Elemental PvP Questions.

[Cowmookaze]

Hello. This post may seem stupid and I bet there are tons of trolls who wanna complain and argue about something but im absolutly serious about everything posted and I would love to see some help from other shamans.

I know the basic playstyle of a shaman. Ive been a quite serious raider for a while but kinda had it with the latest PvE content. Im going to focus 110% on PvP and my goal is to be one of the greatest PvPers on my realm in Cataclysm (ofcourse that wont happen, but its my goal anyhow).

So to the questions.


What stats are there to aim for and what are the PvP Caps (Spell Penetration, Resillience, Spell Power) - Both Now and in Cataclysm.

What addons do you recommend? Ive been alot into the whole "complete UI makeover", but from what I've noticed, the best of the best stick with the normal UI so Im doing that aswell. But what should I get appart from Prat and the normal stuff?

What 2vs2 & 3vs3 setups would you recommend now and in Cataclysm?

Whats your keybindings <- Important, I doubt I wanna make great changes, but it's always nice to see if im "skipping" a totem etc.

What proffesions do you suggest? Engineering is obvious but what about the 2nd?


And if there is something else you feel like pointing out, hit me with it

[drucom]

Stats: As always, resilience is extremely important for shamans (specially elemental, since they don't have the greatest survivability in the game). The current resilience cap is 1414.5

You can reach this cap by wearing 3/5 Wrathful of, say, the elemental set, and 2/5 Wrathful of the Restoration set, with the resilience Medallion, although you may want to sacrifice so much resilience for offset items that have more offensive stats.

Both spell penetration and hit rating are important. You can reach the hit rating using the Relentless Gladiator ring, and the Wrathful Gladiator's hit necklace and cloak. Spell penetration should not exceed 125 (the typical limit of class resistance buffs without using specific resistance gear). This can be acquired by gemming for it and with the spell penetration cloak enchant.

Stamina is also very important. You don't want to gem purely for stamina, but it's good to use 'hybrid' gems with stamina if you feel you need more survivability.

For addons, this is something you'll have to figure out on your own. Gladius is nice: It shows the specs of the enemies, if they are casting something, what important buffs they have (for you to purge), etc. You may want to get a focus addon for focus Wind Shears. I don't really see any need for other addons other than these.

Elemental Shaman / Hunter / Holy Paladin is a set-up that can deal a lot of damage, and is mainly for 'bursting down' specific targets. Same with Elemental Shaman / Arms Warrior / Holy Paladin. The Warrior is a great addition with the immense burst potential of Bladestorm. I would look into Spell Cleave setups in 5v5 if I were you.

Keybindings: this isn't something that you can go wrong or right. It's all up to you. Personally, I have almost everything bound. For example, 2 is Flame Shock, 3 is Lava Burst. Q is Purge, CTRL-G is Earth Bind totem. Shift-3 is Stoneclaw Totem. T is Cleansing Totem, X is Grounding Totem. My Call of the Elements is bound to G and puts down Tremor, Grounding, Cleansing, and Totem of Wrath. E is Lightning Bolt, F is Chain Lightning. One of my side mouse buttons is Thunderstorm. Clicking on my scroll wheel is Ghost Wolf. Another of my mouse buttons is bound to Frost Shock. I even bound my mount to 1. Shift-G is bound to my Medallion of the Horde. Shift-2 is bound to Bloodlust, Shift-1 to Wind Shear. Shift-4 is bound to my Battlemaster's trinket. Shift-F is bound to Magma Totem, CTRL-F is bound to Fire Nova.

After having played with almost the exact same binds for over a year, it's almost instinctive and I react very quickly to the situation and what I need to do next. I honestly don't know how people that click specific abilities can even argue against the superiority of keybinds.

Professions: I don't see Engineering as an obvious choice. Unless they make rocket-boots usable in Arenas again, it's superiority is extremely diminished. Any profession works for arenas. Now, if you like to play Battlegrounds, Engineering is a very clear winner against any other profession by miles.

[Cowmookaze]

Geeze you got it all in there. Thanks a million. <3

[Tronada]

If you want sources of good info check out

A Guide to Elemental PVP on official forums

Or

How to Elemental on Arena Junkies forums.

I wouldn't recommend using mixed sets for double 2 piece bonuses. Just use the 4 piece bonus, you lose too much to mix and match.

I would try to get at least 1k resil when starting out and work towards 1150 resil or so.

You probably at least want 25k health. There isn't much room to gem for spell pen if you gem for sp/stam.

You want between 75-125 spell pen. See what works for you. If you feel like you need more or are paranoid about a mage resisting, go up to 125.

About professions, it's too early to say what will be good in Cataclysm. If you don't have professions yet, I would get gathering ones just because they are good gold makers at the start of every expac.