Elemental Shaman DPS Class Overview - Wrath of the Lich King Classic

By Woah Updated: 2022/10/23

Woahsince Vanillacurrent expansionThe Lich KingShaman Class OverviewShamanlightningBloodlustHeroismWind ShearChanges for Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich KingChanges to existing abilities & talents

Elemental Mastery no longer reduces Mana cost by 100% and increases Spell Critical Strike chance to 100%, but instead will cause your next non-instant damage spell to become instant and grant you 15% Spell Haste for 15 seconds. It also shares a cooldown with Nature's Swiftness now.
Call of Thunder now increases Spell Critical Strike chance by 5% with a single talent point.
Many talents now also apply to new abilities such as Lava Burst and Thunderstorm.
Totem of Wrath now increases Spell Power instead of Spell Hit Chance.
Fire Nova replaces Fire Nova Totem, and can be used with any Fire totem.
Eye of the Storm now reduces pushback unconditionally, instead of requiring you to be critically hit first.
Cleansing Totem merges the function of Disease Cleansing Totem and Poison Cleansing Totem and is even more powerful, as it now ticks faster! It still only removes debuffs from your party, however. Cure Toxins is the new combined single target version.
Tranquil Air Totem and Windwall Totem were removed, and Strength of Earth Totem / Windfury Totem had their functionality changed and now apply raid wide, but do not stack with similar buffs from Death Knights. Wrath of Air Totem and Flametongue Totem also had their functionality changed and are now raid-wide.
Stoneskin Totem now increases Armor for the raid instead of reducing damage from melee hits on party members.
Earth Shock no longer interrupts enemies (Wind Shear does) but instead slows their melee attack speed for 8 seconds.
Buff totems and Bloodlust / Heroism have powerful raid wide effects now, but no longer stack with similar buffs, and you can only get one Bloodlust / Heroism effect every 10 minutes. Buff totem durations were also extended from 2 to 5 minutes.
Stoneclaw Totem now protects your other totems with a ~1000 health damage shield when used.

ShamanBloodlustHeroismNew abilities & talents

Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors and Call of the Spirits allow you to setup a full set of totems which you can drop with a single key press.
Lava Burst is a new single target damage spell which always critical strikes if Flame Shock is present on the target.
Thunderstorm is another new (talented) spell which restores Mana and knocks back (if not glyphed) nearby enemies.
Hex turns the targeted enemy into a frog, disabling its attack and spell casting for the duration. It will not break instantly upon taking damage like Polymorph but taking significant damage will still break its effect, similar to Fear.
Earthliving Weapon and the reworked Flametongue Weapon, which now grants Spell Damage, are new Shaman temporary weapon imbues for healer and caster shamans, respectively.
Wind Shear is a new ranged interrupt with a short range and cooldown, but its best characteristic is that it is not on the global cooldown, allowing you to instantly interrupt enemies at any time. It also does not share a cooldown with shock spells.

ShamanViability of Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich King PvE ContentShamanFlametongue WeaponGlyph of Totem of WrathBloodlustHeroismElemental MasteryLava BurstFire NovaGlyph of Fire NovaCleansing TotemPurgeTremor TotemEarthbind TotemGrounding TotemWind ShearHexClass Mechanics for Elemental Shaman DPSs in Wrath of the Lich King

Totems

ShamanHealing Stream TotemStrength of Earth TotemWrath of Air TotemSearing TotemCall of the ElementsCall of the AncestorsCall of the SpiritsStrengths of Elemental Shaman DPSs in Wrath of the Lich King

Doesn't need gear to do good damage

Shaman

Incredible Utility

Strength of Earth TotemWindfury TotemTotem of WrathWrath of Air TotemShamanCleansing TotemPurgeTremor TotemEarthbind TotemGrounding TotemWind ShearHex

Bloodlust and Heroism

ShamanWeaknesses of Elemental Shaman DPSs in Wrath of the Lich King

Relatively low scaling with gear

Warlock

Low survivability, no defensive cooldowns and reliance on hard casting

Earthbind TotemCurse of Tongues

Mana dependancy

ShamanChain LightningLife TapEvocationBest Races for Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich King

Race

DraeneiTrollOrcTaurenAlliance Races for Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich KingDraenei

Gemcutting: Jewelcrafting skill increased by 5.
Gift of the Naaru: Heals the target of 50 damage over 15 sec.
Heroic Presence: Increases chance to hit by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.

Gift of the NaaruHeroic PresenceHorde Races for Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich KingTroll

Beast Slaying: Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.
Berserking: Increases your casting and attack speed by 20%. Lasts 10 sec.
Regeneration: Health regeneration rate increased by 10%. 10% of total Health regeneration may continue during combat.

BerserkingOrc

Axe Specialization - Expertise with Axes and Two-Handed Axes increased by 5.
Hardiness - Chance to resist Stun effects increased by an additional 15%.
Blood Fury - Increases melee attack power and your damage and healing from spells and effects. Lasts 15 sec.

HardinessBlood FuryTauren

Cultivation: Herbalism skill increased by 15.
Endurance: Total Health increased by 5%.
Nature Resistance: Reduces chance to be hit with Nature Spells by 2%.
War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.

EnduranceWar StompChain LightningLesser Healing WaveBest Professions for Elemental Shaman DPS in Wrath of the Lich King

Engineering

Hyperspeed AcceleratorsNitro BoostsEngineeringGlobal Thermal Sapper Charge

Jewelcrafting

JewelcraftingRuned Dragon's EyeQuick Dragon's Eye

Tailoring

TailoringLightweave EmbroideryEngineeringHyperspeed Accelerators

Comments

Comment by Fedelis

Gift of the naaru is instant, so it’s no longer useful for baiting holy interrupts in pvp. Might wanna update that.

Edit: it occurred to me that maybe you mean we can cast gift of the naaru while nature locked? Maybe just reword it for clarity.

Elemental Shaman DPS Class Overview - Wrath of the Lich King Classic

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