I was recently running my numbers through a DPS simulator and it turns out I sim way higher as Enhance compared to Ele which has been my main spec up until now. I’m looking for any tips and tricks, addons, macros, keybinds, suggestions on best setup for action bars… and rotation. I have Hekili which seems pretty good but I’m not sure if it’s quite right especially in AoE situations.
I just don’t really 100% understand the strategies and how to optimize performance. Even though my gear is pretty decent I feel like I’m underperforming what I should be able to do. I can do as good or bigger numbers with my Survival Hunter at 612 than this guy at 617 just a few days ago. Made a couple upgrades and bumped to 619 today and that’s cool but I want to make sure I’m doing all I can to maximize my output.
I’ve used sites like Icy-Veins in the past but there have been times when their suggested rotation seemed non-optimal to me when using their suggestions for other classes, maybe because they were outdated when I checked them but I don’t know. Anyway I’m looking for any advice and what resources the Enhance Shammies are using to get as much as they can out of their character. Thanks in advance.
This is a super loaded question. But, here’s some info:
Guides are a great place to start but shouldn’t be your end all, be all. Guides are typically written under the assumption that you have full BiS gear. That being said, Wordup’s guide on wowhead is pretty comprehensive and thorough for the majority of what a player would/should be looking for.
When you use a simulator, make sure that you’re simming correctly - if you’re just simming using default settings, you’re likely only simulating a single target encounter. Make sure you analyze several scenarios (different fight lengths, number of targets, different talents, etc) so you can see how your stats/rotation change. Regarding your rotation, this information is found in your simulated damage results; “HTML Report” → “Damage Per Execute Time”. Any DoT damage on this table assumes full DoT duration so don’t just reapply things like Flame Shock willy nilly.
It’s often a good idea to consistently look at the top 10-20 players for a given encounter or M+ rankings on warcraftlogs or raider io to see what builds they’re using or if you can analyze logs. Emulate these to the best of your ability but try to understand why these talent/build choices are being made.
Believe it or not, utilizing your utility often has a positive impact on your overall damage numbers, at least in M+. If everyone uses their kits in M+, things run quite smoothly and the group as a whole can blast - you’ve probably seen groups that don’t do these things and everything falls apart and the entire group suffers… don’t be one of those players.
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The biggest advice i can give, is to play to what you favor and build accordingly on your trees. I use Icy Veins to get an overall summary on what abilities do and what the strengths are but i dont use it as gospel to play my class. One thing to note though as you are tuning, is that some other classes synergies with Enhancement are better and some are not. Mostly it comes down to player agency and what the group needs. Dont EVER be afraid to experiment and see what works for you. Just read the tooltip of an ability you like and try to maximize it until its muscle memory and then try another ability and keep doing it until youre comfortable with how it plays. Thats the best advice i can give.
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It’s really how you want to play it. If your goal is to maximize DPS in cleave/aoe, Hekili generally does pretty good at that, but if you want to understand how to play the class well, play it in arenas or solo shuffle without using Hekili. It’s like throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool, but it forces you strategize as you’ll often be the target of the enemy team and you’ll use more of your kit. Also, record yourself and watch what you did well and what you could’ve done better. If you have a guildie who plays and is really good, you can even have them point out things you could improve on in your videos.
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I made the switch from Ele to Enh a couple weeks ago.
Like other people have mentioned check out guides. I’m using a weakaura to consolidate the important stuff and track what’s going on as far as abilities/CDS/procs.
There’s quite a bit going on in the Enh rotation and for me, it took a bit for it all to click. I tried jumping right in to raid/dungeons and it was punishing. Worrying about mechanics AND trying to learn the rotation was too much for my feeble mind. So I stepped back, spent some time at the target dummies and only worried about reacting to procs and following the priority list. Eventually I jumped back in to raids and there was still some learning curve but eventually I started playing without having to think about things, muscle memory took over.
I don’t know what your skill level is, but Just stay patient. It’ll come…
i have also just started playing enhance. My advice would be to get a really good handle on what you maelstorm builders are and thier priority. then the spenders and thier priorities. I would also have a WA that tracks your maelstorm stacks in a big clear way and when you spend them spend closer to 10. The same for Tempest stacks.
hope that helps a little.