Help a Shaman noob, Lightning Bolt vs Chain Lightning

[Sattori]

Being disappointed with the lvl 90 Mage talents, I'm rolling Ele/Resto.
Atm (lvl 64) Chain Lighting does better DPS in single-target than Lightning Bolt and I'm wondering...
Is that still the case at 90, or do the spellpower coefficients change things?
If so, do you use Chain Lightning in your standard rotation when you have the mana?

And the real question...
If it IS higher DPS at 90, would it be easy to have your crit high enough for it to be sustainable?

Note: I know crit is generally Ele's worst stat and one of Resto's best, so I'm wondering if a Chain Lightning rotation in Resto-crit gear would compensate for the lack of haste. I'm especially looking for responses from people who've casually raided as Ele in Resto gear ^_^

[Rawfury]

Chain lightning on 3 targets or more.
Lightning Bolt is for single target

[MitchMeister-]

@ 90 lightning bolt hits about the same as chain lightning but is much more mana efficient. Plus, with the glyph, is able to be cast when moving, making it the go to "auto attack". When you max level neither spell is a primary attack though, lava burst is. Between the auto crit and instant lava burst procs, its typically your top damage spell, with lightning bolt and chain lightning being more fillers or used during aoe situations.

[Drelka]

Use lightning bolt on single target. Chain Lightning only has a 1/3 chance of overloading. It does less dps than Lightning bolt single target.

[kaikoraimi]

CL spam is not sustainable without multiple targets, and unless it is hitting at least 3 targets, LB is better. With the CL glyph and 5+ targets, you can spam it nearly indefinitely (barring any gear scaling issues at lower levels).

[Sattori]

Cool. It's definitely more DPS at my level due to the lower cast time. Thanks for the responses ^_^

[Deleted]

Chain lightning on 3 targets or more.
Lightning Bolt is for single target

CL for 2 targets or more*, with Lightning Bolt (preferably with Telluric Currents) replacing it when you go low on mana.

[Eruionmel]

At low levels, CL can sometimes provide higher DPS due to the lower cast time, lack of mana issues, and lack of mastery. If you find that you can cast CL without ooming and you don't have mastery yet (since overloads are mastery), feel free to use it.

At max levels you will use LB for single target and CL for AoE because LB costs less mana (you WILL oom single target with CL at max) and has 3x the chance to overload on single target (CL has the same chance to overload in AoE because it has 1/3 the chance per hit and it hits 3 times; in single target it only hits once, leaving you with only 1/3 of its overload potential). Not only that, CL will get GCD capped from haste much faster than LB (not that this is relevant, since the other two reasons already make LB better).

Hopefully that properly explains the reasoning.

[Sattori]

Hopefully that properly explains the reasoning.

Indeed it did, the reduced Mastery proc chance on CL was the variable I hadn't seen. Thanks!

[Deleted]

CL on 2 targets @ 90.