I was doing a bit of research on enhancement shaman and thought I'd share some of the findings. I'd be willing to guess that more than half of alliance players (especially those who never seriously played horde), don't have a clue what role a shaman plays in a group or raid. I'd like to add that probably half of the shamans don't know how to play one either=). It takes some getting used to, they have changed a bit, and the individual builds make a difference in play, somewhat like a druid plays differently depending upon his talent build. The info below comes from different threads in the WoW shaman forums and more details are available there.

Here is a sampling of what to do with a shaman:

Resto shamans are good for raids, they off heal great, and their special abilites add a lot to a raid. They can anhk in case of a wipe. I suspect many raids of 10 man would like 1-2 resto shaman. 25 person raids would want 2-4 resto shaman closer to the 2 range however.

Elemental shaman are the ones I know the least about. Generally speaking, independantly of how they perform, the general raid would rather some other damage caster, as they like the advantages that other damage casters bring, CC for example, and depend on giving out slots to full healers rather then depending on the off healing ability of an elemental shaman. This is not every raid or every person however, just in general. Elemental shaman can do top dps, as their main damage spell scales really really well. However anything immune to nature... they are screwed and they have mana regen issues for long fights. They are probably a bit more likely to get a raid spot then rogues.

Enhancement shaman are useful in a raid about as much as a rogue. They have, at the moment, slightly more dps, in the future slightly less dps, but they lack any agro management so when it comes to being safe and not going over you "agro wall" (when you draw agro) rogues and enhancement shaman do about the same dps, depending on skill level and gear level.But they still have the much more likely off chance to x6 crit or something silly and get one shotted... which looks bad to a raid group. Their buffs are nice, but since it's group only it's often hard to make the most of them. I get the feeling most raids would take a rogue over an Enhancement shaman, but most anything else over both of them.

In 5 man non heroics they make a better 5th member then rogues, easily because of nearly the same dps, not as much of a worry about agro, and party buffs / healing / wipe prevention that rogues lack. In heroics they are both screwed because of aoe. Rogues tend to have more mitigation then shaman when it comes to AoE or direct damage and are often more likely to be picked. Especially considering their agro management. However some people love shaman buffs and as such like them as a 5th memeber... but generally speaking they would rather a resto for off healing or an elemental for dps then an enhancement.
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SUGGESTED GROUPING WITH an ENHANCE SHAMAN in a raid setting:

Enhance Shaman
Warrior
Rogue (sword rogues benefit more from WF)
Rogue
Feral Druid

Ret paladins can do impressive numbers when they are in an enhancement shaman's group but a rogue in that same group spot will absolutely trounce the paladin on the damage meters.

Feral druid doesn't benefit from WF totem but he gets Strength of Earth, Unleashed Rage, and Battleshout which will likely be better buffs for him than any other group in the raid. Also I would think a large number of raiding enhancement shaman twist their totems so their group gets the benefits from both air totems. (Twist = using both GoA and WF) Druids are all about AP, and they have huge amounts of it, so they get a massive boost from BS/UR.

Hunters provide decent buffs but they do not benefit from being in the group because Strength of Earth, WF, and Unleashed Rage is all wasted on the hunter.

Technically you could swap out rogues for more warriors but DPS warriors in an enhancement shaman's group will likely run into aggro cap issues unless it's a fight where there are multiple targets for the warrior to bounce around on. The output of sword rogues go through the roof with improved soe, battleshout, Windfury, UR, leader of the pack 5% crit is so good that you wont want to lose it.. fully buffed with Moongose procs I get up to 40% with GOA...

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FOR THE GUYS WHO LIKE NUMBERS:

Enhancement Shaman Raid Viability
Here are some easy numbers to convince your raid leader that enhancement shamans are worthy additions to melee groups.

Strength of Earth: +86 STR, talented +98 STR

Untalented (Resto/Elemental spec)
- Rogues: 86 Attack Power
- Warriors/Shamans/Bear Druids/Paladins: 172 AP
- Cat Druids: 206.4 AP

Talented + Unleashed Rage (Enhancement spec)
- Rogues: 107.8 AP
- Warriors/Shamans/Bear Druids/Paladins: 215.6 AP
- Cat Druids: 258.72 AP

Grace of Air: +77 AGI, talented +88 AGI

Untalented (Resto/Elemental spec)
- Rogues/Cat Druids: 77 AP
-- Rogues: 1.93% Crit, 3.85% Dodge
-- Warriors: 2.33% Crit, 2.57% Dodge
-- Druids: 3.08% Crit, 5.25% Dodge
-- Shamans/Paladins: 3.08% Crit, 3.08% Dodge

