I was bored before class.
How to Ele:
1) Lightning Bolt
2) ???
3) Profit!
Introduction
Elemental is the shaman class's caster spec. We bring a variety of buffs to the casters in our party, including Elemental Oath (5% extra crit for the party/raid as a permanent aura) and Totem of Wrath (280 additional spellpower for all party/raid members and an additional 3% chance to crit debuff on mobs within range of the totem).
Elemental shamans also provide the usual shaman array of totems, though your elemental will most likely be covering caster totems, including Wrath of Air and Mana Spring. Enhancement shamans will usually have the improved Strength of Earth and Windfury talents, so they are better qualified to drop the melee totems. Should two elemental shamans be in the party or raid (or you are so lucky as to have a demonology warlock with a buttload of spellpower), one elemental will be able to drop an offensive fire totem rather than Wrath, such as Searing or Magma, to increase their individual DPS.
I'll be covering in no particular order or coherency:
1) Spec
2) Stats
3) Rotation
4) Gear
5) Items
Before you read any of this, check out Elitist Jerks' Elemental Shaman Theorycrafting Think Tank guide. EJ should be your bible. Read it religiously.
This is a work in progress. Updated for 3.3, but not complete.
1: Spec
A fresh 80 should start with this spec. All of your mana reduction/mana return talents are filled out fully. As you get more gear and become more comfortable with how your mana feels during longer fights, you can switch points out of Convection for Improved Fire Nova or Elemental Warding. I personally have 3/5 Convection, 2/2 Imp. Fire Nova at the moment simply because Fire Nova on trash is amazing and I have no mana issues whatsoever, even if we happen to be missing replenishment.
You will be using Glyph of Lava/Glyph of Flametongue Weapon, Glyph of Lightning Bolt, and Glyph of Totem of Wrath. With 3.3 the T9 4-piece bonus has been nerfed, making Glyph of Totem of Wrath more valuable than Glyph of Lava once more. Check the ZAP or SSE spreadsheets for the specific amount of spellpower you will need to make Glyph of Lava > Glyph of Totem of Wrath; generally, it will be much too high for anyone to achieve at this point in time.
At the moment, Glyph of Lava and Glyph of Flametongue Weapon are exactly the same in terms of general DPS. Depending on the fight and circumstances you will be able to choose which is better for you. Generally, if you are dropping Searing Totem rather than Wrath, you might benefit more from Flametongue's crit bonus, as our DPS totems scale with crit, not haste.
For minor glyphs, given that they are primarily used for utility, the only one I definitely recommend is Glyph of Thunderstorm, which removes the knockback from Thunderstorm and increases its mana return by 2%. EJ recommends Glyph of Water Shield as well, which will give a little more time before you need to waste a GCD refreshing it in heavy raid damage fights. Glyph of Renewed Life saves you a bag slot, and Glyph of Astral Recall gives you almost mage-like teleportation abilities (7.5 minute hearth? Whoop!). It's your choice in the end for these, but if you don't have Glyph of Thunderstorm, be very careful when you're using it.
2: Stats
As a new 80, the elemental shaman's first priority is getting hit capped. If you aren't hit capped you'll miss the boss. Missing the boss is missing DPS time, which is your sole purpose. For Horde shamans, the hit cap with 3 points in Elemental Precision is 368. If you have a moonkin with Improved Faerie Fire or a shadow priest providing Misery in raid, the hit cap falls to 289. For draenei, without a moonkin/spriest the cap is 342, and with it is 263 thanks to Heroic Presence. As a new 80, this can be a little overwhelming, but don't fear! Trial of the Champion has made is easy to reach the hit cap. Don't be afraid to use cloth items to reach the cap; it is the most important thing.
Once you're hit capped, you can start concentrating on more interesting stats like spellpower, haste, and crit. In basic terms, spellpower > haste > crit. Spellpower is our bread and butter stat. Unlike every other caster, we have no talents that make our spellpower scale higher with intellect or spirit. This makes everything else trivial. Of course, our gear is going to have a lot of intellect, which is lovely for our mana pools, but otherwise? Irrelevant. All spellpower, all the time: this is the elemental shaman's mantra.
We have an interesting relationship with haste. There are pages upon pages at Elitist Jerks on the subject, but in simple terms... Haste is delicious because it allows us to cram more Lightning Bolts in between Lava Burst cooldowns. If faced with a potential upgrade that has a higher amount of spellpower, but you lose copious amounts of haste, stop and think about it. If an item has a bit of a spellpower upgrade, but you lose 50 haste, maybe it's better to keep what you have.
