How to raid Karazhan as an Enhancement Shaman
by Dan O'Halloran 
Aug 17th 2007 at 8:46AM
How can that be, you say. Enhancement's for leveling, not for raiding! Kessin of the Dark Iron server would beg to differ and to prove his point, he wrote up quite an excellent guide to playing an enhancement Shaman from creation to Karazhan.The first half of his guide covers what you need to know to get from level 1 to the front door of Karazhan. He includes this sage advice: if you guild doesn't want you playing weapon wielding, totem throwing, whammy shammy, then get a new guild. In my opinion, this goes for every class working with an off-spec. Skill and talent trumps cookie cutter spec every time.
Once in the 10-man raid zone, the guide gets interesting. Kessin provides the strategy for this spec for every major boss fight. Don't worry, all you hardcore raiders, Kessin also recommends off healing when necessary. If you love your enhancement shaman, or play with someone who does, this is the guide for you.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hellbena Aug 17th 2007 9:08AM
It's nice to see a guide like this, but it seems like the odd spec out for shaman, at least on greymane, is elemental.
Levi Aug 17th 2007 9:09AM
"How to raid Karazhan as an Enchancement Shaman"
Spell check.
Redman Aug 17th 2007 9:22AM
Not just ONCE, but TWICE it was spelled wrong.
@1: Spell check is a bad crutch for a "journalist" and when dealing with mythical dragons and beasts it is rarely reliable. Unfortunately we assume that the wowinsider staff has some idea what they're talking about when they make these posts.
Enchancement Shaman (hell the original forum post has it spelled out for him and he got it wrong) and 40 level 60's raiding Onyxia are what qualify as articles around here. Add in a dash of 99% of their staff having no true knowledge of end game raiding (and it shows in everyone of their articles about end game content) and you've got a "Warcraft News" site that has the same value as the National Inquirer.
Please note, I'm not an internet journalist and I don't have an editor, so spelling and grammar mistakes can and should be expected.
Ryan Aug 17th 2007 3:16PM
ENHANCE ENHANCE ENHANCE
Tuwori Aug 17th 2007 9:36AM
I agree, the guide sucked.
Oh wait, i didn't read it either, just ragged on someones spelling. URPeni
Angry Joe Aug 17th 2007 9:39AM
I think this post deserves this WOW Insider tag:
http://www.wowinsider.com/tag/chchchchchanges/
:)
Rich Aug 17th 2007 9:43AM
@3. Dumbass, this isn't a Warcraft News site. It's a blog. If you don't know the difference, please stay away.
bwest0526 Aug 17th 2007 9:56AM
ZOMG! People get a life!! I can not believe you people with the whole spelling addiction!! @3 don't like move along, enough of your trolling around here if you really don't have anything to contribute to the article. Besides it is a known fact the the brain is trained to basically read the first and last letters of a word to recognize it.
As for the article, I like the idea of an enhancement shamman. I know I don't like to do the whole "cookie cutter" specs that most guilds want you to do so this is great guide on how to learn a good way to show those pugs that enhancement is viable!
Sylythn Aug 17th 2007 10:01AM
My guild leader runs an enhancement Shaman in Kara and regularly tops the DPS charts along with my warlock. I've heard the aggro managment is as difficult as a Retribution Pally, but he's got it down solid.
awann Aug 17th 2007 10:09AM
If they would just change the name of this blog to "WOW Outsider" it would seem less terrible.
nubular Aug 17th 2007 10:09AM
@3
And who exactly is making you read this site?
Redman Aug 17th 2007 10:11AM
There's a difference between incorrectly spelling something and not knowing what they're posting about. Bloggers or journalist, if you don't know what you're speaking about, you shouldn't be posting. I don't go to a food critic's web blog to read about the Detroit Autoshow.
Jon Aug 17th 2007 10:13AM
BREAKING NEWS: SPELLING ERROR FOUND ON INTERNET! Someone call Ripley's Believe it or Not.
Honestly, less trolling please ... that's what the official forums are for.
On topic: I thought the guide was very well thought out and informative.
Murdamook Aug 18th 2007 3:06PM
Lol its a blog genius its not like its a newspaper so spelling accuracy is not major as long as the reader understands message. Some of yall got no lives, seacrhing the net just to be assholes...jesus get a life.
Samenjas - WildHammer Aug 17th 2007 10:33AM
@3:
You mean the National Enquirer?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Enquirer
Fail. If you're going to nitpick spelling, you absolutely cannot have misspelled words in your post. It makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about, you know.
odds87 Aug 17th 2007 10:45AM
There is widespread discontent and lack of respect for this site. Having only read it a few weeks, i can see why.
Wether you like it or not, it shows that it's poorly edited (or more likely not at all,) and lack of respect for the game, the class or the website's readers.
ringu0 Aug 17th 2007 10:44AM
The real trick is, of course, how to stay enhancement in 25-man raids.
Wulfhere Aug 17th 2007 11:59AM
To Redman and odds87 -
Reach up behind yourselves and look for a small object protruding through the fabric of your pants. That's a stick. Please pull it out now, you self-important jackanapes.
Douglas Aug 17th 2007 12:24PM
Even quality publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal make mistakes, typos, report inaccurately, etc. If your standard for quality is so high, especially for a blog entry that doesn't even contain original information of any kind - just a link to a forum post - then I suggest you either create your own blog, or stfu.
And to actually contribute to the discussion at hand: Enhancement Shamans are actually desirable for 25-man raids, albeit usually with a limit of only one, in order to provide Windfury, Unleashed Fury, and other buffs to melee DPS groups.
ElitistJerk Aug 17th 2007 12:49PM
Our guild has switched out one of our dps fury warriors for an enhancement shaman in our raids. And let's just say that he is always in the top 4 for dps, just right behind our 2 or so well geared rogues/locks. Not only that his totems/buffs increase our melee dps like no other. You toss him in a 25 man party with 2 rogues, feral druid, and a dps fury warrior all hell breaks loose. Unstoppable dps. And this is not just kara, he's been with us all the way up through our current Tempest Keep runs.
To say enhancement shamans are worthless is a load of bs. Just most people don't know how to either play their class or tailor their gear for such.