Elemental Shaman DPS Mythic+ Tips — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This alternative build has the following trade-offs:

• You lose significant AoE, particularly on large packs.
• You lose 3% damage reduction.
• Stronger single target and 2-3 target cleave.
• Less reliant on Ascendance and more flexible.
• Easier to play, less focus on target swapping, much better mobility.

It is particularly good in Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder and we recommend it for this key.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Wind Shear is your "kick" and your most important bit of utility in Mythic+, used to stop enemy casts for the benefit of the group and especially the tank. It is highly recommended to use a Focus Kick macro for this.

• /stopcasting
• /stopcasting
• /cast [@focus,exists,nodead][@mouseover,exists,nodead] [] Wind Shear

This macro will kick your focus target if you have one, mouseover if you have no Focus target, and your target if you have neither of those.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro.

• /focus [@mouseover]

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Elemental Shamans have a large variety of "hard" crowd-control abilities available to them, but they all work in different ways.

Earthquake will "naturally" knock enemies down from time to time, giving you free stops, though its unpredictability makes it so you should never count on it to reliably interrupt any cast. Think of it as a bonus.

Capacitor Totem is delayed but reliable, and you can potentially reduce its cooldown by almost half with several talents, although it comes at a significant opportunity cost.

Thunderstorm will interrupt enemies and knock them away. Be very careful of the direction you will knock enemies towards as you may slow down your group's damage, worsen your crowd control or even worse, pull additional packs.

Hex is meant as a long-duration crowd-control but can serve as a stop in a pinch, though it is rarely practical or efficient. You do not really have the points to spare unless you really want it for a particular mob.

Note that Earthgrab Totem "roots" a target but is not a "stop"; it only prevents movement.

Technically, Earth Elemental with Primal Elementalist also will stun their target shortly after you summon it, so it can be used to interrupt an enemy in a pinch.

Elemental has mediocre mobility:

Few instant spells:

• We have few instant abilities in our rotation: Voltaic Blaze (or Flame Shock), Earth Shock/ Earthquake, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning buffed by Stormkeeper or Arc Discharge
• Stormbringer users can use Nature's Swiftness as a reactive instant, and gain additional instant Chain Lightnings from Arc Discharge.

But powerful mobility tools:

• Wind Rush Totem, especially boosted by Jet Stream or Ascending Air, and potentially by Totemic Focus, is a powerful ability that is useful for any content, having a powerful effect. Moreover, you can extend its benefits by using Totemic Projection to reposition it!
• Spiritwalker's Grace not only gives you full mobility while casting for 15 seconds (19 for Farseer users), it also gives you 20% movement speed and has fairly short cooldown thanks to Graceful Spirit .
• Gust of Wind is fantastically versatile burst mobility, while our other choice Spirit Walk has a much higher cooldown but gets rid of root and snare effects.
• Ghost Wolf form needs to be used sparingly in combat but is very useful, especially due to Thunderous Paws or potentially Spirit Wolf in higher keys.

Shamans have an excellent toolkit that greatly benefits from being tailored to each dungeon:

Off-healing:

• Earth Shield, especially when also cast on your tank or a character with weak self-sustain can add up to very significant healing almost for free, especially when paired with Therazane's Resilience.
• Healing Surge is a generic fast heal that only really shines when you are healing yourself and have Earth Shield and Refreshing Waters talented, but does not heal for much.
• Healing Stream Totem is one of those abilities you drop when you have nothing else you can do; it helps a little bit, and Elemental Resistance can potentially help surviving one-shots. It is hard to justify the talent points for it however.

Many kinds of "opt-in" dispells Typically you should know in advance whether those will be needed for a particular dungeon or not, and otherwise should not have them talented:

• Purge can remove scary magic buffs on enemies, as well as help deal with the Ascendant Affix. Typically you should know in advance whether it will be needed for a particular dungeon or not.
• Cleanse Spirit removes curses and can help deal with the Devour Affix. Typically you should know in advance whether it will be needed for a particular dungeon or not.
• Poison Cleansing Totem removes all poison effects on your entire party every 1.5 seconds for up to 9 seconds. When it is useful, you most likely want to have Totemic Focus as it increases its duration by 50%. Typically you should know in advance whether it will be needed for a particular dungeon or not.
• Tremor Totem removes Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects. It is rarely useful, but is the best tool in the game to deal with these debuffs when they happen.

For a quick guide of which utility talents are needed in each dungeon, use the tool below to select a dungeon. Any relevant utility talents will be highlighted below.

