Enhancement Shaman Pre-Patch Guide for WotLK Classic

Enhancement Shamans become a high skill / high reward specialization in the Wrath of the Lich King pre-patch, due to the high amount of low-cooldown abilities they use on their rotation, as well as the new Maelstrom Weapon mechanic.

While less Shamans are needed per raid due to Bloodlust and buff totems such as Wrath of Air Totem being raid-wide in Wrath, these two in particular are still unique Shaman buffs, and Strength of Earth Totem is the best Str/Agi buff if you have Enhancing Totems.

This page will go over pre-patch talents, rotation, gear, and consumables for Enhancement Shaman, allowing you to quickly get up to date with your character while waiting for Wrath to officially start!

For single-target (most raid bosses) we recommend using this build, which focuses on Windfury Weapon procs and Lightning Shield interactions.

For area-of-effect damage (dungeons, trash, or leveling) we recommend using this build, which focuses on Fire Nova and Mana sustain to be able to use it on cooldown, and uses Water Shield.

Glyphs enhance or change class specific abilities, and you can have up to two major glyphs and three minor glyphs at Level 70, with a third major glyph being unlocked at Level 80.

Many glyphs will only be available after Wrath launches, but Enhancement's best glyphs other than Glyph of Stormstrike can be acquired during the pre-patch period. Thus, Enhancement will be using Glyph of Windfury Weapon and Glyph of Lightning Shield for pure single-target as major glyphs, and Glyph of Fire Nova and Glyph of Flametongue Weapon for AoE.

For minor glyphs, Glyph of Water Shield is great with the AoE build and any of Glyph of Water Breathing, Glyph of Renewed Life and Glyph of Water Walking work as quality of life options.

1. 8% Hit before talents / Draenei to cap Ability (for ex Stormstrike) Hit;
2. 17% Hit before talents / Draenei to cap Spell Hit;
3. 26 Expertise Points to reduce Boss Dodge % to 0;
4. Attack Power (as you get 2 on gear for each 1 of any combat rating plus it converts to Spell Power with Mental Quickness);
5. Haste;
6. Agility (1 Atk Power and a bit of Crit);
7. Intellect (1-1 Atk Power conversion with Mental Dexterity);
8. Spell Power;
9. Critical Strike;
10. Strength (1 Atk Power);
11. Armor Penetration.

For actual EP values, try out the Enhancement DPS Wrath Simulator. Input your gear, buffs, talents, and glyphs, hit the Stat Weights button and it will give you the exact value of each stat for your current gear profile! The stat priority above is a rough ordering of the EP values coming out for the preset profiles.

We will be presenting the skill rotation of an Enhancement Shaman as a priority list, which means you should try to use the ability at the top of the list first for maximum DPS.

As one of the most complex specializations to perform an ideal rotation with in Wrath, there are two critical concepts to understand (coupled with Macros and WeakAuras to help you optimize them) before getting into the ability priority list.

Weapon Sync means that your main-hand and off-hand weapons are swinging simultaneously. This is important because if the swings are landing within 0.5 seconds of each other, only one Flurry charge will be consumed for two melee hits, drastically increasing the 30% Haste buff uptime. You can know whether you are synced properly or not with this WeakAura, and force the sync with this WeakAura or by taking an action which resets your swing timer, such as using Feral Spirit or using a Noggenfogger Elixir.

Cast Weaving is using one or more Maelstrom Weapon stacks to cast a spell, typically Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, in between swings of your typically slow weapons. While casting, normally, resets your swing timer, this does not happen with Maelstrom Weapon-Hasted casts, allowing you to cast spells with less than 5 stacks as long as you start the cast early enough in your swing timer that it will finish before the swing would happen. The sync timer WeakAura also has an indicator for when you need to start casting in order to avoid clipping, allowing you to know at a moment's notice if you can fit a cast in or not.

As Enhancement, you should always use Flametongue Weapon on your off-hand. The main-hand should have Windfury Weapon if it is a high DPS physical DPS weapon or a second Flametongue Weapon if it is a Spell Power caster weapon.

1. Place down your totems with Call of the Elements;
2. Fire Elemental Totem and Feral Spirit when available for extra DPS;
3. Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt with one or more Maelstrom Weapon stacks, if it will not reset your swing timer;
4. Stormstrike;
5. Flame Shock (if the target will not die shortly afterwards);
6. Magma Totem;
7. Keep Lightning Shield active if specced into its related talents;
8. Earth Shock;
9. Fire Nova;
10. Lava Lash as a last resort.

1. Place down your totems with Call of the Elements;
2. Fire Elemental Totem and Feral Spirit when available for extra DPS;
3. Magma Totem;
4. Fire Nova;
5. Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt with one or more Maelstrom Weapon stacks, if it will not reset your swing timer;
6. Stormstrike;
7. Flame Shock (if the target will not die shortly afterwards);
8. Keep Lightning Shield active if specced into its related talents;
9. Earth Shock;
10. Lava Lash as a last resort.

Most TBC Phase 5 gear in the guide linked below is still fine, but there are a few important factors changing how you want to gear in the pre-patch and Wrath in general:

• Strength only grants 1 Attack Power per point before buffs meaning raw Attack Power (AP) is superior, as you can typically get 2 AP for each point of Strength. This means any item or gem with Strength should be swapped into its Attack Power equivalent;
• Hit is of much higher value than before, as there is significant DPS value to be gained from hitting the Spell Hit cap of 17% (before de/buffs), instead of just sticking to the special attack cap. Thus, Rigid Lionseye or Great Lionseye become primary gem choices for yellow slots;
• Spell Power is now of much higher value, as it is an excellent stat for the AoE playstyle (where it scales Fire Nova) and also decent for single-target. Combined with Intellect now scaling Attack Power as much as Strength with Mental Dexterity, certain items with high Spell Power and other useful stats becomes best in slot, such as Loop of Forged Power;
• Armor Penetration loses a huge amount of value with its transition to a rating system and Enhancement Shaman's new playstyle which involves a huge amount of Spell Damage, which is not affected at all by Armor. Thus, all gear with it is of much lower value than it was in TBCC;
• To complement raiding, or if it is not an option, farming Honor in the pre-patch through battlegrounds will allow you to buy the full "Brutal" PvP gear set, which is close in power to gear from Sunwell Plateau and has no randomness in its acquisition.

Enchants mostly stay the same in the pre-patch but due to the diminishing value of Armor Penetration, Enchant Weapon - Executioner should be replaced by a second Enchant Weapon - Mongoose.

Flask of Relentless Assault is the recommended flask for Enhancement Shaman.

Eat Spicy Hot Talbuk (if not hit capped) or Ravager Dog, otherwise.

Haste Potion is the best DPS potion available. You can no longer use two potions during combat, but you can use one just before entering combat, which will allow you to use another mid-fight if the encounter is long enough.