Classic Enhancement Shaman DPS Guide

Last updated on Dec 01, 2020 at 14:11 by Seksixeny 24 comments

Welcome to our Enhancement Shaman DPS guide for WoW Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play the Shaman class as Enhancement DPS. Click the links #below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.

If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Enhancement Shaman guide.

Shamans are, arguably, the best support class in WoW Classic. With their powerful and flexible totems, such as Windfury Totem Icon Windfury Totem, Tremor Totem Icon Tremor Totem and Poison Cleansing Totem Icon Poison Cleansing Totem, they keep their allies safe and increase their damage potential significantly.

While only Horde players can be Shamans, every group will benefit immensely from having at least one, and due to totems only being able to affect one group at a time, a 40 man raid will want to have at least 8 Shamans to have totems in every group.

This guide will be covering Enhancement Shamans, the Windfury Weapon Icon Windfury Weapon high rollers of WoW Classic and, arguably, the best support spec for melee in the game with Improved Weapon Totems Icon Improved Weapon Totems and Enhancing Totems Icon Enhancing Totems being a staple of its talent tree. They also make for great users of the debuffing weapons Annihilator Icon Annihilator and Nightfall Icon Nightfall in the later phases.

1.

Enhancement Shaman in the Season of Mastery

Although the Season of Mastery brings with it a number of changes to how you may experience the content of WoW Classic, these tweaks do not include any adjustments to how you play Enhancement Shaman. As such, this guide will cover all you need to know regardless of which version of Classic you wish to play.

However, due to certain pieces of content from later Phases now being available at an earlier date, gearing recommendations for Enhancement Shaman will be different. Because of this, we have created additional pages detailing your best in slot items for both pre-raid gear and the current raids available.

2.

Enhancement Shaman Strengths

  • Great burst damage potential with Windfury Weapon Icon Windfury Weapon, Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike and Earth Shock Icon Earth Shock. While Enhancement is primarily a melee spec, it can also do significant damage from range when needed.
  • Totems for every type of situation, which will always be buffed by Improved Weapon Totems Icon Improved Weapon Totems and Enhancing Totems Icon Enhancing Totems, making them the most powerful a melee player can have.
  • Great support tools even outside of totems, such as Earth Shock Icon Earth Shock and Purge Icon Purge, which contribute to the high skill cap of the class.
3.

Enhancement Shaman Weaknesses

  • Weak sustained damage-dealing potential due to its attacks having a much larger cooldown than those of a Warrior / Rogue.
  • Mana hungry, especially while leveling, which forces you to rest or drink often.
  • Squishy and has no real escapes once focused.
4.

Best Races for Enhancement Shamans

Unlike other classes, Shamans can only be played in the Horde faction, so plan accordingly and search for a Horde guild if you want to roll one.

Orc is the best race for PvE and PvP. Troll and Tauren are slightly behind but have their own perks which you can read about below.

4.1.

Orc Enhancement Shamans

  • Axe Specialization Icon Axe Specialization increases your skill with axes by 5, which increases your chance to land a blow on a target with axes.
  • Blood Fury Icon Blood Fury is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your base melee attack power by 25% for 15 seconds and reduces healing effects on you by 50% for 25 seconds.
  • Command Icon Command increases your pet damage by 5%.
  • Hardiness Icon Hardiness increases your chance to resist stuns by 25%.

Orc is the best race choice for Enhancement Shamans. In PvP, Hardiness Icon Hardiness allows you to often ignore stun effects. This is a deal-breaker effect, especially against Rogues. In PvE, Axe Specialization Icon Axe Specialization and Blood Fury Icon Blood Fury are incredible bonuses to have as a melee DPS, granting you a much better chance to hit bosses with axes and a DPS cooldown.

4.2.

Tauren Enhancement Shamans

  • Cultivation Icon Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
  • Endurance Icon Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
  • Nature Resistance Icon Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
  • War Stomp Icon 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.
  • Due to their large sizes, Tauren have a larger hitbox than other races, which allows you to hit, and be hit from further afar. This can be great when trying to chase a target or problematic when trying to flee from melee enemies.

War Stomp Icon War Stomp can be a great ability for PvP, allowing you to get Lesser Healing Wave Icon Lesser Healing Wave off in an emergency, and the 5% increased health from Endurance Icon Endurance is nice. The increased hitbox range is also good for a melee character, allowing you to hit enemy players from further away. Overall, Tauren is a decent all-rounder choice if you dislike Orc.

