Elemental Shaman DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Shadowlands 9.0.2
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Elemental Shaman in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.2.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic Elemental Shaman DPS rotation.
Elemental Shaman Rotation
Welcome to our Rotation page for Elemental Shaman. On this page you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.
Easy Mode
If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page, which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Mythic+
Neither our single-target nor our multi-target rotations change in Mythic+ content. If you are looking for information and tips specific to Mythic+ content, please visit our Mythic+ page below.
Single-Target Rotation for Elemental Shaman
The rotation of an Elemental Shaman revolves around the following priority list.
- Static Discharge
- Elemental Blast
- Echoing Shock
- Master of the Elements
- Storm Elemental
- Liquid Magma Totem
- Surge of Power
- Icefury
- Stormkeeper
- Ascendance
- Echoes of Great Sundering
- Necrolord
- Night Fae
- Kyrian
- Venthyr
- Apply
Flame Shock (ideally with
Primordial Wave if you joined the Necrolord Covenant) if it is absent.
- Cast
Fire Elemental (or
Storm Elemental if talented) if it is off cooldown. Always pair your elemental with Haste buffs (e.g.
Bloodlust/
Heroism) if possible, but do not sacrifice an extra usage by delaying your elemental.
- Cast
Earth Elemental if it is off cooldown and you either are not using
Primal Elementalist or your
Fire Elemental is not currently active. You cannot have 2 Primal Elementals active at the same time.
- Cast
Earth Shock if your next cast will make you overcap Maelstrom.
- Cast
Lava Burst whenever available.
- Refresh
Flame Shock if it will expire in under 6 seconds.
- Cast
Earth Shock if you have 60 or more Maelstrom.
- Cast
Lightning Bolt as a filler on a single target.
- Cast
Frost Shock as a filler while moving.
For more information on your opening sequence, please refer to our dedicated section.
Note that if you are using Primal Elementalist without
Storm Elemental,
you can cast
Meteor whenever you want, as you can only cast it once
per Elemental. Since its damage is not split, you ideally want to hold onto it
if multiple targets are going to be present.
Multiple Target Rotation for Elemental Shaman
2 Targets
The 2 targets priority list is the same as the single-target with the following changes.
- Apply and maintain
Flame Shock on both targets.
- Cast
Earthquake at 60+ Maelstrom (multiple instances of this spell overlap) if the targets will remain in the zone for its duration.
3 Targets
The 3-target priority list is the same as the single-target, with the following changes.
- Night Fae
- Apply and maintain
Flame Shock on all 3 targets.
- Cast
Earthquake at 60+ Maelstrom (multiple instances of this spell overlap) if the targets are stacked.
- Cast
Chain Lightning instead of
Lightning Bolt if it will hit all 3 targets.
4+ Targets
- Echoing Shock
- Master of the Elements
- Storm Elemental
- Liquid Magma Totem
- Stormkeeper
- Echoes of the Great Sundering
- Necrolord
- Night Fae
- Kyrian
- Venthyr
- Cast
Fire Elemental (or
Storm Elemental if you picked that).
- Cast
Earth Elemental if it is off cooldown and you either are not using
Primal Elementalist or your
Fire Elemental is not currently active. You cannot have 2 Primal Elementals active at the same time.
- Cast
Lava Burst to proc
Master of the Elements.
- Cast
Earthquake.
- Cast
Chain Lightning to generate Maelstrom.
AoE Target Caps
Eye of the Storm is now limited to 6 targets per tick. This is a very significant nerf to the
Storm Elemental build's AoE capabilities.
Meteor is now limited to 8 targets.
Earthquake and
Liquid Magma Totem now have a soft-cap at 20 targets. This cap is high enough that it should rarely matter.
"Funneling"
Funneling means using the fact that there are multiple targets present in the fight
to gain damage on a single target. For Elemental Shamans, this means having multiple
Flame Shocks running on several targets and using the additional
Lava Surge
procs to gain a significant amount of DPS on one target. If this is an important part
of the fight, you may want to gear toward Haste, as this is a very good stat
for this strategy.
Master of the Elements
If you are using the talent Master of the Elements it becomes very
important to try to use the buff on the most appropriate spell for the situation,
usually
Earth Shock. From best to worst, you ideally want to use
Master of the Elements
on:
Fae Transfusion if you joined the Night Fae Covenant.
