Enhancement Shaman DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Enhancement Shaman functions around a priority list system, cycling different abilities to keep them on cooldown, and generating Maelstrom Weapon stacks. Stacks are then spent on powerful spells, granting cooldown reduction through Elemental Tempo. It can take some time to build up muscle memory and get a feel for the flow, rewarding careful planning around resources.

1. Cast Voltaic Blaze if Flame Shock isn't active.
2. Cast Surging Totem.
3. Cast Sundering - Click for Notes

   • Aim to sync up every other cast with Surging Totem.
4. Cast Lava Lash with Hot Hand or Whirling Fire active.
5. Cast Ascendance.
6. Cast Doom Winds.
7. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
8. Cast Crash Lightning.
9. Cast Windstrike with Ascendance active.
   • Cast Stormstrike instead during Doom Winds procs.
10. Cast Windstrike during Ascendance procs - Click for Notes

    • Cast Stormstrike during Doom Winds after Ascendance expires.
11. Cast Stormstrike during Doom Winds.
12. Cast Lightning Bolt with 9+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks - Click for Notes

    • This can be used as low as 5+ if Elemental Tempo will reset Lava Lash cooldown.
13. Cast Lava Lash.
14. Cast Stormstrike.
15. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
16. Cast Lightning Bolt with 5+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
17. Cast Sundering - Click for Notes

    • Aim to align this with Ascendance. Doom Winds.
18. Cast Sundering.
19. Cast Doom Winds
20. Cast Ascendance.
21. Cast Primordial Storm with 9+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
22. Cast Windstrike during Ascendance.
23. Cast Stormstrike during Doom Winds.
24. Cast Crash Lightning during Doom Winds.
25. Cast Tempest / Lightning Bolt with 9+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
26. Cast Stormstrike.
27. Cast Crash Lightning.
28. Cast Lava Lash.
29. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
30. Cast Lightning Bolt with 5+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.

Enhancement has an ebb and flow that you will slowly get used to, as the "feel" of Maelstrom Weapon generation alongside your ability cooldowns often follow a rhythm. New to Midnight, Elemental Tempo adds in dynamic cooldown reduction from spenders, giving a nice feedback loop to resource management. Each Hero Tree also has key procs to react to, with Stormbringer having Tempest and a larger focus on Stormsurge procs. Totemic leaning heavily into Hot Hand, extending it via Totemic Momentum. Below are some quick notes, populated based on your rotation tool selection:

• Stormbringer aims to cycle Maelstrom Weapon for Tempest. While available, try to spend it with 9+ Maelstrom Weapon. Otherwise, cast Lightning Bolt to avoid capping.
• Stormstrike is its strike of choice, and has two charges to play with. Use this as often as possible, with Lava Lash and Voltaic Blaze being fallback generation tools. Crash Lightning should be cast as a top priority in between Stormstrike and Maelstrom Weapon casts.
• Whenever you cast Doom Winds, aim to have 1-2 charges of Stormstrike and Crash Lightning available. Fill every GCD with these to trigger Thorim's Invocation, ideally getting enough Elemental Tempo CDR to chain cast them. Aim to have Crash Lightning active just before entering Ascendance, and fill every GCD with Windstrike to trigger Thorim's Invocation. Use Crash Lightning as a backup. During Doom Winds procs, try to use as many Stormstrike / Crash Lightning casts as possible. Whenever Deeply Rooted Elements triggers, try to cast Windstrike every GCD. Doom Winds lasts slightly longer, so remember to keep casting Stormstrike until it expires.
• As Totemic, Surging Totem should be cast as close to every minute as possible. Immediately follow with Sundering, begin Hot Hand, extend with Totemic Momentum using Doom Winds Ascendance to extend with Thorim's Invocation. Weave Lava Lash every other GCD during this. and use one Maelstrom Weapon spender to trigger Whirling Air. Follow with Lava Lash to start Hot Hand. Unfortunately, Deeply Rooted Elements has no reliable window to to consistently extend through Totemic Momentum.
• Lava Lash is your strike of choice, and should be cast as often as possible. During Hot Hand, this should be available every third GCD. If you follow with a Maelstrom Weapon spender, due to Elemental Tempo it will be available every second.
• Crash Lightning should be cast as a top priority outside of Lava Lash. Stormstrike and Voltaic Blaze are backup casts, and Maelstrom Weapon spenders should be used at 9+ stacks, unless using it lower will reset the cooldown of Lava Lash via Elemental Tempo.

