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  1. #1

    Enhancement Shaman Guide for MoP - Patch 5.4

    Greetings and welcome to the Enhance Shaman FAQ/Guide. If you notice any errors, something doesn't sit with you, or you want to see other content feel free to PM me - I'm looking to improve as much as possible and grow this thread immensely in order to serve the Enhance community here. Make sure you check back for updates around patch times!


    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    Classes
    Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)






    Patch Note Comments - the changes don't really change anything for us in terms of priority, rotation, or talent choices, these changes are just raw damage out and quality of life changes.

    Changelog
    5/31/2013 - Updated guide for Patch 5.3
    4/1/2013 - Updated Recommended Macros (ShockandAwe is back?)
    3/15/2013 - Updated Raid Encounter Tips
    3/7/2013 - Updated Raid Encounter Tips
    3/5/2013 - Lots of updates for 5.2 patch. Archived 5.0 raid tips.
    2/18/2013 - Updated Enhance Leveling Section
    12/30/2012 - Updated Recommended Addons, Stat Priority, Reforing, Gearing, and Rotation sections.
    12/11/2012 - Updated Single Target Rotation and Specific Raid Encounter Tips sections
    11/28/2012 - Updated for 5.1 (Patch and Hotfixes) and updated Specific Raid Encounter Tips
    11/14/2012 - Updated Specific Raid Encounter Tips

    Table of Contents

    1. Introduction
    2. Spells
    3. Totem Changes in MoP
    4. Talents
    5. Glyphs
    6. Stat Priority
    7. Reforging
    8. Gearing - Gems/Weapon Imbues/Enchants/etc
    9. Rotation
    A. Basic Single/Multi-target
    B. Cooldowns
    C. Utility
    D. Ideal Fight Opener Sequence
    10. Macros/UI/Addons
    11. Raid Encounter Specific Tips
    12. Leveling as Enhance
    13. References

    1. Introduction

    This FAQ is meant to layout the different choices and options on how to play Enhancement Shaman at level 90, primarily in PVE situations, in Mists of Pandaria. I will go over common talent and glyph combinations, stat priorities including the best way to reforge, gem, and enchant, as well as going over dps rotations, cooldowns, and how to set up your UI to perform optimally and efficiently.

    2. Spells

    Enhance shamans are mainly a melee dps class with a variety of nature/elemental based spells that augment their damage. I will go more in depth on each of these spells during the rotation section of this FAQ, this list is simply to provide a little bit of information on them as well as list common abbreviations (which will be used later).
    • Stormstrike(SS) / Stormblast(SB) - bread and butter melee ability that amplifies nature damage done to the target
    • Lava Lash(LL) - our other bread and butter melee ability that consumes our searing flames buff for increased damage done to the target
    • Unleash Elements(UE) - ranged ability that buffs our damage based on current weapon imbues
    • Flame Shock(FS) - fire damage over time ability
    • Earth Shock(ES) - instant nature spell that shares a cooldown with flame shock, mostly used as a filler
    • Maelstrom Weapon(MSW) - one of our passive that at five stacks allows us to instant cast spells under a 10 second cast time
    • Lightning Bolt(LB) - our number one use for MSW at five stacks
    • Chain Lightning(CL) - AoE ability that makes use of MSW
    • Fire Nova(FN) - AoE ability that plays off of flame shock on current targets
    • Searing Totem(ST) - our dps totem that should have 100% uptime
    • Magma Totem(MT) - AoE totem that replaces ST on 3+ mobs
    • Healing Stream Totem(HST) - healing cooldown totem
    • Lightning Shield(LS) - should be maintained 100% of the time for the dps increase it provides
    • Windfury Weapon(WF) - always on our mainhand for Windfuy Attacks
    • Flametongue Weapon(FT) - always on our offhand to amplify the damage of LL
    • Ascendance- our new level 87 ability that morphs us into an Air Elemental - great CD
    • Feral Spirit - another damaging CD, however with MoP majority of their utility has been removed from them and given to use as spells
    • Shamanistic Rage - excellent defensive CD
    • Spiritwalker's Grace - used for movement phases
    • Bloodlust/Heroism- giant raid-wide CD granting tons of haste
    • Fire Elemental Totem(FET) - with MoP changes FET is now a usable dps CD for enhancement shamans
    • Earth Elemental Totem(EET) - still the same strong defensive totem to help in a pinch
    • Stormlash Totem - great raid wide dps increasing totem

    3. Totem Changes in MoP

    When 5.0 launched we got an overhaul to how our totems worked. No longer are all our totems "set it and forget it" - the majority of our totems are now mini to large CD spells with some of the buff totems becoming passive buffs that each Shaman has. Because of this we have to approach how we use our totems more carefully. The only totem not changed was Searing Totem, this is still the same as before, it should always be down doing damage to the boss/target and building Searing Flames stacks for us. However, with these changes FET now also builds Searing Flames stacks so we are free to use the FET as a major CD. Windfury Totem and Strength of Earth Totem are no longer part of the buffs we bring, instead each enhance shaman brings the following buffs to raid/party: Unleashed Rage, Burning Wrath, and Grace of Air. Another large change in the totems is how HST is now a mini CD, during fights you should be trying to use it on CD (especially when glyphed - Glyph of Healing Stream Totem).

    4. Talents

    With the changes in MoP shifting from the normal cookie cutter talents builds, we now have a talent tree that allows for customization based on playstyle, different situations, group/raid composition. I will go through each talent per tier to give you an idea of what you should pick based on your preference/playstyle/situation.

    Recommended build - http://www.wowdb.com/talent-calculator#LLLKlQKI9AW6c
    My personal build (sustain dps) - http://www.wowdb.com/talent-calculator#LLLKlQKI9Al6c

    Tier 1 (level 15) - “Defensive” Tier - the options in this tier are pretty much preference based, you should get a feel for what you'd like more, if you want a passive defensive CD or a clicky CD. With 5.2 changes the choices in this tier can now be decided based on encounter mechanic or whatever settings you're fighting in.

    Nature's Guardian - Good passive defensive talent that will save you if you pull aggro/adds are on you since it will drop threat. This talent is helpful in situations with unpredictable damage to the raid.