Earthquake if it will hit 2+ targets or is empowered by
Echoes of Great Sundering.
Lightning Bolt empowered by
Stormkeeper
Earth Shock
Frost Shock empowered by
Icefury
Elemental Blast
Icefury
Lightning Bolt
Frost Shock
Note that the list above is what will give the most value for the proc,
but IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS IS THE ACTUAL SPELL PRIORITY IF YOU HAVE A PROC.
It should not override the fact that you should cast Earth Shock if you
have 92 or more Maelstrom or that casting
Elemental Blast should generally
take priority over everything else if long term efficiency is the goal. Obviously
there are plenty of situational exceptions, but it is impossible to give static
priorities for every situation.
Surge of Power
In most scenarios, especially in a raid, there are two main uses for
Surge of Power. Either you use it on
Lava Burst in order to get
a full additional use of
Fire Elemental, or, if the fight will not last long
enough, you use it on
Lightning Bolt for additional
Mastery: Elemental Overload procs.
In addition, against exactly 2 targets within 8 yards of each other, you
want to use Earth Shock to empower your
Flame Shock to
hit both targets, but only if Flame Shock is not already present on both or is
within the pandemic window.
Finally, if you are using Stormkeeper as well, you will generally
want to pool Maelstrom before casting it, so that both Stormkeeper-empowered
Lightning Bolts become also empowered by
Surge of Power.
Here is an example:
- Pool Maelstrom until you have 96
- Cast
Earth Shock
- Cast
Stormkeeper
- Cast
Lightning Bolt
- Cast
Lava Burst
- Cast
Earth Shock
- Cast
Lightning Bolt
This talent has some interesting synergy with Primordial Wave and
Skybreaker's Fiery Demise for heavy multi-dotting of split targets.
Cooldown Usage for Elemental Shaman
Before using each of your cooldowns, you should take special care to consider several factors. Our offensive cooldowns have lengthy recharge times, but when correctly utilized, can be responsible for a large percentage of our damage output. You should always take into account:
- Your raid's
Bloodlust/
Heroism/
Time Warp usage.
- The mechanics of the current boss, including intermissions and abilities that necessitate movement.
- The spawn timers of any adds that might be present, as we may want to use or delay certain cooldowns with respect to cleave and AoE.
Ascendance
There are a few things to consider before each Ascendance
usage.
- Ensure
Flame Shock is present on as many targets as possible.
- Ensure no boss mechanics will interfere, such as intermissions, boss movement,
or mechanics that will force you to move. It can be a good idea to use
Spiritwalker's Grace to ensure full DPS uptime.
- Try to begin with as little Maelstrom as possible.
- Clear
Lava Surge if active, and any remaining
Lava Burst charges.
- If using this talent, cast
Elemental Blast immediately before activating Ascendance.
It is always worth it to recast Elemental Blast during your
Ascendance. Do not let yourself Maelstrom cap either; be sure
to cast
Earth Shock when or before you reach 90 Maelstrom.
It is more efficient to spend your time in Ascendance
casting
Lava Burst instead of
Lava Beam. Even if there is
intermittent cleave on an encounter, try to use Ascendance during single-target
portions of the fight.
Fire Elemental
Fire Elemental has a long cooldown, and its usage should be
considered carefully. The best time to use this cooldown is always during
periods of increased Haste or damage, and therefore we typically will pair
it with the
Bloodlust/
Heroism/
Time Warp usage.
That said, we never want to lose a potential usage of Fire Elemental by delaying
it for maximum efficacy. For example, on an encounter that lasts 3 minutes, you
would use Fire Elemental immediately on the pull and once again as soon as
it is off cooldown, regardless of when Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp is used.
Remember not to use
Earth Elemental when
Fire Elemental is still
around if you use
Primal Elementalist.
Stormkeeper
Stormkeeper is used more or less on cooldown on pure single
target encounters, provided it does not interfere with more important rotational
abilities, such as
Lava Burst.
On multiple-target fights, or fights with intermittent cleave and AoE, it
can be a good idea to delay your Stormkeeper until you are able to
Chain Lightning the adds.
Managing Movement for Elemental Shaman
Elemental is a lot more mobile in Shadowlands, largely because of Spiritwalker's Grace.