FAQShould I "Hard Cast" Maelstrom Spenders?

Never. The practice of "Hard Casting" involves using spenders below 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks (incurring a cast time). This both makes them inefficient by not leveraging the damage bonus, and resets the swing timer, leading to even more waste. If you're doing this regularly, it's a big contributor to performance losses.

FAQShould I use Earth Elemental as a DPS Cooldown?

Generally, no. Even with full uptime for the entire minute, it does far less damage than even your weakest abilities. It's much better to use it as a survival tool for the health bonus , or saved as an emergency tool if not using Primordial Bond.

FAQShould I Care about Maelstrom Weapon Waste?

Yes. As Stormbringer, cycling efficiently to reach Tempest is very important, so you should avoid going above 10 stacks as much as possible. It's also very important to leverage Elemental Tempo to avoid downtime. Yes. When playing Totemic, your Maelstrom Weapon spenders are key to extending your Hot Hand window via Totemic Momentum. You should always be trying to do spend as much as possible between Lava Lash casts. It's also useful for accessing Lava Lash outside of this via Elemental Tempo, if spending will allow you to cast it within the next GCD.

Enhancement AoE is a fair bit simpler in Midnight, with less moving parts. It still maintains a few buttons it actively uses though, and each Hero Talent has its own quirks in multi-target combat.

1. Cast Voltaic Blaze if Flame Shock isn't currently active.
2. Cast Surging Totem.
3. Cast Sundering.
4. Cast Lava Lash if Hot Hand or Whirling Fire is active.
5. Cast Doom Winds.
6. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon.
7. Cast Ascendance.
8. Cast Crash Lightning.
9. Cast Windstrike.
10. Cast Stormstrike during Doom Winds.
11. Cast Chain Lightning with 9+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
12. Cast Lava Lash.
13. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
14. Cast Stormstrike.
15. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
16. Cast Chain Lightning with 5+ Maelstrom Weapon.
17. Cast Sundering.
18. Cast Ascendance.
19. Cast Doom Winds.
20. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon.
21. Cast Crash Lightning.
22. Cast Windstrike during Ascendance.
23. Cast Stormstrike during Doom Winds.
24. Cast Tempest when available with 10 Maelstrom Weapon.
25. Cast Chain Lightning otherwise at 7+ Maelstrom Weapon.
26. Cast Stormstrike.
27. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
28. Cast Lava Lash.
29. Cast Voltaic Blaze.
30. Cast Chain Lightning with 5+ Maelstrom Weapon.

The Enhancement AoE priority is very similar to single-target, as a lot of our abilities now have built-in cleave in Midnight. Crash Lightning becomes slightly more important for its direct damage, while both it and Ride the Lightning allows both Stormstrike and Lava Lash to remain important. Stormbringer primarily just aims to spend a bit more frequently to reach Tempest for explosive burst. Totemic still wants to extend Hot Hand to capitalize upon Splitstream as much as possible. Below are some quick notes, populated based on your rotation tool selection:

• Stormbringer cycles Maelstrom Weapon aggressively. This is spent as a priority on Tempest (aiming to use it with 10 stacks), and otherwise Chain Lightning at 7+ stacks. During Doom Winds or Ascendance , instead use Thorim's Invocation to spend for you.
• Crash Lightning should be cast on cooldown for the direct damage and significant increase to Maelstrom Weapon generation. Stormstrike is your strike of choice, using it to apply Lightning Rod to targets via Ride the Lightning. Voltaic Blaze and Lava Lash are your backup tools.
• Totemic should always aim to cast Surging Totem every minute, making sure to have Sundering available for Whirling Earth. Follow with Doom Winds Ascendance to extend Hot Hand through Totemic Momentum. Since Deeply Rooted Elements can't be controlled, start your Hot Hand window, trying to extend with Totemic Momentum as much as possible.
• Lava Lash is your strike of choice, cast whenever available during Hot Hand to trigger Splitstream. Otherwise, cast Crash Lightning on cooldown, and use Stormstrike and Voltaic Blaze as backups.
• Maelstrom Weapon spenders are primarily used to activate Totemic Momentum and Elemental Tempo. Use these whenever possible to extend Hot Hand, or lower the cooldown of Lava Lash during Hot Hand. Totemic generally spends at 9+ stacks.

FAQWhat Target Count do I Switch to Chain Lightning?

Regardless of which Hero Tree being played, you should generally switch over to Chain Lightning the moment there's a second target.

