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The Best Enhancement Shaman PvE DPS build

The Best Enhancement Shaman PvE DPS build

Top tier melee DPS build for PvE and Raiding in WoW 8.2.0

Enhancement Shaman PvE DPS Build
Odealo's Pocket Guide
Updated for Patch 8.2.0

You can find all our Pocket Guides for other World of Warcraft classes right here: Best WoW Builds

Spec Overview

Enhancement Shamans employ natural elements during a fight in a much more primal manner than Elemental Shamans do. They imbue their weapons with savage elemental energies and call upon earth, air, and fire to directly support them in melee engagements. Their totems manifest natural energies and are able to shift the tide of any battle. Enhancement Shamans are known for their strong sustained single-target damage and some flexible utility tools.

 Pros  Cons
 Great flexibility  Reliant on good RNG
 Strong Single Target sustained Damage  Uptime-dependant
 Good priority Target Damage, and strong Cleave  lackluster defensive capabilities, type of a glass cannon spec
 Versatile utility toolkit  Performance largely depends on the Gear quality


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Statistics Priority

  1. Haste - Reduces your Global Cooldown, increases Auto Attack speed and decreases the base Cooldown of FlametongueFlametongue, Crash LightningCrash Lightning, and StormstrikeStormstrike.
  1. Critical Strike - Makes your abilities sometimes land a Critical Hit for double Damage. Critical Strike is equal to Versatility in value.
  1. Versatility - Straight up Incoming Damage Decrease and Damage Done Increase. Versatility is equal to Critical Strike in value.
  1. Mastery - Enhancement Shaman's Mastery: Enhanced ElementsMastery: Enhanced Elements increases all Nature, Fire, and Frost Damage done and improves your chance to trigger WindfuryWindfury and StormbringerStormbringer. Mastery greatly increases in value during AoE engagements.
  1. Agility - Increases your total Attack Power and through that Damage Done by your Auto Attacks and Abilities.

 

The Best Talent Choices

Lightning Shield
Level 15: 
Recommended choice - Lightning Shield
Lightning ShieldLightning Shield - A 1hour self-buff that does minor Nature Damage to melee attackers, and generates 2 charges for each StormstrikeStormstrike cast. At 20 charges it resets to 1 charge and causes all your melee attacks to strike for additional Nature damage; this buff lasts for 10 seconds. This is a very flexible choice, that does not unnecessarily complicate your rotation.

BoulderfistBoulderfist increases Damage done by the RockbiterRockbiter by 35% and reduces its recharge time by 15%. This Talent complicates your priority list and does not offer enough to compensate for that fact unless you combine it with the Strenght of EarthStrenght of Earth Azerite power.

Hot HandHot Hand causes your melee attacks made when your FlametongueFlametongue is active to sometimes reduce the Maelstrom cost of the Lava LashLava Lash to 0 and increase its damage by 100%. This provides a solid Damage increase, but conflicts with your other procs. When combined with the Primal PrimerPrimal Primer Azerite power, it becomes a very solid option.

Shimmer
Level 30: 
Recommended choice - Forceful Winds
ShimmerForceful Winds - Your Windfury causes each successive Windfury AttackWindfury Attack made within 15s to generate 1 extra Maelstrom per swing, and increase WindfuryWindfury's Damage by 80%. This effect stacks up to 5 times and does not refresh itself. This Talent provides a solid Single-Target Damage increase and synergizes well with the Crash LightningCrash Lightning in AoE situations, giving you some extra flexibility.

Landslide causes your RockbiterRockbiter to, 40% of the time, increase Damage of your next StormstrikeStormstrike by 100%. This complicates your rotation and is focused mostly on Single-Target Damage, and as such can be picked for purely Single-Target engagements.

Totem MasteryTotem Mastery summons 4 Totems for 2 minutes. Each of the totems provides a different buff, Storm TotemStorm Totem - Damage of your StormstrikeStormstrike is increased by 10%, Resonance TotemResonance Totem - 1 Maelstrom is generated every second, Tailwind TotemTailwind Totem - WindfuryWindfury's trigger chance is increased by 2%, Ember TotemEmber Totem - Damage of your Lava LashLava Lash is increased by 10%. This Talent gives you good passive buffs, but it limits your mobility and forces you to spend first Global Cooldown after relocating on the Totem MasteryTotem Mastery. You can swap ShimmerForceful Winds with it for static engagements, or when you have Primal PrimerPrimal Primer Azerite Powers selected.

