A quick primer for Elemental DPS

[kryst]

By request of Meero, I'm going to do a quick primer to PVE Elemental.

First off, http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t20914-shaman_elemental/ is a very well-done guide to playing Elemental and is worth a read.

Stat weighting:
Hit (until capped) > Spellpower > Haste >>>>> Crit

Crit is basically unavoidable since a lot of Elemental gear (with 3 DPS stats, not 2 DPS stats + mp5) has it, but it's not something you should be going out of the way to stack. Haste provides better returns per stat point. Hit capping is very important because missing a Lava Burst can be devastating (considering it crits for 10k+ in a raid environment).

The magic hit numbers are 367 (14%) without Misery/Improved Faerie Fire available and 289 (11%) with. (Most generally gear assuming Misery/IFF is present, and carry around an additional piece or two of +hit gear if necessary.)

Spec/glyphs:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Shadow+Council&cn=Zumasa

I basically have the baseline talent spec and glyphs that are agreed upon at this point. Some further-progressed Shaman move points into Elemental Warding for hard modes (since Elemental has crap survivability), but otherwise this is the cookie-cutter spec.

The majors are basically set in stone as the 3 highest DPS ones. The additional 2% crit from Flametongue Weapon is basically useless since Elemental already has a very high crit rate due to its mechanics, and Lava Burst doesn't scale as well as Lightning Bolt.

The minors are basically personal preference except for Water Shield. The less GCDs you have to spend refreshing Water Shield, the better (obviously). I should probably be using Glyph of Reincarnation instead of Glyph of Water Breathing (since I don't think I've cast Water Breathing in months), but that's just splitting hairs =)

Buffs/Totems:

There are two main reasons for bringing an Elemental Shaman:
- Elemental Oath (5% spell crit to raid members for 10 seconds when you crit)
- Totem of Wrath (280 SP to raid members within range and 3% chance to be crit to all hostiles within range)

Elemental Oath shares the same buff spot as Moonkin Aura.
The spellpower buff of Totem of Wrath shares the same buff spot as Flametongue Totem and Demonic Pact, although DP often won't have 100% uptime.
The crit debuff of Totem of Wrath shares the same buff spot as Heart of the Crusader and Master Poisoner.

If you have someone else providing Totem of Wrath or the analog buffs from other classes, drop Searing or Magma Totem instead.


Rotation:

There are two ways to approach Elemental rotations, but both basically revolve around maintaining Flame Shock and casting Lava Burst as often as possible.

Priority
Cast whichever spell is highest in priority. The priority for Elemental DPS in this case would be:

refreshing Flame Shock > Lava Burst > Chain Lightning > Lightning Bolt

Maintaining high Flame Shock uptime is important because the DoT deals pretty good damage (even better with 2 piece T8, which lets the DoT crit) and you need Flame Shock up for Lava Burst auto-crits.

Try to avoid clipping Flame Shock as much as you can, although it's worth clipping if Lava Burst is the next spell to come up and the DoT would expire before it's cast. Clipping the last tick is less of a DPS loss than hitting a non-crit Lava Burst.

Fixed Rotation
This is generally what I tend to (try to) use. It comes down to personal preference and whether you expect your haste level to vary wildly during the fight (Embrace of the Spider procs, Power Infusion, etc...you can plan around Bloodlust).

Generally, a fixed rotation will look like this:
Flame Shock, Lava Burst, filler, Lava Burst, filler

The filler in this case is some combination of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, based on how much haste you have. The idea is to take the cast time of your spells after all anticipated raid haste buffs and your own haste rating, then figure out the combination that is as close to 8 seconds as you can get. Sometimes it's best to shoot for a little under 8 seconds to take into account latency and reaction time.

The easiest way to do this is to borrow a Balance Druid/Retribution Paladin and go to a test dummy. Dropping Wrath of Air in combination with Improved Moonkin Form/Swift Retribution will give you all the haste buffs that you would normally have in a raid (assuming said specs actually EXIST in a raid ). Gather the cast times of your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, then figure out a combination of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning that will get you as close to 8 seconds as possible, keeping in mind Chain Lightning has a (talented) 3.5 second cooldown.

Note there are two filler periods. The second filler period will actually be less than 8 seconds, since you'll want to refresh Flame Shock before casting the next Lava Burst.

As an example, here's a rotation I use fairly often since I have a relatively low amount of haste compared to others:

FS, LvB, CL, LB, LB, LB, LB, LvB, LB, LB, LB, LB

Chain Lightning has a 1.5 second base cast time (assuming talents), which is the same as your GCD. Therefore, if you use a Chain Lightning in your first filler period, you can replace it with a Flame Shock as the very last cast of your second filler period.





Elemental isn't terribly hard to play, but it generally relies on a tight rotation based around Lava Burst's 8 second cooldown, since you really really want to be casting Lava Burst as soon as it's up.
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80s: Krystallos (Mage), Zumasa (Shaman), Kimbal (Druid), Alryia (Paladin), Cliché (DK), Sinicole (Priest)
Others: Latyaf (77 Rogue), Tamen (71 Hunter)

[Sounder]

[kryst]

[Sounder]

[kryst]

The main thing I can say is don't be disappointed if your single-target DPS is somewhat low, since you're actually losing a few hundred individual DPS by not being able to drop Magma/Searing Totem (which scale surprisingly well), since Totem of Wrath takes up your Fire totem. Overall raid DPS will be higher than the individual gain you get from not using ToW.

I'm not going to lie, I'm still considering (and have been since before 3.1) switching mains to Zumasa just so we can have a high attendance consistent Elemental Shaman, but doing so now would be incredibly awkward since Kryst already has a number of Ulduar 25 drops.
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80s: Krystallos (Mage), Zumasa (Shaman), Kimbal (Druid), Alryia (Paladin), Cliché (DK), Sinicole (Priest)
Others: Latyaf (77 Rogue), Tamen (71 Hunter)

[Sounder]

[kryst]

[Rugern]

Rugern is off-spec elemental. Had fun Ulduar 10 last night seeing my name on the dps meter.

Elemental is pretty easy, the main problem I have is getting to the hit cap without nerfing everything else.
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Rugern --> 80 Resto Shaman
Phagia --> 70 Lock
Morbick -->80 Death Knight

Selastine = Rugern's Wife --> 80 BM Hunter

[kryst]

A note that I missed in the guide above:

After Lava Burst, the first two spells you should cast (in a single-target situation) should be Lightning Bolts because Lightning Bolt deals more damage, giving you a larger benefit from Elemental Oath during Clearcasting.
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80s: Krystallos (Mage), Zumasa (Shaman), Kimbal (Druid), Alryia (Paladin), Cliché (DK), Sinicole (Priest)
Others: Latyaf (77 Rogue), Tamen (71 Hunter)

[Malqueso]

[Meero]

Somehow I missed this topic the first time around !

Retro-thanks Kryst, it's very helpful and exactly what I was hoping for.
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Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.