Season of Discovery Elemental Shaman DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

We will present the skill rotation of an Elemental Shaman as a priority list. This is not the exact sequence in which abilities should be cast. but rather the skills that are most important to press as soon as they come out of cooldown, followed by less important skills as the list goes down.

While they are extraordinarily powerful, explosives such as Heavy Dynamite will not be detailed in the rotation. Usually, you will want to use them as soon as the tank has solid threat on the target. The main exception is when you are facing multiple or particularly dangerous (such as enraged) enemies at some point in the fight. Saving explosives to carry you and your group through these moments (and possibly do a ton of AoE damage in the process) is probably worth it.

1. Keep your group-buffing Totems and Searing Totem active and in range of their respective targets at all times;
2. Use Shamanistic Rage on cooldown once you lose enough Mana to make it worthwhile;
3. Keep Lightning Shield active;
4. Keep Flame Shock active on your target to make Lava Burst always crit;
5. Discharge Rolling Thunder once at 8+ stacks with Earth Shock;
6. Use Lava Burst on cooldown provided Flame Shock is also on target;
7. Use Lightning Bolt (with Elemental Mastery whenever possible) as the main filler;
8. Cast Earth Shock if you need to move.

Follow the single target rotation with the following adjustments: use Elemental Mastery on Chain Lightning and immediately Fire Nova for a guaranteed crit on both, use Chain Lightning and Fire Nova on cooldown, drop Magma Totem at 3+ targets instead of Searing Totem, and spread Flame Shock to multiple targets.

Against moving targets, remember to use the new Totemic Projection to move your Fire Totem near the intended Fire Nova targets before using it for maximum effect!

In this section, we will dive deeper into the core mechanics and various abilities of Elemental Shamans. Understanding these topics is an important step to truly mastering the specialization. Expect this section to expand as we get more situational tools in future phases!

Tremor Totem and Poison Cleansing Totem should be dropped when slightly less than 5 seconds remains until the Fear or Poison application. As they remove effects every 5 seconds, this will ensure that these harmful effects are removed as soon they are applied, which is of particular importance for Fears, so that allies do not have time to run out of the Totem's radius.