Elemental PvE DPS - What am I missing?

[Dormie]

We are working through mythic progression and I main resto but have to go DPS for some fights. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so far below the other DPS.

My main priority for single target is to keep Flame Shock and Searing totem up, Lava Burst(if it's instant procced) > Earth Shock(at 20 stacks) > Lava Burst > Lightning Bolt and use Unleash Flame on cooldown for lava burst/lightning bolt.

My single-target talents are generally Echo of the elements, Unleashed Fury and Elemental Fusion.

I mean, the spec isn't that complicated, and some of my pieces have spirit on them, but still. It seems like I can barely break 50K single target. My toon is in my signature (it might be in resto though). I know it's not the strongest spec, but if I really am playing it correctly then it's severely underpowered.

Any tips?

[Starsha]

You want to Earth Shock at 15 or more stacks. During Ascendance you only Earth Shock at 20 stacks.
Fusion isn't worth it unless you have the class trinket. go UF/SET if you do not. Echo is fine if your dps ring isn't upgraded, but as it's ilvl goes up, EM will slowly get better and better - passing Echo.
These are the links you are looking for:
http://www.wowhead.com/guide=346/ele...emental-shaman
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/18122676244#1

If you're still concerned, post logs and we can dissect them.

[trm90]

I had the same problem when I was swapping from Resto to Elemental, but after a week or two of practicing and some gear swapping, it got a lot better. Just a few tips:

1) When you swap out the Spirit gear for secondary stats with Multi/Haste, you will see a bigger increase. This is when I personally learned the hard way that secondary stats can go a longer way than you think. For ex. I found that dropping 10 ilvls to replace Spirit with Multistrike often helped. Even if the raw damage numbers go down, it was easier to get into the flow of ST damage.

2) Obviously going Unleashed Fury + E Fusion is great if you have the class trinket, but on some fights you can get away with decent DPS with Primal Elementalist and/or Storm Elemental. Gorefiend is a good fight to try S.E. on, and chaotic fights like Mannoroth, Archimonde, or even Socrethar can be made easier with a pet that's automatically sorting out your DPS for you in the midst of all the adds and ground effects. UF+EF is strong if you can pull it off, but it takes practice - try to practice it on two target dummies at once.

3) To echo the above statement (no pun intended), Elemental Mastery gets really impressive once you have the Legendary DPS ring and should almost always be used by default on ST bosses. For HFA, Iskar, Socrethar, Xhul, Manno, I would - for now - run with EotE for the extra EQ, depending on your guild strats (e.g. on Iskar/Soc, or if Manno imps die too quickly anyway).

4) You should also give Liquid Magma a try. It can be clunky and you should practice using it with Totemic Projection, but it's another kind of "smart DPS" medium-cooldown that's easier to manage than EF.

[Deleted]

Your rotation and talents change depending if u got class trinket or legendary ring. If u got class trinket run EF like said and you will have to have 2x EF + UF before you cast flame shock on the target. If u dont got it you go SET. But class trinket will increase your dps alot so try get it even if its only heroic.

When you got legendary dps ring you go EM for every fight except a few, see link here to see wich fight you should use wich talents in diffrent situations/gear. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/18122676244

Generally tho dont expect to do amazing dps, expect to be in middle/bottom of the pack cause elemental isnt that great atm. But when you get more used to Elemental then you should do more then 50k at least depending on fights.

Like Starsha said link logs if you want us to have a better look at your dps.

[Dormie]

Thanks for the help, meant to respond sooner, some stuff I didn't know. Guess I was doing a couple things wrong. Is Unleash Flame worth using mid-Ascendance?

Also, have a trinket question.

Should I use an upgraded (ilvl 735) Intuitions gift http://www.wowhead.com/item=124232/i...gift&bonus=567
+413 Intellect
+413 Spirit
Use: Use: Increases Critical Strike by 3323 (30.21%) for 15 sec. (1 Min, 30 Sec Cooldown)

or Orb of Voidsight (715) http://www.wowhead.com/item=133596/orb-of-voidsight

+351 Intellect
Equip: Chance when you hit with a harmful spell to grant Voidsight, increasing Critical Strike, Haste, and Mastery by 675 and increasing all damage against Demons by 10% for 15 sec.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the help, meant to respond sooner, some stuff I didn't know. Guess I was doing a couple things wrong. Is Unleash Flame worth using mid-Ascendance?