    Stone Bulwark Totem - Good mini defensive CD totem, and since it’s a 1 min CD it lines up with with Shamanistic Rage, either to use together or to stagger for more uptime on defensive cooldowns. Just note that it has ramp-up time so make sure to place it slightly earlier than normal defensive CDs to get the full effect.

    Astral Shift - Great defensive CD, the only downside is that it’s CD is slightly longer than the other options in this tier.

    Summary - Astral Shift is generally the best for 90% of situations as it's the strongest and most predictable damage in raid situations can be handled between Astral Shift and Shamanistic Rage without any issue. In the rare case that you need a defensive CD more often, you can use SBT, however note it's ramp up time for usage. Lastly, Nature's Guardian should only be taken in the extreme case where you aren't taking consistent damage and could possibly die from a stray spell.

    Tier 2 (level 30) - “Control” Tier - same with the last tier, all of these present valid use in various PVE situations, so this will come down to your preference once again.

    Frozen Power - Great PVP utility spell which also can transition into a great tool for encounters that require kiting (frozen power + earthbind totem).

    Earthgrab Totem - This beefs up your earthbind totem and makes it very valuable in encounters that require kiting or control of large packs of mobs (if only kiting/controlling one mob I would stick with Frozen Power)

    Windwalk Totem - This totem is the opposite mindset of the others in this tier in that it helps keep you and your party/raid free of movement impairing abilities, great for those encounters with regularly occurring binds/slows/snares.

    Summary - Frozen Power is really only strong in PVP or fights where you're put on kiting duty, of which there are few in MoP. That leaves the real decision between Earthgrab or Windwalk - EGT is nice for fights with high amount of adds (Elegon) and WWT is best for fights to help clear snares (Stone Guards).

    Tier 3 (level 45) - “Totem” Tier - this tier deals primarily with totem usage.

    Call of the Elements - This talent is probably more useful for PVP situations as the only totems it would effect are the healing/utility totems because of the 3min restriction on it causing it not to work on FET. Also helpful on encounters that are heavy aoe healing since you can have a higher uptime on HST without taking any dps hits (outside of the globals used) or on fights with a lot of add control so you can have more Capacitor and Earthbind/Earthgrab usage, or if you need double Windwalk Totem.

    Totemic Restoration - Passive talent for the tier, helps in cases where your totems are prematurely destroyed or you have to recall large CD totems before they expire (i.e. cancelling FET early because of a mechanic).

    Totemic Projection - Neat little spell that lets you move all your totems, good for fights that require a lot of target swaps in large areas, however since there is no CD on searing totem this talent isn't as great as others in the tier. It's worth noting that this talent can greatly help the placement of Capacitor Totem or Earthbind/Earthgrab Totem to control adds you can't get in melee range with.

    Summary - Call of the Elements is nice if you want to be able to push out HST more often in a fight - but it will take up more GCD and possibly lower your dps (not by much) - this will also allow you more usage of your CC totems too, which could be helpful in an add heavy fight. Totemic Restoration tends to be the go to choice for 90% of encounters as it will help if your FET or EET are destroyed early so they CDs will come back sooner. Totemic Projection could be helpful in fights with heavy movement, however Searing Totem has a good range now and it's not hard to re-apply it as you're moving. Totemic Projection could be nice on Primordius (if you kite around the room) to then place Searing Totem in the middle as you run with the boss so you don't have to constantly re-apply it.

    Tier 4 (level 60) - 1st Major Damage Tier - The tier we’ve been waiting for! Choice of a major damage ability to improve your rotation.

    Elemental Mastery - One of the top talents in this tier, pick this spell if you want more burst per encounter. With the reduction of the CD in 5.2 (going from 2min to 1.5min) this has become the prime burst CD and possible even the best overall CD for this tier.

    Ancestral Swiftness - The least favored talent for enhance since MSW grants instant casts this spell isn't as strong. Now that 5.2 has increased the passive haste (5% to 10% for enh) component this talent has more value, however since the clicky still isn't great for Enh I can't see it pulling ahead of the other talents in this tier, more of just on par or lower depending on stats and encounter mechanics.

    Echo of the Elements - The other top talent in this tier, great damage, and more sustained damage overall in a fight than Elemental Mastery. As a note, this spell is excellent for encounters with AoE as the duplication of Fire Nova is a great dps boost.

    Summary - EM is your best bet for strong single target burst damage. AS is great consistent single target damage. EotE is best for AoE or cleave fights.

    Tier 5 (level 75) - “Healing” Tier - Some nice healing CDs that can help in a variety of situations.

    Healing Tide Totem - Great totem CD to use after/before HST to provide consistent healing.

    Ancestral Guidance - Excellent healing CD that can be lined up with other damaging CDs (bloodlust/heroism + ascendance + elemental mastery) to boost its effectiveness greatly. The 5.2 changes to this spell don't really mean anything to us, this is still the go to healing spell on encounters that amplify your damage.

    Conductivity - As enhance you should stay away from this talent choice since it will be a dps decrease to use MSW stacks on Healing Rain instead of LB/CL - however if the encounter calls for heavy aoe healing when stacking over a long duration of the fight this could turn into the best talent for the tier (as long as dps isn’t an issue). 5.2 changes did make this slightly better since it will heal people outside of the Healing Rain, it's still a dps loss, but can now truly be considered for encounters that don't have heavy dps checks and surviving/following mechanics is more important.

    Summary - With 5.3 as we get more haste, HTT becomes a much stronger option both because you can use it whenever (unlike AG which requires CDs to be truly effective) and it scales extremely well with haste. AG will still do the most healing throughput overall, but requires major CDs to be 100% effective (and it does a good bit of overhealing). Conductivity is still a dps loss as we can already put out a lot of off-healing with the Healing Storm glyph + Healing Rain and the other talents in this tier.

    Tier 6 (level 90) - 2nd Major Damage Tier - The other tier we’ve been waiting for, another major damage ability to add to our gameplay. Goes hand in hand with the talent picked in Tier 4, so be mindful of what you pick there as there are specific combinations that work better than others.