Talented + Unleashed Rage (Enhancement spec)
- Rogues/Cat Druids: 96.8 AP
-- Rogues: 2.2% Crit, 4.40% Dodge
-- Warriors: 2.67% Crit, 2.93% Dodge
-- Druids: 3.52% Crit, 5.99% Dodge
-- Shamans/Paladins: 3.52% Crit, 3.52% Dodge

Totals
Unleashed Rage is +10% AP, so for every 1000 AP you have, including other buffs and potions, you gain 100 AP. Lets

assume that every melee class has 2000 AP buffed, so Unleashed Rage would add another 200.

Untalented Totals (Resto/Elemental spec)
- Rogues: 163 AP
- Cat Druids: 283.4 AP
- Warriors/Shamans/Other Druids/Paladins: 172 AP
-- Rogues: 1.93% Crit, 3.85% Dodge
-- Warriors: 2.33% Crit, 2.57% Dodge
-- Druids: 3.08% Crit, 5.25% Dodge
-- Shamans/Paladins: 3.08% Crit, 3.08% Dodge

Talented Totals (Enhancement spec)
- Rogues: 204.6 + 200 = 404.6 AP
- Cat Druids: 355.52 + 200 = 555.52 AP
- Warriors/Shamans/Other Druids/Paladins: 215.6 + 200 = 415.6 AP
-- Rogues: 2.2% Crit, 4.40% Dodge
-- Warriors: 2.67% Crit, 2.93% Dodge
-- Druids: 3.52% Crit, 5.99% Dodge
-- Shamans/Paladins: 3.52% Crit, 3.52% Dodge

The attack power bonus will scale perfectly with gear. As a basic rule of thumb, enhancement shamans provide around 250 AP, 0.5% crit, and 0.5% dodge over resto/elemental shamans. Keep in mind that a flask of relentless assault is 120 AP. You can't stack pots in 2.1, so that attack power is proportionally more valuable.

These calculations are all before bloodlust or especially windfury which scales dramatically better than agility with warriors, paladins, and combat rogues.

Wow! This looks like a great post. I'll have to read it later and inspire myself to level up Kaewhi!

Wow! This looks like a great post. I'll have to read it later and inspire myself to level up Kaewhi!
That trouble-maker? Didn't I kick her out of the guild?!

Its reading posts like these that make me want to get every last little bit of damage out of my character that I can.

It's a good thing the guild doesn't know that most of the WoW comunity thinks that Rogues are useless :P

Awww.. if I pieced a few posts together that sounded bad for rogues, it wasn't intentional.. we love our rogues=) Who says the WoW community is all that bright anyway? (Think of general or trade chat) and that pretty much sums it up=) At least they need more of you than they do shaman. Plus, it's gonna take a good amt of gear for me to do the dps anywhere near you do!

feel any better? hehe

Rogues aren't completely useless. At least until I get my elemental seaforium charge...

Well Brendar, some points I would like to dispute with you but I am getting ready for work so I'll make it short. I've played a Horde shaman for years and have been all three specs. I was enhancement before paladins came on the scene with their sweet agro reducer. Step one - Install kth threat meter (everyone should have this if you plan to do heroic/raids) Monitor it for threat. Now when I have time I will go over my play style as an enhancement shaman but consistently in a raid full of top tier geared people I was always top dps over any class because of my spec, my spell set order and my play style.

To say that the best you can do is slightly more than a rogue is plain wrong. TO say that they are worse in a raid is very wrong. Lazy shaman do indeed get one shotted and frankly at times I’ve made a stupid mistake and got myself dead quick time. But of any class I’ve played and lord knows Ive been most of em, the enhancement shaman has been my most challenging and interesting class. I’ve all about argo management, totem management and knowing the classes (more importantly their spec) in your group and how to balance yourself against their skillset.

Damn I’m late for work now!

Widge

Well, what I USED to do with shamans was this......

Sheep - Arcane Power+trinket+fireball, Scorch, POM+Pyroblast, Fireblast.

That was usually enough. :D

Its reading posts like these that make me want to get every last little bit of damage out of my character that I can.

It's a good thing the guild doesn't know that most of the WoW comunity thinks that Rogues are useless :P

don't know about all rogue's but Fox seems to steal aggro and die a lot. I think that makes you awesome though. :)

That's only cause I'm doing twice as much damage as you. (You did ask for that right?) :)

BURN!

