Maelstrom Weapon

Maelstrom Weapon
Maelstrom Weapon Row 1 Enhancement shaman talent Passive When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to generate Maelstrom Weapon, stacking up to 5 times. Each stack of Maelstrom Weapon reduces the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning by 20% and increases its damage by 20%.
Properties
Class	Shaman
Other information
Improvements	[Deeply Rooted Elements], [Elemental Tempo], [Lightning Strikes], [Raging Maelstrom], [Tempest], [Totemic Momentum]

Maelstrom Weapon is an Enhancement shaman talent.

Notes

• Though this talent first becomes available at level 11, it does not actually function until level 12.

Patch changes

• Hotfix (2026-01-26): An issue causing Maelstrom Weapon to require level 12 has been resolved.
  
• Patch 12.0.0 (2026-01-20): [Improved Maelstrom Weapon]'s effects merged in: Maelstrom Weapon now increases the damage of spells it affects by 20% per stack and the healing of spells it affects by 20% per stack.
  
• Hotfix (2025-04-14): An issue causing Maelstrom Weapon stacks to become unspendable has been resolved.
  
• Patch 11.1.0 (2025-02-25):
  • Now the row 1 Enhancement talent (was learned at level 10).
  • No longer highlights spenders when they become instant cast at 5 stacks.
  • Will display a UI overlay at the top for when it reaches 10 stacks, overriding the 5-stack display (was at the bottom).
  • Now highlights [Tempest] and [Primordial Storm] when it is at 10 stacks.
  • Will not highlight [Lightning Bolt], [Chain Lightning] and [Elemental Blast] at 10 stacks.
  • Maelstrom Weapon spender abilities will now indicate in their tooltip that they consume Maelstrom Weapon to increase cast speed, as well as damage or healing if talented into.

  Developers' notes: The constant highlighting of Maelstrom Weapon spending abilities has become a hindrance in understanding how to play Enhancement Shaman, causing too much information overload that is often inaccurate.
  

• Hotfix (2024-11-26): All Maelstrom Weapon spender damage reduced by 8%. This does not affect PvP combat.
  
• Patch 11.0.0 (2024-07-23): Now a level 10 Enhancement ability (was a row 2 class talent).
  
• Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): Maelstrom Weapon damage increase now has a separate value from its healing increase.
  
• Hotfix (2022-12-07): Fixed an issue causing Maelstrom Weapon to not stack past 8 stacks with [Raging Maelstrom].
  
• Hotfix (2022-10-27): Fixed an issue where some unintended spells could grant a stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
  
• Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): Now a row 2 class talent (was a level 29 Enhancement ability). The damage increase to your next ability has been moved to the [Improved Maelstrom Weapon] talent. Now stacks up to 5 times (was 10).
  
• Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17): Maelstrom Weapon spending abilities have had their damage or healing increased by 30%.
  
• Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Redesigned – When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to gain Maelstrom Weapon, stacking up to 10 times. Each stack of Maelstrom Weapon reduces the cast time of your next damage or healing spell by 20% and increase the damage or healing of your next spell by 20%. A maximum of 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon can be consumed at a time. Now learned at level 29 (was 40).

  Old: Your auto attacks and [Windfury] attacks generate 5 Maelstrom.
  

• Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Now learned at level 40 (was 52).
  
• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Redesigned. Now causes auto attacks and Windfury attacks to generate 5 Maelstrom. Now learned at level 52 (was 50).

  Old: When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to gain an application of Maelstrom Weapon. Each application of Maelstrom Weapon reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Nature spell by 20% and increases its direct healing done by 10%. Does not apply to Ancestral Spirit or Hex. Stacks up to 5 times.
  

• Hotfix (2015-11-20): Now increases direct healing done by 5% while in PvP combat (down from a 10% increase to direct healing).
  
• Hotfix (2015-07-20): Fixed an issue with Maelstrom Weapon that caused [Healing Surge] combined with the Tier-18 4-piece set bonus to heal for more than the intended amount.
  
• Hotfix (2014-12-03): Will no longer increase the damage or healing effects of spells that consume the [Ancestral Swiftness] buff.
  
• Hotfix (2014-10-30): Should no longer incorrectly persist after the Shaman has switched to a different specialization.
  
• Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14):
  • No longer reduces the cast time of [Hex]. Chance to trigger has been reduced by 20%.
  • Now also increases the direct healing of affected spells by 10% per application.
    
• Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): The responsiveness of many abilities and effects has been improved, including Maelstrom Weapon.
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now applies to any Nature spell with a base cast time shorter than 10 seconds (was Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, [Lesser Healing Wave], [Healing Wave], [Chain Heal], or Hex). Now a level 50 Enhancement ability (was a tier 6 Enhancement talent).
  
• Patch 4.3.0 (2011-11-29): Can now also proc from fully absorbed melee attacks.
  
• Hotfix (2011-02-08): [Stormstrike] is now correctly proccing Maelstrom Weapon.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Now tier 6 (was tier 10). Reduced from 5 ranks to 3.
  
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): Now also has a chance to reduce the cast time of Hex.
  
• Patch 3.0.3 (2008-11-04): Tooltips corrected to correctly describe the chance for this talent to be triggered.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Added.
  

See also

• Maelstrom Weapon, TCG card

Other versions

• Wrath Classic

  Maelstrom Weapon
  Maelstrom Weapon (5 ranks) Tier 10 Enhancement shaman talent Passive When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lesser Healing Wave, Healing Wave, Chain Heal, or Hex spell by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec.
  Properties
  Class	Shaman
  Related buff
  Magic Maelstrom Weapon Reduces the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lesser Healing Wave, Healing Wave, Chain Heal, or Hex spell by 20%. Duration: 30 seconds Max stacks: 5

• Cataclysm Classic

  Maelstrom Weapon
  Maelstrom Weapon (3 ranks) Tier 6 Enhancement shaman talent Passive When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to reduce the cast time and mana cost of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Hex, or any healing spell by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec.
  Properties
  Class	Shaman
  Related buff
  Maelstrom Weapon Reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Hex, or any healing spell by 20%. Duration: 30 seconds Max stacks: 5

• MoP Classic

  Maelstrom Weapon
  Maelstrom Weapon Level 50 Enhancement shaman ability Passive When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a chance to reduce the cast time and mana cost of your next Nature spell with a base cast time shorter than 10 seconds by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec.
  Properties
  Class	Shaman
  Other information
  Level learned	50
  Glyphs	[Glyph of Healing Storm]
  Related buff
  Maelstrom Weapon Reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Nature spell with a base cast time shorter than 10 seconds by 20%. Duration: 30 seconds Max stacks: 5

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB

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• Wowhead
• WoWDB