Based on the selections above, you should run the following class talents:

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

• Cleanse Spirit
• Purge
• Tremor Totem
• Earthgrab Totem
• Poison Cleansing Totem

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Tremor Totem
• Poison Cleansing Totem
• Earthgrab Totem (optional)

• Against the first boss Avanoxx, use Spiritwalker's Grace during Gossamer Onslaught and depending on key level you may want to hold one cooldown or another to delete the adds, since Elemental is particularly good at it. When the boss is getting to low Health you can simply control them with Earthgrab Totem or another crowd control in your arsenal.
• Against the second boss Anub'zekt, use Spiritwalker's Grace to maintain damage when you have to be in a circle around the boss, and use Gust of Wind to avoid his frontal impale. Interrupt the add.
• Against the last boss Ki'katal the Harvester make sure to drop Poison Cleansing Totem to remove Cultivated Poisons. Remember you can use Gust of Wind to quickly jump into blue goop to survive the pull. Afterwards you can simply Wind Shear the add to break free.

• It can be a good idea to have Tremor Totem ready in case no one is able to kick one of the initial minibosses, Ixin's Horrifying Shrill.
• Poison Cleansing Totem will help relieve the healer when the group is struggling with interrupting Bloodstained Webmages' Revolting Volleys and Blood Overseers' Venom Volleys.
• Make sure that Sentry Stagshell's Alarm Shrill gets interrupted by a stun.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Purge
• Earthgrab Totem

• On the first boss Azhiccar, Earthgrab Totem can be used to control the Frenzied Mites during Devour, as this is the only problematic thing in the fight. Spiritwalker's Grace works great to counter Devour and allows you to move to other adds to either control them or kill them.
• On the second boss, Taah'bat and A'wazj, stop dpsing when he reaches full energy and teleports as he becomes immune, focus on getting behind him when targeted by Warp Strike to break his shield, and use your GCDs to pool Maelstrom and procs in order to burst him down with the subsequent vulnerability phase.
• On the third boss Soul-Scribe use Gust of Wind to quickly reach your "soul" early on and keep Spiritwalker's Grace for the harder Eternal Weave phase. Always focus on reaching your "soul" above anything else.

• Purge can get rid of the shield cast by K'aresh Elemental, Embrace of K'aresh, and possibly the Alacrity buff cast by Wastelander Phaseblade if it feels necessary.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Earthgrab Totem
• Tremor Totem

• Against the first boss Halkias, have Tremor Totem to rescue anyone leaving the circle around the boss from Sinlight Visions. Hold onto Spiritwalker's Grace until you are going to need to move a lot, and remember that Gust of Wind can quickly get you out of a bad position.
• On the second boss Echelon, interrupt the adds and if targeted by Stone Shattering Leap make sure you use Astral Shift and move in the middle of the adds to destroy them.
• On the third boss High Adjudicator Aleez use Spiritwalker's Grace to maintain damage uptime especially during Ascendance while bringing ghosts to a vessel. Interrupting the boss is especially good as Windveil will grant you a huge damage reduction against all the other damage on this boss
• On the last boss Lord Chamberlain you will need to move quite a bit, get ready to press Gust of Wind as needed. Make sure you always pay attention to the position of each statue and try to not stay between them and the boss. Use Astral Shift when soaking Ritual of Woe. Make sure you are ready for Erupting Torment and speedily move to a safe zone with Gust of Wind or other mobility tools.

• Use Earthgrab Totem to prevent the Toiling Groundskeeper from pulling additional enemies.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Nothing here is particularly required.

• Against Keeza Quickfuse, always focus on neutralizing bombs, I recommend using your entire mobility toolkit to that effect, preferably keeping Gust of Wind for emergencies when you will not have time to reach a bomb in time otherwise. Use Astral Shift when targeted with Kinetic Explosive Gel.
• Be ready to kick and focus the adds as they spawn when fighting Big M.O.M.M.A.. If you are struggling to kill them so much that the boss ends up shielded for a long time you may want to to hold Stormkeeper to nuke down the adds. Otherwise hold your cooldowns for the first Jumpstart phase.
• When fighting Swampface, use Spiritwalker's Grace to maintain damage while dodging waves from Rushing Tide.
• On the final boss Geezle Gigazap, use Spiritwalker's Grace to maintain damage uptime against the series of very annoying Turbo Bolts the bolt directs at every player every few seconds.

