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The Gotwarcraft Elemental Shaman Guide
for Cataclysm

Important Notes:

    This page is old and will no longer be updated. It is left here for legacy sake.

    Please see the following pages for more up to date info. All further updates will be on these pages:

    The page below has been updated for Cata 4.3, but will not be updated further. If you have links to this page please update them to the new pages. The builds on this page will be obsolete in M of P.

    Eventually this page will be redirected to one of the newer pages, but until then will remain as is.

Contents

Elemental Shaman

Other Shaman Guides

 

The Elemental Shaman

This talent tree can be used as a leveling build, but it is very mana dependent, and has some downtime. Nonetheless, this tree focuses on big crits along with mana efficency. Elemental Shaman gain a better ability to do AoE Damage with Thunderstorm, making bigger amounts of pulls easier then any other Shaman spec.

Due to high crit, it is possible to actually kill an enemy before they even lay a finger on the Shaman. Lightning Mastery allows the shaman to toss more Lightning Bolts at the enemy before he can reach the Shaman. Elemental Mastery makes one of them a sure crit, and Lightning Overload allows the chance for even more Lightning bolts to hit the target before they even realize what's killing them.

Comments about this page? Leave them on the blog.

 

Race Choice

 

As prime bolt lobber and general Elemental Engine of Destruction your race doesn't matter all that much. If being big and furry or "short and annoying" is more important than every last iota of DPS then go for it.

Draenei

  • Self-Heal: You have plenty of heals, but this one is free and there are times when that's a nice thing to have.
  • +1% Chance to Hit - Self-Only: You can't kill what you can't hit. The Hit Cap is hard to reach in Cataclysm, so this helps.
  • Jewelcrafting skill increase: JC has some nice self-only gems. This will get you into those gems that much sooner.

Dwarf

  • Stone Form washes away bleeds and other effects, which has definite PvP value, and which will provide a 10% damage reduction in 4.06.
  • Crit with guns? Who cares? You have Lightning Bolts!
  • Expertise with Maces? See "crit with guns."
  • The best racial of any race? Their totems take the form of beer kegs.

Orc

  • Enrage increases Spell Power, which is a good thing in all cases.
  • Resistance to Stuns has PvP value and is occasionally useful in PvE.

Tauren

  • War Stomp is strictly melee range, but has use in PvP when melee types get in your face.
  • Health Increase is good in all cases, but is actually kind of puny at high level.

Troll

  • Berkserk increases casting speed, which is always good.
  • Regeneration Increase isn't big enough to care much about, especially since you can heal.
  • Damage Increased Vs Beasts: Nice for leveling, occasionally useful in PvE, useless in PvP since Worgen and Draenei don't count as beasts for this ability.
  • Da Voodoo Shuffle is always useful in PvP (though not nealry as good as an escape ability or trinket.) Occasional value in PvE.

Goblin

  • Rocket Jump is a nice little escape from, or entry into, combat. Kinda like a cheap Blink spell.
  • Increased Haste (1%) is always useful.
  • Increased Alchemy skill and increased effect frm healing potions is nice if you have that skill.

PvE Choice? Orc or Troll, since you can pick the timing of your abilities for greatest effect. Draenei, followed by Goblins, for their passive hit/haste increases.

PvP Choice? All of the races have decent abilities. Offensively, same as PvE. Otherwise: Orcs and Trolls (since they have offensive and defensive abilities,) followed by Dwarves.

 

4.1 Patch Notes for the Elemental Shaman

General Shaman Notes:

  • Fire Nova has been redesigned and decoupled from shaman Fire totems. Instead, it now pulses the Fire Nova effect from each target that is afflicted by the shaman's own Flame Shock debuff. It now damages all enemies except the target hit by Flame Shock. The ability's cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10.
  • Grounding Totem cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds, up from 15.
  • Magma Totem now lasts for 60 seconds, up from 21.
  • Stoneclaw Totem's area-of-effect threat pulse no longer affects critters.

Talent Specialization: Elemental Combat

  • Earthquake is no longer a channeled spell. It now has a 2.5-second cast time, lasts for 10 seconds, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 40% from its channeled version.

Glyphs

  • Glyph of Grounding Totem: The increased cooldown of Grounding Totem applied by this glyph has been reduced to 35 seconds, down from 45 seconds.

