Elemental Shaman DPS Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within (Season 1)

Welcome to our Gearing Page for Elemental Shaman. This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

If you have a new piece of gear for which you need gems and enchant advice, you can find everything on our dedicated page below.

At this stage in the game, there are so many variables and layers of optimization that you can apply to your character that there is no way for a guide or anything else to tell you exactly what gear you should wear. This is why we always recommend simulating your own character using Raidbots. The website can help you choose set bonuses, trinkets, and combinations in a way tailored completely to your specific character. Learning to use this tool is essential to maximizing your potential, as there is simply no other way to consider all the variables.

The easiest way, and also the method we suggest, to compare multiple items is to use Raidbots' Top Gear. Here, you can input an export from the Simcraft AddOn, select the items to compare, and it will find out which of the items are best.

Many people overthink the distribution of their secondary stats. An important thing to remember is that a higher quantity of stats is nearly always better than a better quality of stats. Because of this, wearing higher item-level gear with worse stats tends to be better than lower item-level gear with great stats. Keep this in mind when considering gear. For more stats information, please refer to our dedicated page.

We only provide "Best in Slot" lists as a mandatory requirement stemming from certain guilds and players thinking they absolutely need to mindlessly chase that one item in that one slot and nothing else will do. Sometimes, raid leaders enforce a very strict "BiS list" for loot council without any nuance; other times, it is players themselves enforcing it on themselves.

6.

BiS Gear for Elemental Shaman

Overall BiS List Nerub-ar Palace BiS List Mythic+ only BiS List

7.

Overall BiS List for Elemental Shaman

This list contains items available from the raid, mythic+ as well as crafted items.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Weapon (two-hander)	Takazj's Entropic Edict	Silken Court in Nerub-ar Palace
Weapon (one-hander)	Everforged Dagger Mastery and either Haste or Critical Strike with Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity or Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension (if using the latter you want Writhing Armor Banding as your other embellishment)	Crafted embellished item with Blacksmithing
Off Hand	Acidslough Bulwark	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Off Hand alternative	Dragonkin Ward	Grim Batol
Helm	Noetic of the Forgotten Reservoir	Silken Court in Nerub-ar Palace
Neck	Sureki Zealot's Insignia (Very Rare)	Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace
Neck alternative	Locket of Broken Memories	Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace
Shoulder	Concourse of the Forgotten Reservoir	Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace
Cloak (best defensively)	Wings of Shattered Sorrow	Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace
Cloak alternative	Royal Emblem of Nerub-ar	Ulgrax the Devourer in Nerub-ar Palace
Cloak alternative	Troggstitched Drape	The Stonevault
Chest	Goresplattered Membrane	The Bloodbound Horror in Nerub-ar Palace
Bracers	Glyph-Etched Vambraces with Mastery and either Haste or Critical Strike, and Writhing Armor Banding if using Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension, otherwise Dawnthread Lining	Crafted Embellished Item with Leatherworking
Bracers alternative	Throne Defender's Bangles	Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace
Gloves	Covenant of the Forgotten Reservoir	Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace
Belt	Reinforced Anti-Intruder Chainmail	The Stonevault
Legs	Sarong of the Forgotten Reservoir	Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace
Boots	Shoes of the Forgotten Reservoir	Obtained with Matrix Catalyst
Ring #1	Seal of the Poisoned Pact (Very Rare)	Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace
Ring #2	Writhing Ringworm	Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace
Trinket #1	Spymaster's Web	Silken Court in Nerub-ar Palace
Trinket #2	Ara-Kara Sacbrood	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
Trinket #2 alternative	Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj	The Dawnbreaker

7.

Raid only BiS List for Elemental Shaman

This list contains ONLY items from the Nerub-ar Palace raid.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Weapon (two-hander)	Takazj's Entropic Edict	Silken Court
Weapon (one-hander)	Sovereign's Disdain	Queen Ansurek
Off Hand	Crest of the Caustic Despot	Queen Ansurek
Helm	Noetic of the Forgotten Reservoir	Silken Court
Neck	Sureki Zealot's Insignia (Very Rare)	Sikran
Neck alternative	Locket of Broken Memories	Rasha'nan
Shoulder	Concourse of the Forgotten Reservoir	Rasha'nan
Cloak	Royal Emblem of Nerub-ar	Ulgrax the Devourer
Cloak alternative (better defensively)	Wings of Shattered Sorrow	Rasha'nan
Chest	Goresplattered Membrane	The Bloodbound Horror
Bracers	Throne Defender's Bangles	Sikran
Gloves	Covenant of the Forgotten Reservoir	Sikran
Belt	Lost Watcher's Remains	The Bloodbound Horror
Legs	Sarong of the Forgotten Reservoir	Nexus Princess Ky'veza
Boots	Rasha'nan's Grotesque Talons	Rasha'nan
Ring #1	Seal of the Poisoned Pact (Very Rare)	Queen Ansurek
Ring #2	Writhing Ringworm	Broodtwister Ovi'nax
Trinket #1	Spymaster's Web	Silken Court
Trinket #2	Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg	Broodtwister Ovi'nax
Trinket #2 alternative	Treacherous Transmitter	Nexus Princess Ky'veza

7.

Mythic+ only BiS List for Elemental Shaman

This list contains ONLY items available in Mythic+ dungeons in Season 1.

