which is better? elemental or enhance?
atm, i am elemental because of my gear, but i have always wondered which spec is better if you have like full lvl 70 blues

Anyways, love to hear your opinions. just plz explain why.

JoBrBeWi!

Elemental, i was enhance from 22-64 and it was really easy to solo as enhance and taking on many mobs was cake, but i just respeced to elemental and my dps has gone up by 100 average, if you are well geared elemental you should out dps an equally geared enhance shaman easily... i'm not saying that in a duel the enhance won't pwn your ass but in a raid and for PvE dps purposes elemental is the way to go.

Aeginne 64 shaman Blades Edge

I just cant seem to figure out why so many shaman go elemental spec at lvl70, ok, dps probably a bit beta in some cases but I'm a lvl54 enhance and i totally kick elementals asses, and it is so much more fun, elemental is so boring, would just like to hear the opinion of some lvl70 shamans, i don't know maybe its completely different at high lvl.   

In alot of Enhance shaman pvp videos i see the guy will switch between a 2 handed weapon and Dual-wielding depending on the fight. Why is this?

Could someone help me wich weaponbuff i need to use (Rockbiter/flametongue/frostbrand) at what level and wich weapon ( 1H axe/ 1H mace / staff)

If your going enhance and duel wielding, make sure to have 2 SLOW weapons (2.6+ pref) the slower the better. Slap windfury on both and your set.

Edit: Might as well explain why.

Somewhere along the road windfury got nerfed, putting a hidden 3 second cooldown on the proc (Windfury can only proc once every 3 seconds) so if you have a fast offhand, its just going to eat up your windfurys that COULD be proccing off the mainhand. Therefor you want weapon speeds to be as close to 3 seconds as you can.

on that note, slow weapons with similar DPS to fast ones hit significantly harder, so your OH "eating up the windfury procs" wont be in vain, it will do the same significant amount of damage that your Mh would do.

Speaking of which, blizz should make the Glad weapons available for shammies at equal prices (since you end up using two of the main hand weapon anyways [i say MH, even tho it is One hand because it is the non-offhand]) people have been pulling for windfury un-nerfage on the Blizz forums for a good time now, and it SEEMS that there may be hope soon for slow offhands in higher raids/instances.

BTW this is coming from a semi-educated 70 hunter/47 shammy who reads up on the forums

I would be elemental but I hate just sitting there and spamming chain lightning and casting >_<. Im a more melee guy, but I find that a hybrid between enhance and elemental is the best choice. Its increases spell dmg significantly and I still get stormstrike and dual.

The reason shammans switch between duel weild and 2 hand is because a slow 2 hand is nessisary to penetrate high armor targets and duel weild will slap significantly more DPS on squishy chars aswell as interupt spell casting

As an answer to resto shammies, yes they can handle their own in melee, even at lower lvls, as well as most pallies...i smoke pallies all the time....as for the heals, shammy heals are slightly less powerful throughout the lvls than say a preist or druid, the largeset setback of resto shammies, is no HOT heals,
but dre who run a higher resto rating get earthshield which has negated most of my need to ever through a heal when soloing, my dps is still as well as anyone else i run with at my lvl (56)
And with the increased mana regen of the resto shammy i deal dmg for longer periods of time in large pull situations...I find that its more a matter of play style though. i have seen stong build off of resto/enhacement....the biggest nightmare ive seen is resto/elemental combos, as both rely on your limited mana pool for dmg and survivability.

why are alot of enhancement shamans forced to respec to either element or resto if they want to raid? thanks for answering :)

Well imo why the respec or be forced to respec, and i'm judging this opinion on doing half of zg at 62.  what happens is bosses tend to do lots of aoe damage around themselves and the raid wants to focus all heals on the MT, so if your there doing your dps on the baddie that does crazy aoe damage, your gonna die rather quickly since all the healers will be focusing on the tank.  so if you want to have a halfway decent repair bill when you finish a raid i suggest going either elemental or resto because you sure as hell aren't too much good if you are dead

Aeginne 65 elemental shaman Blades edge

As a elemental shaman what weapon for wich weapon choice should and should i choose for Rockbiter/flametongue/frostbrand
((i am still lvl 24))

All i can think of is stay enhance for ur lvl, umm keep Frostshock and Earthbind up on the hunt. Try and keep it in the deadzone also, this might be hard to do but I hope it helps out :) GL


