[Guide] Kalikia's Enhancement Shaman Guide 3.3.5a

[Kalikia]

Talent Build


Enhancement Tree

5/5 Ancestral Knowledge
5/5 Thundering Strikes
1/1 Shamanistic Focus
3/3 Improved Shields
3/3 Elemental Weapons
5/5 Flurry
2/2 Improved Windfury Totem
3/3 Mental Dexterity
3/3 Weapon Mastery
1/1 Spirit Weapons
3/3 Unleashed Rage
1/1 Dual Wield
1/1 Stormstrike
3/3 Dual Wield Specialization
1/1 Lava Lash
2/2 Improved Stormstrike
3/3 Static Shock
3/3 Mental Quickness
1/1 Shamanistic Rage
5/5 Maelstrom Weapon
1/1 Feral Spirit

Elemental Tree

5/5 Concussion
3/3 Elemental Devastation
2/3 Call of Flame
5/5 Elemental Flury
1/1 Elemental Focus

There are quite a few things here that can be tweaked based on preference, but this is a very good build and itÔÇÖs the one I use at all times. Some shamans prefer to enhance their totems rather than personal stats, but while raiding you may change your totems to accommodate other buffs/totems.

Glyphs

Major
-Glyph of Windfury Weapon
-Glyph of Stormstrike
-Glyph of Lava Lash

Minor
-Glyph of Water Shield
The other two donÔÇÖt really matter. Really, Water Shield doesn't either, but nothing else helps. I don't even use Glyph of Water shield myself. I hate reagents so much, I just use minor glyphs so I don't have to carry them :-D



Stats

The main stats you'll find on your gear will consist of Agility, Intellect, and Attack power. These are very important, but are not to be prioritized over the following.

Hit Rating: Spell Hit Cap is 16%*
This is a bit tricky. You are dual wielding and in all honesty, you will never reach the melee hit cap without sacrificing far too many other stats. Instead of reaching the melee hit cap, your goal is to meet the spell hit cap. This is your first priority as an end game enhancement shaman.

*Note: 16% is the cap for draeneis. Hordies will have to go for the 17% spell cap.

Expertise Rating: 26/26 (according to most, you only need 21/21 for molten because exp. is bugged here)
Expertise is your second priority and should be capped before focusing on anything else (besides hit rating). Since you talented 3/3 for Unleashed Rage, youÔÇÖre off to a good start. You want your expertise to say 26/26. Do not waste gems or enchants going higher than this.

Critical Strike:
Your goal for critical strike is to reach at least 30% unbuffed. Once youÔÇÖve done so, donÔÇÖt stress over it. Going over 30% is always great, but donÔÇÖt strive to do so.

Best Gems in Slot

The first thing to remember here are your priorites: Hit, Expertise, and Crit. If you have not reached your hit/expertise caps or 30% crit, then gem for these first. Eventually your gear will be good enough to help you reach all 3 of these numbers, but until then, donÔÇÖt be afraid to gem for them. Once all of these numbers have been reached the following gems are the best choices.

-Meta -Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
-Red -Bright Cardinal Ruby
-Yellow -Quick KingÔÇÖs Amber
-Blue - Make sure to have one Nightmare Tear to activate your meta, then for the rest, ignore the socket bonus and go with a fair balance between Bright Cardinal Ruby and Quick KingÔÇÖs Amber. You will gain far more from this than trying to use a green or purple gem with less than ideal stats.

Enchanting your gear

As with the gems, your first goal is to make sure you have reached your Hit and Expertise Cap, and at least 30% Crit unbuffed. Enchant however needed until this is achieved. Once you get better gear you will be able to use better enchants. These are enchants I have on my gear. There are plenty of other possibilities and IÔÇÖm sure equal or better options in some cases.

Head - Arcanum of Torment: From the Ebon Blade Quartermaster
Shoulders - MasterÔÇÖs Inscription of the Axe: This is from inscriptions. I know not everyone has inscriptions, and IÔÇÖm not sure which reputations give which enchants atm. I will get back to this at a later time.
Cloak - +22 Agility
Chest - +10 All Stats
Bracers - +50 Attack Power
Gloves - +44 Attack Power
Belt - Don't forget the Blacksmith's ever so handy Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs - +75 Attack Power +22 Critical Strike Rating (This is from Leatherworking)
Boots - +32 Attack Power
Weapons - Well.this is a tricky one, and even I havent decided which I prefer. I have the Berserking enchant on one, and the Black Magic enchant on the other. Another great option is double Berserking.

Weapons

Before engaging in any battle, always make sure to have your weapons imbued. For your main hand weapon, you want Windfury, and your off hand should be Flametongue.

ALWAYS go with the slowest weapons you can find. Axe or mace doesnt matter since Draenei dont receive any added bonus to any specific weaponBut remember to make sure both weapons are at least 2.6 speed or slower. 2.5 is ok if its the best you can find, but any faster than that and youre losing your windfury procs. I've found weapons of 2.6 and 2.7 speed to be the best.


