World of Warcraft’s Enhancement Shaman is one of the game’s most unique melee classes. With the power of the elements on their side, no foe can stand a chance. That’s why we’ve created a guide on how you get more attuned to the elements while getting to smack some faces.
Alongside Paladins, Shamans are the original faction-specific class dating back to the original game’s release in 2004. Only available for Orcs, Trolls, and Taurens at the time, they were unique in what they could bring, mainly with their totems, and were some of the fans’ favorite classes.
Once in The Burning Crusade, the avenue for Shamans being played upon up as the expansion allowed for Alliance players to partake in the shamanistic fun. And since then, the class has had many hardcore fans.
Enhancement Shamans, in particular, brought a fresh take to the Melee scene back then with their usage of dual-wielding one-handed weapons, their surprising utility as a melee—mainly when it comes to healing—and their burst. That’s why we’ve put a guide on how to take on that role.
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What is the Enhancement Shaman
In the world of Azeroth, there are many forces like the elemental forces that constantly are vying for power – that’s where Shamans come in. As spiritual guides and practitioners, Shamans commune with the elemental forces that are not necessarily kind. The elements are chaotic by nature, and if left by their own devices, they rage against one another without an end in sight. It is the call of the Shaman to make that they bring balance to this never-ending chaos.
As for Enhancement Shamans, they have an intense communion with the fire, earth, air, and water elements, something that Elemental ones don’t quite particularly have. They empower their physical attacks with elemental energies and aren’t shy from being on the frontlines.
They are solid when it comes to sustained single-target and cleave-focused damage and are able to funnel AoE and cleave into a single-target, gaining strong amounts of priority target damage. On top of that, they’re versatile when in group settings with their various totems and ability to Reincarnate in and out of battle and lastly are highly mobile.
Best Races for Enhancement Shaman in WoW
Thanks to their faction-specificness and later on their very limited availability when it comes to races, Enhancement Shamans only have a handful of races that truly stand out. With that in mind, here are our top race picks for Enhancement Shamans separated in both Horde and Alliance.
Horde:
- Orc
- Troll
As the original faction to claim the Shaman class, the Horde faction has always had the strongest, if not the best racials for its class, especially the Enhancement specialization. To start off is the trusty old Orc race. Their Blood Fury, which is an increase of Attack Power by 52 for 15, is too good to pass up for specialization like this. Having a mini buff to go alongside your cooldowns is a great way to make your bursts even stronger. There is also Orc’s Racial Passive, Hardiness, which reduces the effect of stuns by 20%, which is a nice little bonus.
On the Troll’s side, Berserking can have its uses, especially for Enhancement’s want to go for Haste as a stat but when you already have a lot of Haste it’s a bit counterintuitive to add onto it more. There’s also the bonus of their Racial Passive, Regeneration, but in a class like a Shaman it wouldn’t be of much use.
Alliance
- Draenei
- Dwarf
When it comes to Alliance, although not as strong as the Horde choices, they still have their side. For Draenei, you have the likes of their Heroic Presence, which is a Racial Passive that increases Strength, Agility, and Intellect; an increase in a main stat is always welcome. Then they also have their Gift of the Naaru which gives a class that can already heal themselves fairly well and extra heal.
As for Dwarves, this could be seen as possibly a stronger choice. Both their Might of the Mountain Racial Passive and their Stoneform Racial are really strong for a plethora of situations. Might of the Mountain’s Critical Strike Damage is always a plus for any class looking to crit while Stoneform is just a free get out of jail card when it comes to most any debuff.
Best Talents for Enhancement Shaman
As you progress through your WoW journey, you’ll quickly start acquiring new talents. Enhancement Shaman’s case, the talent path you’d be choosing is pretty set and stone outside of one or two minor alterations.
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This is what we’ve found to be the best talent path for Enhancement Shamans:
| Talent | Level Acquired | Description |
| Elemental Blast | 15 | Harness the raw power of the elements, dealing (140% of Spell Power) Elemental damage and increasing your Critical Strike or Haste by 3% or Mastery by 5.625% for 10 sec. |
| Hot Hand | 25 | Melee auto-attacks with Flametongue Weapon active have a 5% chance to reduce the cooldown of Lava Lash by 75% and increase the damage of Lava Lash by 100% for 8 sec. |
| Spirit Wolf | 30 | While transformed into a Ghost Wolf, you gain 5% increased movement speed and 5% damage reduction every 1 sec, stacking up to 4 times. |
| Elemental Assault | 35 | Stormstrike damage is increased by 15%, and Stormstrike now generates 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon. |
| Feral Lunge | 40 | Lunge at your enemy as a ghostly wolf, biting them to deal (9% of Attack Power) Physical damage. |
| Sundering | 45 | Shatters a line of earth in front of you with your main hand weapon, causing (140% of Attack Power) Flamestrike damage and Incapacitating any enemy hit for 2 sec. |
| Elemental Spirits | 50 | Reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 30 sec and causes your Feral Spirits to be imbued with Fire, Frost, or Lightning, enhancing your abilities. |
Even though it’s very set in stone in its build, there are a handful of swaps that can be made depending on the situation and overall player preference, these would be mainly on the level 30 and 40 talents. Spirit Wolf could be swapped out for the likes of Static Charge if you’re in need of a stun while Feral Lunge could be swapped out for Wind Rush Totem if, for example, your group needs a speed boost to get away from a certain mechanic or the like.
Enhancement Shamans: Best Stats to level
As you keep progressing as an Enhancement Shaman you’ll inevitably get stronger. Part of this comes from the gear you acquire along the way.
When it comes to Enhancement Shamans, the stats you’d be focusing on would be Agility above all else as it’s your main stat, then from there, you’d be looking for Haste, Critical Strike, Versatility, and Mastery.
Haste is the perfect stat as it reduces the cooldowns of your main abilities and increases attack speed. This means that the more Haste you have the more Maelstrom you’ll have generating and the more damage you’ll be dishing out.
Past this, Critical Strike and Versatility could be seen as fairly equal as even though they both have their uses they pale in comparison with the likes of Haste.
For Mastery though, this is by far the weakest stat one could have. Although it gets a bit stronger in AoE situations, its increase in overall power is not as strong as the likes of Haste or even Critical Strike and Versatility.
Enhancement Shaman: best Covenant in WoW Shadowlands
Shadowlands released signified the joining of the Covenant system, the expansion’s power. Each class is forced to select one out of the game’s four different choices with each giving their own benefits and abilities.
For Enhancement Shamans, the end all be all Covenant you’d be looking to join would be Night Fae, as its benefits far outweigh any other.
- Night Fae Enhance Shaman ability: Fae Transfusion – Transfer the life force of up to 4 enemies in the target area, dealing (117.5% of Spell Power) Nature damage evenly split to each enemy target over 3 sec.
- Fully Channeling Fae Transfusion generates 3 stack of Maelstorm Weapon.
- Pressing Fae Transfusion again within 20 sec will release 60% of all damage from Fae Transfusion, healing up to 4 allies within 20 yds.
The Night Fae Covenant is the go-to choice for Enhancement Shamans mainly due to its ability to generate stacks of Maelstorm Weapon on top of its massive amount of damage from Fae Transfusion’s channel.
That’s our Enhancement Shaman guide! If you’re looking to stay on the Shaman class but want a different flavor than the Elemental specialization, then this is for you.
For more tips and tricks to help you in the rest of your WoW career, check out our other class guides:
Resto Druid guide | Shadow Priest guide | Fire Mage guide | Havoc Demon Hunter guide | Arms Warrior guide