Well, what I USED to do with shamans was this......

Sheep - Arcane Power+trinket+fireball, Scorch, POM+Pyroblast, Fireblast.

That was usually enough. :D

Aw, but you wouldn't do that with a Shaman as cute as Frolic...at least I wouldn't...

I do have a few trinkets I'd like to use on Frolic.

I do have a few trinkets I'd like to use on Frolic.

Killian has the idea! GEEZ I don't have that healing gear for my entertainment!!! (I actually expected more posts along the oogling line:P)

I've played a Horde shaman for years and have been all three specs. Now when I have time I will go over my play style as an enhancement shaman but consistently in a raid full of top tier geared people I was always top dps over any class because of my spec, my spell set order and my play style.

To say that the best you can do is slightly more than a rogue is plain wrong. TO say that they are worse in a raid is very wrong. Lazy shaman do indeed get one shotted and frankly at times I’ve made a stupid mistake and got myself dead quick time. But of any class I’ve played and lord knows Ive been most of em, the enhancement shaman has been my most challenging and interesting class. I’ve all about argo management, totem management and knowing the classes (more importantly their spec) in your group and how to balance yourself against their skillset.

Damn I’m late for work now!

Widge

I was hoping for some feedback from shammies=) I'd love to hear more about how you played your enhancement shaman! I took a look at your talent build and your gear on the Armory. Not what I expected for a talent build, but then, I've always had talents in resto, so to think of a full dps build caught me off guard. I can see why you would be great at dps, with that build. It's defintely something for me to think about! If I went with something like that for a build, would be very little healing and lots of damage.. -ponder- That.. could be fun >:)

Find some time to tell me more Widget=)

That's only cause I'm doing twice as much damage as you. (You did ask for that right?) :)

OH SHI-











p.s. beast mastery > everybody
end of story

Well as healers, we shine in large raids. Chain heal when specced correctly and with the proper +heal is godly and frankly a lifesaver in aoe situations. Aran comes to mind. A well-played healing shaman can make a huge difference indeed.

Elemental shaman are a bit if a mixed bag. I was elemental for a while and in PVP, they really do shine but in five man and raid situations, they are weak casters compared to the "pure" casting classes. Sadly, they are generally forced to wear cloth since not much mail is out there for them and this nullifies the ac advantage of the shaman. Shocks are mana inefficient but instant and lightning is good steady dps. In pvp chain lightning is your bread and butter but it is a curse in raid situations where CC mobs don't like it that much :)

Enhancement shaman are often overlooked since if not played well they are generally spending more time dead than contributing to the dps of a group. (There is a reason my spec is referred to as the suicide spec). Now the key to being an effective melee shaman is first and foremost having a good tank that understands how to manage threat and knows what you can bring to the table. Hate control is trivialized with a good threat meter; you do have to control your threat somewhat, but with a decent tank in a raid, it is not really much of a problem if you give him a few seconds to build aggro before going all out. In this I was blessed with a main tank in my guild that loved having me in his group because I was always spot on with totem drops and placement. I am always shocked that most shaman have no clue what totems to drop or are just plain lazy in dropping them at all.

Tip one: ALWAYS drop totems every fight, they are never a waste of mana. Know your group makeup. If you are with the main tank then drop your strength totem you are your wind fury totem, you will take a hit in dps since it does you no good as apposed to GoA, but it will greatly enhance a tank’s ability to hold threat. If you are not in the main tanks group (lord help you if there is not a second shaman who IS in the MT’s group and will drop WF totem) then make sure you are in a group with the rogues, hunters and feral druids so you can drop STR and GoA.

Tip two: Recall your totems after each fight, I have seen raids wipe because a lazy shaman left their totems behind and a wandering npc comes across them.

Tip three: If you checked my armory, you may have noticed that I wear trinkets that proc an AP bonus. I use a macro that activates both trinkets and then activates shamanistic rage. This greatly enhances my dps as well as gives me even better mana regen since that talent regens mana equal to 15% of your overall attack power. Another nice thing about binding them is the trinkets as well as the talent are on a two-minute cool down. I know that conventional wisdom is to “save” this talent or “save” your trinkets for emergency or special situations but that is bologna and they should be activated each time they 1) recycled and 2) in the middle of a fight when you are at about ½ mana. More mana = more shocks = more dps, simple.

Tip Four: Make sure you are using Slow/Slow, WF/WF on your weapons. Make sure you use SS pretty much the second it cools down. Use earth shock after each SS, you can get in two earth shocks before the SS effect fades if you have the right talents.

