[Rough Draft Guide] The Elemental Primer

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:16 pm

<<LOL>>

Intro > (INSERT PICTURE OF BAD ASS SHAMAN THUNDERSTORMING YOU SHOULD SEE IT AND BE LIKE FUCK YEAH)
EARTH, STORM, AND FIRE. These are the domains of the Elemental Shaman, the true power of the horde.
Or something like that.

Role >
We have two major roles. First and foremost, we bring buffs. We drop totems, sometimes we blood lust, and the entire raid loves us for it.
Our second role is ranged magical DPS. We kill things in the face with about a 70/30 ratio of nature and fire damage.

Totems >
(EXPAND AND ENHANCE)

Talents >
Unfortunately for us, Elemental Shamans do not have much of a choice when picking up talents. You will raid with a setup that looks like this.

Talents you can play around with:
Eye of the Storm : Reducing Pushback is nice but when it comes to raiding, if you're being damaged then something terrible is happening.
Unrelenting Storm : I don't know about anyone else but I very rarely have mana issues with how Replenishment works. If you want to free up some points for something else, this is where I'd start.
Elemental Reach : This isn't a completely necessary talent but it does make answering questions like "am I too close to the boss?" a lot easier to answer.
Shamanistic Focus : Again, this is something you'd look at removing if you don't have any issues with mana regen.
Thunderstorm : Sadly, our 51 point talent is nearly useless in PVE. Its only uses are for mana regen and making your mages very angry.

Some Talents that you might look into:
Elemental Warding : It's a straight 6% reduction in damage taken. Look into this if survivability is an issue for you.
Improved Fire Nova Totem : If you have some points to spare and you're the second elemental shaman in a raid you can probably grab this.

Some things to consider in the future:
Spirit Weapons : This is being changed to a 30% reduction in threat across the board in 3.1. Threat hasn't been much of an issue for most of us, but this might be something to look at if it is. It's unfortunate that it's so deep in the enhancement tree.

If I don't mention something then it's probably not worth picking up.

Glyphs >
Underlined Glyphs are what I recommend for raiding.

Major Glyphs
Chain Lightning : Currently gives us a fourth jump to Chain Lightning. Not all that useful.
Earth Shock : Reduces the global cooldown to half a second when using earth shock. Could be useful, but that's doubtful.
Elemental Mastery : Reduces the cooldown of Elemental Mastery by 30 seconds. It is Meh at best.
Flame Shock : Increases the DoT timer of Flame Shock by six seconds AND it doesn't get consumed when you use Lava Burst. Fuck Yeah, I want this.
Flametongue Weapon : It's free 2% crit. Not bad.
Lava: Lava Burst gains an additional 10% of your spell power.
Lightning Bolt : A 4% damage boost to Lightning Bolt. Very Nice.
Totem of Wrath: Gives additional 30% of of totem's spellpower bonus.

Minor
These are all pretty terrible so I’ll just highlight the useful ones.
Thunderstorm : Increases the amount of mana you gain when you use thunderstorm by 2% and removes the knock back.
Water Shield : You get one more charge to your water shield, making it 33% more effective. Yeah!
Water Walking : This is so you can use Water Walking on your tank when fighting Lurker or on your entire party after you finish Utgarde Keep.

Professions >
Alchemy : Mostly just saves you a bit of cash here and there. The Mercurial Alchemist Stone has subpar stats for a trinket slot. Not a great profession.
Blacksmithing : Extra Sockets will give you an extra 38 spell power. That's about all you're getting from the profession, though.
Enchanting : Ring Enchants are an extra 38 Spell Power.
Engineering : Has more implications for PVP than PVE. Engineering Helmets are not that bad. Enchantments are subpar for Elemental.
Herbalism : Gives you an insta-cast HoT and access to Fire Seeds. Not that bad.
Inscription : Shoulder Enchantment gives you 37 more spell power over the epic enchantments that the Sons of Hodir can give you. The difference may shrink or grow in coming expansions.
Jewelcrafting : Replacing 3 Runed Scarlet Rubies with 3 Runed Dragon's Eye will give you 39 Spell Power. Like the inscription shoulder enchantment, this will probably change in the future.
Leatherworking : Fur Lining gives you 37 Spell Power over the best Wrist Enchantment in the game.
Mining : 500 HP is not useful for us. Skip this.
Skinning : Gives a passive 32 Crit Rating. We like Crit, but not at the cost of spell power. Get something else.
Tailoring : The proc off of Lightweave Embroidery's will give you approximately 25 dps. Grab something else.

