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Stormstrike

Stormstrike

1% of base mana	Melee Range

Instant	7.5 sec cooldown

Requires Shaman (Enhancement)
Requires level 26

Requires Melee Weapon
Strike an enemy, dealing 250% Physical damage with your main-hand and 250% Physical damage with your off-hand, and granting you an additional 25% chance to critically strike that enemy with your Nature damage spells for 15 sec.

Buff

Stormstrike

Chance to be critically struck by the Shaman's Nature spells increased by 25%.
15 seconds remaining

Spell Details

Duration

15 seconds

School

Physical

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

Normal

Cost

1% of base mana

Range

5 yards (Combat)

Cast time

Instant

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

1.5 seconds

Effect #1

Apply Aura: Mod Critical Strike % (8)
Value: 25%
Affected Spells:

	Chain Lightning		Lightning Bolt		Lightning Shield
	Elemental Blast		Gale Force		Earth Shock

Effect #2

Trigger Spell

	Stormstrike

Effect #3

Trigger Spell

	Stormstrike Off-Hand

Flags

Cannot be used while shapeshifted

Guides

Enhancement Shaman Guide

Warlords of Draenor
Shaman Changes

Comments

Comment by TheOnyx

This might be obvious, but the shaman's Lightning Shield counts as nature damage as well, and will expend one of the two charges on the Stormstrike debuff if the target attacks you and takes damage from it.

Comment by chillyman

I personally think this skill kinda sucks... They should have replaced it with something more powerful like the one on the elemental tree. Should have been just instant effect and not over time.

Comment by cromar

This skill is devastating. Now that it's buffed to 10 second cooldown, very cheap on mana, and working with dual wield, it's amazing. On PTRs it was not proccing Windfury but according to beta testers that was a bug that has been fixed. I am not 100% sure if it is now proccing in live 2.0, I haven't tested it extensively yet. This fix went in quite awhile back though, before the parry buff, so I'd imagine it made it in.

Keep in mind that the debuff is not the primary purpose of SS. Some extra ES damage is handy but it's really not spectacular. The whole point is the huge burst and windfury proc potential. It was also very nice with old rockbiter for controlled burst, but that's ancient history now.

When DWing, both hits count as "one hit" for purposes of hit/miss calculations. In other words, you pop SS, and it gets dodged, you get no attacks. When it lands, it appears as two seperate hits. This is similar to Mutilate. However, they calculate crit independantly, which is helpful for crit procs like Flurry and Unleashed Rage (which is also awesome btw).

Comment by Mootow

Haven't been able to test Wf procs on it yet, but it will proc Flametongue on both hits.

Comment by Jadamsmhs

Due to the latest patch Stormstrike can no longer proc with windfury as it is yellow damage. other than that Stormstrike +earth shock is an amazing combination to deal huge burst damages every few seconds.

Comment by boo9ni

if yo have specked SS you certanly have used DW and WF all the time? well here is a secret, WF has a hidden CD, its about 1,5 sec but enough for you to get heavy delayed if you have weapons faster than 1,7-1,8. for max dmg with SS you should use WF on main-hand and rockbiter on off-hand. but dont tell the draeneis ok?

Comment by Steelmane

Anyone else noticed that it says 5 yard range here, but in game, not only is it not 5 yards, but it also changes from 6 yards when in combat, and 9 yards when not in combat (according to my tooltip). Also, even though it says 9 yards, it still stays out of range until you get right up to the enemy...

Comment by Alcaron

This is just something I've heard.... But can you put WF rank 5 on MH and rank 4 on OH, and then they get individual cooldowns? Or are they still shared?

Comment by Bakhoj

Posion effects allso get the +20% dmg but i whont take a count

Comment by Dopeypanther14

would a fel edged battleaxe and the offhand t2 gladiator wep work good with stormstrike?

Comment by yarai

Rogue poisons will benefit from the Stormstrike debuff but will not eat up charges. In attention, Thorns will also do 20% more damage while the debuff is active without using up charges.

The current incarnation of Stormstrike makes enhancement shamans a good partner for balance druids and elemental shamans. While it doesn't have the staying power of Curse of Elements, an extra 20% damage can be a lot when you take those two nuking classes into consideration.

Comment by frmorrison

Windfury weapon has a "hidden" 3 second cooldown that is not going to be removed. Therefore, slow weapons are best to use, especially in the off-hand.

In fact, say you had a 90 dps 1H dagger of 1.5 speed. Assuminig you went to the AH and got a 2.6 speed 65 dps off-hand. Your dps would go up (since the slower off-hand is less likely to eat the WF cooldown and more mana Shamanistic Rage).

DWers use WF5/WF5, and don't use anything different.

