Elemental Shaman PvP Guide (Shadowlands 9.2.5)
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic Shaman PvP guide.
Elemental Shaman in the Current Meta
Elemental Shamans is a mid-tier caster right now.
They have strong sustained damage, while also having the
strongest hybrid healing and utility in the game. Elemental Shaman's
class design that mainly contributes to this is Lightning Lasso,
and
Stormkeeper.
Changes in Patch 9.2
Patch 9.2 has not brought many changes to Elemental Shaman. Namely, the only changes to the specialization will be within the double Legendary choice, as well as the tier set bonuses.
Chain Harvest, the Venthyr ability, now generates 3 Maelstrom per target damaged or healed.
Fleshcraft's absorb has been reduced to 25% of max HP.
- You may now equip a 2nd Legendary
in the form of
Unity, which allows you to use your Covenant-specific Legendary alongside another Legendary.
- Tier set bonuses have returned with a
Lava Burst and pet-focused 2-set and 4-set, specifically
Elemental Shaman 2-Piece and
Elemental Shaman 4-Piece for Elemental Shaman.
- The 2-set bonus for wearing 2 PvP trinkets has been reworked to instead grant 175 Intellect and 350 Stamina.
- Five new PvP trinkets have been added:
Strengths of Elemental Shaman
- High burst damage with
Echoing Shock,
Earth Shock, and
Stormkeeper's empowered
Lightning Bolts
- 5-second stun and significant damage with
Lightning Lasso, which cannot be dispelled
- Dispel protection of
Flame Shock when using
Control of Lava
- Strong defensives against casters and some melee through
Seasoned Winds
- Good mobility and kiting
- Has
Healing Surge and
Healing Stream Totem for strong off-healing
- Short cooldown interrupt in
Wind Shear
Grounding Totem and
Tremor Totem provide strong utility to the team
Weaknesses of Elemental Shaman
- Challenging to kite against high melee burst
- Dependent on procs of
Lava Surge based on
Flame Shock which can be dispelled
- When focused it is challenging to generate Maelstrom
- Few defensive cooldowns
Content of the Guide
This guide ended up being very long, so we decided to split it in different pages.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of each PvE talent row to help you decide which talent to pick on each row, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, which advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (damage, burst, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Covenants and Legendary Powers page, you will find advice on choosing the best Covenant, Soulbind, and Conduits as well as the best PvP Legendary Powers.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, particularly trinkets.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Elemental Shaman in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
- On the Elemental Shaman PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful macros for PvP for Elemental Shaman.
- On the Elemental Shaman Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Elemental Shamans, in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 27 Feb. 2022: Updated for Patch 9.2 of Shadowlands
- 17 Nov. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.5 of Shadowlands.
- 04 Jul. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1 of Shadowlands.
- 19 Mar. 2021: Updated based on Patch 9.0.5 for Shadowlands.
- 02 Dec. 2020: Updated ahead of first Shadowlands PvP Season.
- 29 Nov. 2020: Added Covenant page and removed Azerite/Essence mentions. More updates to come.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Tiqqle, a PvP enthusiast who has repeatedly achieved 2400 rating. You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can also check out his YouTube channel.
- Awesome Hard Mode 4 Ahn'Qiraj Season of Mastery World First Clear Video
- Anduin as the Lich King (AI-Generated Art Piece)
- Wrath of the Lich King Classic Beta Invite Wave Went Out
- Patch 9.2.5 Hotfixes: June 24th - Class Tuning
- Upcoming Class Tuning: June 28th
- Will Dragonflight Release in November 2022?
- Dragonflight Pre-Order Pet Double the Size of the Player Character
- Naxxramas New Season of Mastery Features Teased