Enhancement Shaman Talents Guide

Enhancement has access to two distinct talent builds, either using the Stormbringer or Totemic hero talents.

Stormbringer builds, focus on generating as much Maelstrom Weapon as possible to spend on improved Maelstrom Weapon spenders and triggering Tempest. In these builds Lava Lash is relegated to a filler spell, and while it was even fully omitted in the past, the talent tree changes make it into an appealing option to maintain and spread Flame Shock.

Totemic builds, on the other hand, focus on improving Lava Lash, Sundering and triggering Windfury Weapon as often as possible. Maelstrom Weapon spenders are mostly used to maintain Legacy of the Frost Witch.

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The Shaman class tree includes very few mandatory throughput nodes and as such allows for a lot of flexibility in picking utility for any given content. These mandatory points are Fire and Ice, Frost Shock, Nature’s Fury and Enhanced Imbues. If you pick Elemental Blast in the spec tree, you should also take Lava Burst, as this turns into a second charge of Elemental Blast instead. If you are playing the Totemic hero talents, take Totemic Focus and Totemic Surge to improve your Surging Totem.

The most broadly useful talents that you will pick in almost any circumstance are your interrupt Wind Shear, your movement options Thunderous Paws, Winds of Al’Akir, and Spirit Walk, your defensive options Planes Traveller, Earth Elemental, Nature’s Guardian, Elemental Warding, Primordial Bond, and Stone Bulwark Totem, and your party wide utility, Wind Rush Totem, and Jet Stream.

You have access to a strong arsenal of AoE crowd control options in Capacitor Totem, Static Charge and Thundershock. Individual enemies can be handled through Hex or Lightning Lasso.

And finally there is a lot of niche utility, that may come in handy occasionally, such as Gust of Wind, Earthgrab Totem, Purge, Tremor Totem, Thunderstorm, and Poison Cleansing Totem. Totemic Projection and Totemic Recall can allow you to make better and more frequent use of Capacitor Totem and Wind Rush Totem if needed.

There are a few core nodes in the spec tree that you will pick almost certainly with any build for any situation. These are Lava Lash and Molten Assault to maintain and spread Flame Shock, Windfury Weapon, Forceful Winds, Unruly Winds, and Doom Winds as Windfury is numerically strong right now and the new set bonus improves Doom Winds. Improved Maelstrom Weapon, Raging Maelstrom, and Overflowing Maelstrom to improve the main resource Maelstrom Weapon and allow you to pool it before spending it. Storm’s Wrath, Stormflurry, Stormblast, and Elemental Assault, to improve Stormstrike and resource generation. Elemental Weapons, Feral Spirit, and one point in Legacy of the Frost Witch as generically strong damage multipliers.

Hot Hand and Ashen Catalyst are mandatory talents for Totemic builds, resulting in strong sustained damage. Lashing Flames is an option for AoE.

Converging Storms and Unrelenting Storms have become strong options for Stormbringer builds, as Crash Lightning can hit quite hard by itself now with the buffs and new tier set and is cast more often because of it.

As of March 4th, Witch Doctor’s Ancestry is now superior to Flowing Spirits again.

The Ascendance line of talents, including Static Accumulation and Thorim’s Invocation, provides strong 2 minute burst and mostly lends itself to Stormbringer builds, which have a lot of synergy with cycling through a lot of Maelstrom Weapon. Deeply Rooted Elements is too inconsistent and not worth taking compared to regular Ascendance.

The new Primordial Wave has lost synergy with Lightning Bolt talents and taking all the follow-up talents is much less attractive for Stormbringer, but it can still be used to apply multiple Lightning Rods in AoE situations. Primordial Storm being buffed by regular Feral Spirit and being able to proc Windfury Weapon have, however, made it a very attractive 30 second burst option for Totemic builds.

Ice Strike, Hailstorm, Fire Nova and Swirling Maelstrom have fallen to the wayside with the buff to all the other abilities and you will not be able to find the globals to use them effectively.

With the changes in 11.1 to Totemic, the hero talents have changed from mostly niche single target to just as generically strong as the alternative Stormbringer. This means, that optimal talents will come down to tuning and fight timers.

Stormbringer is focused around the new spell Tempest, which replaces your Lightning Bolt everytime you spend 40 Maelstrom Weapon or whenever you trigger Awakening Storms 4 times. You are also provided with a bunch of supporting talents, which further bolster your Maelstrom Weapon generation such as Unlimited Power, Supercharge and Rolling Thunder, so you can cycle through Tempest casts more quickly. Tempest is an extremely strong spell, boasting more than double the spell power coefficient of Lightning Bolt. Ascendance is a shoo-in for Stormbringer, resulting in strong 2 minute burst windows through all the extra Maelstrom Weapon generated by Static Accumulation and spent by Thorim’s Invocation. Additionally, Arc Discharge and Voltaic Surge further improve your existing AoE tools, cementing this hero talent tree as a versatile and generalist option, which slots in smoothly into existing gameplay patterns.

Totemic is focused around the new spell Surging Totem, which deals damage and improves a wide selection of your other abilities while it is active, such as Lava Lash, Windfury Weapon and Sundering. These builds boast strong sustained damage and cleave through Hot Hand windows buffed by Reactivity and Earthsurge, with 30 second burst windows provided by Primordial Wave with Splintered Elements and Sundering. The combination of Doom Winds and Sundering with Molten Thunder allows for massive AoE burst as well.