Enhancement Shaman DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.0.2

Welcome to the Rotation section of our Enhancement Shaman guide. If you came here without first checking over the Spell List/Glossary page, we recommended that you do so if you are new to the specialization. Understanding what your spells and abilities do will make it much easier to understand what is discussed on this page.

If you are just looking for a basic primer to get started and find the full breakdowns overwhelming, you can always start with our Easy Mode page to get yourself started with a close-to-optimal build and a simpler breakdown. While the recommendations on the page below are not strictly optimal for endgame, they provide a good springboard to get to grips with the core gameplay Enhancement focuses on:

In addition to your rotation in general content, there is also a separate section of this guide devoted to how your playstyle may change in Mythic+ as situations are often less scripted and more hectic. Please take a look at the page below if you are looking for more tailored information for that content:

The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.

Enhancement Shaman plays with a priority list that focuses on managing your Maelstrom Weapon stacks and making sure to keep as many of your abilities on cooldown as often as possible, while reacting to procs as they happen. After playing for a while you will begin to gain an intuition on the state of your cooldowns, and be able to somewhat predict in advance what you will be pressing in the next few globals. Learning this skill is invaluable to maximizing your performance when playing Enhancement.

We have provided rotation switches below that allow you to populate the priority list based on talents we recommend in the Talents section. Check each box based on the talents you are currently using. If you are using a talent not recommended on the talent page it is not included; passive options with no impact on the rotation are also not included.

Talent Selections
Ascendance	Ashen Catalyst	Crash Lightning
Deeply Rooted Elements	Doom Winds	Elemental Blast
Elemental Spirits	Fire Nova	Hot Hand
Feral Spirit	Hailstorm	Ice Strike
Legacy of the Frost Witch	Overflowing Maelstrom	Primordial Wave
Sundering	Windfury Totem

1. Cast Windfury Totem if not currently active.
2. Cast Feral Spirit.
3. Cast Ascendance.
4. Cast Doom Winds.
5. Cast Windstrike on cooldown if Ascendance is active.
6. Cast Windstrike on cooldown if Ascendance is active.
7. Cast Lava Lash if Hot Hand is active.
8. Cast Lava Lash if Ashen Catalyst has 6 or more stacks.
9. Cast Lava Lash if Hot Hand or Ashen Catalyst has 6 or more stacks.
10. Cast Ice Strike if Doom Winds is active.
11. Cast Stormstrike if Doom Winds is active.
12. Cast Crash Lightning if Doom Winds is active.
13. Cast Sundering if Doom Winds is active.
14. Cast Flame Shock if it is not currently active on your target.
15. Cast Lightning Bolt if at 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and the Primordial Wave buff.
16. Cast Lightning Bolt if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and the Primordial Wave buff.
17. Cast Primordial Wave if the buff is not active.
18. Cast Elemental Blast if at 5 or more stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and any Elemental Spirits summoned.
19. Cast Elemental Blast at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and any Elemental Spirits summoned.
20. Cast Lava Burst if at 5 or more stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and any fire Elemental Spirits summoned.
21. Cast Lava Burst at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and any fire Elemental Spirits summoned.
22. Cast Sundering if Legacy of the Frost Witch is active.
23. Cast Sundering if the Legacy of the Frost Witch and/or Earthen Weapon buffs are active.
24. Cast Ice Strike.
25. Cast Frost Shock if you have Hailstorm stacks.
26. Cast Lava Lash if Flame Shock has less than 4 seconds remaining to refresh its duration with Molten Assault.
27. Cast Elemental Blast if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
28. Cast Lava Burst if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
29. Cast Elemental Blast if at 5 or more stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and are at maximum Elemental Blast charges.
30. Cast Lava Burst if at 5 or more stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
31. Cast Lightning Bolt if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
32. Cast Stormstrike.
33. Cast Lava Lash.
34. Cast Lava Burst if at least 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
35. Cast Lightning Bolt if at least 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
36. Cast Lava Burst if at least 8 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
37. Cast Lightning Bolt if at least 8 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
38. Cast Sundering.
39. Cast Frost Shock.
40. Cast Crash Lightning.
41. Cast Fire Nova if Flame Shock is active.
42. Cast Flame Shock.
43. Refresh Windfury Totem if nothing else is available.

