Elemental FAQ (updated for 4.3)

[Radux]

any tips or ideas for really making sure you lava burst as soon as possible? i have a power aura for lava surge procs

That's the best thing you can do

but sometimes i lose dps due to delays such as refreshing flame shock

You'd lose more dps by not putting up FS before the LvB.

but sometimes i lose dps due to delays such as casting an extra lightning bolt with a proc that just came up

It's a dps loss to stop casting your current LB to cast a LvB that just came up via Lava Surge or the cooldown coming up.

Also is there a general number for how many seconds of time left on flame shock not to use fulmination (other than the obvious 5 or 6 seconds of shock cooldown)?

This is where a skill cap comes into play -- managing your shock cooldowns. You could create another Aura to time your FS down as well as one to watch your LS charges. The combination of these could help your problem.

You say not to clip flame shock at all but if I wait til the last 3 seconds of it often im delaying lava surge procs because it often procs near the end of flame shock duration.

If you have ~3 seconds left on your FS, cast your LvB then refresh FS. If a Lava Surge pops when you have less than 3 seconds left and you're currently casting something.. finish your cast and then refresh your FS. Chances are it would fall off before you could get your LvB off.

It sounds like a broken record when people say this (because it's the general answer to what most people ask), the priority in this guide is quite detailed. If you follow it then it's hard to falter.

[Endus]

any tips or ideas for really making sure you lava burst as soon as possible? i have a power aura for lava surge procs but sometimes i lose dps due to delays such as refreshing flame shock, casting an extra lightning bolt with a proc that just came up, etc.

You need a decent notifier you can see. My own auras (linked in the big post in the addons section) have a tracker for Lava Burst, with both a timer and an availability icon, as well as a big default-Blizzard-style aura for actual Lava Surge procs. You SHOULD be both aware of when your normal CD is up, as well as reacting quickly to Lava Surge procs, so having the tools to make it visible is important.

Lava Surge probably should have a better default notification, actually, but you can do it with Power Auras.

Also is there a general number for how many seconds of time left on flame shock not to use fulmination (other than the obvious 5 or 6 seconds of shock cooldown)? You say not to clip flame shock at all but if I wait til the last 3 seconds of it often im delaying lava surge procs because it often procs near the end of flame shock duration.

"Clipping" in the modern parlance means casting before the second-to-last tick. Exactly when that occurs is difficult to say; it's around 3 seconds, but your Haste makes it vary. If you're just before the Haste breakpoint where you'd get another tick of FS, it'll be under 3s (closer to 2.5 or so, IIRC), and if you're just over that breakpoint, it'll be well over 3s (3.5, or so, similarly).

There's no magic number. You don't want to let Flame Shock fall off, but letting Flame Shock fall off for a half second if you aren't likely going to be casting Lava Burst is preferable to waiting ~5s to cast Fulmination and losing charges. It also matters if you're even going to have a chance to cast it currently, since if a movement phase will hit in that time, it changes everything. In general, I try and make sure I can clear charges by the 6-8 seconds remaining mark on my Flame Shock, assuming I'm over 7; that leaves me time to refresh Flame Shock during that final tick. This is why we fire at 7 or more stacks; better to fire at 7 stacks at 8 seconds, than to fire another LvB and LB, have your LB proc mastery, and pop you to 9 stacks RIGHT as you pass that 5 second marker, forcing you to pick between losing LS charges or lose Flame Shock duration.

Balancing this is THE hardest thing about playing Elemental, because you need to be aware of how things are going to go in the next 6-8 seconds to be able to make the right choices, and you're playing based on how things likely WILL be rather than, like most classes, just reacting to how things immediately are. You won't be perfect, since RNG can still occasionally give you that back-to-back double LB with double procs that gives you 4 charges in ~2 seconds, but the times this happens should be minimal, 1-2 times a fight, maybe.

The full priority is your bible; you need to know which spells do how much comparable damage, since that defines when you use what. Flame Shock is more important to your DPS than an immediate LvB, since FS makes the LvB a guaranteed crit. If your cast time of LvB would take you past the end of Flame Shock, you should refresh Flame Shock. If it wouldn't, LvB first, then Flame Shock. If Lava Surge happens AS you're casting Flame Shock, that's not lost damage because you need to wait on the GCD, it's bonus damage because the CD reset early.

[Elender]

I dont get why they make our rotation/priority so hard to manage(the 2 shocks and same CD problem), it has tons of solutions, eg: lava burst refreshs flame shock DoT, flame shock without CD , ...

Blizz dont like shamans, just it.

I just notice seeing my brother with his new alt char, about 75% of the shamans in DG are Resto, 15% enhance, 10% elemental. And all the elementals i saw were terrible in DPS(one of them with 2 Epic heroics and full T11 geting less than 14k in all fights), my brother was geting 14k+ with a Destro lock half blue, and Destro has the same mobility problem that shamans have.

