- Author: Venesh
- Date: February 16, 2022
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
In this section we will be covering information on various spells and abilities that are in an Enhancement Shaman’s arsenal for Wrath of the Lich King. We’ll then be covering a detailed rotation for both single-target encounters and Area-of-Effect (AoE) encounters.
Make sure to read the Overview as well!
Single-Target Rotation
Now that we have explained the Enhancement Shaman’s abilities in-depth, we will move forward with the Single-Target Rotation. As we mentioned previously, the Enhancement Shaman has a rather difficult rotation to pull off, often annoying or outright demoralizing players who are trying to master it. Remember this and try not to give up.
First of all, we are using the Lightning Shield build, which means that we will have to upkeep Lightning Shield at all times. Now, due to Static Shock, we will have an on-hit chance to expend one of the orbs from the Lightning Shield. Furthermore, before the fight begins you’ll want to make sure you’ve enchanted your main hand weapon with Windfury Weapon and your off-hand weapon with Flametongue Weapon.
Make sure to open up with Flame Shock on the target – keep it up at all times. Your default Shock to follow with after Flame Shock should always be Earth Shock.
While your Stormstrike is still on cooldown, and you have just used your Earth Shock, you will want to make sure that your Magma Totem is placed in the proximity of the target. Considering the way we spent our talents, you will want to use Magma Totem at all times and maintain it.
Then, use Fire Nova. Remember to use Fire Nova on cooldown, just like with Stormstrike or your Shocks.
With testing during the beta, we have confirmed that Lava Lash is one of the lowest damage-dealing abilities in the whole rotation, meaning that you will want to use it as the last ability in your rotation, prioritizing every one ability.
Enhancement Shaman benefits from 2 massive DPS-boosting cooldowns, the first one is Feral Spirit and the second one is Fire Elemental Totem. Fire Elemental Totem can only be used once per fight, meaning that you will ideally want it up at the beginning of the encounter, of course, depending on the encounter itself. In some fights, you will want to pop it right at the beginning, for example, in fights such as Patchwerk or XT-002 Deconstructor, and keep it for later phases in fights such as Jarraxus, Deathbringer Saurfang, and Sindragosa.
When it comes to Feral Spirit, you will want to use it as soon as possible, paired with all of your other DPS-boosting effects, such as trinkets and potions. Use it every time it’s available, or during crucial moments when something needs to die ASAP.
Finally, Maelstrom Weapon, just like we mentioned above, is a very important mechanic that allows us to weave Lightning Bolt casts between our melee attacks. Depending on your cooldowns, you can choose to spend either 2-3 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon between your attacks or wait until you gain 5 stacks and instantly cast a Lightning Bolt. Depending on your weapon speed, you will either have fast access to 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon, meaning consistent Lightning Bolt casts, or a slower build-up that will provide lower damage but will preserve your mana pool.
The daunting part of this rotation is the simultaneous upkeep of both your Flame Shock and Lightning Shield, at all times. But, do not fret – with proper practice, it will become second nature to you.
Now that we have explained the rotation, we will also offer a summary to help you visualize it.
Rotation Example
- Imbue your weapons with Windfury Weapon on Main-Hand and Flametongue Weapon on Off-Hand
- Cast Lightning Shield before the engagement and whenever your stacks run out
- Beggining of combat: Flame Shock -> Place Totems (Call of the Elements) -> Feral Spirit -> Stormstrike (Debuff/Damage) ->Fire Elemental Totem -> Lightning Bolt(2-3 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon )-> Earth Shock -> Fire Nova -> Lightning Bolt (when you get 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks) -> Lava Lash
With proper practice, you will master this rotation and become a true Enhancement Shaman.
Totem Setup
When it comes to totem setup, it will depend on how many shamans you have in your raid! Generally speaking, you will find more than one shaman in a raid composition, meaning that each of you will have a different totem setup.
Example for an Enhancement Shaman:
- Earth Totem: Strength of Earth Totem
- Fire Totem: Magma Totem
- Water Totem: Healing Stream Totem
- Air Totem: Windfury Totem
Weapon Sync
There is a special mechanic for Enhancement Shamans that revolves around their Flurry talent. Just like in TBC, you can sync both your Main-Hand and Off-Hand weapons, making them hit the target at the same time. By accomplishing this, you end up consuming just one of the Flurry charges, the game effectively treating both hits from your weapons as a single hit, thus consuming a single Flurry charge.
This can be done by weaving spells in between your auto-attacks or by using “Startattack” macros on your spells. However, you will require an addon that tracks your swing timer in order to pull it off.
There is one more important aspect that should be mentioned, you will always want to have your Main-Hand weapon attack first rather than your Off-Hand weapon, to ensure that your Windfury procs more efficiently.
By managing to synchronize your weapons, you can achieve up to a 5% damage increase, however, it will mean more intensive micro of your rotation. It is entirely up to you if you wish to min-max your rotation in such a way.
Weapon Speed
Weapon speed plays a big role in how an Enhancement Shaman works. Depending on your weapon speed, you can achieve two different things. With slower weapons, you will have more time to weave in Lightning Bolt casts but you will have a lower frequency of Maelstrom Weapon. With fast weapons, you will consistently gain Maelstrom Weapon stacks but you will be forced to cast Lightning Bolt more often, leading to a potential mana-management issue.
