Enhancement Shaman PvP Guide for WotLK Classic

Enhancement Shamans are, unfortunately, not a meta class in the Arena. This is mostly due to the lack of a Mortal Strike effect, but weakness against kiting and having Hex as their only crowd control ability does not help.

They are still above average, however, and can absolutely destroy their targets when connecting due to Windfury Weapon and Maelstrom Weapon providing high burst damage and Purge, Wind Shear, and Grounding Totem being able to keep their targets from defending themselves and disrupting enemy peel or healing. They also bring Bloodlust, which is the strongest damage buff in the Arena, provided it does not get dispelled quickly.

The general idea of the PvP tree is to gain more defensive, crowd control, and mobility tools while dropping area damage talents which will not have any use in the small-scale PvP happening inside the Arena.

Frozen Power and Earthen Power are especially notable for allowing you to quickly close the distance with Frost Shock and causing Earthbind Totem to remove slows, mitigating Enhancement's weakness to being kited.

Glyph of Shocking, Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem, and Glyph of Feral Spirit are our recommended glyphs for maximum damage and PvP survivability.

For minor glyphs, Glyph of Water Shield, Glyph of Ghost Wolf, and Glyph of Water Walking are the recommended options.

Rather than a fixed rotation, Shaman gameplay is about treading a fine balance between casting damage spells, utility spells, and even healing when needed. Here are some quick tips:

• Keep yourself and your allies alive and enemies in range with Frost Shock, Earthbind Totem, Grounding Totem, and Lesser Healing Wave or Healing Wave when supported by Maelstrom Weapon;
• Pressure enemies with your melee abilities, Maelstrom Weapon-fueled Lightning Bolts and Chain Lightnings, and also with Feral Spirit, Purge, Bloodlust, and Wind Shear;
• Keep an eye on your Mana pool, and use Shamanistic Rage as needed, preferably also using it as a defensive measure in the process.

Totem stomping is no longer a big deal in Wrath, as Stoneclaw Totem protects them and Call of the Elements can instantly place up to four new totems if your current ones are destroyed, making it much harder for Hunters and Warlocks to disrupt your totems.

Tremor Totem pulses every few seconds, removing charm, fear, and sleep effects from yourself and nearby allies. This is amazing against fears especially, but be wary of using Stoneclaw Totem during Tremor's duration, as it will replace it since it is also a Earth Totem.

You can find our recommended gear, gems, and enchants for PvPing as a Enhancement Shaman in the link below.

Enhancement Shaman does not have a lot of viable compositions in 2s and 3s, and are also not that popular in 5s, but it can do well with the following compositions:

In 2v2, Shaman + Rogue, Shaman + Paladin, and Shaman + Warrior are your best compositions. The idea is to have a partner who can help crowd control enemies and stay alive with little to no help, allowing you to focus on dealing damage and bursting enemies down. The combination with Paladin is particularly interesting, as both classes have strong off-healing and complementary capabilities, such as Purge and Cleanse.

In 3v3, you want to pair with either a Beast Mastery Hunter or Arms Warrior and have a Holy Paladin as healer in order to gain the Mortal Strike / Aimed Shot effect for offense and Cleanse / Hand of Freedom for defense. The Hunter composition is especially notable for having unhealable damage and immunity to crowd control with Bestial Wrath and Feral Spirit while players are undergeared in early seasons.

In 5v5, Shaman can fit into melee cleave teams. Matches tend to be quick and explosive, which makes Bloodlust a must, and Shaman's burst with Windfury Weapon can be quite explosive as long as you can engage without being blown up, which is facilitated by Shamanistic Rage.