Shaman Bug Fixes

  • The tooltips for shaman healing spells are now displaying correct values when points are distributed into any rank of the Spark of Life talent.
  • Earth Shield should now appear at the correct height for most player races.
  • The effect of Glyph of the Arctic Wolf will now persist correctly upon logging back into the game while in Ghost Wolf.
  • Mental Quickness now reduces the mana cost of Spiritwalker's Grace.

Shaman Known Issues

  • Stormstrike animation will not play correctly when not dual wielding.
  • Elemental summons do not phase with players correctly in some encounters.

 

Elemental Shaman Talents for Cataclysm

As with all other classes and specs, when you hit level 10 you pick your spec (Elemental, obviously.) From that point on you will spend 31 points in Elemental before you can move out to Resto or Enhancement.

Your special abilities gained from picking Elemental are:

  • Thunderstorm - Damages and knocks back enemies and restories mana to you. Usable while stunned.
  • Elemental Fury - Increased the critical damage bonus from your Searing and Magma totems and some spells by 100%.
  • Shamanism - Your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava burst spells gain an extra bonus from your attack power and their casting time is reduced.
  • Mastery: Elemental Overload - A chance for your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava burst spells to proc a similar attack to the same target for no additional cost, 75% damage, and no additional threat. Incrasing Mastery rating increases the proc chance.

 

Cataclysm Level 85 Shaman DPS Build (34/7/0)

View this build, with glyphs, here

Elemental (34 Points)

  1. Acuity - Rank 3/3 - Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 3%.
  2. Convection - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the mana cost of your damaging offensive spells by 10%.
  3. Concussion - Rank 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Thunderstorm, Lava Burst and Shock spells by 6%.

  4. Call of Flame - Rank 2/2 - Increases the damage done by your Fire Totems and Fire Nova by 20%, and damage done by your Lava Burst spell by 10%.
  5. Reverberation - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the cooldown of your Shock spells and Wind Shear by 1 sec.
  6. Elemental Precision - Rank 3/3 - Increases your Fire, Frost and Nature damage by 3% and grants you spell hit rating equal to 100% of any Spirit gained from items or effects.

  7. Rolling Thunder - Rank 2/2 - When you deal damage with Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning while your Lightning Shield ability is active, you have a 60% chance to recover 2% of your mana and to generate an additional Lightning Shield charge, up to a maximum of 9 charges.
  8. Elemental Focus - Rank 1/1 - After landing a non-periodic critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next 2 damage or healing spells by 40%.
  9. Elemental Reach - Rank 2/2 - Increases the range of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 10 yards, and increases the range of your Shock spells and Searing Totem by 15 yards.

  10. Elemental Oath - Rank 2/2 - While Clearcasting from Elemental Focus is active, you deal 10% more spell damage. In addition, party and raid members within 100 yards receive a 5% bonus to their critical strike chance.
  11. Lava Flows - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Lava Burst spell by an additional 24% and the periodic damage of your Flame Shock by 60%. In addition, when your Flame Shock is dispelled you gain 30% spell haste for 6 sec.

  12. Fulmination - Rank 1/1 - When you have more than 3 Lightning Shield charges active, your Earth Shock spell will consume any surplus charges, instantly dealing their total damage to the enemy target.
  13. Elemental Mastery - Rank 1/1 - When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, your Fire, Frost, and Nature damage is increased by 15% and you gain 20% spell haste for 15 sec.
  14. Totemic Wrath - Rank 1/1 - Causes your Fire totems to increase the spell power of party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%.

  15. Feedback - Rank 3/3 - Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells reduce the remaining cooldown on your Elemental Mastery talent by 3 sec.
  16. Lava Surge - Rank 2/2 - Gives your Flame Shock periodic damage ticks a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of your Lava Burst spell.

