Shaman - Enhancement

Purpose

An Enhancement Shaman is a dps role, as well as a great source in providing an assortment of buffs via totems, talents and Bloodlust/Heroism. They are specifically proficient at single target dps, and against high armor targets due to their large percentage of damage done as magic.

Talents

16/55∞ or some variant is quite common. Below the talents that are optional are explained:

Enhancing Totems∞ Some people prefer this talent over horn of winter because you can get 178 STR/AGI instead of 155. Invest in this if you regularly group with many melee classes. Points should be taken out of Ancestral Knowledge∞ to get this.

Improved Windfury Totem∞ This is a great buff, but is overwritten by Death Knights who have Improved Icy Talons∞. Only one person needs to have this buff, and Shaman can provide different totems instead of windfury. If you do not need this talent, you can invest those points in Ancestral Knowledge∞

Shamanistic Focus∞ With the changes to Improved Stormstrike∞ in patch 3.1, Mana is rarely an issue for an Enhancement Shaman, so this should not be neccessary in a 25-man raid build.

Improved Ghost Wolf∞ If you find you don't need to take either of the two totem talents, this can be a good place to spend those points. The improved mobility can come in handy in outdoor raid areas, such as the Siege of Ulduar.

Ability Rotation (Or Ability Queue)

An Enhancement Shaman doesn't have a particular rotation, but instead has a priority system where they use certain abilities whenever they are available.

To maximize dps, use the following priority listing, starting at the top and going down.

5 Stack Maelstrom Weapon∞ Lightning Bolt∞ (With Stormstrike∞ Debuff still on target.) If you find you have issues, a macro for streamlining this move is: /cast Lightning Bolt
/stopcasting
Earth Shock∞ (With Stormstrike∞ Debuff still on target.)
Refresh Magma Totem
Stormstrike∞
Earth Shock∞
Lava Lash∞
Other Actions - Take time in between following this queue to refresh totems/shields/etc.

A quick note about Weapon Imbues. While levelling you might want to go with Double Windfury, but once you get the talents at level 75 (3/5 Elemental Fury∞) you should throw Flametongue on your offhand weapon.

Key Cooldowns

Do not forget about your Enhancement specific cooldowns.

Spirit Wolves∞ - Should be used early and often. For best effect, try to summon your wolves before using Heroism/Bloodlust∞.
Shamanistic Rage∞ - Use while running low on mana. With buffs or AP trinket use can easily fill a full mana bar.
Heroism/Bloodlust∞ - Use discretion, in raids, typically wait until requested by raid leader.

Stats (In Order of Importance)

Before taking into account item weights on gear, every enhancement shaman needs to focus on reaching 3 baseline numbers.

1. First is 8% hit. This is the cap for special attacks such as Stormstrike∞. The talent Dual Wield Specialization∞ gives 6% hit. That leaves you needing 2% more to cap specials. This is pretty much a non-issue if Alliance with 32 hit needed for alliance and 64 for Horde.
2. Expertise is next. Expertise makes it so your attacks cannot be dodged or parried. In PVE, you should always be standing behind the target, which means your attacks will not be parried, but the reduced dodge chance is still applicable, and makes a big difference in DPS numbers. The expertise cap is 6.50% reduction in dodge rate, which requires 26 expertise to negate. Unleashed Rage∞ provides 9 expertise, leaving 17 Expertise, or 140 Expertise rating to be aquired from gear. When looking for expertise, the best place to find it is accessory slots, including rings, necks, weapons, and enchants.
3. Next is the Spell Hit cap. This is 17%. Assuming no raid buffs and the dual wield talent, you will need 446 hit to make it so no spells will miss. Alliance Shaman will only require 420 hit, due to their racial ability. With raid buffs you are at 342 for Alliance and 367 for Horde.

Once those caps have been hit, there are several stats the enhancement shaman can focus on that will increase dps, although there is not one golden stat. Hit/expertise capped shaman will find it most beneficial to strike a balance between the following stats:

Crit
AP
Haste

You will find other stats such as Int, ArmorPen, and Spellpower will help, but not as much as the above, and as such they should not necessarily be avoided, but certainly not sought out.

Recommended Glyphs

There is a small amount of debate on the actual set of 3 best glyphs for enhacement.

However there is no debate that Glyph of Stormstrike∞ is the best. As of patch 3.0.8 Glyph of Windfury Weapon∞ also becomes a very compelling choice. All enhancement shaman should have this. The last major slot should be Glyph of Feral Spirit∞

There are no Minor glyphs that really help your DpS, but Id Reccommend Glyph of Renewed Life∞ to save you money

Recommended Enchants & Gems

Enchant List:
Helm: Arcanum of Torment∞ (Requires Revered with the Knights of the Ebon Blade)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe∞ or Lesser Inscription of the Axe∞ Depending on you Sons of Hodir Reputation. If you are an Inscriber you should use Master's Inscription of the Axe∞
Cloak: Major Agility∞ or Greater Speed∞, If you are a tailor pick up Swordguard Embroidery∞
Chest: Powerful Stats∞
Bracers: Expertise∞ if you aren't expertise capped or Greater Assault∞ if you are. If you are expertise capped and are a leatherworker pick up Fur Lining - Attack Power∞
Gloves: Precision∞ if you are not hit capped or Expertise∞ if you are hit capped but not expertise capped or Crusher∞ if you are capped on both
Belt: Make sure you pick up a Belt Buckle∞
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor∞
Boots: Tuskarr's Vitality∞ Since 3.1 got rid of the Unholy Aura run speed buff this is your best option. Run speed will save your life more often than you think, and on multiple target dps fights and trash you will gain damage from this. If you are desperately in need of more Hit, you could also try Icewalker∞
Weapons: Berserking∞ - Alternatively, if you are unable, or unwilling, to obtain this expensive enchant, Mongoose∞, Superior Potency∞ or Greater Potency∞ are perfectly acceptable for Normal Mode raiding.

Gems:
In general terms, Hit and Expertise gems are the best until you reach their caps. Shaman that are capped on hit and Expertise should grab Attack Power gems.

Meta Gem:
Relentless Earthsiege Diamond∞ is the best choice for a metagem as it only requires 1 sub-optimum blue gem. However if you have 2 socket bonuses that you want to activate that require blue gems then the

Consumables

Battle Elixir: Wrath Elixir∞, Elixir of Mighty Agility∞, Elixir of Accuracy∞, Elixir of Deadly Strikes∞, or Elixir of Expertise∞
Guardian Elixir: Elixir of Mighty Thoughts∞
Flask: Flask of Endless Rage∞
Food: Fish Feast∞

Additional Tips

Windfury main hand and Flametongue off-hand deals more damage than double Windfury. Also, Lava Lash does more damage with a hard-hitting slow off hand. Haste is a big benefit for a Shaman over other melee classes because Maelstrom procs more often from slow weapons, and haste allows those procs to add up faster.

Add-Ons

ShockandAwe∞ THE addon for enhancement Dps. It gives you a series of bars for managing the cooldowns on your Enhancement abilities. It also keeps track of your Maelstrom Weapons stacks and charges on your Lightning Shield
Totemtimers∞ A great mod for presetting the totems you drop and then it even makes a macro for you to drop your preset totems down by hitting one button.

Sources and Other Resources

Base info posted by [[http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Boulderfist&n=Stew∞ Stew] from Boulderfist. Many numbers taken from work done by others, most notably Levva.
Updated for 3.2 by Trustyn∞ from Crushridge with help from Ariik∞

Elitist Jerks: Theorycrafting Think Tank∞
Elitist Jerks: EnhSim, a dps Emulator that will find you accurate stat weights for gearing∞