Why is ArP not a good stat for Enh?

[ghrunt]

Not questioning that it is or isn't, just wondering the reasoning for why Armor Penetration is so low on our priority of stats. I'm helping a friend gear out his Enh shaman, he asked me about ArP... aside from know its not a great stat for us, I couldnt tell him anything more... and I dont like to give advice without understanding it so... what is the reason? Warriors talk about stacking it to the max because it is better than any other stat for them... what is so different about us? Thanks

[Lexxe]

From what I've read, its not that its a bad stat, per se... Its just we get better benefits from other stats.

[op3l]

It's cause most of enhancement shaman's DPS comes from other things like spell power. Boosting only your melee hits isn't as good as say stacking AP which increases your melee hit AND your spell power.

Edit: By melee HIT, i mean it boosts how hard your hits actually hit for on mobs. Not the +hit for not missing.

[Hexus]

Armor pen applies only to physical damage. Enhancement shaman (along with ret paladins and frost/unholy dks) do a large amount of non physical damage. Thus armor pen, while not bad per se, is not as useful to us as it is for warriors or hunters.

[Jebuz]

From what I've understood, it's pretty much what the above posters have said; other stats are better for us, and arpen is generally a stat that gets good from stacking alot of it.

[Azyoulike]

About 55% of a shaman's damage is physical versus about 80% of a warrior's, as people have been saying. So it's clear that warriors will gain a lot more from ArPen than Shaman.

However it's even worse than that. ArPen is the only stat that has increasing returns (up until cap), so the less you have the worse it gets. Like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, when it's good it's very very good, but when it's bad it's horrid.

[Deleted]

Armor pen applies only to physical damage. Enhancement shaman (along with ret paladins and frost/unholy dks) do a large amount of non physical damage. Thus armor pen, while not bad per se, is not as useful to us as it is for warriors or hunters.

unless it is a survival hunter... => fire damage

[ghrunt]

THATS RIGHT!

I do remember reading that somewhere now... not that it takes reading to understand. Quite a simple concept actually. Thanks for your time guys.

[muzzeo]

because attack power makes windfury/earthshock/instant lightning bolts hurt more, a small part comes from the actual melee,

[Dedweight]

As others stated Armor Pen only increases a small amount of our damage while AP increases all of it.