Because of the way Lava Burst works, which is that it gives us a guaranteed crit every 8 seconds, we don't need to worry about crit. The way this works is that every time you cast Lava Burst with Flame Shock on the target, the Lava Burst will crit. No buts about it. This procs Clearcasting and with it Elemental Oath, which increases our chance to crit by 5%... So, essentially, we're going to crit no matter what. You don't need to gem for it or particularly think about it. An elemental's crit percentage isn't going to be as high as a mage's, but it's inconsequential.
You should have Runed cardinal/scarlet rubies in every gem socket, with only two Glowing dreadstones/twilight opals to activate your meta gem. You may gem for hit if you're having a lot of trouble reaching the cap, but generally try to get it from gear rather than gems. Never gem for crit, ever. It's a complete waste. If you have a yellow socket with a +5 or more spellpower bonus, use a Reckless Ametrine (+haste/+spellpower).
3: Rotation
Elementals work by a priority system. This is:
Lava Burst > Lightning Bolt
You will want to put Flame Shock up on your target and immediately cast Lava Burst. Do not cast Lava Burst if you do not have Flame Shock up. Be wary that if you are not at the hard hit cap (368/342 depending on Horde/Alliance) and your moonkin/spriest has not gotten their hit debuff onto the boss before you cast, your Flame Shock may miss. Be sure that it is up before casting Lava Burst! Cast Lightning Bolt until Lava Burst comes off cooldown. Do not clip your Lava Bursts! Lava Burst is the most important part of our spell repertoire. If you find that your Lightning Bolts are overlapping Lava Burst's cooldown, consider using Chain Lightning as filler. Its shorter cast-time allows us to use it to fill in gaps.
If you are so fortunate as to have the T10 4-piece bonus, note that you will probably have to clip Flame Shock occasionally in order to get Lava Burst off.
Be sure to use Thunderstorm on every cooldown if you are having mana issues, especially if it is glyphed. (I advise it to be. Tanks hate knockback.)
As a general note, on movement heavy fights you can use Thunderstorm and Frost Shock as damage dealers while you're running around. If your Flame Shock has fallen off while you are moving, refresh that. If there are multiple targets, use Chain Lightning. Chain Lightning spam when there are two or more targets within close proximity means more Lightning Overloads on multiple targets, which is quite a DPS boost. It's a ranged cleave, essentially. Use it, love it. If there are four or more targets, plant a fire totem in range and use Fire Nova whenever it comes off cooldown. Fire Nova is highly situational; its mana cost is prohibitive to constant use during most encounters, and the DPS gain is only significant if there are lots of targets in range. Magma Totem + Fire Nova is an amazing AoE combination. Just remember to keep an eye on Magma Totem's timer and refresh it.
Should you be in the happy situation of grouping with either another elemental shaman or a well-geared demonology warlock specced into Demonic Pact (which they should be), you can drop offensive fire totems without worrying about losing your spellpower buff. Drop Totem of Wrath for the glyph buff, then replace it with either Searing Totem, Magma Totem, or Fire Elemental Totem. All three of these totems will boost your DPS hugely compared to Totem of Wrath. Searing Totem is the most situationally convenient for us, given it's ranged, but if you aren't in danger of melee death effects, run in and drop a Magma Totem on the boss. In levels of DPS, Fire Elemental Totem > Magma Totem > Searing Totem > Totem of Wrath. Magma Totem takes the most management, given the heavy movement in most raid encounters, but it is also the highest DPS totem that doesn't have a cooldown. In a raid situation, try to drop your Fire Elemental right before Bloodlust goes off, as the elemental will then gain the benefit of the haste as well. You also have to be careful in the placement of your elemental; remember that it has a rather limited range from the totem itself, so if you plant it where you are casting at range it may end up just sitting there rather than hitting the boss.
4: Gear
Gear list for the new 80, with a mixture of dungeon drops, rep rewards, and crafted items. You'll want to farm Trial of the Champion as much as you can. Get your Kirin Tor rep to revered first off, then start working on Wyrmrest Accord or Argent Crusade. Preferred enchants are included within. This list is not comprehensive. It is a starting point and does not contain every piece of gear a new 80 could want or use. You should be running heroics to get your 4-piece T9 as quickly as possible.
