Azami
Member
Since I have found myself with a decent amount of time on my hand I figured I'd finally get around to writing the guide I've been letting go on the backburner for a while so here goes.
Azami's Guide to Elemental Shamans
1. Talent Spec (Improved Reincarnation Right?)
Core Build
These are the core talents you will need for going elemental. As you may or may not notice there are 3 floater talents remaining. Where you put them is up to you and your play style.
2. Rotation (FROWST SHOCKKK!!!)
Single target rotation:
Flame Shock (to refresh the dot, don't spam this)
Lava Burst
Lightning Bolt
Woot 3 buttons lol. Weave in Elemental Mastery whenever you can.
Basically cast Flame Shock to keep the dot up and cast Lava Burst when it's not on cooldown. Lightning Bolt in between when both the dot is still up and LvB is on cooldown.
AOE rotation:
Totem of Wrath/Magma Totem* near the packs
Magma Totem* refresh near mobs
Fire Nova
Chain Lightning
Flame Shock
Lava Burst
Lightning Bolt
*Magma Totem provides superior personal AOE dps but the raid will lose the benefit of Totem of Wrath. It won't be a noticeable loss if the aoe is a short pack fight but more so on chain pulling trash.
3. Totems (Totems, Totems, Totems!!)
The fundamental mechanic that separates shaman from all the other classes is our totems which are 4 little immobile pets we have that do different things. You should be familiar with all of them and coordinate with other shamans as to not lay down redundant totems.
Fire: Magma Totem > Searing Totem > Totem of Wrath
Earth: Strength of Earth > Stoneskin
Water: Mana Spring > Healing Stream
Air: Wrath of Air > Windfury
notes:
-Mana Spring is only better if no pallies can provide wisdom.
-Totem of Wrath is better raid dps than the other 2 fire totems only if there is no other elemental shaman or demonology warlock in the raid to provide the spell power buff.
-Magma totem is only greater than searing if you can remain near the boss safely without having to move around too much.
-If you're using Searing totem drop it after your initial flame shock otherwise it may not attack.
4. Stats (I have da power!!!)
Spellpower - Super bread and butter stat. All things with more spellpower is usually good and there's no cap to it. Can't go wrong with that.
Critical Strike - Not quite as useful as it used to be. As long as you keep the rotation correct you will always be able to crit to enable Clearcasting which was the only good reason we had crit in the first place. Still decent in increasing throughput of LB and CL.
Haste - A very good stat, the soft cap to this stat is near 1200 haste rating where your Lava Burst starts to fall below the Global Cooldown.
Hit Rating - Always best if you're not capped, useless when you are. If you've taken Elemental Precision you need 13% to cap your spells since you're a draenei with Heroic Presence. Shadow priests and Moonkins can provide and additional 3% too so it's up to you to gear for the soft 10% or the hard 13%. Usually depends on the attendance of the afore mentioned classes.
Intellect - Always ok and prevalent on gear to increase mana pool and crit. Don't gem it.
Stamina - Good for staying alive. Don't gem solely for it.
Attack power, Strength, Agility, Armor Penetration, Spell Penetration, Dodge, Defense, Parry - lolwut?
5. Gemming (ooh shinies...)
Meta Gem: Always always Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. No other gem can equal it for you.
Runed Cardinal Ruby
Reckless Ametrine
Glowing Dreadstone (limit 2)
Don't try to get the set bonuses unless it's significant (which are usually just the head ones or ones requiring only one gem.)
6. Enchanting (isn't it?)
Head - Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Storm
Chest - +10 Stats
Wrists - +30 Spellpower
Hands - +28 Spellpower
Belt - Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs - Sapphire Spellthread
Feet - Icewalker (to reach hit cap); Tuskarr's Vitality (already hitcapped)
All of these are subject to change depending on your professions.
7. Glyph (I wanna have blue swirly hands!)
Major Glyphs
- Glyph of Lightning Bolt
- Glyph of Totem of Wrath
- Glyph of Lava Burst
Minor Glyphs
- Glyph of Water Shield
The first 2 glyphs are core glyphs and are very important, the 3rd has been discussed as switchable with both Glyph of Flame Shock and Glyph of Flametongue as well and may be better depending on available levels of gear. If you never ever pvp or have a different pvp spec as a dual spec than you may glyph into Thunderstorm as a minor glyph to remove the knockback and use it on aoe situations especially if you have trouble handling its utility.
That's it for all the basics for Elemental Shamans from me, I hope that this was helpful and if you have any questions send me a PM or find me in game.
