The quest for the "perfect" 49 elemental shaman.

Pukethirst

OG
Been toying around with stat distribution, thought I'd show what I've come up with. Everyone knows there's a "good" range, but there are many pieces you can switch around.... I wonder if there is such, a more "perfect" build rather than just a "good range."



I also want to hear your thoughts on how important certain stats are to you personally. Does a bigger mana pool matter all too much(~200-500 extra mana), how valuable is spirit, how valuable is mp5, what HP to start off with, whats the correct amount of spell power, and how valuable the resilience is off of heirloom pieces.





Keep in mind these prerequisites before seeing the comparisons:



1) I have 375 mining. That's where 300 HP is coming from.



2) I have 1 point in Elemental Oath talent, which gives 3% crit by itself. So really these numbers will be at ~7.something% crit instead of 10 if you don't have 1 point in Elemental Oath.



3) At all times, I have up Flametongue Weapon, Glyph of Flametongue Weapon, and Water Shield. That's where 39 spell damage, 2% crit, and 33 mp5 in my comparison list comes from.



4) If there was a comparison that says "(lose a talent point to hit)", that means that I took 1 point out of the Eye of the Storm talent (I usually put 2 in it) to put in Elemental Precision for the last 1% remaining spell hit needed for 6% cap. The spell hit cap at 49 is 4%, but Night Elves/Taurens have a 2% reduction to nature spells being cast at them, which is why I go for 6%. I debate whether this 1 talent point is truly necessary, as I can gain some decent amount of spell damage if I can avoid gearing hit rating and just utilizing a talent point for it instead.





The following pieces of armor never changed throughout the entire comparison, and are the only other pieces if not listed in the comparison:

- Green Dragonscale Breastplate, Gauntlets, and Leggings.

- Featherskin Cape

- Dryad's Wrist Bindings

- Greaves of Withering Despair

- 1x Underworld Band

- Wall of the Dead

- Heirloom PvP trinket

- High-Powered Flashlight trinket





(Just to let you guys know ahead of time, I personally think setup #5 is the best option. Almost the highest amount of stamina available, a good stable 351 spell damage, a middle-range amount of MP by comparison, and the full 35 resilience.)
 
Alrighty, here it be.





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Resilience rating conversions @ 49:



15 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by .66%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 1.46%

provides 1.32% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



23 resilience = reduces the chance to be critcally hit by 1.01%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 2.23%

provides 2.03% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



27 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.19%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 2.62%

provides 2.38% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



35 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.54%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 3.40%

provides 3.09% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



************************************************** *************







A good way to look at the following comparisons is to moreso just look at the numbers. When you see the numbers, then just look above and you'll see what pieces were used to get those numbers.





Setup #1:



Eye of Flame, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Cyclopean Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3416 HP, 3401 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 10.79% crit chance, 116 spirit, 68 mp5, 23 resilience







Setup #2:



Eye of Flame, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders, Ban'thok Sash, Cyclopean Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3386 HP, 3371 MP, 354 Spell Damage, 10.74% crit chance, 116 spirit, 64 mp5, 35 resilience







Setup #3:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Underworld Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3486 HP, 3401 MP, 348 Spell Damage, 10.79% crit chance, 108 Spirit, 67 mp5, 15 resilience







Setup #4:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders, Ban'thok Sash, Underworld Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3456 HP, 3371 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 10.74% crit chance, 108 spirit, 63 mp5, 27 resilience







Setup #5:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders, Ban'thok Sash, Underworld Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3476 HP, 3236 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 10.55% crit chance, 108 spirit, 64 mp5, 35 resilience







Setup #6:



Soothsayer's Headress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Underworld Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3506 HP, 3266 MP, 348 Spell Damage, 10.59% crit chance, 108 spirit, 68 mp5, 23 resilience







Setup #7:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Lifeblood Amulet, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Underworld Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3536 HP, 3401 MP, 343 Spell Damage, 10.79% crit chance, 95 spirit, 67 mp5, 15 resilience







Setup #8:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Chloromesh Girdle, Underworld Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3406 HP, 3101 MP, 362 Spell Damage, 10.35% crit chance, 108 spirit, 68 mp5, 23 resilience (lose a talent point to hit)







Setup #9:



