So most of the guides for enhance shaman are obviously for level 60s, and it’s my understanding that they go crit/agility near the end as it’s at the core of their kit, but at my current level (24) I don’t have access to the abilities/talents that make crit as relevant?
I was, basically up until this point, doing enhance using intel gear and that was fun, but I just made the transition into strength instead and I’m liking the damage increase, not to mention that it’s a lot more “passive”. Just throw down my strength totem and I’m good to go.
For those of you who have a lot of experience with shaman, how do you like to gear yourself while levelling, because from the perspective of someone who’s never played one, it seems like stats don’t matter that much unless you want a specific kind of play style while doing enhance?
Should I try different stats at specific levels? Should I slowly transition into one, or completely transition once I get a specific ability?
Enlighten me with your shaman levelling philosophies 
I have a mix of stamina/strength and stamina/agility gear on. While I was leveling I went mostly for agility and strength gear.
You’re right that agi/crit holds a lot more value once you’ve unlocked flurry. You don’t want to be prioritising int, you only really want to use flame shock and lightning shield and maximising the use of your totems.
Prioritise strength, try and get used to kiting a mob with earthbind totem while you trade hit for hit.
Every stat is useful for an enhancement shaman leveling.
Roughly speaking, a good stat priority for leveling is Str > Agi > Stam > Spirit > Intellect.
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Seems about right. I basically always have Rockbiter now instead of Flametongue, open up with flame shock, then pop my strength totem down and whack away. Throw in a searing totem sometimes. I don’t bother using anything else for the most part since the target is almost down before I end up putting up any other totems.
It sucks watching my mana pool go down as I replace my intel gear with strength, but have less need for heals since I’m doing more damage anyways. Also, that mace crit sound effect, so satisfying lol, it’s probably my favourite weapon sound effect in the game for some reason.
I think I’ll stick with this for now and maybe get some agility as I go along.
As you level up you just keep Rockbiter on (unless you’re using a FAST 2h, but even then Rockbiter is probably better the WF, WF tends to overkill or not proc and RB is up 100%), put lightning shield up once before you pull a mob but don’t keep it up, hit it with flame shock, drop searing, and auto til its dead.
Rinse, repeat, it’s not exciting but it’ll keep your mana from being an issue.
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Yeah forgot to mention lightning shield. I Usually put it up when if I’m paying attention (which I’m not most of the time lol), but it feels weird because it’s a shield that lasts 3 hits, so I always have to renew it. It kind of feels like a hassle? I don’t generally bother unless I’m fighting a mob that’s 2 or 3 levels higher than me… I’ve yet to see a ‘very’ practical use for it. It’s the only Shaman spell that kind of bugs me 
It hits like a truck and as long as you only really put it up once a fight it’s not bad on mana.
Speaking purely from an efficiency standpoint, it is a bit of an annoying spell in vanilla.
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I’m using a mix of this https://classicwow.live/guides/42/1-60-shaman-leveling-guide-by-kargoz (specifically 1H+shield) and the tank input out there (Caperfin, Totemtank, Yxo), and it’s been great to level so far with 1h and shield. Generally I stack Agi, Stamina, Str, and enough int to not be gimped (EDIT: I have a bunch of pieces in the bag that are int heavy for when it’s time to heal, a second set of gear is imperative). And when it’s time to do dungeons you can heal, dps, or even tank if you’re not too low level and know the fights. I use Rockbiter unless against a player or if in a dungeon in any role besides tank.
Use a weakaura for LS if you’re having issues micromanaging it while out in the world leveling. But it’s a costly spell so it pays off to be smart about when to renew. Don’t just renew it every time it falls off.
Sweet thanks, I’ll check out the link. I’m 1h+shield atm too. Also I do have weakauras for my rogue, don’t know why I haven’t set it up for my Shaman yet -.-
I wonder if there’s a way to macro lightning shield with flame shock. I always open up with it and they both wear off around the same time, so it would seem like the perfect combination…
/castsequence reset=12 Lightning Shield, Flame Shock
You’ll have to hit the button twice.
(BTW - The thing that’s special about lightning shield is that it’s the second-most efficient damage spell we have. The most efficient, of course, is Searing Totem.)
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Yeah I can’t remember which one it is exactly, but there’s one that has an icon for LS and monitors totems. And a separate large icon WA for weapon enchant. They help a lot.
Well thanks all, bout to log on a new man. Now I have some kind of general direction to follow.
Happy gaming 
I look at increasing my longevity over damage after level 30. There can be some very very long wait times between windfury procs and you’re relying on shocks,totems and lightning shield to do your damage for you. IN hindsight I really should have just stuck to 1H + shield for the whole leveling trip.
Upto level 40 it honestly doesn’t matter much but once you get stormstrike you’re looking to kill things as fast as you can.
Yeah I’m definitely looking forward to certain abilities and actually experiencing them from my own perspective for the first time. Enhancement always seemed like the most unique spec in the whole game, compared to any kind of healing, caster or even other dps specs. Can’t wait to see it when it’s fully developed.
I’m leveling as elemental. I got talents up to clear casting. Now I want to get up to Nature’s Swiftness, while taking the hit talents in restoration. I suggest getting the hit talent as well. It benefits both spell and melee attacks.
I think the hit talent is overated while leveling, the most efficient way to level for me is to be murdering green mobs.
This is true in general. But instances often scale several levels between start and finish. The hit should help when dealing with bosses that are higher level.
An example is WC where first pulls are level 18, and last boss is level 21. Those hit talents would help in that specific kind of scenario.
The most important thing is gonna be the dps of your weapon. In vanilla i leveled an enhance shaman and i traded out corpsemaker for staff of doan because it was a better dps increase despite having caster stats. Besides you do use mana. I personally ran windfury once i had it but i played on a pvp server, and slow 2h weapons get the most from that, id probably use rockbiter on a 1h or a 2h that was 2.9 or faster. Just my opinion.
Personally I used mostly str/agi/stam gear with a bit of intellect and spirit to maintain a comfortable amount of mana between pulls.
I find without a fair bit of spirit or int you end up drinking too often even with only a single stormstrike or shock in combat.
Just remember if you are using a decent amount of spirit you will want to pay good attention for the 5s rule to maximise your mana regen, you don’t want to be cutting it short and having to wait out the 5s again.