[PVP GUIDE] Enhancement - Storm earth and fire, heed my call

[Figen]

Nice and informative guide, do you think 2h enh is viable in pvp? Or just a cheesy strat depending on the bigger crits?

Yes, enhancement is very viable and actually one of the better pvp choices in the game. While we do depend on cheesy crits I do feel we have enough utility to be a danger even without them.

switching equip (2h<>1h+s) was quickly doable in Vani in combat? Can't remember that

Yes its completely possible and if I remember was only removed early WotLK.

[Gi01]

Do you have any macro or something else to switch quickly?

[James Goblin]

Do you have any macro or something else to switch quickly?

http://www.wow-one.com/forum/topic/4337 ... wap-macro/ worked, I just didnt test it on Nostalrius.

Speaking of PvP, enhancement (mixed with ele or resto, whatever) is the worst 1.12 PvP choice id say, unfortunately both solo and in teams. If your oppnents know their job, you better respec on time.

On the other side, if you want to spend 2 months dieing in order to make another Unbreakable movie, the choice is right

[Gi01]

Do you have any macro or something else to switch quickly?

http://www.wow-one.com/forum/topic/4337 ... wap-macro/ worked, I just didnt test it on Nostalrius.

Speaking of PvP, enhancement (mixed with ele or resto, whatever) is the worst 1.12 PvP choice id say, unfortunately both solo and in teams. If your oppnents know their job, you better respec on time.

On the other side, if you want to spend 2 months dieing in order to make another Unbreakable movie, the choice is right

Well WF proc instakills a lot of stuff

Can you specify a little more ur opinion?

[Ryajin]

Well done. A great job indeed.

[Aslan]

Nice, although it would probably benefit the server greatly if youd still focus more on itemisation and stat weighing. The general enha shaman uses whatever type of armor and stacks agi/str like a rogue. Enhancement isnt even close a melee class, it is a hybrid spec!

If you are fighting a rogue or warrior you just need to get rid of that big 2hander and equip a 1h + shield, no enha shaman I met ever did that on this server. If you fight a ranged class you will use your desired 2hander but dont expect to even reach your opponent because you are easily kitable and your slows only reduce movement speed by 50%, be prepared to have to kill an enemy with spells because thats just reality.
Of course in a big pile fight like AV this looks different, you just run in and smash around with that big hammer, although the situation in there might change any seconds thats why you need a macro/addon keybinded for an instant weapon switch.

After all you pretty much need everything as a hybrid, dont run around with those UBRS leather shoulders please, just dont do it. You want mail and only mail, no exepction in PvP. You want a large mana pool, dont even consider going for a different stat before reaching 4.5k, you need a large mana pool, aim for 4k there is nothing wrong with +int and + mana enchants on your gear, then once you have a large armor, health and mana pool, those numbers increase with further content of course, you can decide which offensive stats you prefer. Get that 1h with weapon chain and a solid shield, get a 2 hander and enchant it with +30 spellpower to counter kiting ranged classes with your spells (yes spellpower on a 2hander, you dont fight melee with it. Come at me.)

You dont need to stack agi and str, your main weapon damage output comes from RNG which means hard windfury triple hits and those happen occasionally and not reliable. To counter this, you want to stack on reliable stats not support the unreliability like 95% of the enhancement shamans do. Properly adjust in situations where you might need to throw a quick heal in order to win a fight and have the surviving buddy with you for the next upcoming fight instead of getting a killing blow and then dying uselessly. There are so many factors to watch out for when playing enhancement shaman, please dont try to play warrior!

[Jurary]

I don't think you understand though that this is vanilla pvp. It's as unbalanced as it gets and certain classes just dominate others even if there is a huge skill difference. Either through counters, consumables, rng lol resists (jk its hardly rng when shocks are resisted 50% of the time).

Sure you can make up for some bits by weaponswapping at the right time or having a mana pool large enough to sustain offensive and healing spells during an extended 1v1. But the thing is, you're still going to get dominated if the other guy is on a same skill level or higher than yourself. So you might as well just go and bet it all on your WF procs 1 shotting cloth/leather and to an extend hunters by having shitloads of agi and crit. A bit of intellect is never bad, I agree, but not focusing on melee stats is just not smart.