Comment by Doominator

I am DW enh shaman i always use 2 fast weapons

main 1.5 speed and WF5 then I get more chance to get WF proc every other swing if flurry comes in well it get even faster and other flameshock since it dont suffer off hand penalty its all about speed for DW enhanced shaman... low hits but many many many..

Ive tried many combinations and the one post WF5/WF4 combo is the one that showed the most damage per second on damage meter...

Blizz really hates shamans for taking away WF5/WF4 possibility

Comment by BoJlk

After Patch 2.1 all ranks of Windfury share the same cooldown.

So putting different ranks of WF won't do any good.

Comment by ultramyst

Can you use this ability with a 2 Hand weapon?

Comment by RevanAD

If poison damage is being dealt to the target you SS... would poison ticks eat SS charges? That'd be kinda lame.

Comment by bamninja

i am confused on what this does
1.) when it says attack with both weapons does it mean that only if your DWing
2.) what exactly is this things purpose
3.) is it any kind of +dmg on use attack the way heroic strike is

Comment by 97036

The icon is getting changed in 2.4. They better not make it ugly!

Comment by Stormwaker

The icon has been changed to match that of the one in the PTR. In small talk, we recieved the "Mage" treatment for a balancing patch, we got a new icon. Though Healing Grace change will be sweet.

/endofrant

I'm sorries :)

Comment by Aredict

I'm undecided whether I like this new icon or not. Sure, having a different icon than Hammer of Justice is nice, but that hammer is so-so. Maybe some more lightning would make it better?

/aesthetic discussion

Comment by Serai

whats annoying is that thorns also counts as a nature dmg proc for this one

meaning that the tank got a wooping 7 more dmg in aggro at the cost of more than 200 of you

Comment by slapmutepop

I'm currently DWing Fist Weapons. These do not seem to activate the buff on Stormstrike. Anyone else found this?
I'm only guessing but it could possibly be because Fist Weapons are an unarmed ability.

Comment by Tisse

Cool icon. No more thinking it's a stun. =)

Comment by nikker

I've heard that when you put WF on your offhand and WF totem for your MH it doesn't share cooldowns, so im wondering is this better than both WF and Agi totem? (Still best way for dungeons anyway. since other melee's need WF badly)

Comment by Theorem

Dual-wielding windfury always provides the best dps. Quoted from Elitestjerks.com, "When you are wielding a two handed weapon, or are using a shield, your chance to proc windfury on any landed attack outside the 3-second cooldown is 20%. When you dual wield weapons, the chance on each landed attack outside the 3-second cooldown is approximatedly 36%, if and only if both weapons are imbued with Windfury. (Original findings were posted on the WoW forums by Disquette, the thread has been removed from the official archives)

Analysis of the combat log shows that if you sum all hits, the proc rate while DWing is 20%, but that includes hits you make while inside the 3 second cooldown, which cannot actually proc WF. When you remove the ineligible hits the observed proc rate from the eligible hits becomes 36%." http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t13297-enhance_shaman_collected_works_theorycraft_vol_i/

To quote Matadava.

Comment by NightmareMJ

Stormstrike increases the damage from all sources of nature damage including poisons(dot poisons are best as they will not consume a charge)as well as the Envenom ability of rogues, this is a great spell and a must for raiding to have an enhancement shaman in the raid if you have rogues present.

Comment by Sihd

For pvp (player versus player) you can use this ability in two ways. I have 2x1H weps and a 2H wep. This is great because:
1: I can nearly 1hit cloth users (mages,priests and warlocks) only by using a stormstrike while weilding my 2H weapon. you just have to be a little lucky, and have a descent crit %. If your WF procs with your stormstrike, or the melee attack that follows, AND one of the two WF's crit, you have done about 550-750 dmg on your stormstrike, 550-750 dmg on your next melee attack, around 900-1200 dmg on your NON-crit WF and 1400-1900 dmg with you WF crit (I use Stormherald with executioner, so maby I do a little more/less damage than any of you shamans that reads this). This will do about 4020 damage, just in 1 click. if you then use your Earth Shock ability, that will do around 950-1050 (for well geared pvp shamans, that is (ofc.) enhancement with the Mental Quickness talent 3/3), and if you're lucky will crit about 1500-1750 damage.
This will then do (around):
650 damage for Stormstrike
650 damage for you following melee strike
1050 damage for you NON-crit WF
1650 damage with your Crit WF
this will do 4k dmg, and then with your earth shock
1k damage with non crit
1625 damage with crit
This will do 5k with non-crit ES and 5625 with crit ES.

this will maby not kill your target, but you've done atleast 50% of his/her totalt hp in 2 clicks and 1.5 sec. thats a lot! :-)

Comment by zothar

Couple of questions (hopefully not redundant):

1. When using Stormstrike you want to punch it directly after your normal attack hits is that right? This will ensure that Stromstrike is hitting during the delay between your swings.

I am also curious if Blizz has your normal weapon speed on a separate timer from Stormstrike - in other words when Stormstrike hits it won't restart the weapon swing delay on your normal attack? To put this into a real-world example, if you have a 2h 3.00 speed weapon and you swing, then hit Stormstrike, your Stormstrike hits and then you are only waiting ~2 seconds until your normal hit swings again?

2. Is it best to use slower weapons as slower weapons tend to have a higher max dmg and with the hidden Windfury cooldown fast weapons would be hitting within the cooldown period and wouldn't count towards the proc rate of Windfury?

Now that said, if you have two very quick weapons (1.6 speed) could you expect that even though a couple of hits might get eaten in the hidden Windfury cooldown you are still hitting more frequently and are thus going to proc Windfury more often?

So confusing! I'm just going to hope to achieve what Sihd wrote above and knock some clothies out of the park...

Comment by CaptainDingo

Zothar, to answer your first question, in my opinion the most opportune time to use Stormstrike is the second it has finished cooling down. :P

Though certainly if you're attempting to do a burst of damage at once for some reason, you could wait until you've attacked before using it. But otherwise, you want to be hitting Stormstrike every single time it's not cooling down.

Comment by Aljo

What did this ability use to do before the change?

(I know it costed 30% base mana, but can't remember the effect).

Comment by Nichoo

I play moonkin, and when in raids or just groups, this ability really boosts up my wrath, Cheers!

Comment by Aljo

@ Aljo

''Prior to patch 1.11, Stormstrike cost 30% of base mana and only reset the swing timer, so that it was only useful as an opener or just after a regular swing. It now acts as described, causing an instant, extra attack.''

Quoted from WoWWiki :)

Thank you :-)

(I knew i have seen it somewhere before, but couldn't remember if it was actually wowwiki)

Comment by Terraform

Does anyone know if the debuff left on the mob/player from using Stormstrike still stacks with other players Stormstrike debuff, making a higher damage amplifier?

Comment by dimitrisgr

I think it stacked pre-tbc and thats why they all called ss so overpowered, but not anymore :(

Comment by Zzirok

The 20% plus to the next 2 sources of nature damage spells can be dispelled

Comment by Direfen92

Apparantly the Enhancement shamans most spammed spell is actually going to get a buff and a new animation change in WotLK!

Found this info on (http://www.wotlkwiki.info/index.php/Main_Page) under Upcoming Shaman Changes.

Stormstrike - New animation, also now increases all Fire, Frost and Nature damage done by the Shaman instead of just Nature.

Absolutly cant wait for Wrath now! This is one of the new reasons why iv ended up deciding to stay enhance instead of elemental for Thunderstorm.

Comment by Weimann

Stormstrike - New animation, also now increases all Fire, Frost and Nature damage done by the Shaman instead of just Nature.Note the highlight.

This worries me. As a raid debuff, this would make Stormstrike shine since the classes using fire, frost or nature spell damage are abundant. However, if it is changed to only affecting spells cast by the shaman...

Comment by Tchaman

It bothers me even more if the charges are wasted by Flame Shock's ticks...

Comment by Noobinater

flame shock ticks will not use up da debuff, da debuff is only used wen a direct spell hits it like lighting sheild or searing totem( not magma or fire nova as those r AoE not direct ).

but can someone tell me if our ele. fire totem will use it up wen he attacks someone?

Comment by Weimann

Stormstrike has recently been changed to again only affecting Nature school spells. However, the self-only requirement has not been lifted.

Comment by Ironangus

Now uses the same animation as 'mutilate.'

EDIT: Same for Taurens, I'd imagine it's like this for all races then.

Comment by Grimtongue

This is correct and it looks weird to see your character "stabbing" a pair of maces into someone...

Comment by Abomb

blizz ought to give this spell a double hit if your using a 2-hander, like this crusader strike, that would make shaman pvp very interesting

Comment by Rengoku

Please correct me if I am wrong, but since it strikes with both weapons, it just does weapon damage, am I correct?

Comment by camarouge

The synergy from this is ridiculous with the new patch.

Stormstrike-> (Earth Shock, Lightning Shield, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning) -> Elemental Devastation -> Flurry

Haven't even accounted for other stuff like maelstrom. Lots of neat procs going on, though, that's for sure.

Comment by Direfen92

Stormstrike, along with the rest of the Shamans arsenal of lightning based spells (Earth Shock included) all appear to have brand new electricity sound effects with the introduction of 4.0.1

It's a minor detail, but still cool nonetheless.

