*Elemental Shaman FAQ (3.3)*

[Hanmakyouran]

I have a quick question-

While I understand that meeting yellow socket bonuses = good, do I only put 12 sp/10 haste gems in the yellow slots? Or do I also want to put them in my red sockets so that I get even more haste? I'm sitting at 555 (755 w/ totem) haste and around 2300 unbuffed spell power and 24.9% crit.

Recommendations?

[Gaftog]

I have a quick question-

While I understand that meeting yellow socket bonuses = good, do I only put 12 sp/10 haste gems in the yellow slots? Or do I also want to put them in my red sockets so that I get even more haste? I'm sitting at 555 (755 w/ totem) haste and around 2300 unbuffed spell power and 24.9% crit.

Recommendations?

Red sockets should always be filled with pure +sp red gems for max DPS.

[Deleted]

I have a quick question-

While I understand that meeting yellow socket bonuses = good, do I only put 12 sp/10 haste gems in the yellow slots? Or do I also want to put them in my red sockets so that I get even more haste? I'm sitting at 555 (755 w/ totem) haste and around 2300 unbuffed spell power and 24.9% crit.

Recommendations?

To answer your problem more precisely:
Spellpower is better than Haste. Therefore you'll take 23 Spellpower > 12 SP/10 Haste, when there is no Socket Bonus involved or when the Socket Bonus is for a red gem.
The thing is, that Haste, at high amounts, is nearly as good as Spellpower and therefore yellow Sockets (which grant a Bonus only to SP/Haste) with DPS-stats in 'em are better filled with SP/Haste.
To make an example:
Red Socket, +5 Spellpower:
23 Spellpower ---> 28 Spellpower
12 Spellpower/10 Haste ---> 17 Spellpower + 10 Haste (~26-27 Spellpower at high Haste-Levels)
Yellow Socket, +5 Spellpower:
23 Spellpower ---> 23 Spellpower
12 Spellpower/10 Haste ---> 17 Spellpower + 10 Haste (~26-27 Spellpower at high Haste-Levels)

Hope this helps^^

[bollox]

Can't believe no one's mentioned the fantastic addon EventHorizon. Helped me increase my dps ALOT since it makes deciding which spell to cast extremely easy.

[Darcam]

True Bollox - its an awesome addon. It taks a little time getting used to. But a big help to finetune that "prio rotation". As time passes you'll get it into your fingers and its lass of an help.

[Nikeespank]

This guide is awesome, and yes NO ERRORS

I just started playing as elemental, and this really helps me out alot, thanks!

(And its always nice to see a guide that doesnt get smacked down by forum trolls asap xD)

[Dahriel]

Thank you for the post, i've been having trouble keeping my dps at a solid number. At first i thought it was gear... wrong /facepalm... so then i started looking at reasons i was loosing Mana and yeah i'll admit it i should never have been using Chain LB... however i wonder is it possible to toss one or two chain lb every 3 or 4 rotations sacrafice the mana for just a little more power. I've talked with a lot of shammans on my server and they seem to be at a loss. Any help?

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...n=Errant+Pride

this is my current spec. Any thoughts would be appreciated. (pardon the direct link to my char sheet posted this with 5 mins before work and didn't have time to just hash it out lol)

[Deleted]

Your spec is wrong, just take the one from the FAQ.
It depends on your gear and raidbuffs wether you should use CL or not.
If you have Replenishment (which you should have tbh) then you should have no problem putting a CL after each LvB. (meaning LvB -> LB -> CL, as written in the FAQ)
Your gear is rather bad... like really bad :/
So I think it's more a gear-thing... you've got 5 items without 3 DPS-stats on 'em (Hit/Crit/Haste/Spellpower) and you're way too low on Haste. You also have too many Hit/Crit/SP items, which are way worse then Hit/Haste/SP. Your SP is at 2k, indicating that you, indeed, have rather bad gear.
The only thing you have much from is Hit... and there you're 44points above Hardcap :/

As one could guess: All I wrote is already written in the FAQ (in some way) and if you really read it and do what is written in there, then you shouldn't have much any problems anymore.

[Taan]

need an advise - should i gem for all haste to reach >900 haste unbuffed or should i aim for spd\haste gems.

[Deleted]

need an advise - should i gem for all haste to reach >900 haste unbuffed or should i aim for spd\haste gems.

Just read the goddamn FAQ.... I mean... why post here when you didn't even read it? -.-
ALWAYS gem for spellpower.
There are only two exceptions:
2 blue sockets where you need to put SP/stamina in.
Yellow sockets, where the socket bonus makes SP/haste superior to SP. (the only one where this is hard to tell is with low crit, like +4crit or something... other than that you're pretty safe gemming SP/haste)

[Taan]

i did read the faq
i was gemmed for spd and spd haste with 2800 unbuffed and ~600 haste.
recently i regemmed all my slots for pure haste (except for the blue ones where i gemmed haste\mp5.
reaching 860 haste unbuffed. with around 2550 spd.
my overall dps increased by 700.
so my question is should i aim for maximum haste or balance around 900 haste and stop?

