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Enhancement Shaman: Mists of Pandaria Rotation Changes, Talents, and Glyphs (Patch 5.0.4)

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This article is no longer being updated. Please check our Enhancement Shaman guide, which is fully compatible with Mists Pandaria, and is being constantly updated. Thank you.

In preparation for the updates to our guides for Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4, we are releasing articles such as this one, explaining what has changed for a particular class and spec, and what the new rotation is likely to be.

Keep in mind that this is still a work in progress (both from Blizzard's side and from our own) and that this article assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the Cataclysm version of the Enhancement Shaman rotation and playstyle (such as from reading our guide).

We will first list the most important changes to the Enhancement Shaman Cataclysm abilities, and then we will proceed to explaining the (likely to be) optimal rotation. Keep in mind that we do not document every single change or new ability, only those that impact the rotation.

Finally, we will give you some information about the most useful talents and glyphs you should choose.

Totem Changes

Mists of Pandaria is bringing a number of important changes to Shaman totems.

First of all, all your buff totems have been removed or replaced.

As a result, you will no longer need to drop all your totems at once. It gave Blizzard an excuse to remove your call spells (don't choke). spell_shaman_dropall_02.jpgCall of the Ancestors, spell_shaman_dropall_01.jpgCall of the Elements, and spell_shaman_dropall_03.jpgCall of the Spirits are gone.

In addition, your other totems have undergone the following changes.

Finally, there are six new totems.

New Abilities

Besides the totems that we listed above, you only gain three new abilities.
  • spell_fire_elementaldevastation.jpgAscendance is a powerful DPS cooldown that causes your autoattacks and ability_shaman_stormstrike.jpgStormstrike ability to deal pure Nature damage and to have a 30-yard range. By dealing pure Nature damage, these abilities are now affected by your Mastery and they are no longer mitigated by armor. Stormstrike is changed to (changed to spell_lightning_lightningbolt01.jpgStormblast while Ascendance is active.
  • spell_nature_invisibilitytotem.jpgGrace of Air is a raid-wide passive Mastery Rating increase, available to all Shamans.
  • ability_tracking.jpgSpirit Walk is on a 3-minute cooldown, removes all movement-impairing effects, and increases movement speed by 60% for 15 seconds.

Changed Abilities and Mechanics

Many of your current mechanics and abilities have been replaced by new mechanics or abilities that are very similar.

Removed Abilities and Mechanics

Rotation

Your Enhancement Shaman rotation will remain largely the same in Mists of Pandaria (see our Enhancement Shaman guide).As in Cataclysm, you will need to use spell_shaman_unleashweapon_wind.jpgWindfury Weapon on your main-hand weapon, spell_shaman_unleashweapon_flame.jpgFlametongue Weapon on your off-hand weapon, and spell_nature_lightningshield.jpgLightning Shield as your shield.

Totem Cooldowns

As we have seen earlier, you have a number of totems that act as DPS cooldowns. With the removal of your buff totems, the only totem you will need to constantly keep is spell_fire_searingtotem.jpgSearing Totem (because of spell_fire_searingtotem.jpgSearing Flames). Other than that, you are free to make use of your totems however you see fit, including for using these DPS cooldowns:In addition, you have two Water totems that you can use as healing cooldowns: inv_spear_04.jpgHealing Stream Totem (30-second cooldown) and ability_shaman_healingtide.jpgHealing Tide Totem (a powerful raid healing ability on a 3-minute cooldown, given by a Tier 5 talent).

Finally, ability_shaman_multitotemactivation.jpgCall of the Elements is a Tier 3 talent that enables you to finish the remaining cooldown on all your totems with a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes.

Regular Cooldowns

In addition to spell_shaman_spiritwalkersgrace.jpgSpiritwalker's Grace and spell_shaman_feralspirit.jpgFeral Spirit, which work in the same way as in Cataclysm, you gain two new DPS cooldowns.
  • spell_fire_elementaldevastation.jpgAscendance greatly increases the damage dealt by your autoattacks and ability_shaman_stormstrike.jpgStormstrike for 15 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown.
  • spell_nature_wispheal.jpgElemental Mastery increases your Haste by 30% for 20 seconds, on a 2-minute cooldown.

