Elemental is awful

[tohmas11]

So ive been playing the Elemental Shaman on beta now for about 2 weeks and im so disappointed.

The class is exactly the same as it was in Warlords only now you have 9 less fun abilities.

So as far as i can tell they removed

Unleash Flame
Spiritwalker's Grace
Shamanistic Rage
Healing Stream Totem
Healing Rain
Earthbind Totem
Grounding Totem
Tremor Totem
Ascendance (Now a talent)

And in return they gave us a blink or a stampeding roar, and the artifact ability.
This is by far the laziest class changes ive seen for legion by far. The talents are awful, the artifact ability is just here you go
200% dmg increase on your lightning bolts so you feel they actually do some damage. And yeah lets put your only damage cooldown in the last row of talents so it actually feels like the lvl 100 talents are good. Elemental blast and Ascendance should be baseline abilities for elemental in my opinion so dont understand why they are in the talents.

They have just put a bunch of shitty passives and some old abilites or nostalgia abilities in the talents so they didnt have to think of anything new like the WoD mastery and 4 totems that provide you with tiny bonuses so they dont feel great at all just if you missed looking at 4 totems around you.

Now what they did give us after years of begging is our shocks are now off cooldown but guess what they couldnt even do that right cause now they cost Maelstrom wich is just so annoying. Oh shit got 90 maelstrom only spent 15 seconds getting this maelstrom so i can finally get that huge earth shock but nooo i need to refresh flame shock and now i need to cast 3 more lightning bolts to get it.

Thanks blizzard for being incredibly lazy in designing Elemental for Legion. I mean it didnt really come as a surprise cause you have neglected elemental ever since i started playing this game. How many reworks and other mechanics and abilities has shadow priests, all mage specs, boomkins, hunters and warlocks gotten since cataclysm? They are completely different yet elemental is exactly the same only with all utility and fun removed.

[Silvus]

So ive been playing the Elemental Shaman on beta now for about 2 weeks and im so disappointed.

The class is exactly the same as it was in Warlords only now you have 9 less fun abilities.

So as far as i can tell they removed

Unleash Flame
Spiritwalker's Grace
Shamanistic Rage
Healing Stream Totem
Healing Rain
Earthbind Totem
Grounding Totem
Tremor Totem
Ascendance (Now a talent)

And in return they gave us a blink or a stampeding roar, and the artifact ability.
This is by far the laziest class changes ive seen for legion by far. The talents are awful, the artifact ability is just here you go
200% dmg increase on your lightning bolts so you feel they actually do some damage. And yeah lets put your only damage cooldown in the last row of talents so it actually feels like the lvl 100 talents are good. Elemental blast and Ascendance should be baseline abilities for elemental in my opinion so dont understand why they are in the talents.

They have just put a bunch of shitty passives and some old abilites or nostalgia abilities in there so they didnt have to think of anything new like the WoD mastery and 4 totems that provide you with tiny bonuses so they dont feel great at all just if you missed looking at 4 totems around you.

Now what they did give us after years of begging is our shocks are now off cooldown but guess what they couldnt even do that right cause now they cost Maelstrom wich is just so annoying. Oh shit got 90 maelstrom only spent 15 seconds getting this maelstrom so i can finally get that huge earth shock but nooo i need to refresh flame shock and now i need to cast 3 more lightning bolts to get it.

Thanks blizzard for being incredibly lazy in designing Elemental for Legion. I mean it didnt really come as a surprise cause you have neglected elemental ever since i can remember playing this game. How many reworks and other mechanics and abilities has shadow priests, all mage specs, boomkins, hunters and warlocks gotten since cataclysm? They are completely different yet elemental is exactly the same only with all utility and fun removed.

Reroll something else please. You have no clue, stopped reading after '' exactly the same as it was in Warlords ''

[tohmas11]

Reroll something else please. You have no clue, stopped reading after '' exactly the same as it was in Warlords ''

So instead of just writing reroll pls can you tell me what makes it different? Tell me one change other than shocks not being on cd..

