Elemental Shaman

[AuthurDent]

When he talks about movement mitigation... he means developing the ability to assess incoming movement needs.. and moving the absolute minimum required to avoid the threat and maintain maximum uptime of casting.

Sometimes it's moving just a hair out of the way and resume casting... other times it's knowing that moving a little more NOW will save you from moving again in just a few seconds. Knowing the fights intimately is part of it.. but having a "knack" for assessing things quickly and making snap judgements correctly.

We've all had those "in the groove" days where we feel like we play in "bullet time" and our choices are perfect, movement precise and damage over the top.

I am just getting somewhat comfortable with the El. Shaman abilities and priorities. The rhythm of abilities feels very similar to that of my mage.

[Darcam]

Hmm.. I often beat the shit out of our other dd's ( And I can say they are equally geared )

Saurfang always 1-3
Bloodprince always 1-3
Dreamwalker always 1
Lk (H)always 1-5
Rotface always 1-4
Putricide always 1-3
Gunship always top ( lol xD )
And also deathwhisper/marrowgar top, excluding rng-badluck^^

etc etc^^

At least you CAN compete with them.. or you should be able....
Its all about movement mitigation

But I agree... the other dd's are scaling way better... need small dps-buff =P

I would love to tunnel-vision-dps (as I assume you can with the numbers you manage) - but being Ele as I am, I always get the Kite/Knockback/what ever jobs...
Saurfang - Im on the Beast Thunderstorm KB duty - and still getting a top 3 normally.
Bloodprince - Useually on Kenetic bomb duty - but still in top 5
Dreamwalker - Kite the zombies - kills my dps really... useually just above tanks
... you get the picture. I kinda know I can be more competative then I am atm - but being a support class Im rarely allowed to tunnel-vision dps.

Im actually ok with that. I know my dps should be lower then real dps classes - and it is - but Im still pulling my weight AND supporting the raid.

This was actually one of my main concerns re-rolling from mage; I didn't mind to be lower on the dmg-meter while supporting the raid - but buttoming out would suck. Now I provide the raid with some versatility/flexibility/what ever - while doing competative dps.

[Ghrog74]

When he talks about movement mitigation... he means developing the ability to assess incoming movement needs.. and moving the absolute minimum required to avoid the threat and maintain maximum uptime of casting.

Sometimes it's moving just a hair out of the way and resume casting... other times it's knowing that moving a little more NOW will save you from moving again in just a few seconds. Knowing the fights intimately is part of it.. but having a "knack" for assessing things quickly and making snap judgements correctly.

We've all had those "in the groove" days where we feel like we play in "bullet time" and our choices are perfect, movement precise and damage over the top.

I am just getting somewhat comfortable with the El. Shaman abilities and priorities. The rhythm of abilities feels very similar to that of my mage.

This exactly.

On my Ele shaman, I try and tell my guildies that Ele lags behind and then they point out my numbers and call bullshit everytime I try to complain.

Basically, like Art said, once you figure it out and get real familiar with the fights, you should be able to run with just about anybody of equal gear in most fights... sometimes though, on movement heavy fights, just be prepared to suck it up then, on those types of fights on 25 man raids, I find myself all the way down at 8th-10th on the charts, but let me turret and I'm 2nd or 3rd (sometimes I top em even)

[RoknarKorgath]

I love mine because it is alot of fun...it is true that the gear doesnt scale with ele as it does as well with other classes but I wouldnt even begin to say its terrible or at the bottom...you will be at the bottom if you dont know how to play, but you could say that for any class.
Also, the loss of DPS b/c of ToW will go away in cata so I see ele getting a huge boost to damage in the xpac...
To the OP: IMO - give it a shot, its alot of fun and I dont think you will regret it..not for long anyway

[Meanwal]

I love my shaman UNLESS it is a movement fight...

[Nyuun]

Finnober! Goddamn you and your ability to somehow destroy everyone else. How the hell do you do it!

Also, Elemental shamans are fine when you have a Demo lock. If you're a ToW bitch, good luck getting past tanks.
The only thing I can really hold to my name is Putricide, i'm alright at that one, considering it's a heavy movement fight.

Also here is a Marrowgar with the +20% buff http://www.wowmeteronline.com/combat/15065354#damageout
We're not broken at least :x

Good luck and stuff Stormwolf!

[Ashardis]

i'm resto by main spec, but some times i go ele depending on how many healers we got and shiz.
most of my ele gear is from my resto set bar trinkets, 4 piece and totem (ish)
not sure if it will show up to date, but check my ele stuff on http://wow-heroes.com/ Ashardis, Azjol-Nerub, EU.

bearing in mind its my offspec (and i consider myself shit at playing any dps class tbh :P ) i was doing 15k average on LK HC.
and thats with me not being particularly good at following a strict rotation, clipping spells and forgetting to keep flame shock up :P
i cant really say wether its a standard thing or not, i've yet to do a whole HC clear as ele, like princes, sindragosa, LDW and a few other movement fights
Our ranged dps do some disgustingly good dps, so its a bit of an epeen stroke to beat a few of em sometimes :P

The RNG on lightning overload can really suck sometimes, i've found. sometimes i've done 15k dps, other times only 10k ish.
Theres always a demo lock in the raid. If theres no ret pally, one of mages will go arcane. most times but not always, a boomkin.

