Enhancement Shaman guide for WoW Forever

Update 3 November: the development notes of 2 November change this class a lot, more in our post. The new trees are not in the game data yet, so the builds and talents below still follow the old tree. We update this guide as soon as the new trees are in the game.

The Enhancement Shaman in WoW Forever fights in melee and mixes in spells. A slow two-handed weapon with Windfury Weapon delivers the big hits, while Stormstrike and Maelstrom Weapon add Lightning Bolt to the rotation. Totems make you welcome in every group. This guide covers the level 30 build, the key talents, the rotation, totems, mana, tanking, stats and races.

Role	Melee damage, single target and groups, tank in early dungeons
Build at level 30	21 points in Enhancement, Talented adds Mental Quickness 2/2, Improved Stormstrike 2/2 and Maelstrom Weapon 1/5
Key talents	Improved Ghost Wolf, Mental Dexterity, Shamanistic Focus, Flurry, Stormstrike, Improved Stormstrike, Maelstrom Weapon
Strength	Solid damage, raid-wide totems, a lot of utility
Weakness	Mana, dependence on your weapon, few defensive options
Other Shaman guides	Elemental Shaman, Restoration Shaman, Shaman leveling, Shaman level build

Strengths and weaknesses

The rotation. Totem twisting is gone, but Forever borrows from later versions of the spec. You weave Lightning Bolt into your melee swings, and it benefits from Stormstrike.

Damage on groups. Magma Totem and Fire Nova, now its own spell that bursts out of your active fire totem, make area damage easy.

Group buffs. Totems give stats, Windfury to weapons and resistances. In Forever they work for the whole raid, not only your party.

Utility. Purge removes an enemy buff, Earth Shock interrupts, and you cure poison and disease. With Improved Ghost Wolf you move fast in combat, indoors too.

Your weapon. Weapon damage feeds your white swings, Windfury and Stormstrike. A weak weapon holds the whole spec back.

Mana. Enhancement suffers less from this than the other Shaman specs, because auto attacks cost nothing. Still, a lot of your damage needs mana, and running out hurts.

Few defensive options. No hard crowd control and no real defensive cooldown. Stoneskin Totem and your own healing only go so far.

The level 30 build

The beta stopped at level 30, so the build uses 21 points. Talented from the Legacy system adds 5 more. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Thundering Strikes	5/5
Mental Dexterity	3/3
Improved Ghost Wolf	2/2
Improved Lightning Shield	1/3
Elemental Weapons	3/3
Shamanistic Focus	1/1
Flurry	5/5
Stormstrike	1/1

Open the Talented version with Mental Quickness 2/2, Improved Stormstrike 2/2 and Maelstrom Weapon 1/5.

Our Shaman leveling guide uses the same build and explains the road to level 30.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Thundering Strikes	5% more critical strike chance with all spells and attacks
Mental Dexterity	Attack power equal to 100% of your Intellect
Improved Ghost Wolf	Ghost Wolf becomes instant and works indoors
Elemental Weapons	Rockbiter Weapon 20% more attack power, Windfury Weapon 40% stronger, Flametongue and Frostbrand Weapon 15% more damage
Shamanistic Focus	Shocks and Lightning Shield cost 45% less mana
Flurry	25% more attack speed for 3 swings after a melee critical strike
Stormstrike	Instant strike for weapon damage. Your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Earth Shock deals 20% more damage within 12 seconds. 8 second cooldown
Mental Quickness	Spell damage and healing equal to 30% of your Intellect
Improved Stormstrike	Stormstrike gives 50% mana regeneration while casting for 15 seconds. A dodge or parry resets its cooldown
Maelstrom Weapon	Melee hits can reduce the cast time and mana cost of your next Lightning Bolt, up to 5 stacks. 4% per stack at 1/5, 20% per stack at 5/5
Rage of the Farseer	The bottom talent of the tree: 30% more attack speed for 25 seconds, 3 minute cooldown. Out of reach at level 30

Maelstrom Weapon needs many points before it becomes a free, instant Lightning Bolt. With 1/5 in the Talented build, 5 stacks only shave off 20%.