Spirit Wolf
Level 45: 
Recommended choice - Spirit Wolf
Spirit WolfSpirit Wolf -  While transformed into a Ghost WolfGhost Wolf your damage taken is reduced by 5% and movement speed is increased by 5% every 1 second; this effect stacks up to 4 times. This, while a bit slow to stack up, is a 20% damage reduction which is a very useful lifesaver in many Raid and Mythic+ encounters.

Earth ShieldEarth Shield has too low of an impact to put it on a tank and finds its uses mostly in Solo play, where that extra heal may prove to be helpful.

Static ChargeStatic Charge improves your Capacitor TotemCapacitor Totem by reducing its Cooldown by 5s for each stunned enemy (for a maximum of 20s CD reduction). Pick this only if you need some extra crowd control potential (during Mythic+ progression, for example).

Searing Assault
Level 60: 
Recommended choice - Searing Assault
Searing AssaultSearing Assault - Flametongue WeaponFlametongue Weapon now also burns your Target, dealing additional Fire Damage over 6 seconds(this effect only applies on the initial Flametongue WeaponFlametongue Weapon casts, and is not an on-hit effect). This Talent provides the highest Damage increase and does not impact your rotation at all, which makes it the strongest, and the simplest choice.

HailstormHailstorm causes all your melee attacks to deal extra Frost Damage when your FrostbrandFrostbrand is active. This requires refreshing every 16 seconds, which complicates your priority list, and eats up resources, and is a poor choice because of that. However, it can be picked for AoE-heavy engagements if you have Natural HarmonyNatural Harmony Azerite traits selected.

OverchargeOvercharge gives your Lightning BoltLightning Bolt a 9-second Cooldown, and causes it to consume up to 40 Maelstrom charges, and deal up to 1200% increased Damage. This Talent, while strong on paper, is very tricky to use, as it can disrupt your rotation when used at the wrong time, which makes it quite a bad choice.

Nature's Guardian
Level 75: 
Recommended choice - Nature's Guardian
Nature's GuardianNature's Guardian -  When your Health drops below 35% you get instantly healed for 20% of your max HP; This effect can trigger once per 45s, and will not prevent taking Fatal Damage. This is the recommended choice, as it can save your life and doesn't require any input from your side. It is great for chaotic encounters in which you often lose your concentration and are too slow to react to some deadly mechanics.

Feral Lunge Feral Lunge makes you jump to your Target and deal minor Damage; It has a 25yd range and 30-second Cooldown. This Talent provides you with some extra mobility during Multi-Target engagements with a lot of Target-swapping and should be picked when an encounter requires you to have that extra gap-closing ability.

Wind Rush TotemWind Rush Totem provides a 60% movement speed buff for 5s to everybody who passes within 10yd of it; The Totem lasts for 15 seconds and has a 2-minute Cooldown. It has some uses in movement and kite-heavy encounters where you put it in a predesignated location to help with mob-kiting or passing through an area quickly. This helps in dealing with a lot of Raid and Mythic+ mechanics and should be picked over Nature's GuardianNature's Guardian if needed.

Sundering
Level 90: 
Recommended choice - Sundering
SunderingSundering -  Deals very high amounts of Fire/Physical Damage to all enemies in front of you, and incapacitates them for 2 seconds; It costs 20 Maelstrom and has 40-second Cooldown. This Talent provides you with great Burst AoE Damage Spell and is the most flexible of the three, as it is also the best choice for Single-Target engagements.

Crashing StormCrashing Storm causes your Crash LightningCrash Lightning to leave an energy field, that damages all Targets within it over 6 seconds, on the ground. This Talent excels in fights that require you to switch between Single-Target and AoE DPS on a regular basis and should be picked if the Cooldown of the SunderingSundering is too long to keep up with the AoE phases of an engagement.

Fury of AirFury of Air is an aura-type spell that deals rather low AoE Damage to all enemies within 8 yards around you and slows them by 30% for 3 seconds; It costs 3 Maelstrom to activate and another three every second. The amount of Maelstrom required for the maintenance of this spell is not worth it unless you desperately need some additional sustained AoE damage.

Ascendance
Level 100: 
Recommended choice - Ascendance
AscendanceAscendance - Transforms your StormstrikeStormstrike and auto attacks into Wind attacks that bypass Armor, gives them 30yd range, and reduces the cost and cooldown of StormstrikeStormstrike by 66%; It lasts for 15 seconds and has a 3-minute Cooldown. This Talent opens a solid Burst Damage window and lets you deal with a multitude of DPS-related Raid mechanics.