Tip Five: Get your crit high enough so that Unleashed Rage and Flurry are constantly active. Pick up some food that gives "well feed" effects to increase strength or agility. Grab some potions that have nice effect boosts. Drop your GoA totem (crit boost) and STR totem (attack power boost) in combat (see above). Have a paladin Kings you if you can handle it, salvation if you can’t

Tip Six: Ask your friendly neighborhood mage for at least three stacks of water. Drink after each fight, even if it is only for a couple seconds and you have to stop mid regen because the party moved on. Even a small increase in mana between fights is crucial.

Tip Seven: Drop a Searing Totem on boss fights or mobs that take an over average time to kill, it is the most mana efficient dps you have and it is often overlooked. Note: on boss fights lead off with a flame shock, it is lower threat and higher/more efficient dps than ES but FS needs the time to tick down to be useful.

Tip eight: Your gearing stat priority is Str/AP, Hit, Agi/Crit, stam, Int/Mp5. To start on Kara you probably want 1k AP, 70+ Hit, 7k HP, 20% Crit and 6k-ish MP. Those are minimums, just build from there. An enhancement shaman’s best weapon is AP and Hit Rating. You want hit rating out the wazoo. A LARGE portion of your damage is in white damage and you connecting your hits directly affect white damage. If you are missing lots then your dps is gimped horribly. Do not under estimate hit rating but at the same time do not gimp out other important stats such as AP while increasing you +hit. It is all a balancing act.

Tip nine: Where you can replace AP with STR do so. STR scales with kings where as AP does not (1 STR = 2 AP). So most of the time you can get the same increase in AP just with STR as the stat instead. Example being red gems you can get 6 STR gem or 12 AP gem. They are the same so I would take the STR as it works with more buffs.

I'm sure I have more nuggets O'wisdom but it's late and I've typed far more than I intended already. Hope it helps.

MMM now that was a yummy goodness post there Widget! Thanks for taking that time to post all that. From my experiences as a shaman, now and in my past lives, everything you mentioned agrees with all I have learned! Thanks for sharing a bit more light on the stats we use and for why! Your post is a keeper, and should be shared with other shaman! Hope everyone checks it out!

Thanks lots=)
:D

Can we get this in the wiki?

OK so this is a great post, thanks for diggin it up. I think a wiki for Shaman would be a great idea. I seem to be chugging along with Gothica, but I have gotten a lot of feedback reading these posts.

Ret paladins can do impressive numbers when they are in an enhancement shaman's group but a rogue in that same group spot will absolutely trounce the paladin on the damage meters.



I don't know where this quote came from originally but I think all of the "class arguments" are hogwash.


I will put Chaves up against any DPS class that has gear obtainable only pre-Kara (including no gear from recipies derived from Kara/25-mans). I might get beat, but I won't get trounced. He even competes with and sometimes beats classes that have better gear - but that is often situational. The Ret Paly and the DPS Warrior share the same gear pool and are the two hardest sets to improve. All of the other DPS classes have tons of things in Kara alone that improve DPS. The Ret Paly and Warrior have 1 armor piece, necklace, trinket and rings. They have a little badge loot which rounds it out but that loot pool is roughly the same as all the other classes (essentially 2-3 pieces). The point here is, the other DPS classes can surpase these two quickly because their upgrade pool is huge.

Every fight/event is different and they use a different set of dynamics that make different classes more or less effective for that specific timeslice. But I think anyone that says "I won't bring a Rogue to Kara" or "I won't bring a Enh Shaman to a heroic" is someone that only knows half the formula. The player matters too. For example, a level 70 Ret Paly that never uses cleanse shouldn't go on a Deadmines run, let alone a raid.

Aww.. Chaves needs more love!

I do agree that the gear for ret paly is hard to come by.. same for "non-hunter", shaman gear, other than healing, (which there is tons).

As for the quote, if you look at the info I cut and pasted in that thread, the person who wrote it didn't care for rogues either. I used it more to provoke a discussion, not to say that any class was inferior. However, I'd love to see you flaunt your stuff=).

True they asked me to de-curse on Tigress last night in Kara and I was totally lost.

I am much better now though lol.

anyone that says "I won't bring a Rogue to Kara"

sputter

who says such nonsense!

ROGUES ARE RAD

Or maybe it's just our rogues, and rogues in other guilds suck.

Aww.. Chaves needs more love!


Hmmn, Chaves will always take more love. Just name the time and place and he will be there...