1.
Best War Within Talent Builds for Enhancement Shaman
Note that these builds are popular build recommendations for various different
damage profiles. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check
out the dedicated pages below.
2.
Enhancement Shaman Talent Cheat Sheet
Enhancement is fairly unique as a spec that has two completely different
archetypes, with different playstyles sharing the same talent tree. The first of
these is Elementalist, which focuses on
Lava Lash and magic damage,
and the second is Storm, which leans into
Stormstrike and Lightning
damage. As of the current patch, Storm is the recommended archetype in all
situations.
While Elementalist is still usable (especially in single-target), it has
some issues keeping up in the new talent tree, so is not advised currently. When
it comes to Hero Talents, both
Stormbringer and
Totemic are extremely competitive in single-target, while
Stormbringer remains dominant in AoE situations.
Recommended Build Import Codes:
3.
Enhancement Shaman Talent Builds
In the below section, we have split builds up into their respective archetypes
and content types to keep things together, and you can use the navigation buttons
to open up a loadout and explanation of the playstyle.
As Enhancement has access to a lot of different build and Hero Talent
combinations, this page aims to support them if you wish to try them, but I would
strongly advise the recommended options. To keep information
accessible, we have a tool below that will shift recommendations based on your
Hero Talent choice. Note — the entire page and information
generated will be tailored to that Hero tree.
Anywhere you see the
icon on this page, this means it is the recommended choice
5. "Storm"
Stormbringer
Totemic Single-Target
Currently, playing
a Storm build alongside
Stormbringer provides the most potential
in single target, and is the recommended choice:
Very competitive in
single target with a Storm build,
Totemic has a lot of potential
but can be extremely unreliable due to some of the RNG components, though is much
easier to execute:
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
The Storm
playstyle while using
Stormbringer is extremely simple and has two
primary goals: spend
Maelstrom Weapon as aggressively as possible and
use
Stormstrike or other fillers whenever you cannot do that. The two
charges granted by
Stormblast for
Stormstrike makes gameplay much
easier to execute, and the 2-minute cooldown burst window from
Ascendance
is explosive. It picks up
Voltaic Blaze as an additional proc filler.
Witch Doctor's Ancestry remains the go-to single-target pick due to it
more consistently overlapping at key moments, and allowing for very strong
Elemental Blast overlap openers when combined
with
Ascendance.
In single-target,
Storm with
Totemic is fairly simple, aiming to cast as many
Sundering casts as possible with
Surging Totem active, and
reaching to
Molten Thunder resets as they occur.
Ascendance
paired with
Oversurge greatly amplifies this window too for huge
burst damage. Alongside that, it spends
Maelstrom Weapon as often as
possible to stack up
Totemic Rebound and fills primarily with
Stormstrike. It also picks up
Voltaic Blaze for the synergy with
Whirling Elements' Earth Mote. While
Lava Lash is picked up for a
single point, this is used as a last resort filler to get out of the first 8 point
gate, and ignores the Fire Mote entirely. It always picks up
Flowing Spirits, but avoids
Elemental Spirits, as the
Physical damage amplifier is far stronger and more consistent to empower
Surging Totem.
Elemental Blast
is the stronger option as it pairs well with
Elemental Spirits, but
comes at a higher burden of execution. There is the option to simply drop this for
Tempest Strikes for a simpler build, and a small performance loss.
- During
Doom Winds
spending still takes priority due to the strength of
Tempest, so treat it
as a resource window rather than one that shifts your priority significantly.
Ascendance
windows tend to flood resources so much that you may end up in a cycle of
Windstrike into spending
Maelstrom Weapon immediately after.
Sundering
is your number one priority with
Surging Totem active to trigger
Earthsurge, and
react to
Molten Thunder. Ideally, you also want to overlap these casts
with your
Ascendance windows.
Surging Totem needs
to be dropped on cooldown, so plan your other ability uses around this moment
in advance to avoid big clashes during shorter
Doom Winds windows and
Ascendance casts.