Elemental SpiritsElemental Spirits imbues your Feral SpiritsFeral Spirits with Lightning, Frost, or Fire which enhances your abilities, and reduces the cooldown of your Feral SpiritFeral Spirit ability by 30 seconds. This gives you two out of three buffs when Feral SpiritsFeral Spirits are active: Crackling SurgeCrackling Surge - increases the Damage of your WindfuryWindfury hits and StormstrikeStormstrike by 35%, Icy EdgeIcy Edge - all attacks slow hit Targets by 30% for 2 seconds and deal additional Frost Damage, Molten WeaponMolten Weapon - Lava LashLava Lash deals additional 35% Damage over 4 seconds, and all Fire Damage done is increased by 20%. This provides you with burst windows that are more frequent, but less reliable than those provided by the AscendanceAscendance, and with an RNG factor attached. This Talent increases in value if you have the Primal PrimerPrimal Primer Azerite traits active, and should be picked accordingly.

Earthen SpikeEarthen Spike impales your Target on an Earthen SpikeEarthen Spike, dealing Physical Damage and increasing your Nature and Physical Damage dealt to the Target by 20% for 10 seconds; It has a 20-second Cooldown and a 10yd range. This provides you with the least amount of burst Damage but can be activated frequently, giving you some extra priority-target Damage boost without any Cooldown-related punishment. Earthen Spike Earthen Spike is a very flexible option and should be picked if that extra flexibility is needed.

 

The Basic Rotation

As a resource-based Specialization, Enhancement Shaman follows a Priority List instead of a standard Rotation. Said Priority list revolves around resource generation, resource expenditure, and the proper procs utilization.

Use the following priority list to maximize your Single Target Damage output:
  1. Windstrike if the Ascendance is active
Ascendance ⇒ Windstrike
  1. Maintain Flametongue buff
Flametongue
  1. Feral Spirit on Cooldown
Feral Spirit
  1. Ascendance on Cooldown, unless there is a Burst Damage phase coming up
Ascendance
  1. Stormstrike
Stormstrike
  1. Flametongue to trigger Searing Assault
Flametongue ► Searing Assault
  1. Sundering on Cooldown, unless there is an AoE phase coming up in the next 30 seconds
Sundering
  1. Rockbiter when about to reach 2 charges and under 70 Maelstrom
Rockbiter
  1. Lava Lash when above 40 Maelstrom
Lava Lash
  1. Rockbiter to avoid downtime
Rockbiter
Use the following priority list to maximize your AoE Damage output:
  1. Crash Lightning when at least 2 Targets are in range and the buff is not active
Crash Lightning
  1. Windstrike if the Ascendance is active
Ascendance ⇒ Windstrike
  1. Maintain Flametongue buff
Flametongue
  1. Feral Spirit on Cooldown
Feral Spirit
  1. Ascendance on Cooldown
Ascendance
  1. Stormstrike
Stormstrike
  1. Crash Lightning when at least 3 Targets are in range
Crash Lightning
  1. Flametongue to trigger Searing Assault
Flametongue ► Searing Assault
  1. Sundering on Cooldown
Sundering
  1. Rockbiter when about to reach 2 charges and under 70 Maelstrom
Rockbiter
  1. Crash Lightning when at least 2 Targets are in range.
Crash Lightning
  1. Lava Lash when above 40 Maelstrom
Lava Lash
  1. Rockbiter to avoid downtime
Rockbiter

 

Tips and Tricks for Improving your Gameplay

  1. Manage your resources. Always try to balance your Maelstrom generation and expenditure, and avoid overcapping Maelstrom at any cost (but do not use it recklessly either).
  1. Optimize your Global Cooldowns. Think ahead, and always try to have the next two Global Cooldown usages sorted out. This may take a lot of practice and will require a Priority List memorization.
  1. Do not waste your procs. There are some add-ons that will help you react to your proc gains quicker, by displaying them on your screen in a more visible way.
  1. Try to maintain your FlametongueFlametongue at all times. The 100% uptime is your ultimate goal.
  1. Always analyze and try to improve upon your mistakes, because practice makes perfect.


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END NOTE

This is an early version of our guide, we plan to upgrade upon it, and add further sections. So please leave your suggestions in the comments section below. We would also like to state that this is meant as a pocket guide and therefore we will not go into too much detail (however, if we are missing some information that is important to you, please let us know, and we will gladly add it).

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment Inc.