then Flametongue for Enchantment shaman as the extra hit can increase the shaman's DPS significantly but we do enchant our Off-Hands with Flametongue because Lava Lash deals an extra 25% damage if your Off-Hand is imbued with Flametongue Weapon.
>Keep using Shamanistic Rage as soon as it comes off cooldown to keep your mana as high as possible
>Don't forget you have a self-res, if you mess up, you get another chance!
>Never use Water Shield when playing Elemental Shaman - it's a pretty big DPS drop.
>Never replace Flame Shock with Frost Shock as it'll be a great DPS loss.
__________ 12. Conclusion __________
I pretty much said everything about Enchantment shaman's i know so far, of course, i am no god with this class myself and i still have a lot to learn but i'm sure that this is one of the specs that has 1 of the highest potentials in the game. I hope you enjoyed the guide and if you have any more questions i'll be glad to answer them!