WotLK Classic Enhancement Shaman Guide
Welcome to our Enhancement Shaman guide for WotLK Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play Enhancement Shaman proficiently. Click the links below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
Enhancement Shamans are, arguably, the highest skill cap melee specialization in Wrath Classic, alongside Feral DPS Druid. Fortunately, it is still possible to do well while learning the details, especially when dealing area damage where Enhancement excels!
They also provide powerful support totems such as Windfury Totem,
Wrath of Air Totem, and
Strength of Earth Totem, and have utility totems
such as
Tremor Totem and
Cleansing Totem that can keep allies safe.
If you are considering leveling an Enhancement Shaman, check out our leveling
guide, which focuses on AoE pulling with Fire Nova!
If you would like to see where Enhancement Shamans fall in the overall rankings among DPS specs for both PvE and PvP in Wrath Classic, we have created pages dedicated to explaining what classes and specializations are the best of the best through multiple factors. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.
Strengths and Weaknesses
High skill cap and engaging rotation.
Excellent area damage and good single-target.
Fantastic support capabilities through
Bloodlust/
Heroism,
Wrath of Air Totem,
Windfury Totem,
Strength of Earth Totem, and others.
Melee requirement for most of rotation can be awkward in some bosses.
Low single-target DPS if complex rotation is not performed optimally.
High amount of Spell Damage dealt causes Armor Penetration to be a bad stat, causing scaling issues in later phases.
Enhancement Shaman Changes in Wrath
Shamanistic Rage goes from a 2-minute cooldown to 1 minute, which doubles
the uptime on this critical ability, allowing you to use it much more when leveling
and for Mana returns in Raids and Dungeons. The new
Improved Stormstrike
also helps with Mana.
Bloodlust /
Heroism are now raid-wide but also apply the
Sated debuff to everyone who gets the buff, stopping them from getting
Bloodlust again for 10 minutes.
Call of the Elements,
Call of the Ancestors, and
Call of the Spirits
allow you to customize up to one totem of each type to instantly be dropped down
when these abilities are used, saving significant time.
Most totems are now raid-wide and do not stack with similar effects.
Wrath of Air Totem's buff is the only that remains Shaman-exclusive. Utility
totems such as
Tremor Totem,
Healing Stream Totem, and
Cleansing Totem
are still for your party only.
Windfury Totem no longer enchants the weapon of affected players and
is now a flat melee Haste buff.
Enhancement is now a hybrid physical / caster DPS with talents that
bridge the gap between both such as Mental Dexterity and
Mental Quickness.
Fire Nova is now activated from your current Fire Totem rather than
having its own Totem. Its cooldown can be brought down to 3 seconds with talents
and the new
Glyph of Fire Nova, making it do insane AoE damage if you can
sustain the Mana to use it on cooldown.
Maelstrom Weapon allows you to cast spells without resetting your swing
timer as long as the cast finished before your next swing. This allows you to use
Lightning Bolt and
Chain Lightning in your rotation for high damage
gains, but requires good timing to use at low stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
Hex is a new crowd control spell for Shamans, similar to
Polymorph
but it will not heal the target or break instantly upon any damage, while also
letting the target slowly move around. It is a Curse effect, making it harder to
be dispelled by some classes.
Wind Shear is your new interrupt (
Earth Shock now slows melee
attack speed, instead), and is off the global cooldown, making it extremely
powerful as the only low cooldown ranged interrupt in game.
The overall result of all of these changes and additions is a much stronger Enhancement Shaman, who can rival the best DPS in the game when played well.
Best Races for Alliance Enhancement Shamans
Draenei is the only race available.
Draenei Enhancement Shamans
Gemcutting increases your Jewelcrafting skill by 5.
Gift of the Naaru is an instant-cast spell with a 3-minute cooldown that heals over time. Because it is free, it can be occasionally useful, and being on the Holy school allows you to cast it in PvP even while interrupted on Nature.
Heroic Presence increases your party's chance to Hit by 1%.
Shadow Resistance increases your Shadow Resistance by 10.
Best Races for Horde Enhancement Shamans
Orc is the best race for all types of content, with Troll being decently close for PvE, and Tauren has some nice survivability tools but nothing for extra DPS.
Orc Enhancement Shamans
Axe Specialization increases your expertise by 5 while wielding an Axe.
Blood Fury is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your offensive stats for 15 seconds.
Command increases your pet damage dealt by 5%.
Hardiness decreases the duration of stuns on you by 15%.
Orc is the go-to PvP race, due to Hardiness, which reduces the
duration of stun effects. They are also great in PvE due to
Axe Specialization
and
Blood Fury, which double dips off
Mental Quickness and no
longer reduces healing on you!
Troll Enhancement Shamans
Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you 20% increased attack and casting speed for 10 seconds.
Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration and allows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.
Trolls are a decent choice if your goal is to maximize your throughput,
due to Berserking. Beast Slaying can also be useful against Beast-type enemies.
Tauren Enhancement Shamans
Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
War Stomp is a 2-minute cooldown that stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, with a 0.5-second cast time.
War Stomp is quite reliable in PvP, often allowing for an emergency
Lesser Healing Wave cast, but has few PvE uses. The 5% increased health
from
Endurance is useful, but minor.
Best Professions for Enhancement Shamans
In Wrath all professions have unique stat bonus benefits, with gathering professions giving the lowest and Engineering and Jewelcrafting (before Epic gems) having the most powerful and flexible benefits, especially in early phases. Blacksmithing also catches up later when Epic gems are introduced.
Engineering is great because of the unique Hyperspeed Accelerators
tinker, which gives 340 Haste for 12 seconds every minute. By using this extra
Haste during your cooldowns or on difficult parts of a fight, you can get more
benefit than the static stats of other professions. Engineering also provides
multiple explosives for extra damage and
Nitro Boosts for a burst of speed!
Jewelcrafting is also great because while most other professions force you to take Attack Power, you can pick from any stat with Jewelcrafting's Epic gems, allowing you to adjust your stats as needed.
Best Shaman Macros and Addons
Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing Wrath Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.
If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Enhancement Shamans, check out our guides below:
Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2023 (enchants page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 18 Jan. 2023 (this page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 18 Jan. 2023 (rotation page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 18 Jan. 2023 (talents page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 18 Jan. 2023 (spells page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 18 Jan. 2023 (stats page): Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 17 Jan. 2023 (pre-raid gear page): Updated for Phase 2.
- 17 Jan. 2023 (gear page): Updated for Phase 2.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (rotation page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (spells page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (pre-raid gear page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (gear page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (talents page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (this page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (enchants page): Page added.
- 06 Sep. 2022 (stats page): Page added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman and Druid, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
- Wrath Classic Hotfixes: January 23rd
- Wrath Classic Phase 2 Class and Gearing Guides
- Raid Buff Cooldown Resets and Terrain Exploits in Ulduar
- Wrath Classic Patch 3.4.1 Notes
- Wrath Classic Phase 2 Launching on January 17th
- Naxxramas Achievement Rewards to Remain Available Throughout Wrath Classic
- Patch 3.4.1 PTR Development Notes: January 6th
- Summon Gargoyle Changes on the Wrath Classic PTR