Enhancement Shaman DPS Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheet
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
    • 1.1. Early Progression
    • 1.2. Patch 7.2 Post 35 Trait Path
  • 2. Artifact Ability
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
    • 1.1. Opening Rotation
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Doom Winds
    • 2.2. Crash Lightning Explained
    • 2.3. Tier 2 Talents
    • 2.4. Tier 5 Talents
    • 2.5. 7.2.5 Ascendance vs. Earthen Spike
    • 2.6. Pandemic
    • 2.7. Healing Surge
    • 2.8. Lightning Bolt
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Maelstrom Management
    • 3.2. Buff Uptimes & Proc Management
  • 4. Tier 19 Set Bonuses
  • 5. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Breakpoints & Ratios
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
    • 3.1. Potion Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Shamans
    • 2.2. Wind Shear
    • 2.3. Purge
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Raid Best in Slot List
    • 1.1. Tier 19 & 20 Bonus Combinations
    • 1.2. Evaluating Upgrades with dynamic Item Levels
  • 2. Racial Bonuses
  • 3. Legendaries
    • 3.1. 7.1.5 Legendaries
    • 3.2. 7.2 Legendaries
    • 3.3. 7.2.5 Legendaries
    • 3.4. Recommended Choices
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

This page is a gear reference for Enhancement Shamans. It lists your best items and Legendaries, gives you gearing advice, and shows you how you will be competing for loot with other classes.

The other pages of our Enhancement Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.

1. Raid Best in Slot List

With the existence of Titanforged and Mythic+ dungeons, there is no such thing as a hard Best in Slot anymore. This is more of a guideline for the best pieces to keep an eye out for in your raid or dungeon (if applicable). Be smart, and if you find higher item level pieces with valuable stat combinations do not hesitate to upgrade to them.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Helmet of the Skybreaker	Demonic Inquisition
Neck	String of Extracted Incisors	Demonic Inquisition
Shoulders	Pauldrons of the Skybreaker	Fallen Avatar
Cloak	Cloak of Stifling Brimstone	Goroth
Chest	Harness of the Skybreaker	Maiden of Vigilance
Wrists	Pain-Singed Armguards	Goroth
Gloves	Grips of the Skybreaker	Harjatan
Belt	Waistguard of Interminable Unity	Sisters of the Moon
Legs	Flesh-Raking Leggings	Demonic Inquisition
Boots	Insulated Finpads	Harjatan
Ring #1	Scaled Band of Servitude	Harjatan
Ring #2	Seal of the Second Duumvirate	Kil'Jaeden
Trinket #1	Engine of Eradication	Maiden of Vigilance
Trinket #2	Convergence of Fates	Grand Magistrix Elisande

With the trinkets listed, this assumes that you are comparing against equal item level pieces at Item Level 915, therefore in some cases due to the scaling effect, this list can be inaccurate. They are also selected based on consistency and realistic performance within raid situations, which hurts some other choices. Due to that, there is a simulation of all trinkets against each other listed here; but note this list has been generated assuming the use of the Tier 20 4-piece bonus due to its impact:

All of the Tomb of Sargeras trinkets come with some caveats that can exclude them for many fight types, which may interfere with how realistic they are in reality compared to where they appear on the list. Due to this I quickly covered the melee specific trinkets below:

• Specter of Betrayal requires you to recast it on cooldown to gain the value from a double hit. Given that the Specter cannot be moved, boss position can have a dramatic impact given how small the gain it shows is.
• Cradle of Anguish has the issue of requiring you to take very little damage to prevent losing the stacks. This liability cannot be understated.
• Engine of Eradication has very high uptime and comes with a wealth of Mastery alongside a good primary stat proc. Whilst orb position can sometimes be problematic, it serves as a solid choice from the Tomb selection.
• Vial of Ceaseless Toxins provides a consistent source of damage with a big chunk of Agility, alongside having the added effect of being gameable on certain fights. A good choice, with the effect being roughly equivalent on average to Nightblooming Frond from Nighthold.
• Umbral Moonglaives is a very powerful burst AoE option if a fight demands it, and is good to have available if need be.
• Infernal Cinders has a difficult value to quantify because of the scaling effect with other players. However due to being loaded with just Critical Strike and dealing relatively low, damage, it does not appear to be a great option.