Rotation

One target

1. Keep Lightning Shield and Windfury Weapon up, or Rockbiter Weapon.
2. Keep Flame Shock on your main target.
3. Drop Searing Totem if the target lives long enough.
4. Pull with Lightning Bolt.
5. Cast Stormstrike on cooldown.
6. Cast Lightning Bolt when Maelstrom Weapon makes it free and instant. Try to land it within the 20% bonus of Stormstrike.
7. Fill with Earth Shock.

Groups

1. Keep Lightning Shield and Windfury Weapon up, or Rockbiter Weapon.
2. Keep Magma Totem down in range of the enemies.
3. Cast Fire Nova whenever it is off cooldown.
4. Keep Flame Shock on your main target.
5. Cast Stormstrike on cooldown.
6. Cast Lightning Bolt when Maelstrom Weapon makes it free and instant.

Mana

1. Shamanistic Focus makes your Shocks and Lightning Shield much cheaper, and you cast Earth Shock often.
2. Improved Stormstrike keeps 50% of your mana regeneration going while you cast, every time you Stormstrike.
3. Mana Spring Totem in your Water Totem slot gives regeneration without any extra work.
4. Mindfulness and Water Shield in the Restoration tree are an option with spare points: very early, when Enhancement points do not pay off yet, or late, when your key talents are in.

Out of mana, you still have your white swings, but your damage drops sharply until it recovers.

Totems and movement

• Call of the Elements and the other Call spells drop a saved set of four totems with one button. They have a cast time.
• Totemic Recall takes your totems back. Totemic Projection moves your active totems, but costs a lot of mana.
• Windfury Totem is the best melee buff in the game. Without the party restriction, it works for the whole raid. Windfury effects do not stack.
• Tremor Totem removes fear, sleep and charm from allies in range. Good timing saves runs.
• Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem remove one effect per pulse.
• Earthbind Totem slows enemies for kiting.
• Ghost Wolf with Improved Ghost Wolf is instant and works indoors, so you can reposition in a fight. Shifting in and out costs a global cooldown.

Place totems with the fight in mind: a boss that gets taunted across the room can leave your totems out of range. Only drop what you and your group need, and agree with other Shamans who brings what. Time out of melee range costs a lot of damage, but dying costs more.

Tanking in early dungeons

Tanking works while you level, with drawbacks: no real taunt, no defensive cooldown, weak scaling into the endgame and not much use solo.

• Gear: leather, or mail once you can wear it, with more Stamina.
• Weapon: a shield with a one-handed weapon is safer but may not give enough threat. A strong two-handed weapon is enough for early dungeons.
• Talents: Anticipation for dodge, and Spirit Weapons for parry and 30% more threat while Rockbiter Weapon is active.
• Abilities: Rockbiter Weapon for damage and threat, Lightning Shield always up, Earth Shock on cooldown for extra threat. The rest of the rotation stays the same. Add Stoneskin Totem when you can.

Stats and gear

Stat priorities for level 60 follow after the launch. Until then:

• Weapon damage: your main source of scaling, through Stormstrike and Windfury.
• Hit: less important early, a high priority near level 60. A missed ability wastes damage and mana.
• Strength: 2 attack power per point.
• Intellect: 1 attack power per point with Mental Dexterity, plus a bigger mana pool. It can beat Strength when mana is your problem.
• Critical strike chance: keeps Flurry going, and Windfury hits can crit as well.
• Spirit: more useful than it looks, because Improved Stormstrike keeps regeneration going while you cast.
• Spell damage: Enhancement casts a fair amount of spells, so gear with spell power can be an upgrade.

Armor. Cloth, leather or mail, whatever has the right stats: a lighter armor type has no penalty in Forever. Dungeons and Leatherworking give good leveling gear.

Weapon. A slow two-handed weapon with high damage per second comes first, stats second. The Call of Air quest chain gives Rage of the Storm along the way.

Totems. The relic slot of the Shaman. Still rare; look for one that helps your mana.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Dwarf	The only Alliance Shaman, with 1% hit from Artisan’s Precision
Horde	Orc	Blood Fury for a burst window, the strongest choice
Horde	Troll	Survival abilities and Berserking
Horde	Tauren	Defensive racials, nothing for damage
Horde	Windshaper Skyborne	2% more spell and melee haste

Leatherworking makes well-statted gear while you level. Engineering makes strong trinkets and gadgets. Enchanting makes a strong totem early, Polished Driftwood Icon. More about groups in our dungeon guides.