Elemental vs Enhancement

[Melissa]

Hello,

I have a question, I am kinda doubting what the difference about PVE dps bewteen Elemental shaman and Enhancement Shaman. I am Enhancement at the moment but I have seen more Elemental than Enhancement.

Can anyone please help me?

tnhQ.

[mmff4]

Currently the damage is almost equal and only thing that matters is the gear you have and skill. If you enjoy playing caster instead of melee dps choose Elemental and if you don't choose Enhancement.

I personally enjoy playing Enhancement instead of Elemental.

[Melissa]

Currently the damage is almost equal and only thing that matters is the gear you have and skill. If you enjoy playing caster instead of melee dps choose Elemental and if you don't choose Enhancement.

I personally enjoy playing Enhancement instead of Elemental.

do you have any clue what glpyh I should use on enhancement?

[Barawr]

If you have any questions about Enhancement read the FAQ first (in my sig & sticky'ed at the top). It covers almost every question you are about to ask concerning them. If afterwards you have some more detailed questions then fire away.

[Escatonic]

Melissa,

Before you make too much of an equipment investment, why not try them both? The play styles are very different indeed.

I eventually went Enhancement not so much because of the DPS potential, but because it's a very difficult class spec to get the most out of. Many consider it the most difficult class to play well so you may never get to the point where you can play it on "autopilot".

Elemental maximizes DPS by very precise timing of their casting with regard to Cooldowns. An Elemental shaman in good gear with the proper amount of +hit and +haste, etc. can put up some very impressive numbers if their timing is good.

Enhancement follows a priority system so they don't have a rotation per se. The "feel" of Enhancement is that you're VERY BUSY. You have to keep track of a lot of things and react to them quickly to get the most out of the spec. I suppose that could be said for any class, but in my experience, none more so.

If you want to go with the spec that has the greatest DPS, that is a tough call because different boss fights favor different classes (casters versus melee). There is no clear winner between the specs. In this case it really does come down to what play style you enjoy.

[Maxxi]

Yeah it basically comes down to luck on drops and the play style you like. I was a long term lock up until 70, then with Wrath I used my warrior and enjoyed pounding on things to 80 but was then asked to level a shammy which I have used since.

I levelled as enhance but had crap gear and crap dps when I started trying heroics so I went elemental and appeared to have a huge boost in dps - I guess despite levelling as enhance I actually hadnt learnt the spec properly as I have recently specced from elemental (4/5 T7 and rest of gear pretty much maxed for my raiding level - naxx10 only) to enhance (only 2/5T7 and rest crafted plus greed and a few other Naxx 10 drops) and found my dps almost the same now that I know how to play enhance.

TLR Go with the spec you prefer the most

[Embermoon]

Many consider it the most difficult class to play well so you may never get to the point where you can play it on "autopilot".

It's funny you mention that. My play experience is limited to enhance and resto shaman, and feral druid. My feeling, since 3.0, has been that enhance is tough to play well. When I go into pugs against other enhance players, I'm often shocked at how little dps they do (relative to what I think they should be doing).

A few of my guildies, however, say that spriest, aff lock, and feral kitty are the most difficult to pull off.

[Yumihiko]

I play Enhancement since TBC arrived , and always like it and still do love it.
Im ulduar geared, except from tiers cus im dont have the luck to drop then :/
But , on my raid team atm im doing the same dps of our elemental, him having 4 t8.5 bonus and gear, i dunno what will happen when i get my 2 set bonus or 4, but as far as i read, its going to be a serious boost to my DPS, so i think im going to see him cry a little over it ;D
But , as already said, test both and see what you like, it's not THAT much of a diference ove Enhance or Elemental, is a question of Gear and some PlayerSkill.

GL , Yumihiko - Gurubashi US

Edit - Shammy's ARE the most difficult class to pull huge dps on meters. Just besause we depend on quick reaction time and a very good CD timer.

[Mataus]

Eh, Enhancement is ahead of Elemental in DPS in general. There are encounters where elemental pulls ahead, but those are "gimmick" fights (General Vezax, Hodir) where all casters should push ahead of melee.

If you check wowmeteronline.com (I think) and separate to view just shaman, you'll see enhancement dominates most fights with the exception of the ones I listed.

With that being said, elemental by no means does BAD dps. Play the one you enjoy. Elemental shaman are a bit like Shadow priest mixed with boomkin. We have a rotation based around a spell with a set cooldown (Lava Burst - Mind Blast) but with very low mobility and almost no dots (like boomkin).

[Snoogle]

I wouldn't say Enhancement shaman is the hardest spec to play, maybe one of them but Feral Kitty is surely hard aswell, and ofc shadowpriest. Arms warrior is also pretty tough to play well, thats why I play both warr and shaman

[Wrathonia]

I would also like to point out that surv hunters are very hard to play as well. They have a priority system and not a rotation. I don't know, I like my fights to be smooth, so I like rotations. Not switching between two buttons, but 3 is fine if you are having to watch cooldowns and whatnot. I love my shaman being elemental. It is fun. I loved enhance in BC, but I am not fond of how enhance dps hinges on the use of the feral spirit.

[Veltear]

Personally I enjoy the overall play of a shaman, especially the dps. Ultimately your dps output for a shaman is based mainly on what stats you stack and what rotation you use. If you want good dps follow the cookie cuter layout for the class, and weather you choose melee or caster you will get it. As to the skill required, enhancement is the harder of the two. With enhancement you have to look at multiple things and require allot of procs for things to happen right. Elemental on the other hand is simply flame shock, lava burst, then filler till lava burst can be shot again. that alone will cause nearly 100% proc rate of your abilities.

As an added note, if you are looking for an easy high dps from a shaman, I suggest Elemental cause i have run a late night 5 man on my barely naxx geared shaman and topped dps while falling asleep during fights.

[Abremm]

I would also like to point out that surv hunters are very hard to play as well. They have a priority system and not a rotation. I don't know, I like my fights to be smooth, so I like rotations. Not switching between two buttons, but 3 is fine if you are having to watch cooldowns and whatnot. I love my shaman being elemental. It is fun. I loved enhance in BC, but I am not fond of how enhance dps hinges on the use of the feral spirit.

not to derail this thread, but one can hardly say that enhancement dps HINGES on use of feral spirit, that really misrepresents the spec... its a nice boost, and its the easiest part of our dps, just hit the doggie button when the fight starts, and then again in 3 minutes. if possible, use heroism when the wolves are up... if not, its not the end of the world. every class has cooldowns like feral spirits that boost thier dps for a bit.

if enhancement dps hinges on anything, its watching cooldowns and locking down the rhythm so you are getting the most out of your short CD skills, shocks, SS, LL, magma totem.