Ephors 63 Enhancement, Scilla

theres no dead zone any more. it shrunk! to 5 yards.. Earthbind, keep em close dps dps dps

honestly, probably has changed in the past years, but before going to MC n BWL when i was dueling hunters as a resto shammy, they couldnt kill me
I just frost shocked n meleed um, wittled down they;re health slowly, but they couldnt hit me cuz i just healed it up :)
hope it helps

Enhancement is the best for me. i just can't wait until duel wield, it'll be too easy.

hi guys i have question : do u think the enhance talents r a bit not suitable 4 meele spec like the improve in lighting sheild its 4 element spec and the mana increase and the sheild no enhance use sheild beside we cant tank so what do u think?

Like all classes, it's not the class it's the player.
For leveling enhancement is definitely the fastest. Damage output may not be as significant as elemental but damage duration is almost constant. You'd never have to sit down drink some water or anything. You just go on, when hp's low heal a bit, when mana's low shamanistic rage, once you compare it out enhancement has the upper hand for leveling.
Elemental does have the upper hand in 1v1 pvp, against other classes that is. Their high damage and quick output can bring down the target with speed.

eh, i agree about not using enhance for PvP, but the comment on 5v5 arena elemental shammies is more or less false from what i've seen (and i've seen a lot).

once you go oom (which is relatively fast in a 5v5 round where there are reasonably good healers, you are quite frankly shit for DPS. you can hang out by your mana totem and throw a chain lightning or heal out every once in a while, but if you dont manage to nuke one or two of their guys down before you're oom, you have just doomed yourself and completely removed your DPS from the team.

im kinda new to the shaman class i have a lvl 32 hunter. both bc chars im just curious on the ele/enh deal for only pve at the moment pvp i might when i hit 70 with this shaman char. im wondering what are the dps for both if you spec hybrid with ele/enh?  I have some in the heal wave just to keep self alive instad of using the gift since it has a cooldown that takes for ever. Also another Question what are the best area's to lvl for a lvl 20 shaman. i have a few quests in Bloodmyst area but im not sure about going up against elites at the moment on my own.

I'm a lvl 34 elemental Draenei Shaman and I have no problems in PvE I have respeced alot trying the different talent tree's and to respec costs me 45g now lol good thing i have a main XD but anyways I think Elemental and Enhancement are both good for PvE and PvP if geared right and know what your doing. I'm acctually having more fun on my lvl 34 shaman than my lvl 70 hunter lol. Elemental can be off-healer and be DPS too in my opinion.

I have had lvl 60 Enhancement pre expansion and I would own everything cept a lock.  It all depends on your armor and weapons.  now that I am back playing again and at lvl 68 alliance shammy, I think pvp for a new enhancement shammy is hard.  I dont  have the equiptment others have. and I die too fast.  I do get lucky and crit w/ wf for 4k+ on lvl 70s caster but that rare.  Can't wait till 70 and some new weapons...Merciless gladiator ftw...

honestly i personally have seen both classes own in pvp.  in pve it is deffinatley prefered to be elemental, cause rogues and dps warriors fill the need pretty well and u have less a chance of hurting the tank in some fights (ie: Gruul).

About the elemental shamans in 5v5, there was a team of 5 elemental shamans on a European server that had a 2200 rating at one point in time.

Whaterver spec u choose it is all personal preferance, honestly i would go elemental.  plus your flame tounge damage is increased as your bonus spell damage goes up.

Elemental shamans are heavily dependent on crit in endgame, and enhancment are highly gear dependent to be even somewhat efficient.

But this is coming from a guy w/ a 70 resto shaman and a 20 elemental shaman

About the fast off-hand, if you have any fast offhand weapon, you can just use rockbiter, flametongue or frostbrand on it. So which will result in only windfury procs of your main hand :).

I think that most of you are getting ahead of yourself in terms of damage. Sure 2h axes and maces are great for burst damage, but you can also get an insane amount of dps just through a good setup of enhance armor and dual wield.

