The following compares the current state of Enhancement Shamans to Unholy Death Knights using the latest SimulationCraft data for end-game PvE in World of Warcraft The War Within patch 11.0.2.
Comparison
Category
Winner
Enhancement Shaman
+10.03%
When simulating boss fight encounters, Enhancement Shamans averaged 10.03% more DPS than Unholy Death Knights (+172K DPS).
Enhancement Shaman
+2.94%
When simulating AoE DPS, Enhancement Shamans averaged 2.94% more DPS than Unholy Death Knights (+29K DPS).
Unholy Death Knight
+43.68%
Unholy Death Knights have higher spike damage potential, achieving +2.6M more DPS than Enhancement Shamans.
Spike damage is the peak DPS achieved in any given moment and is not sustained DPS.
Enhancement Shaman
+0.09%
When upgrading the gear for both specs by +44 ilvl, Enhancement Shaman DPS improved the most, +0.09% more than Unholy Death Knight. In total, Enhancement Shamans DPS increased by 65.06% and Unholy Death Knights by 64.97%.
Unholy Death Knight
+7.3%
+ Movement and latency lowered the DPS by 6.15% for Unholy Death Knights.
+ Movement and latency lowered the DPS by 13.44% for Enhancement Shamans.
When introducing occasional movement and real-world latency, Unholy Death Knights performed better, as Enhancement Shamans suffered a +7.3% DPS loss.
Unholy Death Knight
When evaluating abilities used during boss encounters, Unholy Death Knights had fewer damaging abilities in total, indicating a potentially less complex rotation.
The comparisons above highlight some of the key differences between Enhancement Shaman and Unholy Death Knight in the current meta, which can hopefully help you determine which spec to play or group up with.
Enhancement Shaman
Unholy Death Knight