- The
Whirling Earth
mote is ideally only consumed with
Voltaic Blaze to amplify
the damage dealt to your primary target.
Maelstrom Weapon
spending is still important, taking the top priority outside of procs to trigger
and stack
Totemic Rebound as high as possible with each totem spawn.
5. "Storm"
Stormbringer
Totemic AoE
In AoE situations
Storm provides the easiest playstyle and is the most flexible for Mythic+
situations, making it the recommendation:
Assessing
Totemic
in Mythic+ can be difficult, as it has explosive potential but is so RNG
dependent that it often does not live up to expectations. Storm is by far
the best variant here, as it sacrifices nothing to pick up AoE potential:
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
In AoE the goal
of Storm is extremely simple with
Stormbringer: spend
as much
Maelstrom Weapon as possible on
Chain Lightning.
Everything you do is in service of spending as much as possible to cycle to
your next
Tempest, so maintaining
Crash Lightning and using
Feral Spirit on cooldown leads to more of that. Any spare globals are
spent on maintaining
Crash Lightning and triggering it with
Stormstrike to feed into that goal.
Voltaic Blaze is a secondary
high priority filler to both deal high up-front damage and maintain
Flame Shock.
Molten Assault is still needed to reliably set up
Primordial Wave
however, as
Voltaic Blaze is much too inconsistent.
While playing
Totemic
as Storm, the most important aspect is keeping
Surging Totem on
cooldown. After this, you need to cast
Sundering on whenever it is active
to trigger
Earthsurge, and react to
Molten Thunder procs.
Following that, it is simply a game of spending
Maelstrom Weapon efficiently
on
Chain Lightning, maintaining the
Crash Lightning buff and
consuming
Voltaic Blaze procs.
- All
Maelstrom Weapon
should be spent as aggressively as possible to fish for
Static Accumulation
refunds. Try to make use of
Arc Discharge on
Chain Lightning before
Tempest if you have back-to-back procs, as it does not trigger the
free cast.
- Maintain
Crash Lightning
as much as possible, and be aware of its duration if you hit a streak of
Maelstrom Weapon
refunds so you know to re-apply it quickly afterward.
- Although
Doom Winds
does provide uncapped AoE via the
Crash Lightning procs of
Windfury Weapon,
your priority is still cycling
Maelstrom Weapon even while active.
- Tab-targeting between
enemies for each
Chain Lightning cast to apply
Conductive Energy
is a gain, but only do it if you are comfortable with tab-target gameplay.
Flowing Spirits
is currently taken because it has a higher volume of Nature spawns due to the
heavy amount of spenders.
Witch Doctor's Ancestry if played around correctly
is roughly competitive as it will always consistently overlap with
Primordial Wave, but
is easier to make mistakes with.
- Make sure to maintain
Surging Totem at all times, being aware of its short 24-second cooldown.
- Cast
Sundering
on cooldown, and whenever a
Molten Thunder proc occurs. Make absolutely sure
that
Surging Totem is active when you do so.
Maelstrom Weapon
cycling is still very important both for the damage and to stack up
Totemic Rebound,
empowering your
Surging Totem further.
5. "Elementalist"
Stormbringer
Totemic Single-Target
Elementalist
is currently behind alternative builds, and is not currently recommended for
endgame play. It is still listed here in the event something changes over the
course of the patch:
Elementalist is
currently significantly behind for
Totemic due to an extreme talent
point squeeze, and is not recommended for endgame play. It is still listed here
in the event something changes over the course of the patch:
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
Elementalist
while playing a
Stormbringer loadout is focused on one primary goal:
generate as much
Maelstrom Weapon as possible and spend it as
aggressively as you can to cycle
Tempest. For this reason it picks up
Static Accumulation to gamble on refunds from it and
Supercharge, playing very aggressively. Due to the power of
Stormblast,
it also picks up a good amount of
Stormstrike support talents to give it
access to as many generation tools as possible to assist in cycling. This means
it has a bit less of a focus on weaving elements like before in service of the
hero tree. It has a small 30-second burst moment in
Primordial Wave and
a larger surge of resources every 2 minutes with
Ascendance.