  17. Earthquake - Rank 1/1 - You cause the earth at the target location to tremble and break, dealing 493 Physical damage every 1 sec to enemies in 8 yard radius, with a 10% chance of knocking down affected targets. Lasts 8 sec.
Enhancement (7 Points)
  1. Elemental Weapons - Rank 2/2 - Increases the passive bonuses granted by your Flametongue Weapon and Earthliving Weapon abilities by 40%, the damage of your extra attacks from Windfury Weapon by 40%, and the effectiveness of the ongoing benefits of your Unleash Elements ability by 50%.
  2. Improved Shields - Rank 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Water Shield orbs by 15%, and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 15%.
  3. Ancestral Swiftness - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the cast time of your Ghost Wolf spell by 2 sec and increases movement speed by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
Restoration (0 Points)
None
Glyphs
  1. Glyph of Lava Burst (Prime Glyph) - Your Lava Burst spell deals 10% more damage.
  2. Glyph of Lightning Bolt (Prime Glyph) - Increases the damage dealt by Lightning Bolt by 4%.
  3. Glyph of Flame Shock (Prime Glyph) - Increases the duration of your Flame Shock by 50%.

  4. Glyph of Thunder (Major Glyph) - Reduces the cooldown on Thunderstorm by 10 sec.
  5. Glyph of Lightning Shield (Major Glyph) - Your Lightning Shield can no longer drop below 3 charges from dealing damage to attackers.
  6. Glyph of Ghost Wolf (Major Glyph) - Your Ghost Wolf form grants an additional 5% movement speed.

  7. Glyph of Water Breathing (Minor Glyph) - Your Water Breathing spell no longer requires a reagent.
  8. Glyph of Water Walking (Minor Glyph) - Your Water Walking spell no longer requires a reagent.
  9. Glyph of Renewed Life (Minor Glyph) - Your Reincarnation spell no longer requires a reagent.

Elemental Shaman Rotations

PvE:

  • Use Flametongue Weapon and Lightning Shield, always, and keep them up on yourself 100% of the time.
  • Rotations are pretty much gone with Cataclysm. Here's a priority list:
    1. Fire totem down
    2. Establish and maintain Flame Shock DoT
    3. Fire Lava Burst as it pops up
    4. Earth Shock (7-9 Lightning Shield charges)
    5. Lightning Bolt filler

Stat Priority for PVE

The numbers shown here are for high levels. As levels increase the value of the primary stats (Spirit, Int) increases faster than the value of secondary stats, especially after 80.

  • Spirit(Hit) until capped - this is your strongest stat due to mana regen and that it provides hit rating (from Elemental Precision.) Much better than Int until the hit cap of 1742 (1640 for Draenei) rating points.
  • Int - More spellpower, more mana pool, and a tiny bit of extra crit. If you can cap Hit through Spirit then you can gem/enchant for Int.
  • Haste = Mastery
  • Crit - the weakest stat by far. Reforge into the above stats, starting with Spirit.

 

 

Cataclysm Level 85 Elemental Shaman PvP Build (32/97/0)

(click to view)

If you have a ton of gold you can start out by buying the crafted PvP set and other items off the AH to cover slots not filled by the crafted set, such as weapons.

This is a general PvP build, good for most situations, including BGs. It has increased totem range and the extra movement from Ancestral Swiftness, but it's not as mana efficient as some builds.

Notes on build options are below the glyphs.

Elemental (32 Points)
  • Acuity - Rank 2/3 - Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 2%.
  • Concussion - Rank 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Thunderstorm, Lava Burst and Shock spells by 6%.

  • Call of Flame - Rank 2/2 - Increases the damage done by your Fire Totems and Fire Nova by 20%, and damage done by your Lava Burst spell by 10%.
  • Elemental Warding - Rank 3/3 - Reduces magical damage taken by 12%.
  • Reverberation - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the cooldown of your Shock spells and Wind Shear by 1 sec.

  • Rolling Thunder - Rank 2/2 - When you deal damage with Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning while your Lightning Shield ability is active, you have a 60% chance to recover 2% of your mana and to generate an additional Lightning Shield charge, up to a maximum of 9 charges.
  • Elemental Focus - Rank 1/1 - After landing a non-periodic critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next 2 damage or healing spells by 40%.
  • Elemental Reach - Rank 2/2 - Increases the range of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Fire Nova, and Lava Burst spells by 10 yards, and increases the range of your Shock spells and Searing Totem by 15 yards.

  • Elemental Oath - Rank 2/2 - While Clearcasting from Elemental Focus is active, you deal 10% more spell damage. In addition, party and raid members within 100 yards receive a 5% bonus to their critical strike chance.
  • Lava Flows - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Lava Burst spell by an additional 24% and the periodic damage of your Flame Shock by 60%. In addition, when your Flame Shock is dispelled you gain 30% spell haste for 6 sec.