Given the new LFG system and Need Before Greed, talk to your group if a cloth or leather item drops and it is an upgrade. I know that more likely than not everyone will hit DE and it will go down the drain, but it's worth trying. I've only listed mail upgrades from the new Frozen Halls instances for this reason, but there are some cloth and leather pieces that can be used from said dungeons. Anticipate a lot of Trial of the Champion runs regardless; Abyssal Rune is still one of the best trinkets outside of Trial of the Crusader.
Head:
- Brood Plague Helmet (H-OK)
- Battlemap Hide Helm (H-UK, leather)
- Battle Mender's Helm (Revered with AC, no meta)
- Gaze of the Unknown (H-ToC, cloth, hit)
- Helm of the Spirit Shock (H-FoS)
- Thrall's Helm of Conquest (50 emblems of triumph)
Arcanum of Burning Mysteries (Kirin Tor Revered) with Chaotic Skyflare Diamond meta-gem.
Neck:
- Brilliant Hailstone Amulet (ToC, hit)
- Symbol of Redemption (H-ToC, mp5)
- Chain of Latent Energies (BoE, hit)
- Titanium Spellshock Necklace (crafted)
- Arcane Loops of Anger (H-FoS)
Shoulders:
- Mantle of Inconsolable Fear (ToC, cloth)
- Mantle of Gnarled Overgrowth (ToC, leather, hit)
- Pauldrons of the Deafening Gale (H-ToC, hit)
- Thrall's Shoulderpads of Conquest (30 emblems of triumph)
Greater Inscription of the Storm (Sons of Hodir exalted) or Master's Inscription of the Storm if scribe.
Cloak:
- Kurisu's Indecision (H-ToC, hit)
- Deathchill Cloak (crafted) *BEST CHOICE*
+23 haste enchant, Lightweave Embroidery if tailor, Springy Archanoweave if engineer.
Chest:
- Revenant's Chest (crafted)
- Carapace of Grim Visions (ToC, mp5)
- Moragg's Chestguard (H-VH)
- Titan-Forged Mail Armor of Domination (40 WG marks, hit)
- Thrall's Hauberk of Conquest (50 emblems of triumph)
+10 to stats enchant.
Wrists:
- Bindings of the Wicked (ToC, cloth, hit)
- Azure Cloth Bindings (H-VH, cloth)
- Seven Stormy Mornings (FoS, hit)
- Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers (crafted, cloth)
+30 spellpower enchant
Hands:
- Ebonweave Gloves (crafted, cloth, hit)
- Fiery Obelisk Handguards (H-OK)
- Cracked Epoch Grasps (H-CoS)
- Silken Bridge Handwraps (H-OK)
- Gloves of Dismal Misfortune (H-ToC, leather)
- Benefactor's Gauntlets (BoE)
- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48337">Thrall's Gloves of Conquest (hit, 30 emblems of triumph)
+28 spellpower enchant, or Hyperspeed Accelerator engineering enchant
Fingers:
- Signet of Hopeful Light (AC exalted)
- Titanium Spellshock Ring (crafted)
- Ring of Northern Tears (crafted, hit)
- Sinner's Confession (H-ToC, hit)
- Band of Guile (H-CoS) / Annhylde's Ring (H-UK)
- Signet of Purity (ToC, spirit)
- Solitaire of Reflecting Beams (H-VH)
+23 spellpower bonus if enchanter
Weapon:
- Spectral Kris (H-ToC)
- Flameheart Spell Scalpel (KT revered, hit)
- Mariel's Sorrow (H-ToC, mp5)
- Titansteel Guardian (crafted)
- Gavel of the Brewing Storm (Wyrmrest revered)
- Titansteel Spellblade (hit)
- Surgeon's Needle (H-PoS, mp5)
- Chilled Heart of the Glacier (HoR, hit)
- Bone Golem Scapula (HoR, mp5)
- Hammer of Purified Flame (Battered Hilt quest)
+63 spellpower enchant
Shield/Off-hand:
- Protective Barricade of the Light (35 emblems of heroism)
- Telestra's Journal (H-Nexus, off-hand, hit)
- Ward of the Violet Citadel (25 emblems of heroism, off-hand hit)
- Protector of Frigid Souls (PoS, mp5)
- Shriveled Heart (H-HoR, off-hand)
+25 intellect enchant for shield
Waist:
- Belt of the Churning Blaze (ToC, cloth, hit)
- Girdle of the Dauntless Conqueror (H-ToC, mp5)
- Girdle of the Ethereal (H-VH)
- Plush Sash of Guzbah (40 emblems of heroism, cloth, hit)
- Girdle of Bane (H-UP, cloth, hit)
+Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs:
- Leggings of the Bloodless Knight (ToC)
- Leggings of the Snowy Bramble (H-ToC, leather)