My Recommendations : Any of the professions that give you more spell Power. Enchanting/Jewelcrafting is probably the most optimal, but it's really up to you.

Gearing Up > (INSERT PICTURE HERE)
This is easy. Does this item have more spell power than what I'm wearing? Yes? Then it's probably better than what I have.
Prioritize Mail, but there is no shame in taking Cloth.
(INSERT PRE-NAXX GEAR HERE)

Stats >
Like any DPS class, we prioritize Hit. Our Hit Cap, with talents, is 368. With the 3% hit debuff that Shadow Priests and Boomkins bring us, our Hit Cap goes down to 289.
I recommend getting equal to or greater than 289 and then keeping around a few spare pieces of gear to make up for situations when you don't have a Shadow Priest or Boomkin.

After that, it's nothing but spell power for us.

Crit is nice but is not going to buff 30% of our damage (about 25% from Lavaburst, which should have a 100% crit rate anyways, and 5% from Flame Shock which is mostly DoT damage).

Haste is a weird stat for us because of how our rotation works off of a static 8 second cool down. I'll get into that later.

Gems >
Put enough Rigid Yellow Gems into slots to get Hit Capped. Prioritize slots where you'll get a socket bonus that gives you more spell power.
After that, pop two Glowing or Royal Purple Gems into appropriate slots so that you get your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond bonus.
Then you fill up the rest of your gem slots with Runed Red Gems.

Enchants > (Include some fancy links here or something)
Head : Arcanum of Burning Mysteries - Kirin Tor (Revered)
Shoulders : Inscription of the Storm - Sons of Hodir (Honored and then Exalted)
Back : Greater Speed - Enchanting 430 (16 Dust, 4 Greater Essence)
Chest : Greater Mana Restoration - Enchanting 420 (4 Dust, 3 Greater Essence)
Powerful Stats - Enchanting 440 (4 Shard, 4 Crystal)
Wrists : Superior Spellpower - Enchanting 440 (24 Dust, 16 Greater Essence, 2 Crystal)
Hands : Exceptional Spellpower - Enchanting 360 (4 Dust, 1 Lesser Essence)
Precision - Enchanting 410 (15 Dust, 5 Greater Essence)
Legs : Sapphire Spellthread - Tailoring 430 (4 Eternal Fire, 4 Iceweb Spider Silk, 1 Frozen Orb)
Feet : Icewalker - Enchanting 385 (8 Dust, 1 Crystallized Water)

Consumables >
Flask of the Frost Wyrm is 120 Spell Power. There is nothing better for you than this. Your choice for elixirs is Spellpower Elixir for your battle elixir and Elixir of Mighty Thoughts for your guardian slot. But that combination is pretty terrible, so if you need to buff yourself up with alchemical consumables, I recommend that you use a flask.
Feasts handle your food buff. If a feast is not available, you have two options : Firecracker Salmon and Tender Shoveltusk Steak. They both provide 46 spell power, which is on par with the fish feast.
As for Potions, you’ll keep Health Potions around for “OH SHIT” moments and Mana Potions if you need to Reincarnate in the middle of a fight and Thunderstorm just isn’t enough.
(Add the Hit Foods as a potential option)

Rotation >
Our entire rotation works around Lavaburst. Lavaburst is our highest dps spell but it's limited by an 8 second cooldown. Those 8 seconds will never go away and that's just something we have to deal with.
As a result, we technically don't have a spell rotation. We have a spell priority system instead. Basically, we cast spells in the following order as they come up.
1) Flame Shock, if it's not up right before a Lava Burst.
2) Lava Burst
3) Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt

The key to a proper elemental rotation is to keep the amount of time between lavabursts and the amount of inactivity from waiting on cooldowns to a minimum.