[Barawr]

You should not have regemmed for pure haste PERIOD. If you are somehow doing more dps now then you simply were not keeping your rotation tight when gemmed for SP. Gemming purely for SP is still the way to go. Also, most socket bonuses will not be worth the loss in stats to pick up. Make sure you are not trying to pick up every bonus on your gear.

[Firestorm]

I'm an up an coming elemental shaman (Lv 71 so far) and this guide has helped me out a lot. Extreme thanks to Gaftog for writing this faq and all my fellow shamans for the tips and adding to this faq.

[Gaftog]

/bow
Thank you very much.

And I am constantly watching this thread for ways that I can make the FAQ better and easier to read and understand by all who come here.
Thank you everyone for coming in and helping the ones who have asked questions in here (even though I figured that they were answered quite adequately =P).

Til next time,
Gaftog

[Jeezimus]

Herro there! Excellent guide I agree with all of it!

I am actually starting to run into a problem though with glyph choice. My shaman is http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...us&n=Ohemjeezi and I've now achieved about 3k+ sp or so raidbuffed with trinket procs, but I also have 4 pc t9. You state in your guide that glyph of lava actually itemizes over ToW with 4 pc T9, but do you know if that will also hold true with the inc changed in 3.3 and also with my lower amount of sp? Of course I could actually regem with epic gems for a lot more sp lol but yet this is my alt and is a work in process =P

Anyway, I would test it myself, but realms are down atm, curious of your thoughts =)

[Gaftog]

Herro there! Excellent guide I agree with all of it!

I am actually starting to run into a problem though with glyph choice. My shaman is http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...us&n=Ohemjeezi and I've now achieved about 3k+ sp or so raidbuffed with trinket procs, but I also have 4 pc t9. You state in your guide that glyph of lava actually itemizes over ToW with 4 pc T9, but do you know if that will also hold true with the inc changed in 3.3 and also with my lower amount of sp? Of course I could actually regem with epic gems for a lot more sp lol but yet this is my alt and is a work in process =P

Anyway, I would test it myself, but realms are down atm, curious of your thoughts =)

In 3.3 the overall damage of Lava Burst will stay the same, but will be added over time rather than just the instant 20%. This should not effect your choice at all.
So that leaves your spell power, which is about 350~ under what I said you should switch out with. I think they'd come out about even at that level which means the determining factor should be...

How tight can you keep your rotation? Do you hit LvB EVERY cooldown ASAP?
If so, I'd recommend changing it. The burst damage is VERY helpful on some fights that require it. If you sometimes slip up or break your rotation I'd stick with ToW until you hit a little higher.

[Jeezimus]

In 3.3 the overall damage of Lava Burst will stay the same, but will be added over time rather than just the instant 20%. This should not effect your choice at all.
So that leaves your spell power, which is about 350~ under what I said you should switch out with. I think they'd come out about even at that level which means the determining factor should be...

How tight can you keep your rotation? Do you hit LvB EVERY cooldown ASAP?
If so, I'd recommend changing it. The burst damage is VERY helpful on some fights that require it. If you sometimes slip up or break your rotation I'd stick with ToW until you hit a little higher.

Interesting thanks for the input. I'm really looking forward to testing it when realms come back up ;D

[Zamir]

Thanks for this, it's a good resource.

I've written a new spreadsheet for elemental shamans called ZAP!, which you can read about here. It functions similarly to SEIC (which has been updated with some minor fixes by Caelwynar here - your link should point to this version!); you may or may not consider it worth adding to the relevant section of the FAQ.

[Gaftog]

Glad to have one of the elitist own helping us out here.
Updated spreadsheet section as needed.

[boombabuwai]

The conclusion I have recently come to regarding gem choices are as follows :

=Gems=

Blue - Glowing Dreadstone - 12 SP / 15 Stam
Yellow - Reckless Ametrine - 12 SP / 10 Haste
Red - Runed Cardinal Ruby - 23 SP

=Socket Bonuses=

crit = Ignore sockets and go for straight SP (Red)
haste = Ignore sockets and go for straight SP (Red)
<= 5sp = Ignore sockets and go for straight SP (Red)
> 5sp = Use the appropriate colour listed above

This my opinion, feel free to tear it to shreds if you so desire ;D

www.wow-gem.com

I am in the process of re-gemming but have run out of cash half way through the process (for those who will armory me)

http://www.wow-heroes.com/index.php?...me=boombabuwai