Enhancement Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight (12.0.1)

Currently Stormbringer falls a little behind in pure single-target. While it's still capable of putting out good numbers (especially during cooldowns) and brings cleave for free, the gap is a bit too wide when compared to the alternative:

Totemic saw a massive improvement in Midnight, and gained access to some significant new toys - in particular Totemic Momentum. It provides strong priority damage while doing excellent cleave for free, and as such is the recommended choice:

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Stormbringer focuses heavily on Maelstrom Weapon generation and cycling for Tempest, so all talents that serve that purpose are taken. Since there's a fairly limited amount of choices on the tree, it runs out of good points to spend. It makes sure to always pick up Thunder Capacitor and Elemental Assault at the bottom, while also pathing to Ascendance to make use of Descending Skies. Finally, it picks up all four points in Storm Unleashed to further cement Crash Lightning within the rotation. Some additional notes are:

In Midnight, Totemic still focuses heavily on Lava Lash, building out any talent that leans into this to maximize both Hot Hand and Splitstream. At the bottom it needs Sundering to activate all three Whirling Elements motes, and avoids Ascendance to keep Doom Winds synced up with Surging Totem. Finally, it picks up all four points in Storm Unleashed to cement Crash Lightning as a core part of the rotation. Some additional notes are:

• On the Hero Tree, Stormbringer always plays Supercharge. Utility picks are up to preference, though passive defense with Nature's Protection is the common pick.
• Stormstrike is the strike of choice, so naturally all related talents are taken. Most importantly, Stormblast and Stormflurry in the centre of the tree.
• Stormbringer runs out of valuable points to pick up, so the last few are spent on fairly low impact options. Fire Nova, Converging Storms and Chaining Storms are all similar - with the preference being Converging Storms due to the priority damage advantage.
• In the Totemic Hero Tree you should always pick up Earthsurge to make better use of Splitstream. Since there's no Ascendance taken, Amplification Core is the pick, and Supportive Imbuements is the most flexible final choice node - providing better AoE while bringing the same single-target power.
• While not strictly for performance, Totem related talents on the class tree make managing Surging Totem easier. In particular, Totemic Focus for the additional range and Totemic Projection for easier repositioning when needed.

In AoE, Stormbringer closes the gap a bit with Totemic, but the lower single-target performance combined with less frequent burst keeps it from breaking even. It does remove some of the requirements for buff extension in hectic environments though, giving it a lower burden of execution:

In Midnight, Totemic saw some extremely welcome updates to its design across the board, and this extends to AoE as well. Since it sacrifices almost no single-target strength to use its best AoE loadout, it's perfectly suited to the dungeon and Mythic+ landscape, and as such is our recommended choice:

In AoE the goal of Stormbringer is to generate and spend as much Maelstrom Weapon as possible to fish for Tempest. The only major changes from the single-target build here is locking in Chaining Storms to further improve Chain Lightning damage, and the addition of both Sundering and Primordial Storm for burst AoE. To build the core alongside getting this extra burst cooldown, it means sacrificing two points from Storm Unleashed, but the trade-off is worth it. Some additional notes are:

Totemic builds almost exactly the same in AoE, with the only change being a switch to Chaining Storms to further improve Chain Lightning and Ride the Lightning damage. It still grabs Sundering through Primordial Storm for its 30-second burst, and takes all four points in the Storm Unleashed Apex Talent to add more punch to Crash Lightning casts. Some additional notes are:

• On the Hero Tree, Stormbringer always plays Supercharge. Other choice nodes are up to preference, depending on your utility and defense needs.
• There's very little choice on the rest of the spec tree, with few points that are worth switching around. While 1-minute playstyles with Doom Winds are possible, they perform worse due to losing the impact of Descending Skies.
• The class tree allows for full investment into Capacitor Totem for up to a 25 second cooldown reduction, giving some amount of extra CC potential in Mythic+. Other utility like Cleanse Spirit and Earthgrab Totem can be slotted in on a dungeon-per-dungeon basis.
• In the Totemic Hero Tree you should always pick up Earthsurge to make better use of Splitstream. On the central choice Amplification Core is the pick due to no Ascendance being taken, and Supportive Imbuements provides the most AoE potential on the final node.
• Totemic has a floating point in the middle of the tree that can be moved around. The priority damage of Converging Storms is good, but is in direct competition with Fire Nova which is significantly stronger for AoE. An alternate pick for more single-target though is Stormflurry, at a small cost to AoE throughput.
• The class tree allows for full investment into Capacitor Totem for up to a 30 second cooldown reduction, giving some amount of extra CC potential in Mythic+. Other utility like Cleanse Spirit and Earthgrab Totem can be slotted in on a dungeon-per-dungeon basis.

Stormbringer is well suited to Delves, with the ability to pool damage around key moments. It has some incredibly powerful burst moments, but its unpredictability can sometimes cause issues. Its massive Maelstrom Weapon generation can fuel Raging Maelstrom stacks for additional free healing, so is capable of handling itself well:

Totemic is extremely well suited to Delves, being able to deploy huge AoE burst whenever needed due to its short cooldowns. Due to it already hybridizing with its build naturally, it also transitions between target counts with no real difficulty, flowing well throughout each delve. As such, it's the recommended choice:

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This tree grants access to Tempest, a powerful proc that empowers your next Lightning Bolt. This can happen randomly when spending Maelstrom Weapon, converting it into a huge AoE burst tool. Additionally:

• Supercharge provides an additional method of refunding Maelstrom Weapon, causing it to cycle resources much faster.
• Conductive Energy applies a debuff to targets hit with your spenders, converting a portion of damage dealt into extra damage. This allows it to deal additional funnel to key targets when active.

This orients Stormbringer strongly around our resource gameplay, rewarding good management and cycling with explosive burst. It's able to leverage a variety of tools to cleave without any single-target loss, but can be prone to bad RNG streaks.

Conversely, Totemic focuses strongly on Lava Lash through the Hot Hand effect, while also granting access to a new cooldown - Surging Totem. This pulses AoE damage while active, and also links into a number of different abilities for bonus effects:

• Splitstream causes Lava Lash to also trigger Sundering while Hot Hand is active, which through Earthsurge also causes your Surging Totem to pulse.
• Totemic Rebound also causes your Surging Totem to deal additional damage whenever you cast a Maelstrom Weapon spender, amplifying future damage it deals until it expires.

This adds an extra cooldown that aligns with Doom Winds into the Enhancement toolkit. When paired with other options on the tree, it gives it some potent options to deal with 30-second and 1-minute burst timers, while dealing strong priority damage without any sacrifices to cleave or AoE.