As it stands, Shamans are long due for a fix in PVP - i'm sure this is not something I have to tell you. 2.4 has been stated as the patch which will fix this; By the end of this patch it is intended that Enhancement will be a 2v2 viable spec, with all 3 specs being viable in 3v3.
Blizzard are taking a quite curious approach to this. Flametongue Weapon (and totem) have been modified to provide a MS-like debuff (2 stacks of 25% each, 5 second duration, 100% proc rate). Ghost Wolf has been reduced to 2 sec cast (instant cast talented). Toughness has been modified to also reduce the length of snares (but not roots or frost nova) by 50% at 5 points. Shamanistic rage has been reduced to 15 seconds, with the procs regenerating 30% of AP to mana.
Flametongue is possibly their way of attempting to give us a little more arena utility while making sure we're not completely out of control with burst dmg (I 1-shot this mage in arena today, the poor guy). I've played around with this change personally on the PTRs, both in a 2-enh team and enh/resto druid. The debuff was apparently bugged at the time, but this does not diminish the results.
WF/FT (resto druid) vs double enhance, 4x windfury
I was torn to shreds. I was with an amazingly geared resto druid who, after I crumpled into a heap, kept alive for another 12 minutes. Its not suprising I died to other enhancment shamans; what was terrible, though, was that I couldnt actually kill either of them. No heals were cast, no shamanistic rage blown, but I simply could not cut through the shamans health as WF/FT. I played several games like this with the same result, vs other team match ups (retadin/ms warrior, enh/ele, enh/rogue, rogue/disc). WF/FT lacks the burst dmg in 2v2s to be truly effective.
WF/WF (resto druid) vs Rogue, Disc/Holy Priest
Same matchup as one of the matches as WF/FT. The difference was noticable; I tore through both. The combination of cure poison and instant Ghost Wolf came in handy here and with the druid's shapeshifting we were able to hunt down and destroy the other team. Poison-based snares with a shaman/druid team are very synergistic, and while stuns are still a problem, we had little trouble with this team. We came up against this team 2 more times and had the same result.
Continued use of Flametongue will result in lost points, if this sample is any indication. Stick with Windfury is my suggestion.
Badge items
Good news and bad news for enhancement shamans struggling for gear. 2.4 badge gear information, as you likely all know about by now, has been released on the PTR. Highlights include 2.5 speed dual fist weapons (103 dps). Unfortunately the rest of the gear is very poorly itemised and as such not even the druid loot is viable. Personally I am going to get the two fist weapons, and the new ring, which is almost equivalent to the Signet of Primal Wrath.
Latest Blue Posts
Little to note today on the Shaman front.
Hortus, in [Bug] Shaman "Toughness"
- "The new implementation of Toughness is not intended to affect roots. I have pointed out to the developers the inconsistency of the tooltip with other abilities that do remove roots."
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