Xieon

The 3.1 patch introduced a series of changes to the shaman Enhancement tree to enhance their PvP viability. While there have been arguments that it still isn't enough, I've personally enjoyed arena far more as Enhancement than in any previous season. I have a renewed interest in arena PvP as Enhancement now and I would like to start up some new discussion amongst the community. Strategies, pros and cons of particular talents, Glyphs and general hints and tips are welcome and appreciated.

I've found limited success with the new Frozen Power talent, using it both as a way to close distance on a target and as an escape mechanism when combined with Earthbind Totem. I've had some serious frustrations with the range dependency of the talent, as expected.

For talents, I've considered a series of different ideas, some of which without Maelstrom Weapon. While I can't see giving up that level of utility, between burst damage or clutch healing, it's worth at least exploring some of the different options available. One of the talents I can't get myself to take in any of my prospective builds is Anticipation, which doesn't seem like a solid return for the points. Perhaps I'll find that disarming is a more potent issue at higher ranks, I'm interested in any commentary regarding that talent.

Glyphs are pretty straightforward, Stormstrike and Stoneclaw being the lynchpins and the final most often Feral Spirits. I've tossed around the idea of a more defensive build, including the Lightning Shield glyph, Static Shock and Improved Shields, but it doesn't fit the burst play style that seems prevalent at the moment.

I look forward to some productive discussion, and I encourage enhancement shamans to try arenas again, its not nearly as painful as it has been in the past. I've spent a few nights playing, about 100 matches so far, and haven't come across another enhancement shaman yet. I know I'm not alone!

 

panny

The problem with Enhancement is you don't really have a niche. I can't think of a comp where we couldn't be replaced with at least two or three other specs/classes. Our old niche (massive unpredictable damage spikes + melee buffs) has been taken over by other classes that do all of it much better with us having gained anything to replace it. The only way Enhancement are desirable in a composition is where you want Lust + totems + hex where you can't otherwise fit a Resto (or even Ele) .

That isn't to say you can't do well with a Enhancement Shaman, but it usually means you either settle for partners who aren't very good, or you play with friends who don't mind playing sub-optimal comps. Personally, I got sick at being stuck at ~1950 (peaked at 2030) with Enh/Mage/Priest/ and switched to RMP.

Fix Spirit Wolves not responding to commands.
DK/Rogue

 

Grundar

Just started arena again, with RL Friends. So far with a hunter partner (2 hunters, 1 DK and 1 enhance) we dont do so well. In fact pretty bad, maybe 2 wins out of 10 matches. But with the DK we are winning more than losing.

I have found frozen power a blast in BGs. Nothing works in Wintergrasp and it is not helpful really in arenas due to the way most matches go. But it is really fun in strand.

Nearly every 2s I am focused. Have to start defensive with shield equiped. In the sewer we do very well since we start in totem range and stay there. I use feral spirit immediately and stoneclaw and bloodlust. Since we start close and the wolves will work through some cc the DK can AOE and kill one - generally shortly after I die - and then he wins the one on one. The wolves are the key to it all. I have had luck getting the wolves on a warrior prior to his charge several times.

Where we have to move outside of initial totem range is where we struggle. I rarely am able to toss a second set of totems and the distance means the 10 second shield is not as effective. Without a healer we have to be very aggressive, waiting to be attacked is not really an option.

I love mweapon in BGs and PVE but in arena it seems like even when it is at 100% you are to cc'd to use it. If it was usable at any time it would be huge.

Still experimenting with talents and gear but so far it is fun again.

 

Dollar

On my server there is a top ten enhance/disc/rogue team. The shaman/priest are both bglads and the rogue is a vglad on a different character. It seems to me that like most things when it comes to pvp it can work very well as long as you are good at it. I would be a little more hesitant to discard something as bad or sub par unless you're sure that you're actually playing it to it's maximum potential. And, in my experience, it's very seldom that someone can play any class/spec "perfectly".

"Oh he's a sad little man? He's thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?"

 

panny

Sure, the best of the best can make alot of things work.You don't judge class balance or viability over what Hydra or Neilyo or Kollectiv can do, you judge it on a general skill level.

