Elemental FAQ (updated for 4.3)

[Deleted]

I find elemental shaman very weak compared to other classes such as Boomkin. I mean they got 2 dots and both of they're dots tick more and they got starsurge who critts around 100k max (with good gear) compared to elemental shamans Fulmination wo critts around 48k (with elemental mastery + good gear). My dps might be as high as the others at the start of the fight, but as soon as my Fire Elemental dissapears my damage sinks to the bottom. Either im doing something really wrong or elemental shamans are very weak, i'm running an average iLvl of 360. 1530 Mastery 1700 haste and 19,70% crit. I've followed all the steps for gemming, reforging, glyphing and rotation and i got all the addons to make it easier. Still i'm not ending anywhere near a boomkin. Latency isnt a problem either, and im spamming buttons like a crazy person.

Any suggestions...

[Endus]

• Yes, Boomkin have more DoTs. That's irrelevant and only boosts their DPS when there's multiple targets that will take the full DoT damage. Elemental isn't a DoT class. Boomkin kinda are.
• We're simming higher than boomkin on single target DPS.
• When I'm not healing and our boomkin isn't tanking, I've done pretty comparable DPS with him on most fights.
• You should be punishing everyone else's DPS with your boosted Fire Elemental up. If you're only barely keeping up, either everyone grossly outgears you, you're incredibly, ridiculously unlucky, or you're not doing something right. Without a log, I can't be more specific than that, but those are your three options. On a fight where I'm not saving my elemental, I usually get 3-4k or more ahead of everyone else, though that evens out over the course of the fight.

[Deleted]

Question though, i checked some shammys armory and couldnt help to notice that the "high-end" shamans skip the hit cap (1742) and just go for 1500-1600 hit rating. Is this good or bad?

[Mr.Pineapple]

Question though, i checked some shammys armory and couldnt help to notice that the "high-end" shamans skip the hit cap (1742) and just go for 1500-1600 hit rating. Is this good or bad?

Do you have links? otherwise this is a completely irrelevant question.

the only answer i can think of is that they have a ton of gear and can't hit cap with reforges so they use spirit/hit food. this seems unlikely since mail sp gear is itemised well enough to get to cap even at low gear levels and top end gear is the same but with even more stats...

[Deleted]

Question though, i checked some shammys armory and couldnt help to notice that the "high-end" shamans skip the hit cap (1742) and just go for 1500-1600 hit rating. Is this good or bad?

Iirc you should only hit cap through reforging. You should never gem hit as Intellect beats out hit by a fair margin.

On another note, did you check if they were Draenei shaman's? Because they get 1% hit from talents and 1500-1600 seems very close that they will either be hit capped or slighty/just under (talking within about 0.2%).

[Sharpopiev2]

I have one question: I love my shammy to death and I love my resto and enh spec to the brink of insanity. But lately, I've wanted to drop Enh for Ele just to see what its like now in 4.1 no longer having to channel Earthquake. Could I simply use all my resto gear as a start for ele? I've loved all three shaman specs for awhile now, and wiiiiish there was a tri-spec but I completely understand Blizzard on that stance and I don't QQ about it.
I just want to know that if I go Ele, will I still be able to at least contribute wearing resto gear while running heroics to get ele gear?

[Endus]

I have one question: I love my shammy to death and I love my resto and enh spec to the brink of insanity. But lately, I've wanted to drop Enh for Ele just to see what its like now in 4.1 no longer having to channel Earthquake. Could I simply use all my resto gear as a start for ele? I've loved all three shaman specs for awhile now, and wiiiiish there was a tri-spec but I completely understand Blizzard on that stance and I don't QQ about it.
I just want to know that if I go Ele, will I still be able to at least contribute wearing resto gear while running heroics to get ele gear?

If you've got decent Resto gear, you should be fine. The two specs have almost identical stat priorities; Intellect > Spirit (until enough) > Haste = Mastery > Crit.

If your Resto gear is kind of crit-heavy (since I know some liked it for the regen, despite the loss of throughput), it's still not bad, just Reforge as much crit as you can.

The biggest difference is that your Resto gear probably has more Spirit than you need, but that can be easily fixed with Reforging. Most raiders try to get ~2200 Spirit as Resto, if not more, where Elemental only needs ~1742 (less if Draenei).

[Radux]

The biggest difference is that your Resto gear probably has more Spirit than you need, but that can be easily fixed with Reforging. Most raiders try to get ~2200 Spirit as Resto, if not more, where Elemental only needs ~1742 (less if Draenei).

