After leveling 1 - 70 as an enhancement 41, resto 20 shammy I switched recently to elemental 41, resto 20 spec and am a bit underwhelmed with the results. Admittedly I bypassed a good deal of ele gear for enh gear as I leveled and now have a hodge-podge of armor (link).
My spell crit is 11.38% and spell dmg 325.
I did a guild run of Kara yesterday and whereas I used to be above our tanks in the damage reports I now am much below. In battles I would toss out a totem of strength and windfury for our tanks then retreat to 30 yards and toss off mana spring and ToW totems then spam lightning bolts. My crits ran between 1 - 2K.
Again discounting the bad armor, what is a reasonable spell crit % and dmg to shoot for? Am I way low there with what I have now? I am thinking of trying a couple other spell rotations (3:1 LB/CL and 5/2/1 LB/CL/Flame Shock). Any other suggestions?
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Elemental: Is that all there is?
Elemental: Is that all there is?Follow
You should be able to easily get around 600-700 spell damage and 18-20% to crit with just dungeon blues.
And most of those blues come from non-heroic instances.
And most of those blues come from non-heroic instances.
Vulpecula wrote:
I did a guild run of Kara yesterday and whereas I used to be above our tanks in the damage reports I now am much below. In battles I would toss out a totem of strength and windfury for our tanks then retreat to 30 yards and toss off mana spring and ToW totems then spam lightning bolts. My crits ran between 1 - 2K.
An Elemental Shaman will not excel in a melee-oriented group in exactly the same way an Enhancement Shaman will not excel in a caster-oriented group. If you don't play to your strengths, of course you're not going to succeed. Strength is fine (earth totems are largely superfluous for Elemental Shaman), and so is buffing the tank with WF, but if you are personally expected to post better damage numbers, then you need to be allowed to lay WoA.
Quote:
Again discounting the bad armor, what is a reasonable spell crit % and dmg to shoot for? Am I way low there with what I have now? I am thinking of trying a couple other spell rotations (3:1 LB/CL and 5/2/1 LB/CL/Flame Shock). Any other suggestions?
I readily admit that my gear is terribad. It's extremely difficult to get non-heroic or non-Kara instance runs on my server now, but I've still managed to stitch together roughly 350 spell damage (400 on LB/CL thanks to Totem of the Void), 450 (500) with WoA down. I have a natural spell crit of 17%, LB/CL crit sits at 28% after talents, 31% buffed with ToW. 60 MP/5. ~7300 life, ~8400 mana (I think). I see 1000-1200 LB hits and 2000-2500 crits on average.
Gear sounds like the largest part of your problem. The rest is in your spell rotation. Don't Flame Shock unless a fight is forcing you to stay mobile and you're not in a position to cast LB. Other than that, nothing will beat the mana-friendly DPS output of pure LB spam. Cast CL only with multiple targets and only after crits when you've got clearcasting, otherwise you'll probably drain your mana too quickly.
2 posts
Thanks, good ideas guys. I'll work on the spell crit %.
Elemental shaman are built on spell-crit. You have 5 of those 20 resto points in Tidal Focus, right?
With Tidal Focus and Call of Thunder, your LB and CL spell will have 10% more crit chance than your listed crit chance by gear. If you get 20% spell crit, and lay down your Totem of Wrath, you will have a 33% chance to crit with Lightning Bolt, which will do 200% damage and trigger Elemental Focus, reducing the next 2 LBs by 40% mana.
The gear will really help your elemental shaman shine. I daresay that Elemental Shaman can beat Enhancement shaman in burst DPS when properly geared- unless someone disagrees?
With Tidal Focus and Call of Thunder, your LB and CL spell will have 10% more crit chance than your listed crit chance by gear. If you get 20% spell crit, and lay down your Totem of Wrath, you will have a 33% chance to crit with Lightning Bolt, which will do 200% damage and trigger Elemental Focus, reducing the next 2 LBs by 40% mana.
The gear will really help your elemental shaman shine. I daresay that Elemental Shaman can beat Enhancement shaman in burst DPS when properly geared- unless someone disagrees?
well with elemental in the title you guys knew i'd post here =D.
It's also the fact that ele shamans need spell crit for mana conservation. Elemental focus/clearcasting is the cause of this.
