Elemental Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 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. The "Gambler"
    • 2.2. Ascendance Build
    • 2.3. Lightning Rod Build
    • 2.4. Icefury Build
    • 2.5. Mythic+
  • 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. Ascendance Build
    • 2.2. Lightning Rod Build
    • 2.3. Icefury Build
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. 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
  • 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. Gambler Build
    • 1.2. Ascendance Build
    • 1.3. Lightning Rod
    • 1.4. Icefury Build
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Haste vs Critical Strike
  • 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. Tier 20 Set Bonus
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket Notes
  • 3. Legendaries
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Elemental Shamans in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

The other pages of our Elemental Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

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 Future. 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, Sadozai from Wizards IRL, and Gistwiki from Indestructible.

1. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	? Path of Flame	✘ Earthen Rage	✔ Totem Mastery
30	✔ Gust of Wind	✘ Ancestral Guidance	✔ Wind Rush Totem
45	✔ Lightning Surge Totem	✘ Earthgrab Totem	✘ Voodoo Totem
60	✔ Aftershock	✔ Ancestral Swiftness	? Elemental Mastery
75	✘ Elemental Fusion	? Primal Elementalist	✔ Elemental Blast
90	✔ Liquid Magma Totem	? Storm Elemental	✔ Echo of the Elements
100	✔ Ascendance	✔ Lightning Rod	✔ Icefury

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheets

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

2.1. The "Gambler"

This talent build has the highest single target potential of any combination of talents, but with a cost; high variance in output from pull to pull. To join in on the DPS roulette, you'll need the following:

• T20 4-piece set bonus;
• Smoldering Heart and The Deceiver's Blood Pact equipped;
• Earth Shock is to be used at 70-75 Maelstrom outside of Ascendance, and normal (111-117 Maelstrom) while Ascendance is active.

The talent setup is as follows:

• Level 15: Totem Mastery
• Level 30: Gust of Wind
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Aftershock
• Level 75: Primal Elementalist
• Level 90: Storm Elemental
• Level 100: Ascendance

This talent setup should only be used for single target and heavy movement. It should not be used for bosses with AoE.

2.2. Ascendance Build

This is our recommended default build if you are not using "The Gambler". It is easy to execute the rotation and has unparalleled burst potential.

• Level 15: Totem Mastery
• Level 30: Gust of Wind
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Swiftness
• Level 75: Elemental Blast
• Level 90: Echo of the Elements
• Level 100: Ascendance

2.3. Lightning Rod Build

This is our recommended build for encounters with cleave and intermittent AoE. Generally you will take Liquid Magma Totem for maximum cleave and DPS, but Echo of the Elements can be substituted for a loss in overall DPS while improving your single target and priority target pressure.

• Level 15: Totem Mastery
• Level 30: Gust of Wind
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Swiftness
• Level 75: Elemental Blast
• Level 90: Liquid Magma Totem or Echo of the Elements
• Level 100: Lightning Rod

2.4. Icefury Build

The Icefury build puts out roughly comparable numbers to our Ascendance build, but is much more difficult to execute. The only real advantage of this build is that it handles movement a little better and provides more frequent priority target damage. Overall this build isn't recommended unless you are very comfortable with the rotation and/or you just want to spice up your rotation for some added engagement.

• Level 15: Totem Mastery
• Level 30: Gust of Wind
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Swiftness
• Level 75: Elemental Blast
• Level 90: Echo of the Elements
• Level 100: Icefury

2.5. Mythic+

• Level 15: Totem Mastery
• Level 30: Gust of Wind
• Level 45: Lightning Surge Totem
• Level 60: Ancestral Swiftness
• Level 75: Elemental Blast
• Level 90: Liquid Magma Totem
• Level 100: Lightning Rod

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

? Path of Flame

✘ Earthen Rage

✔ Totem Mastery

Tier 1 talents offer a variety of buffs to help increase your combat effectiveness.

• Path of Flame causes Lava Burst to passively deal an additional 10% damage and spread Flame Shock to a nearby target.
• Earthen Rage causes your most recently attacked target to take damage (55% of Spell Power) over 6 seconds.
• Totem Mastery is an active ability that summons 4 totems for 2-minutes. The net benefits of these 4 totems sum to 2% increased haste, 10% increased Flame Shock damage, 10% increased chance to trigger Mastery: Elemental Overload on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, and 1 Maelstrom Power generated every second.

Totem Mastery is the best option in nearly all scenarios. On encounters with very high movement you will need to replace your totems if you venture too far from them. It also requires the lowest Mastery soft cap (at 76.5%) among the three options. It should be used by all 3 builds regardless of your stat distribution once the Tier 20 set bonuses are obtained.

Path of Flame is the best option for an Ascendance build if you have high Mastery levels (>85%) and are currently using the Tier 19 set bonuses.

Earthen Rage is currently inferior to both other options, though it is the most straightforward of the three choices.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

✔ Gust of Wind

✘ Ancestral Guidance

✔ Wind Rush Totem

Tier 2 talents offer an increase to raid utility and personal mobility.

• Gust of Wind lets you dash forward 20-yards on a short cooldown.
• Ancestral Guidance converts 20% of damage and healing into healing on up to 3 nearby party and/or raid members. Lasts 10-seconds, on a 2-minute cooldown.
• Wind Rush Totem summons a totem for 15 seconds that increases the speed of allies within 10 yards by 60% for 5 seconds. The speed buff is continually refreshed as long as they are within range.

Gust of Wind should be taken any time the raid cannot benefit from an additional movement speed cooldown. If the raid will benefit from the use of Wind Rush Totem, it should be used instead.

Ancestral Guidance is currently too weak to be considered.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

✔ Lightning Surge Totem

✘ Earthgrab Totem

✘ Voodoo Totem

Tier 3 talents offer a variety of totem choices that increase your ability to control mobs.

• Lightning Surge Totem explodes after 2 seconds to stun all enemies within 8 yards for 5 seconds. This is an upgraded version of the old Capacitor Totem from previous expansions.
• Earthgrab Totem pulses a root effect to all enemies within 10 yards for 5 seconds. If the roots are broken, the next pulse will instead slow the targets.
• Voodoo Totem summons a totem for 10 seconds that Hexes all targets within 8 yards.

Lightning Surge Totem is the default choice for this tier. It provides a lengthy 5-second stun with only a short charge time and has the widest variety of use out of the 3 totems. Earthgrab Totem and Voodoo Totem could see very specific use on fights that require AoE roots or crowd control, but should be avoided for general usage.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

✔ Aftershock

✔ Ancestral Swiftness

? Elemental Mastery

Tier 4 talents offer a minor damage increase.

• Aftershock refunds 30% of all Maelstrom Power you spend.
• Ancestral Swiftness increases Haste by 6%.
• Elemental Mastery grants you 25% Haste on demand. It lasts 20 seconds and has a 2-minute cooldown.

Ancestral Swiftness is the best option for nearly all situations. Elemental Mastery also be considered if a tight damage check needs to be pushed and your group is struggling. Additionally, it could be an increase on fights with clearly defined windows of increased damage, though there are no current examples of this and such situations are rare.

Aftershock is a superior option if you are currently using Smoldering Heart and The Deceiver's Blood Pact, and aids with movement somewhat. Especially potent with "The Gambler" build.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

✘ Elemental Fusion

? Primal Elementalist

✔ Elemental Blast

Tier 5 talents augments some of your basic abilities to grant significant bonus damage.

• Elemental Fusion grants Flame Shock an additional 5% chance to proc Lava Surge.
• Primal Elementalist grants your elementals 80% increased damage, new abilities, and the ability to control them directly.
• Elemental Blast deals hefty damage and increases either your Crit, Haste, or Mastery by 2400 for 10 seconds. It has a 2-second cast time and a 12-second cooldown.

Elemental Blast is the best choice for virtually all situations.

Primal Elementalist is an option, at a slight loss, if you struggle to properly make use of Elemental Blast on cooldown. This is the best option when used with "The Gambler" build as it will be paired with Storm Elemental.

Elemental Fusion could be an option for spread cleave and/or council style encounters, but is current not used.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

✔ Liquid Magma Totem

? Storm Elemental

✔ Echo of the Elements

Tier 6 talents focus on providing large power increases.

• Liquid Magma Totem summons a totem at the target location for 15 seconds that hurls liquid magma at a random nearby target every 1 sec, dealing (110% of Spell power) Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards. 60 second cooldown.
• Storm Elemental replaces your Fire Elemental, deals damage from ranged, and generates Maelstrom Power while active for 30 seconds. 2.5 minute cooldown.
• Echo of the Elements grants Lava Burst 2 charges.

Echo of the Elements is the best choice for all builds in all single target scenarios. Liquid Magma Totem should be used for encounters with large numbers of adds, and in Mythic+. Additionally, you should use Liquid Magma Totem if you are currently using Soul of the Farseer.

Storm Elemental is only used by "The Gambler" build and should be paired with Primal Elementalist.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

✔ Ascendance

✔ Lightning Rod

✔ Icefury

Tier 7 talents add new abilities and major damage increases to your kit.

• Ascendance transforms you for 15 seconds, removing the cooldown from Lava Burst and transforming Chain Lightning into Lava Beam. The damage of Lava Burst is further increased by your Critical Strike chance while Ascendance is active. Ascendance has a 3-minute cooldown.
• Lightning Rod> grants Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning a 30% chance to make your target take 40% additional damage from Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning for 10 seconds.
• Icefury Hurls frigid ice at the target, dealing 900% of Spell power as Frost damage and causing your next 4 Frost Shocks to deal 400% increased damage. Generates 24 Maelstom.

Ascendance is generally the best option in single target scenarios. The rotation is simple to perform and suffers less from mechanical interference than Icefury. It excels at pushing damage checks and offers unparalleled burst.

Lightning Rod is the best option for intermittent and sustained cleave and AoE. Some players may find, through SimCraft, that this is potentially the best option for single target as well. The downside of Lightning Rod is that it is more affected by movement and RNG than the other options. The potency on cleave encounters, however, is undeniable.

Icefury offers good single target and priority damage as it can be used frequently, however, the rotation is complex to perform and less experienced players may suffer great losses in damage when learning new encounters. Icefury is recommended, if you can comfortably perform the rotation, on high movement encounters or situations where damage to priority targets is the most important part of the encounter.

10. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 29 Aug. 2017: Added a new single target build ("The Gambler") and adjusted some talent explanations for Patch 7.3.
• 22 Jun. 2017: Adjusted a few talent descriptions, added some new talent recommendations for specific Legendary builds.
• 19 Apr. 2017: Tweaked talent recommendations for Tiers 1 and 7. Updated default talent builds as a result.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Fully updated talents page for 7.1.5. Also added separate builds to accommodate Legendary items.
• 01 Dec. 2016: 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).
• 21 Oct. 2016: Updated talent balance based on practical results in Emerald Nightmare.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.