Enhancement Shaman Guide for MoP - Patch 5.4

[blackblade]

hi there, i would like to update my shaman in terms of gems, talents and would like to ask you all for help.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...nette/advanced this is my shaman, its just an alt and enhancement is only offspec so i'm not really up to date with whats best or not.

also i would like to ask a question. today i got Gaze of Gara'jal which is a massive upgrade over my 483 set helmet. but since i guess the t14 2pc is too strong, i dont know if i can replace it that easily. the only way to not lose the 2pc would be using the 483 set shoulders i've got in my bags. but that would be a downgrade too as i'm wearing ilvl 503 shoulders already.

please pardon my bad english. i hope someone can help me improve my shaman

You can drop some VP to get those 483 shoulders up to 501, wear your new helmet, and still keep your set bonus.

[Rangar]

If you are close to getting 20/20 Secrets of the Empire, you need to use the 522 helm. 2pc T14 is only ~2kdps increase at 200kdps, while the meta is considerably more. If you're not close then it might still be worth it, considering it is a massive increase in stats over what you had before.

-Also at your gear level you really need to start getting used to EM/PE and AS/PE because you will find over time that these are the two highest dps specs while UF/EotE doesn't scale as well. At my gear level (523) it's nearly a 6k difference so it's worth looking at.
-Don't use healing tide, Ancestral Guidance is going to be more healing over time.
-Use Fire Elemental and Healing Storm glyphs baseline except on fights that last less than 6 minutes, then swap out Fire Ele glyph. Healing Stream glyph is also very nice on fights with tons of elemental raid damage going out (Megaera for example).
-Get the valor trinket, it's a substantial increase over Terror in the Mists.
-When you switch to PE start using Haste instead of Mastery in your orange gems, and after you get 1 or 2 RPPM trinkets and the meta switch to Haste on all gems.

[Xarganthos]

actually i already have 19 secrets so next week i'll be able to buy the new metagem. as you mentioned i will need the helm by then. so the 15% increased damage to lava lash isnt that great?

@ blackblade
thought about that too but i dont want to waste vp on offspec just yet

[Rangar]

Added an edit to earlier post for you to check out.

[Xarganthos]

thank you unfortunately as already mentioned, i won't use valor points on enhancement items . i just checked on reforges. if i'm switching to orange haste gems i would get to 7300 haste rating with the 522 helm.

edit:
just realized i have http://www.wowhead.com/item=95202 in my bags. if i'm switching to haste, this neck would be stronger right?

[Aretoo]

Update for this guide to 5.3 would be nice, if there are any major changes to be made.

Update is coming soon(tm) - been extremely busy with work and classes lately - expect the update by Thursday. Just as a note, it's not just a 5.3 update, reworking a good portion of this guide for better readability.

[Embermoon]

You can drop some VP to get those 483 shoulders up to 501, wear your new helmet, and still keep your set bonus.

I think you meant 491; not 501.

[Sonnillon]

A very dumb question from someone who leads raids, but has not played end-game ench. shaman:

Which is eventually more DPS:
* holding off DPS completely on HC jin'rokh until the first pool and BL to get trinkets procs
or
* pushing the trinkets to CD few seconds before the pull by un-equip/re-equip and getting the trinkets to proc for the pool ?

From my personal view still maintaining the DPS on pull is better, then holding off completely. The shaman's DPS started to drop after his burst ran out (he used the waiting with DPS scenario). His DPS is not an issue, I am just curious.

[Aretoo]

A very dumb question from someone who leads raids, but has not played end-game ench. shaman:

Which is eventually more DPS:
* holding off DPS completely on HC jin'rokh until the first pool and BL to get trinkets procs
or
* pushing the trinkets to CD few seconds before the pull by un-equip/re-equip and getting the trinkets to proc for the pool ?

From my personal view still maintaining the DPS on pull is better, then holding off completely. The shaman's DPS started to drop after his burst ran out (he used the waiting with DPS scenario). Here are the logs. His DPS is not an issue, I am just curious.

Since the first pool is what, 15-25 seconds after the pull or so (?), it's optimal to save all CDs for that initial BL as soon as the first pool is up. Typically Enh dps will drop off after burst phases because we tend to be a very bursty class, but that's also based on what talent points are taken - I.E. EM+PE is a heavy burst build, while AS+UF (which is what I run) grants more consistent dps throughout the fight but lower burst phases (still high burst though) - heavy burst build is preferred for this fight as you can line it up with pools and put out a lot of dps.

[Sonnillon]

I might be dumb, but I didn't read out from you post, Steet, that is even white dmg and normal skill usage without any DPS CD a waste before the pool (aka shaman afks until pool spawns)? And in general I am asking in the point of damage done on the boss, not the pretty DPS numbers.

[Aretoo]

I might be dumb, but I didn't read out from you post, Steet, that is even white dmg and normal skill usage without any DPS CD a waste before the pool (aka shaman afks until pool spawns)? And in general I am asking in the point of damage done on the boss, not the pretty DPS numbers.

Should only be holding major CDs, not attacking at all before the pools isn't a good idea, no class should be doing that in this situation. Because not attacking is pretty much like he's dead - and we all know dead dps = no dps - can't see the point in delaying any dps until the pools are out.

[Sonnillon]

Thanks street for the explanation.

[shokter]

To clarify...do attack before pool...do hold CD for first pool...and do equip/unequip trinkets before pull to reset ICD. Can't imagine why anyone would hold all attack...unless they wanted higher DPS and lower Damage Done.

[Aretoo]

To clarify...do attack before pool...do hold CD for first pool...and do equip/unequip trinkets before pull to reset ICD. Can't imagine why anyone would hold all attack...unless they wanted higher DPS and lower Damage Done.