Other than it being even more dumbed down with less utility and mobility?

[omgitskae]

So instead of just writing reroll pls can you tell me what makes it different? Tell me one change other than shocks not being on cd..

Other than it being even more dumbed down with less utility and mobility?

Almost every class had their utility pruned, a few stand out as exceptions - Mage, Rogue, Death Knight, Paladin. Shaman is actually fairly well off in terms of utility in Legion compared to other ranged classes. You still have stun totem, you have increased mobility, roar totem is great because they took it away from caster druids. You still have Thunderstorm, decent baseline heals compared to other hybrids (shadow priest stands out as better, druid is worse). You still have earth elemental, bloodlust, and ankh. If you don't like what happened to shaman then play a different class, you'll probably realize shaman's really not that bad.

[The5thVegetable]

I really can't say I disagree with this post much at all. I will admit, I do miss healing stream and healing rain, but the other things weren't all that necessary to make the elemental shaman enjoyable. Ascendance? And what if I don't want to be bothered with that? What if I just want nice, consistent damage all the way?

And about the talents being boring? Come on now, really? That something is passive doesn't mean it doesn't affect the way you play. And i'm surprised they haven't removed Elemental Blast, as it doesn't do much apart from giving you another button to press on cooldown. Does it do anything interesting? Nope, it gives you a random buff and that's about it.

I can understand that Elemental isn't for you personally, but the spec is far from bad. If you don't like that, go play something else.


Oh, and they added Icefury! I think that one's pretty dope.

[tohmas11]

Almost every class had their utility pruned, a few stand out as exceptions - Mage, Rogue, Death Knight, Paladin. Shaman is actually fairly well off in terms of utility in Legion compared to other ranged classes. You still have stun totem, you have increased mobility, roar totem is great because they took it away from caster druids. You still have Thunderstorm, decent baseline heals compared to other hybrids (shadow priest stands out as better, druid is worse). You still have earth elemental, bloodlust, and ankh. If you don't like what happened to shaman then play a different class, you'll probably realize shaman's really not that bad.

Yes Elemental still has some utility but that doesnt change that they removed so much of it we had with legion, but not adding anything new. We definately do not have increased mobility. Our mobility is prob the worst in the game for casters at the moment. If we want any sort of mobility we need to spec out of roar totem wich is probably our best raid utility ability at the moment.

This post wasnt so much about our lacking utility just that so many fun and engaging utility were removed without actually adding anything to the class. The rotation plays exactly the same, with less mobility and utility as we had in MoP. I mean whats the point of even playing an Elemental when mages do everything we do only better.

In MoP i didnt mind not topping meters because i was a hybrid class that could help my raid with healing and utility. Now were pretty much a pure caster with a casted heal. I dont see then why we dont get the mobility or damage as these pure dps classes. Having bloodlust or ankh isnt special at all either anymore. If i could choose between ankh or a combat res like druids have i would take the combat res anyday. Both hunters and Mages can provide bloodlust and both those classes are more favored in raids than an ele shaman.

- - - Updated - - -

I really can't say I disagree with this post much at all. I will admit, I do miss healing stream and healing rain, but the other things weren't all that necessary to make the elemental shaman enjoyable. Ascendance? And what if I don't want to be bothered with that? What if I just want nice, consistent damage all the way?

And about the talents being boring? Come on now, really? That something is passive doesn't mean it doesn't affect the way you play. And i'm surprised they haven't removed Elemental Blast, as it doesn't do much apart from giving you another button to press on cooldown. Does it do anything interesting? Nope, it gives you a random buff and that's about it.

I can understand that Elemental isn't for you personally, but the spec is far from bad. If you don't like that, go play something else.


Oh, and they added Icefury! I think that one's pretty dope.

