From the outset, I have been enhancement. I knew my build before even dining level 10, so I knew right where each talent point was going before it was even earned. Along with this, I have been able - through quest rewards and instance drops - to deck my Enh Shaman out with the appropriate gear. I was DW'ing Grunt's Waraxe, I had reasonably good stats for not being an uber-hardcore gamer... and all was "ok."
Then I started getting tired of the Shaman, as a whole. What I previously LOVED at the 30s through upper 50s, I've grown tired of. So, I know I need a change. I did some quick research and saw that with the right outland gear (greens would make it work, blues make it better) elemental is now a very do-able PvE build. Maybe this is a change I need.
My guild prefers me to stay DPS, and they are willing to help me gear up my toon if he's willing to make the switch from Enh to Elemental. So last night I spent a good hour playing with talent points, reading the talents, going over the WEAK +INT, +STA, +SPELL DMG gear I had in my bank. Yikes.
Here are my questions, because right now, I'm not effective yet. LOL. Please help me!
(1) What is the essential (PvE) elemental spec? I have tried researching on my own, but all links to what appears to be the best specs are broken.
(2) In case I have it wrong already - what are the top stats I need to increase? Please put them in order of importance! I'm guessing it's not +STR. :)
(3) What is the standard technique for fighting a mob? Spam Lightning Bolts and Earth Shocks? Healing myself in between? Seems kinda boring, lol.
(4) Should I use an Outland green Staff (with +Int, +Sta and +SPL DMG) or should I use a 1h Axe w/ Shield? I may have just answered that myself...
(5) Considering I have absolutely NO experience being elemental in an instance, can someone please give me a quick role description? What should I be doing and, more importantly, not be doing?
I'm MAINLY interested with talent build help. I was stupid enough to dump ALL my points into elemental w/out getting Nature's Swiftness in the resto tree. Was this a mistake? Please keep in mind I am (for now) interested only in PvE. I will look into the PvP build as I get closer to 70 (if I don't just wait until 70).
Thanks!
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Let's Talk Elemental.
Let's Talk Elemental.Follow
Elemental is great for PvE. Even better than enhancement IMO since you can stay ranged, and the gear is much more compatible with off-healing.
1- There's no essential build. I'm currently 40/0/21 since I found Totem of Wrath to be underwhelming (and NS is just plain awesome, even in PvE), but other specs can be viable. There ARE essential talents though. Don't miss Elemental Focus, Elemental Fury, or Lightning Mastery.
2- Spell crit, spell crit, and spell crit. True, elemental focus is getting nerfed, but it's still huge for us. After that's squared away, go for +dmg, then INT and STA, and keep a healthy amount of mana/5 around for boss fights. I find I don't need much +spell hit or penetration (take elemental precision if you can), but it doesn't hurt either especially if you'll be raiding.
3- Max range lightning bolt spam. With a crit or two and the occasional lightning overload proc, the mob won't even get to you. LB damage isn't delt until the bolt gets to the target, so wind another one up as soon as the first one's in the air. When it gets boring, try pulling two at a time. :)
4- Shield, in almost all cases. Mail armor really isn't that great; most of our armor comes from the shield (one of the reasons enh shamans are screwed, but I digress). And since we don't have any real kiting mechanism (wtb frost nova), often times you'll just have to take the melee damage.
5- Watch your agro; with crits and LO procs, your damage can be very unpredictable. To combat this, I spend the first few seconds of a fight just dropping totems while agro is established. It's generally a lightning-bolt spamfest, but be ready to earthshock a caster or frostshock a mob on your healer. Healers will love you for an occasional chain heal. And--you should already know this--but if the resto druid goes bear or holy priest turns into an angel, be ready to pick up the healing.
1- There's no essential build. I'm currently 40/0/21 since I found Totem of Wrath to be underwhelming (and NS is just plain awesome, even in PvE), but other specs can be viable. There ARE essential talents though. Don't miss Elemental Focus, Elemental Fury, or Lightning Mastery.
