Enhancement Shaman Leveling Build

The basic enhancement shaman leveling build is 0/32/0. Its complete at level 41 and allows shamans to dual wield, which is more fun than it is effective early on. It also gives the shaman Stormstrike, which is a key enhancement ability. As with any leveling build there are a few options and a few caveats. Those options plus more explained after the break.

As you progress in levels always try for the higher tier talent. For example, go with Elemental Weapons before going back and picking up Improved Shields.

Choices

The only real option in the build comes at level 24. The choice I showed is to maximize damage output by going with Improved Shields, but you might also choose to mitigate some incoming damage by going with Anticipation. Its also possible to start putting points into Improved Ghost Wolf if you want an instant-cast escape ability.

Dual Wielding

It will be difficult to do much damage when you first pick up Dual Wield because of the reduction in chance to hit. Once you get to level 43 or 44 switch from that trusty (and rusty?) two hander to dual axes or maces. Idealy, you’ll want weapons that are as slow as you can get and similar speeds. There’s a lot of theory craft on this that I’ll publish in another post, but for now just know that it increases your Stormstrike and Windfury damage output.

Branching Out

At level 45 you have a decision to make. Most people choose to continue down the enhancement tree to maximize their melee DPS. If you do that, you’ll end up with this 0/51/0 talent build at level 60. From there you can continue to fill in enhancement talents to boost your damage output or switch over to one of the other supports trees. With the addition of Maelstrom Weapon, the elemental tree is much more attractive to enhancement shaman than the restoration tree.

If you find yourself dieing a lot you might want to consider moving to the restoration tree and picking up Healing Focus. If you do that you’ll end up with something like 0/32/13. After putting the final point in Healing Focus you can jump back to the enhancement tree and finish up there.

Finishing Things Up

To maximize DPS, I would chose the enhancement/elemental route. If that’s the route you picked then you should end up with a build similar to 8/53/0. As you move into Northrend and gain more talents, put them in Elemental Fury. As a final level 80 build, I went with this 16/55/0 build.

Its worth periodically checking the auction house for some good one-hand weapons. Weapons that are “of the Bear” or “of the Monkey” work well. Also, “of the Bandit” items are good choices during the higher levels. Attack power, agility, and critical strike rating are your friends.

Bonus leveling tip

Make careful use of totems. I rarely used totems while leveling because I couldn’t move them and they cost mana. If you can set up a central point and pull things to you then drop a few totems. Otherwise, you’ll be moving around too much to make full use of any of the totems. Also keep Stoneclaw Totem handy for when you pick up an add or get daring with two or more mobs.

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