Elemental Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.1.5)

This is the default build for all raid encounters except Ovi'nax and depending on several factors Stix Bunkjunker. It is significantly ahead of Stormbringer builds in pure single-target.

Liquid Magma Totem can be used when add timings/proximity allow it to gain strong value from Primordial Wave and Splintered Elements.

Erupting Lava can in some circumstances edge out a bit more damage as has slightly more instants and slightly higher priority damage but will require you to adapt to a style requiring more Flame Shock uses, and to pay more attention to its duration. To use it, you should swap out Everlasting Elements, and Earthen Rage for Flames of the Cauldron and Erupting Lava.

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

Note that this class tree purposefully ignores some utility talents, such as Purge. You should adjust this recommendation depending on what utility will be needed in each encounter. There is a reasonable amount of flexibility in our class tree, you can and should adapt your utility toolkit to the content you intend on doing.

This is our recommended build for all Mythic+ endeavours, as it allies formidable AoE/cleave to reasonable single-target and has good priority target damage.

We recommend switching to Elemental Blast once you have a better understanding of both dungeons and the spec, as with correct play it will end up significantly ahead, of the Earth Shock version, but it is much less forgiving with movement and casting.

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

Note that this class tree purposefully ignores some utility talents, such as Purge. You should adjust this recommendation depending on what utility will be needed in each encounter. There is a reasonable amount of flexibility in our class tree, you can and should adapt your utility toolkit to the content you intend on doing.

Many combinations are viable, this is only our preferred one at the moment.

The following talents are NEVER optional: Stormkeeper, Primordial Fury, Lightning Capacitor, Echo Chamber, Ascendance, Mountains Will Fall.

The following talents we do NOT recommend switching off, but there is a universe where you might want to do it, maybe: Icefury and Fusion of Elements, Herald of the Storms (or Fury of the Storms, always one of the two), Preeminence (or First Ascendant, always one of the two), Storm Frenzy, Charged Conduit, Lightning Rod.

We recommend you also check out our Dedicated Mythic+ Page.

This alternative build is targeted at Mythic+ where you absolutely need more single-target even at a large cost in AoE, or for people who really want to use Liquid Magma Totem. It is not recommended currently. Use at your own risks.

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

Note that this class tree purposefully ignores some utility talents, such as Purge. You should adjust this recommendation depending on what utility will be needed in each encounter. There is a reasonable amount of flexibility in our class tree, you can and should adapt your utility toolkit to the content you intend on doing.

Many combinations are viable, this is only our preferred one at the moment.

The following talents are NEVER optional: Stormkeeper, Primordial Fury, Lightning Capacitor, Echo Chamber, Ascendance, Mountains Will Fall.

The following talents we do NOT recommend switching off, but there is a universe where you might want to do it, maybe: Icefury and Fusion of Elements, Fury of the Storms (or Herald of the Storms, always one of the two), Preeminence (or First Ascendant, always one of the two) Storm Frenzy.

We recommend you also check out our Dedicated Mythic+ Page.

This is a general build for Delving but many things can be adapted in either tree, the main notable picks are Guardian's Cudgel which is great for solo content and Refreshing Waters to sustain yourself.

Note that this class tree purposefully ignores some utility talents, such as Purge. You should adjust this recommendation depending on what utility will be needed in each encounter. There is a reasonable amount of flexibility in our class tree, you can and should adapt your utility toolkit to the content you intend on doing.

There are multiple talents that require a change to your rotation in order to use them optimally. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our Dedicated Rotation page.

The following sections will give the author's opinion on the viability of every talent, including whether some are "automatic picks" because you want them in every circumstance. The point requirements to reach the next rows of talents also sometimes force picks. Note that these opinions are mostly focused on PvE.

