Elemental vs Enhancement

[viau]

Hey guy, I tried looking around for a thread like this but didn't find one. Basically, my shaman is my alt and I wanted to know, evenly geared, which performs better in dps situations. Whether it's for farming or raids and such, does one spec blow the other out of the water or are they pretty even and it comes down to preference?? Thanks in advance!

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bump! so can anyone help me?? is one spec better than the other?

[aggixx]

Enhancement deals better damage in more situations and provides a little better utility from a generally stronger AG and offhealing that doesn't severely gimp it's damage like it would for Ele.

That said if it's just an alt to play for the sake of playing you might as well play the spec that looks more fun to you. Enhance has a very cooldown-based rotation (a bunch of short cooldowns with a bunch of collision) whereas Ele is simpler and is more proc-based.

[anazei]

Why is a druid commenting on this?

[aggixx]

Because I play an enhance shaman alt and tend to know a lot about different specs? If you don't value my opinion feel free to disregard it but I'd imagine everyone else will tell you the same thing.

[Shuji V2]

If you're still leveling up, I noticed that Elemental does far more damage than Enhancement. I'm still a few levels short for 90, so I can't make a comparison at max level yet.

[Deathgoose]

One other thing to consider, especially if an alt, is that Elemental basically uses the same gear as Resto, so you can have a DPS/Healing set of gear in one, other than maybe trinkets and such. It would give you the maximum flexibility for group play with the least amount of effort as compared to Enhancement, which uses 100% different gear than Resto.

Obviously, this will matter far less in WoD with the changes to gear stats.

[viau]

Not planning to play resto at all. I was really looking at enh vs ele. Thank you for the comments though, much appreciated!

[Santti]

I tried Enh, but I found it's tool kit to be a little... bloated. Prefer Elemental for this reason.

[viau]

I tried Enh, but I found it's tool kit to be a little... bloated. Prefer Elemental for this reason.

why do you say that?

[Deleted]

why do you say that?

Enhancement doesn't really have a spammable spell that helps to compensate for the brief nuggets of downtime it has. Managing your cooldowns in a fashion that allows you to keep the downtime as low as possible can add an extra layer of complexity to the playstyle.

Addons like enhaprio can help with situations like that.

[Deleted]

I have played shaman since the first day of World of Warcraft, and i have tried all speccs a hundred times, but for now in MoP i'd say Enhancement is pretty dominant when it comes to raiding.

That being said elemental is great fun too, but i think it has gotten too simple and you dont really have to keep track of anything or have a real " rotation " not saying enhancement got a super hard rotation but you do got more to keep track of.

As of DPS im currently 559 enhancement and can burst 6-700k DPS single target and keep it at 300k+ sustained at the end of a raid encounter, hope my answer gave you what you searched for.

[Deleted]

Deathgoose, Elemental uses 0 of the same gear that elemental does, elemental is Mastery Haste, while resto is Spirit Crit Haste.
Either way i play ilvl 571 Ele and ilvl 565 Enh and Enhancement tends to do more overall dps compared to elemental but most of it depends on fights most fights in SoO are also melee unfriendly, so id say its easyer to play elemental

[viau]

Again, thank you for the comments! I play a fury warrior as a main, so I was looking at a change in terms of melee and casting. I'll most likely stay elemental but will most likely give enhancement a try as well. thank you very much all!

[chairmanmao]

Enhancement is going to far outdamage Elemental on most SoO fights.

[KCguy]

Enhancement is going to far outdamage Elemental on most SoO fights.

Isn't that more for heroic raiding though? If they're playing this as an alt, it isn't going to really matter what they choose.

[Anzen]

Enhancement deals better damage in more situations and provides a little better utility from a generally stronger AG and offhealing that doesn't severely gimp it's damage like it would for Ele.

That said if it's just an alt to play for the sake of playing you might as well play the spec that looks more fun to you. Enhance has a very cooldown-based rotation (a bunch of short cooldowns with a bunch of collision) whereas Ele is simpler and is more proc-based.

This pretty much.

[Raiju]

Enhancement is going to far outdamage Elemental on most SoO fights.

If only it mattered \o/

At least they *FINALLY* acknowledged melee unfriendliness, or at least celestalon did.

[Deleted]

Again, thank you for the comments! I play a fury warrior as a main, so I was looking at a change in terms of melee and casting. I'll most likely stay elemental but will most likely give enhancement a try as well. thank you very much all!

Just remember the weapon that deals the most dmg goes in your offhand as enh shaman

[Krazzorx]

Deathgoose, Elemental uses 0 of the same gear that elemental does, elemental is Mastery Haste, while resto is Spirit Crit Haste.
Either way i play ilvl 571 Ele and ilvl 565 Enh and Enhancement tends to do more overall dps compared to elemental but most of it depends on fights most fights in SoO are also melee unfriendly, so id say its easyer to play elemental

Ya but you can always reforge and regem. Can't really reforge agi to int.

[Embermoon]

Just remember the weapon that deals the most dmg goes in your offhand as enh shaman

Unless there is a brand spanking new memo that I didn't get, the stronger weapon goes in your main hand.

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Why is a druid commenting on this?

Is this a trolling attempt, or did it just not cross your mind that many people play multiple specs?