Icefury further helps with making Elemental a fairly mobile spec, especially
when combined with utilizing your instant spells to adjust your positioning.
Pro-actively position yourself to reduce potential movement from mechanics.
Keep careful track of boss timers and mechanics, as they can spell disaster
for your damage if you are targeted during a damage dump.
Academic Information for Elemental Shaman
Maelstrom Management
You should avoid casting Lava Burst above 90 Maelstrom and
Icefury above 75 Maelstrom. These limits are the maximum Maelstrom
you can have before casting those spells to not overcap Maelstrom without an
Mastery: Elemental Overload proc. It is likely these spells will
overload at raid levels of gear, therefore, if you cast
Lava Burst at
90 Maelstrom or
Icefury at 75 Maelstrom it is likely you will overcap
Maelstrom and waste valuable resources. In practice, it is safer to cast these
spells at lower Maelstrom than their limits to avoid wasting your overload procs.
The key to success is managing all of your separate procs without overcapping
Maelstrom.
Lava Burst and Flame Shock
The reason why Flame Shock should always be up on your target is
because:
- each tick has a chance to proc
Lava Surge, which resets the cooldown of
Lava Burst;
- your Lava Burst will always critically hit if Flame Shock is on the
target. This is very important due to your
Elemental Fury passive.
You should only cast Lava Burst when
Flame Shock
is active on the target, or the target will live for less than 5 seconds.
Flame Shock ticks every 3 seconds without accounting for Haste, meaning that you
have to take advantage of
Lava Surge within one global cooldown to
avoid potentially wasting a new Lava Surge proc from the next Flame Shock tick.
By the same token, casting Lava Burst immediately as it comes off cooldown is
also imperative so that Lava Surge is not wasted while Lava Burst is off cooldown.
Flame Shock benefits from Pandemic, meaning that you can
refresh it any time that it has less than 30% of its original maximum duration
remaining and the remaining duration will be added to the new debuff.
Therefore you are be able to refresh Flame Shocks without wasting any duration
when it has 5 seconds or less remaining, and it will be extended by 18 seconds.
For example, if your Flame Shock has 5 seconds left and you refresh it your new
Flame Shock would last 23 seconds.
Opening Sequence for Elemental Shaman
Generic Opener
Note that, because of the new changes, this is a work in progress.
- Cast
Vesper Totem 6 seconds before the pull if you joined the Kyrian Covenant.
- Cast
Stormkeeper 4.5 seconds before the pull.
- Cast
Fire Elemental/
Storm Elemental 3 seconds before the pull.
- Use
Potion of Spectral Intellect.
- Pre-cast
Elemental Blast 1.5 seconds from the pull (
Lava Burst if not using that talent).
- Apply
Flame Shock (with
Primordial Wave if your pre-cast was
Elemental Blast).
- If your pre-cast was
Lava Burst, cast
Primordial Wave.
- If your pre-cast was
Lava Burst, cast
Lightning Bolt.
- Cast
Echoing Shock, if talented
- Cast
Lava Burst.
- Cast
Lightning Bolt.
- Cast
Lava Burst.
- If your pre-cast was
Elemental Blast, cast
Lava Burst into
Lightning Bolt to use your second
Stormkeeper charge.
- Cast
Icefury, if talented.
- Cast
Ascendance, if talented.
- Proceed with normal priority.
Changelog
- 15 Jan. 2021: Fixed an outdated recommendation in the Ascendance subsection.
- 21 Dec. 2020: Reworded a line in the ST rotation.
- 20 Dec. 2020: Reworked the section on Master of the Elements use to be clearer.
- 17 Dec. 2020: Adjusted opener.
- 15 Dec. 2020: Updated potion used in opener. Added more warnings about using 2 elementals with Primal Elementalist. Fixed typos on Echoes of Great Sundering lines.
- 24 Nov. 2020: Adjustements to rotations & opener, split AoE rotations into 2, 3 and 4+ targets, updated Master of the Elements section.
- 21 Nov. 2020: Page updated for Shadowlands release. Opener, several sections on talents and all rotations have been updated.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
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This guide has been written by Stormy, Elemental main since Wrath of the Lich King and member of the Storm, Earth and Lava Elemental theorycrafting team.
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