Azami's Guide to Elemental Shamans
1. Talent Spec (Improved Reincarnation Right?)
Core Build
These are the core talents you will need for going elemental. As you may or may not notice there are 3 floater talents remaining. Where you put them is up to you and your play style.
2. Rotation (FROWST SHOCKKK!!!)
Single target rotation:
Flame Shock (to refresh the dot, don't spam this)
Lava Burst
Lightning Bolt
Woot 3 buttons lol. Weave in Elemental Mastery whenever you can.
Basically cast Flame Shock to keep the dot up and cast Lava Burst when it's not on cooldown. Lightning Bolt in between when both the dot is still up and LvB is on cooldown.
AOE rotation:
Totem of Wrath/Magma Totem* near the packs
Magma Totem* refresh near mobs
Fire Nova
Chain Lightning
Flame Shock
Lava Burst
Lightning Bolt
*Magma Totem provides superior personal AOE dps but the raid will lose the benefit of Totem of Wrath. It won't be a noticeable loss if the aoe is a short pack fight but more so on chain pulling trash.
3. Totems (Totems, Totems, Totems!!)
The fundamental mechanic that separates shaman from all the other classes is our totems which are 4 little immobile pets we have that do different things. You should be familiar with all of them and coordinate with other shamans as to not lay down redundant totems.
Fire: Magma Totem > Searing Totem > Totem of Wrath
Earth: Strength of Earth > Stoneskin
Water: Mana Spring > Healing Stream
Air: Wrath of Air > Windfury
notes:
-Mana Spring is only better if no pallies can provide wisdom.
-Totem of Wrath is better raid dps than the other 2 fire totems only if there is no other elemental shaman or demonology warlock in the raid to provide the spell power buff.
-Magma totem is only greater than searing if you can remain near the boss safely without having to move around too much.
-If you're using Searing totem drop it after your initial flame shock otherwise it may not attack.
4. Stats (I have da power!!!)
Spellpower - Super bread and butter stat. All things with more spellpower is usually good and there's no cap to it. Can't go wrong with that.
Critical Strike - Not quite as useful as it used to be. As long as you keep the rotation correct you will always be able to crit to enable Clearcasting which was the only good reason we had crit in the first place. Still decent in increasing throughput of LB and CL.
Haste - A very good stat, the soft cap to this stat is near 1200 haste rating where your Lava Burst starts to fall below the Global Cooldown.
Hit Rating - Always best if you're not capped, useless when you are. If you've taken Elemental Precision you need 13% to cap your spells since you're a draenei with Heroic Presence. Shadow priests and Moonkins can provide and additional 3% too so it's up to you to gear for the soft 10% or the hard 13%. Usually depends on the attendance of the afore mentioned classes.
Intellect - Always ok and prevalent on gear to increase mana pool and crit. Don't gem it.
Stamina - Good for staying alive. Don't gem solely for it.
Attack power, Strength, Agility, Armor Penetration, Spell Penetration, Dodge, Defense, Parry - lolwut?
5. Gemming (ooh shinies...)
Meta Gem: Always always Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. No other gem can equal it for you.
Runed Cardinal Ruby
Reckless Ametrine
Glowing Dreadstone (limit 2)
Don't try to get the set bonuses unless it's significant (which are usually just the head ones or ones requiring only one gem.)
6. Enchanting (isn't it?)
Head - Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Storm
Chest - +10 Stats
Wrists - +30 Spellpower
Hands - +28 Spellpower
Belt - Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs - Sapphire Spellthread
Feet - Icewalker (to reach hit cap); Tuskarr's Vitality (already hitcapped)
All of these are subject to change depending on your professions.
7. Glyph (I wanna have blue swirly hands!)
Major Glyphs
- Glyph of Lightning Bolt
- Glyph of Totem of Wrath
- Glyph of Lava Burst
Minor Glyphs
- Glyph of Water Shield
The first 2 glyphs are core glyphs and are very important, the 3rd has been discussed as switchable with both Glyph of Flame Shock and Glyph of Flametongue as well and may be better depending on available levels of gear. If you never ever pvp or have a different pvp spec as a dual spec than you may glyph into Thunderstorm as a minor glyph to remove the knockback and use it on aoe situations especially if you have trouble handling its utility.
That's it for all the basics for Elemental Shamans from me, I hope that this was helpful and if you have any questions send me a PM or find me in game.
Last edited:
3 buttons...That might be to much for me!