Elemental Shaman Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Farseer vs. Stormbringer

Posted 2024/08/16 at 10:24 PM by HawkCorrigan

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid

Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Elemental Shaman in the War WithinHero Talent Showdown: Farseer vs. Stormbringer TempestLightning BoltPrimordial WaveAncestral Swiftness Farseer

Strengths

Weaknesses

Primordial WaveAncestral SwiftnessFlash of LightningLightning BoltLava BurstRoutine Communication Stormbringer

Strengths

Weaknesses

TempestAwakening StormsMaelstromTempestUnlimited PowerSuperchargeWhat's Changed?Primordial SurgeWindspeaker's Lava ResurgenceEarthen RageIcefuryLava BurstMastery: Elemental OverloadAscendanceAscendanceDeeply Rooted Elements FarseerPrimordial WavePrimordial WaveAncestral Swiftness StormbringerIcefuryTempestLightning BoltLightning BoltIcefuryAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Stormbringer (Winner)

If somebody asks, "What makes Elemental Shaman special?" most people's answer will probably mention Chain Lightning's spell effects and the visuals of overloads in some way. While Stormbringer by itself doesn't really amplify the animations, Tempest's animation is hardly discernable in a fight; the additional overloads from Supercharge are definitely noticeable. Farseer, on the other hand, is indeed more noticeable with multiple "grandpas" standing next to you, chugging Lava Burst at your target, but they don't really personify what I expect when I hear "Elemental Shaman."

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Stormbringer/ Farseer (Tie)

It's a ... tie?

If we are looking purely at the hero trees, Farseer has a distinct lack of impact on the rotation and gameplay. The ancestors themselves are almost entirely passive with its enablers. Primordial Wave and Ancestral Swiftness are being used on cooldown, and the damage just happens without any adaptions to your rotation. The cooldown reduction on the Elementals is neat but doesn't really impact any gameplay decisions, either.

Stormbringer in comparison seems nearly oppresive. While tracking the various Tempest triggers is not necessary, it is very helpful for optimal play. Keeping track of your current stack count of Awakening Storms, the Maelstrom spent for the default Tempest trigger, as well as the timer on Rolling Thunder is a lot to manage while you are also trying to manage boss mechanics and your standard rotation. But, on the other hand, being able to play around those different procs, maximizing each of them, is a very rewarding playstyle when you can manage it; the only drawback is that this is not represented in your damage numbers.

All in all, Stormbringer is significantly more interactive but also just overloaded with things you need to keep track of and is lacking the damage right now to actually feel rewarding. Farseer, on the other hand, is just not interactive at all, but also non-intrusive and requires little overhead.

Difficulty: Farseer (Winner - Easier)

Judging the difficulty of a Hero Talent sub-spec can be done on a few different levels. If we are looking purely at the gameplay at the moment, neither of the hero trees requires significant effort to play around. Farseer is essentially entirely passive and just happens while you do your normal rotation. It further doesn't impact your decision-making either. The only thing that a player needs to be aware of is that they are losing a very minor movement globally because Nature's Swiftness (or Ancestral Swiftness in most cases) has turned into a rotational button.

As I just mentioned in the previous category, Stormbringer needs you to be aware of 3 different timers and counters to actually get the most value out of the hero tree, which need to be somewhat kept in sync with your rotation, and furthermore can throw some unexpected changes into your rotation that you need to be aware of and account for. For example, if you are casting Stormkeeper to get some instant casts, cast a spender to get the additional overloads from , and then get pushed over the Maelstrom threshold by this cast, you suddenly and unexpectedly active Tempest, which means that your next Lightning Bolt cast is not actually going to be an instant via Stormkeeper as you expected, but instead will be a hardcast that you need to stand still for.

Defensiveness & Utility: Stormbringer (Winner)

I could honestly put either hero tree here. Neither of them feels particularly impactful in either of those categories, and any significant benefit comes with a massive disclaimer.

Let's look at Stormbringer first: Electroshock can be quite impactful in a kite meta, or whenever slows are actually needed. Sadly, it sometimes happens that slowing enemies is actually detrimental to your group. Even though this talent is not alone with this issue, other specs have this problem with their whole kit (Hi Frost Mages), it still potentially limits the viability of this tree. To be fair here, the removal of the Sanguine affix makes this much less of a problem at the moment, but we will see in which content it will lead to issues first.

Leveling: Farseer (Winner)

To be completely honest, either spec will perform well enough in leveling content, and you will not notice any significant differences in your survivability or leveling speed, in my opinion. Farseer works better in Single Target, while Stormbringer is better in AoE, so depending on your playstyle and leveling speed, either could be better for going faster. My personal choice here still goes towards Farseer. Getting better burst on the opener via the Ancestors spawned by Ancestral Swiftness and Primordial Waves, as well as the third charge provided to Lava Burst, are pretty good for Single Target mobs, while also being pretty okay for AoE. Stormbringer, on the other hand, relies a lot on random procs and spending specific amounts of Maelstrom, which means that its damage windows are going to be happening in situations where it's not optimal for you.

Mythic+: Stormbringer (Winner)

Basically, there is no competition in this category. With Ancestors only able to damage up to 3 targets, Farseer struggles significantly in AoE. The Elemental CDR provided by the tree barely matters in AoE either because Skybreaker's Fiery Demise already provides all of the CDR we need.