    Unleashed Fury - Great all around talent, amplifies the bonuses done by UE and increases our sustained damage, encouraged if you picked Echo in the earlier CD tier. Slight nerf from 5.2 changes, I personally expect them to revert the nerf but time will tell. Still a great talent to couple with EotE.

    Primal Elementalist - The large CD of the tier, this will greatly improve our FET and is encouraged as an option if you picked Elemental Mastery earlier. 5.2 changes buffed this to a great place, this coupled with EM is THE burst choice for Enh and now possible the best talent combination for a majority of encounters.

    Elemental Blast - Great ability that will randomly increase your dps (based on what secondary it buff), if you’re looking for more buttons to push in your rotation this is the talent to take. 5.2 has added Agility being one of the procs coming out of this, however it's still a clunky mechanic since if you take this it's your #1 priority which means lots of hardcasting.

    Summary - UF is a strong single target consistent dps choice. PE is an extremely strong burst talent. EB is a random talent that has the potential to be as good as PE but makes our rotation very wonky and generally "unfun" to play.

    TL DR - What talents do I pick from Tier 4 and Tier 6:

    In the end it comes down to a lot of different factors to determine which talent combinations you should go. Playstyle, Stat Priority, Fight Length, Fight Mechanics, and Personal Preference all will help you decide which talents combination to go with. At this point, if you're looking for the overall most bang for your buck, EM+PE sims out to be the best, especially once you have 2 RPPM trinkets and the legendary meta with AS+PE coming in second as a slightly more consistent burst build. This build is a very burst oriented build, so if you want to be selecting optimally based on the fights, you have to take in other factors and consider whether the fight benefits more from a burst or sustain build. If the fight calls for a more sustained build, AS+UF is your best option. Lastly, if you need a burst build - EotE+UF is the best choice, however most fights this tier (outside of Tortos if you're on bats) it's best to take a burst or sustain single target build.

    5. Glyphs

    With Prime glyphs being removed, Major glyphs are not as game changing so there’s some options you can pick when choosing glyphs.

    Major Glyphs

    With the 5.2 change to increase the duration of FS, there are no longer any mandatory Major Glyphs, we are now free to choose based on the encounter/our playstyle!

    Specific Situation DPS Increase


    Utility
    • Glyph of Flame Shock - the new FS glyph, now provides some neat healing. Couple this with Healing Storm and Feral Spirits for great self heals.
    • Glyph of Lightning Shield - new 5.3 glyph that is a pretty good defensive glyph for fights that you take any damage.
    • Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace - good for high movement fights
    • Glyph of Feral Spirit - good for self heals in large damage fights
    • Glyph of Ghost Wolf - good for encounters where there are zones or sections that slow/hinder movement
    • Glyph of Capacitor Totem - great for situations you need to stun quicker (i.e. moving packs or having to spawn once adds spawn)
    • Glyph of Healing Storm - suggested if you took Conductivity in tier 5 since they synergize well together
    • Glyph of Purge - good for fights where you need to remove multiple magic effects on the target, might not be useful though if mages with spellsteal would benefit more from the effects anyway.
    • Glyph of Shamanistic Rage - handy in specific encounters where there are magic effects put on players that need to be removed.
    • Glyph of Spirit Walk - great glyph that allows more “sprinting” and removing of movement-impairing effects and with the 5.2 changes reducing the CD this glyph makes Spirit Walk 45 sec CD - AMAZING!
    • Glyph of Cleansing Waters - helpful on fights where you need to lend a hand in clearing off Magic or Curse debuffs.
    • Glyph of Frost Shock - useful in fights where you're helping with control/kiting
    • Glyph of Hex - could be useful in certain situations
    • Glyph of Wind Shear - could be useful in certain situations


    Minor Glyphs

    Only two that are really interesting in terms of gameplay - the rest are purely cosmetic
    • Glyph of the Lakestrider - can help in encounters that have water components
    • Glyph of Lava Lash - will help in the situations where you don’t want to spread Flame Shock (mandatory glyph to learn and have available to swap to/from for specific fights)


    6. Stat Priority

    With MoPs release our stat priorities didn’t change that much, only two real large changes. The first being that hit and expertise caps are now both at 7.5% and haste now has greater value to us. Based on these changes the new stat priority list goes as follows:
    Agility > Hit (7.5% cap) = Expertise (7.5% cap) > Mastery = Haste > Crit

    Our stat priority hasn't changed per say with 5.2, however as you gain more gear your priorities will shift around. Stat priorities will also change depending on how you prefer to play, for example if you like to use EM+PE builds then you'll probably be favoring haste a lot more than the stat priority listed above. I highly encourage each person to sim their character in order to determine what your stat priority should be, however if you wish to just grab gear and go head over to AskMrRobot.com.

    7. Reforging

    Reforging strategies should be based on the above stat priorities. Use reforging (after gemming and enchanting) to help reach your hit and expertise caps. Once those caps are reached you can begin to move secondary stats around to gain more of the higher desired stat (mastery and/or haste in our case) by removing our least desired stat (crit). Reforging can be tricky to sit down and do optimally, so thankfully there are a few tools/sites that can help with reforging.

    One that I highly recommend is Ask Mr. Robot - AMR pulls in data from all the big theory crafting sites and balances stat priorities based on math done on those sites and then helps to reforge your current gear optimally. If you don’t agree with how it presents your priorities you can always tweak them.

    The other highly used reforging tool is WoW Reforge - I personally haven't use this tool yet (just discovered it as of this writing) so I will look into it shortly to familiarize myself with it.

    8. Gearing

    Gems

    Gems choices come down to two things - what talents you run with (EM+PE vs EotE+UF) and whether not you have the Legendary Meta and 2 RPPM Trinkets. RPPM trinkets are those that are found in the T15 (Throne of Thunder) Raid and they, along with the Legendary Meta, gain more effectiveness when you stack haste. This results in two different gemming/reforging strategies for Enh Shamans, the typical Agi focused build and the new Haste focused build. In a lesser extend, haste focused builds are better for EM+PE, AS+PE, EM+UF, and AS+UF while the typical Agi focused build is best for EotE+UF.