If you want an example of Elemental gear take a look at my shaman maybe?
(see sig)
Quote:
Elemental shaman are built on spell-crit. You have 5 of those 20 resto points in Tidal Focus, right?
It's also the fact that ele shamans need spell crit for mana conservation. Elemental focus/clearcasting is the cause of this.
If you want an example of Elemental gear take a look at my shaman maybe?
(see sig)
Elemental is great dps, just realize, you dont see it untill about 700-800 damage.
remeber, you have 0 chants (and i wouldn't suggest them on your gear lol), but with basic caster chants you will get over 100 more damage.
here is a some link to gear I used when I was getting ready to respec (when I respec to ele i had 600 spell damage)
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Mail&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=1&stat2=21&c2=gt&v2=1&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Leather&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=1&stat2=21&c2=gt&v2=1&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
http://thottbot.com/?s=tidefury
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Shield&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=&stat2=&c2=gt&v2=&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
thats plenty of gear to start hunting for, anything in there from a non heroic is not too hard to get,don't be afraid to use leather in acouple slots if needed or even cloth, mail is nice but it is not going to be always necesary, I would suggest you stay away from staffs tho, not really worth it, staffs are more or less clothy weapons to increase there stats alot (aka pvp item why else they need lots of stam on a weapon), you will almost always get more spell damage and crit from a 1h and shield.
Crit is your main friend, once you have about 35% crit with talents then you will start seeing a bigger dps increase from straight damage, try to stay in the 30%s for crit, but increase your spell damage when ever you can it will still help the most. but this info is more for later on lol, anything with spell damag and crit is more or less an upgrade for you =P
remeber, you have 0 chants (and i wouldn't suggest them on your gear lol), but with basic caster chants you will get over 100 more damage.
here is a some link to gear I used when I was getting ready to respec (when I respec to ele i had 600 spell damage)
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Mail&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=1&stat2=21&c2=gt&v2=1&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Leather&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=1&stat2=21&c2=gt&v2=1&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
http://thottbot.com/?s=tidefury
http://thottbot.com/?f=a&name=&skill=Shield&source=1&quality=3&minrl=65&maxrl=70&minl=&maxl=&minsc=&maxsc=&stat1=45&c1=gt&v1=&stat2=&c2=gt&v2=&stat3=&c3=gt&v3=&stat4=&c4=gt&v4=&stat5=&c5=gt&v5=&e=
thats plenty of gear to start hunting for, anything in there from a non heroic is not too hard to get,don't be afraid to use leather in acouple slots if needed or even cloth, mail is nice but it is not going to be always necesary, I would suggest you stay away from staffs tho, not really worth it, staffs are more or less clothy weapons to increase there stats alot (aka pvp item why else they need lots of stam on a weapon), you will almost always get more spell damage and crit from a 1h and shield.
Crit is your main friend, once you have about 35% crit with talents then you will start seeing a bigger dps increase from straight damage, try to stay in the 30%s for crit, but increase your spell damage when ever you can it will still help the most. but this info is more for later on lol, anything with spell damag and crit is more or less an upgrade for you =P
I like the ideas here, and indeed, with PvP and Dungeons, (especially the heroics, which are kind of hard to get into as an Elemental Shaman), you can get some great items.
Due to time constraints I won't put in links here, but here are some ideas to look for:
Worldfire Chestpiece from Dahllia
Area 52 Legs from Quest in Netherstorm
Thundercaller Gauntlets and Draenei Honor Shield, both found on AH usually for 20g or so depending on the server and intelligence of the auctioner
Shamanistic Helm of Second Sight is also good, from SMV's quest.
Biggest thing I'd suggest is a great 1-hd weapon... The Runed Song Dagger from Shattered Halls Ogre Boss. Great item, get spell dam and crit from it, and usually some useless items drop in the run, so save up the LPSs for the Spellpower chant (go for 30g a pop on my server currently)
I would commend all the pvp gear to you if possible... even with a weekend of bonus honor you should be able to snag a good piece or two that will help you round out the gear.
