WotLK Classic Enhancement Shaman Stat Priority (2024)

Last updated on Oct 04, 2023 at 15:00by Seksixeny5 comments

On this page, you will find out the optimal PvE stat priority for yourEnhancement Shaman in WotLK Classic. We first present the statpriority, before delving into more complex explanations.

The best gear available is usually the gear with the highest amount of usefulstats, rather than gear that has the highest rated stats and little else. Expertiseand Hit caps exist to remind you to avoid stacking those stats above them, not asa goal to hit while downgrading the rest of your stats.

1. Need 8% Hit before talents / Draenei to cap Ability (for ex Stormstrike) Hit;
2. Need 17% Hit before talents / Draenei to cap Spell Hit;
3. Need 26 Expertise Points to reduce Boss Dodge % to 0;
4. Attack Power (as you get 2 on gear for each 1 of any combat rating plus it converts to Spell Power with Mental Quickness);
5. Haste;
6. Agility (1 Atk Power and a bit of Crit);
7. Intellect (1 to 1 Atk Power conversion with Mental Dexterity);
8. Spell Power;
9. Critical Strike;
10. Strength (1 Atk Power);
11. Armor Penetration.

For actual EP values, try out the EnhancementDPS Wrath Simulator. Input your gear, buffs, talents, and glyphs, hit theStat Weights button and it will give you the exact value of each stat foryour current gear profile! The stat priority above is a rough ordering of the EPvalues coming out for the preset profiles.

Your weapons are the largest contributors to your damage, and you shouldalways aim to upgrade them first, if possible. There are two types of weaponsyou will be looking for: high DPS slow weapons and high Spell Power slow weapons.

High DPS on a slow weapon will make your Stormstrikes andWindfury Weapon procs hit harder, as well as making it easierto weave spells with Maelstrom Weapon in your rotation, as you need tocast them before your swing finishes.

Spell Power weapons are typically fast and exclusive to the main-hand, butthere are some exceptions such as Wraith Strike, which is the Phase 1best in slot weapon. Due to the extremely high amount of Spell Power present,you can scale your spells very well, more than compensating for the DPS lost.

The main way you will obtain Spell Power is from Attack Power conversionthrough Mental Quickness, but you can occasionally get even more froma caster main-hand weapon or a particularly good gear piece such as the Wyrmrest Necklace of Power.

Expertise reduces the chance of your attacks being parried or dodged. It takes8.196 expertise rating to gain 1 expertise skill. Each point of Expertise skillwill reduce the target's chance to dodge and parry your attacks by 0.25% each.

Expertise is a strong stat, increasing the odds of your attacks hitting theirtarget. While enemies cannot parry from behind, they can still dodge your attacks.For Level 83 mobs (bosses) the Expertise cap is 6.5% dodge or 26 Expertiseskill / around 213 Expertise rating.

Hit rating improves your chance to land most of your abilities. It takes32.78 hit rating to get 1% hit chance, and the yellow damage hit cap, used forStormstrike and Windfury Weapon, is 8%, totaling around 262 Hitrating.

Spell Hit allows your spells to land more often, which is very important forEnhancement as Spells such as Fire Nova and Lightning Bolt are ahuge part of the damage breakdown. You need 26.23 Hit to have a 1% increasedchance to hit with Spells and the cap before external buffs is 17% Spell Hit,although you should be aiming for 14% due to Misery / Improved Faerie Fire,which translates to roughly 367 rating. Note that in PvP you are facing equal levelenemies, meaning you only need 4% Hit, which is much easier to obtain.

Attack Power on items and enchants is deceptively powerful for Enhancementbecause it usually comes in large quantities, as the gear budget of 1 Agilityis equivalent to that of 2 Attack Power, but the 2 Attack Power is stronger, forexample. Thus this is the main primary stat to stack.

As a Shaman, Agility increases your Attack Power by 1, Armor by 2, and yourDodge and Critical Strike chance by a small amount. As it scales with raid buffssuch as Blessing of Kings and provides multiple benefits, Agility is agood stat to have.

Haste increases your attack speed, allowing you to get more auto attacksoff in a given period of time and thus more Maelstrom Weapon procs andcasts.

Critical Strike allows you to have higher uptime on Flurry, aswell as higher burst potential in PvP, and as such is a highly valuable stat.

The current phase has gear so powerful, that it allows you to hit the softcritical strike cap, where you will always land a critical strike ora glancing blow with your white auto-attacks. Hitting this cap is even easier whenyou consider strong critical strike increasing effects, such as the ones on Death's Choice. Thus, you will never want to gem Crit, and some Crit-heavypieces will be skipped on the BiS gear setup to avoid going over the cap.

Intellect is a decent stat for Enhancement Shamans, as it converts to 1Attack Power with Mental Dexterity and increases your Mana pool,improving Mana sustain and making Replenishment more effective.

1 Strength gives 1 Attack Power which means it is similar, but inferior, toAgility. It also scales with Blessing of Kings but due to its lackof bonuses, is a relatively poor stat for Enhancement.

Armor Penetration is quite bad for Enhancement as it does not affect Spelldamage at all.

Stamina is the only stat that will help you survive any type of attack andas such holds decent value, although you will never be aiming specifically for it.

Resilience reduces your chance to suffer a Critical Strike, as well as thedamage you take from those, the Mana burned by effects such as Mana Burnand the damage taken from damage over time effects such as Corruption.This is a great stat in PvP as it makes you a lot more durable, increasing thevalue of your healing in the process.