PS: I was talking about 1 target , AOE is even worse.

[Durandro]

I don't find the Elemental rotation/priority very difficult. Only problem really is when Fulmination is at 7-8 and you have to use Flame Shock, thus wasting a little potential DPS from the next Fulmination 7 stack. But its not major.

However, your suggestion of Lava Burst increasing Flame Shock duration... I like that. Other classes get similar things (Rend is refreshed by Mortal Strike and Blood and Thunder, Festering Strike increases disease duration...), and not having to recast Flame Shock would be a DPS boost if only because you could use another Lightning Bolt in the spot the shock took. Heck, if you weren't high on threat you could even try weaving Frost Shocks in there to see if its a damage increase...

Edit: Did some tests. My idea wouldn't work, Frost Shock does slightly less (barely) then Earth Shock. Not worth the extra aggro! However, it might mean Unleash Elements would be useful since it hits slightly harder then Earth Shock and will buff the next Lava Burst...unless if the damage increase would be worth the loss of a Lightning Bolt though. Probably not... Let's check.

Edit2: Nope, its not worth it. You do about the same overall DPS without an overload, but obviously with an overload you'd be losing dps. Was worth considering!

Therefore if we got refreshed Flame Shock dots from Lava Burst, we'd just have to do:

Fire Totem
Flame Shock x1
Elemental Mastery + Trinkets (preferably lined up with Heroism during a burn phase)
Lava Burst
Earth Shock with 9 stacks (easier to time now we don't have to worry about Flame Shocks)
Lightning Bolt (of which we'll get slightly more of since we're Earth Shocking slightly less often)

[Deleted]

So let me put this straight.

What should i cast AFTER Unleash Elements ? Flame Shock (the ticks will benefit from 30% increased fire damage?) or Lava Surge (to benefit from 30% increased dmg) ? if flame shock ticks won't benefit from unleashed elements buff i guess i'll go with lava surge. right ?


BUT

How should i start the fight ? and where is Unleash Elementals in the priority as the first post isn't mentioning unleash elements.

I'm starting with ELEMENTAL MASTERY, then dropping totems (fire elemental when it's a fight where the elemental CAN stay alltime on the boss), then use Flame Shock, then UNLEASH ELEMENTS (for 30% dmg buff) and then Lava Burst. After all this starting rotation, i'll go with eventually Lava Surge procs and fill with Lightning Bolt till 7+ stacks when i hit Earth Shock.


*i guess i should summon my fire elemental AFTER elemental mastery AND Unleash Elements to benefit from the haste AND the 30% fire dmg increase, right ?

[Quetak]

I personaly start by: drop totems, potion, <combat starts> ,flame shock, unl.ele, blood fury(i'm orc), ele.mastery, L.burst, 1x/2x lightning bolt and then fire elemental. I'm using so many spells before fire element to be sure that every buff for elemental is up, then he is as powerfull as he can be. With all my procs he is doing around 7,5k dps on single target.

Kellermanv: I think that fire ele has no buff from Unleash.ele and ele.mastery, only from SP buffs but I can be wrong.

[Endus]

I dont get why they make our rotation/priority so hard to manage(the 2 shocks and same CD problem), it has tons of solutions, eg: lava burst refreshs flame shock DoT, flame shock without CD , ...

Not being a poor player is the best solution.

Our rotation isn't that hard. It's not even the hardest rotation in the game. I'd rather have a few skill barriers to decent gameplay, rather than making it mash-face-on-keyboard simplistic.

So let me put this straight.

What should i cast AFTER Unleash Elements ? Flame Shock (the ticks will benefit from 30% increased fire damage?) or Lava Surge (to benefit from 30% increased dmg) ? if flame shock ticks won't benefit from unleashed elements buff i guess i'll go with lava surge. right ?

The best thing to cast after UE is FS, the ticks DO benefit. But realistically, this is a rare circumstance, since you only use UE when you have to move, and you shouldn't refresh FS unless it's about to expire, even WITH the UE buff.

How should i start the fight ? and where is Unleash Elementals in the priority as the first post isn't mentioning unleash elements.

It's not mentioned in the "basic priority", but it's mentioned a paragraph later in the "full priority".

I need to delete that "basic priority" section because it's misleading.

[Keren]

Have anyone looked through the 4.2 items and can say if it would benifical to drop T12 4pc für non-set items? I heared that the itemisation on our t12 isnt optimal..


also: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/x.../53/?enc=kills and http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/i.../42/?enc=kills for your interest in +hit/spirit on FE

EDIT: can someone confirm (math) that orcs racial command doesn't work on guardians like our totem and elements?

[Radux]

@Keren

Even if T12 isn't itemized to the absolute best, the set bonuses are amazing. You'll want to use T12 over non-set pieces.