Also, not to be rude, but Emberstorm is known to be a pretty weird battlegroup. I know I had 5 people from my guild transfer over there to get bglad in the 5v5 bracket.

Fix Spirit Wolves not responding to commands.
DK/Rogue

 

Dollar

Yes, I suppose you're right. I guess the point is that enhance can work at a high level.
Yes, Emberstorm is almost as bad as people say it is. But from my experience teams in the top 5-10 are generally actually good. This is coming from someone who used to play on bloodlust and whirlwind.

Who were the people from your guild that transferred, out of curiosity? Because that enhance shaman/disc priest both got bglad in 5s. I wasn't really following the ladder at all at the time, I guess it's possible that they set up a tie.

"Oh he's a sad little man? He's thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?"

 

panny

They were called "Rickrolled" or something, and each person had a different name in the phase "Never gonna give you up". They played some variant of Euro comp, with Rogue/Mage/Lock/Druid/Elemental Shaman (not sure on the last one).

Most of them have since switched classes or transfered, but here's the Druid, Mage, and the Lock. Out of those, the Lock's the only one that still plays seriously on that character.

Fix Spirit Wolves not responding to commands.
DK/Rogue

 

Dollar

Weird. They must have tied it or something then. The people I'm thinking of played some cheesy cleave, I think it was enhance/disc/bm/warrior/holy paladin or something similar.

Edit: yeah I found out what happened. Apparently the team on my server had two people transfer off and they couldn't play anymore. Two other 5s teams got up to their rating and stopped, so 3 teams actually got bglad from 5s.

Sorry for the sidetrack.

"Oh he's a sad little man? He's thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?"

 

Illundai

Paladin Arms Warrior Enhance Shaman has gained popularity in Cyclone this season again and it's absolutely destroying several comps. It's the good ol' cleave tactic though, find clothie/healer... rape clothie/healer with wolves/heroism/bladestorm/purgespam. There's very little that can heal through that damage ;_;

Yes, Death Knight tanks are/were too good in 3.0.x. Having 38k HP, 76.81% Avoidance (Miss incl.) and not gimping your threat in the first tier of gear is broken. (Yes this is clickable)

 

kaoticz

I played Enhance/Survival Hunter in 2's last season and capped out @ 1950. This season after playing one week as Enhance/Disc Priest in 2s we got to 2015, and plan to go much further next week (we just got tired of the 0 - 2k grind they've added). I would love to be able to exchange ideas with any other high rated enhance shamans in any bracket, so say something if you're out there >.>

Would be nice to see some more enhance get into arena and trying it out and learning and perhaps contributing to this thread to help! I also would value any ideas/tips anyone may have, as there is really no where to get help with enhance pvp, so its all a lot of trial and error.

 

Monsta

Hey peeps/ shamans.
Ive been off this wow grid for 2 years, cause of hate towards tbc, and other issues.
I played Resto pre-tbc. And now im duel specced with resto, for pve and enh for pvp.. Ive just gotten full hatefull + other nessessary pvp gear and plan to start arena with a hunter.
I havent read all threads yet.. And dont know if theres posted a build and what the caps are either.
Ive invested most my time in pve and know the caps and builds for pve resto/enh etc.. But how goes for pvp, im unsure. I gonna fully test this spec out, but theres some things ive ben noticing.. Im not giving much dmg compared to what i hoped.
I have curently 0 in expertise, because i heard it is useless in pvp, is this true? Cause i feel i give more dmg vs players in my pve gear, with expertise cap (26). And hit cap, which ive read 368 was enough.
But ive also heared that hit cap was much higher for duelspec, and might also be nessessary to raise if possible..
Lots of mixed oppinions.
My question is.. Do i need experise in pvp? Maybe just 5% im guessing.. or is it a waste? Casue saving 3 talent points is valuable, even though Unleashed Rage is imba for my pvp team mates, if feel id rather use it on def, and self dps.
I got 170 hit rating (5%), which i heard was enough.
Another question is: Spell penetration.. Ive heard i should get minimum 170 or so. But not many play enh shamans, and them who do, dont know shit. Or at least on my server. I feel alone.
I frequently talk with a imba Deathknight, and he refers to having spell penetration. So ive used 3 gems in it = 3x20.
But with 60 spell penetration (i dont know how to get more), maybe theres someting im missing?.. is it worth it compared to 3x stam gems = 750 hp? Cause hp has always been a MUST in mmo pvp.. Wow has really improved in detail since i left. And i want to get all these questions aswered, so i dont run around gimping myself and wasting my time on stupid stuff..
Need to try this spec out on the fullest.