  • Fulmination - Rank 1/1 - When you have more than 3 Lightning Shield charges active, your Earth Shock spell will consume any surplus charges, instantly dealing their total damage to the enemy target.
  • Elemental Mastery - Rank 1/1 - When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, your Fire, Frost, and Nature damage is increased by 15% and you gain 20% spell haste for 15 sec.
  • Earth's Grasp - Rank 2/2 - Grants your Earthbind Totem a 100% chance to root nearby targets for 5 sec when cast.
  • Totemic Wrath - Rank 1/1 - Causes your Fire totems to increase the spell power of party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%.

  • Feedback - Rank 3/3 - Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells reduce the remaining cooldown on your Elemental Mastery talent by 3 sec.
  • Lava Surge - Rank 2/2 - Gives your Flame Shock periodic damage ticks a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of your Lava Burst spell.
Enhancement (9 Points)
  • Elemental Weapons - Rank 2/2 - Increases the passive bonuses granted by your Flametongue Weapon and Earthliving Weapon abilities by 40%, the damage of your extra attacks from Windfury Weapon by 40%, and the effectiveness of the ongoing benefits of your Unleash Elements ability by 50%.
  • Improved Shields - Rank 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Water Shield orbs by 15%, and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 15%.
  • Ancestral Swiftness - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the cast time of your Ghost Wolf spell by 2 sec and increases movement speed by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
  • Totemic Reach - Rank 2/2 - Increases the range of your totems' effects by 30%.
Restoration (0 Points)
None
Glyphs
  • Glyph of Flame Shock (Prime Glyph) - Increases the duration of your Flame Shock by 50%.
  • Glyph of Lava Burst (Prime Glyph) - Your Lava Burst spell deals 10% more damage.
  • Glyph of Shocking (Prime Glyph) - Reduces the global cooldown triggered by your shock spells to 1 sec.
  • Optional - If you use Lightning Bolt often enough then drop Shocking for the LB glyph for 4% increased LB damage.

  • Glyph of Hex (Major Glyph) - Reduces the cooldown of your Hex spell by 10 sec.
  • Glyph of Lightning Shield (Major Glyph) - Your Lightning Shield can no longer drop below 3 charges from dealing damage to attackers.
  • Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem (Major Glyph) - Your Stoneclaw Totem also places a damage absorb shield on you, equal to 4 times the strength of the shield it places on your totems.
  • Optional - The Thunder glyph reduced the Thunderstorm cooldown by 10 seconds.

  • Glyph of Water Breathing (Minor Glyph) - Your Water Breathing spell no longer requires a reagent.
  • Glyph of Water Walking (Minor Glyph) - Your Water Walking spell no longer requires a reagent.
  • Glyph of Renewed Life (Minor Glyph) - Your Reincarnation spell no longer requires a reagent.

With the 4.0 glyph rules you can just buy them all and then swap them back and forth as necessary to match your game of the moment. Make sure you have adequate Vanishing Powder or Dust of Disappearance to do so.

Build Option: Arena

  • Sacrifices totem range, shields, and wolf movement for better mana efficency and healing.
  • Drop one pt of Concussion
  • Drop Fulmination
  • Drop all Enhancement talents, except for Elemental Weapons
  • Add 2/2 AAncestral Resolve for less damage taken while casting.
  • Add 3/3 Spark of Life for increased healing given and received.
  • Add 3/3 Focused Insight - Casting shocks greatly improves your next heal.
  • view

Build Option: More Spirit (Hit)

  • Better Hit rating and mana efficiency while keeping Enhancement abilities.
  • Drop 2/2 Rolling Thunder
  • Drop Fulmination
  • Drop 3/3 Feedback
  • Add 3/3 Elemental Precision - Your Spirit from gear adds to your Hit rating, allowing you to reforge stats to something other than hit.
  • Add 1 pt Acuity
  • Add 2/2 Convection - for better mana efficiency

PvP Elemental Stat Prority

  • 4% Spell hit and 195+ Spellpen - with your Elemental Precision you should need no hit rating from gear, gems, or enchants.
  • Resilience
  • Intelligence - Mana issues are pretty severe so Int stacking is necessary.
  • Crit/Haste (Till 10 % min)
  • Mastery
  • Scroll down for gems and enchants.

