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How to Lava Burst: Elemental guide (Updated for 4.2)
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Post by
Meldoron
About Elemental
Talents
Glyphs
Spell Priority
Stats
Gemming
Enchants
Consumables
Addons
About Elemental
Elemental is the shaman's caster dps talent tree. What it lacks in mobility, it makes up in high damage while stationary. Like enhancement, elemental can off heal fairly easily if needed.
We use mail gear and wield a 1h and shield when we can, but a staff works just as well if the stats are better.
is our enchant of choice because it gives us spell power.
Talents
Here is our base spec as elemental
29/7/0
. There are two points in
only to fill in the tree. We have five floating points that can either be used for utility or survivability. Below is a personal priority list of the optional talents.
Optional Talents:
Earthquake
: Although it is our ability at the bottom of the tree, it isn't mandatory because it is only for aoe. It is nice utility to have when takes down large groups of enemies but only just.
: Good if range is an issue for either your raid buffs or your searing totem.
: A lower cooldown for your wind shear is purely utility. In most cases you won't need a reduced cooldown to any of your shocks, but it is handy.
: If there is any aoe, then this helps to take strain off the healers.
: The reduction to damage is nice, but you can't guarantee you will be casting when you take damage.
: Only good if you tend to have mana problems, so this talents works well at lower gear levels, but begins to lose its value as gear gets better.
: This takes some strain off your healers, but you should be getting enough heals anyway.
Overall, I recommend taking
Earthquake
,
and
. It is nice to have some freedom and not have to worry about your totems a lot.
Glyphs
Prime
Charred Glyph
: Allows us to move a little more freely while casting. Only use if the fight requires more movement than
Spiritwalker's Grace
can handle. (Recommended)
Charred Glyph
: One of our best spells gets better. This glyph should be dropped if
Charred Glyph
is needed. (Recommended)
Charred Glyph
: Our filler gets better. (Recommended)
Charred Glyph
: It indirectly increases our dps by giving us more GCD's(Global Cooldowns) for casting. As well as allowing more freedom and ease to work in
Earth Shock
. (Recommended)
Charred Glyph
: Great for fights that last longer than 5 minutes. In 4.2, this becomes obsolete because of our
Tier 12 2-set
. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: It is alright and provides a small dps increase, but not all that much. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Saves a brief amount of time. (Optional)
Major
Charred Glyph
: Good for fights with a lot of adds; this helps proc a plethora of
charges. Only issue is that you may run into cleaving problems. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Helps with mana control and with some aoe situations. Mana will only be an issue at low gear levels, but it's still handy to have. (Recommended)
Charred Glyph
: You won't lose a charge if you get hurt after Fulmination. (Mandatory)
Charred Glyph
: More speed! I'm giving it all she's got captain! (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Makes it a survivability cooldown. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Not much uses, but you never know. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Mitigates a little bit of damage, but uses 2 GCD's to use. One to place it down and a second to place your buff back down. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Two totems in one. It can be useful if your group needs the buff. (Optional)
Charred Glyph
: Very handy when on CC duty in case someone decides to break your little frog's neck.
The major glyphs are up in the air on what to take. You can pick any that fit your play style. The ones that are recommended are my choice, but shouldn't be taken as fact.
Minor
Charred Glyph
: More mana and won't knock adds away from your tank if you are close. (Recommended)
This is the only glyph I truly recommend; all the others are a matter of personal choice.
Spell Priority
Single Target
/
Searing Totem
(if expired)
Keep
up
Lava Burst
Earth Shock
at 7+ stacks of
does more damage than
Searing Totem
, so use
anytime you can and keep
Searing Totem
out in between its cooldown.
Earth Shock
with
does more damage than
Lava Burst
, but due to how
Lava Surge
works,
Lava Burst
is prioritized higher.
Lava Surge
procs randomly, so if you don't cast
Lava Burst
you can potentially miss out on a
Lava Surge
proc.