Completely agree. It's quite easy to just do quests or dailies or whatever in Resto gear. I personally have over 2600 Spirit in Resto gear. I'm well over 24-25% hit. It bothers the hell out of me that I have this, but like hell I'm going to reforge it just to quest or run the potential dungeon if I'm bored of healing.

[Sharpopiev2]

If you've got decent Resto gear, you should be fine. The two specs have almost identical stat priorities; Intellect > Spirit (until enough) > Haste = Mastery > Crit.

If your Resto gear is kind of crit-heavy (since I know some liked it for the regen, despite the loss of throughput), it's still not bad, just Reforge as much crit as you can.

The biggest difference is that your Resto gear probably has more Spirit than you need, but that can be easily fixed with Reforging. Most raiders try to get ~2200 Spirit as Resto, if not more, where Elemental only needs ~1742 (less if Draenei).

Ya I have ilvl 347, all blues that are heroic or JP with the only true healing trinket of Heroic Blood of Isiset so I know i;d have to find a new one there. Thx for the advice y'all!

[Deleted]

Ya I have ilvl 347, all blues that are heroic or JP with the only true healing trinket of Heroic Blood of Isiset so I know i;d have to find a new one there. Thx for the advice y'all!

if you have the gold, you can buy a http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/62047/d...-card-volcano/ which is our absolute best trinket. i doubt firelands will come soon, and even then, with 347 itemlevel, i doubt you'll get in there.

[Sharpopiev2]

if you have the gold, you can buy a http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/62047/d...-card-volcano/ which is our absolute best trinket. i doubt firelands will come soon, and even then, with 347 itemlevel, i doubt you'll get in there.

I'm not really a raider. I was in LK but I didn't like how my guild became too serious about it and I stopped. Now I'm mostly 5-man heroics with some occasional pvp

[katsafaros18]

Is there a % of crit that we shouldn't go under?

[Nume]

Is there a % of crit that we shouldn't go under?

Nah you should always reforge crit to haste/mastery. Crit is by far the worst stat for elemental (other than hit past cap, but that shouldn't happen with reforging).

[lkonig]

I am starting to play my Shaman Alt. I am at level 81 but of course it won't be long before I hit level 85.

Could someone give a spell rotation and a few links to spec please.

The guide is awesome it answered so many questions.

[Phaild0rf]

Quick question about AoEing as elemental guys. I know that the guide says how and what, but I have a question.

On fights like maloriak heroic, what do I do? In the black phase for instance, do I flameshock 1 target -> EQ -> Flameshock another -> CL -> FN or? How much FS DoT's do I want to keep up while AoEing, and when EQ runs out, do I refresh it in stead of CL/FN'ing?

Im kind of confused

[Endus]

Quick question about AoEing as elemental guys. I know that the guide says how and what, but I have a question.

On fights like maloriak heroic, what do I do? In the black phase for instance, do I flameshock 1 target -> EQ -> Flameshock another -> CL -> FN or? How much FS DoT's do I want to keep up while AoEing, and when EQ runs out, do I refresh it in stead of CL/FN'ing?

Im kind of confused

The short answer to most of those is "it depends". The value of CL and FN is based entirely on how many targets they'll hit and how many FSs are up.

You'll generally want to roll as many FSs as possible, though. Each is a source of FN for AoE, and it's our highest DPCT for single target, assuming they take the full DoT.

[Phaild0rf]

The short answer to most of those is "it depends". The value of CL and FN is based entirely on how many targets they'll hit and how many FSs are up.

You'll generally want to roll as many FSs as possible, though. Each is a source of FN for AoE, and it's our highest DPCT for single target, assuming they take the full DoT.

Yeah thought so, it's what I have been doing... thanks for the short term answer

[navcite]

i know u said TM is the BiS but what about Heart of ignacious tho i love seeing 50% haste when i use it with my mastery but is 50% haste doing anything for me tho wandering....guess i could do some sims before raid

so yeah tieing both together puts my lightning bolt at 1.25 and lava burst at .94=1sec

but my question is would the 2minCD be worse since TM is chance on hit to proc 1900ish mastery?

[Endus]

It's worse more because Intellect is so good, and HoI doesn't provide Intellect, just Spellpower. That, and to get the Haste buff, you need to lose the Spellpower buff. It stacks back up, but it's still a loss that leaves HoI lagging compared to Theralion's mirror.

[navcite]

It's worse more because Intellect is so good, and HoI doesn't provide Intellect, just Spellpower. That, and to get the Haste buff, you need to lose the Spellpower buff. It stacks back up, but it's still a loss that leaves HoI lagging compared to Theralion's mirror.

awesome thx