Enhancement shamans say they are the weakest class in the beta. A duel clip says otherwise

Two things are true on the WoW Forever beta this week. Enhancement shamans are telling Blizzard they are the weakest thing in the game, and clips of an Enhancement shaman deleting someone in a duel are being shared with the caption “broken”.

The complaint

The thread Enhance shamans need the most work out of any class currently has passed 160 posts. The opening account is specific: a level 25 shaman in full blue gear, whose shock spells and Lightning Shield were not worth their mana cost, and who ended up auto-attacking and healing his way through quests. Stormstrike costs about a fifth of the mana pool, so the ability that is supposed to define the spec is the one you cannot press.

Underneath that sits a gear argument that explains a lot. Shamans get Mental Dexterity early in the tree, which turns caster stats into melee power, and the reply chain reads it as a deliberate steer: Blizzard wants Enhancement in spell power gear, including leather that would otherwise go to a Balance druid. The thread’s answer is blunt — shamans have always levelled in agility mail with rogues and hunters, agility gives them no attack power, and strength mail is rare. “Say no to boomkin gear” is the sentiment, repeated.

Not everyone agrees it is dire. In a calmer feedback thread two days later, a tester writes that Enhancement “feels significantly better as a whole”, with its strengths amplified, and notes that Improved Stormstrike at level 30 keeps 50% mana regeneration running while casting for 15 seconds. The same post still ends with the spec sitting down to drink between pulls while the group moves on.

The clip

Meanwhile, PILAV published Shaman is BROKEN in WoW Forever… to 28,000 views, and a clip channel posted a duel where Graycen is deleted in a couple of hits by an Enhancement shaman, with a note that the spec could be scary for the upcoming tournament.

The beta files back up part of that. Rage of the Storm is a rare two-handed mace at item level 40 in build 70205: 102-154 damage on a 3.60 speed swing, about 35.7 damage per second, with 16 Intellect and 15 Stamina. For a shaman it carries two extra effects: Rage of Earth, which increases Stormstrike damage by 10%, and one that lets Lightning Bolt trigger Maelstrom Weapon, at half the usual chance.

Why both are right

A duel is one target, a full mana bar and a window of a few seconds. Levelling is forty mobs in a row with no time to drink. A spec can be top of the burst list and bottom of the sustain list at the same time, and that is exactly what Enhancement looks like right now: a weapon-driven opener that empties the bar it needs for the next five minutes.

It also means the two groups are asking for different fixes. The duel clips invite a nerf to the burst. The forum thread is asking for mana and for gear that exists on a shaman’s own armour type.

Blizzard has not answered either thread. The October 1 build touched shamans only lightly, with a Disease Cleansing Totem duration fix, a Totemic Recall mana fix and the Ghost Wolf visibility change that started its own argument.

Our shaman talent builds are being kept against the current tree, and the beta changes list tracks the tuning as it lands.