The more that you play with Enhancement, the more you will adjust to the ebb and flow of each ability cooldown and know when you need to fill with Maelstrom Weapon spenders. Making sure that you react to quick bursts of stack generation, alongside Stormbringer / Hot Hand procs while keeping yourself making use of every Global Cooldown also defines your performance when playing Enhancement. Alongside this, it cannot be stated enough that avoiding Maelstrom Weapon waste is more important than ever in Dragonflight, and keeping on top of this - and planning when you need to dump - is the first skill you should focus on learning.

Similar to the single-target rotation section, use the checkboxes below to populate the list underneath:

Talent Selections
Ascendance	Ashen Catalyst	Crash Lightning
Doom Winds	Deeply Rooted Elements	Elemental Blast
Elemental Spirits	Feral Spirit	Fire Nova
Hailstorm	Ice Strike	Legacy of the Frost Witch
Lashing Flames	Overflowing Maelstrom	Primordial Wave
Sundering	Thorim's Invocation	Windfury Totem

1. Cast Windfury Totem if not currently active.
2. Cast Feral Spirit.
3. Cast Lava Lash if Flame Shock is active on your target and you do not have the maximum possible number of active Flame Shocks.
4. Cast Ascendance.
5. Cast Ascendance if Thorim's Invocation is primed with Chain Lightning.
6. Cast Lightning Bolt if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and the Primordial Wave buff.
7. Cast Lightning Bolt if at 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and the Primordial Wave buff.
8. Cast Chain Lightning if at 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
9. Cast Chain Lightning if at 8+ stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
10. Cast Doom Winds.
11. Cast Crash Lightning if Doom Winds is active.
12. Cast Sundering if Doom Winds is active.
13. Cast Sundering if Doom Winds or Legacy of the Frost Witch are active.
14. Cast Fire Nova with 6 active Flame Shocks.
15. Cast Ice Strike.
16. Cast Frost Shock if you have Hailstorm stacks.
17. Cast Crash Lightning if its buff is not active.
18. Cast Windstrike to proc Thorim's Invocation.
19. Cast Primordial Wave if the buff is not active.
20. Cast Flame Shock if it is not currently active on your target.
21. Cast Windstrike to fish for Deeply Rooted Elements procs.
22. Cast Stormstrike to fish for Deeply Rooted Elements procs.
23. Cast Lava Lash if Lashing Flames is inactive, cycle this between targets affected by Flame Shock.
24. Cast Crash Lightning if the Chain Lightning buff is active.
25. Cast Sundering.
26. Cast Fire Nova with 4 or more active Flame Shocks.
27. Cast Windstrike if the Crash Lightning buff is active.
28. Cast Lava Lash if the Crash Lightning buff is active.
29. Cast Elemental Blast if any Elemental Spirits are active and at 8+ stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
30. Cast Ice Strike if the Crash Lightning buff is active.
31. Cast Stormstrike if the Crash Lightning buff is active.
32. Cast Crash Lightning.
33. Cast Fire Nova with 2 or more active Flame Shocks.
34. Cast Windstrike.
35. Cast Stormstrike.
36. Cast Frost Shock.
37. Cast Chain Lightning if at 5 or more stacks of Maelstrom Weapon.
38. Refresh Windfury Totem.

While at first glance it can be quite overwhelming to look at all of the different AoE components in Enhancement's AoE toolkit, a lot of things are dictated by how you have built your talent tree. In Dragonflight there are many different paths you can take your AoE damage delivery, and each talent setup or encounter type demands a different approach. This has created more nuance in managing your buffs, procs and resources, but the main cornerstone still remains — avoid wasting Maelstrom Weapon by casting Chain Lightning as much as possible ( Overflowing Maelstrom is invaluable here to dump more at once) and weave in Crash Lightning between these casts. This is capped off a suite of powerful cooldowns that are mixed in as often as possible.

