Elemental Shaman DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within Pre-Patch

If you are new to Elemental, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section, we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Maelstrom is the primary resource of Elemental Shamans. Maelstrom is essentially a clone of the Rage resource Warriors use. It is generated by casting spells and using specific abilities, while other abilities covert Maelstrom into powerful damage. Maelstrom is generated and consumed fairly slowly for Elemental, which makes the rotational priority very easy to predict and contributes to a fluid state of play.

Note that this page simply lists all the different abilities, assuming you are at max level. If you are leveling, check out our dedicated Shaman Leveling page, which has detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These abilities are available no matter what talents you chose and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

Note that Elemental's Mastery: Elemental Overload has been redesigned. It now also increases all Physical and Elemental damage dealt, in addition to giving your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst and Icefury a chance to trigger a second cast on the same target, now dealing 25% (from 85%) of normal damage and generating less Maelstrom.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Lightning Bolt	LB	Your main filler. It deals low damage and generates 6 Maelstrom. It can become quite strong with a Lightning-focused build.
Flame Shock	FS	A damage-over-time spell you should keep applied to your primary target at all times. It deals weak damage over time but has important interactions with your Lava Burst: it guarantees that all Lava Burst casts will be critical hits and can proc Lava Surges . Flame Shock has no Maelstrom cost but has a 6-second cooldown.
Lava Surge	LS	Makes your Flame Shock have a 10% chance to activate Lava Surge, which resets the cooldown of your next Lava Burst and makes it an instant cast.
Healing Surge	-	Heals for a significant amount with a fast cast time. It costs 10% of your base Mana pool. Do not hesitate to use it on yourself or others. Particularly useful for solo content, especially with the Swelling Waves War Mode talent.
Bloodlust/ Heroism	BL	Formerly the signature Shaman cooldown, increasing the haste of all your party and raid members by 30% for 40 seconds, with a 5-minute cooldown. Presently available to Mage, Hunter, and now Evoker as well.
Reincarnation	Ankh	A passive ability allowing you to raise from the dead with 40% of your Health and Mana. This has a 30-minute cooldown, which does not reset on wipe. This is a unique and incredibly powerful ability when it is available.
Earthbind Totem	-	Projects a totem that slows everything around it by 50% for 20 seconds. Very useful, especially if you kite around the totem.
Lightning Shield	-	A maintenance buff that needs to be refreshed every hour when using the Lightning Conduit talent or for fights where there is a risk of getting hit in melee. When hit, you generate 5 Maelstrom and deal minor damage. It only stacks with Earth Shield if you have the Elemental Orbit class talent, so keep that in mind.
Flametongue Weapon	-	Only actually used if you are also using the Improved Flametongue Weapon talent, but by default you should be using it.
Primal Strike	-	You will never use this. Take it off your bars.
Skyfury	SF	Harness the fury of the Windlord to grant a target ally 2% Mastery and empower their auto attacks to have a 20% chance to instantly strike again for 1 hour. If the target is in your party or raid, all affected party and raid members will be affected.
Ghost Wolf	-	Transforms you into a wolf, preventing you from casting but increasing your movement speed by 30% as long as you stay in this form. In addition, your movement speed cannot go below 100% while in this form.
Ancestral Spirit	-	Allows you to resurrect allies after a very long cast. It is not usable in combat.
Astral Recall	-	Is essentially a second Hearthstone charge, with a 10-minute cooldown. It is still linked to your Hearthstone, and you can only use this to teleport back to the location you picked with your Hearthstone.
Far Sight	-	Is one of the least useful spells in the game; it allows you to see at a distance. You can safely remove this from your bars.
Water Walking	-	Allows you or whoever you target to walk on water as long as no damage is taken.
Inundate	-	Makes your successful Purge, Cleanse Spirit, Healing Stream Totem, Hex and Wind Shear casts generate 8 Maelstrom during combat.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Chain Heal	CH	Is the only multi-target heal Elemental Shamans can get, it heals one target for a moderate amount, then jumps on up to 3 nearby allies, the healing amount decreases by 30% with each jump. It costs 15% of your base Mana pool.
Lava Burst	LvB	Is one of your main damage spells, technically dealing less damage than Lightning Bolt; however, when used on an enemy afflicted by Flame Shock, it always critically strikes. Because we always take Elemental Fury this makes Lava Burst inherently powerful. Generates 8 Maelstrom.