(INSERT A SWEET PICTURE HERE I DON’T EVEN CARE WHAT)
Example :
You have 15% haste. Lightning Bolt takes 1.85 Seconds to Cast and Chain Lightning takes 1.275.
You could cast four lightning bolts between Lavabursts, but that would leave you with over half a second of doing nothing. That's not good.
You could cast four lightning bolts and then a chain lightning, which now leaves us half a second over on the other side of the cooldown. This also means reduced dps.
Well, what about chain lightning, 3 lightning bolts, and then another chain lightning? Total casting time for that is at 8.1 seconds. That's pretty damn close to perfect.
Just replace that last chain lightning with a flame shock and now you have your full rotation.

You will probably figure out what is optimal for you on your own. You can play around with target dummies or just do some basic math.

Key-binding/Macros >
I don't use them. Don't need them.
Someone else may have something to add here.

Mods >
There are no necessary mods for an Elemental Shaman.
I will recommend Shock and Awe for some basic shaman-focused GUI enhancements. Makes it easier to tell when Water Shield's down.

PVP >
If you want to do Arena, my advice is to respec resto. Elemental has no place on an Arena team.
If you want to do Battlegrounds, then your job is to run around and get wrecking ball. Stay behind melee, pick a target, Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Chain Lightning, Rinse, Repeat.
(INSERT SWEET PICTURE WITH HUGE DAMAGE)
Lavaburst is one of the largest guaranteed burst spells in the game, to the point where people will be dead before they even know what hit them.
Otherwise, remember that you can heal yourself and that Thunderstorm is potentially an insta-kill.

Offspec Role >
You can heal very inefficiently... but if a fight is down to needing you to heal then something very bad has happened.

Raid Tips >
Remember to keep your totems down.
Wait until the tank has about 10k threat before you start into your rotation.

FAQ >
Q : Wrathzog, why is your penis so large?
A : It is because I drink milk.

Q : Wrathzog, why are you so awesome?
A : No idea. It's just how I roll.

Q : When do I ankh?
A : This is actually a question you should ask your raid leader. I prefer best judgment but sometimes people are big micro-managers and they don’t like their raiders thinking for themselves.

Q : Why is my DPS so low?
A : It’s probably because you’re fucking terrible. This guide has given you all the tools you should need for Raiding Success (or at least reaffirmed everything you knew already). If you still suck then you should look inside of yourself for the answers to your problems.

Closing >
Elemental is a simple but effective spec. Something something. Blah Blah Blah. We might be getting more buffs. Yay for us.
Fuck Hunters.

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:56 pm

Post 3.0.8 : The Era of the Elemental Shaman?
Seriously, nothing much has changed. Our rotations stay the same, our spec stays pretty much the same, and stat priority also remains the same. Our numbers got hella bigger and that's about it.

We can almost drop Chain Lightning from our rotations when going up against Single Targets as Lightning Bolt got its Coefficient buffed significantly.
I'm sure that there is math that can prove this one way or the other. But whatever.

Crit's value has gone up a little bit with the elemental oath change... but not enough to make it something you'd want to stack.

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:40 pm

Converting over to the New Format.

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:36 pm

Quote:

Does my role differ from 5 man to 10 man to 25 man? Am I ever expected to heal? If the healer dies - do I take over or is that a waste of time in ele gear? Why is there no mention of ankhs here? Wait till raid leader tells you to ankh mid fight or post fight? Totems - resist on fights, special totem considerations, how can I save the raid/group [Earth Ele, etc.]