I have a 46 shaman with a curve bladed ripper and some green dagger hat I put +2 wep damage on, and I still pwn in bgs. Casters dont stand a chance because you always interupt their casts and with grace of air and agility enchants, crits are off the hook. The main idea is that dual wield can do wonders over a 2h in a bg. You don't have to have power over speed or all that "elemental is better for dps" crap. If you have some fast weapons like CB Ripper and a dagger or something, just put your highest windfury on the main hand and frostbrand on the off hand. Enhance definately rocks elemental in speed and in durability.

lol to Aimanzain, its enhance talent like all the way down after the 2 crossed swors that say spirit weapons

Thx Cream Machine.I didn't notice that......Lol.

sure element does more damage, but enhance isnt SO DAMN DEPENDANT on crits. you constantly do good damage as enhance where you have to hope you crit to do good as elemental

I'm a lvl 52 Enhancement shaman and Have played with all three tiers.  Just like any Class you have different builds for different things.  For lvling I choose Enhancement.  I did a few lvls as elemental and liked it alot but I prefer just throwing WF on a nice 2hander and going to town on mobs.  But if you want to know the truth I wouldnt PvP as a enhancement shaman.  One cause I prefer the range of a Elementalist with crits from Bolts and chains and you can absolutly rape any class if you get the drop on them.  I mean it sucks for them when you are behind them and hit your chain lightning from max range and crit off it and follow by a bolt for 60% less mana...then you drop a earthbind and frost shock build distance and continue the bolts...you can rape most none caster classes in a matter of about 5 spells and if Lighting overload procs forget it there nothing but burnt to a crisp.  But from my first comment it is all based on what your doing with a shaman.  A shaman is a balanced class.  Not a master of pure combat or pure spell casters.  But let me put it this way to you.  Each patch they tamper with builds so you got to respec constently.  Elemental is a soild build and so is resto.  No one wants a enhancement shamans in end game cause if you are doing that amazing DPS you have to be next to the mob and when the mob lets loose with there AoE and you die cause the healers are busy healing the main tank you have just sealed the fate of the group cause they lost a person and his totems.  SO solo/grinding/ Balanced= enhancement........ End game raiding, PvP= Elemental....ENd game raiding, instances= resto.

I was enhance from lvl 1-53 and had no problems with it (still dont). But I respecced to elemental just to try it out and in my opinion it is 100 times better than enhance. For leveling purposes up to 50, enhance is probably best, but after 50 i suggest elemental. With enhance (as said above), in instances u have to be close to mobs to deal your DPS and most times your group will wipe because the healer cant constantly heal you and the tank/tanks. Also, most enhance shammys dont stand a chance against a good caster. If you cant get close to your target then you are going to die. If you know where to put your talents in elemental and what gear to get, elemental is much better than enhance at higher levels.
Eg. When I switched to elemental, the same monsters that had been killing me when I was enhance only managed to get 1 hit on me if they were lucky.
The final thing: Elemental shammies dont wear cloth. This is the biggy! When some enhance shammys switch they believe they need cloth to make them better casters, DONT DO IT! The great thing about being an elemental shaman is that you can deal 50-90% of your damage from a distance and if your wearing mail+ a sheild you can finish the target of in close quarters. Lets see a mage or lock try to do that without ice barrier.
BTW your best friend against casters (ESPECIALLY MAGES!) is purge. Spam that maybe 3 thimes and beating the mage has never been easier. And resistance totems can save your ass against mages if you know what spec they are ^^
Bottom line: 1-50 Enhance is better 50+ Elemental/Resto is better.

Ok.. im a lvl 70 shaman and have almost full epic gear for every talent. Let me just say this: Resto shamans are the best way to go end of story. If u want to dps which is very fun, use elemental for pve, and enhancement for pvp. Thats allt here is to it.

When the patch went out for the windfury "hidden" 3 sec cooldown I just had my main-hand use windfury (Reflex blades with 2.70 speed) and my off hand with frostnova (Stormweaver warblades with 1.60 speed) the reason is want to slow down my enemy because gives me a higher chance to unload my windfury on them (you only have a 20% chance). So I ask you would you rather slow down you enemy so you have a better chance of hitting that 20%? if you think duel wielding 2 slow weapons is the way to go then you might as well carry a big slow two-handed weapon and forget putting talent points in duel wield.