If you all are in Karazhan, I would commend the Big Bad Wolf's Head to you (it's one of two specific Elemental Shaman things in there, the other being the random drop Ring of Relentless Storms) and the biggest addition to my aresenal that I got on a 'please come help us out' plea from my Guild the first night we took down Illhoof... The Lightning Capacitor... if you want something that will work with the Elemental Shaman's abilities... this thing is TAILOR MADE!
It will proc off of any spell crit you create, even a Flametongue crit, and while it can no longer proc itself, the internal cooldown of 2.5s is quick enough that at long range the bolt and the LO bolt that follows after CAN both build the charge, I've been doing it all weekend on alliance that are running away from me, it all depends on the time from when the spell lands. Regardless, Elemental Shamans crit so much the thing goes off almost as often as the LO proc. TLC is great and I would recommend pleading with your raid leader into letting you get this trinket above all others. I know there are other caster classes built to critical builds, but with the crit rating and multiple castings available, I have had nothing but love for the shadow priest that passed on this so that I could have it.
Much love for Whissper.
The mentioning of pvp gear and dungeon gear, you can also try the Netherstrike gear from DS Leatherworking if you have the time and money. They are great additions to the gear build, but in total they take something like 36 primal airs and manas (why does Elemental Shaman stuff take primal AIRS!!! Blizz you are vile!) and three Primal Nethers, but the bracers can be made without a PM.
Good luck on it, and shoot for building slowly and working your way up. The crawl from 400-700 spell and 14%-20% crit won't happen overnight.
If you'd like, feel free to check out my gear, which is kind of in the same place as you, Kara-level, with some pvp and arena thrown in.
Check out Aegir on Echo Isles, Divine Retribution guild, Troll Shaman.
Cheers!
Due to time constraints I won't put in links here, but here are some ideas to look for:
Worldfire Chestpiece from Dahllia
Area 52 Legs from Quest in Netherstorm
Thundercaller Gauntlets and Draenei Honor Shield, both found on AH usually for 20g or so depending on the server and intelligence of the auctioner
Shamanistic Helm of Second Sight is also good, from SMV's quest.
Biggest thing I'd suggest is a great 1-hd weapon... The Runed Song Dagger from Shattered Halls Ogre Boss. Great item, get spell dam and crit from it, and usually some useless items drop in the run, so save up the LPSs for the Spellpower chant (go for 30g a pop on my server currently)
I would commend all the pvp gear to you if possible... even with a weekend of bonus honor you should be able to snag a good piece or two that will help you round out the gear.
If you all are in Karazhan, I would commend the Big Bad Wolf's Head to you (it's one of two specific Elemental Shaman things in there, the other being the random drop Ring of Relentless Storms) and the biggest addition to my aresenal that I got on a 'please come help us out' plea from my Guild the first night we took down Illhoof... The Lightning Capacitor... if you want something that will work with the Elemental Shaman's abilities... this thing is TAILOR MADE!
It will proc off of any spell crit you create, even a Flametongue crit, and while it can no longer proc itself, the internal cooldown of 2.5s is quick enough that at long range the bolt and the LO bolt that follows after CAN both build the charge, I've been doing it all weekend on alliance that are running away from me, it all depends on the time from when the spell lands. Regardless, Elemental Shamans crit so much the thing goes off almost as often as the LO proc. TLC is great and I would recommend pleading with your raid leader into letting you get this trinket above all others. I know there are other caster classes built to critical builds, but with the crit rating and multiple castings available, I have had nothing but love for the shadow priest that passed on this so that I could have it.
Much love for Whissper.
The mentioning of pvp gear and dungeon gear, you can also try the Netherstrike gear from DS Leatherworking if you have the time and money. They are great additions to the gear build, but in total they take something like 36 primal airs and manas (why does Elemental Shaman stuff take primal AIRS!!! Blizz you are vile!) and three Primal Nethers, but the bracers can be made without a PM.
Good luck on it, and shoot for building slowly and working your way up. The crawl from 400-700 spell and 14%-20% crit won't happen overnight.
If you'd like, feel free to check out my gear, which is kind of in the same place as you, Kara-level, with some pvp and arena thrown in.
Check out Aegir on Echo Isles, Divine Retribution guild, Troll Shaman.
Cheers!
Recent Visitors: 101
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (101)
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Elemental: Is that all there is?
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC