Updated for 4.3
Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your Shaman until you reach higher level. If you need to get your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide, now.
Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.
Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.
Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Minor Glyphs:
Here are your highest priority abilities.
Keep your Fire Elemental Totem up as much as possible, using Searing Totem as filler for when your Fire Elemental is on Cooldown. Flame Shock DoT should be kept on the target at all times as well.
Your primary attack spells are Lava Burst which is to be used as much as possible, followed by Lightning Bolt and Earth Shock.
AoE Rotation
During Multi-Target fights throw down a Magma Totem and use Earthquake as much as possible, adding in Chain Lightning while Earthquake is on Cooldown.
Cooldowns
The most important aspect of managing your cooldowns as a damage dealer is making certain to use them whenever they’re avaliable. Don’t be afraid to use them during any fight, even against trash mobs, as the higher the uptime you have with them, the greater your overall damage will be so long as you aren’t using them when a fight is about to end.
The only time to hold off on using your cooldowns is when you’ll be unable to attack the boss due to fight mechanics, such as during Morchok’s Black Blood of the Earth ability or when Hagara is about to cast Water Shield and become immune to all damage.
Melee DPS will have to watch out for this more than ranged, as they are far more vulnerable to situations where an encounter requires constant movement or the boss is utilizing some form of AoE attack that makes fighting in melee range impossible.
Intellect > 17% Spell Hit > Haste > Mastery > Critical
Intellect:
Intellect increases spell damage and maximum mana, making it your most important stat.
17% Spell Hit:
Spell hit is reduces the chance for your spells to miss. 17% is the suggested value to aim for as once you reach it your spells can no longer miss bosses, allowing you to avoid any loss of damage, wasted mana and cast time for no gain.
Haste:
Haste decreases the cast time of spells, making them faster, and increases the rate at which DoT’s tick.
Mastery – Elemental Overload:
Elemental Shaman Mastery increases the chance for the spells Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst to trigger a second spell that deals 75% of normal damage.
Critical Strike:
Critical Rating increases the chance for spells to critically hit.
Reforging
When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.
17% Spell Hit > Haste > Master
(17%) Spell Hit:
Your first priority when reforging is to make certain that you’ve reached the 17% spell hit cap.
Haste – Mastery:
Secondly, maximize the amount of haste and mastery on your gear by reforging the weakest stat into either haste or mastery if one, or both, is missing.
Gems
- Red – Brilliant Inferno Ruby
- Blue – Purified Demonseye
- Yellow – Reckless Ember Topaz – Artful Ember Topaz
- Meta – Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
Unless a socket bonus offers Intellect, it’s more effective to gem for pure Intellect and ignore the bonus.
Enchantments
- Main Hand: Power Torrent
- Off-Hand: Superior Intellect
- Helm: Arcanum of Hyjal
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Charged lodestone
- Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect
- Chest: Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
- Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect
- Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery
- Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Leggings: Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
- Boots: Enchant Boots – Haste
Our class guides for whichever class you’re playing:
Death Knights – Druid – Hunter – Mage – Paladin
Priest – Rogue – Shaman – Warlock – Warrior
The GotWarcraft Gold Guide
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