- Woven Bracae Leggings (H-HoL, cloth)
- Legguards of Nature's Power (H-CoS)
- Legguards of Untimely Demise (HoR, hit)
- Thrall's Kilt of Conquest (hit, 50 emblems of triumph)
+Sapphire Spellthread (50 spellpower/20 stam)
Feet:
- Revenant's Treads (crafted)
- Boots of the Crackling Flame (H-ToC, cloth, hit)
- Barkhide Treads (H-ToC, leather, hit)
- Mudslide Boots (H-PoS) *BEST CHOICE*
+Icewalker (15 crit/15 hit) or Tuskarr's Vitality (15 stam + run speed increase)
Trinkets:
- Abyssal Rune (ToC) *BEST CHOICE*
- Sundial of the Exiled (40 emblems of heroism)
- Mark of the War Prisoner (H-VH, hit)
- Forge Ember (H-HoS)
- Nevermelting Ice Crystal (H-PoS)
Totem:
- Totem of Electrifying Wind (25 emblems of triumph)
5: Items
Food buff: Tender Shoveltusk Steak or Firecracker Salmon if hit-capped. You can use Snapper Extreme or Worg Tartare to reach the hit cap if you are still missing it from gear.
Flask: Flask of the Frost Wyrm.
Potion: If you are not having any mana issues, Potion of Speed outside of Bloodlust or Potion of Wild Magic during Bloodlust.
EXTRA: Links
- Planet of the Hats. Perhaps the only currently updated theorycrafting elemental shaman blog I've found. Good stuff, without becoming bitchy and overcomplicated like...
- Shamans @ Elitist Jerks. The promised land of theorycrafting shamans. Read everything and you might get an idea of what's going on. Maybe. Might take a few read-throughs just because there's so much stuff, and so much of it is mathy. The moderators are unashamed of their elitist jerk status, so think twice before you post anything.
1) Lightning Bolt
2) ???
3) Profit!
Introduction
Elemental is the shaman class's caster spec. We bring a variety of buffs to the casters in our party, including Elemental Oath (5% extra crit for the party/raid as a permanent aura) and Totem of Wrath (280 additional spellpower for all party/raid members and an additional 3% chance to crit debuff on mobs within range of the totem).
Elemental shamans also provide the usual shaman array of totems, though your elemental will most likely be covering caster totems, including Wrath of Air and Mana Spring. Enhancement shamans will usually have the improved Strength of Earth and Windfury talents, so they are better qualified to drop the melee totems. Should two elemental shamans be in the party or raid (or you are so lucky as to have a demonology warlock with a buttload of spellpower), one elemental will be able to drop an offensive fire totem rather than Wrath, such as Searing or Magma, to increase their individual DPS.
I'll be covering in no particular order or coherency:
1) Spec
2) Stats
3) Rotation
4) Gear
5) Items
Before you read any of this, check out Elitist Jerks' Elemental Shaman Theorycrafting Think Tank guide. EJ should be your bible. Read it religiously.
This is a work in progress. Updated for 3.3, but not complete.
1: Spec
A fresh 80 should start with this spec. All of your mana reduction/mana return talents are filled out fully. As you get more gear and become more comfortable with how your mana feels during longer fights, you can switch points out of Convection for Improved Fire Nova or Elemental Warding. I personally have 3/5 Convection, 2/2 Imp. Fire Nova at the moment simply because Fire Nova on trash is amazing and I have no mana issues whatsoever, even if we happen to be missing replenishment.
You will be using Glyph of Lava/Glyph of Flametongue Weapon, Glyph of Lightning Bolt, and Glyph of Totem of Wrath. With 3.3 the T9 4-piece bonus has been nerfed, making Glyph of Totem of Wrath more valuable than Glyph of Lava once more. Check the ZAP or SSE spreadsheets for the specific amount of spellpower you will need to make Glyph of Lava > Glyph of Totem of Wrath; generally, it will be much too high for anyone to achieve at this point in time.