[Deleted]

Long time reader, first time poster here.

first things first, I would like to thank Endus and Radux for the Elemental and Resto Guides here on MMO-C. They helped me a lot!!!
I've switched mains since the beginning of Cata to my Shaman with Ele main and Resto off spec, due to the fact that my guild was in need of a Shaman and my old Hunter main was getting a little boring to me.
But enough of me let's talk business.

Since Patch 4.2 is coming and the new Move-while-casting-LB glyph is going to be our saviour for movement fights (which are most fight), the question remains for me; which glyph needs to be dropped? I saw all ready a few post saying LvB-glyph needs to be dropped, but what about the FS-glyph? Is refreshing FS more often really a problem?

Second question; if indeed LvB-glyph needs to be dropped, how about when we have 4-piece T-12 with instant LvB proccs?

Third an last question; is Unleash Elements Obsolete with the new LB-glyph?

greetz, Fearchanges

[Jenerena]

How should i start the fight ? and where is Unleash Elementals in the priority as the first post isn't mentioning unleash elements.

I'm starting with ELEMENTAL MASTERY, then dropping totems (fire elemental when it's a fight where the elemental CAN stay alltime on the boss), then use Flame Shock, then UNLEASH ELEMENTS (for 30% dmg buff) and then Lava Burst. After all this starting rotation, i'll go with eventually Lava Surge procs and fill with Lightning Bolt till 7+ stacks when i hit Earth Shock.

I normally put my totems down as we're entering combat, then FS (I keep an eye on my searing totem at this point because it sometimes attacks as I enter combat, even without FS up), then a new searing totem if it doesn't attack, then LvB, a couple of lightning bolts. At this point trinkets have procced so I pop EM and FE totem then carry on as normal. I don't use UE because it's a waste if you're already in your position but it's good if you have to run into position after the tank.

I find if I pop EM right at the start I risk getting threat. The only problem with popping it a few seconds in is it doesn't buff FS but I can properly stack procs with EM.

[Deleted]

Long time reader, first time poster here.

first things first, I would like to thank Endus and Radux for the Elemental and Resto Guides here on MMO-C. They helped me a lot!!!
I've switched mains since the beginning of Cata to my Shaman with Ele main and Resto off spec, due to the fact that my guild was in need of a Shaman and my old Hunter main was getting a little boring to me.
But enough of me let's talk business.

Since Patch 4.2 is coming and the new Move-while-casting-LB glyph is going to be our saviour for movement fights (which are most fight), the question remains for me; which glyph needs to be dropped? I saw all ready a few post saying LvB-glyph needs to be dropped, but what about the FS-glyph? Is refreshing FS more often really a problem?

Second question; if indeed LvB-glyph needs to be dropped, how about when we have 4-piece T-12 with instant LvB proccs?

Third an last question; is Unleash Elements Obsolete with the new LB-glyph?

greetz, Fearchanges

i am not Endus nor Radux but i believe i can answer your questions since they appeared on forum many times.
It was already proven by numbers that new LB glyph should be used instead of lava burst glyph ( yes even with 4xtier12).
About unleash elements. Yes it will be totally useless. You would want to cast LB instead of it in any situation. I just can't imagine other scenario as ele that would make it useful.

[Deleted]

Thx for the fast answer Shor, but I would like to see some numbers with that just to be sure, I couldn't find anything number related here or EJ and such forums ( maybe I didin't look hard enough).

A pity that Unleash Elements is becoming a bit useless with the new glyph. Allthough I'm still using this talent for wenn some burst is needed, for example; Aegis with the council, but I think I've to reconsider this also.
After all, I'm a little bit new to Shaman, so every Comment is usefull

For the post how people start combat:
I normally pre-pot during Countdown, during the short sprint to my position I cast FS, then if still moving UE (next patch LB) and if I'm on postion I put down my totems and keep a close Eye on my Searing totem if it attacks my target (when not, I re-drop my searing totem), if every thing is well I start My LvB.
To keep it short: Per-pot-> FS -> (UE) -> Totems -> LvB

The timing when to use FE-totem is depending on fight I think, I usually like to save my FE just before we start to use Herorism to nuke the boss and offcourse I like to check If my power torrent is up und use another pot before I drop my totem for full benefits.

Greetz Fearchanges

[Jenerena]

UE is a little bit like Fel flame for locks. They fixed its worth by incorporating a set bonus that makes use of it through a proc. With the change coming up though I reckon they'll do something with UE further down the line. Either they'll make it part of the rotation by buffing it or they'll incorporate some proc which makes it crit when up or something like that.