Bloodthirsty Instinct still remains the best trinket option if you can acquire a high Item Level, but this is not realistic now with the Titanforging required. Convergence of Fates still remains a fantastic option now that we can convert Maelstrom into damage better, reducing Feral Spirits cooldown by up to 50%. Aside from that, secondary proc trinkets have a good use such as Chrono Shard, Memento of Angerboda and Entwined Elemental Foci if you have these choices.

1.1. Tier 19 & 20 Bonus Combinations

Currently with the requirement on Titanforging to reach a solid pair of items from Tier 19 to keep up with Tomb of Sargeras item levels, and the newly nerfed 2-piece, it really isn't desirable to actively aim for combining these two. On top of this, using 2-piece/4-piece combinations blocks access to 3 solid legendary choices (Head, Chest & Gloves), with two of those being extremely powerful in many fight types. The Tier 19 4-piece is also not worth actively maintaining with realistic Nighthold item levels.

1.2. Evaluating Upgrades with dynamic Item Levels

Due to the Warforging/Titanforging system, having a full comprehensive list of gear ranked against each other would be far too elaborate and confusing to compile, and as such it is recommended instead to evaluate upscaled items using rough stat weights. As always with weights, they can change depending on your gear and to get them perfectly accurate for your character, it is always advised to simulate it yourself, however for the purpose of this I will use example Enhancement stat weights:

These were calculated using the recommended build, 4pc and 890 average gear. At lower gear levels, secondaries are less significant so be aware this is not strictly universal.

• Haste: 1.04
• Agility: 1
• Mastery: 0.99
• Versatility: 0.96
• Critical Strike: 0.93

If we then compare two belts, we can get a rough evaluation of which to use. Starting with Belt of Celestial Alignment, this comes with 1705 Agility, 577 Critical Strike, and 685 Versatility, so we can use this to calculate a relative value:

Then comparing to Emblazoned Duskwatch Belt, this comes with 1705 Agility, 740 Haste, and 523 Mastery, which can be evaluated in a similar way:

Through this we can see that the value of Emblazoned Duskwatch Belt is higher than Belt of Celestial Alignment, and is the better choice to use. As said though, these weights can differ depending on the content you are doing, your talent selections, and the other gear you are currently wearing, as many stats synergise with others and scale exponentially, increasing their value. This is especially true for Enhancement given that stats are so close in value.

2. Racial Bonuses

Generally you should pick your race based on preference, as the increase any gives is up to chance due to the way thh spec works. However, in a pure min/max scenario, Troll is the clear winner, especially when combined with some of the new 7.2.5 talent options.

3. Legendaries

Eye of the Twisting Nether causes Fire, Nature and Frost damage dealt to each apply a separate 1.5% damage increase, with separate applications for a total of 4.5%. With 7.2 re-introducing Hailstorm to the talent pool if you are using Akainu's Absolute Justice, this goes from solid to very strong as you can now effectively trigger all 3 buffs without any loss. Even without considering Akainu's however, this is a great catch all choice and is almost always a solid equip.

Emalon's Charged Core grants 10% increased damage if your Crash Lightning hits 3 or more targets. This is the default legendary for sustained cleave and AoE as it essentially amounts to a permanent 10% damage increase in these situations.

Storm Tempests causes enemies struck by your Stormstrike to deal low Nature damage to a nearby target every second for 15 seconds. This is a strong legendary for 2 consistently active targets, though you need to tab Stormstrike between the targets to maximise it. This starts to fall off quickly with extra targets due to the high maintenance, and unless two targets are always active can be very lackluster.

Akainu's Absolute Justice increases Lava Lash damage by 50% when Flametongue and Frostbrand are both active. With this receiving a buff in 7.2, this is now a strong choice and necessitates using Hailstorm alongside it, pairing very well with Eye of the Twisting Nether because of this. When using this legendary, you should be switching to Hot Hand and Hailstorm in single target situations, and is a very competitive option in those fight archetypes.