The idea is that depending on your weapon of choice, you will either benefit from more consistent damage or from higher burst damage. It is all up to you.
Area-of-Effect Rotation
The AoE rotation of an Enhancement Shaman is very similar to our single target rotation, with a couple of key differences.
The first one is the Magma Totem, which we have mentioned previously. Great thing is, this ability synergizes well with the second ability of the Enhancement Shaman – the Fire Nova.
Furthermore, when you get 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks, you’ll want to use Chain Lightning instead of Lightning Bolt, as it deals incredibly high AoE damage.
Finally, if it is available, you’ll want to use Fire Elemental Totem instead of Magma Totem. Bear in mind that it doesn’t benefit from the raid cooldown reset system that Blizzard implemented in WotLK Classic, and it has a pretty lengthy 10 minute cooldown, so you’ll want to save it for those fights with a LOT of adds for it to attack.
Our AoE as an Enhancement Shaman is unfortunately not the best, but it can be a lot of fun to see big Chain Lightning and Fire Nova crits all over your screen!
About the Author
You arent mentioning chain lightning or lightning bolt in the rotation at all?
Hey, thank you for your comment! It was mentioned in the Overview section but not in the rotation summary, so thank you for pointing it out — the guide has been updated!
Does weapon speed effect dps as much as it does now? Also, if it does, do we need to make sure our weapons are hitting at the same time again in wrath? (maybe I was doing it wrong but getting both weapons to hit at the exact same time to both proc windfury wasnt super easy to me.)
Weapon sync is still important so you can double dip flurry procs, but stagger no longer matters because you’ll be using Flametongue on your offhand in all cases.
Slower weapons are also preferred because they give you a larger window to LB weave (use lightning bolt with one or more MSW stacks provided you can squeeze it in between autos). Having at least 1 stack of MSW causes LB/CL (and actually also Lava Burst) to not reset your swing timer, whether or not the spell is instant. So basically you can “weave” more hard-casted spells in between your auto attacks with slower weapons.
With such a totem/shock heavy rotation why wouldn’t we want 100% chance for storm strike to give us 20% of our mana? Is mana not an issue as enhance? I know shamanistic rage gives us mana back but it just feels like I’d oom without that imp storm strike maxed in talents..I’ve only played ele shaman currently in tbc so I wouldn’t know about enhance at all; sorry if this is a stupid question
I played a private server, I would say early expac if you really struggle go for all the talent points in it but if you find mana management easy just use 2/3
Sorry I meant 1/2
which totem are you supposed to use
Strength of earth, windfury if you have party members who can benefit of not use the agi totem, healing or mana stream totem depending on what you wanna do and magma totem for dps
Incorrect. The effects of Strength of Earth and Grace of Air are combined into a single earth totem, Strength of Earth. Totems are party/raid wide so as an enhancement shaman, you will be using Strength of Earth, Windfury, Healing Stream/Mana Spring totem and Magma Totem.
Never have I seen more inaccurate information in one guide before. Anyone who wants to follow this setup, prepare to be mocked by everyone in your guild for your poor performance.
Appreciate the comment, but then, if you’re gonna condemn this post as a bad strat, please be kind enough to submit a proper rotation to benefit us all. Don’t horde the info bro. Thanks
Spellhance is the way to go for enhance until later on in the expansion. This is easily verified in Sims/dummies/logs.
Spellhance is where you have a spell power weapon in your main hand and normal weapon in your off hand.
Slower weapon are always a DPS increase as not only does it make it easier to weave maelstrom procs it makes your stormstrike and lava lash hit harder.
You also don’t run windfury weapon and have double flametongue weapon with rank 9 in your main hand and rank 10 in your off hand. This is done as although flametongue has a very small internal cool down, different ranks have there own cool down separate from eachother. Since you should have the same speed main hand and off hand to keep flurry up longer (if both your weapon hit within 0.5 seconds of eachother you will only consume 1 stack of flurry).
You’re welcome.
Talents wise depends on your raid setup. If you have imp icy talons from a DK you drop imp wf totem. I’d take 5/5 ancestral knowledge instead of imp shields as you get attack power from the intellect. I also take clearcasting in the elemental tree and I prefer 2/2 imp stormstrike instead of shamanistic focus as it’s more consistent. If you need to take imp wf totem because you don’t have a DK with imp icy talons in your raid then either drop points in ancestral knowledge or improved stormstrike depending on if you have mana issues or not.
Spells wise I go something like this..
In single target
Lightening bolt from maelstrom procs.
Stormstrike
Flame shock (if you get the full duration and the dot isn’t already applied)
Magma totem
Earth shock
Fire Nova
Lightening shield
Lava lash
AOE
Magma totem
Fire Nova
Chain lightening (or lightening bolt if chain lightening is on cool down) from maelstrom procs
Stormstrike
Flame shock (as above)
Earth shock
Lightening shield
Lava lash
But what would you use for weapon effect? Windfury/Rockbiter/Flametongue?
Did I miss anything?
Windfury on your main hand, Flametongue on your off hand.
is synciing your weapons also a deal in wotlk?