Enhancement Shaman Frequently Asked Questions — Shadowlands 9.0.2

Yes. You should be making sure that you do not overcap the Maelstrom Weapon effect by going above 10 stacks. You should be aiming to consume it at around 8 stacks, allowing room for procs to happen and pool slightly, without hitting the upper limit. Do not rush to cast it as soon as you hit 5 stacks, however, as that will often interfere with other ability cooldowns.

This remains a firm no. Too much of our damage is still sourced from our Main Hand, and Lava Lash does not do enough even with supporting talents to make this a good choice.

Generally speaking, this a no. The amount of damage it will deal, assuming it has full uptime on a target and is able to live the entire duration, will be a marginal increase over an alternative cooldown. However, it is also prone to dying, poor AI, or disrupting a group with its taunt. It is much more beneficial to simply save it as an emergency defense tool in case something goes wrong.

In Shadowlands, it is simply not possible to do so anymore. With each of the effects triggered, they boost abilities that have locked cooldowns that you have no control over. That means that, while the boosts are nice, you cannot do anything to get extra benefit from them with different play.

Yes. With the advent of Shadowlands, this has no cost outside of its cooldown and you will have some extra Global Cooldowns to spare. It slots in as a bottom tier filler that should be used whenever nothing else is available.

The answer to this question in any context will always be to simulate it. This is because what is an upgrade for you may not be an upgrade for someone else. In other words, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer, even when talking about 2 completely identical comparisons from you to another person. Everything in your gear has an effect on everything else.

This applies to gear, set bonuses, trinkets, Azerite traits, and, in certain circumstances, talents.

The only exception to this rule is when a specific fight dictates a certain set of optimal talents and gear pieces that enhance their strength. If you are curious about what kind of setup to go for a specific fight, WarcraftLogs.com's rankings and statistics are a good place to see what others are doing.

We have a guide on how to sim yourself here:

For Enhancement, there is no strict "amount" or breakpoint of any stat that you are required to reach, nor are there any points at which a stat stops being desirable. In the majority of cases, the specific secondary you have is less important than the volume. This is, however, another case of a situation in which a simulation done to check your ideal gear pieces and stat values will provide you invaluable information.

Currently, races are fairly even from top to bottom, and the choice you make will likely result in a very small difference. Note this assumes the current ideal build using Primal Primer, baseline simulations indicate the following: