Enhance Shaman Rotation Guide WOTLK - Maximize every GCD!

Today we're taking a closer look at the ideal enhance rotation and how to get the most out of every GCD. Enjoy!
#wotlk #wowclassic
Twitch: /blue_kowalski

[@Romstine]

I went back to weaving at 4 stacks only. I noticed I was "missing" too many GCDs while attempting 3 stacks. You got to have very good reaction times to do it consistently at 3 and the punishment for missing is too great unfortunately. I guess that's why there's such a skill cap to the class. Weaving at 4 stacks is hard to mess up and is still a slight dps increase. I can see myself managing 3 stacks but after lust is gone and no haste procs. Otherwise it's too easy to clip swings / and "holding" a gcd which could have been an extra ES / FN etc

[@mjohnson9591]

Ye i only lb weave 3 when I have gloves or lust rolling else its sluggish

[@wigle02]

Great video, I don’t know why, but I manage to go oom? Must be misplaying, have you got any ideas?

[@8040titan]

I have a question I have 2 sick maces from Ulduar, but their speed is 1.5, that's bad thing yes?

[@slickrick2012]

Thanks man. Would feral spirit glyph be better for individual boss parse over fire nova?

[@blue_kowalski9089]

For now fire nova is too strong to pass on. It will most likely change around phase 3/4.

[@pholofsson9336]

Feral spirit over stormstrike except for fights where your pets doesnt gain buffs like on Thaddius and Loatheb

[@MarioD9988]

after i snapshot the fire ele, do i switch to phy dmg weps?

[@armygrunt2070]

im a glad enh this ssn and have berserking on calamity and deadly offhand. I don't have wraithstrike or the naxx 10 offhand. Any advice on what weapon impues to run/rotation differences and do you think im losing out on a lot of dmg? thanks

[@Redouan13]

Mongoose second best option after berserking. If you have more spellpower items than use +34 spellpower on your wep, but as you have Calamity I would say mongoose. Also the offhand is now available in heroic + CoS. Its one of the easiest HC+ especialy for a shaman just put cleansing totem dont and you wont feel a difference. Almost no one needs that offhand so I would say couple runs max you will have it.

[@Lukescomment]

Do you think you could not use lava lash and still perform pretty good? Feels like I dont get many opportunities to use it.I guess on single target it could have priority over flame shock every now and then? Or you would use it if you were not getting lucky with Shamanistic rage and it was looking like you might go oom?

[@Lukescomment]

Not flame shock* ,i mean fire nova..

[@weeps9970]

It’s never prio, it just for when everything on is on cd and you can’t weave LB yet

[@implodingfruitz8093]

The only time you use lava lash is when every other ability is on cool down and you have 3 or less stacks of maelstrom. If you have fire ele up you will use lava lash more often since you don't have to refresh magma totem

[@Redouan13]

You shouldnt go oom at all. Lavalash is a good ability to gain 1/3 MW stacks. LB is after melee our hardest hitting ability. So getting 3/4 stacks of MW to cast one is a big adventage of LL. Less LB cast is less dps than exchanging a empty GCD for LL.

[@rynfear]

I got lucky and got the golden saronite dragon on our first flame leviathan hm kill. It's 2.7 speed which puts it slightly off sync with the stray in my offhand. I'm wondering if I should keep using wraith strike and the stray since they are both 2.6 until I can get a 2.7 offhand. On target dummy I do slightly less dps with the golden saronite dragon...but with raid buffs and sunders I'm thinking the more physical based dmg on golden saronite could pull ahead in single target.

[@bungodunko4123]

your correct using a weapon swap macro like the ones rouge use and swap to dragon on single target boss and wraith on cleave and maybe even when fire ele is up. Once you get a better spell main hand this will be even more relevant. Flurry stacks arnt as important in phase 2 as the increased stats from the weapons far outweigh it. Definitely try to get 1 light yog on 10m every week for a chance at caress of insanity.

[@pabloc1448]

Nice video. I've recently swapped from ele to enh. One question sir, why LB over CL on single target? Doesn't CL hit harder with a shorter Cast time?

[@blue_kowalski9089]

Welcome to melee side my friend! LB is actually slightly more damage, even tho the tool tip says otherwise. That is because the spell power coefficient increases the longer the theoretical cast time is. (Same reason why down ranking healing spells was a thing for longer casts, but not shorter once in the past) Although the damage difference between LB and CL end up being very marginal right now. The main reason we want to use LB is that there are occasions where we don't have enough time to weave in a lightning bolt, but just enough for a CL. So we want to save our CL cool down for these situations. I hope that makes any sense (:

[@pabloc1448]

Wow thank you so much for the quick and complete answer. I've been doing it wrong all the time. Now its all clear. Love your videos, you are doing absolutly fantastic!!!

[@implodingfruitz8093]

@@blue_kowalski9089 yeah I looked at the numbers and if you have above 1900 spellpower lightning bolt becomes better for single target and I have 2100 unbuffed without procs or trinkets so it only gets better with those. I'm pretty sure chain lightning is better whenever you have 3 stacks of maelstrom because of the quicker cast time

[@implodingfruitz8093]

@@blue_kowalski9089 you might even be able to use chain lightning at 2 maelstrom stacks but I'm not sure if the cast time will be reduced below the gcd. Mine is at 1.87 sec without maelstrom so probably need haste gemmed for that

[@Dwesk]

@@blue_kowalski9089 No fucking way, I legit thought they did another oopsie where Magma Nova totem deals superior damage compared to Searing Totem. So at the cost of a lot more MP (which is not an issue in a raid and with Shamanistic Rage) and the tooltip saying it deals a decent amount more damaage, Chain Lighting is actually not only MP hog but also a DPS loss on single target? This is truly eye opening, because I pretty much always prioritized CL sometimes even waiting out up to 1 second of cooldown instead of just going for a 3-5 Maelstrom proc. Lighting Bolt. Thank you for making this comment, this is great stuff, wonder what other crazy things I missed jumping from FFXIV raiding to WOTLKC raiding pretty much same week as I hit 80 over a month ago. I can't even complain I often top DPS charts in pugs, and my 25man parses are already ranging 50-90 for most fights, but I feel like learning about Fire Elemental snapshotting/pre-potting as well as such little intricacies like NOT using CL over LB on single target REALLY can push me over the edge to 95+ at least a few fights. Thanks again, maybe you could recommend some sort of in-depth endgame tips and tricks/advanced tips type guide yourself?

[@zwouip]

Hello, I have a question regarding enhance shaman. If I am the only shaman in a raid10 should I still use magma totem or should I drop flametongue for the team?

[@bungodunko4123]

always magma it is a huge dps loss for you without it especially on cleave and flametongue isnt a large dps increase for your team as you should not be speced into it.

[@krissiewert2162]

Would you still go FT/FT if you don’t have Wraith Strike MH? I have Calamity’s Grasp and have been running WF/FT, but I’m not sure if that’s right?

[@blue_kowalski9089]

Yep for Phase 1 FT/FT beats WF/FT even with Calamty's Grasp. To make things even worse Spell blade beats out Calamity's even if your running The Stray with slightly unsynced speed. All the above goes for single target already and the gap gets even bigger once adds come into the equation.

[@krissiewert2162]

@@blue_kowalski9089 Thanks for the info! I have to get Wraith Strike ASAP, but will grab a spellblade in the meantime :D

[@Michaelntye]

that ret paladins name on details, "emotionaldmg" XD

[@rwrddlr7449]

Am I right that weaving is broken with t10 set4 bonus?

[@jordybo3545]

[@Maccccccc]

Do all these things remain true for Ulduar?

[@zerodarkthirsty3575]

Can you Explain with the Flametounge? Lower rank on Main and better rank on off hand why not both the best rank?

[@Kilrayen]

Because stormstrike will not trigger both procs at same time if they’re the same rank. It will only trigger the higher level FT

[@hattorihanzo562]

The ammount of effort you got to put into enhance shaman to be a good dps is ridicolous

[@kingkingbundystrong]

If I were using a high DPS main hand, like Calamity's Grasp, should I use Windfury over the lower rank Flametongue? I've read a few guide and there are conflicting enchants.

[@Xerosworldx]

Generally if you are using a physical main hand you will want to use windfury on it but optimally the best for P1 is Wraith strike which is a sp mh which you will want to use flametongue on. R9 MH R10 OH

[@albeshino8875]

How does ur action bar button switches between earth shock and lava lash?

[@blue_kowalski9089]

I'm using macros with modifiers such as shift to have multiple spells on the same button, which helps a lot cutting down on clutter in my UI. Example: #showtooltip /cast [mod:shift] Lava Lash; Earth Shock This way if I press the key bind by itself it would cast Earth Shock and if I press shift at the same time it would cast Lava Lash. You can also use the Ctrl and Alt button as modifiers.

[@mortennielsen6788]

Hi there. I’m about to reroll enhancement for Ulduar and was wondering if this is still viable? Haven’t played it before and this is a really good in dept video 😊😊

[@Redouan13]

Its viable but you have to put a lot of effort and gold in to keep up with other higher tier dps. Even than if they do their 3 button rotation perfect you wont top them. We will scale not that good as other classes so in upcoming phases we will dip to middle of the A tier. So unless you enjoy the reward and are good with pressing 7 buttons on high haste in a short window dont do it. There is nothing worse than an average Enha to main.

[@mortennielsen6788]

@@Redouan13 well, I dont mind hitting 7 buttons at all. And it was the guild I’m in who asked me to Roll enhancement 😊 I Can always go check parses but this video is much more specific 😊

[@Redouan13]

@@mortennielsen6788 yeah but thats the answer to your question. Ofc it be viable till the end we will stay in A tier. You do have to get everything under control otherwise you will be bottom tierdps. There is a huge skillgap where average Enha isnt viable and a good one is. In comparison to rogues/mages who can mess up their rotations and stuff and still do a good amount of dps. Thats what I meant to answer to your viable question.

[@mortennielsen6788]

@@Redouan13 ah that makes sense! I’ve seen some logs from some top tier enhancement and they’re using fire Nova a lot! But whenever I do - i burn out of mana so fast 😂 Even when using shamanistic rage

[@Redouan13]

@@mortennielsen6788 Could be your raid setup? Improved stormstrike gives a lot of mana back to me. Other than that I think other specs have mana regain wich I benefit from than I guess. I never had mana issues in wrath only on trash sometimes.

[@TheDeviant420]

Hey i had a question about the down ranking of FT weapon; I understand the icd sharing on ranks. I just don't quite understand the exact interaction that makes this important. Sorry, am noob enh lol

[@Anderst1328]

Lava lash .....

[@Redouan13]

Lavalash gives you instant 125% wep damage swing with your offhand. Well higher rank of FT is more dps on that wep. Lets say your offhand dps is 100, than FT9 adds +10 dps and FT10 adds +20 sps. Than 125% of FT10 would be higher than 125% of FT9.

[@TheDeviant420]

@@Redouan13 thank you. I am dumb and was overthinking it a little, but i think i get it now. Thank you for actuallynanswering me in a detailed explanation, too. Apparently, people are afraid of educating people these days, even when they ask out right lol.

[@MichalPolesix]

Jak wygląda hit cap u enh?? Wszędzie jest napisane że 17% ale jest to nie do uzyskania z itemow ...jestem prawie full bis i wszędzie powsadzalem gemy +16 hit a i tak mi dużo brakuje

[@Xerosworldx]

There are some items that are necessary but you only really need 8% melee and 14% Spell hit if you are on horde - 13% if you’re alli. This is bc of Draenei racial and Balance/Shadow Priest bring 3% spell hit to raid. There are also JC specific hit gems, hit food buff, and certain enchants that give hit if you’re still under. Hope that helped

[@TarraskyPiano]

It is viable to use 2H?

[@Gidiot95]

any idea you can send me/tell me how you get your Magma totem Weak Aura and Audio cue like you said in one of your videos?

[@blue_kowalski9089]

Yep, I added it to my wa collection on wagio: wago.io/p/bluekowalski

[@Gidiot95]

@@blue_kowalski9089 thank you sir!

[@tandee7]

how do you maintain mana other than using shamanistic rage? i just run out soo fast. i am undergeared to be fair

[@SICsupraman]

You should be able to rely on Shamanistic Rage as Enhance alone, especially in 25M raiding with full buffs up. If you're going for leather pieces to fill in sub-par gear, then you're missing out on a lot of intellect. 10M raids would be the only reason you'd get close to going OOM, but even then, if you're using SR on CD, you shouldn't have many moments where you're mana starved :)

[@Delithran]

Could anyone explain to me why you use rank 9 and 10 of flametongue and not 10 on both?

[@bushiido8494]

The procs run on separate cool downs, so you can you twice with one swing as opposed to once if you had rank 10 on both.

[@hansifuh6659]

Where is the download for ur weakauras?

[@Lukas-wt3ho]

Why EarthShock > Firenova? Firenova seems to do more dmg and most of the Enhancement Shamans with high logs do way more dmg with FN than with ES and also use it more often

[@blue_kowalski9089]

Single target earth shock does slightly more damage. You end up casting way more fire novas since its a 3 sec CD compared to the 6 sec on shocks and flame shock being higher prio.

[@Zbroja69]

Hi. Why not to use the highest rank flametongue on both hands?

[@KroVey]

If you use different ranks they work together, if you use same ranks it counts as one instance and only orocs one 😊

[@NathanChirnsdie]

Can anyone tell me why we use FT9 on MH and FT10 on OH, from my testing you can use 10 on both and it still procs on every auto(even at .5 attack speed)

[@MultiLindeman]

wanna ask same thing

[@CatKingCole82]

I don't understand why you wouldn't use windfury mh

[@colinb9364]

Flametongue has an extremely small internal cooldown that is not shared between different ranks, meaning a simultaneous attack (Stormstrike) will only proc two Flametongue hits if you are using different ranks, and doing so is a significant damage gain which more than offsets the lower power of the lower Flametongue rank.

[@fredericobaleta1227]

My only problem is does spellenhance scale well ? For ex: i biuld an spellenhance biuld them in future phases it just gets useless and you go back to normal atack power enhance.

[@implodingfruitz8093]

Spellhance is exactly the same as normal enhance except you use a spellpower mainhand and the spellpower neck from sapph 25 man is bis. In ulduar it will likely still be good because of the 4 piece tier set giving more maelstrom procs. You will likely swap to "normal" enhance for single target bosses in phase 3 and definitely swap in phase 4. Spellhance will always be better in any aoe fights however

[@tor4939]

how do you sync youre weapons :)?

[@andornagy2087]

stop+start attack macro on SS

[@blue_kowalski9089]

You can summon a pet (use albino snake cause it doesn't trigger a GCD) to get your weapons in perfect sync. I went over it in my comprehensive enhance guide, if you want to check that out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3ulh3d3j8SCfbs

[@Athenelolzz]

Bro activate windows pls

[@georgkuchler8804]

das nächste mal bitte auf deutsch xD

[@thomaswilliams9843]

confused just listening to the guide :(

[@Jos-F]

Bro can you please make a video or show us the stats prio? I'm not sure how much Hit rating I should go for...

[@StabBacker]

14% Spell hit(17% spell if you don't have balance druid or shadow priest in your group), melee hit will be 8% but you reach this by default if you get all the spell hit you need.

[@Daytonaman675]

@@StabBacker so how much hit rating is that?

[@ace052330]

While this is a great guild overall. IMO attempting to lb weave is a dps lose 99% of the time. It is a gain on the sim because it is a simulation and always perfect. There is no mistakes unlike humans. If you instead just simply focus on never delaying your GCD and always spending your MS procs instantly at 5 stacks your dps will be just fine. My characters name is Nightstorm and I play on Mankrik. No doubt you are a great player and this info is good however I never lightning bolt weave or attemtp to and my logs are slightly higher than yours both the peak and the median. If you're somone whom can lb weave perfectly then by all means go for it. However myself after trying it a ton I have found i do better dps without attempting it and it also allows me to focus much more on the entire rotation/procs and raid mechanics as a whole which leads to more dps.

[@blue_kowalski9089]

Thanks for the feedback mate! No doubt weaving isn't a huge dps difference or the biggest factor in optimizing our output, but it being a dps loss I definitely can't agree with. There are a few factors that make comparing our logs rather hard. 1. Blood Fury not available on alliance 2. We've been running mostly splits so our kill times are a bit scuffed 3. We don't use drums in our raid 4. We unfortunately don't have a sunder armor bot atm. Nonetheless you seem to PUMP and that even without lb weaving at all so I'm defo gonna take a deep dive in your logs and see where I got room for improvement (:

[@skrrtisdoteth5509]

What glyphs are you running?