Elementalist
while playing a
Totemic loadout has a large amount of priorities to
juggle, without enough GCDs to do it all. Making sure
Surging Totem is
always active is your number one priority, but after that things get more complex.
With
Hot Hand up, you need to make sure to weave
Lava Lash to
trigger
Reactivity every other GCD, while also spending
Maelstrom Weapon
efficiently - ideally on
Elemental Blast when possible. On top of this, you
need to cast
Sundering as aggressively as possible to avoid wasting any
Molten Thunder resets. All of this together mostly just causes the build
to trip over itself trying to keep up, meaning that Storm is generally
preferred.
- Currently, the
difference between
Elemental Blast and
Tempest Strikes is much
smaller due to the reduction in
Maelstrom Weapon generation overall. This
is still an option, though the execution requirements are much stricter.
- All of your rotational
goals feed into generating and spending
Maelstrom Weapon, as
Tempest
deals significant damage and triggers
Rolling Thunder.
- During
Ascendance
we still make use of
Windstrike due to the cycling from
Thorim's Invocation.
This makes the cooldown window very busy, as we are also flooded with resources,
but can lead to multiple
Feral Spirit casts, thanks to the cooldown reduction.
Hot Hand
is still a high-priority proc (but still less important than spenders) when it
happens, triggering a 1-2 cycle between it and other abilities when active.
Flowing Spirits
should be avoided as Elementalist, as the number of Fire casts that do not
scale with the hero tree if they trigger a wolf is too high.
- Your
Surging Totem casts
are very important and the top priority every 24 seconds due to both its damage
and the number of effects tied to it.
Whirling Earth is ideally only ever
consumed using
Voltaic Blaze procs.
Sundering is
your top priority to avoid wasting any
Molten Thunder procs, so you can
capitalize on
Earthsurge.
Lava Lash
should be cast on cooldown in a 1-2 cycle during
Hot Hand both for the
damage and to trigger
Reactivity.
Totemic
builds also need to make sure they have
Totemic Projection and
Totemic Surge
to help manage
Surging Totem's position.
5. "Elementalist"
Stormbringer
Totemic AoE
Currently while
Elementalist can be competitive in AoE situations, the additional
execution requirements and lower flexibility means it is not an endgame
recommendation currently. This is only listed here in the event something changes
over the course of the patch:
Unfortunately in AoE
the complications of executing
Totemic for Elementalist is far
too great, and is not recommended in endgame situations. It is only listed here
in the event something changes over the course of the patch:
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
Elementalist in
AoE while playing
Stormbringer is still all about your
Maelstrom Weapon
spenders, cycling as quickly as possible to each
Tempest. Due to the
hugely inflated generation provided by
Crash Lightning, it can lead to
a very high number of Lightning
Elemental Spirits due to
Rolling Thunder,
providing a massive Nature damage multiplier.
Arc Discharge also provides
a big damage follow-up to each cast, and provides the bulk of your damage
breakdown. Due to how busy its GCDs are,
Fire Nova is a desirable AoE
option to provide burst
Maelstrom Weapon generation.
Stormblast
is also taken to fill up any other empty GCDs.
Elementalist while
playing
Totemic is extremely hectic with a lot of things
going on that need to be managed. Most importantly,
Surging Totem needs
to be used every 24 seconds to make use of the pulsing Flamestrike damage, and
kept near targets with
Totemic Projection.
Sundering is cast on
cooldown to avoid wasting any
Molten Thunder procs, and
Crash Lightning
should be maintained at all times. In between that, making sure to weave
Lava Lash during
Hot Hand to trigger
Reactivity
while spending your
Maelstrom Weapon on
Chain Lightning.
- Your
Primordial Wave
windows provide a large burst window every 30 seconds, as each
Lightning Bolt will
also apply
Conductive Energy to targets. Lining this up with
Tempest
for a double
Arc Discharge follow-up can be devastating.
