Enhancement Shaman DPS Mythic+ Tips — Dragonflight 10.0.7

In Mythic+ Dungeons, in particular at higher key levels, you will be presented with some of the most challenging and competitive PvE content available in WoW alongside Mythic Raiding.

In keystones, when playing as Enhancement, your responsibility to contribute to the group's success will be higher than in most raiding groups due to the smaller size. Therefore skill and execution of strategy are crucial. Being versatile and able to adapt to any situation is a key factor here and one of the main things that differentiate it from the more specialized builds used in raiding.

On top of damage, you will also be required to interrupt, dispel, and support the group at the same time. That means some of the abilities you otherwise would not use often can be invaluable to your group, so make sure to utilize your entire suite of tools.

In this guide, we will be discussing the finer points of Enhancement Shaman and how to get the most out of it, how to gear and set up your character, and some tips to push yourself further.

If you are unfamiliar with Mythic+ and its associated general mechanics, you can read more about it on our Dragonflight Season 1 page below.

If you want more information about talent options and whether some could be useful in certain situations, you should use our dedicated Talent page.

There are currently two build archetypes available in Elementalist and Physical, each having strengths and weaknesses in different situations. They also come with several flexible talents that can be switched around depending on what specifically you want to round out a group composition. That said, currently, the most commonly used build in most keys is Elementalist, with some small variations depending on specific dungeons. Below are import codes for a sample build of each, and underneath we will go into more detail specifically about this build:

• Elementalist Mythic+: BcQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJJpEJISSISCUSkAAAAAAAAAAAAAKRIJkolioQSLJpAoEkQgA
• Physical Mythic+: BcQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRSKASSSiIJSSLRCAAAAAAAAAAAAoEhkQiWKiCJtkkCgSQCBC

While both builds can work, builds that follow this archetype are significantly more flexible with talent points and provide excellent single-target, cleave, and AoE with frequent access to burst cooldowns. This allows it to slot in easily to any dungeon type without necessarily needing a bespoke route to make it work. We recommend this over the more specialized Physical options. Specific talent quirks are discussed underneath:

One of the best parts of this build is that it has a pool of 5-6 talents that allow you to select up to 3-4 of them, each providing a tailored benefit should a dungeon or weekly affix lean into you requiring one damage profile. The talents in question are:

• Elemental Blast & Storm's Wrath - good in Tyrannical weeks, and provides more single-target and priority damage should your group need it. In any situation where you do not take Elemental Blast, you should always drop Storm's Wrath alongside it as this is entirely for pathing, so it opens up two points.
• Windfury Totem - should your group contain a multiple melee players that have a strong benefit from this effect, this should be taken, but is otherwise avoided if in a caster heavy group.
• Stormflurry* - when you drop both of the above talents and there is no strong Windfury Totem synergy, this is the best alternative.
• Swirling Maelstrom - This is very good for consistency due to the Ice Strike / Hailstorm package and provides some reliable Maelstrom Weapon generation in all situations.
• Windfury Weapon - should you want to take all of the other talents here, there is an option to drop this and replace the imbue instead with a Howling Rune for additional Haste. Do not use double Flametongue Weapon, it provides no extra effects when doing so.
• Crashing Storms - this heavily leans into AoE, and as such, if you are doing more modest pulls or need less sustained AoE, it is an option to drop in exchange for other talents.

While not the recommended build, there are Physical variations that can be used depending on preference. There are two primary areas that it excels at over the alternatives:

• Uncapped Burst AoE - Through the pairing of Doom Winds, Splintered Elements and Alpha Wolf, you can have an explosive uncapped burst of AoE if you pull around these cooldowns. In some dungeons, such as Algeth'ar Academy, when this type of damage is required this is our best way of doing so at an inflated target count.
• Pure single-target - if your group already has AoE covered and you want to go all in on boss damage; there is an option to play a variation taking the Deeply Rooted Elements pathway to provide an extreme (but unreliable!) boss damage profile at a high cost to AoE.

In Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1 the seasonal affix is Thundering, and is present in every keystone at leveel 10 or above. In short, a lightning storm will periodically be triggered throughout the dungeon, creating several dodgeable lightning strikes. At this time, everyone in the party will be marked with one of two debuffs, increasing damage and healing by 30%. However, if this debuff is not removed within 15 seconds (by having two players with opposite debuffs make contact with one another), debuffed players will be stunned and suffer heavy Nature damage over 5 seconds.