Spiritual Journey causes your Feral Spirit cooldown to recharge 500% faster whilst in Ghost Wolf. This can have a lot of power in fights that have high movement and downtime, as any time spent in Ghost Wolf will recharge 6 seconds of our main cooldown per second spent inside. Due to the high damage loss spent inside Ghost Wolf however, it does not have a universal impact so requires extra play to make use of.

3.1. 7.1.5 Legendaries

7.1.5 introduces a new Legendary helm Uncertain Reminder, that increases the duration of any Bloodlust effects by 75%. This increases the duration up to 70 seconds, which can be very useful for extended burn periods on a boss, but as it is a one time effect is useless for the remainder of a fight. Serves as a great choice for high damage periods during certain fights, and is a consistent and reliable increase assuming uptime is high.

Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish is a newly added trinket, providing significant passive Agility and secondary stats, alongside a powerful on use AoE effect on a 1.15-minute cooldown. This can be very useful for timed AoE burst that Enhancement is lacking, but as it scales with no secondaries may be relegated to specific situations rather than an auto-equip given how powerful alternative trinkets are.

3.2. 7.2 Legendaries

7.2 only adds one new legendary in the form of the crafted item Vigilance Perch. These gloves come with ideal stats and 3 sockets to add additional items in, but mostly serve as a utility item for the out of combat speed increase, so is not an ideal choice for raiding and group content.

3.3. 7.2.5 Legendaries

Smoldering Heart grants a chance to trigger the Ascendance effect for 10 seconds when Maelstrom is spent. This has a 0.12% chance per Maelstrom to activate, so for example, a full cost Stormstrike cast will have a 4.8% chance to cause this. This can refresh and extend its duration if it triggers again whilst active. This is a really powerful choice due to the new Ascendance design, and is exceptional in single target, whilst still being a competitive choice in AoE by allowing for a short burst of Windstrike casts.

Soul of the Farseer grants the Tempest talent, allowing you to take an additional choice on the level 75 Talent tier. This allows for either Overcharge or Empowered Stormlash, limiting it mostly to a single target option. Both other talent choices can fit in when used, and this is a respectable choice.

3.4. Recommended Choices

Generally, you cannot choose which legendary you get but now as the expansion moves on people have a much wider choice of items to choose from. If you find yourself wondering what to use, some good choices are as follows (in no particular order):

Single Target:

• Smoldering Heart
• Eye of the Twisting Nether
• Soul of the Farseer
• Akainu's Absolute Justice
• Uncertain Reminder

Multiple Target:

• Emalon's Charged Core
• Eye of the Twisting Nether
• Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish
• Smoldering Heart
• Uncertain Reminder

Combinations:

Enhancement is somewhat unique in that there are two combinations of Legendaries that accentuate each other very well in single target, and as such if you are using one you should strongly consider using the other.

• Try to pair Akainu's Absolute Justice with Eye of the Twisting Nether. These compliment each other, as they both accentuate the Hailstorm and Hot Hand talents you should combine these with.
• If using Soul of the Farseer, this ideally pairs best with Smoldering Heart. Gaining access to an additional rotationally impactful ability via Overcharge that can also trigger the Ascendance allows rotational to flow much better.

4. Loot Competition

Regarding the loot you will get from raid or dungeon bosses, you will compete with other classes in the following cases:

Item Type	Competing Classes
Tier Tokens	Hunters, Monks, Elemental/Restoration Shamans, and Warrior
Mail Armor	Hunters and Elemental/Restoration Shamans
Amulets Cloaks Rings	Everyone
Trinkets	Havoc Demon Hunters, Feral Druids, Windwalker Monks, Hunters, and Rogues

5. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 14 Jun. 2017: Added note regarding Tier 19/20 2/4pc combinations.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated for new Patch 7.2.5 Tier 20 gear and additional Legendary options available.
• 27 Mar. 2017: Updated 7.2 Legendary changes.
• 25 Jan. 2017: Updated for Nighthold trinket changes with new recommendations.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Updated for 7.1.5 and added in trinket simulations.
• 28 Oct. 2016: Added Spontaenous Appendages as a Best-in-Slot trinket.
• 14 Oct. 2016: Updated BiS.
• 26 Sep. 2016: Updated trinkets.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 20 Jul. 2016: Removed trinket sims and added trinket recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.