The opening sequence has some small quirks if you select certian talents, so if you are using any of these select them in the tool below:

Talent Selections
Ascendance	Alpha Wolf	Crash Lightning
Doom Winds	Elemental Blast	Feral Spirit
Primordial Wave	Thorim's Invocation	Windfury Totem

1. Pre-cast Windfury Totem combat begins.
2. Cast Flame Shock on the way into melee to get it active.
3. Cast Feral Spirit.
4. Cast Primordial Wave to apply Flame Shock and generate Maelstrom Weapon.
5. Cast Lava Lash to spread Flame Shock if multiple enemies are nearby.
6. Cast Lightning Bolt with 10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon and the Primordial Wave buff active.
7. Cast Crash Lightning or Chain Lightning with Feral Spirit active to trigger Alpha Wolf.
8. Cast Chain Lightning with Feral Spirit active to trigger Alpha Wolf.
9. Cast Stormstrike to generate Maelstrom Weapon and get it on cooldown.
10. Cast Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning with 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon to prime Ascendance.
11. Cast Ascendance in melee range and immediately cast Windstrike.
12. Cast Doom Winds and follow up with Stormstrike if available.
13. Cast Lava Burst as soon as you reach 8+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
14. Cast Elemental Blast as soon as you reach 8+ Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
15. Continue with the normal priority list.

Where you go from here depends entirely on your resource state with Maelstrom Weapon, if Stormbringer or other procs have activated, and what other talents you have selected. You will often go down the priority list getting your cooldowns cycling and build up a pool of resources and move on with the priority from there.

Doom Winds deals minor physical damage to your target and empowers you for 8 seconds, tripling your chance to activate Windfury Weapon and increasing the damage of your Windfury Weapon attacks by 10%. While the buff is active you should aim to fit as many main-hand abilities within the window as possible without sacrificing Maelstrom Weapon spenders. Our mainhand attacks include:

• Stormstrike
• Ice Strike
• Crash Lightning
• Sundering

These abilities will take precedence over most actions during Doom Winds windows in order to fuel additional Windfury Weapon procs. Try to keep an eye on the cooldown so you can prepare to spend resources or get other cooldowns active beforehand, even if they are not regularly at the top of your priority. Also, make sure not to use it just before downtime or you will waste the effect, as making use of these windows is crucial. If paired with Ascendance, make sure to use it after shifting form to overlap the buffs as much as possible.

Primordial Wave deals light shadow damage and applies Flame Shock to your target. When used, your next Lightning Bolt will be empowered, echoing for 150% of its normal damage against all enemies currently affected by your Flame Shock. With Primal Maelstrom, casting Primordial Wave will also generate 5/10 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon, allowing you to easily combo your Primordial Wave-empowered Lightning Bolt with Overflowing Maelstrom. Finally, with Splintered Elements, each Lightning Bolt echoed by Primordial Wave will grant a stacking haste buff for 12 seconds - up to 60% haste with 6 active Flame Shocks, giving you a window that can be used to unleash substantial burst AoE or funnel damage. Due to its relatively short cooldown you should plan around these windows, ideally dumping your Maelstrom Weapon and using this to immediately refill.

Feral Spirit summons two wolves to fight with you for 15 seconds on a 90-second cooldown. When this is cast, you instantly generate one stack of Maelstrom Weapon and gain an additional Maelstrom Weapon stack every 3 seconds for their duration. While active, the physical damage of all of your abilities (not including auto attacks) is increased by 15% per active wolf, stacking multiplicatively - meaning the default effect before other stacking buffs is 32.25% increased physical damage. This physical buff can be paired with our other physical cooldowns, such as Doom Winds and Sundering, to devastating effect. With Witch Doctor's Ancestry, the cooldown of Feral Spirit is reduced by 1/2 seconds every time you generate a stack of Maelstrom Weapon.

The Feral Spirit capstone talents allow you to customize the effects of your cooldown even further, with Elemental Spirits replacing the Physical buff provided by the wolves with random 20% fire, frost, or nature buffs, or Alpha Wolf causing your wolves to be empowered by your Crash Lightning or Chain Lightning casts for 8 seconds, pulsing light, armor-ignoring Physical damage to all enemies around them every 2 seconds which can result in a lot of extra uncapped AoE damage. This package is a staple in virtually all Enhancement builds, and it thrives on high Maelstrom Weapon generation to fuel even more casts for higher uptime on the respective buffs. This is treated more as a rotational cooldown in endgame play than a big cooldown movement due to this frequency, so always aim to keep them on cooldown cycling to the next use.