Monsta, Orc Enh/Resto Shaman of Burning Legion !

 

MatsT

Expertise is very bad in pvp, but not useless. It does absolutely nothing when attacking someone who is casting or crowd controlled. Also, you should generally be attacking from behind whenever possible. This being said, there are situations where you are going toe-to-toe with another melee, and when you do it's not bad. However, agility and attack power will help your damage in all situations instead of just a few, it's a better deal.

Spell penetration is also very bad, not worth getting. A DK has to deal with Paladin Auras and priest's Shadow Protection making it at least decent for them. For a shaman, the only resistance you will face is MotW and that can be purged easily enough. Mages and Frost DK's can get some resistance from talents, but you will not face those so often that it's worth gearing for.

 

Grundar

I should have added that I was speaking about 2s.

Having tried with different hunters and different hunter specs I just dont see hunter/enhance as viable, we just can not absorb enough damage to survive.

I don't have a full pvp set but I am putting resilience up to around 800 and want more, my AP is down to like 2500 becuase I rarely can melee anyway but I have put my spell power up to about 1800 since the chance of a big lava burst or in the very rare event a maelstrom weapon works a LB can finish someone.

I dont do math well enough to calculate what kind of feral spirit damage I would gain from trying to max it, I have the glyph for it.

I have tried 4 different talent combo's.....was thinking of taking 2 points in elemental out of the stun on magma totem becuase I generally don't live long enough to use it and almost never get near enough to two players at the same time, and putting into extra stamina back in the enhance tree.

I have also stopped using windfury since I want the crit on spells and I enjoy the ice catching guys.

The difference in damage from spells is almost like being back in the good old days with real windfury and the big 2H force! well almost....

 

kaoticz

I disagree sir. Mages can also get spell resistances that are passive, which can cause a shock to be resisted on a crucial interrupt and cause a death. Part of gearing for arena is making sure you are ready for anything, just because you go up against some team that doesn't do a lot of damage doesn't mean you should put on pve gear, because the next team could do massive damage and shit on your face. I'd rather not be resisted on a crucial interrupt that will prevent a loss.

Obviously, you know this as you are also high rated, heh

 

kaoticz

I did Enhance/Survival Hunter in 2's last season to 1950 to get my totem, and it was painful. You need to be very coordinated. I recommend a /cast [target=HuntersName] Healing Wave macro, you will be healing yourself and him a lot. This season they gave toughness changes and Stoneclaw Totem glyph which makes a huge difference from last season. Your hunter partner will need to be able to wyvern targets and you will need to manage your hex cooldown. You will probably end up popping wolves and heroism at the start and praying for a fast kill while a healer is wyverned and then hexed, if it is double DPS you'll have to play very well to avoid dying, but as long as one of them dies when you do, your partner should be able to finish the match.

Windfury/Frostbrand is better in my opinion because of the burst POTENTIAL. Using flametongue weapon glyph and flametongue weapon is not only a waste of a glyph slot because of resilience but... yah. Though I did some testing and Flametongue on MH in pvp gear was almost equal to Windfury, but Windfury surpassed it.

 

Xieon

I've partnered with a ret paladin and more recently a rogue for 2's partners. The rogue and I are a pretty solid team in the lower tier so far, but I think that any two players with a decent amount of coordination will find reasonable success at that level of play. I'm working my way through the ranks for the first time since I was the warlock of a lock/druid team in the glory days of 45 minute matches from S4.

