Enh Vs. Ele Vs. Resto

[Omen321]

ok so im leveling my Shaman right now im just running myself through crap till 44 so i can use the Kang the Decapitator i got to do quest. But this is my problem i dont know what to spec. So far this is what i have out of these specs


Enhancement -

--Pros--

Good DPS
Fun because Melee
Good is PvP

--Cons--

I don't like the rotation
People like to run minimal Melee





Elemental -

--Pros--
Easy Rotation
Amazing DPS
Ranged is Easy
People like Ranged

--Cons--
Mana to worry about




Restoration -

--Pros--
Easy Rotation
Amazing Healers

--Cons--
Mana to worry about
Have to worry about other people
Something happens it your fault



but this is just what i have gotten out of the class from Tourn realm / other players i have seen. Please add more to this so i can have some help deciding

[Indraani]

Enhancement is the way to go, with dual wield + windfury and a couple of good weapons you will blaze through mobs of your lvl without any problems, you don't have to worry about mana so much.
Forget about 2h weapons.

After lvl 60 you can try spec elemental through outland but I doubt you will put out as much dps as enhancement.

[Venris]

Enhancement -

Elemental -

Restoration -

What was the inspiration to use these colors to represent the three specs?

[Swagger]

No offense to your list of the specs, but let me clear this up for you in case you're new to the class.

--Enhancement--

Pros:
-Good Melee DPS
-Amazing Melee Buffs

Cons:
-Not Great At PVP Against "GOOD" Players
-Relies On Raid Buffs More Than Any Class (Need Melee + Caster Buffs For Optimal DPS)

--Elemental--

Pros:
-Good Caster DPS
-Amazing Caster Buffs
-Your Mana Bar Never Leaves Full (In PVE)
-AOE Knockback Is "THE COOLEST" Thing In The Game

Cons:
-Decent In PvP If You're Good, Not Easy To Master (Best In 5's IMO)
-Other Than Your 40 Second Knockback, Hard To Peel Melee In PVP

--Restoration--

Pros:
-Amazing In Arenas (Assuming Your Good)
-Amazing Raid Healers
-Good Raid Buff (Mana Tide = Happy Caster DPS, Assuming Healers Don't Need It)

Cons:
-Can't Dispel Magic

So basically if you like healing Resto Shamans are good in both PVE and PVP. If you like caster DPS Elemental Shamans are good in PVE, and they CAN be good in PVP, but don't assume to get high unless you're good at arenas and understand how to play the class. And finally there is my spec, good old Enhancement. It's good melee DPS, but as mentioned earlier it relies on almost every raid buff for optimal DPS. And as much as I don't want to say it's god awful for PVP because I'm sure there are some people out there that have a team that "makes it work", I'm gonna say it anyway. Right now it's "God Awful" at PvP. I don't see any reason why someone wouldn't want a DK, Ret Pally, Rogue, Feral Druid, or Warrior as melee rather than us, other than our good old bloodlust stick.

[Maboroshi]

First, if you're looking for a lvling spec, forget about resto. It's just too long and really boring. For lvling, enh and ele are by far the best. I'd go for enh, you never get oom, you never stop so it is very fast and funny.

If you're looking for a spec once 80, then first you have to choose the "role" you want to fill. DPS (ranged or melee) or healer.
Do you like to care about the others? Do you like to have responsabilities and that the others rely on you? Then go for healer but daily quests are a pain...
If you're in a guild with many healers and they don't really "need" you as a healer, then go for DPS. If you're in a causal guild with few ppl and you're used to run Heroics with pug a lot, then it is way faster and easier to find a group as resto.

[Majika]

What I have found from leveling an alliance and a horde shaman is.

Enhancment: Sucks in the beginning. You have rogue durability with NONE of the rogue defenses. Once you can get to point where you can do the stereotypical shaman tricks (30s minimum I think, with windfury, stormstrike, dual wield) you are incredibly fast leveling due to little need to replenish mana. You will kill your PvE enemies long before they can do much to you. Also, when you are sub 58 good enhancement gear is FAR, FAR, FAR, FAR easier to get. Looking for good caster leather or mail (with spellpower)? Good luck.

Elemental: Much better than enhancement in early levels. I mean a LOT. Range means you take a ton less damage. By the time they reach you they have taken a LB or 3 and you just use a 1 hander and a shield and Lightning Shield to finish them at no further mana cost. Gear is almost irrelevant pre 58 as there is almost no caster gear for leather or mail. You should get int + stam + agil. Additionally, you can heal competenetly on the same gear (mainly + Int and something else). At levels below 58 there isn't that much difference between a specced healer and a non-specced healer other than the need to drink more often between pulls.

Resto: Just don't level this way. There is NO reason to do it. Pre-58, an elemental shaman heals well enough and on the same gear.