Comment by Chmmr

It needs to be clarified that since 4.0, this changed to increase critical strike chance for ONLY the following effects for 15 seconds, by 25% (35% glyphed) :
- lightning bolt
- chain lightning
- lightning shield (need to confirm static shock proc)
- earth shock

It would appear lava lash, lava burst, flame shock, its ticks, and flametongue weapon procs are excluded from this +crit chance. So, still "nature damage" sources only. Unleash Elements is incapable of dealing nature damage, it seems.

Comment by TDE156

Both Lava Lash and Stormstrike are both getting new animations in 4.0.6.

Comment by Pope

Will be buffed in 4.2. (if it goes live *cough*).

From 125% weapon damage to 225%.
Or, with focused strikes, from 181% to 326%.
Or, with focused strikes and the T11 2piece-bonus, from 193% to 348%

Comment by Zandol

This ability also got a slightly different animation after the 4.2 patch, not that this is a very important thing. Feel free to downrate.

Comment by jtunis

This ability also got a slightly different animation after the 4.2 patch, not that this is a very important thing. Feel free to downrate.

Don't be so shameful!

Information such as that is interesting to note and relevant to the ability. It is absolutely warranted to include notations like that.

If I may add some information regarding 4.2: Some may find it intriguing that male Dwarves got a uniquely new animation assigned to this ability alone. I haven't seen it used anywhere else. Upon using Stormstrike, male Dwarf characters jumps into the air and crash down violently with both weapons.

I can't say if other races also received new and unique animations, but for male Dwarves, this is so.

Comment by WookieWalker

I read all over the comments, and since the ability tooltip doesn't include any charges, I'm inclined to believe that the 25% crit buff can be always maintained. If this is incorrect, please downrate, but reply with the correct answer. Thanks!

Comment by Zentro

As of 2/14/2012, There appears to be two images of lightning bolts that appear behind the weapons' swing. I will be submitting a screenshot. Give me some credit here, this screenshot took a few minutes to get, the lightning is only there for a moment.

Comment by ChickNourish

I'm a little confused. This is 375% weapon damage with BOTH weapons, not just MH right?

I haven't had a chance to test, but putting in some numbers for my twink (before AP/PvP Power/Resi reduction etc):

1k topend on 1h axe (each).
375% x 1k + 375% x 500 (50% penalty on OH damage right?) = 3750 + 1875 = 5625 damage.
OR
375% x 1k + 375% x 1k = 7500

EDIT: I think it simply works out to be 375% MH damage :(.
EDIT#2: Oops, that's for Stormstrike, apparently Stormstrike Offhand attack is there as well, which is why I kept seeing 2 numbers. And the OH appears to be receiving the -50% penalty.

--

LL: 250% + 100% (SF) + 40% (FT) = 2500 x 2 x 1.4 = 7k (or does the penalty apply?)

I'm very confused... But either way, nice to know that with my 71 twink, with a NBA I'm hitting harder on SS and LL than a pally with Avenger's or anyone with any 2h since the coefficients are miserable on 2hs. And apparently the formula for this DOES receive the OH penalty since it's an OH based attack, making it:

250% of 1k + 100% (SF) + 40% (FT)
2500 x 2 x 1.4 = 3500

Am I correct in all of this? :P
On another note, for anyone wondering: SS is physical, LL is fire damage.

Thanks in advance, Keep Rolling Thunder!

Comment by xXzCodProxXz

This ability, along with windfury used to hit ALOT back in the day;a well-geared shaman could literally kill people before they pulled their first heal off

BUT. 95% of Shaman damage came from Nature damage. If one heavily stacked enough nature resistances, you were nearly immune to the damage, aside from his physical auto attacks. I called my nature resists set "the shaman destroyer". Keep in mind this put you in a disadvantage against other classes so if say a geared BM hunter caught you,you were a toast. You also couldn't just equipment sets in combat so what you would have to do is dismiss pet/ feint death (or pop an invisibility potion to drop threat), equip set, reengage the opponent. It surely was cheap, but effective. I am canceling out 95% of incoming damage, and there is nothing you can do about it

The nature resistance gear also hindered your dps, but by not much as a lot of it usually had a high amount of agility

Nowdays this tactic would be outdated and worthless , as the amount of resistance needed to reach around 80% reduction at level 90 would be close to low 600. Probably doable, but seeing what blizz added these double-element spells(e.g frostfire bolt ,mind spike, etc) you would still be vulnerable to his magic schools. ANd the fact what you can just dual spec for so cheap defeats the purpose even more. RIP almighty resists and hoorah to the people who understood how the mechanic worked

Comment by feyne

Its says its mana cost is 1% but why i lost about 15% of my mana to do it. Im going oom in long fights becouse i use this.

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