Stormbringer on the other hand, not only increases our AoE spells more than Farseer does, Tempest also scales with target count a lot better being uncapped and triggering overloads on each target hit.

Raid: Farseer (Winner)

With the huge fluctuation the hero trees have seen over even just the last week, we have not tested the current iterations of the hero talents in the context of the current spec balancing on any bosses. We can probably make some educated guesses anyway.

Farseer is the higher Single Target damage, works better on low target cleave, and is also mostly deterministic when its "burst phases" are happening.

This doesn't mean that Stormbringer will not see play in raiding. Especially considering the fact that e.g. the last raid boss features quite a lot of AoE, it is reasonable to assume that Stormbringer will see play there regardless. I still think that Farseer will be the preferred hero tree on most bosses.

Best Overall: Stormbringer (Winner)

With the slightest of margins, I will be giving the win to Stormbringer today.

I am personally not a big fan of the hero talent, to be quite honest, but I can hardly deny that it is the more interesting, more fitting, and just more aesthetically pleasing hero tree. While it is overloaded with various things you need to keep track of, you still feel in control of all the damage you do and rely only a little bit on pets and other "external sources".

While I personally enjoy the lack of impact that Farseer has because it allows me to actually interact with the spec itself a lot more, I can't really say that the flavor is really hitting home for me. The Single Target provided by the "grandpas" is really good, but having a hero talent tree that is functionally useless on AoE is pretty disappointing. Personally, I also dislike how this tree turns Elemental into a pet class. With 40%+ of your damage being done by pets, I don't consider myself in control of my damage anymore, even though the damage done by the hero tree is still completely controlled by my own spell casts.

Hero Talent FeedbackFarseerChain LightningLava BurstLightning BoltChain LightningFlame Shock StormbringerStorm SwellArc DischargeTempestBase Elemental Shaman Gameplay & TalentsEcho of the ElementalsWind GustLava BurstAscendanceDeeply Rooted ElementsIcefuryMaster of the ElementsMaelstromLightning BoltLava BurstLightning BoltStormkeeperDeeply Rooted ElementsShould You Play Elemental Shaman in the War Within?Lava SurgeWindspeaker's Lava ResurgencePrimordial SurgeIcefuryLava BurstAscendanceDeeply Rooted ElementsFire ElementalLava BurstLava BurstLava BurstLava BurstLightning BoltHero Talent Guides for the War Within Launch

Comment by MessenjaahBlizzard reworked most of the talent tree since they first released our hero trees. This rework saw the removal of some of the more problematic talents like Primordial Surge and Windspeaker's Lava Resurgence, the return of some fan-favorite talents from across the history of Elemental Shaman (welcome back Earthen Rage), and the introduction of some new or changed talents that do mix up the general philosophy in some ways.Comment by lovelywazWondering if this is the right Season, if not an entire expansion, to park my BM Hunter in the "new and shiny" 🙄 Stables and switch to Ele Shammy. 🤔Comment by RmysWth is a Farseer "Family reunion" strength?But wait, its a strength but its a weakness at same time?
And in "strombringer you recognize that the visuals are fun, but blame the visuals as a weakness...
What kind of review is this?
Sometimes I think you run out of ideas.Comment by bannyvaderFarseer Casper-ghosts are stupid, just as bad as Rogues Fatebound coin, but I'll die on the hill that Totemic was a better fit for Elemental than Farseer. feelsbadmanComment by ScaryfoxIt was honestly funny to read Family Reunion twice. At least it was for a good reason.Comment by GestopftI love how "family reunion" is a strength and a weakness lolComment by GigabobWth is a Farseer "Family reunion" strength?But wait, its a strength but its a weakness at same time?
And in "strombringer you recognize that the visuals are fun, but blame the visuals as a weakness...
What kind of review is this?
Sometimes I think you run out of ideas.Comment by DarqStalkerFarseer seems the brain dead game play route. Farseer it is for me then!Comment by MOMST3RDesperately need FULL lightning builds to be viable.

Make Lava Burst an optional talent/choice node between or smth like "Plasma Burst", let us commit fully to lightning. We currently have FOUR fire caster specs in the game and 0 lightning ones, with the only class that could attempt it being locked into casting Flame Shock and Lava Burst constantly.

PLEASE Blizz! 🙏🙏🙏 Will be maining ele, but really hoping the slight shift towards elemental freedom is just the first step!Comment by br41n4ch3Blizzard reworked most of the talent tree since they first released our hero trees. This rework saw the removal of some of the more problematic talents like Primordial Surge and Windspeaker's Lava Resurgence, the return of some fan-favorite talents from across the history of Elemental Shaman (welcome back Earthen Rage), and the introduction of some new or changed talents that do mix up the general philosophy in some ways.Comment by Spanky2kSo disappointing that if you want to play a fire build, you're basically going to be useless in m+. The fire rotation the last couple of seasons was so fun in m+ with the S3/S4 set bonus. I know it's not been the highest aoe spec in the game by any means but I found it really fun at least. Meanwhile I've always hated lighting builds with a passion (although maybe finally getting rid of Icefury will make it bearable).Comment by endobleedsjust give eley lvb proc back ... and nerf lvb ......... you give them tier set them nerf them the % of the tier