DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

A general priority guide for Enhancement Shaman abilities and cooldowns. Helpful for understanding the spec's fundamentals and getting comfortable with core synergies. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight (12.0.1).

Single Target

Ensure Lightning Shield and weapon imbues are active before combat.

• Voltaic BlazeView detailsUse on approach to apply Flame Shock.
• SunderingView detailsUse as an opener.
• Crash LightningView detailsCast to trigger AoE effects.
• Lava LashView detailsApply Lashing Flames or during Hot Hand.
• AscendanceView detailsActivate for burst damage.
• WindstrikeView detailsUse every GCD during Ascendance.
• Primordial StormView detailsUse with 10 Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
• StormstrikeView detailsUse as filler.
• Lightning BoltView detailsSpend Maelstrom Weapon at 5+ stacks.

Start with Voltaic Blaze and Sundering, then prioritize Ascendance and Windstrike. Use Lava Lash during Hot Hand and spend Maelstrom Weapon stacks on Primordial Storm or Lightning Bolt.

AoE

Ensure Lightning Shield and weapon imbues are active before combat.

• Voltaic BlazeView detailsUse on approach to apply Flame Shock.
• SunderingView detailsUse as an opener.
• AscendanceView detailsActivate for burst damage.
• Crash LightningView detailsCast to trigger AoE effects.
• WindstrikeView detailsUse every GCD during Ascendance.
• Primordial StormView detailsUse with 10 Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
• Chain LightningView detailsSpend Maelstrom Weapon at 9+ stacks.
• Lava LashView detailsUse during Hot Hand.
• StormstrikeView detailsUse as filler.

Open with Voltaic Blaze and Sundering, then activate Ascendance and prioritize Crash Lightning and Windstrike. Use Primordial Storm and Chain Lightning to spend Maelstrom Weapon stacks.

Cooldowns

• Doom WindsView detailsUse every minute for increased Windfury Weapon procs.
• AscendanceView detailsActivate for burst damage and Windstrike access.
• Thorims InvocationView detailsTriggers Maelstrom Weapon spenders during cooldowns.
• SunderingView detailsUse every 30 seconds for AoE burst and Haste buff.
• Surging TotemView detailsActivate for Hot Hand and Whirling Elements buffs.

Use Doom Winds and Ascendance for burst phases. Sundering and Surging Totem should be used on cooldown for consistent damage boosts.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.