[Orwell]

Thanks Radux and Endus for the feedback. Also the custom auras are an improvement. I already had all those notifications in some form but not as well presented.
It's nice how ele has some skill challenge and I look forward to 4.2. I hope they improve the FE's behavior.
Ele dps can be frustrating at times when you are feeling tired or not on your game for whatever reason (but guild still needs you) since you realize you are making mistakes or not reacting as quickly and thinking ahead.

[Jenerena]

Ele dps can be frustrating at times when you are feeling tired or not on your game for whatever reason (but guild still needs you) since you realize you are making mistakes or not reacting as quickly and thinking ahead.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Been feeling like that for the last few weeks mostly because the content is getting boring also. I'm sitting at 9 stacks of LS far more than what I should be.

[kaizoku]

Most confusing part about shamans right now is glyphs... Which makes us one of the worst dps class in the game. I did some individual testing and i disagree with the guide posted here about the glyph. I think Flametoungue Weapon glyph is so far the best since most people convert their crit to other stats followed by Lava Burst and Flame Shock glyph. I haven't done testing with t12 but so far best combo for t11 are those three glyph. Lighting Bolt glyph isn't better then Flametongue because crits make up for lost of 4% also flametongue makes Lava burst and other spells also crit more.

[Endus]

Most confusing part about shamans right now is glyphs... Which makes us one of the worst dps class in the game. I did some individual testing and i disagree with the guide posted here about the glyph. I think Flametoungue Weapon glyph is so far the best since most people convert their crit to other stats followed by Lava Burst and Flame Shock glyph. I haven't done testing with t12 but so far best combo for t11 are those three glyph.

This is your second post on these forums, and like your other post, it is so outrageously and entirely mathematically wrong that I don't really see where to begin.

Some basic work with simulationcraft regarding glyphs. This uses a Helter Skelter setting to simulate movement, since Unleashed Lightning is movement-based and all fights require movement anyway.

FS/LB/UL: 25,543 DPS. This is my recommended glyph layout, so this is our baseline.

FS/LvB/FT: 24,365 DPS. This was your recommendation; Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Flametongue Weapon. An 1178 DPS loss.

Lighting Bolt glyph isn't better then Flametongue because crits make up for lost of 4% also flametongue makes Lava burst and other spells also crit more.

The problem with that, of course, is that flametongue weapon provides absolutely no crit chance to Lava Burst, since that's at a 100% crit rate unless you're playing badly. And Lightning Bolt is about half our DPS. Straight up easy math; according to simulationcraft, Lava Burst is 24.4% of our DPS, so the 2% crit only affects 75.6% of our damage. 2% more crit on that 75.6% is a 1.51% damage increase. Lightning Bolt, on the other hand, is 41.2% of our damage. 4% of 41.2% is a 1.65% damage increase.

I can't figure out how you could have possibly reached the conclusions you have, because I've just proven two ways that you're wrong, not to mention you're ignoring absolutely essential Elemental DPS concepts like the fact that Lava Burst always crits regardless of crit on gear or glyphs.

If you're going to contest the theorycraft, which I in general welcome, you'd better actually bring sources, because I guarantee to you that I DO have sources for everything in this FAQ.

[kaizoku]

This is your second post on these forums, and like your other post, it is so outrageously and entirely mathematically wrong that I don't really see where to begin.

Some basic work with simulationcraft regarding glyphs. This uses a Helter Skelter setting to simulate movement, since Unleashed Lightning is movement-based and all fights require movement anyway.

FS/LB/UL: 25,543 DPS. This is my recommended glyph layout, so this is our baseline.

FS/LvB/FT: 24,365 DPS. This was your recommendation; Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Flametongue Weapon. An 1178 DPS loss.



The problem with that, of course, is that flametongue weapon provides absolutely no crit chance to Lava Burst, since that's at a 100% crit rate unless you're playing badly. And Lightning Bolt is about half our DPS. Straight up easy math; according to simulationcraft, Lava Burst is 24.4% of our DPS, so the 2% crit only affects 75.6% of our damage. 2% more crit on that 75.6% is a 1.51% damage increase. Lightning Bolt, on the other hand, is 41.2% of our damage. 4% of 41.2% is a 1.65% damage increase.

I can't figure out how you could have possibly reached the conclusions you have, because I've just proven two ways that you're wrong, not to mention you're ignoring absolutely essential Elemental DPS concepts like the fact that Lava Burst always crits regardless of crit on gear or glyphs.

If you're going to contest the theorycraft, which I in general welcome, you'd better actually bring sources, because I guarantee to you that I DO have sources for everything in this FAQ.

I understand simulation craft i have used it also. But for some odd reason dps in real game feels little different with little more crit. I am using ovale spell priority rotation which is standard. Will have to run these in real game to see. Let me run it through few more real in game tests.

[Orwell]

So tailoring remains the best profession at the moment? It's bonus seems to average out to a lot more Int and nothing has changed to average it out?