Ability	Description/Effect
Chain Heal	It is never picked or used.
Lava Burst	It is automatically acquired when specializing.
Astral Shift	It is your main defensive cooldown. It is an Automatic Pick.
Chain Lightning	It is automatically acquired when specializing.
Earth Shield	It is very strong for solo play PvP and useful in most PvE circumstances. There are some things you may want to grab over it in raids and M+, but it should definitely be a default pick and probably alongside Elemental Orbit for solo play and PvP.
Wind Shear	It is your "kick." It is fairly unique in that its 30-yard range and 12-second cooldown are shorter than all other ranged characters. This makes Wind Shear one of the best interrupts in the game, and you should use it a lot. This is, again, not quite an automatic pick, as you will not need it in every raid fight. Outside of those, however, you should always pick it. .
Frost Shock	Outside of Icefury, you should only use this for movement when you have nothing else to cast, when you need the slow, or if you really need extra damage immediately. It is an automatic pick for any build using Icefury, for obvious reasons.
Capacitor Totem	It is your only way to stun targets. It is of great value (and an automatic pick) almost everywhere outside of raids and is even useful in some raid fights. It can backfire in PvP, however, by putting stun-diminishing returns on people when you do not want to.
Spirit Walk	It is very good in most circumstances. It competes with the more "fun" Gust of Wind, which has a much shorter cooldown. In practice, Spirit Walk tends to be overkill in PvE, but its ability to remove all movement impairing effects is useful in certain dungeons.
Gust of Wind	It is competing with Spirit Walk so, depending on the fight, you may want to pick that instead. It also allows you to break falls and reach otherwise unreachable locations, which is very nice for solo play. Overall, it is a default pick unless you specifically want Spirit Walk.
Healing Stream Totem	It is nice to have for solo play and can make an appreciable difference in Mythic+ or even raids. In fights where healing is a struggle, it can help a little. You only pick this if you have nothing more important to grab and it is a way to path to Elemental Warding.
Earthgrab Totem	It is very handy in solo play, PvP, and sometimes in Mythic+, notably to temporarily neutralize the adds on various bosses. It is rarely useful in raids, with a few exceptions.
Purge	It is occasionally handy in solo and rarely in raids, very useful in Mythic+ and PvP.
Greater Purge	It is very handy in PvP but is otherwise never picked.
Earth Elemental	It is an automatic pick. Its only real downsides are a long cooldown, and the taunt can potentially backfire, so you have to carefully choose your moment. The additional health alone makes it worth picking. Note that unlike its older versions, it cannot taunt or pulse threats to enemies that are not in combat yet, making it much safer to use in dungeons.

Ability	Description/Effect
Cleanse Spirit	It is occasionally useful in solo play, very handy in PvP, regularly used in dungeons and rarely used in some raid encounters.
Tremor Totem	It is mostly used in PvP and Mythic+. It has some use in solo play and rarely in raids, although when it works in raids, you definitely want it.
Hex	It is an automatic pick for PvP. It is rarely used in raids, but when you can use it is often mandatory.
Wind Rush Totem	It is a fantastic tool in raids where it is an automatic pick. It is handy in PvP and Mythic+, and even to speed up your solo play.

Ability	Description/Effect
Spiritwalker's Grace	It is an Automatic Pick. It is a very helpful tool for movement which should be used to kite or to keep dealing damage when you have to move a lot. You might occasionally just want it for the movement speed to get somewhere quick, especially with Graceful Spirit.
Thunderstorm	It is very good for solo play and PvP. It has niche uses in some raid fights and, especially combined with Thundershock, is very useful in Mythic+.
Lightning Lasso	It is a strong pick for PvP. It nice for solo play but should not really be necessary.
Totemic Projection	It is occasionally useful in PvP or to replace your Wind Rush Totem in raids. You often do not have anything better to grab while pathing to Stone Bulwark Totem.
Poison Cleansing Totem	It is theoretically useful in PvP and is incredibly good against one affix and many enemies in Mythic+.
Totemic Recall	It is more or less an automatic pick and has two main uses: resetting your Liquid Magma Totem for heavy AoE situations or getting another Wind Rush Totem for your party/raid. It can be used with almost any totem (notably not Stone Bulwark Totem) so the potential is vast.
Stone Bulwark Totem	It is an automatic pick. It is a very powerful cooldown that also synergizes with all our other defensive abilities.
Nature's Swiftness	In my opinion, it is an automatic pick in most circumstances. It is extra nice if you are using Elemental Blast as you otherwise have to stand still to hard-cast it if Spiritwalker's Grace is not up.