Eye of Flame, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Chloromesh Girdle, Underworld Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3316 HP, 3266 MP, 368 Spell Damage, 10.59% crit chance, 113 spirit, 67 mp5, 15 resilience (lose a talent point to hit)







Setup #10:



Eye of Flame, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Aged Pauldrons of the Elements, Chloromesh Girdle, Underworld Band, Blessed Hammer of Grace



3306 HP, 3101 MP, 371 Spell Damage, 10.35% crit chance, 118 spirit, 64 mp5, 35 resilience (lose a talent point to hit)







Setup #11:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Pulsating Crystalline Shard, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Cyclopean Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3466 HP, 3506 MP, 345 Spell Damage, 10.94% crit chance, 101 spirit, 67 mp5, 15 resilience







Setup #12:



Soothsayer's Headdress, Lifeblood Amulet, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Ban'thok Sash, Cyclopean Band, Devout Aurastone Hammer



3516 HP, 3506 MP, 340 Spell Damage, 10.94% crit chance, 93 spirit, 67 mp5, 15 resilience
 
No braincage, out of 12 setups?



ok least important stats here are spirit and resilience. If you have those int = mp5 talents instead of the ignore interupting talent for example (witch i like to go with) its good with some intellect.*

or else go for mp5 imo and mana pool is not that important you are allthough a shaman and always with water shield up as you say. With a high mana pull lightning shield can be used more often on the other hand.



I don't bother stacking crit at all.. the crit is so damn low anyway, not even high berg helm seem interresting for any of us even its stats should win all its opponents if you counjt 1crit=2sp.



In the end it always matters of opponent(s) for me, I can switch everything out if needed (except for underworld bands i dont got(use) them).

I think soothsayer and and eye of flame is more close then just a sure call for soothsayer because of the hp, I would use eye of flame against a caster, especially if its one who can produce fire on me. And soothsayer / braincage* for melee.



According to weapon (onehander) I always used hammer of grace, a few extra mp5 and sta was some of my favourite stats, but its back to the question with mana=~sp. Situation and spec~.



Personally never ever took a talent point for more hit, always kept my banthok sash and cyclopedean on for that matter, gives overall good to base stats.



And for Elemental I would use Boa emblem shoulder over stoneshards and pulsating neck over lifeblood amu. :)
 
Andraklas7 said:
No braincage, out of 12 setups?



ok least important stats here are spirit and resilience. If you have those int = mp5 talents instead of the ignore interupting talent for example (witch i like to go with) its good with some intellect.*

or else go for mp5 imo and mana pool is not that important you are allthough a shaman and always with water shield up as you say. With a high mana pull lightning shield can be used more often on the other hand.



I don't bother stacking crit at all.. the crit is so damn low anyway, not even high berg helm seem interresting for any of us even its stats should win all its opponents if you counjt 1crit=2sp.



In the end it always matters of opponent(s) for me, I can switch everything out if needed (except for underworld bands i dont got(use) them).

I think soothsayer and and eye of flame is more close then just a sure call for soothsayer because of the hp, I would use eye of flame against a caster, especially if its one who can produce fire on me. And soothsayer / braincage* for melee.



According to weapon (onehander) I always used hammer of grace, a few extra mp5 and sta was some of my favourite stats, but its back to the question with mana=~sp. Situation and spec~.



Personally never ever took a talent point for more hit, always kept my banthok sash and cyclopedean on for that matter, gives overall good to base stats.



And for Elemental I would use Boa emblem shoulder over stoneshards and pulsating neck over lifeblood amu. :)
Click to expand...



First thing, I hear lots about you being a monster in the BGs hehe. I wanna see your armory, I think its EU and I didn't notice it in your sig. If you can, be in ele gear ;-P.



Why would you use Braincage, ever? You're losing 18 spell power and 2 stamina for.... 131 armor and 17 intellect. Isn't that a complete rip?



I'm not sold that resilience is negligible. Seems pretty worthy, especially when what you're trading off is small doses of either intellect/stamina/mp5.

