Enhancement Shaman DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5

1. How to Gear Before Raids in BfA

Gearing up to prepare to enter raids provides a lot of different options now that Battle for Azeroth has opened up the majority of different gear paths. You will ideally want to get yourself to a healthy item level before setting foot in either Uldir or Battle of Dazar'alor, and this can be done through a variety of different ways.

Remember to sim yourself a healthy amount when deciding on gear pieces to know what stats to aim for and which pieces to equip. The stats that you want to focus on will usually be decided by what build you are currently using (as defined by your Azerite), but Haste and Mastery are both safe choices for most content types.

• World Quests will provide players with a variety of gear rewards for all slots, including Azerite. This will cap out at 340. Emissaries will also appear once a day and can potentially provide either an equipment piece or an Azerite piece, which will cap at item level 385 in Season 2.
• Reputation gives out rewards based on your status with the faction. For most factions, Honored awards a 320 cloak, Revered a 335 item, and Exalted gives a 350 piece. Champions of Azeroth awards a 355 item level Azerite Chest with the Primal Primer trait. Additionally, each reputation level grants additional item level boosts to your Heart of Azeroth.
• Mythic+ rewards gear based upon the keystone level you complete:
  • 2-3: 375
  • 4: 380
  • 5-6: 385
  • 7: 390
  • 8-9: 395
  • 10: 400
• World Bosses in Zandalar and Kul'Tiras spawn weekly, and killing this grants a once a week chance at a 355 item level piece of gear. There is also a cycling World Boss tied to each Warfront, with Arathi granting up to 370 item level gear, and Darkshore up to 400 item level.
• Leatherworking can craft 355 item level Boots and Legs, which can be upgraded using Sanguicells from Uldir up to 385 item level. Season 2 also adds new craftable versions of this item that require Breath of Bwonsamdi that can be raised to 415 item level.
• Engineering provides a craftable Azerite helm with unique traits, and can be upgraded in the same way as Leatherworking using Sanguicells and Breath of Bwonsamdi.
• Warfronts can be repeated as many times as you want, each rewarding a random piece of gear. Arathi will be set at 340, and Darkshore will be 355. Each time the Warfront becomes available, a one time quest will reward a higher item level piece, with Arathi being set at 370, and Darkshore at 400. These can only be done when your faction has the siege event open for each respective warfront.

1.1. Weekly Mythic+ Chest

Along these same lines, you should be completing at least one keystone at a high item level each week to make use of the weekly chest. Each week you will receive one piece of loot and a fixed amount of Titan Residuum. The highest keystone you complete (up to a maximum of 10) will determine the final reward (current residuum values are estimates):

1.2. PvP Gearing Options

While not usually recommended, the additional route of gearing via PvP is very lucrative in Battle for Azeroth. You will gain a piece of high item level gear each week based upon your current maximum rating, dictated by the following brackets. You will also receive End of Match rewards at random, at a slightly reduced item level.

1.3. Notable Trinkets and Weapons

Trinkets and weapons are the two largest DPS increases available to any class in the game outside of Azerite pieces. Getting good pieces to fill these slots early allows you to perform incredibly well.

1.3.1. Weapons

There are a number of strong weapons for Enhancement Shaman, and note that they can all be used in either hand. Ideally you should be looking for Haste or Mastery weapons, such as:

• Sinister Wicker Talons — Waycrest Manor
• Soulcharmer's Bludgeon — Waycrest Manor
• Soulrending Claw — Atal'dazar

There is also a unique proc effect Fist Weapon, Bile-Stained Crawg Tusks from The Underrot. This effect is relatively powerful for Enhancement in single-target situations, and can be used in place of the secondary stats on other weapons if you acquire one strong enough.

1.3.2. Trinkets

Thanks to Bloodmallet.com, a comprehensive list of available trinkets for Enhancement are listed against each other below.

2. Azerite

You can check through the Enhancement Azerite page to look through the values of different traits and target different items. With each build however, there are ideal choices that can be acquired to enable each of them. Note that this does include dungeon looted items, so it requires a very high quantity of Residuum to fully activate.

2.1. Primal Primer

These pieces are ideal selections to maximise the build outlined on the talent page that requires stacking Primal Primer traits.

Slot	Item	Trait 1	Trait 2	Trait 3
Helm	Hood of the Dark Reaper	Primal Primer	Natural Harmony	Overwhelming Power
Shoulder	Gaping Maw Shoulderguard	Primal Primer	Natural Harmony	Earthlink
Chest	Mistfire Raiment	Primal Primer	Natural Harmony	Heed My Call

2.2. Strength of Earth

These pieces are assuming you are using the build outlined on the talent page that requires stacking Strength of Earth traits. Unlike Primal Primer, this just needs Strength of Earth to come online and is more flexible for supporting traits. Below outlines the ideal options currently available to flesh it out.

Slot	Item	Trait 1	Trait 2	Trait 3
Helm	Soulscarred Headgear	Strength of Earth	Blightborne Infusion	Heed My Call
Shoulder	Mantle of the Soulbinder's Caress	Ancestral Resonance	Strength of Earth	Overwhelming Power
Chest	Gonk's Scale Robes	Strength of Earth	Roiling Storm	Heed My Call

2.3. Universal Build

Finally, this build is much more flexible and can be interchanged depending on what you have available. This is currently the easiest to access series of pieces to enable the build in as many situations as possible.

Slot	Item	Trait 1	Trait 2	Trait 3
Helm	Target-Tracking Headgear	Ancestral Resonance	Treacherous Covenant	Heed My Call
Shoulder	Pauldrons of Ancestral Vengeance	Roiling Storm	Treacherous Covenant	Earthlink
Chest	Loa-Blessed Chestguard	Thunderaan's Fury	Strength of Earth	Elemental Whirl

3. Recommended Battle for Dazar'Alor Gear

This list does not include items that are found outside of the raid, so this may be altered based on items you have available from outside sources. Note this also does not include trinkets as they are covered in the above chart. These gear choices are made assuming you are using a Primal Primer build, due to its current expected performance. This can differ with different builds.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Target-Tracking Headgear	High Tinker Mekkatorque in Battle of Dazar'alor
Shoulder	Pauldrons of Ancestral Vengeance	Champion of the Light in Battle of Dazar'alor
Cloak	Loa Exultant's Shroud	Conclave of the Chosen in Battle of Dazar'alor
Chest	Mistfire Raiment	Jadefire Masters in Battle of Dazar'alor
Wrists	Ape Wrangler's Wristguards	Grong in Battle of Dazar'alor
Gloves	Grips of Harmonious Spirits	Jadefire Masters in Battle of Dazar'alor
Belt	Goldenscale Girdle	Opulence in Battle of Dazar'alor
Legs	Deathhunter's Legguards	King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor
Boots	Boots of the Gilded Path	Opulence in Battle of Dazar'alor
Ring #1	Lord Admiral's Signet	Lady Jaina Proudmoore in Battle of Dazar'alor
Ring #2	Seal of the Zandalari Empire	King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor
Weapons	Bonelash Paw	Grong in Battle of Dazar'alor
Alternative	Storm-Toothed Kasuyu	Stormwall Blockade in Battle of Dazar'alor

3.1. Ideal Bosses to Coin

You should ideally be spending your Seal of Wartorn Fate on a combination of Champion of the Light, Grong and Jadefire Masters. This is due to there being strong Azerite options and weapons available from the first 3 bosses, and are the quickest, strongest upgrades available.

4. Changelog