With 4.2, our mobile dps is very similar to our single target rotation. Always stop to cast
Lava Burst
when you can. If stopping is not an option, use
Spiritwalker's Grace
to accommodate.
is no longer in any of our rotation.
For AoE
Cast
Earthquake
Roll
on multiple targets
Use
on cooldown
in between the slaughter
Stats
hit to cap > intellect > haste >= mastery > crit
The hit cap for our spells is 17% or 1742 hit rating (1640 hit rating for Draenei). We get hit from spirit thanks to
, so we share gear with our Resto counterparts. Haste and Mastery are very similar in increasing our dps. Haste tends to increase our dps faster by a small margin, so most elemental shaman stack haste over mastery. You can stack either one for good dps. Crit is our worst stat and should be reforged from when possible.
Gemming
Intellect is our main stat, but being hit capped is also our priority. Socket bonuses sometimes isn't worth going for if it is merely +10 of a secondary stat. For yellow, it depends on what you decided to stack.
Red:
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Yellow:
Reckless Ember Topaz
Artful Ember Topaz
Blue:
Purified Demonseye
/
Veiled Demonseye
or
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
depending on set bonus or if hit capped
Meta:
Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
Example on when to put a red gem in a blue socket: Say you have a socket bonus of +20 crit. Placing a
Purified Demonseye
in the socket would give you 20 intellect, 20 spirit, and 20 crit. However, putting a
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
into the socket would get you an extra 20 intellect at the cost of 20 spirit and 20 crit, which is a dps increase unless you are 20 hit from hit cap.
Enchants
Slot:
BiS
Lesser Alternatives
Profession Based
Head
Arcanum of Hyjal
Shoulders
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone
Felfire Inscription
Back
Greater Intellect
Chest
Peerless Stats
Mighty Stats
,
Exceptional Versatility
Wrists
Mighty Intellect
Greater Speed
Hands
Greater Mastery
Mastery
,
Haste
Waist
Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
Legs
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
Ghostly Spellthread
Feet
Haste
Mastery
,
Precision
Weapon
Power Torrent
Hurricane
Off-hand
Superior Intellect
Mastery
Consumables
Flask of the Draconic Mind
Severed Sagefish Head
Seafood Magnifique Feast
Flask of Battle
Elixir of Impossible Accuracy
if under hit cap
Grilled Dragon
/
Delicious Sagefish Tail
if under hit cap
Addons
Addons help you. They handle information that could be clustered and organizes it for your convenience.
ShockAndAwe
Totem Timers
Omen Threat Meter
Clique
Deadly Boss Mods
Power Auras Classic
Further Information
Zatox's Shaman Cataclysm Reputation and Justice Points Guide
provides a lot of information on where to get your first pieces of gear. I suggest you check it out.
Post by
Meldoron
Reserved. I used soccergenius' enhance post as a backbone. =)
I'm going to bed...
Post by
681208
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Gnub
Few comments. First on
Prime Glyphs
:
Charred Glyph
: It indirectly increases our dps by giving us more GCD's(Global Cooldowns) for casting. (Recommended)
It also makes more room for Earth Shock, and gives more freedom. One of the reasons I also always pick 2/2
. It's always annoying when cooldowns and procs clash.
Charred Glyph
: Great for fights that last longer than 5 minutes. In 4.2, this may surpass Glyph of Flame Shock, but not until then. (Optional)
4.2 (
Tier 12 2-set
) doesn't directly make our Fire Elemental any better, only seems to up the time it is potentially up. At the least, I would add in that reference. I can't see why this would potentially change the usefulness of this one, and especially not surpass that of Flame Shock.
Major Glyphs:
Not really a lot of comments, just a few opinions that might give some other viewpoints.
Charred Glyph
: Good for fights with a lot of adds, but a dps loss if there aren't 4+ adds. (Optional)
Most of the time you get to AoE properly, there should always be more than 4 targets anyway. It might be worth mentioning that this also gives a phenomenal amount of Rolling Thunder-charges.
