Hey guys so I've been rerolling to shaman and will be making it my main character in 7.1.5, i don't raid but will be doing M+ pretty hard, both boosting low keys and pushing for high rankings. I feel like I've got a firm grasp of the basics and there's just a few little niche things that I'm not sure about and wanted some answers if anyone could:
Is it worth delaying Stormkeeper for a power of the maelstrom proc? I will usually pre cast it before any trash or boss is pulled if I can, but if it comes off cooldown when I'm in combat should I delay it? I make sure I've got lightning rod up but I'm not sure if it's worth waiting for a power of the maelstrom because you could potentially be waiting a long time.
At how many targets should I stop doing anything but CL+EQ? I've been doing this at 3 targets, should I still be using FS/Lava burst on 3 targets?
I currently have fire nova disabled for my fire ele and use it exclusively in single target situations, would it be worth using it to aoe sometimes if it meant I could get an extra fire ele out in the duration of the dungeon? And while talking about elementals does earth ele benefit dps in any way in a 5 man or raiding scenario?
Finally, totem mastery vs earthen rage, I've been using earthen rage so far as it seemed like an obvious choice in M+ due to the movement between pulls and assumingly having to throw them down for every pull, but the more videos I watch of ele shamans in M+ the more I see them using totem mastery, so which do you guys prefer when doing M+?
I know there's quite a lot to read there so sorry about that and I appreciate any contribution anyone with solid experience of the spec can give, thanks.
As for Stormkeeper, only delay it for about 5 or 6 seconds maximum. Somebody theorycrafted it before and found a typical time where the delay became a loss (I believe it was about 10 seconds, if anybody remembers that and can confirm the actual time). I generally just play it safe, go and for about 5 and it has boosted my numbers gently upward. most of the time.
For totem mastery/earthen rage. At the moment, TM is still the better option, even in Mythic plus. By the time you are moving so fast that it's not a net benefit, you are moving so much that you can't even effectively hard cast anymore.
-stormkeeper is worth delaying if you have lightning rod as a talent. Normally that procs quite frequently though, so it's almost a non-issue.
-I CL 2 targets, and will EQ them as well when it's worthwhile seeing a potential knockdown (pelters for example).
-I typically never have fire ele up for packs, and just save it for bosses
-earth ele can come in handy in some pinches, if you have a tank that dies / disco's, or if you're trying to shave some time and do your own pulls (the 4 mobs before the final boss in EoA are a good example of where you can pull for the tank to speed things up). The increased uptime will make it even better in the next patch.
-Live, TM yields higher dps in almost all situations. The exception tends to be when you already have significant amounts of haste on your gear, and the fight is strictly single target.
You should check in on the shaman discord once in a while, questions like these get asked, discussed and answered all the time.
In m+ I don't mind saving Stormkeeper for more ideal situations (ex waiting for LR procs, saving it for a bigger pull or the next pack etc.) No need to use it strictly on cd. For tyrannical bossfights etc I just use it on cd, I read some discussion on discord where consensus was that using it on cd was the best thing to do, and from my own experience I ind this to be the case. Don't take my word for it though.
As for TM vs ER, I used ER quite a bit as well because I liked not having to always drop those damn totems. But then someone told that the 10 % Overload chance you get from TM doesn't get reduced for CL like normal Mastery: Overload does. 10 % higher chance for CL overloads is just insane, therefore go with TM. TM also makes LR stronger as LB and CL overload more often, resulting in more LR dmg.
TM is much better but also much more annoying. I recommend a weakaura to remind yourself to put it down when you walk out of range ( track one of the four buffs the totems give you)
Earth ele DPS is non existent. The stun is nice though, especially when important spellcasts need to be interrupted.
Fire ele should always be saved for bosses. Only exception: arcway. Use it right at the start. Fire nova is great vs the mini slimes and even good groups will need 5 mins to reach the first boss on both sides. ( talking 6+ here)
Start of DHT is also a good point but i would only use it on very high levels or you might not have it for first boss.
Only delay stormkeeper if there will be an aoe phase in the next 15 s or so. Can be super powerful with LR up on the boss.
If you want to truly maximise dps keep flameshock on 3 targets, but i usually dont bother since i feel the increase is minimal compared to CL/EQ spam with LR proccs.
Last edited by TripleZero; 2017-01-06 at 08:23 AM.
Thanks for all your responses guys, I tried TM last night in a few runs and it felt like CL was overloading a noticeable amount more often, probably because of what Nihiel said. I need to test some more but as a huge amount of your overall dungeon dps is CL: overload it would seem TM is actually quite a lot better and I've been nerfing myself so far. Thanks again guys, useful info in all the responses so far.
I'll just add that for SK in a single target situation, it's worth waiting only for a few seconds after it comes off CD; I'll use it as soon as either lightning rod or power of the maelstrom procs or after 5-10 seconds. For mythic+ especially, use it as much as possible on trash packs -- it'll save a ton of time over the course of the dungeon.
for CL+EQ, it really depends on the situation more than an actual number due to how mobs behave, how touch a mob is, how much your tank is going to move those mobs, your group composition, etc. For example, if you're dealing with pelters from NL, they always jump away after a little bit, so if you aren't able to chain stunlock them or grip them back in, it might not be worth using EQ, or if your tank is going to keep moving with the mobs, it's not really worth dropping EQ even if there are 20 mobs until he stands still, etc. I'd still even use CL+EQ on 2 targets if it's the right situation (like the big rock guy and the one little add in NL because the knock-down from EQ can help a ton against those annoying rock guys, esp at higher levels).
Agreed about the fire elemental in certain dungeons, but you need to know when and where those situations are. As for earth elemental, it's really only useful to tank for a second or two if the tank dies or to stun. You might want to macro your earth elemental button to stun as well on its second click for this purpose.
TM, as everyone has said so far, is stronger in every situation. However, in 7.1.5 ER will be better in some situations (if they don't change anything from the current PTR). See here for all things 7.1.5 ele shaman related: http://www.stormearthandlava.com/
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