Enhancement Shaman DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.3)

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Last updated on Jun 12, 2017 at 17:06 by Wordup 377 comments

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as an Enhancement Shaman.

The other pages of our Enhancement Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

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.

1. Spell Summary

If you are new to Enhancement, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resource

Maelstrom Power is the primary resource of Enhancement Shaman. Maelstrom is similar in design to the resource Warriors use, Rage, but is much more sporadic and requires more attention to reliably play around. It is generated by Maelstrom Weapon Icon Maelstrom Weapon and using Rockbiter Icon Rockbiter as active generation, and then converting that Maelstrom into damage via high impact spenders. Maelstrom can be generated and consumed very quickly, which speeds up the playstyle significantly. Maelstrom can also be used to help with personal survivability via Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge.

3. Basic Abilities

These abilities are available no matter what talents you chose, and form the core of the specialization.

Rockbiter Icon Rockbiter is your basic generator. With 7.2.5, this has been merged with some of the old Boulderfist design, having 2 charges and generating 25 Maelstrom when cast. This comes with a 6-second recharge with 2 charges, and can be cast from up to 10 yards away, dealing moderate Nature damage to your current target.

Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike is the primary spender for Enhancement, and will generally be your highest source of damage. It costs 40 Maelstrom to cast, and deals high Physical damage, so does not scale with our Mastery. It triggers any weapon buffs present (such as Flametongue Icon Flametongue), and hits with both hands. This can trigger both Stormbringer Icon Stormbringer and Windfury Icon Windfury (though this has only one chance per cast, rather than from each hand). Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike has a 15-second cooldown, which can be further reduced through Haste, and is generally used on cooldown.

Crash Lightning Icon Crash Lightning is the AoE Maelstrom spender that deals low Nature damage in a 120-degree cone in front of you. If Crash Lightning hits 2 or more targets, it also empowers you for 10 seconds, causing Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike and Lava Lash Icon Lava Lash to splash additional nature damage to any targets in front of you equal to the initial Crash Lightning cast, including your primary target. This ability is used on cooldown above 3 targets, or to maintain the buff at 2.

Flametongue Icon Flametongue does not generate or consume any Maelstrom, has a 10-yard range, and empowers your weapons to deal additional Fire damage for 16 seconds. This ability is used to maintain the buff to empower your melee attacks for bonus damage, and comes with a 12-second cooldown, reduced by Haste.

Lava Lash Icon Lava Lash is the filler-spender, dealing high Fire damage to your current target at the cost of 30 Maelstrom. Whilst Lava Lash has no cooldown, it is primarily used to burn off extra Maelstrom when you are generating more than you can spend, to convert it into damage and prevent waste.

4. Important Procs

Stormbringer Icon Stormbringer is the primary mechanic that Enhancement plays around, with a base 5% proc chance from all weapon attacks. When this activates, the cooldown of Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike is reset, and the next cast will trigger no cooldown and cost 50% less Maelstrom. The chance for this to occur is also increased by your Mastery rating.

Note from 7.2.5: this includes all weapon attacks — including Rockbiter Icon Rockbiter, Flametongue Icon Flametongue, Frostbrand Icon Frostbrand initial hits, and off-hand attacks such as Lava Lash Icon Lava Lash. This also extends to Stormstrike Icon Stormstrike having two chances to trigger per cast.

Windfury Icon Windfury has a base 20% chance to proc from any main hand strikes, triggering two additional attacks activating Maelstrom Weapon Icon Maelstrom Weapon, and having the chance to trigger Stormbringer Icon Stormbringer. This effect cannot trigger from itself.

Stormlash Icon Stormlash causes any auto attacks whilst enhanced via buffs (e.g. Flametongue Icon Flametongue) to have a chance to grant up to 2 party or raid members Stormlash, causing their spells and attacks to deal additional Nature damage. This damage scales from the Shamans stats, is normalised, and is attributed to them.

5. DPS Cooldowns

Feral Spirit Icon Feral Spirit summons two wolves to fight for you for 15 seconds. These each generate 5 Maelstrom when they attack and scale with the Shamans current stats, and are completely immune to crowd control and movement impairing effects. This ability is used on cooldown for damage and increased Maelstrom generation.

These are heavily augmented with the Doomhammer Artifact traits, allowing them to deal additional elemental damage both in Single Target and AoE, making them a respectable cooldown when they have been acquired.

Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust and Heroism Icon Heroism increase Haste by 30% for 40 seconds for all party and raid members within 100 yards. This ability debuffs everyone with a debuff that prevents the possibility of benefiting from Time Warp Icon Time Warp, Ancient Hysteria Icon Ancient Hysteria, Netherwinds Icon Netherwinds, Heroism, and Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust for the next 10 minutes.