Enhancement has no immediate tools to cheat with this, but since you are melee, the group should usually be aware of where you are standing to orient around you. Be especially careful if you intend to clear with the tank, as frontals can be a quick way to get yourself killed if you time it poorly. You should ideally orient yourself so you can clear this without panic as comfortably as possible with a DPS or healer before resorting to this. Ideally, when playing the affix properly, you will remove this debuff as late as possible for the damage increase, but sometimes this is not possible, so do not risk letting it expire.

The main rotation will be very similar to the one outlined in our rotation page for either single-target or AoE situations. However, unlike in raids, the majority of pulls are much shorter than raid encounters, and there is downtime between them that can be leveraged for extra benefits. This also means you should consider holding high damage tools such as Primordial Wave for a fresh pack if the current one is about to die.

The details below are primarily specific to the make-up of dungeons, so if you are looking for a general overview instead, then use our Rotation page:

Our opener is contingent on what your current build is. As such, we have provided a small tool to select your choices that significantly alter how you perform this sequence. Please note that this list assumes that you are familiar with the basics of Enhancement's AoE damage kit.

Talent Selections
Ascendance	Crash Lightning	Doom Winds
Feral Spirit	Fire Nova	Hailstorm
Ice Strike	Molten Assault	Primordial Wave
Sundering	Molten Assault	Windfury Totem

1. Pre-cast Windfury Totem on the way to each pack.
2. Cast Flame Shock on your priority target.
3. Cast Feral Spirit on the way to the pack.
4. Cast Crash Lightning — this should grant a large amount of Maelstrom Weapon.
5. Cast Lava Lash to spread Flame Shock from your anchor target.
6. Cast Primordial Wave, aim to cast this on a target not affected by Flame Shock.
7. Cast Lightning Bolt immediately with the Primordial Wave buff to trigger Splintered Elements. Aim to cast this when you have as many Flame Shocks out as possible.
8. Cast Fire Nova.
9. Cast Chain Lightning with 5+ stacks of Maelstrom Weapon to prime Thorim's Invocation.
10. Cast Ascendance while in melee range.
11. Cast Doom Winds.
12. Cast Crash Lightning.
13. Cast Chain Lightning to generate Hailstorm stacks.
14. Cast Ice Strike.
15. Cast Frost Shock to consume Hailstorm charges.
16. Cast Sundering
17. Cast Chain Lightning to gain cooldown reduction on Crash Lightning.
18. Continue with the normal AoE cycle.

Since Algeth'ar Puzzle Box is a popular trinket, if you are using this you should pre-cast it just before a pack is pulled to get the Mastery buff for the opener.

An alternative here if you are playing Doom Winds plus Splintered Elements is that you can forego much of the cycle and repeat Crash Lightning and Chain Lightning during the window due to the enormous amount of Haste. This sacrifices some damage but leads to enormous amounts of Maelstrom Weapon, allowing for multiple Feral Spirit casts and thus Alpha Wolf damage if taken.

Starting a pull with some Maelstrom Weapon left over from the previous pack is usually very helpful for smoothing out the opening. If a pull is about to end and mobs are dying, avoid overspending stacks to finish them off and instead carry them to the next group of mobs. This advice also extends to Hailstorm stacks if you know another pull is coming up soon.

This is one of our strongest Mythic+ tools and as such is the thing you should play around the most. Your entire opening sequence should be setting up for as many Flame Shocks as possible and then casting this for a strong Splintered Elements window to get yourself started. Due to its low cooldown, this is used as often as possible to avoid wasting uses unless a pack is about to die and the follow up buff would be wasted.

In boss encounters this is simply a burst tool, so if there are adds that are going to spawn then make sure this overlaps with them to gain additional damage from hitting extra targets - it is almost always worth delaying it to do so. Also, make sure that Feral Spirit is on cooldown when you cast this to avoid wasting the cooldown reduction provided from the Maelstrom Weapon it generates.

Make sure to get as many active Crash Lightning casts inside the window as possible. This usually caps at 2-3, so long as you have spare Maelstrom Weapon to activate the cooldown reduction from Chain Lightning, so have this ready as you cast it. Try to also sync it up with Sundering as this also triggers Windfury Weapon in AoE. If you are playing Splintered Elements, aim to fit these windows in during the buff, as it lasts 12 seconds and makes it significantly easier to get extra Crash Lightning casts in.

If you use the base Feral Spirit or Alpha Wolf talents, you will gain a multiplicative stacking buff to your physical abilities for each active wolf. As a result, you should try to align your Sundering and Doom Winds casts with these windows to capitalize on increased burst damage from stacking cooldowns. Alpha Wolf, on the other hand, should naturally be getting activated by your rotation.

