Originally Posted by
Kralljin
Maybe to add something to the actual discussion at hand.
Over the past weeks i've been thinking about the overall Elemental changes in SL and quite frankly think that there is a rather big hole in Blizzards logic / design.
Blizzard has stated that Elemental should focus on multi dotting Flame shock in order to get a lot of Lava surge procs.
In other words, "funneling" damage into a single target by multi dotting Flame shock.
At first glance, this is nothing new, as this has been a thing for Elemental since 8.1 and Elemental extremely excelled at it in BoD / CoS and EP.
However, crucial pieces will be missing in Shadowlands.
First off, the obvious loss of (rental) power.
With Azerite retiring, you will lose Igneous Potential, a rather massive hit as having this trait thrice on appropriate pieces will ~double your Lava burst damage.
That in itself is already a massive hit, as Lava burst makes up a not too insignificant portion of your damage.
Furthermore, you will lose Lava shock, a trait was absolutely amazing in those Flame shock multi dot situations.
Not only needs Blizzard to compensate the loss of the Igneous Potential trait, but also Lava shock in those situations, if the primary goal is aiming at back to back Lava Surge procs, Lava burst needs to hit for an insane amount.
Second, the Flame shock duration nerf.
In the current Alpha build, Flame shock's duration is 18 seconds, not 24 as on live.
That represents an obvious nerf, now you're only barely able to multi dot three target at most, which also further cuts into the potency of that "funnel" niche, less FS running means less Lava surge procs.
Lastly, the removal of Maelstrom.
Some people call this a good change, but this where the removal of Maelstrom will be a real kick in the nuts.
Currently, it works pretty simple:
You multi dot FS=>gets lots of Lava surge procs=>spam Lvb=>get a lot of Maelstrom=>constantly dish out Earth shocks.
In Shadowlands it (currently) looks like this:
You multi dot FS=>get lots of Lava surge proc=>spam Lvb and...that's it.
You don't generate Fulmination charges via Lava burst, meaning you will rarely press Earth shock as there is currently no passive generation of Fulmination charges besides Lightning shield.
You can generate a few charges if you're unlucky with Lava surge procs and have to weave in Lightning bolt, but that's not really the goal.
(Also, Icefury nor Frost shock buffed by it generate Fulmination charges, so that source is gone as well)
It also nerfs the synergy between the Master of the Elements talents and said "funneling" results in barely any Earth shock(let alone one beefed up with 3x Lava shock).
You still have Icefury and Stormkeeper but they're both tied to a CD and not resource dependant like Earth shock currently.
In general, Blizzards choice of niche couldn't have been poorer, as this entire funneling niche relies on borrowed power via Azerite traits (Igneous Potential and Lava shock) alongside a rather set amount of talents.
Said funneling also barely works without Echo of the Elements, while talents such as Storm Elemenetal and Ascendance aren't synergizing with this at all.
(Mind you, Surge of Power is also not functional unless you can consistently generate 6 Maelstrom charges.)
This entire idea of funneling was the result of a bandaid solution: (the infamous 150% buff to Igneous Potential), yet Blizzard decided to turn the bandaid into a core aspect without realizing that said bandaid will be ripped off soon, while at the same time also demolishing the bit of synergy it had with the base Elemental mechanics (Maelstrom).
The only thing in SL that seriously supports this change (not taking any Covenants abilities into account) is the Fire Elemental change - yet that already had synergy with funneling, as a lot of flame shocks meant a lot of Maelstrom while Fire Elemental is up.
I seriously doubt that this one change will stem the tide against the massive breaking of synergy that is going to happen if those changes go live.
Of course, Legendaries are still to come, but as hinted above already, this "funneling" niche already relies on a certain talent choice, if Blizzard manages to salvage that niche via Legendaries, it will be obvious that those Legendaries will be the mandatory ones, while the other ones need to be straight nuts or remain relegated to be used during AoE or some fringe situation.
In other words, you need to pick certain talents alongside possible legendaries in order to get "your baseline niche" going, that's a bit of a silly situation to say the least.
Overall, that doesn't make me very excited for Elemental, Blizzard intended goal of funneling does not line with the changes they've been implementing - on the contrary in fact.
Unless Blizzard changes things, Elemental might have to rely on benelovent numbers tuning on Blizzards end - which has rarely worked in favour of Elemental during the X.0 Patches.
Mate, now you're just listing things for the sake of it.
Shaman utility is not great because nothing of that is really unique and its defense is average at best.
That's just how it, i have no need to argue further with you over this topic.
You can argue over "it's viable in 99% of all content", but also a non argument, you can do the vast majority of content even with an extremely scuffed setup - it's just no benchmark on its own, it just tells you that said content isn't particularly difficult.