Shaman Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This page only covers the new Hero Talents available in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents and complimenting builds for Enhancement Shaman, check out our Talents page:

In Single-Target, due to the Season 3's Tier Set strength, Stormbringer is the firm recommendation.

Stormbringer provides extremely powerful spenders and more potent burst due to its talent selections, though it does require some extra resource management. Even when played loosely though, it deals good damage and is flexible enough to adapt to most encounters, making it the recommendation.

Totemic can dish out strong burst damage every 30-seconds and 1-minute due to talent selections, and brings ample cleave for free. Unfortunately, its overall tuning is firmly weaker, especially with its weaker Tier Set bonus. Pair that with the extra requirement to manage Surging Totem, and it's simply too hard to justify in Season 3.

In Mythic+, the recommendation is Stormbringer in Season 3 with the new Tier Set.

Stormbringer's toolkit is extremely versatile, allowing for a few different builds to alter its damage profile. It boasts extremely strong sustained and burst AoE, and scales upward well with additional targets due to the extra Maelstrom Weapon generation. While its gameplay is punishing if you don't play around its specialized systems, the reward for doing so is exceptionally high, which is why it's currently recommended.

In Mythic+, the power of Hot Hand windows during Doom Winds is high, and when paired with Primordial Storm it can deliver potent burst AoE. It does make small sacrifices to single-target to get there, but transitions to AoE well while maintaining priority damage. Unfortunately, with the tier set considered, relative to Stormbringer it falls too far behind. While the tree is much easier to pilot, the performance loss is too much to justify.

Season 3 Tier Sets are unique in that the bonuses dynamically change based on your current Hero Talent. Both trees want to switch to this bonus as soon as possible, and once you acquire it the recommendations are:

• Raid - Stormbringer
• Mythic+ - Stormbringer

The section below covers what each respective Hero Tree gains:

2.

Season 3 Tier Sets

You can use the switch below to view each of the respective set bonuses:

Hero Talents
Stormbringer	Totemic

2.1.

Stormbringer Set Bonuses

The Stormbringer set focuses on both Ascendance and Tempest:

• Shaman Stormbringer 11.2 Class Set 2pc — Triggering Ascendance grants one charge of Tempest, and every 8 Awakening Storms also activates Ascendance for 6 seconds.
• Shaman Stormbringer 11.2 Class Set 4pc — Nature damage increased by 5%, and triggering Ascendance causes your next two Tempest casts to also deal additional Nature damage to your target and reduced damage to nearby enemies after 1.5 seconds.

This marries well with the Stormbringer playstyle, adding more up-front value to Ascendance - an already potent cooldown. Extra Tempest is one of the strongest effects possible for the tree, and increasing their strength on top of that pushes it even further. Lastly, adding additional (random) ways to Ascendance is extremely potent, making the set significantly stronger than the Season 2 offering.

2.2.

Totemic Set Bonuses

The Totemic set focuses on Primordial Storm:

• Shaman Totemic 11.2 Class Set 2pc — After consuming all three Whirling Elements motes, your Surging Totem casts a Primordial Storm at 200% effectiveness at its location.
• Shaman Totemic 11.2 Class Set 4pc — After casting Primordial Storm, your next Lava Lash or Fire Nova casts a second time at 150% effectiveness.

This set further leans into the 30-second burst cycle, adding extra up-front value to each of your Surging Totem casts by triggering via Whirling Elements. This provides an extra way to trigger Primordial Storm, but these do not proc anything that is usually sourced from your character - meaning no Maelstrom Weapon scaling or generation, and no Weapon Imbue procs.

This doesn't stop it being a solid bonus, with the 4-piece in particular adding consistent value with each trigger; but it isn't as strong as it looks at first glance. It also has the added advantage of being able to leverage strength from the class tree, using Totemic Recall for extra 2-piece activations.

Normally, our recommendation would depend on the content you do, but with the gap in strength created by the Season 3 Tier Set, there's only one answer. Stormbringer is much stronger in both single-target and AoE, making it the recommendation for both Raids and Mythic+. You can find full loadout recommendations for each tree on our Talents page.

4.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Enhancement Shaman

Stormbringer
Talents Totemic
Talents

4.

Best Stormbringer Talents for Enhancement Shaman

Stormbringer heavily shifts your focus toward Maelstrom Weapon generation, so the most important talent on our entire spec tree is Static Accumulation. For more details on how we build a spec tree around these effects, use our Talents page.

For the three choice nodes on the tree, there is not much choice between them:

• Supercharge vs. Storm Swell - the Maelstrom Weapon value from Supercharge is simply too high, so is always taken.
• Nature's Protection vs. Surging Currents - extra damage reduction is premium for a spec that can struggle to survive, so Nature's Protection is the go to. Surging Currents is good though if you need extra sustain.
• Lightning Conduit vs. Electroshock - the reliability of Electroshock throughout combat gives it the edge, even if Lightning Conduit is more fun.

4.

Best Totemic Talents for Enhancement Shaman

Totemic puts a heavy focus on Hot Hand to trigger Reactivity, so is required pathing on the tree. Any totem related talents on the class tree are also taken to help manage Surging Totem. For more details on how we build a spec tree around these effects, use our Talents page.

Of the four choice nodes, the selections are generally as follows:

• Oversurge vs. Amplification Core - Always Amplification Core, Ascendance is not used with Totemic.
• Oversized Totems makes managing Surging Totem easier, so is taken.
• Pulse Capacitor vs. Supportive Imbuements - Both are relevant. both are similar in single-target, while Supportive Imbuements is extremely powerful in AoE, especially during cooldowns. Either can be taken.
• Earthsurge vs. Totemic Coordination - The build hinges on Earthsurge, so is a required pickup to enable the Hot Hand and Reactivity synergy.

Stormbringer aims to cycle Maelstrom Weapon as quickly as possible, generating Tempest charges to spend on massive up-front AoE damage. This then also triggers Rolling Thunder and Arc Discharge as follow-up effects, building a lot of momentum. While playing, the rotational priority strictly plays around these effects in order to maximize them, and builds a tree to support that.

Totemic needs to use Surging Totem every 24 seconds, as soon as it comes off cooldown. It also needs to manage its position, keeping it under targets using either Totemic Projection or its own relocate re-cast. Hot Hand procs form the core of the rotation, using it to trigger Reactivity and Earthsurge on targets. It also aligns a variety of key cooldowns for burst moments.