All of that is general shaman stuff. I shouldn't need to cover that in the guide for the elemental spec. If they can't handle the core mechanics of their own class then fuck them.
I'll add a section for totems but that's about it.

Quote:

Kiting in raids - like on Gluth, Vashj, Kite Rotation etc., why are you asked to kite over other classes?

It's so fight specific that there's no reason to bring that up in here.

Quote:

Glyphs
Why isn't Chain Lightning useful as a glyph? (prolly point out it's garbage on single target bosses) Which of these glyphs did you choose for maximum dps? Lesser glyph choices? What glyphs do people take as a mistake? Any purely PVP glyphs?

Forgot to put down why I underlined things. Also forgot to update that the Lightning Bolt Glyph is sweet now.
Also Thunderstorm is a Minor which is hilarious. I'm still not gonna get it but I will add a note on our minor glyphs even if they're terrible.

Quote:

Gearing Up
Elaborate. I'd just detail your options pre-naxx. You've already done this in another forum thread I think. You could put it in a spiffy looking table or something.

I don't understand why Gearing up and Stats should be two separate categories, honestly. It comes down to exactly the same.

Quote:

Which is better, potion of speed or potion of wild magic?

The answer to this question is in the Stats section. If someone can't figure it out then they don't deserve to be playing WoW.

Quote:

Offspec
Elaborate as if it could (and can) happen. Give advice on best heal rotation with those SLOW ass heals. Is it possible to do a full 5 man as ele-resto geared? Can I do it in my ele gear with the +spell power? When could I be asked to do this? [Fights like 4 Horsemen]

I'm just going to tell them to read the Resto Guide whenever that gets put up. Let's minimize the duplication of data here.
As for healing as Elemental Spec'd... I know we can heal through normal dungeons... but I'm very unsure about Heroics.
Resto Talents are very good and not having them makes healing very tricky (as in not something you can really count on).

White Belt Joined: Feb 17, 2009 Posts: 3

I have a question, concerning hitcap. I typically use elitist jerks as a starting point wherever I research a spec i'm considering playing next. and according to them, horde shaman with talents has a hitcap of 368. the number you have provided, seems to be the hit you shoot for if you always have a shadow priest and/or druid with improved faerie fire in your group/raid.

so my question is basically - when you stated a hitcap number, did you mean with the above debuffs included, or in general? and if general - I would love to know the theory behind lower hit rating. nothing would make me happier then not having to scrounge for every little thing with hit on it, when building my elemental set, but I would hate to miss on a lava burst crit becasue I'm playing with less then optimal raid composition (the fact that they are guaranteed crits doesn't make me feel any better)

http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t20914-shaman_elemental/ is the article I'm referring to, under Stats.

thank you

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:43 pm

That's... actually a really good question. I didn't even consider that people wouldn't be raiding without that extra 3% hit. Yeah, it's 289 with the buffs and 368 without them.

...
After reading that guide (it wasn't updated to WotLK when I first started this back in November), I don't even see why I'm doing this at all. It's saying everything I'm already saying but it actually explains itself... and the format is better.

Thinking about it, I make a lot of assumptions about people meeting the hit cap. I don't worry about it any more... but it's different when you're in nothing but blues and greens and you don't have any sockets to play around with...

I'm going to toss in some more notes. I'll get on finishing the guide eventually.

Red Belt Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Posts: 206

Is there a magic number for haste? In your example you use 15% -- should I avoid being below / above to work the same 8 sec cd rotation? How much of the 15% is supplied by raid buffs vs haste on gear?

Is Chain Lightning prioritized before Lightning Bolt since it has a lower cast time and does more damage?

Is mana ever an issue for elemental shamans? I imagine in a fight tougher on mana you could slack on CL and lightning bolt for less mana use, but is that ever needed? Do you make any changes for General Vezax?