Recently I read an interesting question from someone leveling a Shaman. Level 40-80: Elemental or Enhancement Shaman?
In my opinion, the answer to this question consists of two parts. The first part of the answer is…
If you are below level 60, DO NOT level with the Elemental Shaman spec!
There’s a simple reason why Enhancement will beat Elemental any time below level 60. The gear is insufficient. In the “old world” you will have a hard time finding any equipment that provides you with the necessary spell power, critical strike rating and mana regeneration.
Sure, you can always ask a friend to pull you through an instance and loot all the blue items, but seriously… Spending so much time on instances in order to level as fast as you would do with the Enhancement build? It’s much easier to stick to Enhancement until you finally hit level 60. Or at least level 58-59.
When you hit level 60, you will travel to the outlands and get your hands on much, much better items. Even the first few quests will provide you with everything you need to equip an Elemental Shaman.
Now to the second part of my answer: From level 60 on both Elemental and Enhancement Shaman leveling builds are viable.
I recommend you to stick to the build you feel most comfortable with. Learning to play with different skills and abilities takes time, too. And playing with a talent build that you don’t feel comfortable with can be the greatest time sink of all.
Perfect execution of your skills and attacks is important for your leveling speed. That means if you don’t like your talent build and misuse your skills, you won’t level any faster. You are more likely to die more often and have to run all the way to your corpse.
If you ask yourself “How should I level 40-80: Elemental or Enhancement Shaman?” I suggest you stick to Enhancement until you hit 60 and go with what you like the most from there on.