2- Spell crit, spell crit, and spell crit. True, elemental focus is getting nerfed, but it's still huge for us. After that's squared away, go for +dmg, then INT and STA, and keep a healthy amount of mana/5 around for boss fights. I find I don't need much +spell hit or penetration (take elemental precision if you can), but it doesn't hurt either especially if you'll be raiding.
3- Max range lightning bolt spam. With a crit or two and the occasional lightning overload proc, the mob won't even get to you. LB damage isn't delt until the bolt gets to the target, so wind another one up as soon as the first one's in the air. When it gets boring, try pulling two at a time. :)
4- Shield, in almost all cases. Mail armor really isn't that great; most of our armor comes from the shield (one of the reasons enh shamans are screwed, but I digress). And since we don't have any real kiting mechanism (wtb frost nova), often times you'll just have to take the melee damage.
5- Watch your agro; with crits and LO procs, your damage can be very unpredictable. To combat this, I spend the first few seconds of a fight just dropping totems while agro is established. It's generally a lightning-bolt spamfest, but be ready to earthshock a caster or frostshock a mob on your healer. Healers will love you for an occasional chain heal. And--you should already know this--but if the resto druid goes bear or holy priest turns into an angel, be ready to pick up the healing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All that stuff and then some.
I may disagree that we HAVE to have a shield, I say make sure you have one. A off hand caster item is always a good supplement to your ranged dammage. I find mail armor GREAT, I play clothies and a leather classes mostly, so I see a HUGE diffrence in the armor and the protection it affords, but i have to agree a sheild makes a HUGE diffrence, but in a raiding envinroment it is not as needed.
I would immigine that one of the biggest issues is Trinkets, Caster love theese things and i bet you took the meele trinkets(rightfully so as a enhancment spec). I recomend the ZHC or the ToEp. If neither of those are a chocie the (may have the name wrong)talasmin of trandance can be aquired from AD for a meer 2 weeks of grining useless mobs(or a stack o cash).
The biggest point that i agree with Viduus on is Natures Swiftness. this spell is NOT just for healing, a instant cast LB or CL is always handy. this tallent is arguely the best tallent in the game(I will argue it is). the uses are huge, from PvE to PvP and raiding, you will love it(if you remember to use it)
All that stuff and then some.
I may disagree that we HAVE to have a shield, I say make sure you have one. A off hand caster item is always a good supplement to your ranged dammage. I find mail armor GREAT, I play clothies and a leather classes mostly, so I see a HUGE diffrence in the armor and the protection it affords, but i have to agree a sheild makes a HUGE diffrence, but in a raiding envinroment it is not as needed.
I would immigine that one of the biggest issues is Trinkets, Caster love theese things and i bet you took the meele trinkets(rightfully so as a enhancment spec). I recomend the ZHC or the ToEp. If neither of those are a chocie the (may have the name wrong)talasmin of trandance can be aquired from AD for a meer 2 weeks of grining useless mobs(or a stack o cash).
The biggest point that i agree with Viduus on is Natures Swiftness. this spell is NOT just for healing, a instant cast LB or CL is always handy. this tallent is arguely the best tallent in the game(I will argue it is). the uses are huge, from PvE to PvP and raiding, you will love it(if you remember to use it)
Rate up for both of you. Thanks for the well-informed and well-versed replies.
@Viduus: Ty specifically for the build advice. It's not the first time that I've seen the 40/0/21 build. I will try it out tonight.
@Viduus: Ty specifically for the build advice. It's not the first time that I've seen the 40/0/21 build. I will try it out tonight.
Word NS is a must for elemental, that totem just is not half as worth as being able to save a party members or yourself's ***, I never get to use it for any dmg anymore, i put that sucker to use savin lives (mostly my own)
Dude dont be discouraged at the start ele is hard to get use to without the gear, once you get acouple pieces of tide fury set it will start to fall into place.
you can get alot of nice items for upping your rep with different factions.
in thrallmar you can get Farseer's band, with cenarion expedition you can get Ashyen's Gift, with Lower City you can get Gavel of Unearthed Secrets (a must), Shat'tar will offer you Xi'ri's Gift. These are all nice pieces that you can pick up just from doing instances to pick up gear.
