Elemental Shaman PvP Talents and Builds (Shadowlands / 9.0.2)
Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as a Elemental Shaman and gives you the best combinations you can take.
This page is part of our Elemental Shaman PvP Guide.
Talent Choices for Elemental Shamans
Elemental Shamans are mainly a burst caster, with above average sustained
pressure. Their main source of damage is using Primordial Wave,
Echoing Shock and
Lava Burst, combined with
Stormkeeper
and
Lightning Lasso. This combination puts out some of the highest
burst damage in the game right now.
The talent and PvP talent combination focuses on maximizing the number
of Lava Bursts, and maximizing defensives.
Regular Talents for Elemental Shaman
Level | Choices | ||
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15 |
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25 |
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30 |
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35 |
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40 |
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45 |
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50 |
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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.
Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
Earthen Rage causes your most recently attacked target to take damage over 6 seconds.
Echo of the Elements grants
Lava Burst 2 charges.
Static Discharge deals decent damage over a period of time while still letting you cast other abilities.
Earthen Rage does not provide enough consistent pressure and damage
to justify taking this talent, when compared to
Echo of the Elements
due to the damage of
Lava Burst.
Echo of the Elements is now the preferred talent since
Lava Burst
is dealing a significant amount of damage, and our main damage dealing ability.
Static Discharge currently does not provide enough pressure when compared
to Echo of the Elements, and the amount of damage an additional
Lava Burst would deal.
Tier 2 (Level 25) Talents
Aftershock grants your spells a 25% chance to refund their Maelstrom cost.
Echoing Shock deals moderate damage, then repeats the next damage or healing spell one second later, with a chance to overload for those abilities, which can potentially overload from our Mastery.
Elemental Blast deals good damage and increases either your Critical Strike, Haste, or Mastery by 366 for 10 seconds. It has a 2-second base cast time and a 12-second cooldown.
Aftershock provides the chance of refunding Maelstrom which could
allow for multiple
Earth Shocks, if you are lucky, but this does not
provide the highest burst damage for the Elemental Shaman. This is not the
preferred talent on this tier.
Echoing Shock is the best option on this tier and amplifies the
Elemental Shaman's ability to deal burst damage. Using this with
Lava Burst and
Stormkeeper allows for significant
damage.
Elemental Blast is not viable for PvP currently, due to not having
significant enough damage and putting the caster at risk of being interrupted
on all schools of magic.
Tier 3 (Level 30) Talents
Spirit Wolf grants you 5% increased movement speed and damage reduction every 1 second, stacking up to 4 times, while you are transformed into a
Ghost Wolf.
Earth Shield places a shield that heals its target for a small amount whenever they take damage. This heal can only occur once every few seconds, and has 9 charges.
Static Charge is a new talent that reduces the cooldown of
Capacitor Totem by 5 seconds for each enemy it stuns, up to a maximum of 20 seconds.
Spirit Wolf the main value coming from this talent is the
20% defensive it provides. Only use this talent against team compositions
with Rogue or Hunter, where they will be doing significant damage from stealth,
as you can sit in
Ghost Wolf at the beginning of the match to decrease
the incoming damage.
Earth Shield is the best option on this tier, as this spell can be
purged or dispelled off of you, but cannot be spell-stolen by Mages. This
talent provides significant passive healing when hit, as well as providing
additional healing to the Earth Shielded target from the Elemental Shaman.
Static Charge can be useful in rated battlegrounds, though the
defensive alternatives on this tier are usually preferred given the focus of
Elemental Shamans in battlegrounds. For arena this talent is not useful due
to the lack of number of targets and the 3-second stun duration which is
underwhelming.
Tier 4 (Level 35) Talents
Master of the Elements increases the damage of your next Nature or Frost spell by 20% after casting
Lava Burst.
Storm Elemental replaces
Fire Elemental. It summons an elemental for 30 seconds that deals significant damage and reduces the cast time of and the global cooldown incurred by your
Lightning Bolt and
Chain Lightning by 3% each time you cast either spell, up to 20 times. This has a 2.5-minute cooldown.