If you have the Elemental Spirits talent instead, then the buff provided by your wolves will depend upon the type randomly summoned, increasing the damage done by your Fire, Frost, or Nature abilities by 20% stacking multiplicatively per wolf of the same type. Elemental Blast derives full benefit from any combination of these buffs, so you should bank your Elemental Blast charges to unleash into Elemental Spirits windows where possible if you have incorporated it into your build.

Additionally, all versions of Feral Spirit serve as a significant source of Maelstrom Weapon stacks and contribute a bit of extra single-target damage with their attacks. This ability should be mostly used on cooldown, especially if you are talented into Witch Doctor's Ancestry as this effect will rapidly refresh the cooldown of your wolves, and thus any time spent sitting on a Feral Spirit cooldown is time spent, not reducing its cooldown - resulting in a significant DPS loss over time.

Ascendance generates a powerful AoE Nature damage explosion from the on-cast burst, so if you are anticipating the arrival of a large pack of enemies, it may be worth holding off on using it right away in order to benefit more from the explosion. If talented into Thorim's Invocation, make sure that your Windstrike is primed to fire the correct Maelstrom Weapon spender (either Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning) for the situation, you are facing before you use the cooldown - otherwise, your Windstrike casts will not convert your Maelstrom Weapon stacks into damage as efficiently as possible.

Having access to some strong movement and survival tools is necessary for success in Mythic+, but usually the most important is your defense out of the two. You should only take as much mobility as you need to get through rather than what is comfortable, and focus the rest on defense to survive punishing mechanics. For defense, considerations are:

• Astral Shift + Follow-up Talents - Always taken, it is our strong off-GCD defensive tool and is the staple for surviving dangerous mechanics.
• Brimming with Life - a flat 8% Health bonus is mandatory in higher keys, and is very painful to lose if you have to Ankh in a dungeon.
• Spirit Wolf - a consideration if lethal mechanics are too frequent to cover with active defensives, but does cost damage to make use of.
• Earth Elemental - the flat HP boost can be used alongside damage reduction tools to survive extremely high damage events, and has a long duration, but the cooldown can be restrictive depending on the dungeon being run.
• Earth Shield - Provides a small amount of bonus healing at the cost of some GCDs, alongside boosting our off-healing on ourselves. Worth taking due to being a low cost point and the Patch 10.0.7 buffs.
• Ancestral Defense + Elemental Warding - passive damage reduction tools that work at all times, at a low point cost. Over the course of a dungeon will grant a lot of additional survival so should always be considered.

For mobility we can usually get away with just Ghost Wolf and Spirit Walk to deal with most situations, and should not need any other tools. Instead, points should be spent on some of our utility options.

Wind Shear is your interrupt tool and is one of the best available to any class. Being both ranged and having such a low cooldown makes for an excellent tool to disrupt targets with interruptible casts continually. You should be the one aggressively going after dangerous interrupts; allow other classes with longer interrupt cooldowns to handle less frequent casts or to be saved for emergencies if possible. Coordinate this with your group before starting the dungeon.

Lightning Lasso can be used as a single-target stun, but the damage it deals is nowhere near as much as you would be doing when not channeling. This is moreso used to interrupt a cast then cancelled to continue dealing damage through other methods, and has a very contentious choice on the node which makes it more niche.

Hex is somewhat similar to Wind Shear as it allows you to either control a dangerous enemy before combat begins or interrupt a cast in an emergency. This cooldown can be reduced by 15 seconds if you talent into Voodoo Mastery, or it can be made to apply a 70% slow to an enemy after the polymorph effect expires with Enfeeblement.

Sundering is an incredibly versatile tool, often able to act as a pseudo-interrupt against multiple targets that are otherwise immune, and does so while also delivering a huge burst of damage. While it will not work on every target, be sure to pay attention to enemies that it does incapacitate so you can effectively use this feature in the future. Using this depends on each dungeon, and you can gain value from both effects throughout each run, so use this often and early.

Capacitor Totem is your AoE stun tool to lock down mobs as you begin a pull to stabilize. This tends to be extra useful on larger pulls to allow the tank to grab aggro before enemies begin casting or to prevent key effects. This can be further enhanced with the Guardian's Cudgel or Static Charge talents. Guardian's Cudgel is extremely potent in spawning a second Capacitor Totem when the first one triggers, increasing the stun duration, while Static Charge will reduce its cooldown per target struck.