Don't be afraid to down grade to leather or cloth sometimes either, generaly your going to be wearing a shield any way so your armor wont take a big hit, work on getting your tide fury and get as much spell crit and spell dmg as you can fit. I have 31% crit on my Lightning spells and I LOVE IT. GL gearing up welcome to the Dark Side =P
Dude dont be discouraged at the start ele is hard to get use to without the gear, once you get acouple pieces of tide fury set it will start to fall into place.
you can get alot of nice items for upping your rep with different factions.
in thrallmar you can get Farseer's band, with cenarion expedition you can get Ashyen's Gift, with Lower City you can get Gavel of Unearthed Secrets (a must), Shat'tar will offer you Xi'ri's Gift. These are all nice pieces that you can pick up just from doing instances to pick up gear.
Don't be afraid to down grade to leather or cloth sometimes either, generaly your going to be wearing a shield any way so your armor wont take a big hit, work on getting your tide fury and get as much spell crit and spell dmg as you can fit. I have 31% crit on my Lightning spells and I LOVE IT. GL gearing up welcome to the Dark Side =P
2 posts
Very good post.
YOu have me sold! :)
Rate-Up
YOu have me sold! :)
Rate-Up
27 posts
In my oppinio, elemental is the most fun ive ever had playing my shaman.
But let me tell you now dont listen to what people say because they say its the best, for example, heres my build. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5503015500021535100000000000000000000000052030050005000000000
many people may argue the placement one point into elemental instead of
natures swiftness. Is NS worth it? probobly, but personaly i never found the use of a flash heal or bolt in anything other than pvp. Because generaly if you have to throw somthing flash in a group the person will be dead already. Now maybe i have the wrong oppinion of NS but thats just me. Necessary talents for elemental in my oppinion are elemental focus, call of thunder,lightning mastery, and elemental mastery. Some nice gems that people do not recognize for their power are elemental precision and tidal mastery in the resto chain. Elemental precision helps more than you could imagine in groups, and tidal mastery boosts dps by a long shot.
BTW this spec is all out dps for raids, you wont have amazing heals but you can if necessary, and you will have the VERY BEST survivability mana and health wise of any other casters.
It is also argued wether to put the 3 points from elemental warding into somthing deeper into elemetnal like lightning overlord, but personaly i think overlord is a terrible talent and a huge waste of 5 whole points, for only giving 1/21 free bolts.
As far as stats go really roll with int and spirit. With the unrelenting storm talent int really becomes helpful in place of spirit, but shamans being hard to conserve mana on long fights spirit also helps. MP5 also is a must. spell crit helps also conserving mana with the elemental focus talent, which is supposedly getting nerfed. I want that to happen like i want to get kicked in the balls but thats another story. As far as +to hit and spell pen go, i wouldnt worry as much about to hit, you are pretty much covered imo from elemental precsion but spell pen will help as much as itll help any other caster.
Standard techniques for 1v1 fighting follows a pretty boring path imo unless you like to kite. Generaly start with a bolt, and right after hit with a frost shock, take a step back if you like, then unload with another bolt, then you should be able to fire shock, then bolt earthsock till dead. The best solo PvE? no, but it is fun to drop a fire elemental totem and agro everything, and try to kill em all while healing your elemental.
Defenatly use 1 hander with a shield. One hander will usualy be dagger until you get the epic mace from lower city as previously mentioned. You will get much more lastability out of a shield, and the dps loss from using a staff or off hand bauble just isnt worth it to the extra defence.
On an off note, some shamans use high epic tanking shields for maximum ownage in pvp, and on aoe fights in raids. Worth it? meh.
This mentioned build in an instance is much like other casters, get the KTM threat meter mod, hope your tank has it. Baisicly ask group what totems they want, have em down at all times, throw in a heal if necessary, and spam bolt as much as you can. Some throw in fire shocks but the dps really isnt much. Some throw in earth shocks but personaly if you have the agro to waste and you are that far behind the tank you dont have enough dps with your bolts and need better gear and are wasting mana.
Just imo. This build is also good in PvP. Not excelent but adequate. It has the lastability to take some hits, and elemental warding to help with mage nuking. Just keep grounding and tremor totem next to you and elemental mastery/chain lightning combo FTW. Seeing 3 2k crits is the greatest feeling you will get next to having lightning overlord and seeing 6 2k crits and downing an entire flag defending team in one shot...
