Elemental Shaman PvP Guide for Mists of Pandaria Classic

Elementals are back to being one of the top arena DPS in Mists of Pandaria. They are hard to pin down through Thunderstorm, Earthgrab Totem, and instant Ghost Wolf, and also gained a strong baseline defensive in Shamanistic Rage, as well as extra passive defenses through the Nature's Guardian talent.

Elemental can now get instant cast Lava Bursts through baseline Lava Surge procs, which makes their damage much harder to shut down. Lightning Bolt can now also be cast on the move by default, making them even more mobile than before.

Finally, Elementals also have a lot of utility they can put to good use in the Arena, such as Purge, Grounding Totem, Hex (made instant by Ancestral Swiftness), a low-cooldown ranged interrupt in Wind Shear, and many support totems capable of improving ally DPS.

Strengths

• Great utility including offensive dispels with Purge and knockbacks with Thunderstorm
• Strong burst damage with guaranteed Lava Burst critical strikes, multiple of which will be instant through Lava Surge
• Can throw out strong heals in an emergency situation to save an ally with Healing Tide Totem, Healing Stream Totem and Ancestral Guidance

Weaknesses

• Lacks high burst from damage cooldowns compared to the top DPS classes
• Often focused in arenas as mobility and anti-stun options are relatively weak

• Glyph of Lightning Shield — reduces your damage taken by 10% whenever Lightning Shield is triggered, which is very useful in a PvP environment.
• Glyph of Hex — reduces the cooldown of Hex by 10 seconds, allowing you to use it more often.
• Glyph of Flame Shock — causes your Flame Shock to heal you for 30% of the damage dealt, which can have decent value for Elemental due to spreading Flame Shock being one of your PvP priorities.
• Glyph of Healing Stream Totem — causes Healing Stream Totem to reduce the elemental damage taken by its targets by 10% for 6 seconds. This is a very strong glyph against teams that heavily use elemental damage, and should ideally be combined with the Rushing Streams talent for maximum benefit.

• Glyph of Totemic Encirclement — creates multiple decoy totems when you use your totems, making it harder to take down your important utility totems.

The rest of the minor glyphs have no impact on PvP gameplay.

If you have not already, we recommend reading the Spells Summary page first. Knowing how each spell and ability works in detail will greatly increase your understanding of the topics discussed on this section. In PvP you will need to react and adapt to different situations, meaning you will not always follow the recommended rotation below. Aim to do whatever allows you to stick on your target the most while dealing as much damage as possible.

1. Use Flame Shock on as many long-lived enemies as possible to maximize Lava Surge procs;
2. Use Unleash Elements for setting up large Lava Burst windows, especially in combination with Lava Surge;
3. Cast Lava Burst on cooldown on a target with Flame Shock;
4. Use Earth Shock once at 6+ charges of Lightning Shield;
5. Cast Lightning Bolt as a filler, remember you can move while casting.

When facing multiple players at Battlegrounds or wanting to cleave through multiple targets, follow the single-target rotation, but swap Lightning Bolt for Chain Lightning against 2 enemies or spam only Chain Lightning against 3 or more enemies.

In addition to your main spells and cooldowns, you also have many utility spells that can be game-changing when used in the proper scenario. Make sure you understand each of the spells listed below to fully take advantage of your entire spellbook.

• Earthgrab Totem to root and slow nearby enemies;
• Thunderstorm for Mana and to reposition enemies or mass interrupt casts;
• Tremor Totem can be used to remove Fear and other similar effects, making it an excellent button to break such effects instantly on yourself and your team;
• Grounding Totem should be used to nullify enemy CC and other important casts;
• Wind Shear can also be used to disrupt caster enemies, by interrupting their casts directly;
• Purge can be used to remove enemy buffs, such as Druid heals over time or Priest shields;
• Hex is a hard crowd control spell which can be used to disable an enemy for an extended duration. Take note that it is a Curse effect, making it harder to dispel for some classes, but easier for others.

If you are looking to maximize the potential of your Elemental Shaman in Mists of Pandaria PvP, these are the recommended professions:

1. Blacksmithing — Gives you two additional sockets with Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves, enabling you to stack more Haste in this season.
2. Jewelcrafting — Gives you three extra powerful gems, which can boost your Haste even higher.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for a Elemental Shaman in PvP.

When it comes to evaluating Elemental Shaman's place within the Arena, we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popular team compositions which you can find below.