Enchancement Shaman VS. Feral Druid.

[Deleted]

Hey there.
I am in the situation that my guild needs a melee on our roster, and i got the honor to reroll
My problem is that i can decide if i should go for Feral Druid or Enchancement Shamans.
They are both strong classes as far as i can see on the simulation ranking, and both play styles are exciting to do.
So i was wondering if some of you guys could say your opinion and leave a reason why to pick that class/spec.
Also then i have noticed that even those these two classes are as high ranked as they are, then a very few
players in the top guilds plays them, anyone who can tell me why this is?

[Mirri]

There are much better melee classes than feral druids or enhance shammies though I'd say go for feral druids just for the raid utility they bring.

[Dedweight]

As much as I love my Enhancement Shaman and my Feral Druid I'd say go with the Druid I find them to be a bit more enjoyable to play. Other than saying pick the one you'll enjoy more I can't really suggest one over the other in the end.

That said did the title make anyone else cringe a little bit?

[Taiyoken]

I play a Guardian/Feral, and while I can do very good DPS (I rank between 5-15 on progression), Feral is pretty one-dimensional in its play. Yes they have good talents, but so does every other druid spec.

Sure you have great survival (SI/Cat Form glyph/sprints), but it's not like the other melee classes are lacking either. You have tranq, but to be honest, it heals for nothing if you don't pop HOTW with it, and it's not the highest DPS talent anymore, so it is an uncommon option. Ferals do gain neat abilities from Symbiosis that lets them perform niche roles (ie. Dispersion on Will, Shattering Blow for extra DPS CD, etc), but this generally does not make or break the fight.

There aren't many ferals, because balance druids do the utility of a Feral better, while being similar in DPS. Sure, balance druids "sim" the lowest DPS, but that is on a patchwerk fight, and there are no patchwerk fights anymore.

That being said, exceptional players do pull ahead, and a good feral is still better than a mediocre war/dk/rogue/monk (at least, imo). However, look at a Warrior's rallying shout/banners, DK AMZ/level 90 talents, and there are better options for the 'good of the raid'.

I'm definitely not QQing about druids (well, resto druids are kind of weak), and I definitely love and play a good Feral, but they're kind of the 'straight up DPS' class you add to the raid after you have enough raid CDs, necessary buffs, and enough range/melee balance (again, imo).

[Glyphtics]

I'd say Enhance to be honest.

From a pure raiding standpoint:

Enhance brings more raid utility than a feral does. With Enhance you bring: Stormlash Totem, Massive Healing CD, extremely powerful raid healing (Healing Rain) and high damage. Enhance can still do DPS while they're healing the raid, Feral has to switch forms, and as such will lose significant dps time.

Progression wise, Enhance is going to be more beneficial than having a Feral. Feral has to share gear with Rogues, Monks and Gaurdian tanks, whereas Enhancement has to share with Hunters. Enhancement raid healing isn't exactly a widely known, however using the Healing Maelstrom talent, you can sacrifice about ~60k damage, to get off a 100% stronger healing rain, which results in something like this:



That's my healing breakdown as Enhancement on our first Heroic Zor'lok kill. Before he got nerfed, his Force and Verve damage was very high and having an Enhancement Shaman reduced a lot of strain on the healers. From memory, that was about 4 Healing Rains, and two Ancestral Guidances.

Personally I find feral more fun than my Enhancement Shaman, however the raid benefits from an Enhance outweigh those of the Feral.

[Terahertz]

IMO it would be druid. Even though their rotation might be harder than Enhancement shaman, they're fun to play in both pve and pvp

[Mirri]

I'd say Enhance to be honest.

From a pure raiding standpoint:

Enhance brings more raid utility than a feral does. With Enhance you bring: Stormlash Totem, Massive Healing CD, extremely powerful raid healing (Healing Rain) and high damage. Enhance can still do DPS while they're healing the raid, Feral has to switch forms, and as such will lose significant dps time.

Progression wise, Enhance is going to be more beneficial than having a Feral. Feral has to share gear with Rogues, Monks and Gaurdian tanks, whereas Enhancement has to share with Hunters. Enhancement raid healing isn't exactly a widely known, however using the Healing Maelstrom talent, you can sacrifice about ~60k damage, to get off a 100% stronger healing rain, which results in something like this:


That's my healing breakdown as Enhancement on our first Heroic Zor'lok kill. Before he got nerfed, his Force and Verve damage was very high and having an Enhancement Shaman reduced a lot of strain on the healers. From memory, that was about 4 Healing Rains, and two Ancestral Guidances.

Personally I find feral more fun than my Enhancement Shaman, however the raid benefits from an Enhance outweigh those of the Feral.

Just curious.. Does your healing rain and a resto shaman's healing rain stack? Btw you totally missed out Rebirth, Typhoon, Mass Entangle, Vortex, Stampeding Roar, Heart of the Wild and Symbiosis that druids bring to the party. That hardly seems like less raid utility than Enhance Shamans as you said.

[Canidomini]

All things being equal - do you have a mage or BM hunter to bring Heroism? If not, go Shammy.