FAQShould I "Hard Cast" Maelstrom Spenders?

Never. The practice of "Hard Casting" involves using spenders below 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks (incurring a cast time). This both makes them inefficient by not leveraging the damage bonus, and resets the swing timer leading to even more waste. If you're doing this regularly, it's a big contributor to performance losses.

FAQShould I use Earth Elemental as a DPS Cooldown?

Generally, no. Even with full uptime for the entire minute, it does far less damage than even your weakest abilities. It's much better to use it as a survival tool for the health bonus , or saved as an emergency tool if not using Primordial Bond.

The Enhancement opener is quite fast in Midnight, getting into cooldowns early. Depending on the Hero Tree chosen, there's some things to set up. You can use the switch below to select single-target or AoE openers.

1. Cast Voltaic Blaze on the way into melee.
2. Cast Sundering.
3. Cast Crash Lightning.
4. Cast Ascendance.
5. Cast Windstrike every GCD.
6. Cast Doom Winds and immediately Crash Lightning.
7. Cast Stormstrike twice.
8. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon before it expires.
9. Cast Voltaic Blaze on the way into melee.
10. Cast Surging Totem.
11. Cast Sundering.
12. Cast Ascendance.
13. Cast Lava Lash to trigger Hot Hand.
14. Cast Crash Lightning.
15. Cast Lava Lash.
16. Cast Windstrike.
17. Cast Doom Winds and immediately Crash Lightning.
18. Cast Lava Lash.
19. Cast Primordial Storm with as much Maelstrom Weapon before it expires.
20. Continue with normal ability priority.
21. Cast Voltaic Blaze on the way into melee.
22. Cast Sundering.
23. Cast Ascendance.
24. Cast Crash Lightning.
25. Cast Windstrike every GCD.
26. Cast Doom Winds and immediately Crash Lightning.
27. Cast Stormstrike twice.
28. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon before it expires.
29. Cast Voltaic Blaze on the way into melee.
30. Cast Surging Totem.
31. Cast Sundering.
32. Cast Ascendance.
33. Cast Lava Lash to trigger Hot Hand.
34. Cast Crash Lightning.
35. Cast Lava Lash.
36. Cast Windstrike.
37. Cast Doom Winds and immediately Crash Lightning.
38. Cast Lava Lash.
39. Cast Primordial Storm with 10 Maelstrom Weapon before Doom Winds expires.
40. Continue with normal ability priority.

Thankfully in Midnight, compared to some of the elaborate setup Enhancement required, things are quite simple. Totemic has a few things to set up, but once that's done your quickly into the standard priority list. Notes are:

Thankfully in Midnight, compared to some of the elaborate setup Enhancement required, things are quite simple. In the case of Stormbringer, things are so simple that you enter into your cooldown window almost immediately.

• Totemic needs to apply Flame Shock for Ashen Catalyst, then begins its first Surging Totem. This is always followed by with Sundering for Whirling Earth, and then Lava Lash to start Hot Hand. Immediately cast Doom Winds + Crash Lightning in the same GCD, and begin weaving to extend with Totemic Momentum. and then enter into Ascendance. Follow with Lava Lash to trigger Hot Hand, then Crash Lightning to consume the Air mote. and then Lava Lash to begin Hot Hand. Cast any Maelstrom Weapon as soon as possible to consume Whirling Air.
• With Primordial Storm, you should aim to cast it with as much Maelstrom Weapon as possible during cooldowns. While Thorim's Invocation will consistently drain it, you should be able to cast it in between Lava Lash casts.

Doom Winds is a 1-minute cooldown, off-GCD ability that grants 200% increased chance to trigger Windfury Weapon for 8 seconds, and pulses Stormstrike (Nature/Physical) damage around you. New in Midnight, this inherits both the Static Accumulation and Thorim's Invocation effects. This generates up to 2 Maelstrom Weapon per second, and causes Stormstrike / Crash Lightning to discharge spenders when used. Additionally, Thorim's Invocation increases its duration by 2 seconds when taken.

This is also replaced by both Ascendance or Deeply Rooted Elements if taken, so serves as a lower point cost cooldown option. It's extremely well suited to Totemic, providing an option that syncs up with each Surging Totem cast as well.