35 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.54%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 3.40%

provides 3.09% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



I'm at 10.55% crit atm, and I honestly believe crit to be getting more important and not less. Especially in chase battles and close encounters. This is on the basis that you are getting 2/2 booming echoes talent and 2/2 earth's grasp as well. Note that I didn't take the 1 point available for Lightning Overload and got 1 point in Elemental Oath instead. I've heard that Lightning Overload only procs AFTER the spell HITS the target, meaning that if you cast and they go out of range, lightning overload will not proc. Chain lightning hits more instantaneously, but lightning bolt takes forever, and I figured 3% crit would be more valuable, especially since it applies to all spells, aka shocks every 3 seconds. If I was getting 3/3 Lightning Overload and was prepared to lose 2/2 Earth's Grasp, I might consider it. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime, but its hard to give up Earth's Grasp, its such a good talent.
 
Pukethirst said:
First thing, I hear lots about you being a monster in the BGs hehe. I wanna see your armory, I think its EU and I didn't notice it in your sig. If you can, be in ele gear ;-P.



Why would you use Braincage, ever? You're losing 18 spell power and 2 stamina for.... 131 armor and 17 intellect. Isn't that a complete rip?



I'm not sold that resilience is negligible. Seems pretty worthy, especially when what you're trading off is small doses of either intellect/stamina/mp5.

35 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.54%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 3.40%

provides 3.09% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



I'm at 10.55% crit atm, and I honestly believe crit to be getting more important and not less. Especially in chase battles and close encounters. This is on the basis that you are getting 2/2 booming echoes talent and 2/2 earth's grasp as well. Note that I didn't take the 1 point available for Lightning Overload and got 1 point in Elemental Oath instead. I've heard that Lightning Overload only procs AFTER the spell HITS the target, meaning that if you cast and they go out of range, lightning overload will not proc. Chain lightning hits more instantaneously, but lightning bolt takes forever, and I figured 3% crit would be more valuable, especially since it applies to all spells, aka shocks every 3 seconds. If I was getting 3/3 Lightning Overload and was prepared to lose 2/2 Earth's Grasp, I might consider it. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime, but its hard to give up Earth's Grasp, its such a good talent.
Click to expand...



perhaps, perhaps not at first look. But I remember not to have infinite mana in situations as elemental that is why I can't stand shaman without improved stormstrike lol. (oh well can but) ..



17 int equals problay 300mana~ ish.

and I said vs melee so armor >2sta.



anyway matter of preffence, i rarely use braincage, I think its more of a resto head actually)). For Bg's as elemental you want to do as much damage as possible with low downtime aka high mana pool is suitable, in arena you want to burst usually aka high spellpower.

~situation decided?))



by the way thanks for the kind words.. hope we can get a duel one day ^^!

I adore your effort you make in small things as +- 2stamina :D



For the last bit. I always felt shock spec to be more dangerous then lightning spam spec because its instant and brings debuffs >can't be interupt without silence or making me out of controle of my char. With the Elemental oath buff I am sure.. before that it was equal if not less effective against lightning overload. Remember now it supports your whole raid with a base 5%. So I am giving you right.. Lightning overload have just been fun thinking of: a elemental fury+black magic+tidal charm = spaaam.. = dead?

How come you didnt mentain 33/7/0?

now we at it(;

ps: do you have skype? If you want to discuss specs. (I just looked at yours).
 
Yeah shock spec vs. lightning spec has been one in which I usually always favor shock spec, but have never went lightning spec to record some results. Maybe I'll try that out tonight. Thing is, if I do decide to try out 3/3 Lightning Overload, do I go for 2/2 Booming Echoes, 2/2 Earth's Grasp, or 2/2 Elemental Oath as my last talent choices? I'll try Booming Echoes, and just see how increased DPS is without Earth's Grasp (Heck, maybe 1/2 Booming Echoes and 1/2 Elemental Oath is better, since 1/2 Elemental Oath provides 3% crit instead of the 2nd point's 2% crit.). If I spec lightning overload, maybe Eye of the Storm/Unrelenting Storm talents can be maxed instead of putting 4 points into Reverberation. It'll be interesting to see how 3/3 Lightning Overload turns out. I hope it totally wrecks, and then I can be free from Earth's Grasp.



I personally won't go 33/7 anymore. I used to use that spec way back when battlegrounds didn't cause you to gain xp. The thing is, you not only have to give up all 5 of your available last tier points (which are very vital to elemental dps), but if you don't give up Elemental Mastery talent, you also have to give up 1/3 Storm Earth and Fire talent as well, which means your earthbind totem only has a 66% chance to root instead of 100%. Plus, half of the melee you're trying to get away from, like Ret Paladins and Enhancement Shamans, will reduce your movement speed to normal and catch up to you (ret pallies), or continuously purge your ghost wolf/frost shock you which you can't dispel/ghost wolf to you(enhancement shamans). Plus, nowadays Enhancement Shamans have the Frozen Power talent. It'd only be worse, and the need to survive/deal quicker DPS is more and more needed. From experience of using 33/7 spec first and then trying the more dps-oriented specs later on (like 38/2 or 40/0), I never went back to 33/7. You'd probably even literally have more survivability through having 3 second cooldown shocks that have 20% more damage and having the 100% root chance. I remember in the recent past no-xp BGs I had solo'd an enhancement shaman through this very method. They can't get rid of root, you step back and chain lightning/shock em, and rinse/repeat. Or you can just root em, shock em, and cast defensive spells until shock cools down 3 seconds later, because shocks can deal quite an impressive amount of damage.



On a side note, I actually can't believe I forgot about gem-studded band as an option. It has near the highest amount of spell power possible (16), and has a nice 6 stam on top of that. Really, the only stat I consider worthy of trading spell power 1 for 1 is stamina, and gem-studded band gains 4 spell power at the loss of 4 stam... and 6 spirit. Its probably not the best option, and I'd probably prefer Underworld Band, although it could be used.



BTW Andraklas, do you use Lava Lash @ 49? And if you do, do you use it with or without Flametongue Weapon? I was lookin around and anything I seemed to have found is only for use @ lvl 80 and not 49 for some odd reason ;-P.



And sorry, I don't have skype.
 
i only use lava lash with Ft wep and glyph
 
UPDATE: Holy. Cow.



http://i43.tinypic.com/zu5imo.jpg - That is a pick of me going with the new 40/0 elemental spec. I only pic'd the last game because I'm usually exiting the game asap to get into the next battleground. You can't stand around long or you'll miss the next queue and be benched a game. Sometimes we have two games up at once, but not always.



Its nuts. Earth's Grasp is officially a dead talent for me. I also decided not to get the 5% crit talent, as there are a couple Elemental Shamans that already get it, and we also have some Moonkins that provide the passive 5% crit aura as well, so its kind of useless for me to get it. Even if I was guaranteed no one would take it, I'd probably still not pick it, because you have to dump Booming Echoes or Lightning Overload to have it, and both are extremely good talents.



Man, I didn't even find the need to cast shocks in the middle of chucking lightning. Chain, bolt, bolt, chain, bolt, bolt. Only time I casted shocks was for better kiting, or to finish off a twink amidst the rotation after a chain lightning. Just use your range advantage by not jumping in and making yourself the target, use your stoneclaw/earthbind at the right times(earthbind becomes 15 sec cd instead of 10 and stoneclaw becomes a 30 second cd instead of 21), and you've earned yourself a massive dps increase. Also, Wowwiki states about lightning overload "LO procs seem to be able to proc LO as well , while the damage the resulting spell does is still calculated as half of the original one." Three chain lightnings in one? Sign me up!



I'm still unsure as to whether I want to use black magic weapon. I lose a lot of stats for it, and lots of times you're not going to be standing still the whole duration. I've heard it also has an equip cd timer, meaning you have to wait so many seconds after you've equipped it before it even has a chance to proc. A lot of waisted time before and after that I'd probably just rather have the passive heirloom stats instead.



My armory currently has my build setup - The World of Warcraft Armory - Pukethirst @ Magtheridon - Profile



In case I may have changed it, this is what I used:



No Earth's Grasp, 3/3 Eye of the Storm, 3/3 Unrelenting Storm, 1/5 Reverberation, 2/2 Booming Echoes, and 3/3 Lightning Overload are the main talents to notice. 3/3 Unrelenting Storm grants me 19-20 mp5, and 3/3 Lightning Overload is just amazing.



Eye of Flame

Pulsating Crystal Shard

Mystical Pauldrons of the Elements

Featherskin Cape

Green Dragonscale Breastplate, Gauntlets, and Leggings

Dryad's Wrist Bindings

Ban'thok Sash

Greaves of Withering Despair

Cyclopean Band

Underworld Band

Heirloom Trinket

Flashlight Trinket

Blessed Hammer of Grace

Wall of Dead



3416 HP, 3401 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 7.79% crit, 116 spirit, 87 mp5, 23 resilience



Very nice mana pool, very nice mp5, spirit is pretty high in comparison to other builds, and HP is a pretty pleasing amount. MAN this is a nice talent build/gear setup!





