Elemental Shaman DPS Guide (Legion 7.2)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.1.5 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Priority List
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Ascendance Build — Single Target and Burst
    • 2.2. Lightning Rod Build — Multitarget and Mythic+
    • 2.3. Icefury Build — Priority Damage and Heavy Movement
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
    • 1.4. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 2. Relic Choice
    • 2.1. Icefury Build
    • 2.2. Ascendance Build
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
    • 1.1. Single Target Rotation - Ascendance Build
    • 1.2. Single Target Rotation - Lightning Rod Build
    • 1.3. Single Target Rotation - Icefury Build
    • 1.4. Multiple Target Rotation
      • 1.4.1. 2 Targets
      • 1.4.2. 3 Targets
      • 1.4.3. 4 Targets
    • 1.5. Earthquake on Single Target
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Stormkeeper
    • 2.2. Lava Burst and Flame Shock
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Maelstrom Management
    • 3.2. Cooldown Usage
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
    • 4.1. Icefury Opener
    • 4.2. Ascendance Opener
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Odyn
  • 2. Guarm
  • 3. Helya
  • 4. Nythendra
  • 5. Ursoc
  • 6. Elerethe Renferal
  • 7. Dragons of Nightmare
  • 8. Il'gynoth, Heart of Corruption
  • 9. Cenarius
  • 10. Xavius
  • 11. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Icefury Build
    • 1.2. Ascendance Build
    • 1.3. Mythic+ Build (Lightning Rod)
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Why is Mastery Good in Patch 7.1.5?
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Critical Strike vs Mastery
  • 2. Gems
  • 3. Enchants
  • 4. Consumables
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Shamans
    • 2.2. Wind Shear
    • 2.3. Purge
    • 2.4. Macros for Elemental Shamans
      • 2.4.1. Mouseouver Earthquake
      • 2.4.2. Stopcast Gust of Wind
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
    • 1.1. Trinket Notes
  • 2. Legendaries
  • 3. Loot Competition
  • 4. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Elemental Shaman DPS guide for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing an Elemental Shaman in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

About Our Author and Reviewers

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Myst. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been written in collaboration with the team at Storm Earth and Lava, a group of Elemental theorycrafters that includes top players and prominent theorycrafters such as Stormy from Consequence, Sadozai from Wizards IRL, Gistwiki from Indestructible, and Booze from Entropy (world #5 guild).

1. Class Overview

Elemental Shaman is a damage dealing spellcaster with a straightforward but flexible toolkit. Elemental Shamans can approach a multitude of environments without feeling compromised. Whether you are questing, powering through dungeons, or zoning into a Mythic raid, this is a spec that always feels like it has a place at the table. This specialization feels particularly at home when sustained cleave or AoE is present, but not a priority, as Elemental does both very efficiently while maintaining full single target presence. Through talents, Elemental also has access to some potent burst potential, allowing them to surge ahead during damage checks or dungeon bosses.

2. Patch 7.2 Changes

• New Artifact traits added.

3. Patch 7.1.5 Changes

• Earth Elemental is now a 5-minute cooldown, but has a 1-minute duration. Up from 2-minute cooldown and 15-second duration.
• Earthquake deals the same damage but in a shorter timeframe.
• Lava Burst has received a buff.
• The talent positions have been reshuffled considerably.
• Many buffs and nerfs to individual talents.
• Several buffs and nerfs to legendary items.

4. Strengths

• Great single target and cleave damage
• Potential for extremely potent burst damage
• Extremely flexible specialization
• Easy to gear due to lack of mail users
• Good raid utility

5. Weaknesses

• Deals with movement poorly

6. Viability in the Current Patch

Elemental is currently a strong specialization. There are several viable talent builds, allowing for further specialization depending on your gear or the encounter. Damage output is currently very potent and this spec has little trouble adapting to any of the fights in the Nighthold.

7. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 10 pages:

• Easy Mode: TL;DR to own without reading much;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Boss by Boss Strategies: find out how to defeat current content bosses;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear.

8. ChangeLog

• 19 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Tweaked talent recommendations for Tiers 1 and 7. Updated default talent builds as a result.
• 19 Apr. 2017 (rotation page): Added Earthquake on single target section based on new theorycraft. Modified rotations based on the new builds we present in the talents page.
• 29 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Added Lavish Suramar Feast.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (stats page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (talents page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (gear page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Added new path for Patch 7.2 traits.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (rotation page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (this page): Added Patch 7.2 changes.
• 20 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Full update to BiS and legendaries.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (enchants page): Added note on Mastery enchants.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (bosses page): Updated for Patch 7.1.5, and ToV talent recommendations added.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (artifact page): Updated Relic priority and leading talent builds.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Fully updated talents page for 7.1.5. Also added separate builds to accommodate Legendary items.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Fully updated rotation page for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Added new stat priorities and separated them based on talent build. Also added explanation for why Mastery has increased in value in Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (this page): Updated description, strengths/weaknesses, viability, and added 7.1.5 changes section for clarity.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Updated trinket and legendary rankings. Will update BiS list later.
• 09 Dec. 2016 (easy mode page): Added easy mode for Elemental Shaman.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (gear page): Fully updated Legendary rankings.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (addons page): Added Earthquake mouseover.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (enchants page): Updated notes on consumables (food/potion).
• 01 Dec. 2016 (bosses page): Removed Echo from viable talents on Cenarius/Xavius.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (rotation page): Split guide into single & multi target sections for clarity. Added two separate opening sequences for different Tier 7 talents.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (artifact page): Split Relic choice section into two separate sections to account for leading talent builds.
• 01 Dec. 2016 (talents page): Updated Lightning Rod/Ascendance description for additional clarity. Also removed a few talents that were close contenders but did not see much practical use (e.g. Echo).
• 01 Dec. 2016 (stats page): Added some more detailed notes on stat synergy.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (rotation page): Updated Stormkeeper section to note that it now has a 1.5-second cast and affected spells are now instant in Patch 7.1.
• 21 Oct. 2016 (enchants page): Updated neck enchant.
• 21 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Added trinket rankings to help with Mythic+ trinket determinations.
• 21 Oct. 2016 (talents page): Updated talent balance based on practical results in Emerald Nightmare.
• 21 Oct. 2016 (this page): Updated strengths/weaknesses.
• 21 Oct. 2016 (bosses page): Added boss by boss guide for Elemental Shaman.
• 08 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Updated BiS.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (this page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (artifact page): Added
• 29 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (gear page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (spells page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (stats page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Removed trinket sims and added trinket recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (spells page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (this page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (stats page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (addons page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 09 Jan. 2016 (easy mode page): Updated easy mode talent build.