Elemental Shaman PvP Talents and Builds (The War Within Pre-Patch)

While the above table provides a generally accurate overview of the viability of talents, some finer points are discussed in the sections that follow, and we recommend you read those for a deeper understanding.

• Stone Bulwark Totem provides a defensive absorption shield.
• Lightning Lasso is available without using a PvP Talent.
• Totemic Projection is critical for the use with Static Field Totem and repositioning enemies, mainly melee teams.
• Thunderous Paws, Winds of Al'Akir, and Gust of Wind gives mobility to reposition or get away.
• Planes Traveler gives a reduced cooldown for Astral Shift.
• Increased passive healing through Healing Stream Totem.

• Decreased cooldown of Flame Shock with Flames of the Cauldron.
• Damage increase through Improved Flametongue Weapon to our main fire spells.
• Deeply Rooted Elements procs Lava Bursts on all targets with Flame Shock.
• Splintered Elements gives a Haste buff, increasing the proc rate of Lava Burst and rate of Flame Shock damage.
• Surge of Power allows the Elemental Shaman to root enemies in PvP, and reduce Fire Elemental cooldown quickly.
• Searing Flames give an easy passive way to generate Maelstrom.
• Thunderstrike Ward, Fusion of Elements, Fury of the Storms add significant passive damage.

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents; each has uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful but can be replaced with other PvP talents, depending on your team's goal.

• Grounding Totem is a default selection against caster or Hunter teams. This can stop crowd-control from the enemy team and large damaging spell casts from casters.
• Burrow is an immunity defensive which can also deal moderate damage.
• Static Field Totem gives the ability to relocate this totem and move the enemy team away from you or your teammates. Note it only has around 5K HP but can be an important factor when going for burst or saving your teammates.
• Shamanism reduces the cooldown of your Heroism/ Bloodlust to 60 seconds at the expense of only making it give 20% Haste and last only 10 seconds. Additionally, affected players will no longer receive the Exhaustion debuff.
• Totem of Wrath is a default pick against caster teams. This talent increases the critical damage by 20% of only spell casts or heals. Although this is highly dependent on how often your spells critically hit, if a critical strike happens, the damage is significantly greater due to the multipliers of Master of the Elements, and the combination of Surge of Power and Stormkeeper. This also affects Lightning Lasso now.
• Unleash Shield provides significant utility for the Elemental Shaman to benefit from pushing enemy teammates off ledges and rooting. When using Elemental Orbit both knockback and root effects are applied.
• Counterstrike Totem is a situational talent. This can be useful as a small peel for your teammates or as a surprise against enemies in arena. In battlegrounds, this can be used as a considerable damage option but will not lead to kills. Generally, teams are aware of this Shaman's ability to use this totem. They will stop attacking once it is on the ground.