- Cycling both
Lava Lash for
Lashing Flames and
Chain Lightning for
Conductive Energy is a damage increase, but they add in a lot of
complexity relative to the damage gained. You should only really consider playing
around
Lightning Rod if you are very comfortable.
Feral Spirit
cycles extremely quickly, so be aware of its cooldown and make sure
to keep it used.
- During
Ascendance
it is still worthwhile to
Windstrike due to
Thorim's Invocation.
The huge surge of
Maelstrom Weapon floods you with resources, so the
priority can get quite hectic. Ideally, before this window, having a
Tempest
ready to go while primed to
Chain Lightning will produce the best results.
Surging Totem
is still used on cooldown but is slightly less potent in AoE situations and
does cause the priority to get very hectic.
Sundering
is used on cooldown to trigger
Earthsurge, making sure to have
Surging Totem active before doing so.
Molten Thunder procs can
come at any time, so be ready to react to them.
Lashing Flames
is optional here, and you can switch between either it or
Voltaic Blaze
depending on preference.
5.
Stormbringer
Totemic Delves Build
For Delves, despite
the wind-up time
Stormbringer needs to get
Tempest active,
it still remains far more suited to the content due to its more flexible damage
profile. We would recommend an Storm loadout to pair with this as
it has a good degree of control over when its damage happens.
Moreso than in other
content, I would strongly advise against
Totemic in Delves due
to it exploiting many of the tree's weaknesses more than usual. That said,
if you really want to try it here, I would recommend a Storm loadout that
has access to more on-demand cooldowns in its toolkit.
Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!
4.1.
Raiding
While the above builds can be slotted into most encounters depending
on what is required, some more bespoke tools may be required on some bosses.
You can check out specific tips and builds for each of the raid encounters
below:
4.2.
Mythic+
Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of particular AoE and Single-Target
talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want more specific
advice about the selections (especially those relating to Utility), check
out the dedicated page below:
5.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that
confers some benefits when active:
- Grants access to PvP talents in the open world.
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
- 10% more experience gained while leveling.
- Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended
to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level.
However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile
enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to
decide on your own if you want to take.
If you are interested in doing PvP as an Enhancement Shaman or want to look
into how to deal with PvP encounters when playing it, please refer to our
dedicated PvP guide.
5.1.
Enhancement Shaman War Mode Talents
Generally, these selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies
faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.
Ride the Lightning provides the largest damage increase option,
adding additional effects to each
Stormstrike cast.
Shamanism allows for more liberal
Bloodlust /
Heroism usage without having to worry about the 10-minute
lockout. Great for solo and duo content.
Totem of Wrath provides a moderate boost following
Primordial Wave
casts, increasing your Critical Strike damage and Healing by 20% for 15 seconds.
Burrow gives you an emergency escape if you get into
trouble with a 2-minute cooldown, and also deals massive Physical
damage when you emerge from the ground.
Counterstrike Totem copies the damage you take and repeats
it onto the enemy that dealt it, allowing you to turn dangerous enemies
strong attacks against them!
Seasoned Winds,
Static Field Totem,
Unleash Shield,
Traveling Storms and
Grounding Totem have
very limited PvE uses, being more focused on in-combat control. While these are
very strong for some situations, they are much more suited to
PvP engagements, and as such, are not recommended for efficient enemy
killing.
Stormweaver should generally be avoided due to it locking
out flexibility in when you self-heal, despite it being more efficient.
6.
Changelog
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7 with recommendation flags on key builds.
- 05 Nov. 2024: Significant changes to recommended loadouts based on more tested 11.0.5 builds post-launch.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5, will require future updates following release.
- 23 Sep. 2024: Updated for most recent hotfixes and Storm build switch.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for Elemental Blast and Tempest hotfixes along with new Storm loadouts.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Updated for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed and touched up for Patch 10.2.5 and mid-season updates.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, small restructuring and added Elementalist Funnel.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5 and updated Storm Cleave in recommendations.
- 09 May 2023: Updated to include Primordial Wave in Elementalist single target.
- 01 May 2023: Fully updated for Patch 10.1 with revised new builds. Physical builds converted to Storm.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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