Hope this helps, remember elemental is a versetile tree, dont be afraid to respec to try new talents if ones you have arnt working out like you planned.
But let me tell you now dont listen to what people say because they say its the best, for example, heres my build. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5503015500021535100000000000000000000000052030050005000000000
many people may argue the placement one point into elemental instead of
natures swiftness. Is NS worth it? probobly, but personaly i never found the use of a flash heal or bolt in anything other than pvp. Because generaly if you have to throw somthing flash in a group the person will be dead already. Now maybe i have the wrong oppinion of NS but thats just me. Necessary talents for elemental in my oppinion are elemental focus, call of thunder,lightning mastery, and elemental mastery. Some nice gems that people do not recognize for their power are elemental precision and tidal mastery in the resto chain. Elemental precision helps more than you could imagine in groups, and tidal mastery boosts dps by a long shot.
BTW this spec is all out dps for raids, you wont have amazing heals but you can if necessary, and you will have the VERY BEST survivability mana and health wise of any other casters.
It is also argued wether to put the 3 points from elemental warding into somthing deeper into elemetnal like lightning overlord, but personaly i think overlord is a terrible talent and a huge waste of 5 whole points, for only giving 1/21 free bolts.
As far as stats go really roll with int and spirit. With the unrelenting storm talent int really becomes helpful in place of spirit, but shamans being hard to conserve mana on long fights spirit also helps. MP5 also is a must. spell crit helps also conserving mana with the elemental focus talent, which is supposedly getting nerfed. I want that to happen like i want to get kicked in the balls but thats another story. As far as +to hit and spell pen go, i wouldnt worry as much about to hit, you are pretty much covered imo from elemental precsion but spell pen will help as much as itll help any other caster.
Standard techniques for 1v1 fighting follows a pretty boring path imo unless you like to kite. Generaly start with a bolt, and right after hit with a frost shock, take a step back if you like, then unload with another bolt, then you should be able to fire shock, then bolt earthsock till dead. The best solo PvE? no, but it is fun to drop a fire elemental totem and agro everything, and try to kill em all while healing your elemental.
Defenatly use 1 hander with a shield. One hander will usualy be dagger until you get the epic mace from lower city as previously mentioned. You will get much more lastability out of a shield, and the dps loss from using a staff or off hand bauble just isnt worth it to the extra defence.
On an off note, some shamans use high epic tanking shields for maximum ownage in pvp, and on aoe fights in raids. Worth it? meh.
This mentioned build in an instance is much like other casters, get the KTM threat meter mod, hope your tank has it. Baisicly ask group what totems they want, have em down at all times, throw in a heal if necessary, and spam bolt as much as you can. Some throw in fire shocks but the dps really isnt much. Some throw in earth shocks but personaly if you have the agro to waste and you are that far behind the tank you dont have enough dps with your bolts and need better gear and are wasting mana.
Just imo. This build is also good in PvP. Not excelent but adequate. It has the lastability to take some hits, and elemental warding to help with mage nuking. Just keep grounding and tremor totem next to you and elemental mastery/chain lightning combo FTW. Seeing 3 2k crits is the greatest feeling you will get next to having lightning overlord and seeing 6 2k crits and downing an entire flag defending team in one shot...
Hope this helps, remember elemental is a versetile tree, dont be afraid to respec to try new talents if ones you have arnt working out like you planned.
kind of wierd build, if it works for you kool, but it seems like you sacrafice alot of survival for dps but when i looked at your build you didnt grab some of the talents I thought you would. Thats fine though do what you want, but i wouldnt tell ppl that they aren't good talents. For maximum survival and dps most ppl go for this spec here
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5500011503021335105000000000000000000000005005050005010000000
This is my spec and I love it, I had to sacrafice some points in Unrelenting Storm and i picked up Lightning overload, which I myself know is only 5% increase in dmg, but it offers free nukes, which right now thats what Elemental build is all about, free nukes, my crit is 31% thats almost a 1/3 chance to crit, thats almost 1/3 chance that my nukes are free (for now), and LO is just another way for me to get free nukes and bonus burst dmg.