Liquid Magma Totem summons a totem at the target location for 15 seconds that hurls liquid magma at a random nearby target every 1 sec, dealing Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards. It has a 60-second cooldown.
Master of the Elements, this is always selected for PvP. With
Flame Shock now lasting 24-seconds, we can maintain 4 up at
one time allowing for frequent procs. Using this talent along with
Skyfury Totem
and stacking Critical Strike stat, significantly multiplies our damage, with
Earth Shock and
Stormkeeper.
Storm Elemental is not the preferred option of this tier mainly
since Storm Elemental does not provide additional Maelstrom, this comes from
the
Fire Elemental. This allows for more
Earth Shock which
is currently the main damaging ability for Elemental Shaman. Fire Elemental
also has
Meteor, which is an on use ability which does
between 10,000-15,000 damage, further enhancing Elemental's burst damage.
Liquid Magma Totem is not a viable option for arena game-play due
to the uncontrollable area-of-effect damage which could break crowd control.
Though this talent could be viable for heavy team fight battlegrounds like
Battle for Gilneas, Warsong Gulch, or Twin Peaks.
Tier 5 (Level 40) Talents
Nature's Guardian heals you for 20% of your maximum health when your health is brought below 35%. It can only proc every 45 seconds. It does not proc if you take fatal damage.
Ancestral Guidance converts 20% of your damage and healing done into healing on up to 3 nearby party and/or raid members. Lasts 10 seconds, with a 2-minute cooldown.
Wind Rush Totem summons a totem for 15 seconds that increases the speed of allies within 10 yards by 60% for 5 seconds. The speed buff is continually refreshed as long as they are within range.
Nature's Guardian is the default pick, as it provides significant
healing even when in a stun, acting as another defensive.
Ancestral Guidance can potentially be useful if the Elemental
Shaman is not being focused in arena and needs to have another tool to heal
his teammates. Using this talent and bursting will provide healing to your
teammates which could save them, even when you are out of mana. This is also
viable for Battleground to support the healing of your team when you are not
being focused.
Wind Rush Totem is not viable for Elemental Shaman in PvP, mainly
due to the short duration and 2-minute cooldown.
Tier 6 (Level 45) Talents
Surge of Power causes
Earth Shock to enhance your next spell cast within 15 seconds.
Flame Shock: Your next cast also applies Flame Shock to 1 additional target within 8 yards.
Lightning Bolt: Your next cast will cause an additional 1-3
Mastery: Elemental Overload: Elemental Overloads.
Lava Burst: Your next cast reduces the cooldown of
Storm Elemental or
Fire Elemental by 6 seconds.
Frost Shock: Your next cast freezes the target in place for 6 seconds.
Primal Elementalist grants your elementals 80% increased damage, new abilities, and the ability to control them directly. Notably, this talent grants your
Earth Elemental the ability to cast
Harden Skin, reducing your and the Elemental Shaman's damage taken by 40% for 10 seconds. It also grants new damage abilities to your other elemental pets.
Icefuryhurls frigid ice at the target, dealing high damage and causing your next 4
Frost Shock to deal 200% increased damage, and generate 8 Maelstrom. It generates 25 Maelstrom, has a 2-second cast time and a 30-second cooldown.
Surge of Power is the highest burst pick on this tier. This does
mean you will only have one defensive cooldown since you will not have
Harden Skin
from the
Primal Elementalist talent choice. Using this talent means
you will have huge burst potential when combined with
Stormkeeper's
150% increased damage
Lightning Bolts and
Echoing Shock.
Using this talent with the correct burst rotation will deal incredible
single-target damage.
Primal Elementalist is the defensive option on this teir, this is
selected against team compositions which have significant setup and burst,
where you will be able to see the damage coming and use the
Earth Elemental's
Harden Skin as another defensive ability to prolong your life and the
match.
Icefury is an okay pick for this tier. This allows for mobility, as
the empowered
Frost Shocks now provide 8 Maelstrom each, which allows
for Maelstrom generation while moving. Thought will leave you with only one
defensive instead of two with
Primal Elementalist.
Tier 7 (Level 50) Talents
Unlimited Power grants 2% Haste for 10 seconds when one of your spells causes an Elemental Overload. This stacks, but gaining a stack does not refresh the duration of the previous stacks.
Stormkeeper has a 1.5-second cast time and causes your next 2
Lightning Bolt to deal 150% more damage, and also causes your next 2 Lightning Bolts or
Chain Lightnings to be instant cast and trigger an additional Elemental Overload on every target hit. It also affects
Lava Beam.
Ascendance transforms you for 15 seconds, removing the cooldown from
Lava Burst and transforming
Chain Lightning into
Lava Beam. The damage of lava burst is further increased by your Critical Strike chance while Ascendance is active. Ascendance has a 3-minute cooldown.
Unlimited Power requires significant casting and uptime to build
stacks, since the buff only lasts for 10 seconds. Due to this, and the fact
our main damage is coming from Earth Shock makes this talent not viable for
PvP.
Stormkeeper is the preferred talent; this deals significant single
target damage with the empowered
Lightning Bolts, and should
no longer be used to generate Maelstrom. Combining this burst with
Primordial Wave,
Echoing Shock, and
Lava Burst
deals incredible burst damage.
Ascendance is not viable in the current state of Elemental
Shaman in PvP. There may be certain circumstances you could take this into
battlegrounds if you are not being targeted. The short duration and clear
animation make it generally easy to counter with a single interrupt or
stun.
PvP Talents for Elemental Shaman
Lightning Lasso is the most important PvP talent. This currently does significant damage, as well as a 5-second stun which is not dispellable. This currently provides significant pressure, while crowd-controlling, and providing time for the Elemental Shaman to move away, or reposition.
Skyfury Totem is a default pick. 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 higher due to the multipliers of
Master of the Elements, and the combination of
Surge of Power and
Stormkeeper. This also affects
Lightning Lasso now.
Grounding Totem is a default selection against caster or Hunter teams. This can stop crowd-control from the enemy team, as well as stop large damaging spell casts from casters.
Purifying Waters is very strong against Restoration Druids and the heal provided from the
Purge is useful to outlive the other team.
Spectral Recovery can be useful. This can be a strong talent as provides healing while in
Ghost Wolf, but also raises the ghost wolf speed to 110% of movement speed even when slows are applied. This can be taken if you know you are against heavy melee teams and know you will need to kite for a considerable portion of the match. This can also be useful in battlegrounds for more mobility works well with
Spirit Wolf for mobility and defensives.
Swelling Waves is a great defensive pick if you expect to be targeted. Since this talent only effects the heals you use on yourself this talent is very situational. If you are against a class you know you will not be able to kite using
Frost Shock or
Ghost Wolf, like Demon Hunters or Windwalker Monks, then this is a good option to be able to self-heal to help during stuns on your healers or stay self-sufficient.
Elemental Attunement is not a necessary talent, as pooling Maelstrom does not provide for significant burst compared to
Stormkeeper with
Surge of Power.
Traveling Storms is not taken in any circumstance in arena as there are better selections to increase pressure on the other team. This can be taken in Eye of the Storm battleground if you will be sitting in the middle defending the flag and want to knock off opponents.
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 considerable damage option, but will not lead to kills. Generally teams are aware of this Shaman ability to use this totem and will stop attacking once it is on the ground.
Control of Lava is a viable selection if the enemy does not focus you and if there are 4 targets to maintain
Flame Shock on. This is primarily a Battleground selection but can be useful in Arena against 2-caster 3v3 teams. This talent will reduce your mobility significantly.
Changelog
- 02 Dec. 2020: Updated in preparation for first PvP season of Shadowlands.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
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.
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