Charred Glyph
: Helps with mana control and with some aoe situations. (Recommended)
Mana isn't an issue at higher gear levels, but can certainly be useful at first, or entry raid. I'd probably change this to
Optional
.
Charred Glyph
: You won't lose a charge if you get hurt after Fulmination. (Recommended)
Should be - as the only Major Glyph -
Mandatory
.
Charred Glyph
: More speed! I'm giving it all she's got captain! (Recommended)
Would certainly give this
Optional
, as I have never even used Ghost Wolf in raid-encounters - except when running back after a wipe. You won't use it in combat either, as you'd try to fire off Shocks (or use Spiritwalker's Grace) as much as possible.
Charred Glyph
: Not much uses, but you never know. (Optional)
I actually found this quite useful, as it essentially increases our AoE radius by 50% (10 -> 15 yards). While Earthquake is more limited, this can essentially make your AoE cover a huge area - in case the trash is spread out over a large area. Not likely to happen, but still nice. Keep it
Optional
ofcourse. :)
Also, you forgot about the useful
Charred Glyph
. Very nice for keeping the CC sharp.
Enchants
Head:
Arcanum of Hyjal
Shoulders:
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone
or
Felfire Inscription
for Scribes -
or
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone
Back:
Greater Intellect
or
for Tailors
Chest:
Peerless Stats
or
Mighty Stats
-
or
Exceptional Versatility
Wrist:
Mighty Intellect
or
for LW -
or
Greater Speed
Hands:
Greater Mastery
or
Haste
-
or
Mastery
Waist:
Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
(with
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
)
Legs:
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
or
Ghostly Spellthread
Feet:
Mastery
,
Haste
, or
Precision
Weapon:
Power Torrent
or
Hurricane
Off-hand:
Superior Intellect
-
or
Mastery
There's a few other nice (and cheaper) additions that could be made. Potentially, it could be made into a table with a "Best" and "others"-columns. Added a few cheaper options above in bold, and an addition to the beltbuckle.
It would also be great to link to "
Zatox's Shaman Cataclysm Reputation and Justice Points Guide!
" from the Helpful Threads. Nice information there.
Besides that, it's turning out nice. Some in-depth information would probably be great - and remember to cite your resources ;)
Post by
Meldoron
Thank you for your information, Gnub. I put this together in 2 hours, so I guess I missed a few things. Is it weird that the only source I would have is the Wowhead database? This is all just from the 2 weeks I played elemental just to play it. I had originally misread the T12 set-2 bonus and I altered my post accordingly.
vey very nice one but on spell priority you have forget they
Good catch on the Lava Surge. I'll need to clarify why I did it in my post, but it's mainly for optimizing purposes. You wouldn't give up 20 int for 20 hit and a crappy socket bonus like 20 crit.
Post by
628750
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
greywolfsage
Brilliant Inferno Ruby on red and blue geam if it can be put onhy on red slots?
I hope you were meaning that Inferno Rubies only
activate
Red Sockets. Because you can put any color gem anywhere.
Post by
628750
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
greywolfsage
Well metas only fit in meta sockets but thats pretty obvious information
And cogwheels in cogwheels, which is why i chose "any color gem" wording. ^^
And I still don't see how Unleash Elements is so useless. I regularly get a decent 10k hit out of it and I normally try to burn it before a Flame Shock, extra 20% damage. Though I'll be honest I haven't taken the time to test it. I mostly just heal, and swap out Jar for Witching Hourglass for faceroll 11k in heroics. lol
Post by
soccergenius
Well metas only fit in meta sockets but thats pretty obvious information
And cogwheels in cogwheels, which is why i chose "any color gem" wording. ^^
And I still don't see how Unleash Elements is so useless. I regularly get a decent 10k hit out of it and I normally try to burn it before a Flame Shock, extra 20% damage. Though I'll be honest I haven't taken the time to test it. I mostly just heal, and swap out Jar for Witching Hourglass for faceroll 11k in heroics. lol
The reason why UE is weak when you're not moving is because that GCD could be spent casting a LB. If that LB crits or procs Elemental Overload, it does more dmg than the UE + charged LvB (vs non-charged) dmg plus the chance to proc Rolling Thunder for more Fulminates.