AoE Rotation

Your AoE rotation will not change much.

Against 2 enemies, simply keep doing your single-target rotation on one enemy. ability_shaman_lavalash.jpgLava Lash will spread your spell_fire_flameshock.jpgFlame Shock to the other enemy.

Against 3 or more enemies, replace spell_nature_lightning.jpgLightning Bolt by spell_nature_chainlightning.jpgChain Lightning in your rotation. In addition, use spell_shaman_firenova.jpgFire Nova as soon as possible.

Talents

Tier 1 talents have been designed with your own survival in mind. You have the choice between:
  • spell_nature_natureguardian.jpgNature's Guardian, which is a passive ability that reduces your threat and increases your maximum health when you get below 30% health;
  • ability_shaman_stonebulwark.jpgStone Bulwark Totem, which is an Earth totem on a 1-minute cooldown that grants you an absorption shield;
  • ability_shaman_astralshift.jpgAstral Shift, which is a damage mitigation ability on a 2-minute cooldown.
spell_nature_natureguardian.jpgNature's Guardian will be useful if you find yourself pulling aggro from the tank. Otherwise, your choice between ability_shaman_stonebulwark.jpgStone Bulwark Totem and ability_shaman_astralshift.jpgAstral Shift will depend on how often you will need damage reduction during an encounter.

Tier 2 talents have been designed with crowd control and utility in mind. Whichever you will choose will largely depend on the encounter you are attempting. You have the choice between:

Tier 3 talents have been designed with totem cooldown and mobility in mind. You have the choice between:
  • ability_shaman_multitotemactivation.jpgCall of the Elements, which resets the cooldown of your totems that have a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes, and will most likely be the default choice for Enhancement Shamans;
  • ability_shaman_totemcooldownrefund.jpgTotemic Restoration, which reduces the cooldown of your totem proportionally to the duration that remained on them before they were destroyed or replaced (very useful if you want to use, for example, spell_fire_elemental_totem.jpgFire Elemental Totem every 2 minutes for 24 seconds);
  • ability_shaman_totemrelocation.jpgTotemic Projection, which enables you to relocate your totems to a new location (useful in movement-heavy encounters).
Tier 4 talents have been designed to improve your DPS throughput. You have the choice between:
  • spell_nature_wispheal.jpgElemental Mastery, which has a 2-minute cooldown and increases your haste by 30% for 20 seconds;
  • spell_shaman_elementaloath.jpgAncestral Swiftness, which has a 1-minute cooldown, gives your next spell an instant cast, and also provides you with a passive +5% increase to your melee and spell haste;
  • ability_shaman_echooftheelements.jpgEcho of the Elements, which gives you a chance to duplicate your offensive spells.
We believe that spell_nature_wispheal.jpgElemental Mastery is the best alternative there, as it provides you with a powerful DPS cooldown.

Tier 5 talents give you a new healing cooldown or a new healing mechanics. All the talents are viable and will depend on the encounter you are progressing on.

  • ability_shaman_healingtide.jpgHealing Tide Totem will heal the 5 most injured nearby players for 10 seconds.
  • ability_shaman_ancestralguidance.jpgAncestral Guidance can be used as a healing cooldown. You can use it every 2 minutes to copy, for 10 seconds, 40% of your healing to the 3 most injured nearby players. We believe that this will be the default choice for Enhancement Shamans.
  • ability_shaman_fortifyingwaters.jpgConductivity is a very potent ability that will increase the healing done to players standing in your spell_nature_giftofthewaterspirit.jpgHealing Rain. It will be particularly useful in fights where you can make extensive use of Healing Rain.
Tier 6 talents increase your DPS throughput.Which of the three talents will provide the highest DPS increase remains to be seen. Unleashed Fury will require you to use Unleash Elements on cooldown, which is not something usual for Enhancement Shamans. Primal Elementalist and Elemental Blast seem to be the two real choices here.

