Maelstrom Weapon (MW) is currently useless in every shaman spec at its location. 5 points to get a free lightningbolt procs of swing with a slow 2h dps isn’t optimal. 1h and shield tank its only LB to free cast, which is only worth if you have deep elem points. If it was CL then it would be peak as a free spell to keep aggro or pull. Its also too deep in enhc to ever get as elem, so its pretty much a dead 5 points useless in the tree. My suggestion if it stays LB only is move it to elem and make it proc from spells and add back shield spec in its place deep in the ehnc tree. Or figure out a baseline spell that changes bases on your capstone talent.
10 Likes
What is the proc rate? Or does it even matter because it’s so ineffectual?
A free (no mana cost) instant LB every 9 swings or so…AND you dont even have to wait til the stacks are full as you can use it between swings with a 2Hnder for a reduced mana cost and quick LB…
Shaman is undercooked. I’d rather get 5% hit in the resto tree.
7 Likes
If it worked like it did in Wrath, where it didn’t interrupt the swing timer, you could weave LB’s between autos which would give you more active gameplay.
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It’s almost like maelstrom weapon is a talent inherently designed for DW…
18 Likes
It would be fine casting with 2-3 stacks with a 2h, so you don’t have to wait. But the issue is that Flurry only counts physical crit, but you don’t really want Agility either. So it’s a bit awkward.
Thankfully I think Blizzard is fully intending on live patching, similar to how vanilla worked. I think that’s neat.
1 Like
And yet we don’t want dual wielding shaman in this game.
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This is the crux of the disconnect really. They pulled a talent from a version where enhancement was dual weild and just lazily pasted into a tree where enhancement is a two-hand spec. It needs to be reworked
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If it was CL it would make sense to reduce cost and cast Enhc. But it makes 0 sense for LB unless its in the Elem tree. The devs said they didnt want it to be used for heals like in Wrath, but pigeon holing to LB makes it DOA as a useless 5 points.
OR a flurried 2 hander…
Overreaction, it is not DOA.
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Agreed it’s an overreaction, but it’s clearly better placed as a 1 point talent.
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Not consistent with 2h
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Now, THAT is a reasonable argument, and the other points could be replaced by something like Dual Wield and Lava Lash…
ANd the devs can balance both 2 hand and Dual Wield to be almost the same dps.
I promise you it could be done.
Or maybe even add a late tree tanking talent that could do all the things required in one point.
Respectfully please never mention DW is a Forever forum. DW in TBC was gut wrenching when you leveled your shaman 2h in vanilla. In no way shape or form should DW Shaman ever be a thing. We have hunter, rogue, and warr for that now. Viable 2h dps is the goal, im just pointing out MW as currently in the beta is 100% useless to pick for any spec, your talents should go elsewhere!
LB is arguably only second to flameshock in efficiency, so only CL inclusion, moving out of deep enhancement, or replacing completely makes sense.
3 Likes
Finally someone who sees reason. It’s so exhausting seeing the 2H purists act like DW is literally Satan even in a hypothetical where they’re identical dps
Like, here’s a random idea off the top of my head: keep Maelstrom Weapon, and have it or something else also enable Dual Wielding. For 2H players, add a new tier 6 talent. The appeal of 2H is the meaty Windfury procs, right? How about: It reduces the cast time and mana cost of Lightning Bolt by some amount so that it can be used between autoattacks and doesn’t eat all their mana. Then, each cast of Lightning Bolt will gradually increase the chance of a Windfury proc until getting one
While I am a 2h Enhancement purist, I did find it odd that they added Maelstrom Weapon to the tree and that it only applies to Lightning Bolt; though the fact that it also makes the spell free at full stacks is a balancing factor.
I would say drop it to a 3pt Talent (Enhance tree is already a little bloated) reducing cast time and mana cost by 33/66/100% and let it apply to Chain Lightning as well at least is a small first step.
2 Likes
One, shaman tank isn’t a thing. Two, CL hits for nothing anyway, so you wouldn’t ever want to cast it.
MW in ele makes no sense… CL is a 2 second cast. The GCD is 1.5 seconds. Even if it procs, it does almost nothing.
Elemental should get the rage of the farseer, and enhance should get something else.
Unfortunately, this is exactly why enhance is a mess right now.
They did not improve 2H classic sham but instead forced parts of the DW spec into what we have now. They forced a more spellhance spec that inherently wants to be DW.
Frankly they either need to remove the spell hence build and focus on 2H bonk, or remove 2H and go DW.
4 Likes