    Typical Agi build
    Meta: Agile Primal Diamond
    Red: Delicate Primordial Ruby
    Blue: Glinting Imperial Amethyst
    Yellow: Deft Vermilion Onyx

    Haste centered build
    Meta: Capacitive Primal Diamond
    Red: Deft Vermilion Onyx
    Blue: Lightning Wild Jade
    Yellow: Quick Sun's Radiance

    Enchants

    If there are two enchants listed that means that the first one is the BiS enchant with the second being a cheaper version of the enchant - aka one that doesn't require a Sha Crystal or other items that are in high demand due to the start of the expansion.

    Shoulder: Greater Tiger Claw Inscription > Tiger Claw Inscription
    Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Accuracy
    Chest: Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats
    Wrist: Enchant Bracer - Greater Agility > Enchant Bracer - Mastery
    Hands: Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery
    Waist: Living Steel Belt Buckle
    Legs: Shadowleather Leg Armor >Sha-Touched Leg Armor
    Boots: Enchant Boots - Blurred Speed
    Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel > Enchant Weapon - Windsong = Enchant Weapon - Elemental Force Dancing Steel is the BiS weapon enchant with Windsong and Elemental Force being affordable at early points in the expansion. Elemental Force sims slightly better at lower levels of gear.

    Weapon Imbues
    For PVE purposes you should be using the following MH+OH setup 99.9% of the time:

    Mainhand - Use the Windfury Weapon imbue
    Offhand - Use the Flametongue Weapon imbue

    I say 99.9% of the time as you'll never know when you might need to throw on Rockbiter Weapon for some clutch taunts!

    Tier Set Bonuses

    Tier 15 - Battlegear of the Spiritbreaker
    Item - Shaman T15 Enhancement 2P Bonus - neat 2-set bonus that adds some complications to our use of MSW. As long as MSW stacks aren't wasted this is a great dps boost. The trick will be not wasting MSW stacks.

    Item - Shaman T15 Enhancement 4P Bonus - great 4-set bonus, overall I'm happy with how our set bonuses work this tier, and lowering CDs on wolves is a neat set bonus. With some preliminary logs to look over, it seems that feral spirits CD after the first usage (and on high uptime fights) will be around 55-75 seconds CD. EM would be a strong talent to take once you have this bonus since feral spirits get a good boost from haste procs, however don't hold off one for the other, due to their CDs they will tend to line up well though. Also, with this bonus, feral spirits priority is higher.

    Tier 14 - Battlegear of the Firebird
    Item - Shaman T14 Enhancement 2P Bonus - great 2-set bonus that buffs one of our best abilities - try to get this as fast as possible.
    Item - Shaman T14 Enhancement 4P Bonus - also a great dps increase making the 4-set bonus a top priority.

    Depending on your talent choices/playstyle and how you weight your secondary stats will help you determine which 4 pieces are best to complete your 4-set bonus. I recommend you sim it, however in the end the tier bonuses are % dps increases and all tend to be optimized fairly well for us.


    Best in Slots Lists

    I will not be maintaining a BiS list. With reforging, upgrading through VP, and how our secondary stats priority can change after a few pieces here and there having a "BiS" list isn't as vital anymore as it used to be. If you want a BiS I suggest heading over to AskMrRobot, import your character and have it formulate a BiS list for you based on your stat priorities and raiding tier (normal v heroic) - HIGHLY recommend this.

    9. Rotation

    A. Single Target Rotation (courtesy of Elitist Jerks Thread)

    Our rotation is more of a priority queue than a set rotation (although things will feel like they flow a certain way most of the time). *NOTE* NEVER hardcast Lightning bolt while Ascendance is up. Use the priority queue below to push for optimal dps (there will be times where you can/will deviate from this based on specific situations):

    Priority Abbreviation Meaning
    1 ST_0 Searing Totem with 0 ticks remaining
    2 EB Elemental Blast if specced into it (hardcast)
    3 UE_EF Unleash Elements if spec into Unleashed Fury
    4 MW5_LB Maelstrom Weapon x5 stacks + Lightning Bolt
    5 SW Feral Spirit if you have 4-set T15
    6 SS Stormstrike//Stormblast
    7 FS Flame Shock if UF is up and FS is not
    8 LL Lava Lash with 5 Searing Flame stacks
    9 LB_T15_2 Lightning Bolt if you have 2-set T15 and MSW>4
    10 FS_UEF Flame Shock if the Unleash Flame buff is present
    11 UE Unleash Elements
    12 MW>3_LB MSW>3 + Lightning Bolt
    13 AS+LB Ancestral Swiftness if talented and MSW<2 + LB
    14 Earth Shock Earth Shock
    15 SW Feral Spirit
    16 EE Earth Elemental Totem
    17 MW>1_LB MSW>1 + Lightning Bolt
    18 ST Searing Totem (with x ticks remaining, set in sim)

    B. Multi-Target Rotation

    Do the following sequence to get the AoE rotation going:
    Flame Shock > Lava Lash > Fire Nova

    Now that's the basic method behind getting the AoE rotation going, but to add to it, here's a few other points to keep in mind when in certain AoE situations.
    1) Are there 3+ enemies that will survive for a good portion of time? If yes, replace Searing Totem with Magma Totem. If no, continue to use Searing Totem.
    2) In AoE situations, use your MSWx5 stacks for Chain Lightning instead of Lightning Bolt With the 5.2 changes CL will be used in 2+ targets always
    3) Make sure when using Unleash Elements you are casting Fire Nova afterwards to gain the buff instead of "wasting" it on a Flame Shock application.

    Outside of following the mini-rotation above and keeping in mind those three points, follow the single target rotation as listed above.

    C. Cooldowns

    Enhance shamans were blessed with receiving a bunch of big cooldowns in the MoP changes, now FET is usable (as it stacks searing flame) as well as Ascendance and Stormlash Totem. As with all major cooldowns, it’s optimal to line larger cooldowns, trinkets, and potions up together to increase your overall burst during that “burn” phase. As you do encounters you’ll get a better feel for how long the fight is and when you should save or use a certain cooldown. There are five major cooldowns now to be used.