With RPPM trinkets I'm pretty sure re-equipping doesn't do anything anymore since they don't have ICDs, they are just way more random in their procs.

[shokter]

With RPPM trinkets I'm pretty sure re-equipping doesn't do anything anymore since they don't have ICDs, they are just way more random in their procs.

Hrm I may be working off old info then, so that is good to know (no more frantic equipping in fear of my tank ninja pulling and doing the fight sans trinks). Thanks!

[Aleksej89]

Either the whole guide or just the thread's title is still named 5.2 :/

[Aretoo]

Guide has been updated for 5.3 - post any questions you have on the newest patch.

[Embermoon]

Guide has been updated for 5.3 - post any questions you have on the newest patch.

Street, I just got done reading the main post/guide, and kept popping back to the gemming section. I notice, that earlier in the guide, you hype up AMR, as a resource. I've been pretty big on AMR, myself, but it's giving me different recommendations that you are. Help me out, if I've misconstrued anything:

Your gemming section suggests going to a haste-centric gemming model, once you have the legendary meta, and 2 RPPM trinkets. I have both Rentaki's, and Bad Ju-Ju, each upgraded to 530. I also have a helm that's upgraded to 530, with the legendary meta. My overall equipped ilvl is 519. Yet, AMR continues to recommend agility-centric gemming to me.

I don't know if this is because it assigned agility a 5.1 stat weight, while giving haste only a 2.25.

- Is there some other resource (EJ, SimC, etc.) that you're using to derive haste gemming over agility gemming?

- Are you importing your own stat weights into AMR? If so, from where? SimC?

- On some of the specific boss fight talent/glyph recommendations, do they all pertain to a haste > mastery build? (e.g., swapping to EotE/UF for Horridon, or AS/UF for Council)


As an aside, here's a recent log, from this week's Tortos and Magaera kills. The Mag kill is our first and only. Feel free to critique, if you think I could improve, somewhere: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/q...one/?s=0&e=381
(Note that I've been sticking to EM/PE for pretty much everything. I tried EotE/UF for a couple of Mag attempts, to help on heal bursts, but went back to EM/PE, with the goal being to burn heads faster, in an effort to help the healers, and minimize tank damage)

[Aretoo]

- Is there some other resource (EJ, SimC, etc.) that you're using to derive haste gemming over agility gemming?

A few factors - in game testing, comparing to high end Enh shamans, lots of SimCraft sims and AMR profile comparisons.

- Are you importing your own stat weights into AMR? If so, from where? SimC?

How I typically get stat weights for my character is to load myself into AMR - use the default build, optimize myself, then export to a SimC profile. I will then run a SimCraft (10,000 iterations, LightMovement, Good Player skill, with analyze for all primary and secondary stats that apply to Enh). Once the SimC runs, I take the stat weights it gives, throw them into AMR and repeat the process. I'll do this at least 3 or 4 times, and compare the overall dps and damage breakdowns for each SimC result and pick the preferred stat weights. Currently I'm using the following weights:

Agi - 5.88
Exp - 5.8
Hit (to 7.5%) - 5.45
Haste - 3.63
Mastery - 2.94
Crit - 2.69
AP - 2.16

- On some of the specific boss fight talent/glyph recommendations, do they all pertain to a haste > mastery build? (e.g., swapping to EotE/UF for Horridon, or AS/UF for Council)

Swapping from a Haste to Agility build and vice versa during a raid is a lot of work, something typical guilds don't need to do, really only bleeding edge dps will do this. And even then, it's not really going to yield an incredibly different result. Swapping talents/glyphs for the fight requirements are really the only thing you need to do, and even then it's not really required to get great dps (for instance I run AS+UF 100% of fights).

As an aside, here's a recent log, from this week's Tortos and Magaera kills. The Mag kill is our first and only. Feel free to critique, if you think I could improve, somewhere: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/q...one/?s=0&e=381
(Note that I've been sticking to EM/PE for pretty much everything. I tried EotE/UF for a couple of Mag attempts, to help on heal bursts, but went back to EM/PE, with the goal being to burn heads faster, in an effort to help the healers, and minimize tank damage)

I don't recommend going EotE+UF for Magaera as you'll see better results with a superior single target build. Given my experiences are 25 vs your 10 man experience, but the only offhealing I do on Mag is when we group when a new head comes up for the massive aoe, and even then it's really just popping AG+Healing Rain (Healing Storm glyph)+HST. And honestly, I can't give you a ton of advice as the mechanics/numbers are different from 10 to 25 so what I suggest to do, which is something I've done that tends to help a lot, is to head over to Compare Bot. Find a WoL parse that is close to yours, then one that is where you'd want to be (i.e. top 50 or so) and then your parse, and compare all three of them. You'll be able to see spell breakdowns and see maybe the higher ranked shaman is getting a ton more damage from a specific spell than you, and maybe the parse close to yours gives you some insight on things you can do differently.

[Deleted]

I'm new to Enh, won't be using it in ToT for a while though but I still want to try understand the spec better and get the most out of it. Just have some things I'm wondering about.

Should be stacking EM with heroism or use it after it ended? I also got lifeblood (2880 haste every 2 min for 20 sec).

I know the priority list and I understand it, but sometimes the maelstrom weapon proc REALLY fast (I got 2 piece as well) and you just don't have enough time to react to it and use something else instead of lightning bolt. I feel that I mess up in the rotation sometimes, what would you consider the best talents (tier 4 and 6) to use for a beginner that just want to do some decent dps and get an understand of rotation and the spec itself?