Also, I tried Lava Lash on DW Enhancement a couple of games as well. I use x2 Venerable Mass of McGowans and it seems to be doing more DPS, though I have no real proof. I'm not too smart when it comes to enhancement shamans. I've heard WF is on a 3 second internal cooldown timer(between both weapons?), so Lava Lash makes more and more sense to me. I wonder if I should use Glyph of Lava Lash over Glyph of Windfury now. Any more advice in these areas would be appreciated. :)
 
This thread made me log on my shaman, I discovered that after learning how to play w/ keybinds on my rogue, hunter, lock, and warrior, clicking on a shaman is almost a negative effect. Gear was out dated, no keybinds, just running blindly and stormstriking folks seemed fun and after the second game, I found the binds that made sense for frost shawk and wind sheer, but not purge (fail), grounding totem (fail), stone claw totem (fail), or earthbind totem (fail). Was fun, logged on my rogue and stunk it up and got gf aggro so meh.



/wave @ Puke. Glad u discovered the joys of lightning overload. May I ask why u use that mh instead of the glowy one from badges?
 
yes i also preffer not having elemental, but as I remember when i used it was better

yes i also preffer not having elemental, but as I remember when i used it was better then the ordinary vs skilled rogues. And guess vs warriors though they lose in both specs (so do rogues -.-) ..but yeah.

(i hope u understood my crappy language there lol)



you say no to earth's grasp because you was testing it in BG's and not in arena or 1v1 ;).. vs rogues and for kitting the 2 extra yards for getting someone out of stealth and kitting is usefull also the 10/5sec cooldown is important as vs melee you nearly always try to keep both totems up.



For bg's I know lightning spamming is much easier then in other circumstances if you have a big gruop in the bg "tanking" for you. And are lucky to get ignored.



of course the elemental oath is not so important when the 5% crit is useless anyway because you get them from other ele shamans or moonkins and with 7% crit the you dont get the 10% extra damage so often.



I have lavah lash for enhancement against high armored classes (ignores armor) and because of slow weapon, and when I use frostbrand in offhand instead of earthbind totem it seem to have a decent proc rate when lava lashing (increased damage and undispelable slow).



As spellhance I use lava lash with flametongue in offhand with my ribs with sp on, because it is slow and in that way I can use my melee ability in the best way for increased melee damage vs clothiers and to higher stormstrike with 2 slow weapons (consider this spec is nearly purely based on spellpower) and with a slow offhand not to go to a waste vs high armored (ignore armor higher lava lash slow).

All though I got felblade with 63sp instead of black magic now for max SP. Lava lash is not as good for a fast weapon so would drop it for static shock instead with a spec with that weapon :).



Both my specs have frozen power witch is important for me, 10% increased damage on my most used offensive abilities inc. LL.



ps: I never use glyph of windfury or glyph of lava lash, 1. the internal cooldown on windfury is too long and the 2% is too low to feel, it differs all the time anyway because it is a "chance", and if I am going for wf procs i dual wf and then I would probaly waste internal cd's with increased chance (indeed with windfury totem + flurry).

I tested out glyph of lava lash and at our level 10% is looow damage, 20-30 extra damage each 6sec? forget it!

preffer glyph of stormstrike over that, 8% more damage on lightning shield, lightning bolt, chain lightning, earth shock and other nature effects.



And YES nicozy That is How Awesome (ele)Shamans are, that even a 3 year old would play them!
 
@Alkaholic: I'm glad you've been inspired :). Good luck with the keybinding. Atm I do not currently own Devout Aurastone Hammer, its the only item I don't own. But even if I had the choice, most of the time I'd probably still go Blessed Hammer of Grace. 2 stam, 1mp5, and some resilience VS. 9 intellect. Intellect isn't a top tier stat to me. But I might use it someday to balance out stats, say.



