Where did those totems go? I swear I had them here a moment ago… Yep, Mists of Pandaria has come along, and it’s taken away our buff totems. But it brings new goodies, too – new talent choices, new glyphs, and a bunch of other stuff. So, if you want to get up and Lightning Bolting fast, here’s our quick-start guide to get your rotation sorted, your reforging and gemming squared away, and your stats organised in MoP / WoW Patch 5.3!

Updated 22nd May 2013 to WoW Patch 5.3

Changes to Elemental Shamans in WoW Patch 5.3

Glyph of Unleashed Lightning has gone away so our glyph choices change.

Elemental “Rotation” and Priorities

OUr DPS rotations remain mostly the same as they were in Cataclysm – the big change being the removal of buff totems.

Single-target DPS

• Top Priority: If the target doesn’t have a Flame Shock ticking on it, apply one.
• Second Priority: Cast Lava Burst if it’s available. Cast Earth Shock if it doesn’t, and if you have 6 or more Lightning Shield stacks.
• Third Priority: Cast or refresh Searing Totem if it’s about to go away. If you have nothing else to do, cast Lightning Bolt.

AOE DPS

For 3 or more enemies (not worth it below that – use your single-target rotation), use Magma Totem, then spam Chain Lightning. If there are 5 or more enemies, also cast Earthquake.

Cooldowns

• Use Spiritwalker’s Grace whenever you’ll need to move and attack.
• Use Ascendance on cooldown, ideally when Lava Burst is on cooldown.
• Use Fire and Earth Elemental Totems whenever the elementals are guaranteed to be able to attack the boss for a solid minute.
• Use Stormlash Totem when your entire group is buffed, usually at the same time as Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp.
• Use Heroism/Bloodlust when your raid leader tells you to, or in dungeons when your group needs to deal high DPS.

Buffs

Keep Flametongue Weapon and Lightning Shield active at all times.

Elemental Shaman Talent Choices

Shaman talent choices are particularly hotly disputed and situational. However, here’s a good general-purpose build to get started with:

• Tier 1: Stone Bulwark Totem – powerful damage reduction cooldown.
• Tier 2: Earthgrab Totem – only situationally useful.
• Tier 3: Totemic Projection – useful to move your Magma Totem.
• Tier 4: Echo of the Elements
• Tier 5: Ancestral Guidance – gives you a short-cooldown raid healing spell.
• Tier 6: Primal Elementalist

Stats, reforging and gemming for Elemental Shaman

Like all casters, Intellect is our strongest stat. Then we’re looking to get Hit capped (15% OR 5100). After that, at level 90 Haste is our best secondary stat.

Reforging: Reforge for Hit cap (either Hit or Spirit), then reforge to Haste. Reforge from excess Hit first, then Crit.
Gems: For Red slots, Brilliant (Intellect) gems. For Yellow slots, Artful (Int/Mastery) or Reckless (Int/Haste), and for Blue slots, Purified (Int/Spirit) or Veiled (Int/Hit).
Meta Gem: Burning meta gem.

Ele Glyphs

Elemental Shamans are more limited in glyphs than other specs in 5.05 – here’s a good general-purpose selection:

Major: Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem, Glyph of Flame Shock, Glyph of Chain Lightning
Minor: Your choice!

Elemental Shaman enchants and item enhancements

You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant.

• Shoulders – Greater Crane Wing Inscription
• Back – Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats
• Wrist – Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
• Hands – Enchant Gloves – Greater Haste
• Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Greater Cerulean Spellthread
• Feet – Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
• Off-Hand Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect

Links

There are quite a few good Elemental Shaman resources out there:

• Totemspot, as you’d expect, has an extremely detailed and very reliable guide to Elemental in MoP.
• Icy Veins has a well-written and thorough Elemental guide already updated to MoP
• And Elemental Entropy has a great post for experienced Ele shammies looking to catch up with 5.04 and beyond quickly
• Finally, as a WoW player, you should really check out the latest and greatest from the blogosphere on World of Warcraft, here at the Melting Pot.

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