I use Windfury/Frostbrand exclusively. The goal of a DPS/DPS team is to burst down at least one other opponent quickly. You are hurting yourself by not using Windfury, which is all burst. Icebrand, coupled with 2/2 Frozen Power, allows for the increased damage from your Maelstrom lightning bolt and shocks. Macro in any on-demand damage trinkets or items and you've got yourself a healthy amount of DPS to drop on another player. I use the Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket as well as [Platinum Disks of Battle] for burst situations.

If you are finding yourself bursted down early in the matches, play more aggresively. Start with the wolves and lust at the start, but beware of mages stealing lust. Get the dogs on a target ASAP and close distance with your target. Don't gear for spellpower, you'll want the AP for the dogs. If your target can fear, tremor totem is a given, you can't have your dogs running around instead of healing you. I try to save Shamanistic Rage for after the dogs are down, but if you are having trouble surviving, you can use that as well. I've had to use it early against heavy hitting teams.

I don't gear or gem for expertise either, Unleashed Rage provides enough the purposes of PvP. While I mentioned in the original post about trying builds without Maelstrom, I can't see losing it now. The more I play, the more reasons I have to keep it.

One thing I'd like to see some discussion on is the benefits, if any, of using a faster offhand for PvP purposes. I'll review the shaman threads to see if there was a consensus at any point, but I'd like to bring any new discussion about that type of info into this thread.

 

kaoticz

I believe the slower will be better simply for the reasoning that you will not ALWAYS be on a target sometimes. So for situations where you can get a few hits in, a slower harder hitting weapon would probably be the very best.

I'm running dual Vulmir's atm.

 

aivenho

Kaoticz, well with those weapons name something that do not die in first 5 secs! I run with rogue for 2vs2 at the moment, he is bad geared, I am neither, but so far it is ok, just having problems sometimes surviving zerg teams like warrior + something. But i recently found another enh shama on my realm, who runs with arms warrior, he is at 1800 rating at the moment, but looking at his gear makes clear, that enh + arms might be the best combo

 

kaoticz

Yah, I keep hearing about this amazing synergy with arms warriors -- but I've yet to play with one :o
It could just be that arms is ridiculously good atm and after the juggernaut nerf and such it won't be? I don't know, heh. I do enjoy enhance/disc except when we go up against a Warrior/Paladin team, I can't kill something before my partner dies and I'm constantly giving her earthbind to get away, but charge in combat is pretty ridiculous.

 

Xieon

From a few evenings of playing in the 5v5 bracket, its apparent that a shield is still a requirement for some levels of play. I hope to get more practice in 5s, however, we were paired up against the #4 team repeatedly throughout the evening, making for some quick play as our team is still working on coordination.

Back to a specific question for Enhancement/Rogue 2s though. For a holy paladin/warrior matchup, what would you consider the first kill target? In general, we CC the healer, but in this case, unless we get some massive burst and a successful sap, we run out of CC options on the paladin. A solid player will wait out the sap, then trinket and bubble the next two CC (Blind/Hex). Is it worth swapping to the paladin to force the bubble early with damage while CC'ing the warrior?

 

Aezoc

With two melee DPS and a MS effect on the warrior, the pally shouldn't have the luxury of riding out the sap if you're switching to the warrior quickly. Force him to trinket the sap, swap to the pally and force an early bubble. The goal should be to still have hex and blind available once the bubble's down, so you can CC the pally while burning the warrior. The trickiest part is trying to reset the fight while you ride out the pally bubble.

 

Grundar

Upon further review, I can say that 2s continue to be fun and we are winning more than half and have not found a team composition that beats us consistently (DK and enhance). 2 rogues are about equal and pally warrior about equal. OTH there is no composition that I think is an easy win either. I have given up pairing with hunters getting whipped everytime is just not fun.

Maybe it is the matching that is working better than before. There are only 2 defeats that I thought we had no chance in and inspecting armory showed significant differences in gear but somehow a team with 2 guys with multiple furious are in with us under 1K.

Starting with a shield is a must then macro to DW depending on who is in the arena against you. In the sewer I have feral spirits out, grounding totem up, and hit bloodlust as quickly as possible when we can see the other side. The faster and more aggressive the better it goes. We are best in ORG and Sewer, UC and nagrand seem tougher.

