Thrall’s in trouble! Again. Must be Tuesday. And you’ve got some totems and an urge to punch, bludgeon or hack Deathwing right where it hurts? Welcome to our Patch 4.3 Enhancement guide. Read on for all the rotation, gem, glyph, talent spec, reforging and stat info you’ll need to Enhance the new patch!
Updated 29th Nov, 2011, for Patch 4.3
Enhancement changes in Patch 4.3
The patch is looking pretty exciting for Enhancement shaman – after a rather lackluster last six months or so, Blizzard appear to be making some serious efforts to beef Enha up and fix a whole bunch of problems.
First up, the first-tier talent Mental Quickness has been completely redesigned. It now grants us 53% of our attack power as spellpower. However, Enha spells no longer benefit from any other source of spellpower – meaning that we no longer need to even consider spellpower weapons. We’ve also been assured that this change will be DPS-neutral – we aren’t being nerfed.
Secondly, Flametongue Weapon has been changed to provide a percentage of damage, rather than a flat spellpower increase – meaning it no longer compares badly with later-tier gear.
Finally, Lava Lash has been redesigned, buffed, and now has AOE potential – it spreads Flame Shock to nearby targets. That means that our Fire Nova will now do more damage, faster, meaning I might be able to delete the line in this guide that used to read “AOE: If at all possible, don’t.”
These changes don’t alter our single-target rotation, our weapon enchants or our talent spec, but they do change our AOE rotation. See below.
Enhancement Rotation / Priorities
Like most DPS classes in Cataclysm, Enhancement shamans don’t have a fixed rotation any more. Instead, we have priority system – use whichever ability is highest-priority and available.
- Top Priority: Put down a Searing totem if one isn’t down already. Cast Storm Strike if it’s available.
- Second Priority: Cast Lava Lash if it’s available.
- Third Priority: Cast Lightning Bolt if you have 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon. Cast Flame Shock if Unleash Flame is active.
- Fourth Priority: Use Unleash Elements if it’s available. If that’s not available, use Earth Shock.
Totems: Unless your raid/group leader tells you otherwise, use Earth: Strength of Earth, Air: Windfury, Water: Healing Stream, Fire: Searing.
Buffs: Keep Windfury on your Main Hand Weapon and Flametongue Weapon on your Offhand weapon and Lightning Shield active at all times.
Cooldowns: Use Feral Spirit whenever it’s off cooldown.
AOE: Drop Magma Totem, then Flame Shock on an opponent, then Lava Lash, then Fire Nova. For added power, use Unleash Elements before Lava Lash, and put Flame Shock on additional opponents whilst Lava Lash cools down.
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Enhancement Talent Spec
This is a good standard Enhancement talent spec for 4.3
If you need to interrupt, you can put a point in Reverberation, probably from Elemental Precision.
Stats, reforging and gemming for Enhancement
Agility is the most important Enha stat, followed by Hit or Spirit to the spell hit cap (1742, or 1639 for Draenai). After that it’s Expertise, Mastery, then finally Crit and Haste.
Reforging: Reforge to Hit to the spell hit cap, then reforge to Expertise to the Expertise cap (541), then Mastery. Reforge from hit above the cap first, if you have any, then Crit and Haste.
Gems: Use a Delicate Inferno Ruby in all sockets. unless the socket has a per-socket bonus of 20 AGI or better. In blue or yellow sockets where the bonus is 20 AGI or better, use Glinting Demonseye or Adept Ember Topaz.
Enhancement Shaman Enchants
Remember, your profession may provide a better option than a standard enchant – check the stat priorities above!
| Head | Arcanum of the Ramkahen |
| Shoulders | Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal |
| Back | Enchant Cloak – Major Agility |
| Chest | Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer – Agility |
| Hands | Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery or Enchant Gloves – Expertise if you are under expertise cap. |
| Belt | Ebonsteel Belt Buckle |
| Legs | Dragonscale Leg Armor |
| Feet | Enchant Boots – Major Agility |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Landslide on both |
Glyphs
- Prime: Glyph of Lava Lash, Glyph of Stormstrike, Glyph of Windfury Weapon
- Major: Chain Lightning, Lightning Shield, and Healing Stream.
- Minor: Entirely your choice.
Links
- MMO Champion Enhancement guide – Interesting and well-written, a good counterpoint to the EJ guide. Updated to 4.3.
- Elitist Jerks Enhancement Shaman Guide – as usual, an excellent resource, very detailed. Also updated to 4.3
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
just a little question?
what should be using, 1h mace and Fist weapon? or 1h mace + Dagger? or dagger + dagger? for leveling and for pvp below level 60!! thanx for the help!!
Don’t ever use a dagger… Use whichever is higher dps while still being a slow weapon speed. The only reason you want to use specific 1h types is if you get expertise from race.
Yeah never dagger. Maybe fist weapon, but prolly 2 1hs
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