Originally Posted by potosi(dranus) View Post
Magic word for elemental shaman is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fire Elemental

For the 2 or so minutes it is up you will be able to compete with other casters because it brings you an insane dps increase and if you have a demo lock covering the sp buff then you can pull pretty good numbers. I pull anywhere from 11-13k on the majority of the fights due to fire ele, its tougher for ele to do good but i think once you get towards the higher tier of t10 (sanct and heroic) you should be hitting around 22k+ on lava burst and if your horde and use your racials correctly then you will pull good dps

Also if your looking for a relaxed playstyle elemental shaman dps rotation is easy to master

Soooo, yer saying we should have flame ele totem glyph?

since i started using fire ele glyph, my dps deffinately went up. i keep magma or searing down close to the boss if FE is on CD, and nova the totem if i have to move.
I also use glyph of totem of wrath. i drop the totem for the extra spell power, then the ele with about 2/3 secs till the fight starts.
22k lava bursts are doable Venziir.

on Festergut, if dpsing, i stand next to one of the tanks healers (spore gather point) to restrict having to move :P I'm usually kinda low on sindra normal, fecking movement >.<
Got so bored of boomkin through vanilla/tbc, and shadow priest isnt bad, but I do find ele awesome fun to play/raid with though.
Trouble is, i'm a healer at heart :P

hope you give it a try and enjoy it

[Volitar]

Finnober should post some vids... im usually 6-12th on average pulling prob 12kdps i mean im not "bad" i guess but no where close to pulling finnober numbers

[Amana]

You CAN get high scores as elem (as said and stated Finnober). Yet it depends also a lot on your raid roster, and especially if you have a demolock in your raid.

Nowadays, not having a demolock in a raid is a very big dps loss for the raid, and also a HUGE personal dps loss for you, as elem, as you can't put your fire elem nor searing instead of ToW (and we could also talk about the pure spellpower loss).

Playing as elem is not too hard. We hate moving, because we can't do much while running (refreshing shock, thunderstorm, fire nova, that's all folks!), yet on a most-turret fight with come cleave, you'll always be deadly (gunship (._. hate to mention this one, eh), saurfang (yes, CL works on beasts, go abuse this shit out and get high score)).

But we're missing the most important point: is it fun? Personally, I've yet to experience any caster of the same kind, elem is my favorite (got priest and mage too, lock is on the way). Lightning Overlad procs, Lava Burst big numbers and Chain Lightning make my day. If you don't enjoy very fast cast, don't play this spec. It's not as mindless as an Arcane Mage, yet the gameplay is dynamic enough (that's my opinion, eh).


Oh yeah and I'm one of the fool with a fire elem glyph. I switch to Lava on the fights I know I won't be able to use it twice (gunship, saurfang, lanathel, etc). And I'm always on top 3 of all boss fights, mostly because I overgear most of my guild.

[Baabinator]

Elemental is not "fine"

Elemental is competitive if you have a demonology warlock and you can use Fire elemental / searing.

But it can also be worse then some tanks in high-movement fights

[ItachiZaku]

It depends
Are you in a guild where everyone can play their character at a high level? Your damage will be good but not at the top
Are you in a guild/pug where player level varies? Your relative damage will be as high as you can make it, with possibility being #1 dps

Yep, as DPS (enh and ele) I've topped some pugs, been middle of some pugs, tops in some guild runs, middle of some guild runs. Usually if the core raid team is there, I won't see my name on the list (top 4 per my setup) and I'm ok with that, I don't slack.

[Ashardis]

But we're missing the most important point: is it fun? Personally, I've yet to experience any caster of the same kind, elem is my favorite (got priest and mage too, lock is on the way). Lightning Overlad procs, Lava Burst big numbers and Chain Lightning make my day. If you don't enjoy very fast cast, don't play this spec. It's not as mindless as an Arcane Mage, yet the gameplay is dynamic enough (that's my opinion, eh).

QFT ^^.

i have an arcane/fire mage, an aff/demo lock, an mm/surv hunter, a shadow priest and a boomkin for ranged dps, and the ele shaman is easily the most enjoyable <3

[whowherewhat?]

Finnober should post some vids... im usually 6-12th on average pulling prob 12kdps i mean im not "bad" i guess but no where close to pulling finnober numbers

I'd wager that *sometimes* finnober gets some TotT love from his rogue buddies, but that's not knocking what he does. His gear is basically what every shaman would ever want, but still...oodles of skill to peak that high

[barrsftw]

Elemental shamans are perfectly described as a "beginner" class/spec. Their potential dps is fairly low. But reaching potential dps is fairly easy.

Whereas: Say, a Feral druid's potential dps is much higher than an Elemental, but reaching potential dps is much more difficult.

Feral druid is just an example.. I dont raid with one so I'm not sure how their dps is... just speaking from what I hear.