2.3 Enhance/Elemental Shock SpecFollow

So I've been thinking about the upcoming patch changes (with great anticipation) and I have cobbled this build together.

My plan would be to use this for soloing and looking for the interaction between Shamanic Focus (replaces Two-handed Axes and Maces - on melee crit reduce casting cost of next shock by 60%) and Elemental Devastation. I can see crit chains causing some incredible burst damage.

However, itemization will suffer a bit as I'll be trying to balance spell crit and AP and melee crit. I don't imagine that mana will be too much of an issue and Shamanic Focus will take care of that handily. I will be getting 30% of my AP to my spell damage (from the updated Mental Quickness) so those shocks will be hitting pretty hard, frequently, and usually at greatly reduced cost (especially if Windfury crits proc Shamanic Focus). I imagine that as soon as a melee crit pops Shamanic Focus the best bet would be to hit Stormstrike and then throw an Earth Shock ASAP. If the shock crits then I get +9% melee crit which will certainly proc Shamanic Focus again within the five second cooldown for the shocks. Plus, Unleashed Rage will be increasing my spell damage by another 2.4% of my AP.

However, in a group situation, the threat caused by those shocks will not be reduced by Spirit Weapons so watching Omen will be necessary but like I said, I'm more focused on solo content right now as my work schedule precludes raiding. Though, Tranquil Air and Blessing of Salvation (from your friendly neighborhood Paladin) should eliminate all threat concerns.

Speaking of totems and the twisting thereof, I'd rather be using my Global Cooldowns and my mana on the shocks as opposed to weaving Windfury Totem and Grace of Air. This isn't as big a problem as this build is meant to be for soloing.

When it comes to PvP I can't really speak with much authority as I don't partake in it's unique charms, but I imagine that the strength of it's burst makes for some ferocity. However, since there will already be a balancing act between spell crit, AP, and melee crit adding stamina and resilience into the mix is probably going to result in some weakly geared situations. But, that string of melee, Windfury, Stormstrike, and Earth Shock crits should put anyone down really, really fast.

Anyway, I'm simply looking for some feedback. I've done a lot of theorycrafting but my shaman is still very young (my 70 Mage is very rapidly losing favor against my 32 Shaman). What have I missed? What final tweaks would be suggested? What kind of gear should I be targeting as I level? Are there any good benchmarks in stat levels that will make this build work?

Thanks in advance.

How exactly does Elemental Devastation fail? I'm curious. If my spell crit is roughly 15-20%, which shouldn't be terribly difficult, then it is likely that I'll be getting one to crit every five shocks. Since each shock is probably going to be cast while under Shamanic Focus, they'll cost ~33.6% of their base mana [(base - 16%)- 60%] and thus I'll be able to toss them constantly. Why wouldn't I want a chance at an additional 9% chance to melee crit? That crit translates into Unleashed Rage, Flurry, and much more white damage.

The plus hit isn't of a vast use as I'll be mostly soloing with an instance here and there. Is the miss chance from dual wielding that big that I'll need the additional +3% chance to hit to be able to pound on mobs of a like level?

IMO an Enh/Elem Build is never going to be viable for PvE when compared to an Enh/Resto build. The new changes are great but resto still offers so much more to the PvE Shaman.

Fair enough. Thanks for all of your input. I'd love for something like this to be a viable spec, but if it doesn't cut the proverbial mustard then I guess I'll just go with a vanilla spec. Thanks again.

Sorry, I didn't notice this and it needs to be answered, the reason is because to get that spell crit you need spell crit gear, that means you are probably sacrificing some AP and a lot of Melee Crit. Maybe not quite 9% but having 6% more crit constantly is better than having 9% more sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, Enhancement/Elemental builds are viable for PvP (commonly called Suicide Builds) but nowhere near as viable as Enhancement/Resto builds.

However Elemental Devastation is just bad plain and simple, those 3 points would be much better spent in Eye of the Storm on the same tier.

Well, in most of these cases the build is predominently enhancement so malee gear is the way to go, having said that I am inclined to agree that crossing one of the dps specs with resto is the better option.


@ LordDrazhar I would seriously consider dropping Imp LS or Call of Flame to get EotS.

Edited, Oct 24th 2007 3:44am by SunSoarer