enhancement [Enh] New IV Opening Sequence

[Orodrake 1]

Hi,

A friend and I was wondering about the updated opening sequence for the enh shaman. Before, and this is how I always used to do it, you casted Flametongue / Boulderfist / Hailstorm / Feral Spirits into Doomwinds and hail of Stormstrikes with procs. Pretty simple, you casted your buffs then you started to burst with wolves and Stormstrikes.

Now it seems it changed, the order is now Boulderfist / Frostbrand / Feral Spirits / Flametongue and then Doomwinds / Stormstrikes if you have procs. I don't really understand this change, it seems like a much slower pull and I can't understand why you'd lose like 3 or 4 seconds of Flametongue (even tho it doesn't deal a lot of damage)...

My friend suggested that because you cast Flametongue later, you have to refresh it later so you can spam more Stormstrikes before refreshing it. Is it right ? Any more ideas ?

Edited November 10, 2016 by Orodrake

[Hurriquake 1]

I definitely always would start with boulderfist because its more maelstrom and increased damage with landslide.

[Muftaay 0]

6 hours ago, Hurriquake said:

I definitely always would start with boulderfist because its more maelstrom and increased damage with landslide.

You should use your feral spirits first because after using feral spirits your character won't autoattack for a whole second. Also it is better to use big cooldowns early so they are ready more often. i mean its only 2 seconds that we are talking about here but those 2 seconds count. i always start like this.   Speed totem at like 5-10 seconds before the pull - >1 second before pull buff pot and feral spirits -> boulderfirst - > hailstorm -> stormstrike - > IF You get proccs use stormstrike, flametongue is not that important. A single stormstrike does way more dmg than those few seconds of flametongue. As it says in the icy veins priority list, use flametongue only if you dont have stormstrike available. I have 450k at the end of the fight of ursoc, its not like top 100 dps but i think i do stuff quite right :D

Edited November 11, 2016 by Muftaay

[Tarazet 144]

I agree with opening with Feral Spirits on the run-in. The best thing they do is generate Maelstrom for you while you are getting established - otherwise you will use Boulderfist once, and then use it again just to have enough Maelstrom to cast both Frostbrand and Stormstrike.

Also, on the pull it's pretty safe to use Doom Winds as soon as you get your buffs up, but if I'm not using it with Bloodlust/troll racial, wait 5 seconds or so to see if you get a Stormbringer proc. Why? Because of your artifact ability Wind Strikes which buffs your attack speed after Stormstrike's cooldown is reset. You get a metric assload of Windfury damage if you can make them line up and watch the DPS meter go completely bonkers.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Tarazet

[Kidies 0]

Wont popping Feral at the same time with Doom Winds caps your Maelstrom though? I already find it pretty hard to spend all the Maelstrom during the Feral Spirit (still caps for like 3-4 seconds).

So currently I finish my rotation first ( Boulderfist --> Frostbrand --> Flametongue --> Boulderfist --> Stormstrike), cast Doom Winds, wait till it's over, reduce my Maelstrom to an acceptable level (preferably below 70), reset all my buff, then pop Feral Spirit.

So...overall which one is better? Popping everything and caps for a few seconds, or wait to maximize all the resources that I have?

[Tarazet 144]

2 hours ago, Kidies said:

Wont popping Feral at the same time with Doom Winds caps your Maelstrom though? I already find it pretty hard to spend all the Maelstrom during the Feral Spirit (still caps for like 3-4 seconds).

So currently I finish my rotation first ( Boulderfist --> Frostbrand --> Flametongue --> Boulderfist --> Stormstrike), cast Doom Winds, wait till it's over, reduce my Maelstrom to an acceptable level (preferably below 70), reset all my buff, then pop Feral Spirit.

So...overall which one is better? Popping everything and caps for a few seconds, or wait to maximize all the resources that I have?

Overcapping is going to happen sometimes. When you consider how much you are able to spend in a GCD vs. how much gets produced, it really isn't a big problem. Especially when you take into account that Stormbringer reduces the cost of Stormstrike by half as well. It only becomes a problem outside of the Feral Spirit cycle, and then it generally only becomes a problem if you are trigger-happy with Lava Lash and then get a string of SS procs.

[Kargar 3]

You start with boulderfist > frostbrand > flametounge. All three spells have range and you should be able to get them up before you get to the boss. boulderfist starts all your main damage buffs and it is nice to have it and frostbrand up on the off chance you get an early windfury before popping doom winds. I am big fan of having all my buffs up before popping cds. Whatever makes you feel comfortable though.