Ability	Description/Effect
Planes Traveler	It is close in power with its sister talent Astral Bulwark. What is best entirely depends on the circumstances. Overall, most experienced players will favor this talent, unless you absolutely need the extra damage reduction to survive something specific.
Astral Bulwark	It is a good default pick for beginners who use Astral Shift as a panic button, especially if you are not very familiar with the content, or if you prefer having a strong panic button over a lighter one that is available more often.
Spirit Wolf	It is somewhat niche compared to Thunderous Paws and should mostly be picked if you are going to stand in Ghost Wolf for several seconds in order to "tank" a powerful ability, like a Druid going into Bear Form. It can be nice during mechanics when you will not be doing any DPS, anyway. Because of the ever-increasing damage in high Mythic+, this talent can become mandatory at certain thresholds in order to survive certain unavoidable damage instances.
Thunderous Paws	It is more generally useful than its sister talent and should be a default pick, although if you do not think you will need the extra speed, you can safely pick something else.
Winds of Al'Akir	The bonus is too small/niche to have much use unless you really have a spare point and regular burst movement is important, but that is often the case in optimized raid builds.
Elemental Orbit	It is excellent for solo play and PvP and becomes an automatic pick in all content if using Lightning Capacitor unless you really need the points for other utility and end up dropping Earth Shield altogether. If you can spare the point, it is a nice way to provide a modicum of additional healing in Mythic+ and Raids.
Fire and Ice	It is an automatic pick. You always pick damage.
Ancestral Wolf Affinity	Might be worth something in PvP but is otherwise ignored.
Encasing Cold	Unlikely to ever be picked, even if it was buffed.
Arctic Snowstorm	Unlikely to ever be picked, even if it was buffed.
Brimming with Life	It is an automatic pick in every circumstance. Both benefits are very powerful.
Static Charge	It is a strong pick for Mythic+. Depending on timings, it might be worth picking if you need Capacitor Totem for a raid encounter. Otherwise, you can mostly ignore it.
Guardian's Cudgel	Alright for very low stakes Mythic+ but mostly useful for solo play or some PvP compositions. Diminishing returns on stuns make it much less useful if other people in your group also have stuns. It can notably backfire in PvP by putting stun-diminishing returns on people when you do not want to.

Ability	Description/Effect
Elemental Resistance	Can be picked up to path to Elemental Warding unless you need Tremor Totem or Cleanse Spirit, but it is unlikely to make a difference as it is a very low duration, small situation buff, and its application is somewhat random. Badly designed.
Nature's Guardian	It is an automatic pick. There is no reason to ever not have this.
Nature's Fury	It is an automatic pick. Major damage talent.
Refreshing Waters	Good for solo play or PvP, nice to have in other situations if you have spare points. You will always get Elemental Warding, so it is never needed to path to Spiritwalker's Grace.
Elemental Warding	It is an automatic pick. Most of the damage you will take is magic damage, especially outside of PvP, and it is a required pick to get Ancestral Guidance.
Primordial Bond	It is an automatic pick. This is significant damage reduction for phases where you really need it, and also makes you tankier when you are "bursting" with your damage elemental. Gets better the more uptime you have on your elementals.
Voodoo Mastery	It is mostly a PvP talent, although it might be handy on some specific M+ pulls.
Totemic Focus	Generally nice to have, but unless the radius is really handy, like on a raid boss where you really want a larger Tremor Totem or Wind Rush Totem radius, it is a low priority pick. Since you will often have nothing better to grab however, you should regularly have this.
Ascending Air	Useful if you need Wind Rush Totem more often or would benefit from a slightly longer effect. It is not a default pick unless you have a good reason for it but a solid upgrade nonetheless.
Jet Stream	The snare removal is situationally extremely powerful, and it is very nice on encounters where Wind Rush Totem is highly-valued.
Enhanced Imbues	As long as you are picking either Improved Flametongue Weapon or Thunderstrike Ward, you will pick this. If you have neither, it remains a mandatory pathing node to get to Seasoned Winds, which you should have in most situations by default.

Ability	Description/Effect
Graceful Spirit	It is an automatic pick outside of PvP, where its sister talent is the automatic pick. Spiritwalker's Grace is very useful; getting it more often and moving even faster with it is always going to be useful.
Spiritwalker's Aegis	It is an automatic pick for PvP and useless everywhere else.
Totemic Surge	Unless you will benefit from Seasoned Winds it is required to path to Totemic Recall, making it an automatic pick. It is a decent talent by itself and can really make the difference in getting key totems back when you need them.
Seasoned Winds	It may seem like a niche talent, but when it ends up useful, it is VERY strong. We currently recommend using it in every dungeon except perhaps Siege of Boralus. Very strong for PvP as well, especially now that it does not have the opportunity cost of being a dedicated PvP talent anymore.
Mana Spring	Gives some Mana back to a few allies with a proximity requirement, and loses a lot of value if you do not use a Lava Burst -centric build. It is an okay default pick if Mana ends up being a concern at all, Note that multiple Mana Spring Totems' effects also do not stack.
Thundershock	It is a formidable variant of Thunderstorm, turning it into a reliable crowd-control ability without moving enemies and risking attracting additional hostiles. While advanced Shaman players have learned to put the regular Thunderstorm to good use; newer players should probably always pick this. The additional reliable crowd control is very welcome in Mythic+, in other circumstances, you are likely better off with the regular version.
Traveling Storms	Has a lot of potential but, unfortunately, only works on players. Not a default pick, but will definitely see some use.
Call of the Elements	More or less an automatic pick, though in raid situations, you may not need the extra cooldown.
Creation Core	Unless you have a very specific purpose in mind for it, get Call of the Elements instead.

Earth Shock/ Elemental Blast, Earthquake and either Fire Elemental or Storm Elemental are required picks. You cannot go down the tree without picking them all.

Elemental Blast is now only slightly stronger than Earth Shock which means that the talents are very close, but with mobility being a major concern; we recommend using Earth Shock unless movement requirements are exceptionally low. It is also an automatic pick in PvP because interrupts exist.

Storm Elemental is currently your default pick and is superior in most ways to Fire Elemental.

Ability	Description/Effect
Icefury	Has been overhauled in The War Within and is now much easier to use. It is mandatory for single-target but mostly used while moving for AoE/Cleave.
Stormkeeper	It is an automatic pick for every build. It has significant synergies with other talents and can deal good single or multi-target burst. It is likely to remain a must-have for PvP.
Thunderstrike Ward	Is a decent generic damage increase for people with a shield but is not currently optimal, simply due to stronger alternatives.

Ability	Description/Effect
Ascendance	Is an automatic pick for every build since its rework in 11.0.5. It is now an extremely powerful cooldown which can single-handedly demolish a pull in dungeons.
Primordial Wave	It is a mandatory pick for Farseer due to Call of the Ancestors. Not currently used by Stormbringer builds. It remains usable in general notably thanks to the strength of Splintered Elements.
Liquid Magma Totem	It is a strong pick in Mythic+ but is hard to justify in most raid encounters, including ones with heavy AoE. If using this, it is a good idea to also grab Totemic Recall and Call of the Elements from the class tree if you did not already have them.

Ability	Description/Effect
Elemental Fury	It is an automatic pick in all situations.
Flash of Lightning	It is an automatic pick in all situations.
Aftershock	Currently an automatic pick. It is unreliable and requires reactivity and playstyle adjustments, but remains strong in any circumstance, but especially in AoE.
Surge of Power	Fairly complex to optimize, though you will generally only think about it when trying line up two procs with Stormkeeper and to remember to cast Lightning Bolt after spenders. Currently not recommended as it is more work for less gain.
Echo of the Elements	It is recommended in most builds but certain AoE-focused Mythic+ builds can drop it altogether.
Master of the Elements	It is an automatic pick if you are getting Echo of the Elements. Reliable damage buff that works on any build and mandatory to path to Elemental Unity for builds that want it.

Ability	Description/Effect
Fusion of Elements	It is an automatic pick when using Icefury but now that it does not interact with most of our other talents and had its bugs fixed it is good but not crazy good anymore.
Storm Frenzy	It is currently an automatic pick for every build now that it also reduces the GCD of the ability (and works on Tempest for Stormbringer). All builds will always cast enough lightning spells for it to be good.
Swelling Maelstrom	It is primarily a comfort pick, but it is hard to pass in Mythic+ where pooling Maelstrom is very powerful. You are always happy to have this, though for raiding builds especially in pure single-target there usually are alternatives that give slightly more damage.
Primordial Fury	It is an automatic pick. More critical damage is always good even when you cast few Lava Bursts.
Herald of the Storms	One of the most debated talents at the moment, it is always a good choice in multi-target situations but is definitely worse on single-target. It is down to preference/specific circumstances in Mythic+, but you will only rarely take this for raiding.
Fury of the Storms	It is an automatic pick for single-target encounters and is debatable in Mythic+, where its sister talent outshines it for AoE.
Elemental Unity	It is generally considered an automatic pick for Farseer raiding builds. It can be used in Mythic+ as well if the dungeon works well for such a build.
Flux Melting	It is not good enough to be played at the moment.
Lightning Capacitor	It is an automatic pick for any build, almost all your damage is Nature damage and 8% is a massive amount. Volcanic and Elemental damage both count Nature damage.
Power of the Maelstrom	It is an automatic pick for every build as you will always cast enough Lava Bursts and lightning spells to get enough benefit from it no matter your build.
Improved Flametongue Weapon	Does not stack with weapon oils, so always worse than it seems on paper. Even builds that do a lot of fire damage currently have better alternatives, do not pick.
Everlasting Elements	Strong pick for Farseer builds. It is a solid talent synergizing well with Elemental Unity, they are generally picked together along with Earthen Rage to path to Primordial Wave, skipping the weak Searing Flames. Stormbringer builds that also typically skip Elemental Unity do not want this.
Earthshatter	It is an automatic pick for all builds, regardless of whether you pick Elemental Blast or Earth Shock (or Fusion of Elements which you always pick).
Thunderstrike Ward	With the new pathing and stronger alternatives, while it remains a reasonable damage increase, there are simply better talents to grab for most builds.
Echo Chamber	It is an automatic pick for every build, we get a lot of Mastery meaning our spells overload constantly and this is an enormous damage increase.
Searing Flames	It is a weak talent that is only picked by Stormbringer builds in order to path to Primordial Wave with a single point.
Earthen Rage	It is a decent single-target increase, picked for Farseer builds that grab the Elemental pet talents, but it is a reasonable pick for any build.
Flames of the Cauldron	It is only picked when also using Erupting Lava. Not recommended in general.

Ability	Description/Effect
Elemental Equilibrium	Requires using either Icefury, Elemental Blast or Primordial Wave. Since you will always use at least two of these, it is always a good pick, though not always optimal for Mythic+. Solid straightforward damage increase that tends to line up with burst periods.
Eye of the Storm	It is a reasonable pick for any build but is never mandatory, though it is particularly nice to drop quicker AoE combos with Echoes of Great Sundering.
Echo of the Elementals	It is an automatic pick for builds that get Elemental Unity, meaning most raiding Farseer builds and some Mythic+ builds that focus on single-target.
Lightning Rod	It is an automatic pick for Stormbringer builds for Mythic+ and AoE-heavy encounters (NOT for single-target), as it is very powerful for cleaving, but loses some appeal for Farseer builds. It is still okay for those, but a lot less mandatory.
Mountains Will Fall	It is an automatic pick, we stack a lot of Mastery and with Echo Chamber our overloads do a lot of damage.
First Ascendant	It is currently not good enough to compete with Preeminence unless the timing is absolutely perfect for the burst periods you want, mainly if you have a priest who will cast Power Infusion on you.
Preeminence	It is an automatic pick whenever you pick Ascendance, unless you have very specific timings or fight durations in mind.
Erupting Lava	It can be picked to edge out a little bit of extra single-target damage, but it is problematic gameplay-wise.
Magma Chamber	Has too low effective value to be picked currently.
Splintered Elements	It is an automatic pick whenever you are picking Primordial Wave, so for most builds at the moment. It is a large portion of the power of Primordial Wave.
Charged Conduit	It is pretty good for AoE fests is otherwise pretty weak. Usable in Mythic+ and other heavy AoE circumstances, but generally you have better alternatives at this tier, with many talents being mandatory.
Echoes of Great Sundering	It is a strong pick whenever regular significant AoE/Cleave will be in play for all builds, however, there are simply not enough points to go around and the "awkwardness" of not always using Earthquake when you have the Maelstrom can be problematic. Currently recommended for Mythic+ and heavy AoE encounters in most circumstances, but do not feel obligated to use it. Using it badly is likely to be a DPS loss.
Deeply Rooted Elements	Remains too strong to ignore and is an automatic pick with all builds, regardless of the target profile.
Primal Elementalist	It is strong when using Shaman Elemental 11.1 Class Set 2pc. Unfortunately, it makes you unable to use Earth Elemental at the same time.