Elemental Shaman PvP Guide for WotLK Classic

Last updated on Oct 03, 2023 at 16:00 by Seksixeny 14 comments

Welcome to our PvP Elemental Shaman guide for Wrath Classic. Here you will learn all you need to know to properly play Elemental Shaman in PvP scenarios.

1.

Viability of Elemental Shamans in Wrath Classic PvP

Elemental Shamans are one of the top casters in Wrath PvP and have a very complete kit with tools for every situation. Their main weakness is being trained down by melee cleaves, but the new Thunderstorm IconThunderstorm and Storm, Earth and Fire IconStorm, Earth and Fire talents provide control against those, on a cooldown, and it is harder to die in stuns due to Astral Shift IconAstral Shift.

Weakness aside, Lava Burst IconLava Burst, Chain Lightning IconChain Lightning, and Frost Shock IconFrost Shock (plus Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket Icon Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket with Engineering) can be cast in quick succession for near one-shot damage if allowed to go off, and Elemental provides massive utility for its team in the form of shared Shaman tools such as Bloodlust IconBloodlust, Purge IconPurge, and Grounding Totem IconGrounding Totem, and also through unique tools such as Totem of Wrath IconTotem of Wrath and the aforementioned Thunderstorm IconThunderstorm, which can easily break the enemy team's position and open up kill windows, or straight up send enemy players off the map in certain Battlegrounds.

2.

Elemental Shaman Standard PvP Talents

This build is quite different from the standard PvE one, as Elemental has multiple PvP-oriented talents in Wrath which make it an Arena and Battleground powerhouse.

The general idea is to gain more defensive and utility tools while dropping Spell Hit, some Mana regen, and less-important throughput talents. Lava Burst IconLava Burst is a key spell in PvP and has multiple talents that boost it which need to be picked, but Fire Nova IconFire Nova-boosting talents can be safely ignored.

3.

Elemental Shaman PvP Glyphs

Use Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem Icon Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem, Glyph of Thunder Icon Glyph of Thunder, and Glyph of Lava Icon Glyph of Lava as major glyphs for maximum survivability, utility, and burst damage.

As minor glyphs, use Glyph of Ghost Wolf Icon Glyph of Ghost Wolf, Glyph of Water Shield Icon Glyph of Water Shield, and Glyph of Water Walking Icon Glyph of Water Walking.

4.

Elemental Shaman PvP Rotation

Rather than a fixed rotation, Elemental Shaman gameplay is about treading a fine balance between casting damage spells, utility spells, healing, and even drinking, if given the chance. Here are some basic pointers:

Due to your reliance on cast times, learning and mastering fake casting is fundamental. This is the act of starting a cast, just to cancel it at some point before it finishes, hopefully baiting enemy interrupts while you were not casting and thus wasting them. The main difficulty with fake casting is timing it correctly, as canceling too late means you get interrupted, and too early means enemies see you stopped and do not waste their interrupts.

Totems stomping is no longer a big deal in Wrath, as Stoneclaw Totem IconStoneclaw Totem protects them and Call of the Elements IconCall of the Elements can instantly place up to four new totems if your current ones are destroyed, making it much harder for Hunters and Warlocks to disrupt your totems.

Tremor Totem IconTremor Totem pulses every few seconds, removing charm, fear, and sleep effects from yourself and nearby allies. This is amazing against fears especially, but be wary of using Stoneclaw Totem IconStoneclaw Totem during Tremor's duration, as it will replace it since it is also a Earth Totem.

5.

Elemental Shaman PvP Best in Slot Gear, Gems, and Enchants

You can find our recommended gear, gems, and enchants for PvPing as a Elemental Shaman in the link below.

6.

Elemental Shaman PvP Arena Teams and Compositions

As one of the most meta DPS, Elemental Shaman can fit into a large array of compositions, but shines particularly in a few:

In 2v2, Shaman + Destruction Warlock, Shaman + Rogue, Shaman + Mage, and Shaman + Discipline Priest are your best compositions. The idea is to have a partner who can help crowd control enemies and peel for you, allowing you to deal damage uninterrupted.

In 3v3, the most notorious compositions are Thundercleave (Arms Warrior and Holy Paladin) which combines the strongest 2v2 composition with an Elemental Shaman and LSD ( Destruction Warlock and Restoration Druid), which works similarly to the first 2v2 composition mentioned but adds a Druid who can contribute extra CC and setup with Cyclone IconCyclone and Entangling Roots IconEntangling Roots.

In 5v5, Shaman can fit into just about any team, and does not have any specifically-favored composition. Matches tend to be quick and explosive, which makes Bloodlust IconBloodlust a must, and Shaman's high burst with Elemental Mastery IconElemental Mastery helps get quick kills. Totem of Wrath IconTotem of Wrath is also particularly useful in caster cleave setups.

7.

Changelog

  • 03 Oct. 2023: Updated for Phase 4 release.
  • 21 May 2023: Reviewed for Phase 3 release.
  • 18 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
  • 24 Sep. 2022: Page added.
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