Spell Rotation

Well, in all honesty, thereÔÇÖs really no set rotation. ItÔÇÖs all about priority and this is what makes an enhancement shaman one of the most complicated classes to be great at. I will make the list of priorities with brief explanations. If you have any questions please ask and IÔÇÖll do my best at explaining.

Before anything, make sure youÔÇÖve dropped your totems. IÔÇÖll go into detail about which totems you should use a little later.

1. Your first priority is your maelstrom weapon proc. Once youve stacked this 5 times you need to use Lightning bolt or Chain lightning (depending on your battle) IMMEDIATELY. Forget whats off cool down.and burn this as fast as you can. There is an addon called ShockandAwe that helps A LOT with this. It guides you on your priority sequence and lets you know when maelstrom is at 5 stacks. You have to tweak the addon a bit to make sure its got the right priority sequence setup, but once youve done that, its the most helpful thing ever.

The only exception to this is if you don't have any Storstrike debuffs up on the boss. If your maelstrom procs, and your Stormstrike isn't on the boss, then cast that first, and LB or CL next to increase it's damage.

2. Your second priority is to make sure Flame Shock is up on your target at all times. You only need to cast Flame Shock once every 18 seconds, so use Earth Shock while Flame Shock is running itÔÇÖs course. Here is a super helpful macro for that. This is the only macro I use for dps.

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=16=combat/target Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock
/start attack

3. Stormstrike and Lava Lash. I typically use Stormstrike before Lava Lash, this way they are off cool down just about the same time. It also helps to stack up your Maelstrom Weapon faster. Try to use Stormstrike as soon as itÔÇÖs off cool down every single time. But donÔÇÖt forget, there are two priorities above this. This is where it starts to get tricky.

4. Lightning Shield. Please always make sure youÔÇÖre lightning shield is up.

5. If everything is on cool down and your maelstrom weapon hasnÔÇÖt stacked to 5 yet, use fire nova. ItÔÇÖs a very nice burst of damage.

6. Shamanistic Rage. With such a short cool down, you should never have to worry about running out of mana. Just don't forget to use this BEFORE you actually run out, otherwise, you'll lose quite a bit of damage output. I still have a bit of trouble remembering this myself LoL.

My typical rotation usually starts off like this:
Drop totems > Cast Flame Shock > Stormstrike > Lava Lash > Earth Shock... Usually right about now is when my first Maelstrom is available, so I cast Lightning Bolt > Fire Nova etc

Then start all over, remembering to stick strictly to the priority sequence and veering off the ÔÇ£rotationÔÇØ whenever itÔÇÖs necessary.

When fighting a boss, I usually drop my totems, place flame shock on the boss, and if necessary to use early in the fight, I pop heroism, then use my trinket. ItÔÇÖs best to drop totems and pop trinkets/heroism before you call out the wolves because they gain from whatever stats you have on you while you use them. Also, using these early can ensure I have a chance to use them again before the boss dies. Of course, this is on the tougher bosses whoÔÇÖs fights can last up to 5 minutes, and sometimes longer.

Totems

A lot of shammies waste mana by dropping totems they shouldnÔÇÖt. Here, I will try to help as much as I can with this. I will start with earth totems, and make my way down the list of totem priorities, and when to use them (or when not to).

Earth Totems

Strength of Earth Totem: This totem is a GREAT totem for enhancement shamans and any other melee class (as well as hunters). The thing a lot of shamans forget though, is that if we have a Death Knight in the raid, this totem becomes obsolete the moment they use Horn of Winter. If youÔÇÖre noticing the DK isnÔÇÖt keeping up with Horn of Winter, then still go ahead and drop this totem to make sure everyoneÔÇÖs stats stay up through the entire fight.

Stoneskin Totem: While this isnÔÇÖt the best totem, itÔÇÖs a decent enough substitute when the DK is doing their job properly. Giving extra armor to raid members is always helpful for the healers. J

Tremor Totem: While this totem isnÔÇÖt always necessary, it does come in handy. A lot of people get confused with how this totem works though. First of all, Tremor Totem does NOT prevent fear, charm, or sleep effects. What it does is pulse ever couple of seconds, and each time it pulses, it interrupts any fear, charm, or sleep effect on every PARTY member. This is not a raid wide totem, so please try to divide multiple shamans into different groups for the best possible coverage.

Fire Totems

Fire Elemental Totem: Well, something has happened recently and this totem has become bugged. I am sure it will be fixed soon though. So when it is, remember to use this totem on every boss fight you possibly can. It has a long cool down, so unfortunately you canÔÇÖt use it on every boss, but it really is nice boost to your dps.

Magma Totem: This totem is the best totem by far to use while dpsing any boss (except the Fire Elemental), and especially for AoE. The only problem with it, is keeping it refreshed. It only lasts for 20 seconds so trying to refresh it while also trying to follow a complicated enough priority sequence can become frustrating.