Astral Shift	AS	Is a 1.5-minute cooldown reducing your damage taken by 40% for 12 seconds. It is your main defensive cooldown, and you should use it often.
Chain Lightning	CL	Is your main Maelstrom generating ability for AoE/Cleave It deals decent damage and generates 2 Maelstrom per target hit. It can chain to up to 5 targets.
Earth Shield	EaS	Places a shield that heals its target for a small amount whenever they take damage. This healing can only occur once every few seconds and has 9 charges. Your healing is increased by 20% on whoever has this spell active. It costs 5% of your base Mana pool.
Wind Shear	WS (rare)	Is your "kick". It is fairly unique in that its 30 yards range and 12-second cooldown are shorter than most other ranged characters. This makes Wind Shear one of the best interrupts in the game, and you should use it's a lot.
Frost Shock	FrS	Is your filler spell during movement. It also slows the target by 50% for 6 seconds. It deals a weak amount of damage but does not generate Maelstrom unless empowered by Icefury. If it is not, you should only use it for movement (and even then, rarely), when you need the slow, or if you really need extra damage immediately.
Capacitor Totem	Cap totem	Is your only way to "stun" targets. You cast it at a target location, and after 2 seconds, it will stun enemies within 8 yards for 3 seconds. This ability has a 1-minute cooldown, which can be reduced by using the Static Charge talent.
Spirit Walk	SW (rare)	Removes all movement-impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 60% for 8 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown.
Gust of Wind	GoW	Hurls you forward (similar to Hunters' Disengage but forward) on a 20-second cooldown.
Healing Stream Totem	-	Does minor healing within 40 yards over 15 seconds. It costs 5% of your base Mana Pool. It can be useful between fights or when moving.
Earthgrab Totem		Summons a totem at a target location for 20 seconds with a 30-second cooldown. Every 2 seconds, all enemies within 8 yards of the totem is rooted in place for 2 seconds. Enemies previously rooted by the totem instead suffers a 50% movement speed slow.
Purge	-	Removes 1 beneficial magic effect from an enemy target. It costs 14% of your base Mana pool.
Greater Purge	-	Removes 2 beneficial magic effects from an enemy target. It has twice the mana cost of Purge and a 12-second cooldown. Currently does not seem to have a useful niche. It costs 21% of your base Mana pool.
Earth Elemental	EE/Steve	Is a summon that is primarily used to help with tanking for 1 minute. It can taunt and take quite a bit of punishment before dying and also deals decent damage. Your maximum Health is increased by 15% while it is active. It has a 5 minutes cooldown.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Cleanse Spirit	Cleanse	Removes all curses from a friendly target within 40 yards, with an 8-second cooldown. It costs 10% of your base Mana pool.
Tremor Totem	Tremor	Summons a totem removing all Fear, Charm, and Sleep effects on party and raid members within 30 yards every few seconds for 10 seconds.
Hex	-	Is the Shaman equivalent of Polymorph. This spell transforms 1 enemy into a frog for 60 seconds, preventing it from attacking or casting spells as long as you do not attack it. It only works on humanoids and beasts.
Wind Rush Totem	WRT	Summons a totem for 15 seconds that increases the speed of allies within 10 yards by 40% for 5 seconds. The speed buff is continually refreshed, as long as they are within range.
Spiritwalker's Grace	SWG	Allows you to cast while moving for 15 seconds on a 1.5-minute base cooldown (usually reduced to 1 minute by Graceful Spirit). It also increases your movement speed by 20%. 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.
Ancestral Guidance	AG	Converts 25% of your damage and healing done into healing on up to 3 nearby party and/or raid members for up to 20% of your maximum Health per tick. It lasts 10 seconds, with a 2-minute cooldown.
Thunderstorm	-	Does very little damage but knocks away enemies around you and slows them by 40% for 5 seconds. Quite useful, especially when you use it to displace an enemy in a specific direction.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Lightning Lasso	Lasso	Is a channeled ability that stuns a target within 20 yards and deals considerable damage over 5 seconds. You can move while channeling and it has a 45-second cooldown.
Totemic Projection	-	Is a 10-second cooldown ability that allows you to move all your active totems to a location within 40 yards.
Poison Cleansing Totem	-	Removes ALL poison effects from a nearby party or raid member within 30 yards every 1.5 seconds for 6 seconds on a 45-second cooldown.
