World of Warcraft: Forever Enhancement Shaman Guide

Enhancement is the melee specialization for Shaman, dealing high burst damage while also bringing extremely powerful group support. Designed as a battle-mage, it mixes powerful melee strikes with potent spells, weaving the two together to deal with enemies. Forever also brings forward Maelstrom Weapon, giving it a way to hybridize the two without interrupting your melee attacks. While it's one of the specs that needed design help going into Forever, a significant number of talents have been added to improve its Mana economy & ability scaling, so it's looking to be a fresh take on an old classic, with some of the edges sanded off.

Disclaimer – This page is written in the context of the Level 30 Beta for Forever. Things said here may change with the full release, especially when the full leveling experience is made available.

Overall Performance Leveling Dungeon Utility Mobility

Effective, but Mana issues limit potential

Enhancement's initial design in Classic had some issues - especially when it came to its Mana economy. This is already softened to some degree out the gate, but it really needs to have access to deeper parts of the tree. Now that the cap has increased, both Stormstrike and Improved Stormstrike are accessible, providing a big power spike. However, currently in the Beta Mana issues are extremely noticeable, so while you'll kill things extremely quickly, you'll run out of resources almost as fast.

Solid damage, with self-healing for emergencies

Enhancement has potent solo damage once it picks up Shocks & Fire Nova, though its strict Mana requirements means you often have to be more measured with ability use in combat. With the increase to Level 30, access to more tools (in particular Stormstrike) opens up far more options and provides a meaningful damage increase. On top of that, Windfury Weapon unlocks, finally showing the true burst potential available to the spec.

Very flexible all-rounder in early dungeons

Dungeons give Enhancement a chance to start showing off some of its utility tools it already has access too, though its most potent group buffs still won't be available at Level 30. Its versatile control toolkit paired with high damage, including good AoE thanks to Fire Nova (provided you have the Mana), already show off its potential. It can even switch to healing in a pinch if something goes wrong. The downside is both its very high threat generation (unless you can access Spirit Weapons) and extreme Mana costs, often requiring you to drink frequently between pulls.

Already strong, and will get stronger

While shared with all other Shaman specializations, Enhancement already has a large amount of its utility toolkit available at Level 30 - the only exception is Windfury Totem. Through its various group buffs from totems, off-healing, and ability to get back up with Reincarnation if something goes wrong, it can always provide something to any group.

Strong movement tools early

Enhancement already had access to its strong movement tools at Level 20, and not much changes on the way to 30. With the majority of its toolkit being instant casts, it's able to keep up the pressure without needing to stand still and cast. Ghost Wolf remains an incredibly strong tool (especially when talented into the improved version) both for movement around the world and in dangerous situations. The spec also gains access to Totemic Projection along the way, giving you an extra way to keep your totems nearby without needing to drop a new set as often.

Starter Information

Beginner Guides

New to the game? Get started with our Leveling guide!

Leveling

Now that the level limit is 30, a lot of the core Enhancement tools are accessible in the tree. Priority pick-ups are Shamanistic Focus early for Mana, Stormstrike as your primary rotational strike, and finally Improved Stormstrike to finally enable some in-combat Mana regeneration.

• Thundering Strikes provides bulk Critical Strike early, and synergizes well with talents deeper in the tree. One point is taken in Ancestral Knowledge at Level 24 for pathing reasons.
• Mental Dexterity enables Intellect as a source of Attack Power, making it a good option to increase your Mana pool without losing offensive power. Also synergizes with talents deeper in the tree.
• Improved Ghost Wolf makes navigating the world much quicker, and now that it also works indoors, has great mobility uses too in dungeons.
• Shamanistic Focus eases the massive cost of Shocks in combat, and is your first big pick-up at Level 20.
• Elemental Weapons strengthens the potency of your imbues, especially important at Level 30 when Windfury Weapon is unlocked.
• Stormstrike is the centerpiece of the tree, and is your only active melee strike. This can trigger imbues, and is a big power spike at Level 25.
• Flurry is also a big upgrade, causing your melee critical strikes to increase attack speed. With the Level 30 cap, there's only enough space to fit in 4 points here.
• Improved Stormstrike is available at Level 30, and finally enables some in-combat Mana regen, and some solo power through Stormstrike resets. While you can only fit one point in here with the Level 30 cap, it's extremely valuable.

While there are still a couple of lingering effects missing from the tree at Level 30, compared to the previous cap of 20 it's much closer to a rounded out version of what Enhancement will look like going into Forever. While there are a handful of points that could be switched around for solo play (such as Earth's Grasp, Anticipation & Improved Lightning Shield), the core of the tree is fairly locked in by this point in your journey.