Thorim's Invocation causes Stormstrike and Crash Lightning casts while active to discharge a Maelstrom Weapon spender, consuming all of your current stacks. This has some extra details that might not be as clear from the tooltip alone, and has a few interactions to be aware of, regardless of which cooldown you pick. It has two priming states - Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning - and can be switched dynamically by some abilities, particularly in AoE scenarios:

• Any Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning cast will set Thorim's Invocation manually to the respective spell. This switch is not triggered by Ride the Lightning.
• Make sure before each Ascendance cast you are primed to the correct spell:
  • Single Target - Lightning Bolt
  • AoE - Chain Lightning
• Tempest is dynamic, meaning the number of targets hit dictates priming. If it hits only one target, it sets to Lightning Bolt, while if it hits two or more it changes to Chain Lightning.
  • Thorim's Invocation will always consume Tempest if possible, regardless of priming.
• Primordial Storm is dynamic, and will prime you to whichever of the two spells it casts at the end of its sequence. This is decided by the number of targets hit by the initial 3 strikes.

Ascendance replaces Doom Winds when taken, replacing it with a 2-minute cooldown. This is on the GCD, but also triggers Doom Winds for free when activated (with a 10 second duration). It lasts for 15 seconds, inherits both Static Accumulation and Thorim's Invocation, and while active, your Stormstrike and auto-attacks are converted to Windstrike and Windlash. These both have a 30-yard range, ignore all armor, and Windstrike has a 60% reduced cooldown.

This provides a very consistent way to repeatedly trigger Thorim's Invocation, weaving in Crash Lightning between casts. Additionally, it also provides a 0.5% chance to trigger Doom Winds per Maelstrom Weapon when Ascendance is not active.

Also replaces Doom Winds when taken, instead providing a 0.6% chance per Maelstrom Weapon spent to trigger both Ascendance and Doom Winds, lasting 8 and 10 seconds respectively. This is significantly less predictable, but can provide explosive burst provided RNG is on your side. This isn't currently a worthwhile option for now in Midnight, but may change in the future.

Much like in the Doom Winds section, Thorim's Invocation is important to note here as well. This causes Windstrike and Crash Lightning casts while active to discharge a Maelstrom Weapon spender, consuming all of your current stacks. It comes with two priming states - Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning - and this can be switched dynamically by some abilities, particularly in AoE scenarios:

• Any Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning cast will set Thorim's Invocation manually to the respective spell. This switch is not triggered by Ride the Lightning.
• Make sure before each Ascendance cast you are primed to the correct spell:
  • Single Target - Lightning Bolt
  • AoE - Chain Lightning
• Tempest is dynamic, meaning the number of targets hit dictates priming. If it hits only one target, it sets to Lightning Bolt, while if it hits two or more it changes to Chain Lightning.
  • Thorim's Invocation will always consume Tempest if possible, regardless of priming.
• Primordial Storm is dynamic, and will prime you to whichever of the two spells it casts at the end of its sequence. This is decided by the number of targets hit by the initial 3 strikes.

Sundering deals heavy Flamestrike damage to all targets in a line in front of you, with a 30-second cooldown. When playing as Totemic, this also triggers Whirling Earth following each Surging Totem cast. Its place is as a mid-range burst tool, especially with follow-up talents in AoE.

Surging Elements provides 15% Haste for 12 seconds whenever you cast Sundering. Additionally, it causes Sundering to generate 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon when used. Note that this effect does not trigger from Splitstream procs when playing Totemic.

Primordial Storm is a combo skill follow-up available after casting Sundering. When cast, this triggers a 4 step attack that always happens in the same order:

Fire strike ➜ Frost strike ➜ Lightning strike ➜ empowered Lightning Bolt / Chain Lightning, based on targets hit.

The first 3 strikes are considered main-hand strikes, and hit in AoE, meaning they each individually trigger weapon imbues on targets hit. Lastly, this also consumes Maelstrom Weapon to amplify the damage of all hits. This does not become available after triggering Sundering via Splitstream.

Maelstrom Weapon management is crucial if you intend to play Enhancement at a competitive level. This has a 20% chance to trigger from any melee hit, and stacks up to 5 times (or up to 10 with Raging Maelstrom). Each stack reduces the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt / Chain Lightning cast by 20%, and also increases the damage of affected spells by 20%. At 5 stacks, these abilities become instant. Only 5 stacks can be consumed at a time, but this increases to 10 with Overflowing Maelstrom taken.

• Stormbringer builds aim to spend at 9+, but can often find themselves spending lower depending on the situation, usually to fish for Static Accumulation and Supercharge procs if they run out of generators.
• During Ascendance, Windstrike will naturally spend all of your available Maelstrom Weapon every Windstrike due to Thorim's Invocation. This is always more valuable than spending manually, both for the damage the ability itself deals, and the extra resources it generates in the process of saving that GCD.
• Totemic aims to spend at 9+ stacks, but this can be reduced down if it means you'll extend Hot Hand via Totemic Momentum long enough to squeeze in another Lava Lash.
• During Doom Winds, both Stormstrike and Crash Lightning will automatically spend your Maelstrom Weapon with each cast via Thorim's Invocation. This often means weaving these between Lava Lash casts, extending a long Hot Hand window, and utilizing Elemental Tempo CDR.

While it is tempting to cast these spells as soon as you hit 5 stacks, you should train yourself to make use of the 10-stack limit granted by Raging Maelstrom. If you are not at risk of overcapping your Maelstrom Weapon stacks, then it makes more sense to focus on keeping your other abilities on cooldown.

New to Midnight, Elemental Tempo provides cooldown reduction to both Stormstrike and Lava Lash whenever you spend Maelstrom Weapon. This provides 0.3 seconds off per stack spent, and bridges gaps between GCDs if you're running out of available buttons. This works well with Totemic Momentum for Totemic, bringing a 1➜2➜1 ability cycle when spending in between.

Thunder Capacitor provides a 20% chacne to refund all Maelstrom Weapon spent on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. These procs often require some reaction speed to catch them before you hit your planned button, but this means spending at lower stacks can sometimes be worth it to fish for a refund. This is especially useful if you're running out of rotational buttons to use, and need the extra Elemental Tempo recovery.

Crash Lightning looks simple on the surface, but has a few less obvious components. In Midnight, it's a core aspect of Enhancement gameplay in all situations, and is even the focus of our upcoming Apex Talent - Storm Unleashed. Due to that, there are some things to understand:

• The Crash Lightning buff is triggered for 12 seconds when cast. It does not matter if you hit anything.
• While active, Stormstrike and Lava Lash will trigger a separate damage splash event, also called Crash Lightning, that splits between up to 5 enemies.
• All Crash Lightning damage, both active and splash, can trigger Maelstrom Weapon
• The initial cast of Crash Lightning can trigger individual Windfury Weapon events on targets hit.

The above means that you should aim to be casting Crash Lightning on cooldown. The benefits of bonus damage on our core strikes, while providing extra resource generation, turns it into a maintenance effect. This is especially true in AoE, since while no damage is gained due to the split, it does trigger extra events that can trigger Maelstrom Weapon. Finally in Midnight this also triggers Thorim's Invocation during either Doom Winds or Ascendance.

Converging Storms causes each target hit by the initial Crash Lightning cast to increase the damage of your next Stormstrike cast by 25% per target hit, stacking up to 6 (for a maximum of 150%). This activates even on a single-target, and is a modest boost to funnel for builds that can fit it in.

Stormwell is a Stormbringer only talent, adding additional value when cast against exclusively one target. This causes Crash Lightning to guaranteeably proc Windfury Weapon on your target if it hits no other enemies. This is considered an independent proc, so your cast can technically trigger it twice.

Your Weapon Imbues should always be active, as they confer a strong benefit. Some notes on each are:

• Windfury Weapon - only applied to the main-hand, these additional strikes are considered special attacks and, as such, can generate Maelstrom Weapon.
• Flametongue Weapon - only applied to the off-hand, this causes all weapon attacks to trigger an additional hit of fire damage, and doubles the damage your Lava Lash deals while active.

With Instinctive Imbuements taken, this will also automatically apply both imbuements to the appropriate weapon when casting Lightning Shield. This happens all at once with no extra GCD cost.

You can have one Elemental Shield active at a time, or two with Elemental Orbit taken. Lightning Shield is the primary choice here due to the bonus Agility provided by Instinctive Imbuements.

Elemental Orbit should be strongly considered to allow you to have Earth Shield active at the same time. This should also be paired with Therazane's Resilience, allowing for permanent uptime and extra self-healing. Additionally, this lets you keep it up permanently on another party member - usually your tank.

Skyfury, granted by any Shaman, provides a flat increase to Mastery rating to all Party and Raid members. It also has additional benefits for melee characters, providing a 20% chance to proc an additional auto-attack each swing, with a 0.5-second internal cooldown per player. This does not trigger from missed attacks, and can miss itself. These extra attacks count as regular auto-attacks, meaning they proc all on-hit effects, but they do not affect Hunter auto-shots, pets, or guardians.