@Nicozy: Don't respond with a "no" answer. Respond with a "yes" answer. If you say elemental shaman is easy, then tell me what class you have such a hard time playing. Where is this "hard work" that you speak of? I have an 80 rogue and warrior that has just as many spells on the bar as my 49 shaman. Take a look at the pic of the WSG victory you quoted me on. Look at my 49 shaman's keybinds(blood fury + elemental mastery macro'd to chain lightning). 1-5, r/g/f/z, shift 1-5/e/r/t/q/f/g/c/v/h, ctrl+2/3/f/g. Rogue & Warrior are easy as cake @ 80, just as easy as any other class to play, just as many keybinds. Its not hard to cast stormstrike, its not hard to cheap shot/kidney shot, envenom pve dps is a snore, its not hard to tank, its not hard to cast DoTs and fear, its not hard to heal a target. And btw, if you're not playing the spec that puts out the most dps for your class & spec/situation, like in this example chain/bolt/bolt for elemental shamans in battlegrounds, are you telling me it takes more skill to play a less-effective build? That is highly counter-intuitive. Does a mage cast more than arcane blast & missiles in PvE because it "takes more skill" that does less dps? Does a rogue cast more than Mutilate & Envenom after buffs are up because it "takes more skill" that does less dps? No. If you're having a hard time beating elemental shamans in BGs, then get better at your class or play another one. What do I do when I see a soul link warlock 1v1 in a battleground? I run, because they're extremely hard to beat 1v1, and wait for a group to arrive. Does that mean warlocks are effortless skill-less fear-mashers? No, it just means I know the boundaries of my own class. Any way you look at it, your post has no logic to it.



@Andraklas: NP on the English btw. I don't play arenas anymore, as not only did I play them 2-3 months straight amidst setting up Ruin no-xp battlegrounds, but through that time frame, and trust me when I say that I don't "OP complain" almost ever, but Warlocks spec'd Soul Link/Nether Protection with glyph of felhunter are nigh unbeatable 1v1 and 2v2. I gear and spec for battlegrounds only anymore. I'm still undecided as far as the enhancement glyph, but I guess trial & error will tell a true story.
 
Well anyone using "Helm of Fire + Six-Demon bag + Elemental master + Chain Lightning" macro for arena, seems very useful, If Lightning Overload procs then you should be able to 1hit most players I think.
 
Pukethirst said:
spirit is pretty high in comparison to other builds



Also, I tried Lava Lash on DW Enhancement a couple of games as well. I use x2 Venerable Mass of McGowans and it seems to be doing more DPS, though I have no real proof. I'm not too smart when it comes to enhancement shamans. I've heard WF is on a 3 second internal cooldown timer(between both weapons?), so Lava Lash makes more and more sense to me. I wonder if I should use Glyph of Lava Lash over Glyph of Windfury now. Any more advice in these areas would be appreciated. :)
Click to expand...



1. what makes spirit good for shaman? they get all their mana regen from mp5 + water shield. they have no talents that convert spirit -> sp. same as at 80...shamans dont gear for spirit.



2. more dps than what? 2x masses shouldnt be more dps than say, 2 bis ribs. specially b/c the masses can only have vanilla enchants (15 str/agi/crusader).



3. WF does have a 3sec internal cd from when it last procced. this is why its good to use slow/slow, so the fast OH doesnt steal the WF proc and hit for shittily low damage - fast weps do less than slow, plus 1/2 damage oh penalty.



4. screw wf glyph imo. use lava lash glyph + ft imbue for more damage. andra likes frost imbue, but ive never been a fan of it. the proc is too rng-y for my likes where ft works on every hit.



5. shouldnt CL, frost (or alternate with flame on rogue to kite and not allow stealth), bolt, repeat be the highest dps. frost shock hits and crits incredibly hard.
 
-Yeah, definitely spirit is not something you ever "try" to go for. But its nice when, in the comparisons i listed in the initial post, spirit can range anywhere from the low 90's to ~120ish. It just happened to be high when I was gearing towards other stats, which is why I pointed it out.



-I'm not entirely sold that Ribs are better than Venerable Masses x2. Venerable Masses have more top end, and are also 2.8 speed weapons, not 2.7. Mongoose would be the only reason I'd consider the other way around. Possible that I'd change it.



-You may be right about the adding frost shock to the rotation. It seems like it'd make sense, because 1.5 sec frost shock global cooldown + 2 sec lightning bolt = perfect chain lightning 3.5 second cooldown timing. But also, take into account that a large portion of my dpsing during my last battleground, come to think of it, was at greater than 25 yards away, which means I usually wasn't able to frost shock. Maybe I should cast flame shock in the rotation if I'm greater than 25 yards out? It has a 40 yard range, I guess I could use that if no dispellers are on my target.
 