I am not saying that your build is bad, it is just different and i dont want ppl getting the wrong idea, that spec may "work" for you but it may make someone waste some money and time. Anyhow i will take the liberty of putting up some more elemental specs and explaning their functions for anyone that is interested in trying elemental, I know elemental is becoming much more popurlar.
Here is a build I used before I buffed my overall dps at all, but this build is great for DMG and Healing, I liked it at the time because With NS and Healing Way I could affectively main heal groups, here it is:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?550001150302153510000000000000000000000005500005000531000000
This build would be more about overall DPS so you sacrafice alot of survival for this but this might be better for raid dps if your guild doesnt need you healing much and would rather have you buffing caster's crit, I dont really like it though. For a bonus though it does offer 14% crit and 12% crit from talents and the totem, which means this is a very mana efficient build for DPS, you will crit alot and miss rarely. Here it is:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5500014503021035105100000000000000000000005105301005000000000
Hope the three builds I have listed here give you guys a good idea what to look for depending on what you want to be. Hope this helps any of you Curious shaman a bit.
Edited, Apr 19th 2007 9:04am by jmfmb
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5500011503021335105000000000000000000000005005050005010000000
This is my spec and I love it, I had to sacrafice some points in Unrelenting Storm and i picked up Lightning overload, which I myself know is only 5% increase in dmg, but it offers free nukes, which right now thats what Elemental build is all about, free nukes, my crit is 31% thats almost a 1/3 chance to crit, thats almost 1/3 chance that my nukes are free (for now), and LO is just another way for me to get free nukes and bonus burst dmg.
I am not saying that your build is bad, it is just different and i dont want ppl getting the wrong idea, that spec may "work" for you but it may make someone waste some money and time. Anyhow i will take the liberty of putting up some more elemental specs and explaning their functions for anyone that is interested in trying elemental, I know elemental is becoming much more popurlar.
Here is a build I used before I buffed my overall dps at all, but this build is great for DMG and Healing, I liked it at the time because With NS and Healing Way I could affectively main heal groups, here it is:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?550001150302153510000000000000000000000005500005000531000000
This build would be more about overall DPS so you sacrafice alot of survival for this but this might be better for raid dps if your guild doesnt need you healing much and would rather have you buffing caster's crit, I dont really like it though. For a bonus though it does offer 14% crit and 12% crit from talents and the totem, which means this is a very mana efficient build for DPS, you will crit alot and miss rarely. Here it is:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5500014503021035105100000000000000000000005105301005000000000
Hope the three builds I have listed here give you guys a good idea what to look for depending on what you want to be. Hope this helps any of you Curious shaman a bit.
Edited, Apr 19th 2007 9:04am by jmfmb
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/shaman/talents.html?5500015500021505105000000000000000000000005204000000000000000
This is me spec.I find it very good 4 DPS,and took me a while 2 learn it this way.I can be proud of hitting almost 2k dmg from LB and CL,and having many crits,which ofc reduces my spell's mana cost by 100%,half of my mana i can afford healing others.It seems that in AV i got meself a nice rep 4 being #1 at damage dealt,out-taking hunters ,mages and locks.4 me this is smth...
And tbh,this and resto i find more useful in BG,rather than enhance.What i like in this spec is that i can kite marshalls and melee dudes,while the others lay their entire ******* on them.Lucky FROST shock,lucky TOTEMS!
This is me spec.I find it very good 4 DPS,and took me a while 2 learn it this way.I can be proud of hitting almost 2k dmg from LB and CL,and having many crits,which ofc reduces my spell's mana cost by 100%,half of my mana i can afford healing others.It seems that in AV i got meself a nice rep 4 being #1 at damage dealt,out-taking hunters ,mages and locks.4 me this is smth...
And tbh,this and resto i find more useful in BG,rather than enhance.What i like in this spec is that i can kite marshalls and melee dudes,while the others lay their entire ******* on them.Lucky FROST shock,lucky TOTEMS!
Recent Visitors: 196
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (196)
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Let's Talk Elemental.
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC