Big Hit Box

You’re level 80, you’re a Shaman, you’re Enhancement, and you’ve got yourself an Epic—or seventeen. Now it’s time to enchant them. Why? First and foremost: more power; put the right enchants on and you’ll add at least 8% more DPS to your overall total. But also if you are looking for a raiding guild then a good guild is going to look to ensure that you have not only enchanted your gear, but that you’ve enchanted it properly. And putting Exceptional Mana on your chestpiece and Crusader on your weapons is not going to get it done.

Below are the best enchanting choices for the enterprising Enhancement Shaman. The first listed is generally the best choice, but read the comments and as always use your own judgment to decide what's best for you.

Head

• Arcanum of Torment (50 AP, 20 Crit) – Ebon Blade, Revered


• Arcanum of Ferocity (34 AP, 16 Hit) – Cenarion Expedition, Revered


• Arcanum of Triumph (50 AP) – 40 Stonekeeper Shards

Ebon blade is an easy rep to grind. If you quested in Icecrown then you should be halfway there. Then just do the dailies every day until you get to Revered. Until you get there your other choices are a BC enchant or a PvP enchant with AP & Resilience purchasable with Stonekeeper Shards.

Shoulders

• Scribes only: Master’s Inscription of the Axe (104 AP, 15 Crit)


• Greater Inscription of the Axe (40 AP, 15 Crit) – Sons of Hodir, Exalted


• Lesser Inscription of the Axe (30 AP, 10 Crit) – Sons of Hodir, Honored

I have to say that as far as grind vs. reward goes, the upgrade from Lesser to Greater is hands down the absolute worst. After all that time grinding out SoH rep that slight upgrade I felt completely ripped off. Seriously, Honored to Exalted for 10 AP and 5 Crit?! What a scam! But I digress…

Back

• Tailors only: Swordguard Embroidery (300 AP for 15 seconds)


• Greater Speed (23 Haste)


• Major Agility (22 Agility)

This is kind of a toss-up for non-tailors. I chose to go with Haste because I’m already at 30% Crit unbuffed and I’m a haste junkie. In my opinion choosing one of these is a matter of personal preference.

Chest

• Powerful Stats (10 all stats)


• Super Stats (8 all stats)

If you can't afford the Abyss Crystals for Powerful Stats then at least make the effort to put Super Stats on.

Wrists

• Leatherworkers only: Fur Lining – Attack Power (114 AP)


• Greater Assault (50 AP)

Hands

• Engineers only: Hyperspeed Accelerators (340 Haste for 10 seconds)


• Blacksmiths only: additional prismatic gem slot


• Crusher (44 AP)


• Precision (10 Hit)


• Expertise (15 Exp)


• Major Agility (20 Agi)

The hand enchant depends on what you need. If you are not hit capped after Icewalker (see Feet below) then put some more hit on here. If you’re not Expertise capped, which most Enhancement Shamans aren’t without gems or chants, then put on Expertise. But if you have those covered with gear and gems, then go for Crusher.

Waist

• Eternal Belt Buckle (1 prismatic gem slot)

Buy this on the AH for around 50-90g, depending on your server, and put whatever gem in here you need to get to your caps.

Legs

• Icescale Leg Armor (75 AP, 22 Crit)


• Nerubian Leg Armor (55 AP, 15 Crit)

Feet

• Icewalker (12 Hit, 12 Crit)


• Tuskarr’s Vitality (15 Stam, minor run speed increase)


• Cat’s Swiftness (6 Agi, minor run speed increase)


• Greater Assault (32 AP)

I list Icewalker first because if you’re not hit-capped then you need Icewalker. If you are hit-capped or can get there with gems then go for Tuskarr’s Vitality for the stam and run speed increase. Alternatively, if you don’t die and don’t mind digging up BC materials, then go for Cat’s Swiftness for the run speed and a whopping 6 Agi. Yeehaw!

Rings

• Enchanters only: Assault (32 AP)

Weapons

• Berserking (400 AP for 15 seconds)


• Mongoose (120 Agi & 2% Melee Haste for 15 seconds)


• Accuracy (25 Hit, 25 Crit)


• Superior Potency (65 AP)

Once again, if you need the hit go with Accuracy. However, I strongly encourage you to get your hit cap through gems and other enchants as Berserking is an exceptional weapon enchant. I also listed Superior Potency as a cheap weapon enchant alternative; if you think you’re going to replace that level 77 weapon but still want to put some effort into your ’chanting then go for Potency.

Conclusion

I ran three sets of sims for this post. First with Stoney as-is in mostly iLevel 226 gear fully enchanted, then in the same gear with all enchants removed except for Berserking, and lastly with all enchants removed including Berserking. All sims were run fully heroic raid buffed against raid boss level mobs. My baseline DPS when fully 'chanted is 6330.88 and that seems about right as I can put that out on boss fights with limited running around like an idiot.

With only weapons enchanted with Berserking and all other items unenchanted my average DPS dropped to 5994.11, which is a 5% DPS loss. Removing Berserking and average DPS drops to 5805.98. That's a whopping 8% DPS loss from baseline enchanted. In otherwords, if you don't enchant your ilevel 226 gear you'll lose 8% DPS, and I imagine the loss would be greater with lower level gear. Also interesting is that 3% of overall DPS is coming from having the right weapon enchant. Once again I come to the inevitable conclusion that as melee DPS our weapons are our most important piece of gear.

May all your hits be crits!