    Ascendance - 3 min CD means depending on fight lengths you can get anywhere from 2-3 uses in, you’ll need to be more careful in the usage of this to maximize it’s potential.
    Feral Spirit - 2 min CD means that you should be almost using this on CD, there will be exceptions of course based on each fight.
    Bloodlust/Heroism - best used at the discretion of the raid leader, which is typically at burn phases, towards the end of fights, during high damage increase mechanics, or even at the beginning of a tight dps race encounter.
    Fire Elemental Totem - use of this will depend on whether or not you glyphed it. When it is glyphed you can use more or less on CD since it will be up more often and last shorter, but when it’s not glyphed you’ll want to time this correctly - typically time use with Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp (can usually fit 2 uses per fight unglyphed).
    Stormlash Totem - great totem that offers raid wide damage increase - encouraged to be used in conjunction with Bloodlust/Heroism.

    D. Ideal Fight Opener Sequence

    **There will be some fights where this might not apply to (TwinEmps in MSV for example) as this is for optimal full burst dps right off the bat so you can use your 5/3/2 min CDs again ASAP (this will also be ignored on short fights or fights where you need to hold your 5/3min CDs for a specific burst phase)**
    Pre-pull

    Searing Totem > Spirit Walk > Pre-pot > Spirit Wolves

    Opener (i.e. while running into melee range after tank engages the fight)

    UE > FS (both this and UE should be still at range) > FET > SS > Ascendance+Stormlash Totem > SS > LL > normal priority

    *Use EM in conjunction with Ascendance if you talent it*

    10. Macros/Addons/UI

    In order to improve efficiency in encounters you’ll want to set up your UI in a manner that is both comfortable to you and in a way that delivers relevant information in a well laid out arrangement. The following is my personal screen shot (out of combat: link and in combat: link) while my setup isn't the way you have to play, it is what I’m comfortable with and helps me see information that is important, manage cooldowns, and see boss timers. I will list a few of the tools I use and some other commonly used ones.

    Macros

    While there are many different type of macros that can help you during various encounters - I’ve found two main ones very beneficial.

    Macro to replace all your regular non-melee abilities (UE, Shocks, LB, etc) to help your character start attacking immediately.
    #showtooltip
    /cast Earth Shock
    /startattack

    This macro was much more important back when Shamans had the shortest interrupt in the game, not that it’s no longer important, I still highly recommend using this macro in conjunction with /focus targets on fights where interrupts are important.
    #showtooltip
    /stopcasting
    /cast [@focus,exists][@target] Wind Shear
    It is also recommended to use this macro for other utility spells such as Purge, Hex, or Bind Elemental.

    If you choose Ancestral Swiftness as your tier 4 talent then this macro is for you
    #showtooltip Lightning Bolt
    /cast Ancestral Swiftness
    /cast Lightning Bolt
    The trick with this macro is to use it when you don’t have any stacks of MSW. It can also be used in conjunction with Chain Lightning.

    Addons/UI

    Here is a list of relevant PVE addons in addition to specific enhancement addons. These are not what you have to use to be successful, just some that I've personally used that help to optimize your enhance play.

    DBM/Big Wigs - pick whichever you prefer to use, while these aren’t required anymore since Blizzard is doing better about announcing boss abilities in emotes and raid warnings, I still swear by DBM. Being able to see timers for certain abilities allows yout o manage various cooldowns better.

    Omen/Skada - highly encouraged for the threat meter. While before enhancement shamans were never the higher people on threat meters, at the start of fights, depending on your build, you might have a ton of burst so you’ll want to monitor to make sure you don’t mess up the initial pull.

    ShockandAwe - Shamans who have been playing Enh for years swear by this thing. Displays timers, CD usage, rotation priority, and a bunch of other helpful things in a really efficient manner.

    Enhancement Technique - relatively new addon that is the long awaited replacement for Shock and Awe (however now ShockandAwe is back?). For those who aren't familiar with Shock and Awe here's some information from the Enhancement Technique Curse page:

    If you used ShockAndAwe, you might like this one.

    It shows you:

    The next 6 most important abilities to cast
    Your Maelstrom Weapon stacks
    Your Searing Flames stacks
    Whether Flame Shock is active on your current target
    Fire Nova cooldown
    Unleashed Fury optimizing - shows if your next lightning bolt will get the bonus, taking into account MSW.

    TotemTimers - when ShockandAwe was still being managed I actually preferred using this addon instead as my go to enhancement rotation/dot tracker. While this doesn't tell you what ability to press next, it gives you a small bar which lists all your commonly used abilities with CDs on them, as well as a MSW tracker and Flame Shock DoT tracker. The newer version of this also includes a “big CDs” option where you can list some of our larger CDs. TotemTimers also provides some nice tools to help manage your shields, weapon imbues, and totems. I highly recommend this addon.

    EventHorizon - if TotemTimers isn't for you, the makers of EventHorizon have put together a nice addon that is usable by all dps specs, it helps manage your abilities/dots during combat in a little window. The only downside is that unless you want to dig into the code there is little to no customization for this.

    EnhaPrio - another alternative to TotemTimers. I just recently heard about this, haven't used it yet in game, but what I've read and seen it's highly recommended. It's a rotation helper that allows you to focus more on the environment around you than starting at your bars for CDs to maintain the optimal rotation.

    11. Raid Encounter Specific Tips

    Throne of Thunder

    Recommended Glyphs: Overall I believe that Healing Storm, Healing Stream Totem, and Spirit Walk will be the best default glyphs for most encounters due to the strong self healing, resistances, and utility they provide. If there are special cases for other glyphs I will make note of it per boss encounter.

    Ancestral Guidance VS Healing Tide Totem: It will come down to a few factors, fight length, damage to raid in terms of burst, sustain, and severity, as well as damage boosts to us or phases where it's hard for actions (Go Away phase for Lei Shi for example). If you have large damage boosting phases, i.e. Jin'rokh, probably AG would be best. Some raid leaders/healers prefer to coordinate healing CDs and HTT tends to be a better choice for on-demand healing (in case you can't output lots of damage to make AG worth it), and as you gain more haste HTT becomes more valuable. Ultimately, it will come down to both the fight and your guilds preference/needs to determine what to use.