1. yea i just thought you were really excited about that spirit when in reality its pretty dam useless



2. .1 sec aint that important reallllly. the damage is nice. but the bc enchants outweigh those two pluses imo. all depends on if people have tested this...and if you wanna be "perfect" enough to spend all the money on BiS ribbies rather than take a slightly worse* mcgowan for free.

*could be better, but i doubt it



3. yup shocks fit into the rotation perfectly. flame would be nice against no dispellers, and frost is amazing if your in range. great damage and helps kiting too. stick with your CL bolt rotation or CL shock bolt cl if you choose. all depends on range too...if you can really stay that far away all the time then kudos....but i find myself targeted all the time and frost shock sure helps for quick, uninterruptable damage, or kiting.
 
From my conclusions so far, it seems there are two builds which seem to be top contenders.... imo.





"Build #1":



Eye of Flame

Pulsating Crystal Shard

Mystical Pauldrons of the Elements

Featherskin Cape

Green Dragonscale Breastplate, Gauntlets, and Leggings

Dryad's Wrist Bindings

Ban'thok Sash

Greaves of Withering Despair

Cyclopean Band

Underworld Band

Heirloom PvP Trinket

Flashlight Trinket

Blessed Hammer of Grace

Wall of Dead



3416 HP, 3401 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 7.79% crit, 116 spirit, 68 mp5(87 mp5 with 3/3 Unrelenting Storm, which I do get), 23 resilience



-I have listed this particular build a little while back, in the post I gave with the pic.



-------------------------





The only contender with this build, imho, is:



"Build #2":

Using build #1, you replace Eye of Flame with Soothsayer's Headdress, Mystical Pauldrons of the Elements with Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders, and Cyclopean Band with Underworld Band. Its not all too big of a change, here's the stat difference....



3476 HP, 3236 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 7.55% crit chance, 108 spirit, 64 mp5, 35 resilience





Here's the resilience difference from the previous page. Build #1 has 23 resilience, Build #2 has 35 resilience:



************************************************** *************

Resilience rating conversions @ 49:



15 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by .66%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 1.46%

provides 1.32% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



23 resilience = reduces the chance to be critcally hit by 1.01%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 2.23%

provides 2.03% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



27 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.19%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 2.62%

provides 2.38% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



35 resilience = reduces the chance to be critically hit by 1.54%

reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 3.40%

provides 3.09% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions



************************************************** *************



Build #1 in comparison to Build #2 produces the following results:



-6 stam, +165 mana, +.24% crit, +8 spirit, +5 mp5 (1 mp5 from unrelenting storm talent), -12 resilience

(...and vice versa Build #2 vs Build #1)



The -12 resilience loss in Build #1 vs. Build #2 =

Reduces the chance to be critcally hit by 0.53%.

Reduces the effects of mana drains and damage of critical strikes by 1.17%.

Provides 1.06% additional damage reduction caused by players/pets/minions.





Personally, I'll probably go with Build #1. It's the only build I've listed that maintains above 3400 HP and MP while staying above 350 spell damage. It also has a little more mp5, spirit, and crit. Plus, Mystical Pauldrons of the Elements + Cerulean Filigreed Shirt + Frostwolf Tabard + Black War Bear with blue eyes = looks good = inspires me to like my char and play better, which means it'll probably perform better ;-). I truly think its the best build though, if I were to just go for stats and not looks. Tough call overall imo, but I'll probably stick with Build #1.





Either way, I'd still go with the talent build my current armory has:

No Earth's Grasp, 3/3 Eye of the Storm, 3/3 Unrelenting Storm, 1/5 Reverberation, 2/2 Booming Echoes, and 3/3 Lightning Overload. The rest is pretty much the same as always. Only thing other than this to note is that I take 3/3 Elemental Warding and take out 3/5 Convection, but I bet everyone has probably done this since day 1.
 
resil is ok....when you stack it. you see the numbers and get excited, but really it isnt that good. when that warrior has over 50% crit on MS, do you really think either -1.01 or -1.54 are REALLY that big of a deal; especially when you could have been stacking sta/int/sp instead of resil. and when a person has 100-150% crit damage bonus, is that tiny percentage worth it?same for overall damage reduction. get hit for 600 frostbolt (idk exact numbers), is that 2.03 or 3.09% less damage really that awsome? works a lil better against melee classes since you have armor + resil working to lower damage...but its still not that impressive
 