Post by
Gnub
Thank you for your information, Gnub. I put this together in 2 hours, so I guess I missed a few things. Is it weird that the only source I would have is the Wowhead database? This is all just from the 2 weeks I played elemental just to play it. I had originally misread the T12 set-2 bonus and I altered my post accordingly.
Hehe, not at all strange. Just wanted to be sure.
About the enchant-table thing:
Slot:
Best:
Details or other (cheaper) options:
Head
Arcanum of Hyjal
-
Shoulders
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone
, or
Felfire Inscription
for Scribes
Back
Greater Intellect
for Tailors
Chest
Peerless Stats
Mighty Stats
,
Exceptional Versatility
Wrists
Mighty Intellect
Greater Speed
, or
for LW
Hands
Greater Mastery
Mastery
,
Haste
Waist
Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
See
Gemming
-section for further details.
Leggings
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
Ghostly Spellthread
Feet
Mastery
Haste
,
Precision
Weapon
Power Torrent
Hurricane
Off-hand
Superior Intellect
Mastery
You can add in the following to get it to look a bit different, in the first line:
(##RESPBREAK##)8##DELIM##Gnub##DELIM##
Post by
Meldoron
Yeah, I was planning on making it a fancy table when I get the chance. It'll probably happen later tonight.
Post by
Meldoron
Table for enchants is done.
Post by
soccergenius
Table for enchants is done.
I'm totally ninja'ing that. I'm not a pro at BBC code so I wasn't sure on it =P
Post by
Meldoron
Table for enchants is done.
I'm totally ninja'ing that. I'm not a pro at BBC code so I wasn't sure on it =P
I stole it from the "Assessing all the options" thread in the warlock forums =D
Post by
681208
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Meldoron
Go for it. I cleaned it up from where I stole it from, so it's pretty easy to plug in new stuff.
I can't wait until I can use my premium for a year from winning first prize in the last wowhead contest. My captcha had subscripts and superscripts just to F with me...
Post by
Gnub
Table for enchants is done.
I'm totally ninja'ing that. I'm not a pro at BBC code so I wasn't sure on it =P
Hehe, the code isn't that bad, once you notice the logic in it. It's
almost
identical to HTML-tags. Regardless, it looks neat now.
Post by
soccergenius
I don't raid with an elemental shaman but I'd like some thoughts about this:
From
Elitist Jerks
Quoting this from the BB with permission:
So, after last nights Heroic Maloriak attempts, I have come to the following conclusions about Elemental AoE damage.
1. Earthquake is virtually useless, and probably only be used for specific heroic encounters via a secondary spec
2. Fire Nova is fairly useless too.
3. Tab spamming Flame Shock to get more Fire Nova bursts out doesn't make much of a difference.
I compared tab FS with FN spam, single target + CL with FN spam, and my usual single target + CL rotation on the Dark Phase, and there was virtually no difference in damage output, making allowances for things that happened in each attempt (~2.8m for the first, with two dark and nearly going OOM plus aboms, ~1.5m with one dark and aboms, ~1.25m for one dark without aboms respectively).
In short, I'm going to continue not using FN, and I'm going to have a second ele spec for the odd occasions I actually need Earthquake (which is virtually never). If I use both, my AoE rotation will be 7 abilities with differing cooldowns (3, 4, two on a shared 6, 8, 10) vs a much more manageable 5 (3, two on a shared 6, 8). I'm not sure how complicated other caster AoE is, but surely it can't be as complex as this with such little gain over single target damage.
Elemental's AoE abilities when used together makes WotLK enhancement's attack priority look like a joke.
Post by
Fulgorater
looks nicer inside of box? the shadings actually come out
nvm, its a browser issue
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