Enhancement Shaman DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Enhancement Shaman abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.2).

Single Target

Ensure Flame Shock is active before engaging.

Use on cooldown for Maelstrom generation and damage boost.
Trigger Splintered Elements and apply Flame Shock to multiple targets.
Use with Legacy Of The Frost Witch active.
Activate for Windstrike and enhanced damage.
Use on cooldown during Ascendance.
Spend at 8+ stacks, prioritize Elemental Blast or Lightning Bolt.
Use with Doom Winds active or at 2 charges.
Use with Hot Hand or Whirling Fire active.
Use as filler or to maintain buff in AoE.

Maintain Flame Shock and prioritize Feral Spirit and Primordial Wave for burst. Use Doom Winds and Ascendance strategically, and spend Maelstrom Weapon stacks on Elemental Blast or Lightning Bolt.

AoE

Spread Flame Shock with Lava Lash before starting.

Use on cooldown for Maelstrom generation and damage boost.
Spread Flame Shock and trigger Splintered Elements.
Use with Legacy Of The Frost Witch active.
Use to maintain buff and generate Maelstrom.
Spend at 5+ Maelstrom stacks.
Use at 10 Maelstrom stacks.
Use with Legacy Of The Frost Witch active.
Use with Hot Hand or Whirling Fire active.
Use as filler or with Stormblast active.

Spread Flame Shock and prioritize Feral Spirit and Primordial Wave for burst. Use Doom Winds and Crash Lightning to maintain buffs and generate Maelstrom. Spend Maelstrom on Chain Lightning and Primordial Storm.

Cooldowns

Use on cooldown for Maelstrom generation and damage boost.
Activate for Windstrike and enhanced damage.
Use to trigger Splintered Elements and apply Flame Shock.
Use with Legacy Of The Frost Witch active for burst.

Use Feral Spirit and Primordial Wave on cooldown for resource generation and burst. Activate Ascendance and Doom Winds strategically for maximum damage.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

Single-Button Assistant
Assisted Highlight
Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.