New 85 elemental mana starved?

Post by totemmunkey

Hello guys. Its been a long time since I've played PvE elemental spec. I got a new shaman toon who just hit 85 and in regular lvl 85 dungeons (Grim Batol, Halls of Origination & Lost City), I find myself running out of mana very, very quickly. After two trash pulls, I find myself having to drink to regain mana even though I am Thunderstorming on cooldown. Most of the time, I dont even get to drink enough as my teammates are already nearly done with the next pack of mobs. What I'm asking actually is, if this is normal with the gear I'm currently in? Does this mana stop becoming such an issue once gear gets better or is this going to be the norm even once I start equipping HoT Heroic drops + Valor gear?

Perhaps its my combat priority that the issue however I usually seem to follow what many guides and posts suggest. On single targets (bosses), I have no issues. Its only on AoE trash. I start with dropping my totems, and casting Chain Lightning. I cast Earth Shock when it procs 9 stacks (or near abouts). If their are more than 3 mobs, I cast Earthquake early after the first Clearcasting proc or after my totems if its a huge group. Is that right or should I try something else? I've tested leaving Earthquake out completely but my mana still drains very quickly with Chain Lightning alone.

I've reforged most of my crit to spirit to get hitcapped. Then reforged to Haste.

Here is my armory. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

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Post by marklartank

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Post by lonewolfe31705

if anything, wouldn't you get MORE mana back with chain lightning? i dunno, i've never even noticed my mana as elemental. during the yor'sahj fight, after the mana drain, i spam chain lightning on the adds and the mana bar seems to go up. i don't bother with earthquake.

it could just be a gear thing; it can help to take when you're still gearing up.

No, if you read the tooltip for it does not include each jump of Chain Lightning. Basically you have the chance to get the mana back on casting the spell and since LB is cheaper mana wise to cast than CL, you have a higher rate of return on proc.

Post by marklartank

oh, well that's lame. maybe the OP just needs more mana then so that 2% is enough to put him into positive territory. convection can still help quite a bit.

i don't really go elemental very often, but when i have i simply don't notice mana. i only use TS after the blue ball on yor'sahj, after which i can spam CL endlessly.

btw, that tooltip does not seem to clearly back up what you're saying. "when you deal damage" could mean each jump. i definitely notice my lightning shield builds up faster, so i'm inclined to think the mana return would correlate with that. how sure are you that it doesn't work multiple times per cast?

Post by lonewolfe31705

I think it was EJ that did the Theorycrafting that found that it doesn't work on the jumps of CL. It's been about 6 months since I ran ele so I honestly don't remember. When I get home, I will look and see if I still have it bookmarked in my ELE folder.

Post by UKMuzik

It is usual to be running out of mana at your gear level, it becomes dramatically less of an issue as you jump up the gear levels to the point at Dragon Soul, I don't think I could run out of mana if I wanted to given the return from various spells and abilities.

At your level I would suggest not using Earthquake, chances are packs aren't living long enough to be alive at the end of it, and CL does reasonable damage on groups of 3/5 (depending on if you are CL glyphed). Also as marklartank said earlier take Convection 2/2 as a talent and drop either insta-Ghost Wolf or Totemic Reach (I'd get rid of this) to free up the points to do so.

Oh one other thing is be sure to use Totemic Recall as you move from group to group in dungeons, this will reclaim you some mana.

Hope this helps

UK

Post by totemmunkey

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I haven't put any points into Convection yet, but I did equip Glyph of Chain Lightning thinking it would allow me an extra 4% mana return via the Rolling Thunder talent. I see that you guys have theorized whether or not the CL jump hits count towards RT, but personally it seems to have helped greatly with my mana issues. My Lightning Shield charges max out before the Shock cooldown can even reach 3 secs so I know the building-charges part of RT includes CL jump hits. It's probably safe to assume the mana-returns part of RT includes CL jump hits as well.

Or maybe I just got a really lucky series of dungeon runs with someone who activates Replenishment.

Post by marklartank

My Lightning Shield charges max out before the Shock cooldown can even reach 3 secs so I know the building-charges part of RT includes CL jump hits. It's probably safe to assume the mana-returns part of RT includes CL jump hits as well.

my thinking exactly.

Post by 704200

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Post by totemmunkey

it could just be a gear thing; it can help to take when you're still gearing up.

Looking back on it now, I think this is most likely the case.

Now that I'm having zero mana issues, I'm convinced it was purely a gearing issue. And as such, it's important to redistribute your talent points and/or glyphs accordingly until mana no longer becomes an issue.

I was setting my talents thanks to endgame class guides but most of those assume you're raid ready (and that includes your gear set).

Thanks to everyone who offered up their advice. It has been greatly appreciated.

New 85 elemental mana starved?

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