Fitting elemental blast into the rotation - ele

[Deleted]

Hey champions, my new alt shaman is 90 and I'm playing elemental, for the level 90 talents I don't really like the talents except for Elemental Blast, but it feels weird playing with it as its a whole new spell into the equation so I was wondering how best to use it and Lava burst has always been priority but should I put it in front of lava burst? Should I use it with unleash elements now? Thanks in advance p.s sorry for wall of text using a smartphone.

[reef]

elemental blast is behind lava burst in priority - take a look at the elemental shaman sticky for more information.

[Socialhealer]

fs-> lvb-> eb...etc etc, no UE

also you get used to it, if i spec PE ele feels beyond dull crap to play not enough spells, very boring no wonder its always weak single and bad in pvp, gief more useful spells.

[Buxton McGraff]

elemental blast is behind lava burst in priority - take a look at the elemental shaman sticky for more information.

I can't see why that would be so. Elemental blast does double the damage and gives a nice big buff. Getting the buff up before a Lava Burst could potentially mean a ton of Mastery and increase your odds of that Lava Burst proccing an additional strike.

[Venziir]

The thing I don't get is why not start with EB so you can apply the buff to the rest of the rotation?

[reef]

I can't see why that would be so. Elemental blast does double the damage and gives a nice big buff. Getting the buff up before a Lava Burst could potentially mean a ton of Mastery and increase your odds of that Lava Burst proccing an additional strike.

Quote from the 5.2 ele sticky priority list:
3. Cast Lava Burst IF it is off cooldown AND Flame Shock is on the target
4. IF you have the L90 talent Elemental Blast, cast Elemental Blast

Another quote:
Why is Elemental Blast behind Lava Burst in the rotation?
Elemental Blast deals less damage for it's cast time thank Lava Burst, and the buff isn't enough to make up the difference. Rotation priorities are almost always in order of Damage Per Cast Time (DPCT).

[Deleted]

I imagine because they want LvB on CD in case FS Proc's and then the reset is wasted.

[Deleted]

Thanks for all the quick replies lads, I can see there are mixed opinions though ill check out the sticky too.

[Sweetimpact]

Don't forget clearcasting from lava burst crit.

[slipn]

The thing I don't get is why not start with EB so you can apply the buff to the rest of the rotation?

It has to do with the chance for lava burst to proc for instant cast. you want to use it as much as possible so your procs are always while its on cd.

[Kaliblaze]

The rotation is:
* FS
* Lava Burst
* Elemental Blast
* 7 stack ES
* everything else (searing totem/Earth Elemental)
* Lightning Bolt

The reason Lava burst is higher priority is because it does more damage per cast time (Elemental blast has the same cast time as lightning bolt). Also Lava Burst can reset at anytime so you never want to hold it up because you'll miss out on another cast. Also, since it always crits you get the Clearcasting buff making your next 2 spell hit even harder.

I'm no "expert" but this is what I think the reasoning is.

[Moshne]

You should be pre-casting Elemental Blast on your pulls making the whole conversation much less relevant anyhow. Pre-cast EB, FS, LvB, then you'll likely Ascendance depending on the fight.

Our "rotation" is simply a priority list of always hitting the highest damage per cast time ability available. The reason you use LvB before EB is simply because it contributes more damage per key GCD used. That calculation takes into account everything, Clearcast, the EB random buff and downtime on Lava Burst that would be incurred by delaying using it (an the same for EB.)

If you ever have doubts about what your priority should be, go download SimulationCraft and alter the priority list. You can see the DPS difference in different priority lists and get a real idea for how big of a gain/loss your choices really present.