    Jin'rokh the Breaker

    Once the pools are applied make sure you're standing in them, his hit box is huge so the tanks shouldn't have to move him much for you to get the benefit. Because the first pool comes so early, hold your CDs until you get the buff.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Due to the large burst phases from pool buffs I recommend EM+PE coupled with the FET glyph (with proper timing you should get FET out with first and third pool, which seems to be what happens on average with the gear levels now).

    Horridon

    Get your set focus/interrupt macros ready for this add control fight! You can either set your interrupt macro to interrupt specific mobs based on their priority, or you can set a mouseover interrupt macro, or use the macro I have listed below and set focus on the fly as mobs appear.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: EotE+UF due to the large AoE for the adds.

    Council of Elders

    Target swapping, mechanical fight. Make sure you're on the right target, blowing up adds appropriately, and interrupting where needed.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Due to the somewhat "sustain" nature of the fight outside of swapping targets, AS+UF or EotE+UF are the suggested talent choices. Grounding Totem Glyphed is an interesting choice for this fight as it's possible that when Kazra'jin is empowered and uses Overload that glyphed Grounding Totem will reflect the damage that his reflection causes. Some people think it will work, more testing is needed at this point.

    Tortos

    Time to punt some turtles! Make sure you're saving CDs for once Tortos gains Shell Concussion (after a turtle is kicked at him).

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Depending on buff uptime on Tortos you have two choices, you can go bursty with EM+PE to capitalize on when he takes more damage in the case the buff isn't up a lot, or if your raid group does keep the buff up consistently then the sustained damage from EotE/AS+UF would be preferred (with EotE probably being the best choice due to the AoE for the bats).

    Megaera

    Blow up some snake heads, nothing special for this fight from our perspective. I highly recommend Healing Storm + AG + Healing Rain on stack phases after you down a head, help out your healers!

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Your preference for a Burn/Burst or Sustain DPS build. Personally I go AS+UF on fights without Adds/AoE/or large damage boosts for consistent damage. Healing Storm is good to glyph, as well as Spirit Walk so in case you get multiple debuffs you can get out quick.

    Ji-Kun

    Depending on how your guild wants to attempt this fight will depend on how you approach it. You're either on adds most of the fight, or you are assigned to a specific set of nests (i.e. in 25 man a 5-group strat for each set of nests), or you're simply on the boss 100%. If you're on adds primarily, I suggest an AoE build of EotE+UF. In all other cases it's probably best to do a combination of EM/AS+UF/PE, whichever your preference is for sustain fights.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Pick your dps talents based on the information above. AG + Healing Storm for Quills is great (I almost tied our lowest healer in attempts last night with this combo).

    Durumu the Forgotten

    Great single target fight that you can typically get 90%+ uptime on the boss for dps.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Spirit Walk is a must have for getting through the maze quickly, dropping goo, and getting away from the knockback. Take your preferred single target build, whether it's burst or sustain, although sustain is pretty strong on this fight since there aren't damage multipliers to give well timed burst a boost.

    Primordius

    This fight can go great for you one week, and then crappy the next, depending on what buffs you get in order to mutate, and since you don't really have control - good luck!

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Fire Nova and Spirit Walk are my two highly recommended glyphs for this fight - Spirit Walk so you can sprint and keep up more since the boss is typically kited around the room. Fire Nova is mostly for padding the meters as you can spam FN in your dps lulls as FS will be constantly be spread to the adds chasing the boss and you can get free damage from that. If you don't feel the need to pad, take two defensive CD glyphs. A burst build of EM+PE is strong on this fight to time with mutation, however since the mutation lasts so long a good sustain build is also pretty strong for this fight - just depends on your preference.

    Dark Animus

    I honestly can't give much advice for this fight since my guild does it in such a boring manner for dps. I literally stand and tank one of the small adds for the first 2 minutes or so of the fight, then once we've moved the adds to their respective targets and start the boss, it's about 2 minutes to kill the boss and the fights done, one good dps rotation with major CDs and it's over.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Take defensive glyphs for tanking an add if you are, otherwise just whatever your normal tank and spank setup is.

    Iron Qon

    Nice multi-phase fight. Make sure you're watching where spears go out to avoid getting hit by the lines of fire/lightning/ice/etc (especially the ice as it's an attack speed slow).

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Healing Stream is a must have as you can drop it during the wind storm for some nice resistances. HTT is also a must have as you can drop is *once you're out of the storm* to help out the healers. Otherwise take your preferred dps setup.

    Twin Consorts

    Pretty much a straight tank and spank for melee dps - tunnel the boss, avoid the fire on the ground, pop CDs at the right time.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Spirit Walk so you can keep up with the kiting to meteors, otherwise take your normal build.

    Lei Shen

    Crazy long fight - definitely worthy of being the end of the tier. Once nice trick is that if you get static shock in the 2nd phase you can just run off, die alone, and ankh back up - obviously this can only happen once in awhile, but still helpful. I recommend Spirit Walk to keep up with all the movements between quadrants. Fire Nova and Chain Lightning are also interesting choices if you want to optimize your damage for the nova lightning ball things, however you won't get too many rotations of CL or FN off for each set so this won't yield you tremendous dps if the other self-healing glyphs could keep you alive.

    Recommended Talent/Glyph Setup: Pick your dps talents based on the information above. AG or HTT are really a toss up in this fight, HTT could be more helpful for topping off people when you spread to the quadrants.

    I have archived the 5.0 raid content here to save space.

    12. Leveling as Enhance

    Leveling as Enhancement has become easier/better with the most recent changes at the end of Cata and coming into MoP. Once you hit level 10 you can choose the Enhancement specialization and then the fun begins! I highly recommend using all the Mail Heirloom gear (Shoulders) while leveling, as well as dual-wielding the 1h agi maces.