Flametongue Totem: While this isnÔÇÖt really the best choice, it is a good one for starting enhancement shamans. Try to use this totem instead of Magma Totem until you learn your priority sequence a little better. This way, you donÔÇÖt have to worry about refreshing it every 20 seconds, and the entire raid can also benefit from it.

Water Totems

Mana Spring Totem: This is an extremely helpful totem. ItÔÇÖs our job (since no one else likes to remember our totems exist) to remind that stubborn paladin not to give anyone Greater Blessing of Wisdom. They benefit more from having Greater Blessing of Kings along WITH our Mana Spring Totem. Unfortunately though, Greater Blessing of Wisdom, and Mana Spring Totem do NOT stack. So unless there are 3 or more Paladins, try to coordinate and figure out what will benefit the raid the most.

Healing Stream Totem: This totem is still a tiny bit bugged, but itÔÇÖs better than it was. ItÔÇÖs not completely useless, so if youÔÇÖre killing a boss with lots of aoe, and you have enough paladins to cover all of the blessings, go ahead and drop this to help out the healers. Just remember, itÔÇÖs only party wide. Not raid wide.

Cleansing Totem: Use this totem instead of Healing Stream totem or Mana Spring Totem when in a battle with lots of diseases or poisons. This totem too, is only party wide.

Air Totems

Windfury Totem: Great for enhancement! Do not use any other totem unless youÔÇÖre coordinating totem usage with another enhancement shaman.

Resistance Totems

I rarely use these totems. I find the boosts I get from the other totems outweigh the resistance receive from these totems. So, unless directed by a raid leaderstick to the above totems for enhancement.


Well, I believe IÔÇÖve covered just about everything. This is how I play enhancement, and my dps seems to be improving more and more. When I find something that boosts it even more, IÔÇÖll be sure to post it here. Let me know if there are any questions or other suggestions :-D

[Avitus]

i'd switch glyph of Lava Lash with Lightning bolt,since WF/WF is better,in end-game your MS will be almost always at 5 stacks,and with LB glyph,your lightning bolt will actually deal more dmg on single target than Chain Lightning,thus saving you quite some mana,because you wont be using CL as much.

[Xerophyte]

What are the suggested trade skills?

[glent]

Go WF/WF because of the bug. And as for gems, if your hit/expertise capped, gem all for +20 haste, Quick King's Amber, only if your 4piece t10 though. Haste will be your no.1 stat when you have 4 piece t10 since everything that you do scales with haste. MW scales with haste which means more Lightning bolts, more 4piece t10 proc.And also Tiny Abomination in a Jar as well scales with haste AFAIK.

[Tiderion]

Than Q vewy mawc!! Gut gaeet!

[johwe]

Is the WF bug is still 'wroking'? :) iim lvl 45 troll enh sham on realm Ragnaros, and im seeing a normal 3 sec cd on wf...yes when it pprocs it says only mh...so it uses only mh damage. i tested like this: mainhand empty, offhand i had a 1.3 dagger with wf. the proc rate was awful. something like 1 ppm. when i put the dagger in mh, then it procced normally, about onlce every 5 attacks, sometimes more sometimes less. but i think the bug is not really good....the oh is not proccing wf at 20% chance..just my 2 cents..
good guide btw

[Neoxid]

Great guide, but i agree with daiena, glyph of lava lash doesn't do anything of importance. I usually kept my glyph of stoneclaw totem (i know, silly silly), because it saved my life a couple of times when the healer had more important stuff to do (like healing the tank) or if there was some massive AoE damage and i wasn't at full health. It may not be a dps increase, but you cant dps well if you're dead, so it's not complete bullsh*t.

[joestar]

that's a great guide... thx 4 posting!

[Kalikia]

I'm not sure what the WF bug is on this server, I've only ever played enhancement the legit way (and prefer to do so). If you want to play a shaman the way it's meant to be played then this guide is the one you should follow :) WF+FT is the way to go hands down. WF+WF simply doesn't work because of the internal cooldown (unless there isn't one and that's the bug you're referring to).

[solutiion]

thx for the guide

[Blmaestro]

I've seen enh shaman use wf and frost brand weapon or something and do some sick dps, care to comment on that?

[darkdeedsx12]

I've seen enh shaman use wf and frost brand weapon or something and do some sick dps, care to comment on that?

Only applicable in PvP but not in PvE.

PvE - wf/wf, since wf doesn't have internal cooldown and haste is one of your main stats in pve, more haste = more wf procs.

PvP - wf/fb coz of Frozen Power and the slow effect on fb.

[iAmAthirat]

Enha ain't that bad after all . Fail picture incoming!

DBS25 (Alt run)

[darkdeedsx12]

Enha ain't that bad after all . Fail picture incoming!

DBS25 (Alt run)

What addon is that? The one that shows your SP, Haste, Crit and Hit on another UI?

[iAmAthirat]

Mage Nuggets