Elemental FAQ (updated for 4.3)

[Pope]

I dunno why you're complaining so much, paf. Abload doesn't seem as cool as imgur, but it's not as bad as imageshack. Imageshack always popped up some crap and stuff.

Anyway, imgur opens a path to countless timesinks. first, you use it as an uploader. Second, you discover the gallery. Third, you discover reddit.

Whoops, off topic.

(I really wished I would win more tier-pieces in LFR. I want to play ele again. )

[Deleted]

anyone know which is the 2 best trinkets for elemental shamans?

[Paf]

Will of the Unbinding in any of its three forms is BiS. The runner up is either Cunning of the Cruel or Insignia of the Corrupted Mind. Which you pick, to the best of my knowledge, is as follows. Feel free to correct me because it may not be accurate in the slightest. Insignia of the Corrupted Mind is a flat gain. However, Cunning of the Cruel scales with damage buffs and spellpower, if rumor is to be believed. Only when you get to the highest of highs in terms of gear will Cunning of the Cruel come out ahead of Insignia of the Corrupted Mind, and even then only slightly. H-VLPC is not far behind H-Cunning/Insignia.

So, simplified...
H/N/LFR-Will of the Unbinding > H-Insignia of the Corrupted Mind/H-Cunning of the Cruel > H-VLPC

Again, feel free to correct me (with actual evidence rather than boisterous hearsay) as I know the race for trinkets is very close.

[Pope]

Insignia has its cons, though.
The long ICD means it can easily be wasted if it procs on a bad time. Tracking the buff can only help a little with that.
The high haste-proc can also mean you reach the haste-softcap.

CotC on the other hand has none of these downsides, in my opinion. It scales, it has a 30sec (?) cooldown, it's splash damage, overall awesome.

[Endus]

I do know the sim BiS profiles are using IotCM, but I'm relatively sure that's because it's easy to model and they don't have to worry about it, where CotC is a bit more wiggly. They should be relatively similar in value, though if I can get my hands on a Cunning I'm likely to use that.

[Volitar]

Okay lets talk spec and glyph's, I was just armory stalking some ele shaman and not a single one is using the same spec/glyph's. What gives?
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...lent/secondary
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...talent/primary

[Paf]

One of them is PvP. Two of them are fundamentally retarded. The rest just picked different optional talents.

Edit: Leeds and Brightleaf have the same talents and glyphs.

[Volitar]

Some people are running fire ele glyph without the totem talent other people are running no fire ele glyph with the totem talent, I'm so lost right now.

What would be the optimal spec and glyph combo right now for each fight?

[Endus]

There are basically two specs that are in use. The base spec they both branch off is this, none of these talents are negotiable unless you're pushing hard modes and speccing deliberately for huge damage reduction (in which case, you don't need a FAQ telling you what to do);

Baseline talents

From there, the standard spec is this, with two "optional" talent points left open;

Standard spec

This maximizes normal DPS, both for single target and AoE. Earthquake can be swapped out IF you're running a no-AoE spec and an AoE spec, but if you've just got one Elemental spec, you should have it. The two optional points can go into Totemic Reach for utility, or into Elemental Warding or Ancestral Resolve for survivability, usually. If you're running one of these with no AoE (for optimizing Ulltraxion DPS, for instance), the third point freed up from EQ should go into survivability....

The alternative spec is the Totemic Focus spec;

Totemic Focus

This optimizes for the Fire Elemental Totem, and thus basically requires the FET glyph*. It's also significantly better if you've still got two pieces of Tier 12 tier gear on. DPS numbers are pretty comparable, slightly better in sims under certain fight times, but there's several little factors (like fight time) that can easily give it worse performance, with only a chance at a minimal gain. It's a good spec IF you know the limitations and what your fight time will be and all that. If you're just starting and don't know that stuff, I recommend the standard spec above. This also makes a good "second" spec, if you can run dual Elemental. There are no "free" points available, though the same argument can be applied to Earthquake as was applied for the standard spec.

*Some people say otherwise. I simmed it, and it sims out worse than the standard spec even under optimal conditions for the TF spec, without it. Two 160 second FEs is better than one.


