New Ele Shaman - Unleash Flame / Fury explanation needed

[Armeda 0]

I'm only a level 60 Ele Shaman but I've been looking up the various tips, tricks, and rotations already just to be sure I have a handle on things as I get higher in level. Two items jumped out at me in the guide here on Icy Veins for Elemental Shamans that confused the heck out of me. The "Don't use Unleash Flame during your rotation except in the opener on Flame Shock" AND the Unleashed Fury notes in comments. 

 

So actually I guess I have 2 questions. 

 

1) Do you really not use the 40% increase to fire spells during your rotation in the fight except on the opener? I would assume this includes (at minimum) Flame Shock and Lava Burst right? To me, it seems like that would be beneficial to dps to kick in an instant ability that increases damage by 40%. Perhaps with a macro to be used with Lava Burst, it could help your (my!) dps? If I'm wrong on this, I must be missing something obvious. Please explain why one wouldn't want to use it every time it's up. 

 

2) Main question/source of confusion tonight for me I suppose --- On the tooltip for Unleashed Fury (level 90 talent), it specifies that Unleashed Fury causes Unleash Flame also to increase damage done by Lava burst by 10% for 10 sec. I don't know whether that means a) Lava Burst doesn't initially count as a "fire spell" for use with Unleash Flame and so Unleashed Fury now lets LB be boosted damage wise with the ability by only 10% over its initial damage OR b) that the damage increased to Lava Burst is now 50% more(40% from the initial Unleash Flame + additional 10% from Unleashed Fury passive talent)?

 

I apologize if this is an asinine question but as it's late at night, it's killing my brain cells. Something doesn't add up for me. If someone familiar with the spec / math that goes into this particular ability / talent could explain these two questions, this new Shaman would greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks in advance! 

[Karanir 15]

Hello, 

 

The guides were written for level 100 characters participating in a raid boss fight. So, it may not be directly applicable to the leveling process. This is because most mobs during the levelling process die in seconds, while raid fights can take up to 5 minutes. Also, during levelling, you would favour talents that restore life/mana so that you can keep on pulling mobs non-stop. 

 

(1) Unleash Flame isn't worth it without the unleashed fury talent. You can replace unleash flame with your filler spell (lightning bolt) and do more damage in the long run. This is because it's not just about damage. Spells can make other spells stronger. For example, flame shock buffs Lava Burst, while lightning bolt gives charges for Earth shock.

 

During levelling, it works a bit differently. You can use unleash flame frequently for the speed boost (stacks with ghost wolf). You can also consider using Unleash Flame + Flame Shock for the self heals (use glyph of flame shock). Also, during levelling, if you can use unleash flame while you are moving to the next mob, it's definitely a dps gain regardless of whether you have the talent or not. 

 

(2) Unleashed Flame and Unleashed Fury are two separate buffs. They add up. 

 

Feel free to ask me if you have any other questions. Welcome to the shaman community! 

[Armeda 0]

Thanks for the reply Karanir. I'm new to playing a Shaman but have been a Mage / Warlock since 2005 Leveling is definitely different rotation wise since, until higher levels when fights take a tad longer, there really isn't one. 

 

But the reason I was asking was for raiding purposes. Is it not worth using Unleash Flame in the long run bc that GCD of use could be better spent simply casting Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt or another spell / ability? Or is there another reason it's not advisable to use at all? I could understand better if it was a casted ability or took lots of mana to execute. The problem I'm having with the "Don't use it at all" is that it's an instant that can boost a really high damage spell. Does Lightning Bolt become more powerful at 100 than Lava Burst? If that's the case, I get it. Case closed. But... 30% extra for Lightning Bolt or 50% from talented Lava Burst with Unleash Flame... I'd have to think that Lava Burst would do more damage. 

 

Everything I've read says that prioritizing Lava Burst when it's available is the thing to do for optimal rotation for Elemental Shaman. So.... why would you regulate a smaller damage buff to a filler spell instead of a higher damage buff to your priority spell? True, you may not have it come up when Lava Burst is up. But if you use EotE or even with Flame Shock proc'ing instant use Lava Bursts, I can't get my mind to concede using the small damage boost for a filler spell. 

 

I'm not a newcomer to the raiding scene. I know things stack with each other or proc other abilities. But it seems there's something I'm missing as far as shaman mechanics at the higher levels go for this ability to be put in the "avoid" pile. Can you explain it further? I'd appreciate it! 

Edited February 3, 2015 by Armeda

[Karanir 15]

Hello,

Oops, when I read your original post, I thought you were a new player so I didn't want to scare you off with too much details.

For unleash flame (without talent), it does have a smaller damage per execute time than lightning bolt and lava burst. Even though it's instant, it does no damage on its own. It only buffs another spell by 40%,which makes it weaker than a normal instant spell (conflagrate or corruption , for example).

Untalented Unleash flame is meant to be our movement spell. Using it on the move buffs speed and gives you some additional dps (buff lava burst). It's a minor dps loss if you use it in a rotation on cd.

Lightning bolt doesn't get more powerful than lava burst at 100. The unleashed fury talent boosts both spells at once. You don't have to choose one. So once you get unleash fury talent, you should use it on cool down all the time.

Advanced tip : if you have elemental fusion and unleashed fury talents , you should save unleashed fury for flame shock when you have 2 stacks of elemental fusion up.