Also, have a trinket question.

Should I use an upgraded (ilvl 735) Intuitions gift http://www.wowhead.com/item=124232/i...gift&bonus=567
+413 Intellect
+413 Spirit
Use: Use: Increases Critical Strike by 3323 (30.21%) for 15 sec. (1 Min, 30 Sec Cooldown)

or Orb of Voidsight (715) http://www.wowhead.com/item=133596/orb-of-voidsight

+351 Intellect
Equip: Chance when you hit with a harmful spell to grant Voidsight, increasing Critical Strike, Haste, and Mastery by 675 and increasing all damage against Demons by 10% for 15 sec.

No you dont want to cast anything but Lava Burst and 20 stack Elemental Earth shock durning ascendence, casting anything else is a big dps loss on a pretty bad dps cooldown already. If u got class trinket make sure u dont earth shock about 3-5 secs before ascendance ends so you got 2x EF stacks for a buffed Flameshock. Same reason you wouldnt UF durning ascendance (aside it from it being a dps loss), with class trinket u wanna buff Flame shock with 2x EF + UF.

To the trinkets i wouldnt use a healing trinket if u got other options. Altho i haven´t tried it much myself people say Orb of Voidsight is pretty good on demons but im pretty sure it will also be better then Intuitions gift on non demon mainly cause of the proc.

My opinion would be to get class trinket asap, even if its only normal, and use it together with Gaze trinket. It will boost your dps alot.

I also took a look at your armory and you are enchanting mastery? Multistrike is you best stat, mastery is nice for aoe but you won´t fight alot of fight where u can aoe alot. You are missing a cloack and ring enchant aswell. Also your talents are echo and liquid magma, unless you been doing HFA or Socrethar with focus on ghost aoe you dont want these talents. Like mentioned get EM cause of legendary ring. You dont got class trinket yet but Set will be better.

Ancestral Guidance is also much better then Conductivity as you really dont want to be casting healing rain in any situation.

[biggerthanpete]

Step #1 as Elemental, is to put yourself in a position to be dpsing 3+ targets. This will almost always be a bigger dps increase than min/maxing single target strats. On Xhul, range often helps single target down the shadow adds, but this is bad for Elemental. Instead focus on the Xhul+mini+imps pack if you can. On Socrethar, I usually volunteer to kill ghosts. If you have DKs pulling in the shadowcallers, dpsing the boss isn't bad. On Mannoroth I tend to stay on the boss and using Chain lightning when there are imps out or an infernal is in range of the boss. Constanly switching targets gets goofy for us due to needing to have FS up on our current target and shocks having a CD. Hunters and Mages are set up so much better to control adds that require a lot of switching.

Obviously there are fights where we have to single target. Elemental dps single target isn't great, but it also isn't awful. I am assuming that since you are working on mythic that you have your class trinket. If you didn't pick it up since resto really doesn't use it, try to get it. Also, if you mostly play resto, I'd imagine your dps ring isn't 795. You want to get it to 795 as quick as you can since quite a bit of Elemental's dps comes from Ascendance+EM+Ring every 2 minutes. Couple of tips.

Asc+EM are on 2 minute CDs which lines up with the ring. Usually this is fine as the melee in charge of the ring will hit it when it comes off CD. I always wait until I see the ring popped before I hit my CDs as I don't want to have a few wasted seconds cause the ring popper is late or the raid is in the middle of a movement phase and we are getting set before a ring pop.

With UF+EF, you want to make sure that your Flame shock is buffed fully. I usually do this by casting UF then Flameshock at the end of my opener as I'll have the EF buff up from spamming LvB

My opener is usually.

Flame elemental at -4
UF at -3
Pot at -2 to -1
Flame shock on pull
Asc+Em then just spam LvB for the duration of Asc, hitting 20 stacks of earth shock.
at the end of Asc I hit UF then Flame shock again so that I have a maxed buffed FS on the boss

Now you just go into your priority list waiting for Asc+EM+Ring to come back up. When I see ring is popped, I go back into LvB spam followed by UF+FS.

I try to use my 2nd pot during a Asc+EM+Ring.

There always encounter specific strategies too. On Iskar, using Asc+EM+Lavabeam during the add phase is pretty good numbers.

[Deleted]

Constanly switching targets gets goofy for us due to needing to have FS up on our current target and shocks having a CD. Hunters and Mages are set up so much better to control adds that require a lot of switching.

On Iskar, using Asc+EM+Lavabeam during the add phase is pretty good numbers.

I definitely agree elemental shaman target swich is awful and will bring down your dps alot, but if he is progressing Mythic he sometimes just has to. You can´t always just be on one target, especially if you are melee heavy. Sometimes you need that extra dmg on kilrogg adds, void adds on xhul and especially on Iskar its important you nuke down the phantasmal Radiance.

I would always ask the Raid Leader to be sure. But people still progressing Mythic nowadays probably need all the damage they can get.

[Riistov]

But people still progressing Mythic nowadays probably need all the damage they can get.

Keep in mind though that some guilds current status is not necessarily indicative of their skill level. There are lots of guilds/players that took breaks and are now returning, especially with Legion right around the corner. Lots of late starters, especially after some of the burnout in BRF.

I can attest to personally taking a break after hitting a wall on Manno all those months ago

[Dormie]

So you guys think even a normal class trinket is worth using over Orb of Voidsight or a Mythic Intuitions Gift?

And yea, we've been progressing fine. It's more about people showing up and time spent than anything.

[Rezhka]

So you guys think even a normal class trinket is worth using over Orb of Voidsight or a Mythic Intuitions Gift?

And yea, we've been progressing fine. It's more about people showing up and time spent than anything.

If you can keep the UF+EF combo on every FS you cast then it's more than worth it. But if you're having a hard time to keep em, it's still more worthy than Mythic Healer trinket. Try to get the Heroic one (class trinket) one. But since we're getting closer to pre-expansion patch (end of July is my expectation) where new talents and item tweaks are usually takes on, I don't know if the class trinket will be as worthy as now later on (It's gonna change to increase Lava Surge proc instead of inc FS dmg iirc). I wonder if you're still progressing by then.

[Deleted]

Keep in mind though that some guilds current status is not necessarily indicative of their skill level. There are lots of guilds/players that took breaks and are now returning, especially with Legion right around the corner. Lots of late starters, especially after some of the burnout in BRF.

I can attest to personally taking a break after hitting a wall on Manno all those months ago

I never meant people were to unskilled, even undergeared players (due to taking a break) and bad setups (due to losing players/people not showing up) need all the damage they can get. I dont think ignoring adds for the sake of not losing dps as an elemental shaman is a good choice in progressive raiding. Its about doing tactics and killing bosses, you can meter whore on farm

[Riistov]

So you guys think even a normal class trinket is worth using over Orb of Voidsight or a Mythic Intuitions Gift?

And yea, we've been progressing fine. It's more about people showing up and time spent than anything.

Yes, the class trinket is amazing. Orb/Class trinket is a fine combo.

Mythic healer trinket is still a healer trinket.

[Deleted]

We are working through mythic progression and I main resto but have to go DPS for some fights. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so far below the other DPS.

My main priority for single target is to keep Flame Shock and Searing totem up, Lava Burst(if it's instant procced) > Earth Shock(at 20 stacks) > Lava Burst > Lightning Bolt and use Unleash Flame on cooldown for lava burst/lightning bolt.

My single-target talents are generally Echo of the elements, Unleashed Fury and Elemental Fusion.

I mean, the spec isn't that complicated, and some of my pieces have spirit on them, but still. It seems like I can barely break 50K single target. My toon is in my signature (it might be in resto though). I know it's not the strongest spec, but if I really am playing it correctly then it's severely underpowered.

Any tips?

Hello Phumbles,
I´m going over some of your Dps logs, and will get back to you later once im home from university, with an example of a single target rotation, and also an aoe situation.
Best Regards. Stalliona.