At the moment, Glyph of Lava and Glyph of Flametongue Weapon are exactly the same in terms of general DPS. Depending on the fight and circumstances you will be able to choose which is better for you. Generally, if you are dropping Searing Totem rather than Wrath, you might benefit more from Flametongue's crit bonus, as our DPS totems scale with crit, not haste.
For minor glyphs, given that they are primarily used for utility, the only one I definitely recommend is Glyph of Thunderstorm, which removes the knockback from Thunderstorm and increases its mana return by 2%. EJ recommends Glyph of Water Shield as well, which will give a little more time before you need to waste a GCD refreshing it in heavy raid damage fights. Glyph of Renewed Life saves you a bag slot, and Glyph of Astral Recall gives you almost mage-like teleportation abilities (7.5 minute hearth? Whoop!). It's your choice in the end for these, but if you don't have Glyph of Thunderstorm, be very careful when you're using it.
2: Stats
As a new 80, the elemental shaman's first priority is getting hit capped. If you aren't hit capped you'll miss the boss. Missing the boss is missing DPS time, which is your sole purpose. For Horde shamans, the hit cap with 3 points in Elemental Precision is 368. If you have a moonkin with Improved Faerie Fire or a shadow priest providing Misery in raid, the hit cap falls to 289. For draenei, without a moonkin/spriest the cap is 342, and with it is 263 thanks to Heroic Presence. As a new 80, this can be a little overwhelming, but don't fear! Trial of the Champion has made is easy to reach the hit cap. Don't be afraid to use cloth items to reach the cap; it is the most important thing.
Once you're hit capped, you can start concentrating on more interesting stats like spellpower, haste, and crit. In basic terms, spellpower > haste > crit. Spellpower is our bread and butter stat. Unlike every other caster, we have no talents that make our spellpower scale higher with intellect or spirit. This makes everything else trivial. Of course, our gear is going to have a lot of intellect, which is lovely for our mana pools, but otherwise? Irrelevant. All spellpower, all the time: this is the elemental shaman's mantra.
We have an interesting relationship with haste. There are pages upon pages at Elitist Jerks on the subject, but in simple terms... Haste is delicious because it allows us to cram more Lightning Bolts in between Lava Burst cooldowns. If faced with a potential upgrade that has a higher amount of spellpower, but you lose copious amounts of haste, stop and think about it. If an item has a bit of a spellpower upgrade, but you lose 50 haste, maybe it's better to keep what you have.
Because of the way Lava Burst works, which is that it gives us a guaranteed crit every 8 seconds, we don't need to worry about crit. The way this works is that every time you cast Lava Burst with Flame Shock on the target, the Lava Burst will crit. No buts about it. This procs Clearcasting and with it Elemental Oath, which increases our chance to crit by 5%... So, essentially, we're going to crit no matter what. You don't need to gem for it or particularly think about it. An elemental's crit percentage isn't going to be as high as a mage's, but it's inconsequential.
You should have Runed cardinal/scarlet rubies in every gem socket, with only two Glowing dreadstones/twilight opals to activate your meta gem. You may gem for hit if you're having a lot of trouble reaching the cap, but generally try to get it from gear rather than gems. Never gem for crit, ever. It's a complete waste. If you have a yellow socket with a +5 or more spellpower bonus, use a Reckless Ametrine (+haste/+spellpower).
3: Rotation
Elementals work by a priority system. This is:
Lava Burst > Lightning Bolt
You will want to put Flame Shock up on your target and immediately cast Lava Burst. Do not cast Lava Burst if you do not have Flame Shock up. Be wary that if you are not at the hard hit cap (368/342 depending on Horde/Alliance) and your moonkin/spriest has not gotten their hit debuff onto the boss before you cast, your Flame Shock may miss. Be sure that it is up before casting Lava Burst! Cast Lightning Bolt until Lava Burst comes off cooldown. Do not clip your Lava Bursts! Lava Burst is the most important part of our spell repertoire. If you find that your Lightning Bolts are overlapping Lava Burst's cooldown, consider using Chain Lightning as filler. Its shorter cast-time allows us to use it to fill in gaps.
If you are so fortunate as to have the T10 4-piece bonus, note that you will probably have to clip Flame Shock occasionally in order to get Lava Burst off.
Be sure to use Thunderstorm on every cooldown if you are having mana issues, especially if it is glyphed. (I advise it to be. Tanks hate knockback.)