    The Level of spells/abilities of note while leveling:
    10 - Lava Lash - one of our bread and buttter abilites, use this on CD while leveling to pump out some crazy dps.
    26 - Stormstrike - our other bread and butter ability, between this and LL you'll be decimating mobs while leveling.
    30 - Windfury Weapon - once you hit 30 and put this on your mainhand you'll start really bursting - big WF crits are the most fun thing about an Enh shaman.
    44 - Fire Nova - Along with Chain Lightning our main AoE damage - apply Flame Shock to a target and blast away (spread the Flame Shock dot with Lava Lash)
    50 - Maelstrom Weapon - great ability for leveling, combined with the Healing Storms glyph this allows instant cast Healing Surge, Lightning Bolt, and Chain Lightning (when at 5 stacks) - great for some instant damage or instant healing.
    60 - Feral Spirit and Spirit Walk - both of these abilities help a ton while leveling, between the healing and extra dps from Feral Spirits (make sure to get the glyph for it) and the sprint from spirit walks, awesome tools.

    I'm just going to leave a few tips for leveling as enhance - PM me if you have questions about something.

    • We're a burst class once we have LL and SS, so focus each mob and try to keep AoE to a minimum
    • Use your Healing Stream Totem when abilites are on CD to keep your health up
    • Keep Windfury (once you get it) on your mainhand and Flametongue on your offhand
    • Make sure you always have lightning shield active
    • Don't be afraid to use CDs - Feral Wolves and Bloodlust can help you out in a pinch against Elites and large packs
    • With lots of self healing and defensive CDs we can solo a ton of content (especially with heirloom gear)


    13. References

    Noxxic Enhance Guide
    Elitist Jerks Enhance Guide
    Icy Veins Enhance Guide
    Totemspot Enh Stats Post
    Last edited by Endus; 2013-06-12 at 09:44 PM.

  2. #2
    Dreadlord Findus707's Avatar
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    A nice macro which i use (without the Flame Shock Glyph):
    /castsequence reset=combat/target/12 Unleash Elements, Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock
    /startattack [harm]
    Makes everything easier

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Findus707 View Post
    A nice macro which i use (without the Flame Shock Glyph):
    /castsequence reset=combat/target/12 Unleash Elements, Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock
    /startattack [harm]
    Makes everything easier
    It also allows you to lose dps if you have higher priority abilities available when the shock CD comes up.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    I'm pretty sure they changed it for melees to start autoattacking regardless if the spell goes off so the /startattack macros are pointless now.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Saxonn View Post
    I'm pretty sure they changed it for melees to start autoattacking regardless if the spell goes off so the /startattack macros are pointless now.
    I thought that was the case however there are still times where my shaman is sitting there with his hands in his pants not doing anything - so I keep the /startattack macros in everything.
    Last edited by Aretoo; 2012-10-15 at 01:38 AM.

  6. #6
    it's only for melee moves that autoattack starts. UE and shocks don't start autoattack for enhance.

  7. #7
    you'll start with a stormstrike anyways when you are in melee range.

    @Streetlightout in the AOE rotation I think its also nice to note that UE also increases the fire nova dmg. Since you have some time between 2 fire novas its better to use a UE in it to improve the AOE dmg.

    In the single target rotation I think Stormstrike and Lava lash are higher prio then the flame shock with UF buff. If you start in close combat u start like: Unleash Elements > Storm Strike > Lava lash > flame shock (with the buff still up). Even when a Mw5>LB is possible you still have the time to pop a flame shock with the buff.

    My question is, if you start using ascendance isn't it better to do a stormstrike first? Since Ascendance resets the cd on Stormstrike/blast?

    Besides a few typos you have a nice guide.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by woopytywoop View Post
    it's only for melee moves that autoattack starts. UE and shocks don't start autoattack for enhance.
    Thanks for your reply, I have also tested this out and can confirm. I've updated the macro section to state that you should be using the /startattack macro with non-melee abilities (UE, shocks, LB, etc). Thanks again.

    Quote Originally Posted by Butser View Post
    you'll start with a stormstrike anyways when you are in melee range.

    @Streetlightout in the AOE rotation I think its also nice to note that UE also increases the fire nova dmg. Since you have some time between 2 fire novas its better to use a UE in it to improve the AOE dmg.

    In the single target rotation I think Stormstrike and Lava lash are higher prio then the flame shock with UF buff. If you start in close combat u start like: Unleash Elements > Storm Strike > Lava lash > flame shock (with the buff still up). Even when a Mw5>LB is possible you still have the time to pop a flame shock with the buff.

    My question is, if you start using ascendance isn't it better to do a stormstrike first? Since Ascendance resets the cd on Stormstrike/blast?

    Besides a few typos you have a nice guide.
    Majority of fight you won't be starting in melee range for a variety of reasons. First is that if you start in melee range and begin attacking immediately you'll create threat issues with the tanks off the bat, thus possibly having to throttle your dps and cause the tanks to struggled with positioning the boss correctly. Second, I can't think of many fights were you can actually stand in melee range at the start of the fight (I have no doubt there are some, just can't think of any currently) - because of this fact you will most likely always be running in from ranged, and because of this is it ideal to be casting damaging abilities as much as possible, so opening the fight with a UE>FS works extremely well before you get into melee range to get into your SS>LL "main" rotation.

    I'd also like to point out that this rotation listed is the general guideline - it is by no means what has to happen 100% of the time in all situations, like your Ascendance example (will be adding an Ascendance macro soon). However, SS is a 8 second CD compared to the abilities listed in higher priority than it (24 sec duration on FS and 15 sec CD on UE) the only ability that will generally "clash" when SS is off CD would be a MSWx5, so you will be using SS pretty much on CD - it's just lower in priority to UE+FS because of the damage per cast values.

    As for the AoE rotation concern - I don't think it's needed to say to use UE prior to FN because it will happen during your normal rotation. FN is a 4 second CD so in AoE situations it will pretty much be used on CD (outside of higher priority spells) that there will be times when it uses the buff from UE and times that it won't.

