Elemental Shaman DPS Easy Mode — The War Within Pre-Patch

This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

Elemental is a specific specialization that can easily adapt to most situations comfortably. The amount of keybinds required to play this specialization effectively is relatively low, making it a great choice for less seasoned players. This section will focus on a setup that is universally strong and should function adequately in every situation. Minimizing the number of buttons and reactivity was the original goal of this page, but with the Shaman rework, it is unfortunately very difficult to drop active abilities without severely compromising your overall damage output.

If you are new to Elemental and need more information on your abilities, you can check out our Spell Summary page.

Note that even veteran Elementals might want to take a look as well because our the latest rework changed a LOT.

Remember that you can use the "Copy Export String" button to import these talents directly into your game!

Be sure to use the 'Copy Export String' button to import our build ingame!

The following build is not the best possible for every specific situation. However, it tries to be universally "good-enough" while focusing on ease of use. Since the Shaman rework, it has been quite difficult to have a genuinely simple setup with few buttons, unfortunately, as the DPS drop is simply too high.

If you are looking for the absolute best talents for Elemental, you can find a more in-depth analysis on our full talents page below.

Because this build tries to be "universal," it also does not focus on any particular secondary stats since their value mostly depends on your target number. You should focus on getting the highest item level on every slot over any concern about "wrong secondaries."

1. Intellect
2. Haste
3. Critical Strike
4. Versatility
5. Mastery

To see the stat priority for optimal builds, head to our full stats page below.

1. Keep Flame Shock applied, with Primordial Wave if possible.
2. Use Fire Elemental whenever available.
3. Spend Maelstrom on Elemental Blast if you are nearing Maelstrom cap.
4. Use Ascendance whenever available.
5. Cast Lava Burst whenever available if Flame Shock is applied to the target.
6. Cast Icefury and Icefury-empowered- Frost Shocks when available.
7. Cast Lightning Bolt as a filler to generate Maelstrom on a single target.
8. Cast Frost Shock when you need to move.

You can find that on the rotation page for a more detailed and optimized version of the priority list.

Note that the ideal Elemental Shaman priorities differ depending on how many targets you are fighting. This is an approximative "overall" list. For more accurate priority lists for every situation, please refer to the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page.

1. Use Fire Elemental whenever available.
2. Use Liquid Magma Totem whenever available.
3. Use Primordial Wave whenever available.
4. Use Ascendance whenever available.
5. Use Flame Shock to try and maintain up to 6 ongoing Flame Shocks on enemies.
6. Cast Lava Burst whenever Lava Surge is available.
7. Cast Earthquake whenever you have enough Maelstrom, and there are 4 or more stacked targets; otherwise, use Elemental Blast.
8. Cast Chain Lightning (or Lava Beam when in Ascendant form) to generate Maelstrom.