Enhancement Shaman DPS Easy Mode — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

In Raids during the Midnight Pre-patch, Enhancement leans strongly toward Totemic due to its many recent improvements. There's a strong focus on both Lava Lash and Hot Hand windows, while leveraging Maelstrom Weapon to extend it via Totemic Momentum.

It comes with a 30-second and 1-minute burst cooldown toolkit, while bringing strong cleave options for free, without having to invest extra global cooldowns or talents.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Stormbringer build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

In AoE, both trees are very close, but the advantage Totemic has in single-target even in an AoE build is so large that it wins out in the Mythic+ landscape. It plays almost exactly the same as in single-target, relying on long Hot Hand windows to trigger Splitstream.

It has extremely strong and reliable burst every minute during Surging Totem and Doom Winds, and Primordial Storm deals high damage every 30 seconds.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Stormbringer build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Before entering combat, always make sure to do the following:

• Apply Shield & Imbues
  Instinctive Imbuements applies all Shields and Weapon Imbues via Lightning Shield.
• Cast Group Buffs
  Use Skyfury to buff you and your party with Mastery and auto-attack procs.

In single-target, Enhancement needs to manage its resources correctly to remain GCD locked as Totemic. It sets up burst every minute, and extends Hot Hand using Totemic Momentum.

• Spend your Maelstrom
  Maelstrom Weapon should be spent whenever above 10 stacks on Lightning Bolt.
  Can be used at lower stacks for Elemental Tempo CDR on Lava Lash.
• Use Melee Strikes and Fillers
  Cast Lava Lash on cooldown, especially during Hot Hand.
  Filler Priority - Crash Lightning ➜ Stormstrike ➜ Voltaic Blaze.
• Utilize your Cooldowns
  
• Surging Totem should be used every minute alongside Doom Winds.
  Cast Sundering straight after, followed by Lava Lash.
  Cast Primordial Storm after with 10 Maelstrom Weapon.
  During Doom Winds, Stormstrike and Crash Lightning fire Maelstrom Weapon spenders.
• React to Procs
  
• Totemic has one key proc to watch out for - Hot Hand, which reduces Lava Lash cooldown, so it needs to be pressed as much as possible when active.

When trying to learn Enhancement's rotation principles, it can be a lot to take in at once. We recommend learning things in stages, in the following order:

Enhancement Single-Target

Melee Strike Juggling ➜ Maelstrom Weapon Management ➜ Cooldown Syncing

In AoE, Totemic plays similarly, with a few small considerations to adjust to. Hot Hand is just as important when active:

• Spend Maelstrom Weapon
  Maelstrom Weapon is instead spent on Chain Lightning in AoE. Spend at 10 stacks, unless you have nothing else to use.
• Use Strikes Effectively
  Lava Lash is top priority with Hot Hand active, otherwise:
  Priority - Crash Lightning ➜ Lava Lash ➜ Voltaic Blaze ➜ Stormstrike.
• Use Cooldowns Effectively
  Doom Winds is used to extend Hot Hand through Totemic Momentum.
  Cast Crash Lightning and Stormstrike to build up the buff timer.
  cast Sundering into a 10 stack Primordial Storm every 30 seconds.

In AoE Enhancement can be a little overwhelming due to how much is going on. It can be easy to get lost in what to do, so we'd recommend focusing on things in chunks, ideally in the following order:

Enhancement AoE

Learn Single-Target ➜ Optimize Hot Hand Management ➜ Burst Window Combos

If you feel comfortable with these more basic breakdowns and are looking for a deeper understanding, you can check our Rotation Page, which covers decision making at a deeper level:

Enhancement has a fairly weak defensive toolkit, but invidual tools can be quite potent when they're available. This means you need to be a little more careful when engaging in combat.

• Astral Shift - provides 40% damage reduction for 12 seconds on a 1.5-minute cooldown (using Planes Traveler). This is Enhancement's strongest defensive tool, and while it has a longer cooldown than most defensives, it provides a lot of safety while active.
• Earth Elemental - grants 15% maximum health for 30 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown. This is a "backup" cooldown when you cannot use Astral Shift, and can cover longer periods of damage. Primordial Bond is imporant to avoid it taunting enemies and dying, though this can be dropped when solo to provide a personal tank.
• Spirit Wolf - provides up to a 20% damage reduction after remaining in Ghost Wolf for an extended period. This is a last resort defensive tool if you have nothing else available, as we cannot deal any damage while shapeshifted.
• Raging Maelstrom - when spending Maelstrom Weapon, it provides an equal number of stacks of a separate buff. This will apply the same effect to your Healing Surge or Chain Heal, allowing you to weave in some self-healing if needed. This is a less painful DPS loss than previous iterations (though is equally less potent), and it's almost always available in a pinch.
• Earth Shield - grants a modest amount of healing over the course of an encounter. Therazane's Resilience is strongly recommended here to keep it permanent, alongside Elemental Orbit so you can maintain Lightning Shield. This can also be applied to a second ally for a small amount of off-healing.
• Windveil - provides powerful damage reduction after successfully interrupting a spell, giving us an extra incentive to do so if there is a lot of damage happening.

The most versatile Enhancement stat priority that will cover both builds on offer here is as follows:

1. Agility
2. Mastery
3. Haste
4. Critical Strike
5. Versatility

Remember that stat priorities will change based on other talents taken in different builds. In general, the above should serve you well in most content, but for for finer details regarding each stat, you can look at our stat priority page linked below.

Added during The War Within, this has slowly improved, and is looking a bit better in Midnight. With some of the simplification happening to some of the more complex Enhancement mechanics, this is a more reasonable jumping off point if you're looking to learn the spec. It comes in two versions - an action bar highlight based off a curated Blizzard priority, or a single keybind that automatically presses that button (though, with a 25% GCD penalty between casts when used).

It does, however, come at a performance loss, and some extra limitations. Most importantly, the tool will currently not use Ascendance when taken, any racial bonuses or on-use trinkets - these all need to be cast manually by you if you use it. This also extends to movement, defensive and crowd control abilities.

While the tool is definitely better in Midnight, it does still require manual input to make use of it. Both Hero trees now work similarly, but you need to make sure to be pressing Ascendance when playing Stormbringer. When used this way, it acts as a good learning tool when trying to get to grips with the spec, or if you want to take it easy during some slower content.