As 10 Legacy System Talent Points are now realistic to achieve through professions and class leveling, if you're really pushing during the Beta we've got some notes to cover the additional 5 Talent Points via Talented. Below are just where and why you should spend them once unlocked:

• Improved Stormstrike should immediately have its second point taken, guaranteeing your Mana regen and making you even more deadly when solo.
• Spirit Weapons adds in Parry to work with the above, and eases some dungeon threat issues.
• Flurry can now have all 5 points unlocked.
• Mental Quickness also rounds out Intellect as a core stat, converting 30% into additional spell damage.

While Maelstrom Weapon is a key effect, it really needs all 5 points to fit into the rotation. As such, since there's only room to just barely get one point into it, it's not worth grabbing just yet on the Beta.

For professions, there's good reasons for many of them due to the significant improvements to early profession crafting patterns. Skinning & Leatherworking are a good pairing to supply you with resources to craft powerful gear as you level, so it's the best all-round choice. These also allow you to craft Camp Chair & Camp Tent, which you can set up around campfires for 2% Critical Strike or a bar of rested experience every hour.

Provided you can support leveling it, Enchanting is also worth shouting out, as Polished Driftwood Icon can be crafted for your Relic slot which helps out with early Mana issues. Alchemy also provides a suite of useful early potions too in Forever, while bringing the best campfire buff for us early, a Mana Well.

First Aid is worth leveling early for extra bandages to keep yourself healthy, though isn't as necessary due to our self-healing capabilities. Cooking on the other hand is very valuable, now that food buffs provide bonus experience when active, and at higher levels you can also craft bigger campfires that allow for more buff slots.

Horde: Orc – the go-to pick for Horde Shaman, providing Blood Fury as a damage cooldown, and Shatter Curse as a self-dispel & magic damage reduction. Hardiness also gives flat stun duration reduction good in a pinch, and Axe Specialization is a free 1% Crit when using an Axe. A shout-out for the Beta as well is Tauren - Plainsrunning helps out a ton when exploring early before mounts are available.

Alliance: Dwarf – with Shaman being a new addition for Alliance, this is currently the only option available. Stoneform is a self-dispel with extra Physical damage reduction, while Mace Specialization gives a free 1% Crit when using a Mace. Big Game Hunter amplifies damage by 5% against Beasts, and finally Find Treasure highlights treasure chests on the map.

Now that the level cap has increased to 30, a lot more of the Enhancement toolkit is available, shaping much of what the rotation will be going forward. Below, we've gone over buffs to make use of, and a breakdown of the rotational goals to have while leveling on the Beta:

• Weapon Imbue – Windfury Weapon at all times.
• Totems – remember Call of the Elements to place all at once:
  • Earth – Stoneskin Totem if you're taking a lot of damage, Strength of Earth Totem otherwise.
  • Fire – Flametongue Totem (especially in groups), or Magma Totem in AoE if Mana allows.
  • Water – Mana Spring Totem at all times for Mana regen.
  • Air – FFA, no major Totems available yet. Grounding Totem if needed.
• Lightning Shield – refresh before engaging. Only refresh mid combat after a Shock, and with a healthy amount of Mana on hand.

1. Cast Rank 1 Lightning Bolt to pull enemies out of range.
2. Cast Stormstrike on cooldown. React to Improved Stormstrike resets.
3. Cast Earth Shock on cooldown.
   • Alternate Flame Shock & Earth Shock in groups.
   • Switch to Frost Shock over Earth Shock if threat is an issue.
4. Cast Fire Nova with an active Fire Totem if Mana allows.
5. Auto-attack until the enemy dies.

At 30, with the introduction of Stormstrike your entire rotation is built around this 8-second timer. Consume the debuff with Earth Shock, ideally making sure that it's used up if you get a Stormstrike reset through Improved Stormstrike. It's important to emphasize that you do not have enough Mana regen to sustain your rotation fully, meaning you should be conservative with anything other than Stormstrike unless you need the damage and will have time to drink after.

Fire Nova is extremely Mana hungry, but due to both being very high damage and AoE, it's potent in dungeons. Make sure you keep an active fire totem nearby, and if you're running into Mana problems avoid using Magma Totem too frequently. Even with Improved Stormstrike active, you may need to be conservative with casts here rather than using it on cooldown.

Healing Wave should be used between pulls to keep yourself topped, but if you're in danger of dying to an enemy and can get a cast off through pushback, use it to give yourself breathing room. If all else fails, Earthbind Totem or Frost Shock and kite away from enemies, using Ghost Wolf to make even more distance.

Unique to Shaman, Totems provide a wealth of benefits both offensively and defensively, allowing you to massively aid your group. Dropping a Totem is instant, and has a reduced global cooldown of 1 second instead of 1.5, making it easy to quickly deploy them. Now that the level cap has raised to 30, all four elements are unlocked – Earth, Fire, Water & Air, unlocked through class quests as you progress.