Glyphs

inv_glyph_majorshaman.jpgGlyph of Flame Shock is the only major glyph that provides a direct DPS increase. The other major glyphs will have situational uses:Minor glyphs mostly have cosmetic effects. The only two minor glyphs that could be useful are inv_glyph_minorshaman.jpgGlyph of the Lakestrider and inv_glyph_minorshaman.jpgGlyph of Astral Recall. However, they serve no purpose in a raid.

This concludes our Enhancement Shaman preview for Mists of Pandaria. We hope you have enjoyed reading it and that it proved useful to you. As always, we are looking forward to reading your opinions on the matter!

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Bunch of notes here.

- 4.x Earthbind totem cooldown was 15s with a 45s duration, not 1m.

- 5.x Earthbind totem cooldown is 30s with a 20s duration. Uptime is doubled. Major buff, not a nerf.

- 4.x Grounding totem cooldown was 25s with a 45s duration, not 1m.

- 5.x Grounding totem cooldown is 25s with a 15s duration. This is technically a nerf, but is a zero sum change in most situations as it only lasts 1 spell anyway.

- Abilities under Ascendence also are not mitigated by armor, which is another 15-25% damage.

- Searing flames is no longer a DoT on targets hit by searing totem. Instead it's a buff on the shaman that makes flametongue do more damage. This is an enormous improvement and one of the most important enhance changes in 5.x.

- Fire elemental attacks stack searing flames

- Flurry now affecte the next 5 attacks, up from 3.

- Earth Shock now applies Weakened Blows, changed from an attack speed debuff.

- Lightning shield now lasts an hour and has infinite charges.

- Unleashed Rage is now 10% physical haste, changed from 10% attackpower

- Searing totem is much higher priority than flame shock. Also unleash elements is very high priority with the unleashed fury talent

- Early sims do show unleashed fury as the best L90 talent, but Primal Elementalist is close

http://dread-gaming....son_r12963.html

- The same sim shows that echo of the elements is the best choice under all circumstances

- Proper single-target priotity should be:

searing totem > unleash elements (if UF picked) > MW5 LB > stormstrike/stormblast > lava lash > flame shock > earth shock > feral spirit

Technically there are periods where you will "slam-cast" LB even with less than 5 stacks of MW, but those are much higher-level play and not really appropriate for an article like this.

Edited by rodalpho

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Bunch of notes here.

- 4.x Earthbind totem cooldown was 15s with a 45s duration, not 1m.

- 5.x Earthbind totem cooldown is 30s with a 20s duration. Uptime is doubled. Major buff, not a nerf.

- 4.x Grounding totem cooldown was 25s with a 45s duration, not 1m.

- 5.x Grounding totem cooldown is 25s with a 15s duration. This is technically a nerf, but is a zero sum change in most situations as it only lasts 1 spell anyway.

These are rather minor changes. I was afraid it would clutter the totem section.

- Abilities under Ascendence also are not mitigated by armor, which is another 15-25% damage.

- Searing flames is no longer a DoT on targets hit by searing totem. Instead it's a buff on the shaman that makes flametongue do more damage. This is an enormous improvement and one of the most important enhance changes in 5.x.

- Fire elemental attacks stack searing flames

- Flurry now affecte the next 5 attacks, up from 3.

- Earth Shock now applies Weakened Blows, changed from an attack speed debuff.

- Lightning shield now lasts an hour and has infinite charges.

- Unleashed Rage is now 10% physical haste, changed from 10% attackpower

Thanks for these, I've added a few notes here and there in the text to mention all these things.

- Searing totem is much higher priority than flame shock. Also unleash elements is very high priority with the unleashed fury talent

- Early sims do show unleashed fury as the best L90 talent, but Primal Elementalist is close

http://dread-gaming....son_r12963.html

- The same sim shows that echo of the elements is the best choice under all circumstances

- Proper single-target priotity should be:

searing totem > unleash elements (if UF picked) > MW5 LB > stormstrike/stormblast > lava lash > flame shock > earth shock > feral spirit

Technically there are periods where you will "slam-cast" LB even with less than 5 stacks of MW, but those are much higher-level play and not really appropriate for an article like this.

spell_fire_searingtotem.jpgSearing Totem does nothing unless there is spell_fire_flameshock.jpgFlame Shock on your target, so I fail to see how it can have a higher priority than Flame Shock.