The main focus of this list is Mastery over Haste. You still need to get Critical Strike after that, although a bit less than Haste.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Two-handed Weapon	Melodious Iron Songspire	The Stonevault
One-handed Weapon	Scithewood Scepter	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Off Hand	Acidslough Bulwark	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Off Hand alternative	Dragonkin Ward	Grim Batol
Helm	Soulthorn Visage	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Neck	'Emergency Stop' Keychain	The Stonevault
Neck alternative	Trailspinner Pendant	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Shoulder	Courier's Dragonriding Spaulders	Grim Batol
Shoulder alternative	Wintersnap Shoulderguards	Mists of Tirna Scithe
Cloak	Anvilhide Cape	The Stonevault
Cloak alternative	Troggstitched Drape	The Stonevault
Chest	Tri-Heart Chestguard	Siege of Boralus
Bracers	Penumbral Rimeguards	City of Threads
Gloves	Claws of Tainted Ichor	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
Belt	Reinforced Anti-Intruder Chainmail	The Stonevault
Legs	Flamescale Chain Leggings	Grim Batol
Boots	Sure-Foot Sabatons	Siege of Boralus
Boots alternative	Dark Iron Chain Boots	Grim Batol
Ring #1	Umbriss Band	Grim Batol
Ring #2	Band of the Roving Scalawag	Siege of Boralus
Ring #2	Circle of Bone	Grim Batol
Trinket #1	Ara-Kara Sacbrood	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
Trinket #2	Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj	The Dawnbreaker

Static Best in Slot lists are only an indicative tool in a vacuum; we recommend using the following tools: Raidbots Top Gear and its Droptimizer options.

This weekly loot system remains much the same. You can select ONE item out of a maximum pool of 9, depending on how many raid bosses you defeated, your Dungeon clears and how many Delves and Weekly World Quest you accomplished in the previous week.

You can learn more about this system on our dedicated Great Vault page.

You will be able to upgrade your items via Crests such as Gilded Harbinger Crest. Once you have upgraded a slot to a certain item level, upgrading other items of that slot to that item level is free.

When you upgrade with Crests, you should think of it as upgrading slots and not items.

Additionally, since Crests are a limited resource, you will want to obtain the highest item-level possible before upgrading a given slot, as this means you will spend fewer Crests on that slot in total. If you are at all capable of doing a +9 Dungeon, for example, it would be a VERY bad idea to upgrade an item from a +8 Dungeon, as those are wasted Crests you may not get back for a very long time.

We see a ton of players, even at a high level, mess up their upgrade priorities, and upgrading prematurely. Getting this right will put you far ahead of most players.

Below is the slot priority you should upgrade your items in. If you ever want to deviate from this, you should have a very good reason.

1. Weapons
2. Trinkets
3. Helm/Chest/Legs
4. Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots
5. Rings and Necks
6. Cloaks and Bracers

Note that exceptions are possible, such as special items that have more Item Level scaling than their slot would imply.

Unsurprisingly, you should sim your character to determine which upgrades give the most bang for your buck at any point in time. Beyond that, you generally want to maximize your weapon, then your trinkets, then whatever slot is your worst, and after that, it is generally best to upgrade the slots that give the most stats, with a lower priority on whatever has the best secondaries but maximizing Intellect remains the best way to gain DPS.

What you should craft in our opinion largely depends on what items you obtain, what items you will likely have available to you from various content, if you will get priority on certain items, and generally whether you want to optimize for the short or medium term. Take our advice with a grain of salt and adapt to your particular circumstances.

Note that with the "secret" quest from winning one epic battleground, you receive enough Forged Gladiator's Heraldry to craft up to 3 pieces, and can get more from Conquest points. This allows you to craft up to 610 item level missive items, which DO NOT REQUIRE SPARKS. This is an excellent source of "filler" items once you already have some gear. They will remain at 610 and are not further upgradable however, making them ideal for "temporary" boosts on slots you hope to get a stronger item for in the next few weeks.

What you want to craft with sparks entirely depends on the gear you obtain, as, there is currently no particular piece of gear that is notably stronger than non-crafted alternatives. With Thunderstrike Ward not being mandatory anymore however, there is now a possibility of crafting a non-shield Offhand with Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity or Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension, and use a 639 weapon to edge out a little bit more damage but that has a defensive cost that, while very light for raid, is significant in Mythic+ and absolutely bricks you in PvP. Other than that, simply make sure to craft an armor piece with Writhing Armor Banding if you are also using Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension. Otherwise, craft Dawnthread Lining on whatever you craft.

Embellishments are significantly weaker in The War Within compared to Dragonflight. As long as you get "something", it makes only a small difference what embellishment you get, so especially early on I would recommend against expensive ones.

Our current generic recommendation is to Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity (universally good) or Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension (best for raiding) on your Everforged Dagger (or Charged Runeaxe) or if you go that (dangerous!) route Vagabond's Torch. Then if you went for Ascension, Writhing Armor Banding on any armor piece, or if you went for Vivacity, Elemental Focusing Lens or Dawnthread Lining whatever you craft.

Note that Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension takes a long time to stack and drops entirely if you spend more than a few seconds out of combat.

The only special weapons in The War Within are crafted with Blacksmithing but they are not worth the bother, you just want regular weapons instead (with Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity or Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension if crafted). If you want to use Thunderstrike Ward, you must equip a one-hander and a shield, as opposed to a staff. This is not mandatory anymore as the talent lost a lot of relative power.appa

While professions do not generally give player power, there are possible exceptions in some circumstances. Suppose you want to min/max your player power in all possible situations. In that case, you should be an Alchemist and an Engineer. Note that the actual uses of their unique bonuses are highly conditional and, for the most part, should not dictate your profession choice.