Enhancement Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Enhancement Shaman in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Enhancement Shaman talents.
Best Dragonflight Talent Builds for Enhancement Shaman
Note that these builds are popular build recommendations for various different damage profiles. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.
Enhancement Shaman Talent Cheat Sheet
In Season 3 the best option in all circumstances looks to be an Elementalist build thanks to the new set bonus and talent changes:
- Elementalist ST: BcQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJJpEJgkESSSDlEAAAAAAAAAAAAAKRIJkgmAJtkkSAQSCBC
- Elementalist AoE: BcQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRSKRCCJhcgk0QJRCAAAAAAAAAAAAoEhkQiSKiCJtkkCgSQCBC
Note that until you gain the new set bonus, you should make sure to take Sundering
to support the Aberrus bonus instead, drop
Swirling Maelstrom from the above builds to
do so.
Prior to getting access to the Season 3 set bonus, our best single-target option is
still however Storm, and remains close behind even after so long as it switches
one point from Elemental Assault to
Primordial Wave. You can use the
following code for that:
- Storm ST: BcQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJJHAIHQkkkEUSSJhAAAAAAAAAAAAAKRIJkgiAJtkkSAQSCpgA
Enhancement Shaman Talent Builds
This section aims to provide you with details on the most popular builds for
the current patch. Enhancement in Dragonflight focuses on having every part of
its build synergize together due to the number of powerful effects that
link up to certain key abilities. Due to this, we have compiled options
focused around two archetypes: Elementalist that centers around
Lava Lash and leveraging Shocks, and Storm builds that
focus on
Stormstrike and Lightning spenders. Each has a respective
single-target and AoE/Mythic+ oriented option available:
Enhancement Shaman Season 3 Talent Builds
"Elementalist" Single-Target
This has had some adjustments in Season 3 to ease up some of the difficulty, and with the Season 3 set bonus pulls ahead as the go to build for single-target encounters.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
The biggest payoff of this build is your Maelstrom Weapon spenders,
and the numerous effects the build has to amplify them. With the Patch 10.2 change
to
Elemental Assault, the previous issue of starvation is mostly gone
and it instead cycles extremely quickly. It also has a good amount of free
cleave built into the kit with
Hailstorm and the funnel effects
it takes throughout the tree. With the addition of the Season 3
set bonus there is even more to go around, so you are never far away from a
big moment that you can accurately predict is coming.
- Season 2 Set Note: Until you have access to the Tier 31
4-piece bonus, you will still be using the previous set and as such
need to make room for
Sundering. Drop
Swirling Maelstrom for this.
Elemental Blast is your big payoff moment, being spent during the large damage amplifier windows of
Elemental Spirits.
Primordial Wave also provides a punchy instant setup hit that can leverage extra targets for Haste via
Splintered Elements.
Hot Hand forms the crux of the proc gameplay for the build, granting much higher access to your primary strike that triggers a 1-2 cycle with it and fillers when active.
"Elementalist" AoE
This is currently our best AoE and Funnel build by a large margin, and is the ideal pick for Mythic+.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
While this has a lot more moving parts than other builds, it makes
use of a wide suite of synergistic effects to convert most of our regular
toolkit into hard-hitting AoE spenders. It functions by combining a number
of packages together that have enough space to interlink, with a fluidity
achieved through the additional Maelstrom Weapon available in AoE.
- It has a heavy focus on
Lava Lash even in AoE, thanks to
Molten Assault and
Lashing Flames, and can convert those targets into extra funnel with
Ashen Catalyst.
Crash Lightning pairs with this to generate a large amount of additional
Maelstrom Weapon and add a splash effect to those activating Lava Lashes, forming the filler core.
- The additional Maelstrom leads to
Chain Lightning as a very frequent spender, that in turn leads to
Hailstorm casts that can be further amplified with
Ice Strike (that also splashes).
- To cap it off, all of that extra generation leads to more instances
of
Feral Spirit thanks to
Witch Doctor's Ancestry, and explosive finisher casts with
Primordial Wave as a burst, setup and funnel tool thanks to
Splintered Elements.
It sounds like there is a lot going on with the above, but in practice it plays intuitively with a little experience, as there is a logical progression with each cast. All of this flexibility and synergy makes for an extremely well suited Mythic+ spec.
"Elementalist" AoE - Frost
This is a sub-build of the Elementalist option listed here,
foregoing the most difficult talent ( Lashing Flames) to instead
focus on
Hailstorm and amplifying it further.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
A lot of the DNA of the regular Elementalist build is here, and
the same points can be echoed about how this plays. The primary
difference is that, instead of filling with Lava Lash cycling
to apply
Lashing Flames as a DoT maintenance loop, it aims
to spend
Maelstrom Weapon and
Hailstorm as much
as possible. The
Legacy of the Frost Witch effect affecting
Frost damage in Patch 10.2 enables this, alongside the ease of access
to
Elemental Blast to keep single-target relevant. Do note, however,
that the Frost Witch effect does not apply to the cast that
triggers it, meaning it needs to already be active for
Elemental Blast
casts to be amplified.
"Storm" Single-Target
Prior to the acquisition of the Season 3 set bonus, this is our best single-target build. After, it is still competitive but not as dominant
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Note: This build currently is set up for the Tier 30 set for the
early part of the season. If you gain access to the new one, simply switch
a single point from Elemental Assault into
Primordial Wave
to enable it.
Patch 10.2 has refined what was already a very skinny gameplay profile,
eliminating the need to juggle two Maelstrom Weapon spenders by
adding in a more synergistic choice with
Tempest Strikes. This further
goes all in on the central theme of the entire build: pressing
Stormstrike.
Everything taken here is to further the goal of hitting this as much as
possible, culminating in proc burst windows via
Deeply Rooted Elements.
Instead of the careful
Maelstrom Weapon of other builds, it instead
uses it to trigger the
Legacy of the Frost Witch reset portion for,
you guessed it, more Stormstrikes. This has very little baseline cleave,
but it can swap out
Lava Lash to grab
Crash Lightning
at very little cost as well.
"Storm T30 AoE"
This build is ONLY relevant prior to the acquisition of the Tier 31 set, and no longer functions properly once you have the new set. It remains here just for the early portion of the season before people are geared.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
Compared to alternative AoE builds, this is much easier to get running
quickly due to most of its effects being instant payoff rather than setup.
It has very high resource generation, allowing for frequent Chain Lightning
and
Crash Lightning casts, which in turn reduce the cooldown of
Feral Spirit significantly to make use of the
Alpha Wolf
for additional uncapped AoE. It also sacrifices very little single-target
to get there, still maintaining the
Deeply Rooted Elements package.
Its issue is that the flexibility is lower due to its big moments being
locked to
Doom Winds rather than
Primordial Wave, and
the unreliability of Ascendance procs. All that said, this can still do
well with less effort required, so it may fit your playstyle better, but
its limitations going forward with the new set means its days are numbered.
"Storm AoE"
Unfortunately, Season 3 makes the previously simple Storm Cleave build a lot more cumbersome, as it struggles to find enough points to suitably fit everything together.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
The main sticking point is not so much the Primordial Wave
requirement, but all of the
Lava Lash and spread prerequisites to
leverage it in AoE. This causes a huge point squeeze in the centre of the
tree, forcing us back into the Season 1 problem of having to pick between
AoE and single target options, sacrificing a huge amount of the other
in doing so. While it does get some extra benefits from the set like an
additional
Alpha Wolf activator and bonus Nature damage, there
are some key things to consider when specializing:
Tempest Strikes /
Storm's Wrath /
Stormblast - your single target centre block options. These contribute a lot to bosses in Mythic+, but have little in the way of AoE conversion. This is the big sticking point in the middle.
Fire Nova /
Swirling Maelstrom - allows you to lean even further into AoE (which the build already brings a lot of), but at the cost of the previous talents it really hurts when forced into single-target.
- Pathing to
Splintered Elements - going all the way down nets you huge extra
Primordial Wave value in both single-target and especially AoE, but...
- The
Deeply Rooted Elements path - without access to this, the only real payoff moment for Storm is gone, but there is simply no way of comfortably fitting it all in without huge sacrifices.
The above contention makes it hard to really recommend the build, as while it can do some good things, it runs into a lot of roadblocks in terms of fluidity. While it had its time in Season 2 and is still playable to a degree, for now in Season 3 I would heavily encourage you to try one of the Elementalist builds instead.
Raiding
While the above builds can be slotted into most encounters depending on what is required, some more bespoke tools may be required on some bosses. You can check out specific tips and builds for each of the Vault of the Incarnates encounters below:
Mythic+
Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of particular AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want more specific advice about the selections (especially those relating to Utility), check out the dedicated page below:
Enhancement Shaman Talents Explained
Many of the Enhancement talent choices add abilities or alter how you would play due to the synergistic effects it creates with other portions of the toolkit. We recommend you look at our rotation page linked below for more details.
Enhancement Shaman Talent Details
Tier 1 Talents: Rows 1-4
These talents establish the core of your playstyle and include many of your basic abilities. Key talents include:
Talent | Explanation |
---|---|
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Our core generator ability strikes with both weapons, so can
trigger weapon imbues and generate a high amount of ![]() |
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Our main-hand imbue can trigger special bonus attacks on main-hand auto-attacks and ability hits. |
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Deals moderate Fire damage, increased by 100% if ![]() |
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Grants a cycling buff that increases ![]() |
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Causes your ![]() |
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Reduces the cooldown of your ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Causes your ![]() |
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Drops a totem at your feet for 2 minutes that grants party members a 20% chance of triggering an additional auto-attack, which can trigger any on hit effects. This is a unique raid buff provided only by Enhancement, and is a staple in raids or compositions where you have other melee present. |
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Increases the maximum number of ![]() |
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Deals moderate Frost damage with your main-hand weapon and
increases the damage of your next ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() |
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Causes all of your active ![]() |
There are 13 points available in this section, and you need to spend at least
8 points to advance to the next part of the talent tree, so many of
These abilities will be included in every build you can make. Although
every talent in this section (other than Stormstrike) is technically
optional, it is strongly recommended that you have the following talents
as they are both versatile and play an essential role in all builds.
Lava Lash
Windfury Weapon
Improved Maelstrom Weapon (2 points))
Raging Maelstrom
Molten Assault (1 point)
From this point on, your main decision will be whether you want your
build to focus more on Physical and Lightning damage effects with a focus on
Stormstrike and
Windfury Weapon on the left, or the varied
magic schools on the right side of the side of the tree with
Lava Lash
and our spell toolkit. Both of these options have single-target and AoE
variants, so your choice here will often dictate how you path down the tree
based on which damage profile (either sustained or burst in this case)
you desire and personal preference.
Tier 2 Talents: Rows 5-7
These talents establish the overall theme of the build and include a variety of tools to specialize in different damage delivery profiles. Key talents include:
Talent | Explanation |
---|---|
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Adds a cooldown to your toolkit that significantly
increases the proc chance of ![]() |
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Deals massive Elemental damage to your target,
and grants a buff for 10 seconds that grants either 3% Critical Strike, Haste,
or 6% Mastery. This gains an additional charge if you are also talented
into ![]() |
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Causes each of your primary strikes (![]() ![]() ![]() |
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deals heavy Flamestrike damage to enemies in a line in front of you and disorients them briefly. This is a mandatory pickup if using the T30 set bonus, but is otherwise more of a utility/niche pick. |
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Causes the surrounding talents (![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Gives all your auto-attacks a 5% chance to trigger an 8
second buff that reduces the cooldown of ![]() |
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Increases the gains from the Mastery stat on the
proc chance for ![]() ![]() |
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Deals Nature damage in a 120-degree cone
in front of you, and if 2 or more targets are hit, you gain a buff that
causes ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Grants ![]() ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() |
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Provides 5% additional magic damage dealt per Weapon imbue active.
While this can technically be activated via double ![]() ![]() |
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Causes each individual target hit by ![]() ![]() |
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Increases the damage of your ![]() ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() |
This section offers the most significant number of talents, with up to 17 points available. Unfortunately, you will likely want to spend between 10-12 points above the 8-point gate and another 8-10 points below the 20-point gate, leaving you only 8-12 points to spend here. This constraint forces you to pick the type of damage delivery profile you want to specialize in at this point in the tree and forms the most significant part of the puzzle when building your character. It also dictates what you will invest in for the final rows.
Depending on your choices made above the 8-point gate, you will likely want to continue specializing along the left or right sides of the tree:
- Storm builds will want to specialize in abilities that have extra interactions
with
Stormstrike, picking up talents such as
Doom Winds,
Stormflurry and
Storm's Wrath. It can also specialize into single-target by grabbing
Stormblast here.
- Elementalist builds instead tend to take similar core talents regardless of
target count, completing the right side of the tree with the Fire talents —
Hot Hand,
Ashen Catalyst, and
Lashing Flames.
All builds will path through Sundering, but
Storm's Wrath is
optional for Storm and required for Elementalist if you want to take
Elemental Blast
for a powerful single-target finisher. Alternatively, in AoE situations, we take
Crash Lightning and
Crashing Storms to add more AoE to our
toolkit.
Overflowing Maelstrom is a staple in all builds due to how
busy our GCDs already are, reducing the number needed to efficiently use the resource.
Finally,
Windfury Totem is a worthwhile pickup regardless of build,
especially for raid situations to provide unique damage-increasing Utility
to your party.
Tier 3 Talents: Rows 8-10
The final rows dictate your cooldown toolkit and round out the build you have selected and how versatile it is at various target counts. Which you select below the 20-point line is generally decided by what you choose earlier on the tree, with a few exceptions. Key talents include:
Talent | Explanation |
---|---|
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Causes ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Resets the cooldown on ![]() ![]() |
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Deals moderate damage and applies ![]() ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() |
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Consuming the ![]() ![]() |
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Summons two wolves that deal damage to your target for 15 seconds and generates
one stack of ![]() |
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Grants 2/4% additional chance to trigger ![]() ![]() |
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Replaces the Physical damage buff from the baseline effect with a combination of Fire, Frost, or Nature damage increases, selected randomly when summoned. This is used exclusively by Elementalist builds. |
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Causes your ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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A 3-minute burst cooldown that converts your auto-attacks and ![]() |
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Alternative to Ascendance that gives access to the same effect, with a ramping
chance to trigger for 6 seconds from each ![]() |
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Whenever you are affected by ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Causes your ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Once you reach these rows in the talent tree, you will have at most 10
points left to spend, and you will likely already have decided on a build
archetype. That means your decisions are largely intuitive, as most of the
abilities here lean toward one damage profile or ability school. Virtually
all builds will make sure to take Feral Spirit and
Witch Doctor's Ancestry,
and Elementalist builds will select
Elemental Spirits while Storm
builds will avoid it. Storm builds, on the other hand, will always spend
10 points here, grabbing the aforementioned wolf talents and then
deciding between
Primordial Wave or
Deeply Rooted Elements tracks
to completion, with 2-3 points spent between
Legacy of the Frost Witch and
Elemental Assault.
There is some room to deviate from these, though, depending on the requirements of a given encounter, and there is some plug-and-play with all of the talents below this row.
Shaman Class Talents
Enhancement Shamans are given Chain Lightning and
Maelstrom Weapon by default, and there is only a small handful of
additional damage-increasing talents on the Shaman class tree should be
included in every build:
Lava Burst*
Frost Shock
Flurry
Fire and Ice
Nature's Fury
We would also generally recommend whenever points allow it to take
Totemic Projection to allow you to move your
Windfury Totem
around off the Global Cooldown to avoid outranging it. This can be done using
a macro with very little effort and is a big quality-of-life improvement.
* Lava Burst is required whenever you are playing Elementalist
builds, but can be skipped by Storm.
In addition to the above talents, it is generally recommended for all builds to include a variety of defensive talents. The list of defensive talents includes:
Astral Shift
Planes Traveler /
Astral Bulwark
Earth Shield
Earth Elemental
Brimming with Life
Elemental Warding
Ancestral Defense
Finally, it is also strongly recommended that all builds include a few mobility talents:
Spirit Walk /
Gust of Wind
Wind Rush Totem
Spirit Wolf /
Thunderous Paws
Go with the Flow
Not all defensive or mobility talents need to be included, but you should try to incorporate an appropriate number of each into your builds, as having none is often a bad idea. The remainder of your points can be spent as you desire for specific Utility, crowd control, or pathing requirements; however, we strongly recommended that you at least consider including some of the following generally applicable utility options
Wind Shear
Mana Spring
Capacitor Totem
Ancestral Guidance
Thunderstorm
Thundershock
Cleanse Spirit
Purge
Of note here is Mana Spring. This can be a strong passive boost to your
raid's healers, providing extra Mana, mostly for free, while you execute the rotation.
Given it is very easy to access and only costs one point, it is generally recommended
in most situations unless you require an excess of control tools.
For a more detailed description of each of our class talents, please refer to the Enhancement Shaman DPS Spell Summary page.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that confers some benefits when active:
- Grants access to PvP talents in the open world.
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
- 10% more experience gained while leveling.
- Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to decide on your own if you want to take.
If you are interested in doing PvP as an Enhancement Shaman or want to look into how to deal with PvP encounters when playing it, please refer to our dedicated PvP guide.
Enhancement Shaman War Mode Talents
Generally, these selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.
Ride the Lightning provides the largest damage increase option, adding additional effects to each
Stormstrike cast.
Shamanism allows for more liberal
Bloodlust /
Heroism usage without having to worry about the 10-minute lockout. Great for solo and duo content.
Skyfury Totem provides a moderate boost when staying in the same area, increasing your Critical Strike damage and Healing by 20% for 15-seconds, with a 40-second cooldown that is low enough to be used liberally and boosting allies within its range on top of that.
Burrow gives you an emergency escape if you get into trouble with a 2-minute cooldown, and also deals massive Physical damage when you emerge from the ground.
Counterstrike Totem copies the damage you take and repeats it onto the enemy that dealt it, allowing you to turn dangerous enemies strong attacks against them!
Seasoned Winds,
Static Field Totem,
Unleash Shield,
Traveling Storms and
Grounding Totem have
very limited PvE uses, being more focused on in-combat control. While these are
very strong for some situations, they are much more suited to
PvP engagements, and as such, are not recommended for efficient enemy
killing.
Stormweaver should generally be avoided due to it locking
out flexibility in when you self-heal, despite it being more efficient.
Changelog
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, small restructuring and added Elementalist Funnel.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5 and updated Storm Cleave in recommendations.
- 09 May 2023: Updated to include Primordial Wave in Elementalist single target.
- 01 May 2023: Fully updated for Patch 10.1 with revised new builds. Physical builds converted to Storm.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Shaman Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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