Enhancement Shaman DPS Guide — The War Within (11.2.7)

Patch 11.2.7 is the most recent update in The War Within, but comes with no class changes for most specs, including Enhancement Shaman. It's instead angled more as a transition patch to bridge us to the release of Midnight. While endgame isn't changing much, there are a few features on offer with its release:

• Housing Early Access Begins!
  Midnight's premier feature releases to early access, giving you all the decor you need to build the most comfortable bench you can imagine. Use our Housing Guide to find out what's on offer!
• Brawler's Guild Returns
  Solo PvE challenges have come back to capital cities, pitting you against a slew of tough foes for bragging rights. If you want to test your mettle, check out our Brawler's Guild Guide.
• Leveling Experience Revamps
  The low level experience has been updated, alongside some changes for returning players. If you're thinking of giving it a try, our Enhancement Leveling page can help guide you through!

In addition to these new features, Legion Remix (introduced in Patch 11.2.5) remains available throughout Patch 11.2.7, and you can use our Enhancement Shaman page if you haven't tried it out yet. We also still have our Puzzling Cartel Chip recommendations up to date on our Gear page to help you finish your Season 3 gearset.

Use this final patch of The War Within to prepare, as we begin to transition into the new world of Midnight. You can check our preview of how Enhancement is looking on the Beta right now - our Midnight Enhancement Preview can help you prepare for what's coming as early as possible!

The current season - Season 3 - began with the release of the most recent major patch in The War Within, Patch 11.2. This brought some small changes for Enhancement, including targeted fixes to Stormbringer that had quite a large impact over the course of the season:

• Tempest Changes - Click for Notes

  • Thorim's Invocation will now always consume Tempest regardless of which spell it is currently set to. Additionally, it will consume up to 10 Maelstrom Weapon if it discharges a Tempest.
  • Tempest stacks are now removed at the start of a Mythic+ dungeon.
  • Tempest AoE damage reduced to 50% (down from 65%).
  Tempest received some specific changes to make playing around Thorim's Invocation smoother. Stacks are also now cleared when a Mythic+ key begins, preventing "pre-stacking".
• 11.2 Tuning Buffs - Click for Notes

  • Windstrike damage increased by 20%.
  • Stormstrike damage increased by 10%.
  • Lava Lash damage increased by 15%.
  • Totemic Rebound bolt damage increased by 25%.
  • Lively Totems' Searing Totem cast damage increased by 35%.
  • Tempest primary target damage increased by 8%.
  • Elemental Blast damage increased by 8%.
  These changes provided a substantial increase Stormbringer, and made it the dominant option throughout Season 3. Totemic on the other hand wasn't nearly as improved; it was and continues to be a much weaker choice.

Patch 11.2 also brought with it the final major raid of The War Within - Manaforge Omega - alongside the start of Mythic+ Season 3. Aside from the small tweaks above, Enhancement received no significant changes compared to the significant rework in Season 2, so make sure to check the Returning Players tab if you're jumping back in!

A variety of new gearing options were also introduced, the most important of which being the Reshii Wraps - an artifact cloak acquired from the campaign in the new zone, K'aresh. This proves a powerful damage proc and customizable secondary stats, and has some unique interactions in the open world. Details on it alongside our up to date Season 3 best-in-slot recommendations are covered on our Gear page.

Tier sets also have a unique twist in Season 3: they now come with specialized 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses that change depending on whether you are currently playing Stormbringer or Totemic. These effects significantly altered the build recommendations over the course of Season 3, and we have detailed breakdowns on what to play on our Talents page.

If you're a returning player who missed Season 2, it's important to know that over the course of its patch cycle Enhancement went through some major reworks compared to its initial design at the launch of The War Within. If you missed out on these updates, below we have an overview on the many changes that happened to bring you up to speed on its current state:

• Primary Melee Strikes - Click for Notes

  • Stormstrike damage increased by 50%.
  • Lava Lash damage increased by 60%.
  • Ice Strike damage increased by 100%.
  • Crash Lightning direct damage increased by 200%, but not splash damage.
  All primary melee strikes were buffed, moving the focus away from the Maelstrom Weapon spender-centric playstyle of Season 1. Combined with other changes, this raised the value of juggling our cooldowns correctly while weaving resources.
• The Talent Tree - Click for Notes

  • Ancestral Guidance was removed from the class tree.
  • Primordial Wave became a direct damage cast, generating 5 Maelstrom Weapon when cast and dealing Elemental damage to any target affected by your Flame Shock.
  • Splintered Elements was moved to the 2-point follow-up, but still provies Haste when triggered. The capstone was replaced with Primordial Storm, a combo follow-up to Primordial Wave that consumes Maelstrom Weapon to empower three multi-school strikes, followed up with either Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.
  • Elemental Spirits's summoned wolves were changed to increase Physical damage by 10%, and also the associated spell school of the wolf spawned by 10%, reduced from the exclusive 20% spell school damage increase.
  • Flowing Spirits' chance to trigger was reduced to 6%.
  • Elemental Spirits when paired with Flowing Spirits now randomly generates a wolf of any element on ability cast, instead of being tied to the element of the spell that triggered it.
  • Molten Assault spreads Flame Shock to 5 targets, up from 4.
  • Hot Hand duration was reduced from 8 seconds to 6.
  • Ice Strike now generates 1 Maelstrom Weapon baseline, but is no longer affected by Swirling Maelstrom.
  • Lashing Flames now applies to targets hit by your Sundering.
  • Legacy of the Frost Witch duration was increased to 8 seconds, and the first point grants 15% Physical/Frost damage increase (up from 5%).
  • Deeply Rooted Elements now triggers based on the amount of Maelstrom Weapon spent, instead of a flat chance per spender cast.
  The Talent Tree saw significant change, with a number of talents having their positions shuffled. The Primordial Wave rework was also significant, and has become a pillar of AoE builds.
• Hero Talent Trees - Click for Notes

  • Arc Discharge now stacks up to 2 times, which reduced the impact of overwriting.
  • Conductive Energy applies to a secondary target if your current target is already affected when using Chain Lightning, which removed the need to tab-target. Primordial Wave also applies this to all targets hit with the initial cast.
  • Surging Totem now gets replaced with an off-GCD, 6-second cooldown ability while active, which will move the totem to your current location when cast.
  • Reactivity's Sundering procs can now also trigger Windfury Weapon, and also trigger an Earthsurge pulse.
  • Whirling Earth motes are now be consumed by Lava Lash casts that trigger Molten Assault.
  Both trees saw significant changes, streamlining them to work with other talent changes. Stormbringer remained heavily tied to Maelstrom Weapon, and still leans heavily into Stormstrike. Totemic was more substantially changed, focusing heavily on Lava Lash to trigger Reactivity.

When compared to Season 1, these changes had an enormous impact on the playstyle. It shifted things to a more healthy balance between strikes and spenders, while providing both Stormbringer and Totemic a clear focus on their goals in combat. These changes carved out solid niches and, while it didn't last the whole expansion, gave us extremely flexible build options with different strengths.

While in the Season 3 landscape Totemic is struggling to keep up, its changes were successful during Season 2 - and whichever iteration you may have season after The War Within launched, it was definitely an improvement. Unfortunately, the current situation means you won't get to fully experience it, because Stormbringer has a substantial lead on its competitor.