Remember this combo: Stormstrike, one of your shock spells, turn his face into jelly and then another shock spell. Rinse and repeat

i like enhance cus out of mana o well just melee them

Lots of interesting opinions on here, well lvl 70 0/42/19 build. I tried the respec to Ele(hated it casting is boring)  went back to Enh definitely here to stay.  PVE great I don't know what problems everyone has with PVE as enhancement, single mobs done in under 10sec np.  If u pull 2 or more throw your stoneclaw deystroy the first throw a heal on yourself and take down the second one np again.  I'm not a pvper so couldn't tell you how to go about that road.  To the questions about what to put on weapons imo I go WF/WF with 2 fast weapons, yeah your OH may proc WF and not the MH.  My view on this though say you have a 2.6 MH and 1.8 OH roughly 3 hits every 4 secs.  Now look at it with 1.8 MH and 1.8 OH roughly 4 hits every 4 secs with the possibility of WF proc twice in that time frame.  I don't have the greatest of gear but still have a crit % of around 20 my dps is the same if not better than most in any group that I run with.  This is just mo though, not looking for arrogant a**holes to down play me, but Enhancement has gotten me from 28 to 70 very quickly.  Now I find that the points in Resto are important for this build with the 70% chance to avoid a heal cast this will almost always give u the ability to heal yourself when you are getting in a tight spot and your healer is bust with the MT.  Another nice this about this build is the ability to throw an OH in tight jams.  Say your healer is oom and you don't need the mana to deliver tremendous dps so you can step back and become a healer to finish off that final 10% of a boss if needed.  Comments welcome, piss off if u r here to trash someone.

Rather arrogant post above imo, but being a well geared shaman across all 3 of my specs, shaman have a ridiculous amount of verstility, and I have a hard time staying 1 spec. For the pvp aspect it depends on your type of PVP. Arena wise Resto is a great choice, throw Earth Shield on yourself and you become amazingly durable. 5v5 situations as well as BG's elemental is great for devastating burst dps, assist off a warrior with WF totem dropped for them and you can down almost anything instantly. Enhance is great for killing casters but relies heavily on closing that gap and not ending out being kited to death as the frost shock snare isnt always enough to counter a freezing trap, blink, fear or most types of cc.
Pve if your a raider, my most successful specs are 41 0 20 being as an elemental, mana conservation is key for long fights and spell crit = mana efficiency and higher damage. And 16 45 0, in raids you really shouldn't have to heal yourself and the 16 pts into elemental will give you the talents to reduce shock cd by 1 seconds which Theorycrafters will quickly see as a huge dps improvement as long as you can keep your mana high.
Between the 2 I prefer elemental as it is a little easier to control threat and dps'ing from a distance I can keep an eye on things going on around me. Though most larger raids should definitely require and enhance due to the mass buffs they can give to melee as well as an elemental via Stormstrike.

Sorry forgot about weapons =).  Enhance wise while it is funny to watch someone try to cast with Dual wield wf on some 1.8 speed weapons, for a serious raider, 2 slow weapons are best. Preferably  about 2.6 speed and yes Windfury on em still beats any combination atm.  As for elemental, just get a spell damage weapon unless you are pvping, get a very fast weapon and use Flametongue. The damage co-efficiency from spell damage isn't fully balanced and favors fast weapons. (in response to a few questions above)

Alrighty guys, im lvl 70 shaman on Shattered halls server. The ONLY way to level a shaman effectively to 60 ish is enhancement. Enhancement is also the way to go for pvp up to that level b/c of the statistically lower health rates of other players. during new endgame content however, enhancements get eaten alive in pvp. take a mage for example. Frost nova pew pew blink frost nova rinse repeat, shaman down. With elemental you do not have this problem, also the gained armor from teh shield allows you to take lots of hits from rogues and some warriors before you get completely pwned. In raids however, both specs are equally beneficial to your raid. totems generally raise the dps of members by around 80. There are some really well geared enhancement shaman that can get way up there on the dps charts, there are some really well geared elemental shamans that can get way up there on dps charts, you need to decide at lvl 70 what playing style best befits you, and what will benefit your guild more.

also, in defense of ele shamans, i eat enhancement shamans alive. :) i can't honestly say that ive lost a head to head against one

so I am nearing 70.. about to hit 68.. have the Oathkeeper. (2h caster mace).. right now i am ele/resto.. should i switch to ele/enh. to use this... maybe spec. 32/29/0.. or maybe put a few in resto for some heals.. what ya think???