Enhancement Shaman DPS Mythic+ Tips — Dragonflight 10.2

A mainstay throughout Dragonflight, and Season 3 only leans further into its strengths. Alongside some very welcome updates to the tree to open up flexibility, the Tier 31 set bonus synergizes with it perfectly (although the build still works perfectly fine with the Tier 30 bonus as well). It provides excellent AoE and Cleave, potent funnel, high burst, and now also a reasonable single-target profile. It specializes in flexibility, bringing something to the table in nearly every situation.

Its gameplay centers around Flame Shock spreading to grant increased access to Lava Lash, allowing us to apply Lashing Flames to multiple targets quickly. Alongside that, Crash Lightning significantly increases Maelstrom Weapon generation, raising the frequency of Feral Spirit casts, and to cap it off, we have explosive Primordial Wave moments for burst.

Thanks to changes in the talent tree in Patch 10.2, there are now a number of available options for us depending on your group and the damage profile and how much utility you wish to bring:

• Maelstrom Weapon Generation - a problem previously, we now have multiple options to increase this, especially in single-target between Swirling Maelstrom and the updated Elemental Assault. Depending on other choices, you will have 1-3 points to spend on this, and my personal recommendation in order of strength is:
  • 1st pt Elemental Assault > Swirling Maelstrom > 2nd pt Elemental Assault
• Elemental Blast - Can now easily be accessed for just one point. While this is very single-target focused, it raises our funnel potential and cleans up some of our single-target problems when forced onto bosses, making it an extremely good investment.
• Sundering - Now more of a utility option, bringing some good burst AoE but mostly granting us an extra AoE stop. This can be dropped, but if you are still using the Tier 30 set make sure to take this.
• Windfury Totem - This is now much more difficult to fit into a build due to the easier access to high value points. Should your group heavily lean into these benefits such as if there are Rogues present, you can consider it, but it is less of a lock-in in Season 3.

New for Season 3, this is a specific alternative to the regular Elementalist build. The core structure and gameplay goals remains the same, but it trades out Lashing Flames as its AoE delivery method to instead focus on Legacy of the Frost Witch and Hailstorm combos. This is slightly behind in output, but is easier to execute while providing equal funnel. These two builds are close enough that, for most situations, it comes down to preference. Something to note is, this build only works with Tier 31.

The core gameplay sees a shift where, instead of making as much use out of Lava Lash as possible to apply Lashing Flames; instead, it makes use of Frost damage increases. Thanks to the increased Maelstrom Weapon generation in AoE, it can trigger Legacy of the Frost Witch to comfortably buff each Hailstorm for high burst AoE. This also extends to funnel, where back-to-back spenders can buff Elemental Blast for huge priority damage, alongside having access to Primordial Wave for explosive burst.

Unlike the regular Elementalist build, this is much more locked in due to the constraints both in the middle and bottom of the tree. This means sacrifices like Sundering have to be made to make room for everything. Two points in Legacy of the Frost Witch below the 20 gate are required, meaning the only Maelstrom Weapon talent that can be accessed is Swirling Maelstrom which is always taken. The flexibility and utility trade-off is there, but in exchange, you get an easier-to-execute playstyle that is more frontloaded than the more complex Lashing Flames version.

While in Season 2 Storm was able to be reasonably competitive, Season 3 seems to have pushed it out. The main issue is how many talents it normally avoids are needed to make use of the Tier 31 bonus, which is an issue only in AoE. The previous pick-up-and-play style is largely gone, and instead, it just has too many things it needs to juggle and requires too many compromises. It can specialize well into either single-target or AoE, but unfortunately Mythic+ requires both. The best-performing build leans into AoE as follows:

Much like Season 1, in Season 3 Storm requires specialized packages that lean in one direction or another. Sacrifices need to be made in either single-target or AoE. Due to the Tier 31 bonus requiring Primordial Wave and Molten Assault to support it, the strain happens at two points: center and bottom. You should pick between either of the two sections depending on what you are looking for from your damage profile:

• Tempest Strikes / Storm's Wrath - This is the more single-target focused option to augment the normally weak throughput when forced into these situations. Unfortunately, neither of these provide cleave or AoE benefits.
• Fire Nova / Swirling Maelstrom - This further improves the high burst AoE, and leads to even higher Maelstrom Weapon generation. On the other hand, it confers virtually no single-target benefit.

• Primal Maelstrom / Splintered Elements - This plays more into the Tier 31 bonus, and the additional Haste amplifies the already very strong Doom Winds uncapped AoE. This is generally the recommended choice.
• Deeply Rooted Elements through Thorim's Invocation - The previous best, this does provide a lot of single-target and confers good AoE, it however far less reliable. This is still an option, but the talent point limitations at the bottom of the tree forces it to the second point from Legacy of the Frost Witch, which is quite costly.