I find most of the spells they removed to be quite enjoyable. Both in Pve situations and especially in PvP situations.
Why wouldnt you wanna bother with Ascendance? The only thing Elemental has going for it at the moment is very strong single target burst damage.
If you pick Lightning rod you lose the only thing the class is decent at and get mediocre sustained single target dps?
Every class i can think of except Warlocks right now wich is even worse off than elemental in my opinion have a dps cooldown baseline, so i dont see the reason why it was removed and put into talents instead.

Yes i think the talents are very boring. The entire level 15 talent row is crap in my eyes. You have a 5% dmg increase on lava burst and spread flame shock to 1 enemy. This is such a underwhelming talent. If it was 10 or 15% damage and spreading flame shock to all targets in a 5 or 10 yard radius it would be much more fun. They also put the Warlords mastery in there just because they didnt wanna waste the effort they put into making the animations and the idea, and then you have just 4 totems that dont really do much except show you 4 totems incase you miss them. I dont like the 75, 90 or 100 talents rows at all either. Its pretty much the same stuff where 1 talent is way beyond the others and you will just play 1 spec most of the time.

Putting Elemental Blast baseline would still give you the 2 charges of lava burst or the 10% haste while actually providing some flavor to the rotation.
I actually love the spell! The animation is awesome and it hits really hard in Legion. Sometimes when you dont get Lava Surge procs you can stand there spamming lightning bolts for 8 seconds, get a instant lava burst and back to spamming lightning bolts for 8 seconds. The rotation must be one of the easier ones in legion now that so many classes got their rotations completely revamped or changed.

Elemental is for me personally because its the first character i ever made and have played it as a main since i started in Wrath. Ive stuck with it for all these years through hard times and some good (MoP). I still love the abilities and the transmogs and the love i have for the character itself but they just dont seem to wanna put any effort into actually improving the class. Just something different or exciting in Legion would make me continue playing it but they just cant do it.

[FlemmMinis]

Someone... someone is actually sad about the dead of "unleash flame"? I didn't like it. Felt really clunky. Plus Flameshock without the CD is really nice for cleaving.

[bloodmoth13]

Elemental is really solid, not sure why anyone would complain about this iteration? Its basically the same, only smoother.

[tohmas11]

Someone... someone is actually sad about the dead of "unleash flame"? I didn't like it. Felt really clunky. Plus Flameshock without the CD is really nice for cleaving.

I never said i was sad about it. It was still an ability that interacted in our rotation that provided something to do while moving.

Also i agree flameshock without CD is great. i just find it frustrating that they couldnt just give us the shocks of cooldown like Ele shamans have been begging for like forever. They had to put maelstrom cost on it and i dont like that at all.

[The5thVegetable]

If you handle your Maelstrom well, you won't have to worry too much about the deal with Flameshock- in fact, I find it an absolute joy to have it there so I can throw away some Maelstrom in hopes of being able to throw Earth Shock with Elemental Focus up. If you get Elemental Fusion- which is a good combo with Path of Flame, multidotting will sometimes have you GCD-locked spamming instant LBs. If you get Icefury, you'll easily be able to avoid the issue of not having anything to do while moving if you use it at the right moment. So with both of these options available, i've gotta say, the loss of Unleash Flame and Ancestral Grace really isn't that big of a deal- not to mention, Unleash Flame was, as Laubman said, clunky. And again, regarding EB- does it look good? Yes, yes it does. It sounds good too. Is it good? Yes, yes it is. Is it fun to use? I really don't see how it is. It's just something to pop on-CD and doesn't fit into the way Ele works now, and doesn't have any interaction whatsoever with the rest of your abilities. I'm not saying throw EB out the window, and I get that you like it, but it doesn't add much to the rotation.

P.S. Let's not forget about the amazing AoE we've got.