I have noticed that I rarely use frost shock becuase of immediate attacks and was thinking about trying two other talent points.

It also seems like Mweapon is not working for heals a good deal of the time. Has anyone else noticed that?

 

aivenho

I have played a lot past days in 2vs2 with rogue + me. Against setups including palas, we kill the other class first, unless sometimes if it is DK in frost presence. Against lock+ healer we kill lock first. Against rogue+ dps mine rogue waits for rogue to open up on me, and I try not to get saped, against mages i go for mage, rogue usually takes other opponent. Ahh, and if there is elem shaman or oomkin we go for it asap, no mater what other opponent is.
The pain is against warrs mostly. There are zerg teams like warr + pala, which are impossible to CC, well mostly its that bladestorm or what that whirl is called, they kill us in first 5-10 secs, unless we survive that whirl.. then if we are still alive, we have a chance. same happens with zerg teams where pala uses wings. incoming damage is just too high.
One more annoying thing is lock pets eating tremor totem. And that tremor is down right where i stand, but when fear comes, pets are under spirit walk and run so fast away that they go out of tremors range.

p.s. Grundar, you have terrible talent build :P

 

Grundar

Actually this is my 6th build for pvp/arena/BGs this season. I also use it for solo play.

It is far and away the most enjoyable to date.

I love instant ghost wolf and while the 2 points in frozen power dont matter much in arena I use them in BGs all the time. Those are probably the 'fun' talents' I have tried.

We seem to face so many warriors who immediately go for me I dont see much value in dodge although currently I am back up to 2 points becuase the last week has seen alot of disarming for some reason. Earthen power I gave up on becuase two points in such a small area limited to snares seemed way to high a price to pay and with another 2 points available (that you have in earths grasp) allow for elemental fury, which I think is huge.

Unleashed rage I think is to expensive in 2s especially with a DK partner. I am not sure there is any value to expertise in 2s the way the matches go.

The breakdown in damage is far more tilted toward spell damage over melee than I would have believed going into the season and I have adjusted gear and talents to take advantage of the way matches actually go each time I change. Flurry? when you are cc'd and can't do anything it does not help at all, chasing people makes it worth less than in PVE. I might take another point out of it.

It is maybe one match in 10 that I can use bloodlust to damage and not to hold on for dear life. That is also the reason behind the increase in damage from Lshield, I used that maxed out with the 2 piece gear bonus but that did not help in the long run. When I can go to O I find it far better to have talents that let me damage where I am coming out of CC than having to move and try and catch someone. I would probably dump ghost wolf for arena but I use it in BG all the time, and for solo just becuase I like it. I even use it after returning to ORG to jump down the cliffs.

I have not had trouble with mana so I will probably dump the improved storm strike and shields next time. That is 5 talent points to move. I expect I will put 2 more in eye of the storm becuase pushback is a nightmare (in arena) for me and I continue to see 5 proc maelsrom weapon but it does not work with heals.

 

Deathgar

As a rogue I dont like doing 2s with an enhancement shaman and this is why. Enhance shaman have no stuns just interupts, burst damage and will go oom quickly if you needed to heal. Wear as I get a disc priest who has can keep himself at full hp and mana for about 5 minutes against a war + pall or war + dk team. While there busy trying to stun/kill him the pallies dead and warrior is at 50% hp from reflective shields plus priest has a fear, mana drain, and alot more utilities then a sham would with a rogue. What's your totem going to do slow them? Crippling poisin slows them more then your totem does. Over all not a great 2 combo.

People think that they can be 2500 rated in 2's with there buddy iregardless of spec / class. The truth of the matter is certain classes and specs are generally more effective with some then others. Especial in a bracket like the 2v2.

If I where a Enhance sham which I have been before. I would stick with either enhance+enhance, enhance+ret, Enhance+war, enhance+bm for 2s. or somthing along those lines. Your main defence you have is your burst damage. Utilize it with another Burst damage class. Start in GW form with spirit wolves and zerg. Dont give the other team time to do anything.

Generally thats the only way my priest dies. Thusly me. Luckily only have run into a few teams that use that strat on my battle-realm.