Falkor said:
resil is ok....when you stack it. you see the numbers and get excited, but really it isnt that good. when that warrior has over 50% crit on MS, do you really think either -1.01 or -1.54 are REALLY that big of a deal; especially when you could have been stacking sta/int/sp instead of resil. and when a person has 100-150% crit damage bonus, is that tiny percentage worth it?same for overall damage reduction. get hit for 600 frostbolt (idk exact numbers), is that 2.03 or 3.09% less damage really that awsome? works a lil better against melee classes since you have armor + resil working to lower damage...but its still not that impressive
Click to expand...



Yeah I guess you're right. I think another point I could bring up here is the idea of "offense-oriented defense." If I kill a twink, then I have successfully defended myself, just as well as, if not better than, surviving a twink's attacks. This has shown itself to be true a BILLION times against enhancement shamans. It'll get down to the wire, a little bit of mana left after a group fight, and of course the enhancement shaman runs in and focus-fires right on me. I then root them and run while frost shocking, with little mana left. I've killed enhancement shamans this way many times, and I have also never successfully "tanked" an enhancement shaman. He either died first, or I died. I should remember this part... that I shouldn't try to tank them so much as kill them before they kill me. Build #1 definitely has more offense-oriented stats, and could actually turn out to be a better way of defending myself. By killing a twink before that twink kills me.



Heh, kind of like a whole new way to look at survivability.



So it looks like... until further debated maybe by someone in the future... that my results conclude:



Eye of Flame

Pulsating Crystal Shard

Mystical Pauldrons of the Elements

Featherskin Cape

Green Dragonscale Breastplate, Gauntlets, and Leggings

Dryad's Wrist Bindings

Ban'thok Sash

Greaves of Withering Despair

Cyclopean Band

Underworld Band

Heirloom PvP Trinket

Flashlight Trinket

Blessed Hammer of Grace

Wall of Dead



3416 HP, 3401 MP, 351 Spell Damage, 7.79% crit, 116 spirit, 87 mp5 after 3/3 Unrelenting Storm, 23 resilience



To be the winner ;-). So far in my conclusions, at least.



UPDATE: I'm also starting to think that the No Earth's Grasp, 3/3 Eye of the Storm, 3/3 Unrelenting Storm, 1/5 Reverberation, 2/2 Booming Echoes, and 3/3 Lightning Overload build is about to become a permanent talent build setup possibly as well. Its that good imho. Earth's Grasp is a good talent, but you end up losing tremendous amounts of DPS for it. I've played games without Earth's Grasp, and I've heavily come to the conclusion that its not needed. Another aspect in which I'm noticing that my offense is becoming my best defense in comparison to trying to tank melee hits, and that you're much better off timing the use of earthbind/stoneclaw just right, rather than having a shorter cooldown on them and giving up a high degree of DPS. I also notice that if I was going to die within the time period in which I dropped a stoneclaw/earthbind to get away, I would have died even with Earth's Grasp.



Lots of times I've seen shamans put points in Elemental Oath over the other two options (Booming Echoes & Lightning Overload) as well, and I also do not feel this is necessary at all. Reason #1: There's going to be some shaman in your group that already has it(for some reason lots of people like this talent, and seem to deny the power of Lightning Overload). Reason #2: If not a shaman, then you'll get the 5% crit bonus from a Boomkin, and it'll get nullified then.



I don't think I would ever get any other professions for elemental shaman other than 375 mining / herbalism. The herbalism heal has a low 3-minute cooldown, and it always seems to be ready when you need it. It has saved the day so many times I've lost count. The 30 stam from mining is also better than any other option by far imho. Skinning does not give you enough crit % to be considerable. Jewelcrafting trinket is useless because you want Flashlight trinket for 6% spell hit against Night elves (and Tauren vice versa), and I usually keep PvP heirloom trinket/AGM/Tidal Charm rotating in my other slot. Even if it makes it in the rotation amidst those other three trinkets, I still would not choose 100 spell power for 20 secs every 5 minutes over 30 stam.



One more side note: Your 49 twink can make and use heavy frostweave bandages. They're quite handy. ;-)
 
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