As a general note, on movement heavy fights you can use Thunderstorm and Frost Shock as damage dealers while you're running around. If your Flame Shock has fallen off while you are moving, refresh that. If there are multiple targets, use Chain Lightning. Chain Lightning spam when there are two or more targets within close proximity means more Lightning Overloads on multiple targets, which is quite a DPS boost. It's a ranged cleave, essentially. Use it, love it. If there are four or more targets, plant a fire totem in range and use Fire Nova whenever it comes off cooldown. Fire Nova is highly situational; its mana cost is prohibitive to constant use during most encounters, and the DPS gain is only significant if there are lots of targets in range. Magma Totem + Fire Nova is an amazing AoE combination. Just remember to keep an eye on Magma Totem's timer and refresh it.
Should you be in the happy situation of grouping with either another elemental shaman or a well-geared demonology warlock specced into Demonic Pact (which they should be), you can drop offensive fire totems without worrying about losing your spellpower buff. Drop Totem of Wrath for the glyph buff, then replace it with either Searing Totem, Magma Totem, or Fire Elemental Totem. All three of these totems will boost your DPS hugely compared to Totem of Wrath. Searing Totem is the most situationally convenient for us, given it's ranged, but if you aren't in danger of melee death effects, run in and drop a Magma Totem on the boss. In levels of DPS, Fire Elemental Totem > Magma Totem > Searing Totem > Totem of Wrath. Magma Totem takes the most management, given the heavy movement in most raid encounters, but it is also the highest DPS totem that doesn't have a cooldown. In a raid situation, try to drop your Fire Elemental right before Bloodlust goes off, as the elemental will then gain the benefit of the haste as well. You also have to be careful in the placement of your elemental; remember that it has a rather limited range from the totem itself, so if you plant it where you are casting at range it may end up just sitting there rather than hitting the boss.
4: Gear
Gear list for the new 80, with a mixture of dungeon drops, rep rewards, and crafted items. You'll want to farm Trial of the Champion as much as you can. Get your Kirin Tor rep to revered first off, then start working on Wyrmrest Accord or Argent Crusade. Preferred enchants are included within. This list is not comprehensive. It is a starting point and does not contain every piece of gear a new 80 could want or use. You should be running heroics to get your 4-piece T9 as quickly as possible.
Given the new LFG system and Need Before Greed, talk to your group if a cloth or leather item drops and it is an upgrade. I know that more likely than not everyone will hit DE and it will go down the drain, but it's worth trying. I've only listed mail upgrades from the new Frozen Halls instances for this reason, but there are some cloth and leather pieces that can be used from said dungeons. Anticipate a lot of Trial of the Champion runs regardless; Abyssal Rune is still one of the best trinkets outside of Trial of the Crusader.
Head:
- Brood Plague Helmet (H-OK)
- Battlemap Hide Helm (H-UK, leather)
- Battle Mender's Helm (Revered with AC, no meta)
- Gaze of the Unknown (H-ToC, cloth, hit)
- Helm of the Spirit Shock (H-FoS)
- Thrall's Helm of Conquest (50 emblems of triumph)
Arcanum of Burning Mysteries (Kirin Tor Revered) with Chaotic Skyflare Diamond meta-gem.
Neck:
- Brilliant Hailstone Amulet (ToC, hit)
- Symbol of Redemption (H-ToC, mp5)
- Chain of Latent Energies (BoE, hit)
- Titanium Spellshock Necklace (crafted)
- Arcane Loops of Anger (H-FoS)
Shoulders:
- Mantle of Inconsolable Fear (ToC, cloth)
- Mantle of Gnarled Overgrowth (ToC, leather, hit)
- Pauldrons of the Deafening Gale (H-ToC, hit)
- Thrall's Shoulderpads of Conquest (30 emblems of triumph)
Greater Inscription of the Storm (Sons of Hodir exalted) or Master's Inscription of the Storm if scribe.
Cloak:
- Kurisu's Indecision (H-ToC, hit)
- Deathchill Cloak (crafted) *BEST CHOICE*
+23 haste enchant, Lightweave Embroidery if tailor, Springy Archanoweave if engineer.
Chest:
- Revenant's Chest (crafted)
- Carapace of Grim Visions (ToC, mp5)
- Moragg's Chestguard (H-VH)
- Titan-Forged Mail Armor of Domination (40 WG marks, hit)
- Thrall's Hauberk of Conquest (50 emblems of triumph)
+10 to stats enchant.