    Lastly - can you PM me the typos you're seeing - I've read over the guide a few times but probably just can't see the typos myself (should've had someone else proof-read this).
    Last edited by Aretoo; 2012-10-15 at 02:10 PM.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Findus707 View Post
    A nice macro which i use (without the Flame Shock Glyph):
    /castsequence reset=combat/target/12 Unleash Elements, Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock
    /startattack [harm]
    Makes everything easier
    Or fails completely due to stupid reset=12 entry.

    reset=12 means reset after 12 seconds of DOING NOTHING. Very specifically it DOES NOT mean reset after 12 seconds from casting the first spell.

    An Enhancement Shaman has NEVER been able to use cast sequence macros they are ALWAYS a dps loss.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Levva View Post
    Or fails completely due to stupid reset=12 entry.

    reset=12 means reset after 12 seconds of DOING NOTHING. Very specifically it DOES NOT mean reset after 12 seconds from casting the first spell.

    An Enhancement Shaman has NEVER been able to use cast sequence macros they are ALWAYS a dps loss.
    I never knew that. I always wondered why the cast sequence macro I use never reset after an allotted time. The sequence I use is

    /castsequence reset=combat/target/18 Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock
    /cast [mod:shift] Earth Shock

    I don't use the flameshock glyph (yet, will change that tonight) and the macro does me well. I like to keep my main spells on keys 1 - 5 (SS, LL, Macro, UE, LB), and don't like to put any major spells on higher numbers because muscle memory isn't letting my hand stretch that far. Perhaps it's about time I put my big boy pants on and delete the macro, and have Earth shock and Flame shock split.
    RETH

  11. #11
    @Dundebuns if you don't wanna stretch ur hand all over the place try to bind some keys nearby, for example use E Q R and T and you can even bind more buttons like f g and t (if they arent binded yet)

    My binds/spells on buttons are ATM:
    1: Stormstrike
    2: Windshear
    3: earth shock
    4: lava lash
    5: Shamanistic Rage (think that's binded nearby coz u had to pop it on CD back in WotLK, also the def cd is important on some fights)
    6: Hex
    7: chain lighting (that far? yes i can stretch it till 7 :P)
    `(button next to 1): lightning bolt
    q: purge
    e: flame shock
    r: Unleash elements
    shift 1: Tremor Totem
    shift 2: Root totem/Windwalk totem
    shift 3: Spirit run(or what it's called)
    shift 4: Healing rain
    f1: searing totem
    f2: Fire nova
    f3: Replace totem (dunnow what's it called)
    f4: Fire Elemental Totem
    f5: remove totems (dunnow what's it called)

    I think i just have a small keyboard, and remove totems isnt really that important anymore. Most of the time you only have 1 totem up (Searing totem)

    All the CD's (like feral spirit, BL, Stormlash) are huge click buttons in my UI. Mostly since you want to burst in a non movement part of the fight and I don't have to use my mouse on stuff like moving the camera etc.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Levva View Post
    Or fails completely due to stupid reset=12 entry.

    reset=12 means reset after 12 seconds of DOING NOTHING. Very specifically it DOES NOT mean reset after 12 seconds from casting the first spell.

    An Enhancement Shaman has NEVER been able to use cast sequence macros they are ALWAYS a dps loss.
    This is completely incorrect. It actually resets 12 seconds after not hitting that button. This is very easy to test. I've used a UE, FS cast sequence since the start of Cata and never had it fail in the way you described which it would on a fight like Ultraxion, Baleroc or Gara'jal.

    Nevertheless, it's still risky to use cast sequences like that as if you accidentally hit that button while a skill is on CD you're back to waiting the full reset duration. While I do use a cast sequence for UE+FS it has a very short reset and I have FS bound with a shift modifier as a fallback. It's basically just there for the convenience of when UE and FS line up as the highest priorities.

  13. #13
    @Butser

    Literally everything around that area is bound already :P
    RETH

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Dundebuns View Post
    @Butser

    Literally everything around that area is bound already :P
    If you're looking for new ways to incorporate keybindings I suggest you head over to this thread MMOChamp-How-To-Keybind. It may be slightly outdated (2010) but I briefly looked over the information presented and it's very similar to what I'm using (which I think is very effective) so I highly recommend looking at it for suggestions.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by streetlightout View Post
    Yellow: Adept Vermilion Onyx or Vermilion Onyx. Adept is what you'll want to use majority of the time - best to sim which one you should use if you want to fully min-max as mastery and haste values will change priority as you gain better gear.
    Nice guide!

    Though I'm guessing you made a little mistake here with the link for the yellow gems.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by SuperMechatronGamer View Post
    Nice guide!

    Though I'm guessing you made a little mistake here with the link for the yellow gems.
    Hahaha no I just wanted to link an obvious choice that a gem with stats was better than a gem without stats.....thanks for the catch - I'll update that now.

  17. #17
    This is probably the best place to ask this. I'm tying my Flashing Steel Talisman with Feral Spirit. I'm wondering about the best order to cast this in. Basically, since our Feral Spirits were changed to guardians form pets, I don't remember if they update dynamically or are still snapshot when they're summoned. So, should i use the trinket before or after I summon the wolves?

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Delanath View Post
    This is probably the best place to ask this. I'm tying my Flashing Steel Talisman with Feral Spirit. I'm wondering about the best order to cast this in. Basically, since our Feral Spirits were changed to guardians form pets, I don't remember if they update dynamically or are still snapshot when they're summoned. So, should i use the trinket before or after I summon the wolves?
    Both elemental + pets are adjusted dynamically which means they will be buffed regardless, i do however always pop buffs before summons, call it old habits or whatever.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Delanath View Post
    This is probably the best place to ask this. I'm tying my Flashing Steel Talisman with Feral Spirit. I'm wondering about the best order to cast this in. Basically, since our Feral Spirits were changed to guardians form pets, I don't remember if they update dynamically or are still snapshot when they're summoned. So, should i use the trinket before or after I summon the wolves?
    Pop wolves first. For SW the damage shouldn't change, but if you pop trinket after the wolves are up, there's a chance you have an extra ability that's affected by the trinket because you "gain" a GCD of uptime.
    It's the internet. You never know if people are either sarcastic or just bad.

  20. #20
    http://www.totemspot.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6844 is also a rather in depth guide to Enhance by Purge (Dread - Korgath) that has a full BiS list if anyone is curious.

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