Enhancement Shaman leveling guide
Melee with Shocks between swings. How the Enhancement talents play from level 10 to 60.
On this page7 sections
At a glanceOur pickOpinion, not confirmed by BlizzardOur reading of the Enhancement talent text, not a tested rotation.
- Build at level 60
- 16/35/0 (16 Elemental, 35 Enhancement)
- 16-point milestone
- Stormstrike, level 25
- Last Enhancement talent
- Rage of the Farseer, level 40
- In a group
- Damage
- Our first choice for leveling a Shaman
- This tree
How Enhancement plays
- Enhancement is melee with spells woven in, and Intellect is its odd key stat: Mental Dexterity adds 99% of your Intellect to your Attack Power, and Mental Quickness later adds up to 30% of it to spell damage and healing.
- Your weapon imbue matters. Elemental Weapons adds 20% to Rockbiter Weapon's attack power bonus, 40% to the Windfury Weapon effect and 15% to the damage of Flametongue Weapon and Frostbrand Weapon.
- Shocks and Lightning Shield cost 45% less with Shamanistic Focus, cheap enough to use in every fight.
- Stormstrike, the milestone, is an instant strike that raises the Nature damage you deal to the target by 20% for 12 sec. Improved Stormstrike makes it your Mana engine as well: 100% Mana regeneration while casting for 30 sec.
- Critical strikes trigger Flurry's 25% attack speed, Maelstrom Weapon lets melee hits shorten and cheapen your next Lightning Bolt, and Rage of the Farseer, the last talent, is 30% melee and casting speed for 25 sec.
What to press first
Most important first. Not a rotation.
- 1
Keep a weapon imbue on
Elemental Weapons improves all four: Rockbiter, Windfury, Flametongue and Frostbrand.
- 2
Use Stormstrike whenever it is ready
Stormstrike raises the Nature damage you deal to the target for 12 sec, so Nature damage belongs right after it.
- 3
Use Shocks freely
Shamanistic Focus takes 45% off their Mana cost.
- 4
Keep Lightning Shield up
Shamanistic Focus makes it 45% cheaper too, and Improved Lightning Shield later adds to its damage.
- 5
Cast Lightning Bolt once Maelstrom Weapon has built up
Maelstrom Weapon gives melee hits a chance to cut the cast time and Mana cost of your next Lightning Bolt, and the effect stacks.
- 6
Travel in Ghost Wolf
Improved Ghost Wolf takes 2 sec off its cast and lets you use it indoors.
Talents that change how you play · 11
From Thundering Strikes at level 10 to Spirit Weapons at 41.
The level is when our build first takes the talent.
- Levels 10–14
More critical strikes, with spells and attacks alike.
- Levels 15–16
Ghost Wolf is quick to cast and works indoors.
- Levels 17–19
Intellect becomes a melee stat: it adds to your Attack Power.
- Levels 20–22
Whichever imbue you use gets stronger.
- Level 23
Shocks and Lightning Shield become cheap.
- Level 25
Stormstrike16-point milestone
The fight gets a centre.
- Levels 26–30
Critical strikes now speed up your swings.
- Levels 31–32
Stormstrike starts paying for your spells, and a Dodge or Parry resets its cooldown.
- Levels 35–39
Lightning Bolt joins the melee loop.
- Level 40
The big cooldown: everything is faster.
- Level 41
A parry chance, and your imbue now sets your threat: 30% less without Rockbiter Weapon, 30% more with it.
Gear to look for
What the talents reward on items, and items that carry it.
- Intellect counts as a melee stat here: Mental Dexterity adds 99% of it to your Attack Power.
- Critical strike chance, for Flurry.
- No Enhancement talent names a weapon type, one-handed or two-handed, or dual wielding. The data does not tell us which is right, so we do not say.
Opinion, not confirmed by BlizzardItems that carry what these talents name.
Levels 10-20
Cloth hands · 6 Intellect, 3 Stamina
Quest: Important Heirlooms, choose 1 of 2 · The Hall of Thanes, levels 13-18 Alliance
Groups and dungeons
In a group: damage. New group talents before 4 dungeons.
In a group these talents support damage.
- Mind your imbue once you have Spirit Weapons. It reduces the threat of your attacks by 30% while Rockbiter Weapon is not active and increases it by 30% while it is, so next to a tank use any imbue but Rockbiter.
- Mental Quickness adds a share of Intellect to healing as well as spell damage, which helps when you have to heal in a pinch.
New group talents by the time each dungeon opens
Strengths and trade-offs
2 strengths, 2 trade-offs.
Strengths
- Mana stops being a worry once Improved Stormstrike is in.
- Speed on speed: Flurry after critical strikes, then Rage of the Farseer on top.
Trade-offs
- There is a lot to keep up at once: an imbue, Lightning Shield, Stormstrike and Shocks.
- Before Stormstrike at level 25 the tree adds numbers, not buttons: the fight is whatever a Shaman has without talents.
Compare this build
Keep reading
Sources and what isn't confirmed
Unconfirmed: reported, not confirmed by Blizzard
- The Hall of Thanes being open to the Alliance only
- The items under Gear to look for, and their stats, as public coverage reports them
Not announced
- Stat weights
- A leveling talent order from Blizzard
Sources
- Beta 1.60.1 talent data: every sentence about how the tree plays is read from the Enhancement talent text. Nothing here is a published guide or a tested rotation
- Warcraft Tavern, 19 Sep 2026: the items under Gear to look for, and where each comes from
- Warcraft Tavern's Forever Shaman guide: which armor and weapons a Shaman can use, and from what level
Updated . Talent data: beta 1.60.1. Details can change in any later build or patch.