Elemental Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This is the default build for all raid encounters. It is significantly ahead of Stormbringer builds in pure single-target.

There are three things you need to know here:

• The following build is tailored assuming you have 2 or 4 piece of the Liberation of Undermine set bonus, and do NOT have Shaman Farseer 11.2 Class Set 2pc yet.
• If you DO have Shaman Farseer 11.2 Class Set 2pc, swap out Ancient Fellowship for Latent Wisdom.
• Once you have Shaman Farseer 11.2 Class Set 4pc, drop Primal Elementalist for Liquid Magma Totem. You can also do this for encounters with regular cleave as it will also reduce your variance significantly.

Note that when using Araz's Ritual Forge, First Ascendant almost catches up to Preeminence, so you should feel free to swap to it if the fight timings work better for it. It also reduces your variance.

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.

Note that Liquid Magma Totem over Charged Conduit is a perfectly valid alternative, it is better in some ways and worse in others.

We recommend beginners start with Earth Shock and only switch to Elemental Blast once they have a better understanding of both dungeons and the spec, as the latter version is stronger but it much less forgiving with movement, casting, and Maelstrom management.

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, Icefury, Fusion of Elements.

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

This is our recommended build for all Mythic+ endeavours once you have switched to Shaman Stormbringer 11.2 Class Set 4pc and want to drop all the Elemental pet talents.

Note that Liquid Magma Totem over Charged Conduit is a perfectly valid alternative, it is better in some ways and worse in others.

We recommend beginners start with Earth Shock and only switch to Elemental Blast once they have a better understanding of both dungeons and the spec, as the latter version is stronger but it much less forgiving with movement, casting, and Maelstrom management.

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, Icefury, Fusion of Elements.

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

This alternative build is especially good if you have Shaman Farseer 11.2 Class Set 2pc and are okay with the following trade-offs:

• You lose significant AoE, particularly on large packs. If you have access to Shaman Stormbringer 11.2 Class Set 4pc it is an even larger loss.
• Stronger single target and 2-3 target cleave.
• Less reliant on Ascendance and more flexible.
• Less "interesting/engaging" gameplay
• Significantly easier to play, less focus on target swapping.
• Less busy with WeakAuras, fewer things to track.
• End of pack min/maxing is much less and much less important.
• Echoes of Great Sundering becomes optional.
• You lose 3% damage reduction.

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

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

If you DO NOT have Shaman Farseer 11.2 Class Set 2pc, swap out Latent Wisdom for Ancient Fellowship.

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, Icefury, Fusion of Elements.

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 and Earth Shock are very close, but with mobility being a major concern; we recommend using Earth Shock unless movement requirements are exceptionally low, although Elemental Blast outscales it in Mythic+ but is MUCH harder to play around. Earth Shock is an automatic pick in PvP because interrupts exist.

Storm Elemental is an automatic pick and is far 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 remains a must-have for PvP.
Thunderstrike Ward	Does not do enough damage even if you have a shield, there are simply 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. Can be used by Stormbringer builds if you drop the Elemental pet synergy talents. It is always picked together with Splintered Elements.
Liquid Magma Totem	It is a strong pick in most situations where you have no better alternative. It is deceptively good for single-target with Farseer because it causes ancestors to cast both a Lava Burst and a Chain Lightning due to its dual nature (like Ascendance does. 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, so there is no real reason to ever use it.
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. You generally want to use it on spenders and Stormkeeper charges but should not focus on it.

Ability	Description/Effect
Fusion of Elements	It is an automatic pick when using Icefury, you just need to make sure you use both a Fire ( Lava Burst, Flame Shock, Liquid Magma Totem) and a Nature spell shortly after, at least before you press Icefury again.
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 enough.
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 very strong even when you cast few Lava Bursts.
Herald of the Storms	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 an automatic pick for most builds though there is a world where you might skip it in Mythic+ if you are not using Shaman Elemental 11.1 Class Set 2pc.
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 generally a solid flex point that you pick by default and drop when you really need something else, especially for Mythic+ where you will cast fewer Lava Bursts.
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	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, though Searing Flames has the upside of only requiring one point to path to Primordial Wave. It is a default pick but if you are not using Shaman Elemental 11.1 Class Set 2pc anymore you may want something else for Mythic+.
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 as an alternative to Everlasting Elements and Earthen Rage in order to path to Primordial Wave with a single point.
Earthen Rage	It is a decent single-target increase that is a reasonable pick for any build. It is picked along with Everlasting Elements to path to Primordial Wave, or not at all.
Flames of the Cauldron	It is an alternative single-point path to Primordial Wave for builds that both use Elemental Unity and do not want to use Power of the Maelstrom, but that is the end of its value.

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 filler point for any build but there are currently always stronger alternatives.
Echo of the Elementals	It is an automatic pick for most builds until you start dropping the Elemental pet synergy talents, meaning once you remove your Shaman Elemental 11.1 Class Set 2pc you will want to drop it for Mythic+ in favor of stronger talents like Liquid Magma Totem or Charged Conduit.
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 in Mythic+ but there are generally better points for single-target fights.
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	Can compete with Preeminence if the encounter timings favor the shorter cooldown, especially 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, although it is a reasonable filler point.
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 very good for AoE fests is otherwise pretty weak. Good for Stormbringer builds in Mythic+ and other heavy AoE circumstances but much harder to justify for Farseer builds.
Echoes of Great Sundering	It is an extremely strong pick whenever regular significant AoE/Cleave will be in play for all builds. That being said a lot of people have trouble with the "awkwardness" of not always using Earthquake and the additional burden of alternating and keeping track of it. Currently recommended for Mythic+ and heavy AoE encounters in most circumstances, but you can still do reasonable damage without it. Note that 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 but once you swap out of this bonus it is not strong enough to be picked over alternatives. Unfortunately, it makes you unable to use Earth Elemental at the same time as Storm Elemental, which notably prevents the use of its defensive ability.