In the last time I often heard the question which Shaman build is the best for leveling a character 1-80. A lot of players really want to know if they if the Elemental spec is the way to go.

Here's my personal point of view: The Elemental spec sucks until you exceed level 60. Unless your level exceeds 57 you shouldn't waste your time fiddling around with the Elemental tree.

Now you might be wondering why I the Elemental shamen build is not suited for lower level characters. This particular tree is for casters and requires a lot of mana and spell damage if you want to power level.

A good shaman gear with great stats is required so you can increase your mana pool, mana regen, spell dmg and crit chances. The problem: In the old world you hardly come across any of those items at all. Most items have tons of strength and agility, even critical strike rating. All in all there are very few items available that support casters sufficiently.

Sure, you can just visit an instance and try to collect the loot there. But you will spend a lot time there and your leveling speed decreases dramatically.

The Elemental tree becomes a great option after level 60 and more of the world opens up to you.

For every player below level 60 I highly recommend to spec the Enhancement Shaman build. It consumes less mana and the melee damage is very impressive, too – especially dual-wielding and elemental weapons!

Don't be one of the players who insist on playing the cool Elemental tree if you just can't get access to the right gear to support this style. The Elemental fun can begin once you quickly get to level 60 using the Enhancement spec. You can have a lot of fun with the Elemental tree once you reach the high level areas and – of course – in the endgame content.

Until then – have fun with the Enhancement build!