Nature's Swiftness	NS	Is a one-minute cooldown ability that makes your next healing or damaging Nature spell instant and cost no mana.
Stone Bulwark Totem	NS	Summons an Earth Totem at the feet of the caster for 30 seconds, granting the caster a shield absorbing damage for 10 seconds, and an additional absorb every 5 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
Totemic Recall		Resets the cooldown of your most recently used totem that has a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Planes Traveler	-	Reduces the cooldown of Astral Shift by 30 seconds.
Astral Bulwark	-	Makes Astral Shift reduces your damage taken by an additional 20%.
Spirit Wolf	-	Increases your movement speed and damage reduction by 5% every second you stay in Ghost Wolf form, up to 4 times.
Thunderous Paws	-	Increases the movespeed of Ghost Wolf form by an additional 25% for the first 3 seconds and removes any snare effects on you. This effect can only occur every 20 seconds.
Winds of Al'Akir	-	Increases the movement speed bonus of Ghost Wolf by 10%. Additionally, when you have 3 or more totems active, your movement speed is increased by 15%.
Elemental Orbit	EO (rare)	Increases the number of Elemental Shields you can have active on yourself by 1 and allows you to have Earth Shield cast on yourself and one ally at the same time.
Fire and Ice	-	Increases all Fire and frost damage you deal by 3%.
Ancestral Wolf Affinity	-	Makes Cleanse Spirit, Wind Shear, Purge and totem casts no longer cancel Ghost Wolf.
Encasing Cold	-	Frost Shock snares its targets by an additional 10% and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
Arctic Snowstorm	-	Enemies within 10 yards of your Frost Shock are snared by 30%.
Brimming with Life	-	Increases your maximum Health by 10% and while you are at full Health, Reincarnation cools down 75% faster.
Static Charge	-	Reduces the cooldown of Capacitor Totem by 5 seconds for each enemy, it stuns up to a maximum reduction of 20 seconds.
Guardian's Cudgel	-	Spawns a secondary Capacitor Totem when it fades or is destroyed.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Elemental Resistance	-	Healing from Healing Stream Totem reduces Fire, Frost, and Nature damage received by 6% for 3 seconds.
Nature's Guardian	NG	Heals you for 27% of your maximum Health whenever your Health is brought below 35% . This effect has a 45 seconds cooldown.
Nature's Fury	-	Increases the critical strike chance of your Nature spells by 4%.
Refreshing Waters	-	Your Healing Surge is 25% more effective on yourself.
Elemental Warding	-	Reduces all magic damage taken by 6%.
Primordial Bond	-	Reduces your damage taken by 5% while you have an elemental active.
Voodoo Mastery	-	Your Hex target is slowed by 70% during Hex and for 6 seconds after it ends. Also reduces the cooldown of your Hex spell by 15 seconds.
Totemic Focus	-	Increases the radius of your totem effects by 15%. Additionally, it increases the duration of your Earthbind Totem and Earthgrab Totem by 10 seconds, and the duration of your Healing Stream Totem, Tremor Totem, Poison Cleansing Totem and Wind Rush Totem by 3 seconds.
Ascending Air	-	The cooldown of Wind Rush Totem is reduced by 30 seconds and its movement speed effect lasts an additional 2 seconds.
Jet Stream	-	Wind Rush Totem’s movement speed bonus is increased by 10% and now removes snares.
Enhanced Imbues	-	The effects of your weapon imbues are increased by 20%.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Graceful Spirit	-	Reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace by 30 seconds and increases your movement speed by 20% while it is active.
Spiritwalker's Aegis	-	Enhances your Spiritwalker's Grace by making you are immune to Silence and interrupt effects for 5 seconds when you cast it.
Totemic Surge	-	Reduces the cooldown of your totems by 6 seconds.
Seasoned Winds	-	Interrupting a spell with Wind Shear decreases your damage taken from that spell school by 15% for 18 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times.
Mana Spring	-	Restores 1750 mana to you and 4 allies within 40 yards whenever you cast Lava Burst.
Thundershock	-	Makes Thunderstorm knock enemies up instead of away and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
Traveling Storms	-	Thunderstorm now can be cast on allies within 40 yards, reduces enemies movement speed by 60%, and knocks enemies 25% further.
Call of the Elements	-	Reduces the cooldown of Totemic Recall by 60 seconds.
Creation Core	-	Makes Totemic Recall affect an additional totem.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Earth Shock	ES	is one of your main Maelstrom-consuming nuke. It deals powerful instant damage has no cast time, and costs 60 Maelstrom.
Elemental Blast	EB	Is a 2-second cast that costs 75 Maelstrom and replaces Earth Shock. It deals massive damage and increases either your Critical Strike or Haste by 6%, or your Mastery by 11% for 10 seconds. It has no cooldown and deals "Elemental" damage meaning it counts as Nature, Fire and Frost damage.
Earthquake	EQ	Is your main Maelstrom-consuming nuke for AoE/Cleave It deals good damage over 6 seconds in the targeted area (or around your target depending on the choice node you pick) and has a 5% chance to knock down enemies within every time it deals damage.
Fire Elemental	FE	Is a 2.5-minute cooldown that summons a powerful Fire Elemental for 30 seconds. You do not have control over it, but it deals significant damage, and you usually want to pair it with Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp. It increases the damage of Flame Shocks by 33% and the duration of new Flame Shock casts by 100%.
Storm Elemental	SE	Is a 2.5-minute cooldown that summons a powerful Storm elemental for 30 seconds. You do not have control over a bit, but it deals significant damage and reduces the cast time of and the GCD incurred by your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 3% each time you cast either spell, up to 10 times
Icefury	IF	Casting Lava Burst has a chance to temporarily replace your Frost Shock button with Icefury. It deals moderate damage, generates 12 Maelstrom, is an instant cast and has a 30-second cooldown. It causes your next 2 Frost Shocks to deal 225% increased damage and generate 10 Maelstrom.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Thunderstrike Ward	-	Imbue your shield with the element of Lightning for 1 hour, giving Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning a chance to call down 2 Thunderstrikes on your target for Nature damage.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Ascendance	Asc	Transforms you for 15 seconds, removing the cooldown from Lava Burst and transforming Chain Lightning into Lava Beam. The damage from Lava Burst is further increased by your Critical Strike chance while Ascendance is active. When you initially transform, a Lava Burst is immediately cast at all enemies affected by your Flame Shock, and it refreshes their durations to 18 seconds. Ascendance has a 3-minute cooldown.
Stormkeeper	SK	Has a 1.5-second cast time and causes your next 2 Lightning Bolts to do 150% more damage and also causes your next two Lightning Bolts OR Chain Lightnings to be instant cast and trigger an additional Elemental Overload on every target hit.
Primordial Wave	PWave	Deals some damage and applies Flame Shock to an enemy. Additionally, it causes your next Lava Burst to also hit all targets affected by your Flame Shocks for 80% of normal damage. It has a 30-second cooldown.
Liquid Magma Totem	LMT	Summons a totem at the target location for 15 seconds that deals minor damage to 3 nearby enemy targets, applying Flame Shock, then deals damage to a random nearby target every second for 6 seconds, dealing Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target. It has a 1-minute cooldown.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Elemental Fury	-	Increases the damage your Critical Strikes do to 250% from the usual 200%.
Flash of Lightning	FoL	Makes Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning casts reduce the cooldown of your Nature spells by 1 second. Increases the critical strike chance of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 10%.
Aftershock	AfS	Gives Earth Shock, Elemental Blast and Earthquake a 25% chance to refund all Maelstrom spent.
Surge of Power	SoP	Makes Earth Shock, Elemental Blast and Earthquake casts enhance your next spell cast within 15 seconds. Flame Shock: The next cast also applies Flame Shock to 1 additional target within 8 yards of the target. Lightning Bolt: Your next cast will cause an additional 2 Elemental Overloads. Chain Lightning: Your next cast will chain to 1 additional target. Lava Burst: Your next cast reduces the cooldown of your Fire and Storm Elementals by 6 seconds. Frost Shock: Your next cast freezes the target in place for 6 seconds.
Echo of the Elements	EotE	Gives Lava Burst an additional charge.
Unrelenting Calamity	-	Reduces the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 0.25 seconds and increases the duration of Earthquake by 1 second.
Master of the Elements	MotE	Causes your Lava Bursts to increase the damage or healing of your next Nature, Physical, or Frost spell by 15%.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Fusion of Elements	-	After casting Icefury, the next time you cast a Nature and a Fire spell, you additionally cast an Elemental Blast at your target at 60% effectiveness.
Storm Frenzy	-	Your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt has 40% reduced cast time after casting Earth Shock, Elemental Blast, or Earthquake. Can accumulate up to 2 charges.
Swelling Maelstrom	-	Increases your maximum Maelstrom by 50 and increases the damage of Earth Shock, Elemental Blast and Earthquake by 5%.
Primordial Fury	-	Increases the critical damage bonus of Elemental Fury by 25%.
Flow of Power	-	Increases the Maelstrom generated by Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst by 2.
Elemental Unity	-	While a Storm Elemental is active, your Nature damage dealt is increased by 10%. While a Fire Elemental is active, your Fire damage dealt is increased by 10%.
Flux Melting	-	Increases the damage of your next Lava Burst by 20% after you cast Frost Shock.
Lightning Conduit	-	While Lightning Shield is active, your Nature damage dealt is increased by 8%.
Power of the Maelstrom	PotM	Gives your Lava Burst casts a 25% chance to cause your next Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning casts to trigger an additional Elemental Overload. Stacks up to two times.
Improved Flametongue Weapon	-	Makes Flametongue Weapon also increase your Fire spell damage by 5% for 1 hour.
Everlasting Elements	-	Increases the duration of your Elementals by 20%.
Flames of the Cauldron	-	Reduces the cooldown of Flame Shock by 1.5 seconds and Flame Shock deals damage 15% faster.
Eye of the Storm	-	Reduces the Maelstrom cost of Earth Shock and Earthquake by 5 and reduces the Maelstrom cost of Elemental Blast by 10.
Echo Chamber	-	Increases the damage of your Elemental Overloads by 10%.
Searing Flames	-	Gives Flame Shock damage a chance to generate 2 Maelstrom.
Earthen Rage	-	Your damage spells incite the earth around you to come to your aid for 6 seconds, repeatedly dealing Nature damage to your most recently attacked target.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Elemental Equilibrium	EEq	Makes it so doing direct Fire, Frost, and Nature damage within 10 seconds will increase all damage dealt by 10% for 10 seconds, with a 30 seconds internal cooldown. Note that due to Elemental Blast's Nature, it counts as all 3 damage types at once, and so can immediately proc Elemental Equilibrium.
Echo of the Elementals	-	When your Storm Elemental or Fire Elemental expires, it leaves behind a lesser Elemental to continue attacking your enemies for 15 seconds.
Mountains Will Fall	MwF	Allows your Earth Shock, Elemental Blast and Earthquake to trigger your Mastery: Elemental Overload at 50% effectiveness. Overloaded Earthquakes do not knock enemies down.
First Ascendant	-	The cooldown of Ascendance is reduced by 60 seconds.
Preeminence	-	Your Haste is increased by 25% while Ascendance is active and its duration is increased by 3 seconds.
Fury of the Storms	-	Activating Stormkeeper summons a powerful Lightning Elemental to fight by your side for 8 seconds.
Skybreaker's Fiery Demise	SFD	Increases the critical strike chance of Flame Shock by 50%, and its damage-over-time critical strikes reduce the cooldown of your Fire or Storm Elemental by 1 second.
Magma Chamber	-	Makes Flame Shock damage increase the damage of your next Earth Shock, Elemental Blast or Earthquake by 1.5%, stacking up to 10 times.
Splintered Elements	-	Primordial Wave grants 20% Haste plus 4% for each additional Lava Burst generated by Primordial Wave for 12 seconds.
Echoes of Great Sundering	EoGS	Makes your Earth Shocks increase the damage of your next Earthquake by 120% and makes your Elemental Blasts increased the damage of your next Earthquake by 140%.
Deeply Rooted Elements	DRE	Gives Lava Burst casts a 7% chance to activate Ascendance for 6 seconds.
Lightning Rod	LR	Causes Earth Shock, Elemental Blast, and Earthquake to designate a target as a Lightning Rod for 8 seconds. Lightning Rods take 20% of all damage you deal with Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.
Primal Elementalist	PE	Increases the damage to your Earth, Fire, and Storm Elementals by 80% give them additional abilities and give you direct control over them.

For a more in-depth look at all the Elemental Shaman talents, visit the link below.

For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.

Once you reach max level, it can be somewhat overwhelming to completely change the way you play by suddenly implementing a large number of addons in a short space of time, especially if they have a heavy visual impact on your UI. We recommend using some of the more basic addons recommended on our Addons Page below while leveling so that you have more time to get used to them during the easier phases of playing your class. You will want at least some of our Macros as well!