Elemental Shaman DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.2

Elemental Shaman is a damage-dealing spellcaster with a rich and flexible toolkit. Elemental Shamans can approach a multitude of environments without feeling compromised. The specialization has unmatched utility in many scenarios and can be customized to provide serious AoE burst damage or very reliable single-target DPS. Overall, this specialization has a tool or talent for every scenario, although the relative strength of its sustained single-target damage is currently unclear.

Strengths

• Talent choices allow for excellent flexibility and varied playstyles.
• Unmatched utility outside of Raids.
• Can specialize into massive burst/sustained AoE (not with T31) or solid multiDoTting.
• Best build has a very consistent damage output, and has very strong Single-Target output.
• Incredible spread cleave and 2-3 target DPS with T31.
• Some talent builds are very straightforward to play, some have a high skill ceiling.
• With some builds, Elemental has the highest degree of mobility the specialization has seen since Mists of Pandaria.

Weaknesses

• Most of its utility is rarely relevant in raid fights.
• Mediocre defensives and off-healing.
• Tends to be outclassed by other specializations outside of specific situations.
• If using T31, Fire-focused builds are strictly superior to Lightning-focused builds in most situations.
• Best build has a low skill ceiling and can be a bit boring for veterans.
• AoE damage on high target counts is very low especially with T31.

• Elemental received a new class resource bar! Fancy.
• Mana Spring now grants 100 Mana per Lava Burst (from 150).
• Splintered Elements now grants you 20% Haste plus an additional 4% Haste per extra target hit by Primordial Wave (from 10% per target hit).
• Primordial Wave can no longer be used to heal a friendly ally, it is now only an offensive spell for Elemental Shamans.
• Elemental Blast can now refresh and extend the duration of the Haste, Critical Strike and Mastery effects to up to 130% of the base 10-second duration, but will still prefer to apply a buff that you do not already have.
• Further Beyond can now extend the duration of Ascendance by up to 100% of its original duration (from 150%).

Several of those changes are partly due to the nature of our new Tier Set. While Aberrus' set steered us to playing a Lightning-Focused build, Amirdrassil's set is clearly meant to be played with a Fire-Focused build.

This means that Lightning-Focused builds, so the vast majority of current builds, will progressively be phased out in favor of Fire-Focused builds as you acquire your new T31 Tier Set Bonuses.

Consequently, our secondary stat priority will completely change, Mastery becoming king again, with Critical Strike taking a back seat.

The following pages have received large updates:

• We have updated our Gearing Page to include new best-in-slot items in 10.2 / Season 3.
• We have updated our Talent Page with recommended Single Target and Multi-Target builds with the new T31 Tier Set.
• We have updated our Rotation Page with customized priority lists for T31 Tier Set users.
• We have updated our Stat Page with recommended stat distributions for T31 Tier Set users.

Elemental's utility is still excellent outside of raids (where it remains bad).

The amount of customization and choices available to Elemental Shaman is excellent, although, unfortunately, Tier Sets narrow down our competitive options significantly. T29 encouraged Fire-focused builds, T30 encourages Lightning-focused builds, and the new T31 steers us heavily toward a Fire-focused build.

Many build variants are viable, and there is room to customize your build often. Playstyles also vary a lot; the main Lightning builds have more static rotations with some potential complexity rewarded by significant damage output, and Fire builds are generally more straightforward & mobile in single-target. Note that Elemental Blast is very strong and worth using for AoE purposes on up to 3 targets, which is somewhat counter-intuitive and awkward and lowers your mobility potential.

If you want to play an Elemental Shaman but currently do not have one at max level, you can check out our leveling guide for tips on your journey.

After the leveling phase, you may want to optimize your performance by using one or several addons. In order not to be overwhelmed, we recommend you start using at least some of our recommended addons during the leveling of your Shaman, so you can get acquainted with them and configure/customize them to your liking.

Elemental Shaman is a spec with simple fundamentals for both single-target and AoE, with a wide array of customization available from your talents. Some talents allow for Elemental to be very easy to play or very complex and rewarding.

Most of your time will be spent casting Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst, while maintaining Flame Shock and casting Earth Shock once you have enough Maelstrom. Beyond these fundamentals, gameplay largely depends on your talent choices.

If you are just starting as an Elemental Shaman and are interested in learning the basics of the spec, visit the Spell Summary first, then the Beginner page below.

If you already know how Shamans work, head directly to the Talents and Rotation pages in order to find out more detailed information.

Gearing is not as simple as it once was, although the easy access to simulations is extremely helpful. Our gearing page will help you learn about how best to gear your Elemental Shaman.

After you have acquired some gear, you must then use the right enchants, gems , and consumables. Visit our dedicated page, as well as our stats page, so you get a better idea of which stats you should look for.

While your core gameplay loop is accessible early on, max-level gameplay can be wildly different than during leveling. Our Mythic+ and PvP guides will help you fine-tune your gameplay in any end-game content. We highly recommend using some of the macros in our Addon page as well.

If you are struggling with doing good DPS and are unsure what you are doing wrong, visit the pages below in order to find answers and advice.