• Earth – unlocked at Level 4 is a mix of offensive buffs & defensive utility. Strength of Earth Totem is a staple, providing bonus Strength to you and your party, while Stoneskin Totem grants flat Physical damage reduction - great early on. Stoneclaw Totem is an emergency taunt if you pull a little too much, while Earthbind Totem slows nearby enemies so you can make some distance. Tremor Totem is more niche, but breaks fear, sleep and charm effects each time it pulses.
• Fire – unlocked at Level 10 is mostly an offensive totem. Searing Totem deals single target damage, Magma Totem is AoE, and Flametongue Totem buffs your party with a version of your weapon imbue. Unique to Forever, this does work alongside your own imbues, provided you're using a different one such as Windfury Weapon. Its elemental resistance totem is Frost Resistance Totem.
• Water – unlocked at Level 20 focuses on restorative tools. Healing Stream Totem provides a small amount of healing, while Mana Spring Totem regenerates Mana every 2 seconds. It also has Poison Cleansing Totem, removing one poison effect from nearby party members every 5 seconds. Its elemental resistance totem is Fire Resistance Totem.
• Air – unlocks as you finish your Beta journey at Level 30, but has limited tools when acquired. Grounding Totem redirects a harmful single-target spell to itself, with a 15-second cooldown. Its elemental resistance totem is Nature Resistance Totem. This is currently a very challenging quest on the Beta for a Level 30 limited character, so will require a group.

In Forever, there are also three new tools for managing your Totems, and all are now accessible with the level cap increasing to 30. The first of these is Call of the Elements, allowing you to configure your totem bar to a loadout, dropping one of each element after a 3 second cast. The second is Totemic Recall, which immediately destroys all your active Totems and returns 25% of their Mana cost when used. The third and final is Totemic Projection, which allows you to move your active Totems to a target location on a 1-minute cooldown.

On top of its Totem suite, Shaman is known for its vast array of tools to deal with different situations. While some of its most potent options aren't available even by Level 30, it already has a vast array of abilities at its disposal:

• Healing Wave & Lesser Healing Wave are direct cast healing spells that allow you to keep yourself healthy, or help party members in danger.
• Purge dispels up to two effects from target enemies.
• Cure Poison dispels one poison effect from you or your target ally.
• Cure Disease dispels one disease effect from you or your target ally.
• Ancestral Spirit is Shaman's resurrect spell for fallen allies.
• Reincarnation allows you to self-resurrect after dying with 20% health and mana. Has a 1-hour cooldown, and requires one Ankh to cast.
• Ghost Wolf shapeshifts you into a wolf with 40% increased movement speed, with a two second cast. This can be made instant (and allows its use indoors) using Improved Ghost Wolf.
• Earth Shock also doubles as an interrupt for enemy spell casts.
• Frost Shock slows targets hit for 8 seconds, useful if you need to kite.
• Water Breathing allows your target to breathe underwater for 10 minutes. Requires one Shiny Fish Scales to cast.
• Water Walking allows your target to walk on water for 10 minutes. Taking damage will cancel the effect, and requires one Fish Oil to cast.
• Far Sight allows you to look far into the distance while you maintain the channel.
• Astral Recall returns you to your Hearthstone location. Has a 15-minute cooldown, and does not share a cooldown with your Hearthstone.

Even compared to the previous Level 20 cap the toolkit has only continued to grow on the way to 30. Shaman is known for its huge toolkit and versatility, and can deal with a large number of mechanics while also having some extra useful flavour tools at its disposal.

Since Forever comes with significant changes to gear and item philosophy, pinning down a list of items to chase for a short Beta period is difficult, especially as many new pieces are being discovered. Many potentially desirable pieces have yet to have their source found, so treat this as an incomplete section that will be updated as time goes on and the Beta progresses.

While the specialization doesn't have its full stat enabling talents yet, many of its important tools are online by 30. Below, we've updated the previous gearing table to the new Level cap, including items to look out for in dungeons, quests & professions with confirmed locations. Due to the extreme pressure put on our Mana right now, I've put a little more weight on Spirit and Intellect to try to soften that when applicable:

Note – This quest is very challenging at Level 30, and will require a full group. It takes you across the entire world to collect totems, and then defeat a gauntlet of elite enemies in Thousand Needles at the end.

Due to some shake-ups in the Talent Tree, there's a fair bit of guesswork going on when it comes to exactly how valuable stats are right now. While the level cap raising to 30 has added in some scaling tools we'll eventually make extensive use of, we still don't have the entire suite that rounds out the whole package. While gear starts to get a bit more focused as we move toward Level 30 and beyond, keep in mind that it's not always realistic to chase perfect pieces, and it's often better to grab upgrades that are "good enough" along the way.

