My thoughts: Enhancement in 9.0

[whyabadi]

Recently the devs have shared their class design philosophies moving forward. I wanted to share my ideas of a potential implementation of the Enhancement specialization in 9.0 that is in line with the devs most recent design philosophies.

Baseline Abilities and Passives

- Lava Lash. 16 sec recharge. 15 Maelstrom cost. 10 yard range.
Charges your off-hand weapon with lava and burns your target, dealing (162% of Attack power) Fire damage.

- Stormstrike. No cooldown. 30 Maelstrom cost.
Energizes both your weapons with lightning and delivers a blow to your target, dealing a total of (108% of Attack power) Physical damage.

- Earth Shock. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.
Instantly shocks the target with concussive force, causing (54% of Spell power) Nature damage.
Generates 30 Maelstrom.

- Flame Shock. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.
Sears the target with fire, causing (35% of Spell power) Fire damage and then an additional (210% of Spell power) Fire damage over 24 sec.

- Frost Shock. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.
Chills the target with frost, causing (22.5% of Spell power) Frost damage and reducing the target's movement speed by 30% for 6 sec.

- Stormbringer.
Stormstrike [and Fury of Air] has a 20% chance to refund 10 Maelstrom and grant you Stormbringer. Stormbringer increases the damage of your next Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning by an additional (20% of Spell Power) Nature damage. This effect stacks up to 10 times.

- Lightning Bolt. Instant. 20 Maelstrom cost.
Hurls a bolt of lightning at the target, dealing (50% of Spell power) Nature damage.

- Chain Lightning. Instant. 30 Maelstrom cost.
Hurls a lightning bolt at the enemy, dealing (50% of Spell power) Nature damage and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets.

- Maelstrom Weapon.
Your auto attacks and Windfury attacks generate 2 Maelstrom.

- Mastery: Enhanced Elements
Increases your chance to trigger Stormbringer and Windfury by 3%, and increases all Fire, Frost, and Nature damage you deal by 12.0%.

Talents

Level 15.

- Searing Assault
Lava Lash enhances your weapons with fire for 6 sec, causing each weapon attack to deal up to (8% of Attack power) Fire damage.

- Boulderfist
Earth Shock now has two charges and deals 35% more damage.

- Lightning Shield
Instant.

Surround yourself with a shield of lightning for 1 hour.

Melee attackers have a chance to suffer (9% of Attack power) Nature damage and add a charge to your shield.

When you Stormstrike, it gains 2 charges.

At 20 charges, the shield overcharges for 8 sec, causing you to deal an additional (3% of Attack power) Nature damage with each attack and reducing the Maelstrom cost of Stormstrike by 5.

Level 30.

- Eruption
Earth Shock has a 40% chance to increase the damage of your next Lava Lash by 50%.

- Wind Strikes
When Stormstrike [or Fury of Air] triggers Stormbringer, your attack speed is increased by 30% for 3 seconds.

- Totem Mastery
Instant.

Summons four totems that increase your combat capabilities for 10 min.

Resonance Totem
Generates 1 Maelstrom every 1 sec.

Storm Totem
Increases your chance to trigger Stormbringer by 5%.

Ember Totem
Increases Fire damage done by 5%.

Tailwind Totem
Increases your chance to trigger Windfury by 5%.

Level 45.
Unchanged.

Level 60.

- Gathering Storms
Every 3 sec, you gain Stormbringer.

- Hot Hand
Lava Lash now has two charges and its Maelstrom cost is reduced by 5.

- Frostbrand
Instant. 20 Maelstrom. 20 yard range.

Chills your target, dealing (9.1% of Attack power) Frost damage and applying Frostbrand to them, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 3 sec. Enhances your weapons for 16 sec, causing your attacks to deal (4% of Attack power) Frost damage, apply Frostbrand and generate 1 Maelstrom.



Level 75.
Unchanged.

Level 90.

- Lashing Flames
Lava Lash now spreads Flame Shock on the target to a nearby enemy.

- Fury of Air
Instant. 6 sec cooldown. 30 Maelstrom.

Slashes all enemies within 8 yards of you with blades of wind, dealing (54% of Attack power) Physical damage and slowing them down by 30% for 3 seconds.

[triggers Stormbringer per enemy hit]

- Sundering
Instant. 30 sec cooldown. 30 Maelstrom.
Shatters a line of earth in front of you with your main hand weapon, causing (162% of Attack power) Flamestrike damage and incapacitating any enemy hit for 2 sec.

Level 100.

- Elemental Spirits
Reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 30 sec and causes your Feral Spirits to be imbued with Fire, Frost, or Lightning, enhancing your abilities.

[Fire: Lava Lash cooldown reduced by 2 seconds.

Lightning: Increases the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 25%.

Frost: Attacks generate an additional 3 Maelstrom.]

- Earthen Spike
Instant. 20 sec cooldown. 20 Maelstrom. 10 yard range.

Summons an Earthen Spike under an enemy, dealing (108% of Attack power) Physical damage and increasing Physical and Nature damage you deal to the target by 20% for 10 sec.

- Ascendance
Instant. 3 min cooldown.

Transform into an Air Ascendant for 15 sec, reducing the Maelstrom cost of Stormstrike by 10, increasing your chance to trigger Stormbringer and Windfury by an additional 25%, and transforming your auto attack and Stormstrike into Wind attacks that bypass armor and have a 30 yard range.

[gr4vitas]

Recently the devs have shared their class design philosophies moving forward.

You have a link to this?

[whyabadi]

You have a link to this?

