Elemental Shaman and Mythic+

[Spunky90 0]

Hey folks,

I am thinking of switching to Elemental for mythic + dungeons due to the very inconsistent AOE/Cleave damage and the melee unfriendly environment in the dungeons. Also the knock down of the Earthquake can be very beneficial in large pulls especially if there are casting mobs.

Since the "Buff" to the Elemental spec I was thinking of a heavy cleave build as in dungeons the trash is more important then the boss fights. I haven't spent any points into the elemental artifact weapon yet and I was thinking of taking the Electric Discharge path.

Artifact Build: http://www.wowhead.com/artifact-calc...LAMTADExA1RgEA

After that going for the reset of the Golden Traits 

Talents Build: http://www.wowhead.com/talent-calc/s...elemental/cATM

Aftershock could be used instead Elemental Mastery.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

[Pandacho 286]

Hello,

I want to add a couple of points from a general PoV of a person that runs M+ (resto shaman).

First, I wouldn't say that a dungeon environment is somehow specifically unfriendly to melee in M+ so far (I did runs up to +7). For me there was 0 difference in amount of healing put into melee/ranged and we don't run a static group but just grab any guildies. I actually love to run with rogues, warriors and enh shamans :)

Second, I think that the greatest benefits that a shaman brings to M+ are ranged interrupts and mass stuns that may and should be used on every pack and are not dependable on the weekly affixes. A knockdown is nice too but doesn't worth changing spec imo.

I'm not completely agree with your statement about great importance of heavy cleave: it highly depends on the affixes you get. With part of them a heavy cleave is pure bad.

If you rather feel personally uncomfortable to play melee, it's different - you can definitely choose whatever spec you find more fun and play it :)

[Scorpicore 0]

I go earthen rage, totem mastery too bad when u always moves. Earthquake at >50% hp monsters, now chain spam greater. On 3+ only do lava when instant.

[Karanir 15]

I wanted to chip in a bit to help out. 

Level 15 Talents: On paper, totem mastery is the best dps option. But I agree with Scorpicore that Earthen rage is a good quality of life improvement so you don't have to keep on dropping totems every time you move. 

Level 30 Talents: I like gust of wind, particularly for dungeons like HoV where you can immediately leap out of ground AOE and continue dpsing. 

Level 45 Talents: Lightning Surge. No other option is even close. 

Level 60 Talents: Ancestral Swiftness is the right choice here as it gives you a nice boost to both AOE and single target dps. 

Level 75 Talents: I would recommend Icefury instead. Helps with mobility and burst dps on priority adds. Primal Elementalist is good for raids where you are fighting a boss for 7 minutes and trash isn't that important. For dungeons where trash packs are the priority, it is hard to time fire elemental properly. It often ends up being unavailable when you need it the most on a dangerous pack. If you save PE for big pulls or for bosses instead of using it on CD, then it is a dps loss compared to Icefury (up for every trash pack). 

Level 90 Talents: Elemental Mastery provides some nice burst when you need it. It's cooldown is short enough that it is usually up when you need it. 

Level 100 Talents: Liquid Magma is a boost to AOE dps, but Lightning rod is better in single target dps.  I would take Liquid Magma most of the time as it's a big gain to AOE, and you only have to give up a bit of ST dps. For raids, I would pick LR though. 

 

Regarding Earthquake, the knockdown effect isn't really a big deal as it is random and unreliable. In theory, it helps reduce damage taken but we already stunlock and use defensive cooldowns for big pulls anyways. So, there isn't an clear improvement in damage mitigation for earthquake. 

For enhancement, I wouldn't agree that it's AOE is inconsistent. In fact I would argue that it provides consistently strong sustained AOE as it does not rely on abilities with long cooldowns. Even without your artifact ability, you can generate enough maelstorm to sustain the AOE rotation. It can be counted on to pull above average AOE dps on every pull. In contrast, Elemental is very dependent on the artifact ability to empower chain lighting. 

One area in which elemental really shines is when you have big pulls with 5-6 mobs. Combine Stormbringer, Elemental Mastery, earthquake, chain lightning and liquid magma totem. Watch Demon Hunters cry as you defeat them in AOE. It's a beautiful thing to watch. 

 

 

 

 

[Tarazet 144]

Enhancement's cooldowns are particularly well suited to dungeons, in my opinion. They can't do the crazy AoE that Demon Hunters or Monks can, but they make up for it by being so good at taking down priority targets - especially if you take Hailstorm. Enhancement is also amazing at target swapping because all the damage is in the form of buffs on your person, and you can port it all over to another mob instantly if priorities change. Elemental has less wind-up time than some ranged specs when target swapping, but the caster tax is still definitely in effect.

The only dungeon that really makes me hate my life is Neltharion's Lair. Everything in there is designed to screw over melee.

[Scorpicore 0]

7 hours ago, Karanir said:

Level 75 Talents: I would recommend Icefury instead. Helps with mobility and burst dps on priority adds. Primal Elementalist is good for raids where you are fighting a boss for 7 minutes and trash isn't that important. For dungeons where trash packs are the priority, it is hard to time fire elemental properly. It often ends up being unavailable when you need it the most on a dangerous pack. If you save PE for big pulls or for bosses instead of using it on CD, then it is a dps loss compared to Icefury (up for every trash pack). 

Level 100 Talents: Liquid Magma is a boost to AOE dps, but Lightning rod is better in single target dps.  I would take Liquid Magma most of the time as it's a big gain to AOE, and you only have to give up a bit of ST dps. For raids, I would pick LR though. 

I dropped the legendary ring to have the buff on every element, so i tested of course icefury but jesus, i don't know how to place it and these cold horion in my cycle  if you have some advises i'm grateful, after some tests on puppies i also realised that cold horion was up by 250% more or less and not 400% so i was wondering if it wasn't broken.

I will test this liquid magma in m+, will see :-) Trash are really the big deal.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Scorpicore