Elemental Shaman DPS Guide — Shadowlands Pre-Patch 9.0.1

Elemental Shaman is a damage dealing spellcaster with a rich and flexible toolkit. Elemental Shamans can approach a multitude of environments without feeling compromised. Through certain talents, Elemental can also provide very significant burst damage, allowing them to surge ahead during short damage checks or dungeon bosses. Overall, this specialization has a tool or talent for every scenario, although its sustained single-target damage might be lacking.

We are maintaining a list of changes for Shamans for Shadowlands, the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, which you can access using the link below. We also have pages for the new Covenant abilities and Anima Powers.

Overall, Elemental Shaman remains fairly similar to how it was in BfA gameplay-wise. It should not be problematic at all for Elemental Shaman players to adjust to the Shadowlands changes.

While Elemental Shaman does not change a lot in the Shadowlands pre-patch, there are still a few major changes that you need to know about.

Flame Shock now only lasts for 18 seconds.

Totem Mastery is gone, and you should now mainly use the new Echoing Shock instead. This is a major rotational change.

Elemental Blast is now on the second row of talents, and generates 30 Maelstrom.

Spiritwalker's Grace is back, and you should make sure to take full advantage of your new mobility. This is especially powerful in solo play and paired with Ascendance, or when you have to move for a long time during a fight.

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 interesting in learning the basics of the spec, visit the Spell Summary first, then the Easy Mode 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 are 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 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+, Raiding, and PvP guides will help you fine tune your gameplay in any end-game content.

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.