Also, I have little confidence in simulation tools in general, so I have almost no confidence in these tools when it comes to the MoP beta test.

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The totem duration stuff was actually correcting errors in your article.

If no enemies in range have flame shock or the stormstrike debuff on them, searing totem will randomly pick one and start attacking. Note that this does not work on training dummies.

I don't place much faith in beta sims either, but the enhance sim is one of the more mature ones right now, behind mages. That priority is certainly much better than the one with flame shock near the top.

Edited by rodalpho
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The totem duration stuff was actually correcting errors in your article.

If no enemies in range have flame shock or the stormstrike debuff on them, searing totem will randomly pick one and start attacking. Note that this does not work on training dummies.

I don't place much faith in beta sims either, but the enhance sim is one of the more mature ones right now, behind mages. That priority is certainly much better than the one with flame shock near the top.

Thanks for all this! Sorry about the totem stuff, I probably read it too fast and didn't see you were actually correcting values I was giving on this page.

For the dummies, the problem seems to be that these NPCs are not considered as enemies so I guess it's messing up the behaviour of Searing Totem. I'll be making the changes soon Posted Image That said, I still don't see any justification for the rotation those simulation tools are advising. Why casting Lightning Bolt with a higher priority than Lava Lash? Anyway, this is just a preview and to do proper testing, I need to get my hands on a pre-made level 90 character with proper gear. I can't farm gear for every class I'm writing about Posted Image

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MW5_LB has a higher priority than stormstrike or lava lash because MW stacks quickly and you can't get more stacks once you hit 5. So if you don't spend them, it's a significant opportunity cost.

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That depends on stats. I can't wait for the level 90 premades, so that I can test things further.

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Rodalpho; Approximately how often do you gain a MW proc? In the simple case, this determines what priority it should gain over Lava Lash. (The simple case being that LL comes off CD the same time as MW's 5th proc happens. How likely are you to get another MW proc in that 1s?)

If the LL damage is still somewhat higher than LB, then it may end up being more sensible in actual gameplay to use up LL first if the MW proc chance is low(ish).

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That depends on stats. I can't wait for the level 90 premades, so that I can test things further.

I thought they said that they werent making level 90 premades this time round due to the fact they want players to test the levelling process? Fire them an email Damien asking for special access ;)

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MW is 10 PPM on each weapon plus enhance dualwields, has flurry, windfury weapon, and uses lots of instant attacks, all of which can proc MW as well. It procs every 2-5 seconds.

Additionally, echo of the elements has a 30% proc chance for enhance, so LB effectively does 30% more damage, and LB has a very high crit chance due to Stormstrike.

If you look at the updated sim output (Purge optimized it further), LB+LB_EOE is 16.9% of total damage. Lava Lash is 9.5%. Of course it's not quite that simple, because Lava Lash also procs flametongue weapon and static shock, consumes searing flames stacks, and can stack MW itself-- but that's why we have sims, because it quickly becomes too complex to approximate via napkin-math.

http://dread-gaming.com/simc/enh_t14_set_comparison_r12995.html

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I'll take your word for it and I've moved Lightning Bolt higher up in the priority list (ahead of Lava Lash, basically). I wish I could just go ahead and test this properly on my own, but there is so much work to do for our Mists of Pandaria coverage that I need to learn to trust you guys and let you help me in the task :P

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Actually I misspoke. Maelstrom Weapon doesn't proc every 5s, it stacks to five every 5s. In the sim I linked, it took an average of 4.63s to hit 5 stacks. Of course that was fully raid buffed and includes Heroism for 40s of each 450s iteration. Suffice it to say, MW really does stack up extremely quickly.

Nobody can really test any of this past verifying basic information, like PPM and damage scaling. It's not possible for players to generate ideal priorities or stat weights without simulation. Some classes work well with spreadsheets, like rogues, but enhance systems are just way too complex.

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Thanks for all the information. I agree that the Enhancement specification is too complex for us humans to extract stat weights and spell priorities without resorting to simulation or very extensive in-game testing (the latter being often subject to lag and human error).

The reason why I always try to avoid simulation tools is because I know far too well that the most tested computer systems still have bugs, and serious ones at that. As a consequence, I generally have many doubts over the accuracy of a simulation tool, especially when it's trying to model the behaviour of something that is currently undergoing a beta test. That said, I recognize their utility in helping us decide what the best rotation is likely to be.

By the way, in these simulations, there is no test of whether Lava Lash is given a higher priority than Stormstrike. I've always been an advocate of this, and I have arguments to push forward this spell priority (in Cataclysm at least).

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The priority used is under the actions priority section. It prioritizes stormstrike right on top of lava lash.

As to why it's using that priority, the author tried both and this one performed better.

Edit:

I took the author's profile for Enh_509_4p_Echo_PE and ran it in simcraft 503-2, which is now publicly available.

With stormstrike prioritized over lava lash, I got 114,253 DPS.

With no other variables changed and lava lash on top of stormstrike, I got 113,912 DPS.

So, prioritizing Stormstrike over Lava Lash is worth 341DPS, which is 0.03% of total DPS. However, the margin of error in both sims is 0.08% with 10k iterations. So the two priorities are effectively identical.

Anticipating your next question, moving MW5_LB below both stormstrike and lava lash resulted in 114,238 DPS, which is again well under the margin for error.

So... is the author's priority optimal? Well strictly speaking, yes. It's optimized to such an extent that it's within the error margin at 10k iterations. Of course he ran 25k iterations to generate it.

Since it's so incredibly close, does it actually matter which order you put stormstrike, lava lash, and MW5_LB in? Well, human reaction time and network lag certainly obviate any difference. But that priority is technically more correct, and IMO it's what should be in a FAQ, even if the difference is miniscule.

But I would probably add a note that unlike every other melee class in the game (who all have real resource systems of some kind) it's all very close and doesn't really matter if you adhere precisely to the priority. The most important things to keep in mind are to keep searing totem up and in range of your target and and hit buttons the instant they come off cooldown.

Edited by rodalpho

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With stormstrike prioritized over lava lash, I got 114,253 DPS.

With no other variables changed and lava lash on top of stormstrike, I got 113,912 DPS.

So, prioritizing Stormstrike over Lava Lash is worth 341DPS, which is 0.03% of total DPS. However, the margin of error in both sims is 0.08% with 10k iterations. So the two priorities are effectively identical.

Thank you. That's great news because in a guide, it is also important that the reader easily grasp why we gave a particular rotation. Lava Lash > Stormstrike is very intuitive as Lava Lash does more damage than Stormstrike and the buff that Stormstrike gives lasts 15 seconds, so there is no apparent reason to give Stormstrike a higher priority. I believe the main reason for having Stormstrike > Lava Lash is because it desynchronizes their cooldowns and overall, you get to use both spells more often, but this is harder to explain :P

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Well like I pointed out, enhance is really unique because it has no resource mechanic at all. Even ret has holy power. But maelstrom weapon stacks so quickly, and is generated passively, that it does not function as a resource. As such, my takeaway wouldn't be that stormstrike>lava lash but that "here is the optimal priority" and then proceed to explain why it doesn't really matter if you ignore it.

But it's your guide. :)

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Instead of of MW5 LB, wouldn't it now be MW5 Elemental Blast? Granted you have the talent chosen, it does a lot of damage.

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Elemental Blast simmed the lowest of the 3 L90 talents, so no.

Primal Elementalist is 0.9% better than Unleashed Fury, which is in turn 3.5% better than Elemental Blast.

So really you can choose between PE and UF as you prefer, as the difference is extremely close to the margin of error. I'll probably end up taking UF myself. However, Elemental Blast is much weaker and should not be taken.

Edited by rodalpho

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It's late and maybe I'm just being stupid, but does the removal of Ancestral Swiftness mean that we no longer get our passive 15% movement speed bonus? Or is that just something we get if we go Enhancement now?

Thanks.

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It's late and maybe I'm just being stupid, but does the removal of Ancestral Swiftness mean that we no longer get our passive 15% movement speed bonus? Or is that just something we get if we go Enhancement now?

Thanks.

You no longer get the passive +15% movement speed bonus.

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You no longer get the passive +15% movement speed bonus.

Ah right, guess I'll be using ghost wolf more then.

Thanks for the reply. :)

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      When you summon it, it grants you a 10-second Shield that absorbs (Spell power * 0.875 * 4) damage. After that 10-second period is over, it casts a smaller shield of (Spell power * 0.875) on you every 5 seconds (overriding the previous shield, even the large, initial one, if it is still active). This smaller shield absorbs exactly 4 times less damage than the first shield and lasts for 10 seconds.
       
      So for example, for my current Spell Power 4748 (647 ilvl), I will get a shield that absorbs 16618 damage and after the initial 10 seconds, a smaller shield that absorbs 4154 damage 4 times over a 20 second period.
       
      From what it seems, its worth maybe a bit more than one Riptide or one Healing Wave.
      We don’t have spiky damage in WoD that forces us to use every bit of constant damage mitigation because we wouldn’t be able to cast a healing spell in time. So, from my PoV, we should use talents that allow us to mitigate a big amount of unpredictable damage or to ignore predictable damage when we have to continue casting.
       
      NATURE’S GUARDIAN
       
      I would advise taking it for people who get ‘tunnel vision.’
       
      If you always get caught by fire on Twin Ogrons or Suppression Field on Ko’ragh, take NG - it will give you a couple of seconds to run away and heal yourself when you actually might already be dead. Obviously, it’s much better to move out of stuff and avoid unnecessary damage but, well, nobody is perfect! ^^
       
      ASTRAL SHIFT
       
      Perfect talent if you are able to plan your actions.
       
      AS reduces all damage for 40%. You should use it when the raid is taking heavy damage from boss mechanics. Force Novas, Expel Magic: Frost, Cleave… Almost every boss uses abilities that you can mitigate with this talent.
       
      TIER 2:
       
      Actually the only talent in this tier that can help us in Highmaul is WINDWALK TOTEM.
      There are no adds that have to be rooted in any fight here and even on trash most of mobs are casters, so it’s more efficient to CC, stun or interrupt them.
       
      TIER 5:
       
      In my opinion, the only reasonable choice for most of the fights in this tier would be RUSHING STREAMS.
       
      ANCESTRAL GUIDANCE was nerfed so heavily in WoD, that even while having a 2 min CD, as a major raid CD it converts only 20% of your direct healing to healing on up to 3 nearby injured raid members. It’s such a minor amount of healing that I wouldn’t recommend it for any fight.
       
      CONDUCTIVITY is a very situational talent, simply because it demands a big part of the raid to stay in one spot long enough to fully utilise it. The only fight in Highmaul where people are mostly stacked in one spot is The Butcher. I personally think that additional healing from RS is still better than a possibility not to cast HR on CD. But it’s up to you.
       
      TIER 7:
       
      CLOUDBURST TOTEM or HIGH TIDE
      You should choose whatever is more comfortable for your play style. I checked both of talents in all the Highmaul fights and have to say that there is no significant difference in output numbers if you understand these talents mechanic and plan your behaviour in encounters.
       
      There are a couple of encounters where one of the talents may be slightly more beneficial and I mentioned this in Encounter Specifics, but generally, just play with what you are feeling more comfortable.
       
      Remember that while there are talents that seems preferable to take with CBT or HT, they are not mandatory.
      For example, you can take Echo of the Elements with High Tide, because Unleashed Life empowers your Chain Heal too and additional Riptide without CD will help you to manage High Tide usage easier.
      Or, it's not mandatory to take Totemic Persistence with Cloudburst totem if you prefer not to drop Water totems together but one by one.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM - all fights in Highmaul, except for The Butcher and Mar'goc with Arcane spells have a magic damage component that may be reduced with this Glyph. Even in the Kargath fight, where the boss has only physical abilities, the adds and Pillars add a magic damage component.
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE - with the new healing style in WoD, we are using HW a lot. So why not get free self heals?
       
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS - reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace by 60 seconds but reduces its duration by 7 seconds. I prefer it above Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace.
      The reason for this is that in almost all the fights in Highmaul, we have ground abilities from which we have to move out or knockbacks after which we have to run back to our spots. Mostly they are short but frequent. I see many situations where 8 seconds casting on the move every 60 seconds can be more beneficial than being able to cast on move every 2 minutes.
       
       
      ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS (top)
       
       
      KARGATH BLADEFIST (top)
       
      This is the fight with very low raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of the Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice. I prefer Totemic Persistence with CBT because it gives you the flexibility to use other Water Totems without ruining your CBT timings.
      You can use Call of Elements in this fight too but there is no specific advantage to it. CoE is very good when you have to use a utility Totem twice in a row due to fight mechanics (Tremor, Windwalk, Capacitor, etc.) or when the overall damage is so high, that even one more HST could help. There’s nothing like this on Kargath.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: we don’t need additional CDs for this fight.
      Ancestral Swiftness: no real need for additional Haste or instant casts.
      Echo of the Elements: I would say that this is our talent of choice on Kargath. A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams. No reason for Conductivity - the raid is never stacked.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury: your choice if you are aiming for single target healing in this fight. Not valuable if you chose High Tide in Tier 7.
      Primal Elementalist: An acceptable choice. There is nothing to heal for most of the fight, so you could use elementals for DPS!
      Elemental Blast: I can’t see any reason for having mana issues in this fight, so I wouldn’t take this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: This is my preferred Talent for this fight. Damage on the Raid is low, so it feels better to single target heal while CBT will redistribute our healing to the raid.
      High Tide: The only reason to take this talent on Kargath, in my opinion, is when you are assigned to go upstairs. It’s problematic enough to time CBT there, people are running all over the place, so it might be easier to Riptide the group and Chain Heal them.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (you can take something else instead but I don’t see anything really useful)
       
       
      THE BUTCHER (top)
       
      This is the fight with very high raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions, especially for soaking groups.
      My guild uses a very specific tactic for this boss:
      We have two healers for 2 soaking groups (5+5 people) - myself (Restoration Shaman) and Disc Priest. Our Restoration Druid stays on the raid full time while our Holy Paladin prioritizes the Tanks. Sub-30%, our Healers come into the soaking groups to help minimise the damage, 2 healers in each group.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I take Nature’s Guardian for accidental (or not accidental Sub-30%) Cleave damage.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      I prefer High Tide for The Butcher. According to my assignment, I will have at least 5 heavily injured people during the entire fight. It’s clearly worth the constant use of Chain Heal.
      So Call of Elements is my choice here. The overall damage is very high, so even one more HST could help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: I wouldn’t take it. The other two talents are much more useful.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams or Conductivity.
      I prefer Rushing Streams but if you are good in handling Conductivity full time on melee - why not?
      You can find the WeakAura for tracking HR with Conductivity talent in our WA thread.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast: I would say that this is our talent of choice for the Butcher. The fight is very intense and we’ll need every possible bit of mana.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. If you are using spells wisely, CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people.
      High Tide: This is a very good talent for this fight. You will always have a lot of injured people and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (for knockbacks)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a Resto Druid in the raid, it can be a possibility. If you can’t manage your High Tide CH targets without blanketing the raid, it’s a possibility too. But frankly, the amount of Riptides you'll have with the EotE talent should be enough to fully utilize High Tide.
       
       
      TECTUS (top)
       
      This is a fight with very intense movement for the entire raid, including healers.
      The tactic that my guild uses for this boss involves the whole raid spreading out in a big circle around the boss, no stacking.
      We have the assignments for raid healing CDs during Tectonic Upheaval for every Healer too.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘standing in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Tectonic Upheavals.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of constant movement and obstacles that cause loss of LoS for direct target heals.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST in the moments when you have to run from Crystalline Barrage or around Earthen Pillar could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: You can take it if feeling like one more CD is needed but it will burn your mana really fast.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams is the only choice here really.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      If you are able to cast a lot and burn your mana quickly or if you took Glyph of Riptide for this fight, then take Elemental Blast.
      If you prefer single target spells and CBT, take Unleashed Fury - 50% increased heal is really good - you can cast less and pay more attention to your movement.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. CBT will also nicely redistribute your healing to all injured people when you’re moving around!
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning or with Glyph of Riptide. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too.
       