I do agree with you that you should always try and look for Mail armor, but please, don't enchant mana, because most of the time that's where you can enchant HP, which is what you need in combination with mail to survive those nasty rogue openers.

Also, putting 30 spelldamage on your 2H, I wouldn't recommend it. You're hardly ever going to cast Lightning bolt/Chainlightning mid fight, exceptions could be when your target is nearly dead and he's slowed by your frostshock but you're not going to get him unless you hardcast CL/LB. Just roll with crusader or weapon chain even. The main portion of your spelldamage is going to come from shocks/fire nova totem and perhaps lightning shield, and 30sp just doesn't make that big of a difference imo to be worth it.

As for a good 1H, i'd say Hand of Edward the Odd is pretty damn awesome for those instant spellcast procs. Throw in an instant heal now and then, crazy.

[Aslan]

Hm well you are right with vanilla shamans being unbalanced, however I dont really see how you come to the conclusion to go yolo-mode. Ofcourse never cast CL/LB, its all about shocks. You can enchant stamina and hp if you get int/mana from gear itemisation... Or the other way around.

As for hand of edward the odd, asduming you would aim to kill a melee that is attacking you (otherwise you would use a 2hander) there is 1 big thing to know, Stormstrike is NOT normalised. This means the slower your weapon, the more dmg the stormstrike hit puts out (of course also concerning weapon dps, dmg range) but for exemple other classes, lets take arms warriors, their mortal strike gets broken down to a certain amount of weapon speed so for that ability it doesnt matter if your 2hander has a speed of 3 or 4 seconds.
Since enhas have only one melee ability, the slower the weapon the better. This would take hand of edward the odd off the table for me vs melees.

Then as for 30 spellpower not making a difference.. Well thats the case for every stat booster when looking at it alone. Again I dont see the reason in not taking it and stacking it with other sources. Nobody said you a e to be caster when fighting a ranged class, just have the spellpower and mana to sustain the fight without swinging a melee weapon once. Purge, shocks, heals, totems.

If your shocks resist, try an easy spell hit where its paired with int and stamina on an item eventually. You may argue that 1 hit doesnt make a difference.. But it does long term. Get 2 if you want a result right away. Same argument can be made for crit, why would 1-2 crit make a significant difference.

I am really trying to make a point that enhancement shaman can be played as sustainable and dangerous class and not cannon fodder that every warri and rogue and lock jumps on upon sight. If played as it currently is mostly.. Yes other classes seem to kill you with lower skill as players, but thats not because you are bad or their class is OP, your class just has to be played a little different in role and gameplay.

If you really want to die with your 2hander vs melees and dont want to have more to come up with against casters when they kite you, you can ofc go without spellpower enchants on the 2 hander but if you dont... Please at least give it a weapon chain and not a crusader if you dont have an anti-disarm. Please..

[Jurary]

I'm not disagreeing with your version of a more hybrid/spell based shaman build being good, but it feels a bit like postponing the inevitable. Then again, it just depends on who you fight and what class really to determine what is better for what situation. Plus whatever gear you are using yourself.

Myself, I prefer the playstyle of using a big 2H and going mostly agi/ap/crit oriented build and get those huge WF off on squishies. Sure I run around with a 1h/shield to swap to when needed, but I wouldn't revolve my whole build around it. In bg's you hardly get 1v1's anyway so you might as well go down with a bang.

The playstyle you are describing is exactly how I would play when I have to fight someone in resto spec say when I get ganked by some random ally.

[Aslan]

Yeah well if you are mainly playing AV for exemple and stick to your raid, never running around alone youd prolly end up using the 2hander most of the time and only swap it when getting directly picked as target by some warri/rogue. As for really "running around" Id pick a shield in case a melee jumps on you, it doubles your amor (even when stunned) and gives you extra block chance.

Takes 1 button press to switch between gear sets also.