Season of Discovery Elemental Shaman DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Elemental Shaman, in WoW Classic - Season of Discovery. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, and others in order to minmax your damage efficiency.
Overview
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.
Before pulling, ensure that you have 
 Flametongue Weapon on your
weapon to get extra Spell Power from the 
 Burn rune.
Single-Target Rotation
- Pre-cast 
 Feral Spirit before starting a fight, and on cooldown afterwards; - Keep your group-buffing Totems and 
 Searing Totem active and in range
of their respective targets at all times; - Use 
 Shamanistic Rage on cooldown once you lose enough Mana to make
it worthwhile; - Keep 
 Lightning Shield active; - Keep 
 Flame Shock active on your target to make Lava Burst always crit; - Discharge 
 Rolling Thunder once at 8+ stacks with 
 Earth Shock; - Use 
 Lava Burst on cooldown provided Flame Shock is also on target; - Use 
 Lightning Bolt (with 
 Elemental Mastery whenever possible) as the main filler; - Cast 
 Earth Shock if you need to move. 
Multi-Target Rotation
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!
Advanced Totem Usage
 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.
Changelog
- 08 Jul. 2024: Updated rotation for Phase 4.
 - 30 Apr. 2024: Adjusted for Burn hotfix.
 - 23 Apr. 2024: Adjusted rotation after Mental Dexterity Rune hotfix.
 - 07 Apr. 2024: Updated rotation for Phase 3.
 - 03 Mar. 2024: Adjusted Shamanistic Rage explanation after its rework.
 - 23 Feb. 2024: Added Totemic Projection tips to help with Fire Nova AoE.
 - 19 Feb. 2024: Further Phase 2 specific rotation updates.
 - 12 Feb. 2024: Updated rotation for Phase 2.
 
More Classic Shaman Guides
More Season of Discovery Class Guides
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
            This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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