Enhancement Shaman DPS Stat Priority — The War Within (11.0.5)

Enhancement currently has two build archetypes in Elementalist and Storm, each with their own stat priorities and details below:

2.

Stat Priority for Enhancement Shaman

Stormbringer stats Totemic stats

3.

Stormbringer Stat Priority

Currently when playing either build in both single-target and AoE situations the Stormbringer hero tree has the following general priority:

1. Haste = Agility;
2. Mastery;
3. Critical Strike;
4. Versatility.

Agility directly increases the damage of all of your abilities by contributing to your attack power, and is the generally the strongest stat after weapon DPS.

Due to the extreme need to cycle through Maelstrom Weapon spenders, Haste comes out on top due to it influencing the rate at which we reach each Tempest cast. This puts it extremely close to (and sometimes surpasses) Agility. Following that, the huge amount of magic damage both builds deal puts Mastery at a close third. Depending on your other stats this can also rise above both others, so these three need to be kept in balance.

The bonus Crit scaling provided by Stormcaller puts it slightly ahead of Versatility, but neither compete with our main stats and should only be taken to balance things out if either are being too neglected.

4.

Totemic Stat Priority

Currently when playing either build in both single-target and AoE situations the Totemic hero tree has the following general priority:

1. Haste = Mastery;
2. Agility;
3. Versatility;
4. Critical Strike.

Agility directly increases the damage of all of your abilities by contributing to your attack power, and is the strongest stat after weapon DPS.

Haste has a large impact due to it increasing the tick rate of Surging Totem and number of rolls on Flowing Spirits. A lot of its effects are also static duration meaning that extra GCDs within them is especially valuable. Mastery goes alongside this to amplify the damage of the totem, which is a huge contributor to Totemic's damage. Additionally, the extra Stormsurge chance to feed into Molten Thunder tips it over into being a priority stat.

Crit and Versatility both lack any real hook into the spec or the Totemic tree, meaning they both fall behind this early in the expansion.

Every stat has a limit where they will begin to offer less increase per point gained, which are known as the points of diminishing return. Once you have reached these amounts, stats will become progressively less valuable and may fall behind other options. Due to us being very early in the expansion, this is less of an immediate concern for gearing and more something to be aware of. The current breakpoints are:

• 21000 Critical Strike Rating
• 19800 Haste Rating
• 23400 Versatility Rating
• 21000 Mastery Rating

If you are ever in doubt about what items to wear for any given situation, the only way to truly figure it out for your character is to use Raidbots. This website allows you to easily compare gear you already have, as well as gear you do not have.

Due to every character being unique with variables based on your current gear, racial bonuses and effects you have active, it is much easier to trust its bespoke output rather than a general priority if you are looking to min-max your damage potential.

The gems, enchants, and consumables you will use are directly derived from your stat priority, and you can find our advice on this topic in our dedicated page.

Agility provides you with Attack Power, which increases the damage of your melee attacks and abilities.

Critical Strike increases the chance for your attacks and abilities to critically strike, dealing double damage. It also increases the chance to trigger the Flurry effect from abilities.

Haste increases the speed of your melee autoattacks. This increases the frequency of your Windfury Weapon procs (and by extension Stormsurge chances), and your Maelstrom Weapon stack generation, and lastly, reduces the tick rate of your Surging Totem. Haste also decreases the your Global Cooldown to a minimum of 0.75 seconds, and primarily reduces the cooldown of your Stormstrike, Lava Lash, Ice Strike, Crash Lightning, Frost Shock, Flame Shock and Fire Nova abilities.

Mastery, through Mastery: Enhanced Elements, increases all Fire, Frost, and Nature damage you deal alongside increasing your chance to proc Stormsurge and Windfury Weapon. This bonus chance to trigger Stormsurge and Windfury Weapon can be increased by 150% via the Storm's Wrath talent, and your Stormsurge procs can be empowered to cause your next Stormstrike to deal 25% additional damage as Nature damage via the Stormblast talent, which also benefits from Mastery.

Versatility increases all damage and healing you do and reduces all damage taken.