Enhancement Shaman Changes in 3.1

Once again patch day is upon us. Patch 3.1 is a significant update to World of Warcraft. It adds a whole new instance (Ulduar), an option to dual-spec, the Argent Tournament with lots of daily quests to run (think Sunwell Isle), several UI improvements, and tons of class changes.

The changes to the shaman class are not that sevear in my opinion. Our elemental totems get a buff, Flametongue Weapon now scales with weapon speed, and Lava Lash gains a new icon! Continue reading for the complete list of shaman changes.

General Changes to the Shaman Class

• Bloodlust/Heroism: Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes, but Sated and Exhausted now last 10 minutes.
• Earth Elemental Totem: The summoned Earth Elemental should now have significantly more health and slightly more armor.
• Fire Elemental Totem: The summoned Fire Elemental should now have moderately more health and mana, and its damage scaling has been increased. In addition, the Fire Elemental’s spells now cost less mana.
• Flametongue Weapon: Bonus damage from spell power now based on weapon speed. Slower weapons will benefit more from spell power.
• Frostbrand Weapon: Damage increased by approximately 20%.
• Mana Spring Totem: This totem has been redesigned. It now provides the same mana benefit as Blessing of Wisdom to the entire party or raid, but is exclusive with that effect.
• Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem have been merged into Cleansing Totem. Cleansing Totem pulses every 3 seconds, down from 5.

Enhancement Shaman Changes

• Earthen Power (Updated / Tier 9): Your Earthbind Totem has a 50/100% chance to also remove all snare effects and make you and nearby friendly targets immune to them for 5 seconds when it pulses.
• Flurry (Updated / Tier 4): Now provides 5/10/15/20/25% haste instead of 10/15/20/25/30%.
• Frozen Power (New / Tier 6): Increases the damage done by your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Lash and Shock spells by 5/10% on targets afflicted by your Frostbrand Attack effect, and your Frost Shock has a 50/100% chance to root the target in Ice for 5 seconds when used on targets at or further than 15 yards from you.
• Lava Lash now has a new icon!
• Spirit Weapons (Updated / Tier 5): Now reduces all threat generated by 30%, not just physical attacks.
• Stormstrike charges have been increased by 2, and cooldown reduced by 2 seconds.
• Improved Stormstrike (Updated / Tier 8): When you Stormstrike, you have a 50/100% chance to immediately grant you 20% of your base mana.
• Toughness (Updated / Tier 4): No longer increases your armor. Instead, this talent now increases your total stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Unleashed Rage (Updated / Tier 6): Reduced to 3 points, down from 5. No longer increases agility, but instead increases your total expertise by 3/6/9.

New Shaman Glyphs

• Glyph of Earth Shield: Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%.
• Glyph of Feral Spirit: Your spirit wolves gain an additional 30% of your attack power.
• Glyph of Hex: Increases the damage your Hex target can take before the Hex effect is removed by 20%.
• Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem: Your Stoneclaw Totem also places a damage absorb shield on you, equal to 4 times the strength of the shield it places on your totems.
• Glyph of Totem of Wrath: When you cast Totem of Wrath, you gain 30% of the totem’s bonus spell power for 5 minutes.

Thoughts & Comments

All in all, I think the changes are positive. Improved Stormstrike is going to be a big boost to raiding shaman, and the new Frozen Power talent could prove interesting in PvP.

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