- - - Updated - - -

We are working through mythic progression and I main resto but have to go DPS for some fights. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so far below the other DPS.

My main priority for single target is to keep Flame Shock and Searing totem up, Lava Burst(if it's instant procced) > Earth Shock(at 20 stacks) > Lava Burst > Lightning Bolt and use Unleash Flame on cooldown for lava burst/lightning bolt.

My single-target talents are generally Echo of the elements, Unleashed Fury and Elemental Fusion.

I mean, the spec isn't that complicated, and some of my pieces have spirit on them, but still. It seems like I can barely break 50K single target. My toon is in my signature (it might be in resto though). I know it's not the strongest spec, but if I really am playing it correctly then it's severely underpowered.

Any tips?

Okay, im unable to find any decent Elemental Logs matey, but hovering over your amory:
You got 4 set which is good.

However for Dps: You would need Class Trinket, which increases the Damage done by your Flame Shock Significally.

You´re level 100 Talent - Elemental Fusion needs to be taken on really any Boss Encounter which stacks your Shocks by two stacks each of 40% which is x2 x 40 = 80 % + Class Trinket which is additional 189 % of heroic version with 2/2 Valor upgrades, + Unleash Flame which is another 40% so total its x2 Elemental fusion 80 % + Unleash flame which is + 40% = 120 % + 189 % of upgraded Heroic version which is = 309% increased damage on your flame Shock.

This is for single target, and is Urged to be kept active 24/7 on your main Target.

While this is beeing kept up, you need to watch out for your single target rotation, with your earth Shocks and Lightning Shield, you do atm have 4 set which makes you able to cast your Earth Shock at 15 Stacks, Do not ever let it go to 20 stacks, as casts after this, is considered Wasted Dps, so make sure to Earth Shock at 15-18 Stacks, + the casts you have flying to the boss, also counts towards adding more stacks with your multistrike, which is your main stat to go for as elemental.

the 2nd Trinket you need is Unblinking Gaze of Seethe, on all NoN-Demon Bosses.

On Demon Bosses you want to swap the Unblinking Gaze of Seethe with the Orb Of Voidsight which is the heirloom Trinket.

Other than that, keep doing your normal rotation, and once you mastered this above, you should be able to pull out a lot more damage, sustained.

On Multiple target swapping bosses: Gorefiend, and for an example Kill´Rog, you dont want to spread your flameshock out to much, depending on raid dps, and how fast you kill this boss-encounter, you can put it up on Kill´Rog and maybe the hulking terror, depending it doesnt die asap from sick dps. if it does, then dont bother doing more flameshocks on other charracters, than Kill´Rog.

Just make sure to dps Adds, over the bosses, even cast the lave burst on non-flameshock inflicted adds, to deal higher dps, and to make sure the adds dies.
The same goes on Gorefiend, keep the buffed flameshock up on gorefiend all the time, and maybe the Tank Add, Gorebound Essence, granted it does not die within 10-15 seconds, if it does, dont bother adding it to this target, your goal is to dps adds, and dont flameshock theese, as it´s considered a wasted dps Cd.

Other than that, focus on getting a lot of multikstrike gear

P.S - Theese were just some examples, should you need more help, then please send me an message on mmo-champion : )

Hope this information was usefull enough, so that you can begin your journey to do more sustained awesome damage

Best Regards Stalliona.

[Bootyz]

Hey there, so looking at your armory i can tell your gems/enchants don't reflect the correct Elemental stat priority. You want Int > Multi > haste. I understand that your resto MS and Ele for some fights. I was the same way with my group when we were progressing on the bottom floor. After we killed gorefiend, we dropped to 4 healers and i was the guy who swapped from Resto MS to Ele MS.

Now, Elemental does require gear to do well and its helpful to have good Weak aura's but it will take some time to learn and get better at the spec.

The only fights i swap to Echo of Elements are fights that allow a double EQ. (HFA, Xhul, Iskar). Everything else i use Elemental mastery because it works well with Ascendance and ring cd's.

[Deleted]

Please if you need further help, do not hesitate to ask anyone best regards!