This is only a consideration for builds before Tier 31, as it avoids all of the effects that enable Primordial Wave. The build itself is the previous Season 2 build Storm Cleave, which is a skinny package that brings uncapped AoE and a well-rounded damage profile. Ease of execution is also a strong point, making it a great starter build, but as Season 3 progresses, its performance struggles to keep up.

There are not any real talent swaps worth considering as the build is fairly robust, with good synergies throughout. Its AoE is a cycle of Crash Lightning, Chain Lightning and Stormstrike to fish for Deeply Rooted Elements procs, alongside big burst moments with Doom Winds and Sundering. Single-target also largely plays like a regular Storm build, with most of the key elements present focused around the same Ascendance proc fishing.

The Amirdrassil bonus heavily improves Primordial Wave, both adding an extra damage window to it and significantly reducing its cooldown. For Mythic+ this is perfect, meaning you are cycling between burst cooldown windows roughly every 25 seconds (or less, depending on Maelstrom Weapon generation). This means you will usually be able to open on every pack with heavy burst to get started quickly with the extra Haste from Splintered Elements.

Due the two-way cooldown reduction between the 4-piece and Primal Maelstrom with Witch Doctor's Ancestry, it means that you will regularly be reducing both of these. Some CDR will always be wasted between these two, but in Mythic+ it is generally preferable to prioritize Primordial Wave here for additional burst moments.

Lastly, a final consideration is that Alpha Wolf in Storm builds does impact the 2-piece Feral Spirit spawned, so provides some extra synergy in AoE.

While soon to be retired in Season 3, for the early weeks, this is still relevant. This requires you to take Sundering in all builds, which limits some options but still provides the excellent burst AoE boost that we had throughout Season 2.

Elementalist still generally aims to overlap this with each Primordial Wave cast for the added Mastery, while Storm makes sure to align every other cast with your Doom Winds window. The 4-piece, on the other hand, largely plays itself, as we generate so much Maelstrom Weapon that Chain Lightning casts are very frequent.

Afflicted spawns up to two Afflicted Souls throughout the dungeon when in combat. These have a 10-second cast Afflicted Cry that, if successful, reduces the Haste of all players by 100% for 10 seconds that can stack.

This can be stopped through any friendly dispel effect or through healing the souls. Enhancement brings multiple tools to deal with this, with the strongest being Poison Cleansing Totem that will clear up both, allowing your healer to focus on the group instead. Cleanse Spirit also works, alongside using Maelstrom Weapon as a last resort to heal them quickly.

Entangling periodically snares all players in the group, spawning a circle around you and snaring you by 30%. If you do not snap the vine by getting out of the area within 8 seconds, you will be stunned for 3 seconds.

Enhancement has no real issues dealing with this, thanks to Ghost Wolf which suppresses the slow, allowing it to get out easily. It also has two active options to clear it with Thunderous Paws and Spirit Walk, which are both recommended as backups when this is active.

Incorporeal spawns up to two Incorporeal Beings roughly every 45 seconds. These begin a 5-second cast Destabilize that, if successful, reduces the damage and healing done of all players by 50% for 10 seconds and can stack.

These enemies are vulnerable to all crowd control and interrupts, therefore Enhancement should always play Hex during these weeks. You can drop Winds of Al'Akir to path through Hex and Voodoo Mastery to Spirit Walk to make the cooldown more comfortable. If it is not ready, use Wind Shear to buy time and prevent any casts going off.

Bursting causes each non-boss enemy to apply a stack of Burst to all players, dealing heavy Shadow damage over 4 seconds, and can stack. If this happens, it will refresh to the full duration.

The best way to counteract this is to stagger your damage carefully with your group, however if a large number are set off at once, then using Astral Shift to take pressure off your healer can help. Alongside that, dropping Healing Stream Totem and spending excess Maelstrom Weapon to assist in healing while the group stabilizes is recommended.

Sanguine causes all non-boss enemies to leave behind a pool of Ichor, dealing 15% of players health in Shadow damage per second while inside. This also heals enemies by 5% while inside, and pools last for 12 seconds. Pools no longer stack if they are connected in Season 3.

Managing this is largely on the group and the tank moving enemies out of the area, while you aim to avoid them. Some will always slip through, however, so removing Thundershock so you have access to Thunderstorm to knock them out can be very helpful.

Spiteful causes all non-boss enemies to spawn a Spiteful Shade, which fixates on a random player in the group. These slowly lose health, and deal heavy melee damage if they get close.

Due to how dangerous these are, having some form of control or escape when each group of enemies die is advised. Earthgrab Totem can be helpful here to buy some time quickly, but if you are forced to tank them for long then Astral Shift is advised.

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 by 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.

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 than canceled 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. With the Tier 30 set bonus being retired, this returns as something we can hold for high-impact stops, but is no longer always taken - instead, it is a utility pick for some builds when you need extra control.

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 (at the cost of additional diminishing returns), 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.

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.

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 specific to certain dungeons, and you will often find yourself using these to deal with certain enemies. Be sure to adjust your talent loadout per dungeon to best deal with the most dangerous aspects of each.

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 resurrecting 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.