4.3.

Troll Enhancement Shamans

  • Beast Slaying Icon Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
  • Berserking Icon Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you between 10-30% increased attack and casting speed depending on your health, with the effect being greater the more hurt you are.
  • Bow Specialization Icon Bow Specialization increases your skill with Bows by 5, which increases your chance to hit with a bow.
  • Regeneration Icon Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration and allows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.

Berserking Icon Berserking makes Trolls a decent choice, as it increases your attack and cast speed significantly when used, especially if you were low health. Unfortunately, none of the other bonuses is very impactful, and Orc has some really good bonuses, so only pick Troll if you like its aesthetics.

5.

Best Professions for Enhancement Shamans

The best profession for Enhancement Shamans who care about maximizing their performance in combat is Engineering.

Any of the other professions is fine for the second primary profession slot, but Mining synergizes the best with Engineering, allowing you to farm materials to feed it.

If you wish to learn more about the available professions in WoW Classic we recommend that you read our profession guides.

6.

Changelog

  • 01 Dec. 2020 (gear page): Reworked the BiS guide with Naxxramas and clarity in mind.
  • 01 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Added Phase 6 shoulder enchants, Frozen Runes, and the Silithus world buff.
  • 15 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Fixed the missing Phase 6 gear.
  • 02 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Updated with Phase 6 and Frost Resistance gear.
  • 18 Sep. 2020 (gear page): Fixed a typo with the belt slot items.
  • 30 Aug. 2020 (gear page): Fixed a typo with the alternative feet slot items.
  • 30 Aug. 2020 (stats page): Increased Strength's priority for damage dealing.
  • 06 Aug. 2020 (gear page): Transferred the Ahn'Qiraj gear into the main guide.
  • 27 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Added a link to a Nature Resistance gear set and the Ahn'Qiraj best in slot list.
  • 14 Jul. 2020 (enchants page): Updated enchant and consumable list for Phase 5.
  • 19 May 2020 (enchants page): Updated with current World Buffs as of Phase 4.
  • 12 May 2020 (gear page): Added Silithus twilight boss summonings gear.
  • 07 May 2020 (enchants page): Added Smoked Desert Dumplings.
  • 07 May 2020 (stats page): Reworked some outdated sections.
  • 15 Apr. 2020 (gear page): Updated with Zul'Gurub gear.
  • 15 Apr. 2020 (enchants page): Added Zul'Gurub consumables and enchants.
  • 19 Mar. 2020 (stats page): Corrected some minor typos in the critical strike section.
  • 11 Mar. 2020 (gear page): Updated with Arathi Basin gear.
  • 20 Feb. 2020 (rotation page): Split the recommended rotation into soloing and raiding rotations.
  • 19 Feb. 2020 (gear page): Updated BiS list for Phase 3 of WoW Classic and split the page for easier reading.
  • 19 Feb. 2020 (talents page): Added a Totem Twisting Mana Battery talent build.
  • 26 Jan. 2020 (enchants page): Added Arcanum of Rapidity as the best head / leg enchant and Strength for wrists.
  • 25 Jan. 2020 (gear page): Added PvP reputation gear and more ranked PvP gear.
  • 11 Jan. 2020 (enchants page): Added a note on Juju Flurry lowering your DPS by 3% when used.
  • 11 Dec. 2019 (gear page): Added link to PvP BiS.
  • 17 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Added raid gear best in slot lists.
  • 15 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Guide is now Phase 2 ready and added a Totem Twisting pre-raid best in slot list.
  • 09 Oct. 2019 (enchants page): Elixir of Giants is now recommended on the essential consumables list.
  • 29 Sep. 2019 (enchants page): Added a shortlist with the essential consumables for Enhancement Shamans, ranked by price vs effectiveness.
  • 27 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Clarified that the intent of these builds is first and foremost to provide the best raid support possible.
  • 27 Aug. 2019 (this page): Added a section for each race to make the guide easier to read.
  • 24 Aug. 2019 (spells page): Reworked spell structure to place the critical spells on the start and make a generic section out of the rest.
  • 24 Aug. 2019 (this page): Improved the professions section, adding more details, item links and tips.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (gear page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (enchants page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (stats page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (rotation page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (spells page): Page added.
  • 19 Aug. 2019 (this page): Added Enhancement Shaman guide.
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