Below, we've covered stats to look out for in order of priority, and how each stat interacts with your toolkit. Stats that aren't available on gear currently due to its low level aren't covered, but will be included as more items are released.

1. Weapon DPS
   • Improves the damage of your auto-attacks, the primary source of your damage. Will only get stronger as more is unlocked, so always prioritize upgrading weapons. Ideally, use slower two-handed weapons - this is now much more important with access to Windfury Weapon & Stormstrike. Be careful with weapons that have Spell Power on them - some have reduced weapon DPS to compensate, so look at each item and compare the DPS to see if it's worth using.
2. Hit & Expertise
   • Not currently available on Beta gear, but may start to appear as more items are discovered. Expanded in the disclaimer below.
3. Critical Strike
   • Increases the chance for abilities to deal bonus damage. Now that Flurry can be acquired, this becomes a much more desirable stat on the rare occasion you can find pieces with it on.
4. Strength
   • Provides two Attack Power per point, increasing the damage of melee attacks. Stronger than Intellect especially at lower levels, but purely offensive.
5. Intellect
   • Each point provides one Attack Power through Mental Dexterity, 15 Mana, and increases Spell Crit chance. Since Mana is a big constraint currently, a bigger pool is always helpful. Is even stronger if you have access to Mental Quickness via Legacy Talent Points.
6. Agility
   • Increases Melee Crit chance per point. Since there's no Attack Power modifier and other stats have dual function, it's not quite as important, but does improve Flurry uptime. This keeps it very relevant if found in bulk on items, and it's hard to avoid on Leather gear early on anyway.
7. Spirit
   • Provides Mana Regeneration every 5 seconds when not casting spells, and health regeneration when out of combat. Now that Improved Stormstrike is available, this provides meaningful Mana sustain in combat, and due to our Mana being under extreme pressure, is a way of softening that once unlocked until we reach higher gear levels.
8. Spell Power
   • Will eventually be more useful, but for now has minor benefits improving our offensive spells like Earth Shock, depending on their multiplier. We don't have the Mana to sustain lots of casts currently (and still don't have many even at Level 30), so while nice to have it's not a priority until later.
9. Stamina
   • Each point increases your maximum health. This shouldn't be neglected, but since it has no offensive benefit is hard to quantify. If you feel especially weak out in the world questing, look to pick up some Stamina if you can to give you more comfort.

Disclaimer – endgame stat assessments will change come release, especially on things like Hit Chance and Expertise when content that requires them is introduced. For now, since no gear currently has it present nor does it have the same degree of importance while leveling, they aren't covered in as much detail.

Professions have seen a major overhaul in Forever, so there's a lot of things that can help you along your journey. It's always a good habit to keep level appropriate Food & Water with you in case you run dry, while also carrying some Healing Potions (craftable with First Aid) and Lesser Mana Potions for emergencies.

Alchemy can also now provide a slew of useful elixirs even in the early stages worth having. Minor Mageblood Elixir / Lesser Mageblood Elixir especially are good for extra Mana early, while Elixir of Ogre Strength grants 8 extra Strength for 1 hour when used.

The new Campfire system in Forever is a great way to pick up potent buffs when in town, making your trips out into the world smoother. Campfires can be created using Cooking, and you can place one profession effect next to it to provide another bonus effect for one hour, once you sit and rest for a minute. Other players can also add extra effects (up to three with a basic Campfire), providing you with bonuses exclusive with equivalent class buffs. All buffs aren't created equal though, and there's some in particular you should look out for if you can get them:

• Mana Well – provided with Alchemy and exclusive with Blessing of Wisdom, this grants MP5 and is the ideal buff to get.
• Camp Tent – provided with Leatherworking, and gives one bar of rested experience. This can only be gained once per hour.
• Fish Bowl – provided with Fishing and exclusive with Blessing of Kings, this grants 8% increased stats and is a solid all-rounder effect.
• Lodestone – provided with Mining and exclusive with Blessing of Might, this grants bonus Attack Power.
• Incense Candle – provided with Herbalism and exclusive with Arcane Intellect, this grants bonus Intellect.

While it's not always possible to get your ideal buffs, if you see one of these next to a campfire while passing through town take a minute to grab it!

Wordup

Guide Author

Follow Wordup

This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can follow him on Twitter.

More WoW Forever Shaman Guides

Restoration Shaman Healer Leveling Restoration Shaman Healer Guide Elemental Shaman Ranged DPS Talents Enhancement Shaman Melee DPS Stats Elemental Shaman Ranged DPS Guide Restoration Shaman Healer Stats

More WoW Forever Guides from Other Classes

Discipline Priest Healer Guide Subtlety Rogue Melee DPS Talents Protection Warrior Tank Leveling Beast Mastery Hunter Ranged DPS Talents Fire Mage Ranged DPS Leveling Class Quests