Elemental vs Enhance for 3.3

[beejay_jones]

I've been neglecting my shaman ever since WotLK came out. I was a Resto shammy all of BC and loved it. But when WotLK came out I got addicted to my Feral Druid and most recently my mage. Elemental Shamans got a pretty nice buff in 3.3 and I've never really played as Elemental, so I'm asking for your imput. I'm currently Enhance but I'm just really not that into it, it's just kinda boring to me. The rotation is just a lot of cooldown watching and while my dps it quite good for my horrible gear, it's just getting boring. Elemental seems like fun but I was wondering how you all like it, is the rotation a little more fun. I mean my arcane mage's rotation is 2 spells, but for some reason I love it (The big numbers probably help that out :P). Anyway, I have found a new love for caster dps. I just want to know if it's worth it to spend a bunch of time to completly regear my character.

[Arcsecant]

If you want complex cast rotation, Ele is not the way to go. But if you want to try to take every shortcut possible to squeeze out that one extra lightning bolt before having to move then you might like Elemental. The finesse part of playing elemental is the most enjoyable and challenging. If you aren't serious enough to try your hardest to maximize DPS as much as possible like that, then I think playing elemental would get boring very fast. If you are in a fairly high end guild and are looking to easily top DPS meters I don't think elemental is the right spec then. But having to work for your DPS makes it all worth it.

[krstn]

Hey beejay_jones!

I did ICC10 the first time yesterday and we one hitted the first three bosses with ease and not knowing all to well what was hapening to us. All experienced players tho. I played elemental during that 2hours and I love it. The Bosses require you to perfect totem cordination/positioning to maximise DPS via new Firenova and beg you to use chainlight in your rotation. It's just as pretty as it can be!

greetz

PS: PvE PoV!

[PollyO]

If you want complex cast rotation, Ele is not the way to go. But if you want to try to take every shortcut possible to squeeze out that one extra lightning bolt before having to move then you might like Elemental. The finesse part of playing elemental is the most enjoyable and challenging. If you aren't serious enough to try your hardest to maximize DPS as much as possible like that, then I think playing elemental would get boring very fast. If you are in a fairly high end guild and are looking to easily top DPS meters I don't think elemental is the right spec then. But having to work for your DPS makes it all worth it.

In only a few fights we can top meters, or atleast I can as Ele. But than there is fights with intense AOE, but we can top the DPS for the boss itself. (Anub for example) I always do the most DMG to Anub, roughly 3million.

I never play enhance so I really don't know much about it. But based on the enhance player in my guild, he puts out pretty good numbers compared to everyone else.

[Miled995]

I play a Restoration/Enhancement shaman. Both of which I have raided 25 ToC with (havn't tried ICC yet). I pull 5.5-6k with Enh normally in 10 mans, give or take 300 in 25's. Enh is much more complex then Ele, as I played ele/resto untill 3.2 I enjoy Enh very much and with the Fire Nova totem buff, Enh is looking pretty damn sweet atm. Ele is good, moreso if you enjoy large (10K+) crits. If you care more for complex/interesting go Enh. If you want easier with similar dps output, go Ele.

[Nikoll]

The player is who is going to win dmg output between the 2specs. Ele is basically lb spam. It has a set rotation that is gear dependent (as in how much haste=how many lb before lava burst) while enh is procs and much more complex. If you don't. Like enj because of that then ele could be for u. Personaly I love enh because of it's complexity. A good enh shaman can handle any class because they run one of the most hecktic priority ques.

[darkgreedele sham]

In only a few fights we can top meters, or atleast I can as Ele. But than there is fights with intense AOE, but we can top the DPS for the boss itself. (Anub for example) I always do the most DMG to Anub, roughly 3million.

I never play enhance so I really don't know much about it. But based on the enhance player in my guild, he puts out pretty good numbers compared to everyone else.

You should include the kill times as well as dmg done to anub. Im currently killing him in 5:34 roughly and Im pulling 2.2 mill as ele on him. I dont drop tow since demonic pact blows it away. I watched the video you guys did it in nine mins.

[Baabinator]

I like both, but I'm finding Enh to be a global cooldown HELL

It's insane :S!

[sicness]

A big factor about enhance I haven't seen mentioned yet is in it's preparation. Honestly I don't think any other class has to do so much work prior to actually raiding/dpsing in order to maximize their dps. One gear upgrade can change your priority queue or force you to re-socket your gems so if you don't like the complexity of having to run a sim every time you get an upgrade in order to maximize your dps it's not for you.

[Nikoll]

I like both, but I'm finding Enh to be a global cooldown HELL

It's insane :S!

And that's why it is pq and not a rotation.

Eberytime I hit a shock just as mwX5 procs I die a little.

[beejay_jones]

Thanks for all the great imput guys. Basically I agree with all of you when it come to Enhance, it fun but pretty complicated. My Kitty Druid is the same way, but I've had enough of looking for procs, watching global cooldowns and ability cooldowns. I was just hoping Elemental had enough variance to keep my intrests, and from what you guys are telling me it does. I love to figure out how to squeeze every last point of dps out of my chars, so I think I'll enjoy Ele. Now I just have to spend a bunch of time regearing my character...again...