Notes:

  • Flametongue is the weapon buff that you'll use pretty much all of the time.
  • Frostbrand Weapon is for those situations where slowing the opponent's movement speed is more important than damage.
  • Mana is a big issue so you will need to be cautious, purge less, and drink more.
  • Earthquake is not a generally useful PvP ability, so it's not taken.

 

 

 

Elemental Shamen Leveling

If you're leveling your Elemental Shaman then see our Shaman Leveling Guide or check out Level 85 Guides by WoWhead.com's former CEO.

 

 

Gems, Enchants

 

Gems for the Elemental Shaman

Enchants for the Elemental Shaman

These are pretty much the same enchants that any caster would want, but Spirit enchants are also included.

 

Elemental Shaman Professions

All of the professions provide some benefit for the Elemental Shaman, though clearly some are better than others. Even the gathering professions have some value, though you might be better served by building a larger gold stash through other means.

  • Tailoring - Lightweave Embroidery sometimes increases Int by 580 for 15 seconds. The problem is that you can't count on that proc at any given instant, much less activate it on call. Still, the average Int increase over time makes this the best of the DPS professions.
  • Leatherworking provides the best increase with its 130 Int enchant compared to the next best, which is 65 Haste. You will also be able to make your own Bloodied Dragonscale mail armor for PvP, as well as other armor items.
  • Jewelcrafting is a thin hair better than the others, being able to create three +67 Int, self-only, gems for a mighty 81 point total Int gain.
  • Enchanting will allow you to enchant both rings, for a total +80 Int gain.
  • Inscription has a +130 Int shoulder enchant which is an 80 Int gain over the next best item.
  • Alchemy has a variety of useful potions and the Mixology bonus is worth 80 Int.
  • Engineering has lots of interesting toys, some of which have situational use, and Synapse Springs, which increases Int by 96 for a short time. If you take this use a macro to activate it along with other short term buffs.
  • Blacksmithing gives two extra gems slots for +40 Int gems, 80 Int total.

Gathering Profs

  • Skinning provides 80 crit rating, which is far below 80 Int in value. If you have to take skinning for the cash flow then work it hard and do a lot of it.
  • Herbalism provides a small self heal and 240 Haste rating for 20 seconds.
  • Mining provides 80 Stam and so has little benefit.

 

 

Macros

  • Wind Shear
    This one turns off annoying sounds and clears the focus if it needs to be cleared.
    It casts Wind Shear on your Mouseover target, if present; if no mouseover then it tries your focus; if no focus then your main target.


    #showtooltip Wind Shear
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 0
    /StopCasting
    /ClearFocus [@focus,help][@focus,dead]
    /Cast [@mouseover,harm][@focus,harm][@target,harm] Wind Shear
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 1

  • Hex
    Clears unneccessary focuses
    It then casts Hex on your Mouseover target, if present; if no mouseover then it tries your focus; if no focus then your main target.


    #showtooltip Hex
    /ClearFocus [@focus,help][@focus,dead]
    /Cast [@mouseover,harm][@focus,harm][@target,harm] Hex

  • Startattack > Elemental Mastery Lavaburst
    Makes sure that your attack on the target has started,
    this is especially useful if you need to melee
    Fires off the EM talent which gives you the instant Lava Burst and 15 seconds of Greatness.


    #showtooltip Elemental Mastery
    /StartAttack
    /Cast [combat] Elemental Mastery
    /Cast Lava Burst

  • EM > Lightning Bolt, using trinket
    Makes sure that your attack on the target has started,
    this is especially useful if you need to melee
    Uses your first trinket (which is slot 13)
    Fires off the EM talent which gives you the instant Lightning bolt and 15 seconds of Greatness.

    #showtooltip Elemental Mastery
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 0
    /StartAttack
    /Use 13
    /Cast [combat] Elemental Mastery
    /Cast Lightning Bolt
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 1

  • Mouseover Flame Shock
    FS's your Mouseover, if it exists, or your target otherwise, and then casts Unleash Elements.
    Useful on movement phases or on annoying Rogues.
    It alse gets rid of annoying sounds for the duration of the macro.

    #showtooltip Flame Shock
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 0
    /CastSequence [@mouseover,harm][@target,harm] reset=combat/2 Flame Shock,Unleash Elements
    /Console Sound_EnableSFX 1

 

 

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