Sunday, November 15, 2020

Finally Getting the Hang of the New Enhancement Shaman

 Technically my oldest actually-played WoW character (I started the original version of my paladin on the first server I saw, rather than the one the friend I was playing with was on) is my Tauren Enhancement Shaman.

The spec has undergone a few changes over the years, but in particular saw a shift between Warlords and Legion, and then something of a reconstruction/reversion with 9.0.

So, in Legion, DPS shamans got a new primary resource called Maelstrom. Elemental still uses this, but Enhancement has reverted to just using mana and ability cooldowns.

Let's go through the new system, which bears a resemblance to the pre-Legion version:

For your single-target rotation, you have five primary abilities.* These are your two shocks, your two melee attacks, and Lightning Bolt.

Flame Shock and Frost Shock work more or less as you'd expect them to - you maintain the flame shock DoT on your target and then fill in with Frost Shocks, which do more up-front damage but don't have a DoT component.

Storm Strike is one of your hardest hitting abilities, so you'll want to use that whenever you can. There are some procs and other abilities (see the asterisk below) that enhance this, the main one being Stormbringer, which resets the cooldown and buffs the damage by 25%. This comes pretty frequently, so you'll be hitting this button pretty often.

Lava Lash seems to then be your filler melee attack, though again, it's on a cooldown, so you're going to have some empty GCDs on this spec - which actually works out well given all the utility spells you have.

Finally, as you attack, you'll get stacks of a buff called Maelstrom Weapon (which has been around since 3.0, though disappeared in 7.0 with the Legion rework.) Maelstrom Weapon reduces the cast time and increases the damage or healing of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Healing Surge by 20%. It stacks up to 10 times, but you only consume 5 at a time for an instant-cast spell.

Essentially, you wait for this to fill and then blast your foe with a face full of lightning.

*One ability from the Legion rework has survived, which is Crash Lightning. This will let your Storm Strikes and Lava Lashes hit in a cone for the next few seconds if you hit more than one target with Crash Lightning. However, it might also be good for single-target, given that it also increases your next Stormstrike's damage by 5% for each target hit. With an empty GCD, a Crash Lightning gives Stormstrike a little boost even in single target situations.

While even the Legion-era Enhancement had a bit of room for empty GCDs, you'll find that this version is a bit more proc-dependent, and sometimes has you just waiting (though given how quick your Shocks cool down, you won't late terribly long.)

Also back are Lightning Shield, Windfury Weapon, and Flametongue Weapon, which are buffs you'll want to maintain. There's also Windfury Totem, which gives your party members (and I think you as well) a 10% chance to get a bonus melee autoattack they hit. You can maintain this with 100% uptime, which you'll want to do, especially in any group situation.

So, how do I feel about these changes? Well, I kind of liked the way that the Legion Enhancement Shaman became what felt like a true melee spec. The reversion brings Enhancement back into this odd feeling of being a caster who needs to hit things to use their spells properly. That being said, I think that does actually play into the fantasy of Enhancement as a Battle-Mage, which is actually why I picked the class for my first Horde character in the first place. You will be shooting off lightning bolts and chain lightning again, which is actually quite nice. So, I guess that means that the more I play and get used to it, the more comfortable I am with the rotation, the better I'll probably feel about it (already, having killed half of Icecrown, I'm starting to get into the groove, and liking it a lot more.)

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