• Be careful when fighting the combination of Shreddinator 3000 and Venture Co. Architect not to get rooted in sawblades.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Earthgrab Totem

• Against the first boss Captain Dailcry make sure you interrupt Battle Cry. Use Astral Shift when targeted by Savage Mauling.
• Against the second boss Baron Braunpyke use Spiritwalker's Grace to move away from Hammer of Purity. Use Astral Shift when you have soak Sacrificial Pyre. Make sure you interrupt Burning Light.
• On the last boss Prioress Murrpray, interrupting Embrace the Light and Holy Smite is great as Windveil will then give you large damage reduction against all the damage on this boss. Use Spiritwalker's Grace when targeted by The Sacred Flame. When she phases, use Wind Rush Totem to get up the stairs quickly, and when they spawn Earthgrab Totem on one of the sides will most likely cause the adds to die before they get to do anything.

• Do not kill yourselves by hitting High Priest Aemya during her Reflective Shield.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Purge
• Cleanse Spirit

• On the first boss Zo'phex make sure you pick up your weapon as soon as possible when he confiscates it, not only does it remove the silence but you get a 25% Haste buff!
• Against The Grand Menagerie, use Gust of Wind to get out of Grip of Hunger and Whirling Annihilation. Use Astral Shift when targeted by Purification Protocol and use Spiritwalker's Grace when affected by Gluttony so you can maintain DPS while soaking Volatile Anima.
• Against P.O.S.T. Master, use Spiritwalker's Grace to catch falling bottles while maintaining DPS, stack for Money Order, and make sure you deliver all packages in time. Use Astral Shift when you have multiple stacks of Alchemical Residue and will not get an immediate dispel.
• When fighting Mysas Oasis, make sure you interrupt Menacing Shout and make sure you move to his back when he prepares his frontal attack.
• Against So'azmi, make sure you interrupt Double Technique (TWO interrupts are needed). Use Astral Shift when targeted by Phase Slash. Use Wind Rush Totem and other mobility options to reach the Relocators in order to avoid Shuri circles and to reach the boss after he teleports.

• There are a few annoying buffs that can be Purged here, most notably the two different shields used by Support Officers, especially Refraction Shield. Overloaded Mailementals also have one called Spam Filter which should be purged.
• If not interrupted, Ancient Core Hound's Ancient Dread nasty curse can be dispelled with Cleanse Spirit. But really, interrupt this please.

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Nothing is particularly useful here.

• Against Hylbrande, use Spiritwalker's Grace when targeted by Purged by Fire. Use any means necessary to get out of the frontal Titanic Crash at all costs.
• When fighting Timecap'n Hooktail you ideally want to spend some time with Time Bomb but it adds up to a lot of damage, use Astral Shift to mitigate it. Stay far from the ship to minimize the danger from Anchor Shot.
• On the final boss So'leah, during Phase 1 focus on interrupting Shuriken Blitz from the adds So' Cartel Assassins and communicate with your party to stagger Collapsing Stars.
• During Phase 2, keep doing the previous stagger and position the beams so each goes through a "relic", though do not stand directly on them. You might be able to survive getting hit by Energy Fragmentation if you use Astral Shift and immediately use healing consumables and Earth Elemental.

• No fancy tips yet. Please check back throughout the Season, as I am sure to find fancy tips to put here!

In this dungeon, we recommend getting the following talents in order to help deal with specific mechanics:

• Cleanse Spirit (optional)
• Purge

• Against the first boss Speaker Shadowcrown, use Spiritwalker's Grace during Obsidian Beams to maintain DPS and make sure to interrupt Shadow Bolts.
• When fighting the second boss Anub'ikkaj, try to have Stormkeeper available and Maestrom pooled to nuke down the adds, dropping a Capacitor Totem can also be helpful. Use Spiritwalker's Grace to maintain DPS while aiming Dark Orbs away. Interrupting adds' Congealed Darkness with Wind Shear will give you a large damage reduction from Windveil.
• Make sure to use Gust of Wind and Spiritwalker's Grace to maximize damage while doing mechanics against Rasha'nan. Focus on safe positioning over maximizing DPS in risky ways.

• Cleanse Spirit can be used to get rid of Ensnaring Shadows cast by Nightfall Shadowmage, if it proves necessary.

Elemental has quite a few ways to deal with this affix:

• Wind Shear
• Purge
• Thunderstorm
• Capacitor Totem
• Earthquake (unreliable, only for orbs stacked on enemies)

Nothing special here beyond making sure to soak them when you are not in danger of killing yourself, as it deals significant damage. Remain close at least one other party member so your pulsar gets soaked.

Poison Cleansing Totem immediately dispels everything. Pretty strong!

You can also spec into Cleanse Spirit, but unless it is good in that particular dungeon, it should not be necessary.

Kill the Void Emissary fast. That is all. It is not worth holding onto cooldowns for it however, unless they are somehow not dying in time.