Wrists:
- Bindings of the Wicked (ToC, cloth, hit)
- Azure Cloth Bindings (H-VH, cloth)
- Seven Stormy Mornings (FoS, hit)
- Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers (crafted, cloth)
+30 spellpower enchant
Hands:
- Ebonweave Gloves (crafted, cloth, hit)
- Fiery Obelisk Handguards (H-OK)
- Cracked Epoch Grasps (H-CoS)
- Silken Bridge Handwraps (H-OK)
- Gloves of Dismal Misfortune (H-ToC, leather)
- Benefactor's Gauntlets (BoE)
- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48337">Thrall's Gloves of Conquest (hit, 30 emblems of triumph)
+28 spellpower enchant, or Hyperspeed Accelerator engineering enchant
Fingers:
- Signet of Hopeful Light (AC exalted)
- Titanium Spellshock Ring (crafted)
- Ring of Northern Tears (crafted, hit)
- Sinner's Confession (H-ToC, hit)
- Band of Guile (H-CoS) / Annhylde's Ring (H-UK)
- Signet of Purity (ToC, spirit)
- Solitaire of Reflecting Beams (H-VH)
+23 spellpower bonus if enchanter
Weapon:
- Spectral Kris (H-ToC)
- Flameheart Spell Scalpel (KT revered, hit)
- Mariel's Sorrow (H-ToC, mp5)
- Titansteel Guardian (crafted)
- Gavel of the Brewing Storm (Wyrmrest revered)
- Titansteel Spellblade (hit)
- Surgeon's Needle (H-PoS, mp5)
- Chilled Heart of the Glacier (HoR, hit)
- Bone Golem Scapula (HoR, mp5)
- Hammer of Purified Flame (Battered Hilt quest)
+63 spellpower enchant
Shield/Off-hand:
- Protective Barricade of the Light (35 emblems of heroism)
- Telestra's Journal (H-Nexus, off-hand, hit)
- Ward of the Violet Citadel (25 emblems of heroism, off-hand hit)
- Protector of Frigid Souls (PoS, mp5)
- Shriveled Heart (H-HoR, off-hand)
+25 intellect enchant for shield
Waist:
- Belt of the Churning Blaze (ToC, cloth, hit)
- Girdle of the Dauntless Conqueror (H-ToC, mp5)
- Girdle of the Ethereal (H-VH)
- Plush Sash of Guzbah (40 emblems of heroism, cloth, hit)
- Girdle of Bane (H-UP, cloth, hit)
+Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs:
- Leggings of the Bloodless Knight (ToC)
- Leggings of the Snowy Bramble (H-ToC, leather)
- Woven Bracae Leggings (H-HoL, cloth)
- Legguards of Nature's Power (H-CoS)
- Legguards of Untimely Demise (HoR, hit)
- Thrall's Kilt of Conquest (hit, 50 emblems of triumph)
+Sapphire Spellthread (50 spellpower/20 stam)
Feet:
- Revenant's Treads (crafted)
- Boots of the Crackling Flame (H-ToC, cloth, hit)
- Barkhide Treads (H-ToC, leather, hit)
- Mudslide Boots (H-PoS) *BEST CHOICE*
+Icewalker (15 crit/15 hit) or Tuskarr's Vitality (15 stam + run speed increase)
Trinkets:
- Abyssal Rune (ToC) *BEST CHOICE*
- Sundial of the Exiled (40 emblems of heroism)
- Mark of the War Prisoner (H-VH, hit)
- Forge Ember (H-HoS)
- Nevermelting Ice Crystal (H-PoS)
Totem:
- Totem of Electrifying Wind (25 emblems of triumph)
5: Items
Food buff: Tender Shoveltusk Steak or Firecracker Salmon if hit-capped. You can use Snapper Extreme or Worg Tartare to reach the hit cap if you are still missing it from gear.
Flask: Flask of the Frost Wyrm.
Potion: If you are not having any mana issues, Potion of Speed outside of Bloodlust or Potion of Wild Magic during Bloodlust.
EXTRA: Links
- Planet of the Hats. Perhaps the only currently updated theorycrafting elemental shaman blog I've found. Good stuff, without becoming bitchy and overcomplicated like...
- Shamans @ Elitist Jerks. The promised land of theorycrafting shamans. Read everything and you might get an idea of what's going on. Maybe. Might take a few read-throughs just because there's so much stuff, and so much of it is mathy. The moderators are unashamed of their elitist jerk status, so think twice before you post anything.