[kosajk]

hmm a bit strange numbers you have so FS that dont cost anything, is ranged and on 6 sec cd will deal ~245% weapon dmg, while LL on 16 sec cd mele range will deal 162%
not mentioning sunder with basicly same numbers, almost twice the cd, beside being aoe, is a bit silly number wise for major talent
same story for earthen spike

if skill is on some shorter or longer cd or/and have resource cost that have to be also tracked imo it should be worth presing, getting basicly 3-4 extra auto attacks dmg worth from pressing buttons in 10 sec window seems sad to say the least ;P

btw from which part of his speach you get so simplified and slowed down rotation insight? Tbh i had totally oposite impresion after watching this
Ion even sayed that skill prunning did more harm than good at ~24:00,
do your build is going back to mop\legion philosophy ot more to clasic with double CD`s time on top of that?

[Oturanboa]

This is awfully specific. Numbers wont mean a thing since this will be on next expension and every number will change. Also i would need some simulator to make a rotation or priority list out this to understand anything.

But basicly, if you're saying:
1 Stormstrike is filler, lava lash is hard hitter
2 stormbringer will work like maelstrom for elementals shamans and instead of improved earthshock we will cast big LB like it was previously.
3 weapon enchants are gone, shocks are back
4 old flameshock spread / fire nova thing instead of crush lightning
4 talents kinda stay the same

I'm on board with most of em. These changes were discussed on these forums a lot. This is more like a revert to older expensions.

And also now it occurs to me. I also hate lightning SHIELD to be an offensive spell. It should be useless when you dont get hit imo.

[whyabadi]

This is awfully specific. Numbers wont mean a thing since this will be on next expension and every number will change. Also i would need some simulator to make a rotation or priority list out this to understand anything.

But basicly, if you're saying:
1 Stormstrike is filler, lava lash is hard hitter
2 stormbringer will work like maelstrom for elementals shamans and instead of improved earthshock we will cast big LB like it was previously.
3 weapon enchants are gone, shocks are back
4 old flameshock spread / fire nova thing instead of crush lightning
4 talents kinda stay the same

I'm on board with most of em. These changes were discussed on these forums a lot. This is more like a revert to older expensions.

And also now it occurs to me. I also hate lightning SHIELD to be an offensive spell. It should be useless when you don't get hit imo.

The numbers are just a rough idea of where the abilities will stand in relation to each other. It will definitely need change. The main idea was to change Stormbringer into an additional way to "pool". I feel that is the core strength of enhancement; being able to deal controlled high burst in a short time and time it for when needed.
This is just the core of the spec. There has to be side progression system that goes with it. New abilities every raid tier or so that is relevant to that raid thematically and mechanically. Examples would be Unleash Elements, Fire Nova, Magma totem, or passives like Elemental Fusion (SS & LL +dmg to Shocks, stacking).
I will do a second pass anyway. I think some numbers are way off. :P

[CiccioBello]

The numbers are just a rough idea of where the abilities will stand in relation to each other. It will definitely need change. The main idea was to change Stormbringer into an additional way to "pool". I feel that is the core strength of enhancement; being able to deal controlled high burst in a short time and time it for when needed.
This is just the core of the spec. There has to be side progression system that goes with it. New abilities every raid tier or so that is relevant to that raid thematically and mechanically. Examples would be Unleash Elements, Fire Nova, Magma totem, or passives like Elemental Fusion (SS & LL +dmg to Shocks, stacking).
I will do a second pass anyway. I think some numbers are way off. :P

Certainly better than the current one

[trm90]

Seems interesting, I definitely like the reintroduction of Flame/Frost Shock + Lightning into the kit; the current iteration feels way too heavy on the fury warrior side.

Only thing is that I'm a bit worried about downtime because ES is on a 6 second cooldown (there may be 3-4 sec windows where ES+LL is on cooldown, you don't need to use Flame Shock, you wanna bank SB stacks, and you ran out of Maelstrom), but you can give it the Rockbiter treatment and just give it 2 charges. Then just increase Boulderfist damage bonus.

[VengfulPecs]

As an Enh main for 4 expansions I gave up on it during legion. The spec changed from as smooth rotation with a bunch of different place styles to a builder spending spec. It feels clunky now.

Not saying I'm amazing but as a 2.2k enh shaman from the past these are some things I'd like to see change.

-Elemental blast back for Enh
-Shaman rage back
-Frost shock root
-Hex instant with a certain amount of maelstrom(just bring back old maelstrom system)
-Wolves do more damage
-Stone bulwark totem as an option
-WAY STRONGER OFF HEALS we used to be an awesome support class
-flame shock with fire Nova

On a side note give shamans a slow fall, we control the God damn elements

[whyabadi]

Seems interesting, I definitely like the reintroduction of Flame/Frost Shock + Lightning into the kit; the current iteration feels way too heavy on the fury warrior side.

Only thing is that I'm a bit worried about downtime because ES is on a 6 second cooldown (there may be 3-4 sec windows where ES+LL is on cooldown, you don't need to use Flame Shock, you wanna bank SB stacks, and you ran out of Maelstrom), but you can give it the Rockbiter treatment and just give it 2 charges. Then just increase Boulderfist damage bonus.

That's where you Frost Shock.

[kosajk]

As an Enh main for 4 expansions I gave up on it during legion. The spec changed from as smooth rotation with a bunch of different place styles to a builder spending spec. It feels clunky now.

Not saying I'm amazing but as a 2.2k enh shaman from the past these are some things I'd like to see change.

-Elemental blast back for Enh
-Shaman rage back
-Frost shock root
-Hex instant with a certain amount of maelstrom(just bring back old maelstrom system)
-Wolves do more damage
-Stone bulwark totem as an option
-WAY STRONGER OFF HEALS we used to be an awesome support class
-flame shock with fire Nova

On a side note give shamans a slow fall, we control the God damn elements

yea i liked mop enh most to ;P