       
      BRACKENSPORE (top)
       
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, we have assignment for every healer. On Heroic progression you will need two healers assigned to heal mushrooms (one healer in Normal).
      I have to say that a resto shaman with Cloudburst totem assigned to Mushrooms can do miracles ^^. I was able to pull 11% of total healing from CBT on this fight.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘caught in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Infesting Spores.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a choice too. One more HST on Infesting Spores - why not?
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: no need really and it burns your mana too quick.
      Ancestral Swiftness: if you like to cast faster and to have ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once in 90 sec. - it’s your choice.
      Echo of the Elements: I like it on this fight. More UL for mushrooms!
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here really. Conductivity is very arguable, imo. While there are periods when all the raid is stacked on mushroom, I’m not sure that this time is long enough for using this talent.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would take Unleashed Fury, especially if assigned to mushrooms. 50% increased single heal is really valuable here. If you are healing the raid, Elemental Blast could be your choice too, but frankly, you can refill the mana from blue mushroom.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: best choice for healing mushrooms. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing on mushroom to the raid.
      High Tide: good talent if you are healing the raid.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it’s weak and burns your mana fast.
       
       
      TWIN OGRON (top)
       
      This is the fight with intensive movement for all the raid, including healers.
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, the ranged dps and healers are mostly stacked together and move together, except of moving of fire and Pulverize.
      It would be nice if your hunters will cast Aspect of the Fox, so you could cast when moving from the fire.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would advice Nature’s Guardian here, especially if you are not very good in moving out of fire.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of movement it demands.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST for fire times or Pulverize could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: don’t think that more Haste could be very useful in this fight.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. I don't think that there is enough time of stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you move a lot. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people in the time when you are moving around.
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning themselves. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too, but remember that it burns your mana!
       
       
      KO’RAGH (top)
       
      This is the fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention.
      One of the fights where you should use shaman utilities.
      Remember that there are two main healing strategies for this encounter regarding dealing with Expel Magic: Frost: you can heal through it or move away if you don’t have enough HPS throughput.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1:
      Nature’s Guardian, if you are not very good in moving out of things.
      Astral Shift if you are able not to forget to use it on Expel Magic: Frost or Expel Magic: Fire.
       
      Tier 2: Windwalk totem! Use it to help the raid to get away from Frost Orbs.
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too to reset the cooldown of Windwalk totem. Especially if you don’t have druids for Stampeding Roar.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: not sure that more Haste will really shine in this fight, but it worth a shot if you like it.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single person damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you like it.
      High Tide: just the same.
      Both talents are valuable for this fight.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF PURIFY SPIRIT (Purify Spirit has 2 charges now. Useful for Expel magic: Fire dispels)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts healing output of Riptide!
       
       
      IMPERATOR MAR’GOK (top)
       
      This is a very long fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention. There are many boss abilities that will do a raid-wide damage if people handle them in wrong way.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would recommend Astral Shift here. Use it on Force Novas or when you are Fixated.
      You can take Nature’s Guardian too, but there’s enough raid damage, so I think it’s better to mitigate.
       
      Tier 2: You can use Windwalk Totem on Slow debuff, but I think that it’s better to just dispel it.
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be good for another HST too. It is a long fight, so you’ll be able to use it at least 3-4 times.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness or Echo of the Elements: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast.
      The encounter is more than 10 min. long. You will definitely run out of mana without this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem or High Tide: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts you healing output of Riptide!
      (top)
    • By tarokor
      Recently looked at starting to tank with my pally again and was looking through your site regarding tanking. On the Paladin protection page one of the Major glyphs you recommend is shield of the righteous however unless i am going blind it is no longer available as a glyph. Was it renamed or removed and if renamed what is it now called.
      Cheers guys
      ps:- apologies if i am blind, have searched the majors 3 times thou and cannot find it lol
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