Ascendance is a long cooldown that deals a huge AoE burst when it is either manually cast or randomly triggered via Deeply Rooted Elements, and also gives 15 seconds of sustained single-target damage by converting our Stormstrike and auto-attacks into ranged, armor-ignoring attacks. Static Accumulation enhances this burst window, causing you to passively generate Maelstrom Weapon stacks every second while in the form. Finally, Thorims Invocation greatly amplifies the burst potential of the cooldown, causing your Windstrike to automatically consume up to 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks in order to discharge a Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning at your enemy, whichever you most recently used. This is especially useful as during the window you are often flooded with resources without having spare Global Cooldowns to use them, so this allows us to siphon stacks efficiently.

You should always make sure you have both Windfury Weapon and Flametongue Weapon imbued on your weapons. These contribute a lot to both your damage and your ability proc rates, and missing them will hurt you a lot. You should also keep Lightning Shield active if you are facing enemies that will strike you in melee, as the extra Maelstrom Weapon charges can be converted into more damage or healing.

Maelstrom Weapon management is important if you intend to play Enhancement at a competitive level. This has a 16% chance to trigger from any melee hit, and stacks up to 5 times (or up to 10 times with Raging Maelstrom). Each stack reduces the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt/ Chain Lightning cast by 20%, and it can also increase the damage of affected spells by 0-25% per stack consumed, depending on how many points you have invested into Improved Maelstrom Weapon and Raging Maelstrom. By default, only 5 stacks can be consumed at once, at which point the affected spell will be instant cast; however, Overflowing Maelstrom allows you to consume up to 10 Maelstrom Weapon stacks per spell, greatly increasing the amount of damage done per cast.

While it is tempting to cast these spells as soon as you hit 5 stacks, you should train yourself to make use of the 10 stack limit granted by Raging Maelstrom. If you are not at risk of overcapping your Maelstrom Weapon stacks, then it makes more sense to focus on keeping your other abilities on cooldown as much as possible; however, do not use other abilities at the expense of wasting Maelstrom Weapon stacks.

Windfury Totem currently provides a solid boost to anyone in your party, meaning up to 4 other melee players can gain an advantage from this effect in a raid. This has a 20% chance to proc per auto-attack with a 0.5-second internal cooldown per player, but will only trigger from main-hand swings. These extra attacks count as regular auto-attacks, meaning they proc all on-hit effects, but they do not affect Hunter auto-shots, pets or guardians.

Crash Lightning looks simple on the surface, but has a lot of moving parts and is an important aspect of Enhancement gameplay. While the buff is active, the Nature damage proc triggered by your Stormstrike, Lava Lash, and Ice Strike casts can activate in single target as well, so finding opportunities to activate the buff will improve your priority-target damage. Second, any hits from the initial strike have a chance to trigger Stormbringer due to them all being counted as a weapon strike, so try to hit as many targets as possible with the initial cast. Any instance of Crash Lightning (cast or buff) can also generate a stack of Maelstrom Weapon, leading to a huge flood of resources in AoE situations. Finally, these hits all have a chance to trigger Windfury Weapon on targets struck by the the cast, emphasizing the importance of hitting multiple enemies. This is even more important when using Forceful Winds, which can gain multiple stacks per Crash Lightning cast.

Crash Lightning is also augmented by your Chain Lightning casts, increasing the cast damage by 20% per target hit (up to a maximum 100% buff with Crashing Storms), making Crash Lightning a good follow-up. It can also be talented to trigger the Gathering Storms effect, boosting the damage of your next Stormstrike cast by 25% per target hit, up to a maximum bonus of 150%, allowing you to funnel more damage into a priority target.

In single-target situations, you want to make sure that you keep Flame Shock active at as close to 100% uptime as possible. You can refresh it based on the pandemic window whenever the damage over time effect has less than 5.4 seconds. With Molten Assault, Lava Lash will reapply Flame Shock if it is active on the target of the Lava Lash cast, meaning that it effectively maintains itself with the rotation.

Molten Assault allows the Shaman with an active Flame Shock on their target to apply Flame Shock to nearby targets via Lava Lash casts. This enables a lot of other parts of our AoE kit, such as Fire Nova, Primordial Wave and Ashen Catalyst. When you cast Lava Lash, it does not just apply the damage over time effect to other targets; rather, it actually casts an extra Flame Shock on them, dealing the direct damage at the same time.