Things change a lot post 58 (Outlands).
Enhancement: Really rocks at this point. You have all of your basic tricks and you can get even better gear trivially. There is almost no downtime to this spec as your elemental shields cost no mana. Once you get maelstrom weapon and spirtwolves even elites fall before you unless they are 4+ man quest elites or are orange to you. You can destroy caster elites pretty trivially unless they are REALLY tough or can't be interrupted. Once you can summon the earth elemental it is icing on the cake.

Elemental: You will burn through more mana than enhance but you have a bigger pool to go with. You will still need more downtime than enhance does but it isn't all that much more. Caster mail with spellpower is more common and actually available from quests now (look them up online so you don't skip those key quests). Elemental is more setup dependent as you require room for your totems and LB (enhancement usually won't drop totems for anything but a really tough fight). Outlands quests also have quite a few multi-mob pulls that hit hard and fast (hellfire orcs and bird-men are the worst) and they are a pain to handle for casters without cc (which you don't have). They hurt elemental a LOT even with pushback resistance now, but other than that elemental is pretty easy too. (Learn to use stoneclaw. It is a poor shaman's CC to detain extra adds. This applies to ALL specs.)

Resto: Late Outland is when you may want to switch to resto. Healing later Outland instances is difficult for non-specced healers unless you or the tank outgears them. If you don't plan on lingering in Outland stay elemental until mid 70s.

Majika

[fr0hzn]

I leveld 2 shamans, both as enhancement, and I would do it over and over again.
Once you hit 40 it's just amazing. It's like you cut through a piece of cake and eat it.

But I have to say that as long as you have to wear a 2h weapon you could get very pissed
because of the low procchance of WF and the misses.

But keep your head up
It's not that hard to reach level 40.

[Torture]

I have levelled 2 Shaman now, my alliance Enhancement Shammy to 65, and then Torture to 80 as Ele (from 1-80).

Things I found;

Ele is far better now water shield is available at low level and pushback resistence is available from talents.

When you hit outland, Enhance suffers from the shear lack of +hit gear available, making it slow to stack 5 MW and leading to some very annoying miss streaks.

Ele tends to take less damage simply due to having things almost dead by the time they reach you (and you want to get hit once or twice for water shield to top off your mana)

Enhance has better 'ohsht' buttons in SR and Wolves (which are godly while levelling)

Personally I favour Ele, and once you get LvB at 75 it's like running around with a thermonuclear warhead in your pocket, but I do believe Enhance is better for soloing group quests.

Shaman are generally strong in PvE atm, with all specs picking up raid spots it seems, so to a large extent it's going to be about personal play style preferences.

The other thing I enjoy about Ele is the simple transition to healing (moreso with duel spec) when required.

[konway]

I leveled from 70 to 80 as elemental in PvP gear (not at all optimal for leveling) and still killed things much faster than T5/T6 geared enhancement shamans, ESPECIALLY once I got Lava Burst.  From 70-75 it took maybe 2-3 lightning bolts and a shock to kill mobs, then once 75 hit my rotation was:

Lightning Bolt --> Flame Shock --> Lava Burst -->  Dead.

I used maybe 10 water while leveling, and that was only when someone tried to gank me or I aggro'd a whole pack of mobs.  Anyone who thinks enhance has less downtime either hasn't tried elemental or tried it with absolute garbage equipped in every slot. The whole "enhancement has less downtime" nonsense is a myth that has somehow survived since early BC.

[CookieEater]

I levelled my Shaman to 40 as Enhance with a 1h and a Shield. In late BC, when there was no Water Shield and Lightning Shield still had a mana cost ^_^

[Fen]

Elemental

--Cons--
Mana to worry about

This made me chuckle a little. Once you reach level 60, downtime shouldn't be an issue for either Enhance or Elemental with Thunderstorm/Shamanistic Rage/Spirit Wolves.

[BlacKcuD]

Try my wow blog whose main focus is shaman talent builds. i have written several posts about whether to choose elemental or enhancement especially for leveling purposes.

click the above link or the one in my signature or this one

[pelanat]

tbh sell ur kang and get 2 green slow wheps, its by far better

[Taun]

Lvled my shammy as enhance 1-58 58-70 elemental. Got gear at 70 ofc since it was still BC. Lvled 70-74 as ele changed to enhance and leveled to 80.

In my opinion ele was way more fun, the reason i changed was that with worgs etc you can solo almost every groupq in all of outland and northerend (with a few exceptions). At 80 you should start by going resto. Easiest way to farm badges and actually gear up. My first 10 days at 80 I did every hc every day.

Enhance or ele suffer no downtime whatsoever at 60+ enhance sucks up to 41 cause then you get stormstrike and dualwield.

My tip is to go enhance till 68 and then go ele. You'll have fun questing and could go instances as both healer and dps.

And btw, the ele rotation isn't as easy to do perfect, resto ain't got one. And enhance is more of a prio system.