So far the Enhancement Shaman Shadowlands rotation and damage spells look absolutely amazing!!! I really cant explain how glad I am that Enh is going back to the more Mist of Pandaria / Warlords of Draenor play style, its really good to see!.
However, as good as the damaging ability’s are, and as nice as the rotation feels, the defensive on Enh shamans have not been looked at. Enh shamans currently only has one defensive ability Astral Shift: ( Shift partially into the elemental planes, taking 40% less damage for 8 sec.- 1.5 min cooldown), all classes in game have at least two and they are far more useful.
Enh shaman needs Shamanistic rage back (reduces all damage taken by 30% for 15 sec. This spell is usable while stunned. - 1min CD) This was shamans bread and butter for so many years, and then it was removed for no reason. I feel the f Shamanistic rage should be baseline and some of the following talents(From MOP) be made available;
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ANCESTRAL GUIDANCE: When you deal direct damage or healing for the next 10 seconds, 40% of that amount is copied as healing to a nearby injured ally.
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STONE BULWARK TOTEM: Summons an Earth totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 30 sec that grants the caster a shield absorbing 2649 damage and refreshes that shield every 5 sec.
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ASTRAL SHIFT: Seek haven by shifting partially into the elemental planes, reducing damage taken by 50% but also all damage and healing dealt by 50% for 6 sec. —I know this is already in the game but having it in the current tier makes taking feral lunge impossible, it feels really out of place in that talent row.
Another really good change made in Shadowlands is the return of totems. So many shamans have expressed positive feedback about this, i mean its literally the class identity. " A totemic warrior who strikes foes with weapons imbued with elemental power." - Taken from wow gamepedia com /Shaman
I still feel that having more baseline totems would really drive the class identity home, make loads of players happy, and make the class more functional and competitive. Changes some totems that could be added are as follows;
EARTHGRAB TOTEM: Summons an Earthgrab Totem with 5 health at the feed of the caster for 45 sec. The totem pulses every second, rooting all enemies within 8 yards for 5 sec. Recently rooted enemies will instead have their movement speed reduced by 50%. Replaces Earthbind Totem.
The old windwalk, the tiny zone on the new one is just usless…
WINDWALK TOTEM: Summons an Air Totem with (2 * Total health / 100) health at the feet of the caster for 6 sec, granting raid members within 40 yards immunity to movement-impairing effects.
CLEANSING TOTEM: Summons a Cleansing Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that attempts to remove 1 disease and 1 poison effect from party members within 30 yards every 3 seconds. Lasts 5 min.
CAPACITOR TOTEM: Maybe redesign capacitor totem so that its more of a totem bomb that goes if instantly when its thrown, waiting 3sec for it to explode gives players or mobs plenty of time to move if they are not slowed, not to mention players can just kill it with ease.
Next Grounding and Tremor Issues:
Grounding totem, seeing the return of this ability for Enh shaman in BFA was great, however having it stuck in a pvp talent is no good. Grounding should be baseline, it has its purpose for pve and should be accessible to all, not just in pvp.
Gounding totem and tremor totem would both benefit hugely by being off GCD. For example, when the raid or when in a pvp situation and you really need to drop a totem, but you stuck on GCD and it doesn’t go off…its the worst thing, it makes the class feel clunky and inefficient. The player should not have to hold back doing damage so they cant wait to drop a totem. Its not fun a play-style.
I really hope some of these changes are considered for Shadowlands. Im sure many Enhancement Shamans would agree with these changes, they are reasonable and would not make the class OP.