Thanks for your time guys

[Neza]

Ele is a simply rotation in which it you have to max out the number of LBs before you can use your LvB again.
Enh is really a little hectic with all the GCDs, but I have found that in the same quality gear, Enh usually beats Ele by a good margin on DPS meters. I am breaking 8.5k in ICC where as our Ele shaman is hitting about 7k.

[psyched]

And that's why it is pq and not a rotation.

Eberytime I hit a shock just as mwX5 procs I die a little.

Even worse when u have nothing to press but SS it procs wf, and mw5 shows up has u press it...

[Mcjiggins]

Enhance shamans, arguably, have the most complex rotation in the game. It can consist of at least 7-8 spells per. Elemental is what, 3? You decide. Enhancement Shamans do scale the best per raid size though. Both give excellent buffs to the raid (Easily replaced with a demonology lock/dk) but still.

[kabshiel]

Enhance shamans, arguably, have the most complex rotation in the game. It can consist of at least 7-8 spells per. Elemental is what, 3? You decide. Enhancement Shamans do scale the best per raid size though. Both give excellent buffs to the raid (Easily replaced with a demonology lock/dk) but still.

Enhancement's probably below a feral druid in complexity, but it's definitely pretty far up there. Elemental is pretty middle of the road, in terms of caster DPS complexity. If you've ever played a destruction warlock, it's a very similar playstyle.

[Æthershock]

If you want a complex rotation then Elemental is not the way to go. I play elemental and its basically Flameshock, Lavaburst, Lightningboltx like 5 then lavaburst, and rinse and repeat.
I have never plaed enhancement because of 2 things. I never had the gear for it and i never fully understood the rotation.

[Mcjiggins]

Enhancement's probably below a feral druid in complexity, but it's definitely pretty far up there. Elemental is pretty middle of the road, in terms of caster DPS complexity. If you've ever played a destruction warlock, it's a very similar playstyle.

I meant Demo locks with Demonic Pact. Not rotations

[Tajphoon]

Sorry for choosing old topic, but i wanted to play enh, and i know that is complex but how hard is to pick up nice dps on raids? Im not imba skilled players so maybe i should choose elemental?
Before i was playing blood/unholy DPS DK

[Vargarii]

Sorry for choosing old topic, but i wanted to play enh, and i know that is complex but how hard is to pick up nice dps on raids? Im not imba skilled players so maybe i should choose elemental?
Before i was playing blood/unholy DPS DK

It depends on how you play. If you have no issue with gcds being rammed down your throat, you'd be ok with enh. It takes a little getting used to, but it seriously improves your ability to manage cooldowns and such for other classes. I won't tell you it's hard, because I don't think any class is hard, but it takes a bit of practice to hit that comfort zone.

I've also got a blood tank/unholy dps dk, and I can keep up with icc geared dks in toc gear.(note: these are puggers or people from other guilds, a skilled dk will still wipe the floor with me, but I can pull 8k+ on saurfang thanks to the 10% buff and I'm in mostly 245/232 gear)

[TheTieThatBinds]

For you people who say Elemental is just a 3 spell rotation, and thats it haven't really played elemental. Its WAAAAY more than that. I dont know about you other guys, but I use rougly, not including totems, 10 spells, while keeping the whole FS, LvB, LB rotation going, all 3 of those being included with the 10 spells.

Elemental is all about situational damage unless the fight its something like patchwork. You will DPS, deciding on what spell to use when the situation arises. You will mostly be doing the basic FS, LvB, and LB rotation if you are sitting still with CL or another shock put in there when you have multiple mobs, or your FS is up still up and you have the ability to use another shock. I mainly use frost shock, as its our most direct damage shock.

But its stuff that you have to decided what would get the best situational DPS out of. Ill give you a few examples:

1. On Jaraxxus, I place my totems in the middle, and then back out and start with LB, then pop EM and Berserking(im a troll), cast FS so I can get the most damage out of it, and use the Instant cast buff from EM for LvB, and continue to cast LB until my EM/Berserking wears off, and by that time, a sister is up and is kited over to boss, where I use CL in with the normal rotation combined with Fire Nova to get the most damage out put. The same can be said when the infernals are out. I usually do 9k or more on that fight.

2. On Saurfang, I place my totems directly behind the boss so everyone is able to benefit from my totems, and the beasts get hit by my searing totem(we always have a demo lock, gives higher SP buff). I do my whole LB, EM&Berserking spiel, cast FS, LvB, and LB until it wears off, and by then, beasts are about 5-10 secs away so i just do the normal rotation until they pop. Once they pop, i cast CL, since our CL is the only spell that doesn't get the negative effects of the AoE buff the beasts have, so you get maximum damage on them. The start running to you, you pop Earthbind so they get rooted, and u run a safe distance while using a shock that is off CD, Frost shock is usually what I use to make sure they are slowed. If they get too close before they are dead, thunderstorm and knock them back, and then rinse and repeat. I do make sure searing is up by boss and pop Fire Nova when i can to get more DPS on the boss, and the minuscule damage u get on beasts. To get more DPS, when theres a little over 2 min left in the fight, ill pop Fire Elemental, which will give you another 1k DPS. When it is all said and done, a well-geared shaman can do 9k DPS on that fight, if not more.

There are other fights, but I feel like this wall of text is enough. Elemental Shaman is one of the most fun classes to play IMO. Its the whole situational use of the spells and ability to put out some pretty good DPS on most fights that allows me to enjoy it.

But, to each his own.