[Omybad]

i understand what you mean, same abilities, nothing new. just have a look at the legendary bonuses

the boots, 30% chance to refund maelstrom spent on earthshock. thanks for bringing back hfc 4 piece

elemental is not interesting and boring to play. boring talents, reusing old spells, spells that should be baseline arent.

i wont be playing elem

[tohmas11]

i understand what you mean, same abilities, nothing new. just have a look at the legendary bonuses

the boots, 30% chance to refund maelstrom spent on earthshock. thanks for bringing back hfc 4 piece

elemental is not interesting and boring to play. boring talents, reusing old spells, spells that should be baseline arent.

i wont be playing elem

Agree 100%! Everything they did was reuse a bunch of old spells for talents, legendaries and so on.
This will be the first time i reroll and it probably wont be a mistake considering all the times ive been mad playing this class.

- - - Updated - - -

If you handle your Maelstrom well, you won't have to worry too much about the deal with Flameshock- in fact, I find it an absolute joy to have it there so I can throw away some Maelstrom in hopes of being able to throw Earth Shock with Elemental Focus up. If you get Elemental Fusion- which is a good combo with Path of Flame, multidotting will sometimes have you GCD-locked spamming instant LBs. If you get Icefury, you'll easily be able to avoid the issue of not having anything to do while moving if you use it at the right moment. So with both of these options available, i've gotta say, the loss of Unleash Flame and Ancestral Grace really isn't that big of a deal- not to mention, Unleash Flame was, as Laubman said, clunky. And again, regarding EB- does it look good? Yes, yes it does. It sounds good too. Is it good? Yes, yes it is. Is it fun to use? I really don't see how it is. It's just something to pop on-CD and doesn't fit into the way Ele works now, and doesn't have any interaction whatsoever with the rest of your abilities. I'm not saying throw EB out the window, and I get that you like it, but it doesn't add much to the rotation.

P.S. Let's not forget about the amazing AoE we've got.

With 2 or 3 targets there is many times where i dont even get lava surge procs. I dont like Ice Fury at all. If the cast time of it was removed and the frost shocks did some more damage i would like it alot more. Its like oh shit i have to move let me just cast this 1.8 second cast before, and they barely hit harder than earth shock with 4 gcds and a 1.8 sec cast. I find elemental blast fun to use cause there is something more in your rotation other than lightning bolt spam. They could ofcourse change the mechanic on it to increase your lava burst and lightning bolt damage or be castable while moving or something like that but i dont even feel thats needed. It does have some interaction like using it before ascendance or to burst down targets quick with its high burst and if you get both crit and haste bonus its a good dps boost.

Also im not one of the 870+ ilvl on beta but from what i can tell our AoE is not that great either tbh. Its tied too much into our mastery, and now that its our worst stat even behind versatility our aoe is super rng. If you just get a couple procs our aoe skyrockets and is insanely good. If you dont get any wich happens alot now with so little mastery our aoe dps is pretty low tier.

[Pull My Finger]

You and your post are awful. Elemental is cool and I doubt you ever played it before.

[The5thVegetable]

Agree 100%! Everything they did was reuse a bunch of old spells for talents, legendaries and so on.
This will be the first time i reroll and it probably wont be a mistake considering all the times ive been mad playing this class.

- - - Updated - - -



With 2 or 3 targets there is many times where i dont even get lava surge procs. I dont like Ice Fury at all. If the cast time of it was removed and the frost shocks did some more damage i would like it alot more. Its like oh shit i have to move let me just cast this 1.8 second cast before, and they barely hit harder than earth shock with 4 gcds and a 1.8 sec cast. I find elemental blast fun to use cause there is something more in your rotation other than lightning bolt spam. They could ofcourse change the mechanic on it to increase your lava burst and lightning bolt damage or be castable while moving or something like that but i dont even feel thats needed. It does have some interaction like using it before ascendance or to burst down targets quick with its high burst and if you get both crit and haste bonus its a good dps boost.

Also im not one of the 870+ ilvl on beta but from what i can tell our AoE is not that great either tbh. Its tied too much into our mastery, and now that its our worst stat even behind versatility our aoe is super rng. If you just get a couple procs our aoe skyrockets and is insanely good. If you dont get any wich happens alot now with so little mastery our aoe dps is pretty low tier.

Even with a shitty mix of Heroic, leveling and other bad gear, i've topped the damage meters in Ashran as an elemental shaman, simply because the AoE is so powerful. And about Lava Surge procs, that must mean you've got some real bad luck, 'cause i've had moments where i've been GCD-locked with instant LB procs, especially with Elemental Fusion. And regarding Icefury, if you learn to actually use it correctly, you can pop it and be well on your way by the time you need to be moving, as I believe it has a 10 second window for you to use the Frost Shocks(Which, by the way, do NOT require Maelstrom to deal damage). If you know what the hell you're doing, you can easily pull off an Icefury, then you've got FOUR global cooldowns worth of stuff to do while moving. That's a lot. And Icefury also generates 24 Maelstrom, so if you're standing still for a while, you can easily relieve some of that LB spam by throwing one of those out there.

Also, i'm not sure if it's been changed since then, but i've heard that the damage of Lava Burst compared to Lightning Bolt in Legion is lower now than it was in WoD, which makes Ascendance much weaker apart from the fact you'll get 12 Maelstrom per cast instead of 8.

You and your post are awful. Elemental is cool and I doubt you ever played it before.

Now now, cut the guy some slack from the big ol' slack pie, 'cause everyone is entitled to have their opinion- even if it's an opinion seemingly everyone else disagrees with!

[Schmilblick]

Elemental is FAR better than it was in WOD and even in PvP.

[Jenerena]

Don't play it then. Play another class. Simple.

[araistlinx]

I have to disagree completely. The new stun totem is an amazing improvement, the versatility by talent changes is finally something I look forward too rather than the cookie-cutter it was in WoD. I'll take the new Shaman model every time.

[Shakazu]

My only problem with elemental is the low pvp damage, but I hope the number tuning will fix that.

[Aggrophobic]

My only problem with elemental is the low pvp damage, but I hope the number tuning will fix that.

They will most likely have to redo the PvP talents befor elemental is even getting close to competative in PvP.
Don't count on them doing that this expantion.

[Vorpalspork]

Sadly, OP is right in a lot of respects. Blizz did this with a lot of specs, however - take baseline abilities and make them talents and prune utility. I do love the shocks being off the CD. I like that we now don't suffer so much from target switching and have decent ST damage. Ascendance is good for burst, but is now a 3 min CD, which makes it worse than it was.

On the bad side, I agree that maelstrom sucks. Needing to build up the resource before doing any kind of AoE, which then conflicts with using Earth Shock is just adding in a system that gimps us compared to non-builder/spender casters. The ONLY impact of maelstrom is to reduce our damage. I'm not sure why certain specs have been given this arbitrary disadvantage - you see Boomys and Destro locks with this same problem, and they all dislike it. Take away the chain lightning buff to Earthquake, meaning it is only good with multiples up, which is hard with maelstrom issues and EQ becomes an even weaker spell than in WoD. Ultimately, this takes us from a great AoE class to below average.

Ice Fury is . . . okay. It has no interaction at all with our other abilities and our artifact. It's just . . . there. Instead of dealing with our bad mobility, they stick in one random talent that is a dps-loss versus the other options on the tier and say mobility solved. Lazy design.

Also, we still have Unleashed Flame - they renamed it Stormkeeper and put it on our artifact. I mean, they commented somewhere that they realized maintenance buffs weren't fun, but, hey, let's make shaman's major artifact ability a maintenance buff. Oh, and since their filler sucks, we'll have it buff the filler spell instead of their big nuke. Yeah, wouldn't want Shaman to be a top dps class, so buff the lame filler. Artifact, and legendaries are comparatively weak compared to other classes, so we'll have the same problem as always - we'll really suck midway through the xpac and desperately need some bandaid buffs to even regain mid-tier dps.

The problem is, the spec is sooo much fun, but has so many glaring weaknesses.