Blizzard
In an upcoming build of Shadowlands, several changes have been made for both of the DPS Shaman specializations.One quick note before discussing the specific changes to each spec,
Searing Totem is being removed as a baseline button to all
Shaman.
Searing Totem was brought back in Battle for Azeroth with the intention of
Totems being a cool and iconic part of the
Shaman class, but without significant redesign to the button to give it mechanical interaction and feeling impactful to press, it wound up feeling like just another cooldown you had to manage that didn't have any excitement behind it.
Elemental Shaman:The changes above should make Elemental Shaman feel quite a bit more control over what will happen as the result of pressing their abilities.
Enhancement Shaman Core Ability Changes:- has been removed from the spec.
** This is a big change we're trying out. in Shadowlands basically only serves as a GCD filler. With the removal of Maelstrom, and Flame Shock and Frost Shock becoming class-wide abilities that are also on a short cooldown to fill empty spots, there was a lot of competition in the ~6 sec cooldown space of available buttons. Without Maelstrom, Rockbiter didn't have any strong interaction with the rest of the Enhancement toolkit, and shock spells are much more iconic to Shaman. This is an experimental change, please try things out in combination with the changes below and let us know how things feel. - Lava Lash is now learned at level 11, down from level 22. Base cooldown increased to 18 sec (was 12 sec)
- Lava Lash now gets upgraded at level 22 to have its cooldown reduced to 12 sec (was 18 sec)
- Stormstrike's cooldown has been reduced to 7.5 sec (was 9 sec)
- Maximum Maelstrom Weapon stacks have been increased from 5 to 10.
- Each stack of Maelstrom Weapon now grants increased damage and/or healing to the abilities Maelstrom Weapon effects in addition to the cast time reduction.
- Abilities that are altered by Maelstrom Weapon have had their baseline damage or healing values reduced.
- Stormblast no longer causes your next Stormstrike to not incur a cooldown.
- s now grants one stack of Maelstrom Weapon immediately when pressed, and an additional 5 stacks over the duration of s.
- Each target that you hit with Chain Lightning now both increases the damage of, and reduces the cooldown of your next Crash Lightning.
- Windfury Totem radius increased from 12 to 30 yards.
- Windfury Weapon and Flametongue Weapon no longer require you to click the button, then click a weapon on your character sheet. They automatically apply their effects to an appropriate equipped weapon.
- Lightning Shield now has a 50% chance to grant you a stack of Maelstrom Weapon when it deals damage to an enemy.
- Flame Shock and Frost Shock have their cooldowns shortened with your current Haste.
Enhancement Shaman Talent Changes:- Boulderfist (talent) has been redesigned and renamed to Lashing Flames (Passive). Lava Lash now increases the damage of your Flame Shock on the target by 100% for 12 sec.
- Landslide (talent) has been redesigned and renamed to Stormfury (Passive). Each time Windfury Weapon activates, the cooldown of Stormstrike is reduced by 1 sec.
- Hailstorm (talent) renamed to Cycle of the Elements.
- Searing Assault (talent) redesigned and renamed to Hailstorm (Passive). Each Stack of Maelstrom Weapon consumed increases the damage of your next Frost Shock by 50%, and causes your next Frost Shock to hit 1 additional target per stack of Maelstrom Weapon consumed. Maximum 5 stacks.
- Overcharge (talent) redesigned and renamed to . 15 sec cooldown. Cause all of your Flame Shocks to erupt in flames, dealing Fire Damage to up to 6 targets near your Flame Shock Targets.
The above changes to Enhancement Shaman are a lot to take in, but we feel that the combined list of changes will make your abilities feel like they have a purpose and interact with your toolkit in meaningful ways instead of just dealing damage.