For prime glyphs;
You need Flame Shock. It's the best flat DPS increase, never worse than your third best glyph under any circumstances.
Unleashed Lightning is basically going to be ideal if there's any movement at all. Ultraxion, you should glyph OUT of it, if you're optimizing performance; any other glyph would be better.
Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt are VERY close in value, and which is better depends on your gear. Sim it, or make a guess and don't worry about the 50 DPS difference.
Fire Elemental Totem is where the limitations of the Totemic Focus spec come in. This makes the CD 5 minutes, meaning it obviously has zero value in a fight that's less than 5 minutes long. It then gains in value up to 7 minutes, and then loses value again (because the FET is now on CD again, while other glyphs are still providing benefit). That all gets more complicated if you add in the Tier 12 2-piece, but if you've still got that, this is likely one of your top 3 glyphs. The one other quality-of-life advantage this has is that your FET will be up every attempt for progression, where a 10 minute CD may not be.

Anyone glyphing anything else has no idea what they're doing, but those all have valid uses in endgame theorycrafting.

[binkenstein]

After some testing, it appears that Glyph of Lava Burst affects overloads, while Lightning Bolt does not. This indicates that Lava Burst is better than Lightning Bolt.

[Deleted]

After some testing, it appears that Glyph of Lava Burst affects overloads, while Lightning Bolt does not. This indicates that Lava Burst is better than Lightning Bolt.

do you mean you double-dip and the overload deals 82,5% of the copied spell?
or does the copy of the lightning bolt just deal 72,11% of the damage of the copied spell?

in both cases the lava burst glyph gets more value with the heavy mastery set ups some do because of the T13 set.

[binkenstein]

do you mean you double-dip and the overload deals 82,5% of the copied spell?
or does the copy of the lightning bolt just deal 72,11% of the damage of the copied spell?

in both cases the lava burst glyph gets more value with the heavy mastery set ups some do because of the T13 set.

LvB overloads are ~75% of the original spell (base + glyph) * 0.75
LB overloads are ~72% of the original spell (base) * 0.75

In neither case will "heavy mastery set ups" affect this behaviour, and you should always base your haste/mastery choices around Simulationcraft results with reforge plots running.

[frontfleezy]

#showtooltip Searing Totem
/timer reset
/cast Searing Totem
/timer play

best macro for those who don't like shitty addons

[Deleted]

In neither case will "heavy mastery set ups" affect this behaviour, and you should always base your haste/mastery choices around Simulationcraft results with reforge plots running.

I meant it the other way. If you do have a heavy mastery setup anyway due to T13 Bonus then the LvB glyph may/will be better for you.

[Deleted]

I meant it the other way. If you do have a heavy mastery setup anyway due to T13 Bonus then the LvB glyph may/will be better for you.

4pt13 does not mean you should have a Mastery Heavy set up though. Thats the point Bink was making. It *may* mean you want to lean towards mastery, but you should sim it. Haste increases the uptime of the 4p bonus too, and increases the amount of LS procs you get (quicker FS ticks), so both benefit from Haste too. The Lava Burst glyph affecting Mastery procs doesn't mean you should stack Mastery or stacking Mastery is better either. Sim it first.

[Deleted]

I know, I know that you have to sim it... I never said that you should go all mastery because of the glyph or the set boni

"If you do have... anyway ... then"

My point was simply that while in a regular haste setup the LB Glyph may still be better, especially in movement havy fights, and that the LvB Glyph shines in a mastery heavy setup.

[Pope]

best macro for those who don't like shitty addons

What does it do?

[Deleted]

What does it do?

Displays the ingame stop watch for you to use as a timer for Searing Totem instead of using an addon, because the default Totem Bar doesn't have timers on it.

[binkenstein]

I know, I know that you have to sim it... I never said that you should go all mastery because of the glyph or the set boni

"If you do have... anyway ... then"

My point was simply that while in a regular haste setup the LB Glyph may still be better, especially in movement havy fights, and that the LvB Glyph shines in a mastery heavy setup.

The Lava Burst glyph will be better no matter whether you have a haste leaning or a mastery leaning setup. The difference will be smaller on the haste side, but it will still be better.[COLOR="red"]

[Taurrus]

Hi, well I've been trying to grasp as much information as i can towards elemental shaman since last patch i was full enhancement. This is my alt btw and I wonder if I should try to put haste and mastery as close as possible.

Right now I have 2795 haste and 1149 mastery and hit cap so I wonder should I go for 2005 haste and the rest goes to mastery. I've read the initial post but still I'm a bit uncertain. I'm 3/5 tier from LFR and got other items from there as well the rest are VP and some low trinket from Alchemy.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...eytucan/simple

Any advice would be much appreciated it.