The Enh Shaman Problem

Just leveled one of these things to 40 to see what all the fuss was about and I can confirm this is the best spec in the game currently bar none. I have only SM gear and haven’t touched the raid and can get up to 1600 attack power (this is triple most other classes AP at 40). Not only is this class extremely powerful but it’s literally easier than a ret paladin to play (and thats saying something). Don’t let these shaman mains gaslight you guys, there is no “high” skill cap on this class its legitimately 3 buttons. Not to mention you have the most utility in the game as well.

There are a couple of glaringly obvious issues that need to be addressed to bring this spec in line which I will outline.

1. DOUBLE ROCK BITER WEAPON
Rock biter rank 5 with talents currently gives me 382 attack power and since shamans can dual wield now go ahead and double that (764 AP). The fix here is allow rock biter to only apply to one weapon so shamans will actually use other weapon enchants.

2. WAY OF EARTH
Way of earth is the best passive defensive in the game and it needs to be so shaman tank can be a thing. But it makes the class unkillable in pvp. The fix here is only activate way of earth if the shaman has a shield equipped. This way if you want to be tanky in pvp you can’t also do the most damage out of any other class/spec.

3. SPIRIT OF THE ALPHA
Spirit of the alpha rune does not need the 20% additional attack power bonus it is genuinely overkill and coupled with rock biter weapon and strength of earth totem the scaling is entirely unreasonable.

If these glaring issues are addressed I’m certain shaman will still be extremely viable in pve and pvp without being oppressive to the rest of the other players in the game. I implore blizzard to please look into this before literally everyone rerolls shaman.

SCREENSHOT OF AP:
https:/imgur.com/XXzpkSN

70 Likes

Yeah I have no idea how classic shaman works but holy. Triple AP across most classes at 40? That explains a lot LOL. Please tune down shamans. The fact that there are enough threads on this, says a lot.

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Yeah, 764 AP is literally more AP than I have on this character with Improved Blessing of Might up. And that’s without taking into account the 20% buff from Spirit of the Alpha.

Maybe nerf Spirit of the Alpha to like 10% and then make it so Rockbiter can only be applied to Main Hand.

It’s a testament to how broken double Rockbiter is that despite most Enh Shaman runes giving bonuses to using other Weapon Imbues on your offhand instead of Rockbiter, Rockbiter is STILL the play regardless. It’s just too strong and frankly it feels like a massive oversight on Blizzard’s part that Rockbiter was allowed on offhand in the first place.

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that needs to get out of this game

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Test out rb/ft with lava lash. Let us know what you think.

Ive tried it, and its honestly not worth dropping the second RB, its just so much AP that scales with alpha as well. Shamans are literally locked into double RB lol

Nerf Mage and Warlock damage too and then we can have this discussion.

I literally dominate both of those classes along with every other class in the game.

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These are all very reasonable changes. Be prepared to be met with very unreasonable screeching

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WoW is a mostly PvE focused game. There is no arena or competitive PvP in classic so I really dgaf what you do.

my BM hunter is BIS in gnomer gear and im at 752 ap

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Shaman tank out DPS’s half of the games actual DPS specs in pve, do you have a problem with that?

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Even in Gnomer, RB/FT isn’t viable. According to WCL, all the top Enh parsers in Gnomer are using RB/WF.

But in PvP, RB/RB has to be the play for them, because its a static incredible increase to attack power and not based on RNG.

This is despite them having several runes that specifically give additional benefits for using weapon imbues aside from RB on their offhands. And the funny thing is, Enhance Shamans are USING those runes as well.

But Rockbiter is SO strong that doubling it is just plain better than using any other offhand imbue. That’s why it needs to be made only a main hand imbue.

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I didn’t even bring up a myriad of other crazy interactions. These are just the most obvious and easiest to fix.

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Yeah I’d argue that even though Shaman is OP for a lot of other things as well, like partywide freedom, 10% hit, and instant no-mana 800 heals, that’s all actually not too terrible.

This is Season of Discovery after all, everyone is at least a little OP.

Just nerfing at least 2 of the 3 things in your post would probably bring Enhancement Shaman back in line with the general level of OPness that most other classes have in SoD.

These are all reasonable changes to ask for. Something I’ve been saying so enhance DPS doesn’t get gutted as well.

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If you take alpha in PvP over decoy explains a lot not a very good pvper I see enjoy being stuck in roots and slows the entire game

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At some point, there’s nothing to do but PvP. Everyone is already raid logging and bored leveling. Not to mention, these suggested changes arent even unreasonable. Making the game fun for people that dont play Shamans is a good thing.

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Updated with screenshot of my AP incase no one believes me (in only SM gear missing a lot of STR/AGI pieces as well)

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so half of what a shaman can get? what’s your point lol
OP’s blue SM mace hits harder than a warrior with gnomer epic fully geared lol