Since so many classes have gotten this kinds of threads over the past weeks, I'd figure we could make one for Enhance. The talents just got released today, so lo and behold, plenty to discuss. First of all, I think most changes are pretty decent. Pretty much stuff we needed.
The talent tree(s) can be found here:
Yarr! Tools :: Shaman 8472
At first glance, I was disappointed they kept Shield Spec. Even when reducing it to 2 talent points, no one is going to get it. I don't even get why it's there in the first place. But I disgress.
Continuing on the first tier, we can see the new and improved Ancestral Knowledge. At first I was disappointed again, but you will soon see why you should not be (in a few tiers). Next up is the good old Enhancing Totems. No brainer there, didn't get any changes. Next to it though, the new Elemental Shields. I don't think it's too shabby for 3 points, being a first tier and all. 15% damage on lightning shield and 15% more mana gained from water shield charges. Might not be worth 3 talent points, or it might. Needs some theorycrafting. It does have some synergy with a later talent, again.
Next tier. Guardian Totems got some insignificant buff to windwall and stoneskin. Nothing noteworthy. Same goes for Imp Ghostwollf and Thundering Strikes. Unchanged.
But now. This is where the good stuff starts rolling in.
"Mental Dexterity - Increases your attack power by 100% of your intellect."
My first thought was negative, I mean now they actually have a reason to put intellect on our gear. Then I thought about it a little, this is not insignificant. With my current gear setup which is rather mail light, I'm at 270 intellect or so raidbuffed. That's 270 AP, right there. Just 'free". I'd say this is a damn good talent, although it does scares me a little bit Blizzard might overdo it with intellect on mail again. This also adds a reason to get Ancestral Knowledge, for a little free AP. The rest of this tier is unchanged.
Next tier, unchanged too... moving on. Next three tiers, the same... moving on.
And new stuff again. Improved Stormstrike. The wording on that site is bugged, so disregard that.
"Improved Stormstrike - Increases the amount Stormstrike charges by 2 and reduces the cooldown by 2 seconds."
I feel this is pretty decent. Adding 2 charges to SStrike means a longer uptime for Elemental Shamans, adding a buff to them. With this talent, Stormstrike is going to be a 8 second cooldown. I'm a little too tired for theorycraft at the moment, but I'm going to guess at a ~50% uptime on Stormstrike (if you dont have wind serpents), making it roughly equivalent to a Curse.
Next tier, Improved Shamanistic Rage. Damn time.
"Improved Shamanistic Rage - While under the effect of Shamanistic Rage you have a 100% chance to be immune to Stun, Movement Impairing and Snare effects."
PvP toy, but nevertheless might be handy for some encounters. To the other side of Sham Rage we have Elemental Shields synergy with Static Shock.
"Static Shock - You have a 6% chance to inflict an enemy with a Lightning Shield Orb charge everytime you do damage. In addition, you gain 3% more spelldamage while Lightning Shield is active."
Like I said, this will maybe make Lightning Shield a little more valuable. It all depends on how much we'll need our Water Shield, I suppose.
Now it's time for the REAL good stuff. This talent is like a dream;
Weapon Specialisation:
Axe - Increases critical strike damage bonus by 25%
Mace - Has a 5% chance to increase your melee haste by 10% for 15 sec.
Fist - Attacks from your fist weapons have a 5% chance to reduce the enemies armor by 20% for 6 seconds.
Where to start in this amazing talent. First of, it appears that you will benefit from using f.ex one mace and one fist. Gaining both boni, as they are on the same talent. Secondly, from first non-theorycrafting glance, it seems the Fist spec is the superior one. Of course this talent will stand and rise with the question whether or not these procs will have a ICD or not. Will need testing.
And last, but not least: Feral Spirit
Summons 2 Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman, lasts for 30 seconds.
First reports have indicated that these wolves leave a debuff on the target, increasing critical strike bonus damage and apparantly a stun. Also possess a bleeding effect, apparantly. I don't have more information on this. This does increase our raid DPS buffing even more, so this looks to be a good talent.
To end this pretty big post, speccing will be interesting. There's a lot of new stuff to get in Enhance so I don't think we can spare 16 points to get totem range and 3% hit anymore. On the other hand, Elemental Devastation is down a tier and is very easily accessible. And now that melee crit and spell crit are merged, it might actually be a very good talent. Will need some theorycrafting on that.
Discuss.