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 a Searing Totem down at all times. Use Lava Lash and Stormstrike as much as possible while adding in a lightning bolt when Maelstrom Weapon stacks five times and Unleash Elements combined with Flame Shock when it’s available.
AoE Rotation
Use Magma Totem for Multi-Target encounters and Fire Shock for the Fire Nova ability. Use Chain Lightning whenever Maelstrom Weapon reaches five stacks and Unleash Elements whenever it’s available for the boost to Flame Shock/Fire Nova.
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.
Agility > 17% Spell Hit > 26 Expertise > Mastery > Critical
Agility:
Agility increases attack power and critical chance, as well as spell damage due to talents.
(8%) Melee Hit:
Hit rating reduces you chance to miss with attacks. A hit rating of 8% makes it so that your special abilities will no longer miss on bosses, thereby avoiding loss of DPS. You’ll achieve the 8% melee cap while aiming for the 17% spell hit cap.
(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.
(26) Expertise:
Expertise reduces the chance for an enemy to dodge or parry your attacks. At an expertise rating of 26, the ‘soft’ cap, your attacks will no longer be dodged when behind your target.
Mastery – Enhanced Elements:
Enhancement Shaman Mastery boosts all Fire, Frost and Nature damage dealt.
Critical Strike:
Critical Rating increases the chance for your attacks 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 > 26 Expertise > Mastery
(17%) Spell Hit:
Your first priority when reforging is to make certain that you’ve reached the 17% spell hit cap.
(26) Expertise:
Once you’ve reached the 17% spell hit cap, reforge until you reach the expertise cap.
Mastery:
Finally, maximize the amount of mastery on your gear by reforging the weakest stat on each piece of gear into Mastery.
Gems
- Red – Delicate Inferno Ruby
- Blue – Glinting Demonseye
- Yellow – Adept Ember Topaz
- Meta – Agile Shadowspirit Diamond
Unless a socket bonus offers agility, it’s more effective to gem for pure agility and ignore the bonus.
Enchantments
- Helm: Arcanum of Ramkahen
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal
- Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Major Agility – Enchant Cloak – Greater Critical Strike
- Chest: Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
- Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Agility
- Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery
- Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Leggings: Dragonscale Leg Armor
- Boots: Enchant Boots – Major Agility
- Main Hand: Enchant Weapon – Landslide
- Off-Hand: Enchant Weapon – Landslide
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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