Thunderstorm (with Thundershock) is another powerful AoE pseudo-interrupt, being able to knock several enemies up into the air and disrupt spells that cannot be cast while moving. Be sure to practice using it to learn which enemies it works against and which are immune. For the vast majority of the time, Thundershock will be the preferred form of this ability, as keeping enemies together will make follow-up crowd control more effective and maintain DPS uptime on targets in AoE. In niche situations, you may need to utilize Thunderstorm's knock-back effect to deal with a specific mob or group of mobs or to move enemies out of Sanguine pools.

Earthbind Totem and Earthgrab Totem can significantly impair the movement of groups of enemies, aiding in your tank's ability to kite them should it be required. Hailstorm is also useful as a constant slow while executing the rotation if talented.

Your toolkit includes an offensive dispel in Purge, a decurse in Cleanse Spirit, a fear, charm, and sleep break with Tremor Totem, and a poison removal with Poison Cleansing Totem. These effects are frequent in many dungeons, and you will often find yourself using these to deal with certain enemies. Be sure to adjust your talent load-out per dungeon to best support your party.

While healing is not your primary role, we can use multiple tools to help the party in deadly situations. A Maelstrom Weapon empowered Healing Surge or Chain Heal can help to stabilize you or an ally and should be used in emergencies. Healing Stream Totem can be taken and used whenever a gap in your rotation happens to help out, but points are usually too tight to be able to take this. We can also talent into a powerful healing cooldown with Ancestral Guidance, which provides huge group healing during situations where we are dealing AoE damage.

Being proactive with healing tools is an effective skill to learn as an Enhancement Shaman, and while you should not be taking responsibility for the group's health, recognizing when you can jump in at critical moments can be the difference between life or death for the party.

Earth Elemental is a potent emergency tool if the tank either dies or is struggling to handle a pack. It can also be used as a personal defensive cooldown to grant yourself additional maximum health. This has a long cooldown, so use it wisely. Also, be aware that the AI can sometimes be problematic, as it will rarely move with you once it has grabbed aggro - a particular problem in Sanguine weeks.

Mana Spring can help out your healer with some additional Mana regeneration should they be struggling to keep up in a dungeon, and is an easy point to access. However, our talent points begin to get quite tight with all of the control tools we often take, so this is an optional bonus rather than a locked in pick.

Reincarnation allows you to resurrect after dying. This can be used to get back up after a lethal ability, or more importantly, it can skip certain packs. The ability to run ahead with your group, die, self-revive, and then resurrect them is a niche tactic that some dungeon routes opt to use.

Bloodlust and Heroism are mainstays of all group content, and providing it is almost always a benefit to your party. Be sure to coordinate with your group when the most effective time to use it will be.

There are no significant alterations to the gear choices you should be making compared to normal single-target and AoE situations. However, we heavily recommend simming your character to make sure. Having Patchwerk and then Hectic Add Cleave/Dungeon Slice profiles alongside a full 5-6 target AoE profile at varying durations to see what can be optimized are the ideal profiles to use and use all of that information to make decisions. Unfortunately, this is a time-consuming process but due to the nature of dungeons, simulating them is slightly more awkward.

Trinkets tend to lean toward on-use or proc effects that are powerful in all situations rather than specific ones, so your mileage may vary compared to those picked in raids. We tend to lean toward one passive proc/stat trinket paired with an on-use trinket to align with cooldowns and burst windows. You can look at our gear page to know more about gear to aim for.

Two particular on-use trinkets of note worth considering, though, due to their unique frontloaded strength are:

• Algeth'ar Puzzle Box - the massive amount of Mastery this provides effectively turns it into a cooldown for us, granting upward of 40% damage increase to the majority of our AoE when active. While the cooldown is long, overlapping this with particularly dangerous pulls can be incredibly strong.
• Windscar Whetstone - flat out deals a lot of damage around you when activated and is respectable in single-target too. These hits also come with the added benefit of triggering Maelstrom Weapon, so if you cannot get a Puzzle Box, this is a good replacement.

Lastly, it is worth noting that Seal of Filial Duty provides a large amount of additional shielding over the course of a dungeon which drastically improves our survivability, so if you can get hold of one you absolutely should use it.

In Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1, running a Mythic+ dungeon will reward you with the Valor currency. This currency can upgrade any item received in a dungeon up to a max of item level 415. For a recommendation on what items to focus your upgrading efforts on, see our gearing page below: