glyphs Elemental Shaman: Mists of Pandaria Rotation Changes, Talents, and Glyphs (Patch 5.0.4)

[Damien 1,514]

This article is no longer being updated. Please check our Elemental Shaman guide, which is fully compatible with Mists of Pandaria, and is being constantly updated. Thank you.

In preparation for the updates to our guides for Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4, we are releasing articles such as this one, explaining what has changed for a particular class and spec, and what the new rotation is likely to be.

Keep in mind that this is still a work in progress (both from Blizzard's side and from our own) and that this article assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the Cataclysm version of the Elemental Shaman rotation and playstyle (such as from reading our guide).

We will first list the most important changes to the Elemental Shaman Cataclysm abilities, and then we will proceed to explaining the (likely to be) optimal rotation. Keep in mind that we do not document every single change or new ability, only those that impact the rotation.

Finally, we will give you some information about the most useful talents and glyphs you should choose.

Totem Changes

Mists of Pandaria is bringing a number of important changes to Shaman totems.

First of all, all your buff totems have been removed or replaced.

• Flametongue Totem has been replaced by Burning Wrath, a new passive Shaman ability.
• Elemental Resistance Totem has been removed from the game. Now, your only way to provide these resistances is to use Healing Stream Totem with Glyph of Healing Stream Totem.
• Stoneskin Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury Totem, and Wrath of Air Totem have been removed from the game.

As a result, you will no longer need to drop all your totems at once. It gave Blizzard an excuse to remove your call spells (don't choke). Call of the Ancestors, Call of the Elements, and Call of the Spirits are gone.

In addition, your other totems have undergone the following changes.

• Earthbind Totem has had its duration reduced to 20 seconds, down from 45 seconds, and its cooldown increased to 30 seconds, up from 15 seconds.
• Grounding Totem has had its duration reduced to 15 seconds, down from 45 seconds.
• Earth Elemental Totem and Fire Elemental Totem have had their cooldown and duration reduced by 50%, from 10 minutes to 5 minutes and from 2 minutes to 1 minute, respectively.
• Mana Spring Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, and Totem of Tranquil Mind have been removed from the game.

Finally, there are six new totems.

• Stone Bulwark Totem is a Tier 1 talent that replaces Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem.
• Capacitor Totem provides you with a 5-second stun.
• Earthgrab Totem is a Tier 2 talent that snares enemies for 5 seconds and then reduces their movement speed.
• Windwalk Totem is a Tier 2 talent that provides you with a raid-wide movement-impairing effect removal.
• Healing Tide Totem is a Tier 5 talent that provides you with a powerful healing cooldown.
• Stormlash Totem is a new DPS cooldown.

New Abilities

Besides the totems that we listed above, you only gain three new abilities.

• Ascendance is a powerful DPS cooldown that lasts 15 seconds. While Ascendance is active, the cooldown of Lava Burst is removed and Lightning Bolt becomes Lava Beam, a powerful AoE ability.
• Grace of Air is a raid-wide passive Mastery Rating increase, available to all Shamans.
• Spirit Walk is on a 3-minute cooldown, removes all movement-impairing effects, and increases movement speed by 60% for 15 seconds.

Changed Abilities and Mechanics

Many of your current mechanics and abilities have been replaced by new mechanics or abilities that are very similar.

• Ancestral Swiftness has been removed, as Ghost Wolf being instant made it obsolete.
• Lightning Shield now lasts for 1 hour and starts at 0 charge, which means that Rolling Thunder now builds up to 7 charges of Lightning Shield, maximum.
• Elemental Oath now grants a +5% spell haste buff to all party and raid members within 100 yards. It used to grants a +5% critical strike chance with spells.
• Elemental Mastery is a Tier 4 talent that increases your haste by 30% for 20 seconds. As a result of Elemental Mastery being optional, Feedback no longer exists.
• Totemic Wrath has been replaced by Burning Wrath, a new passive Shaman ability.
• Earth Shock applies Weakened Blows on the target. This debuff reduces damage dealt by 10%. Previously, Earth Shock applied a debuff that reduced melee and ranged attack speed.
• Thunderstorm now restores 15% mana (up from 8%).

Removed Abilities and Mechanics

• Water Breathing

Rotation

Your Elemental Shaman rotation will remain largely the same in Mists of Pandaria (see our Elemental Shaman guide).

• Keep Flame Shock up on the target. Refresh when there are 3 seconds or less left.
• Keep Searing Totem up.
• Cast Lava Burst on cooldown
  • watch out for its cooldown being reset by procs of Lava Surge.
• Cast Earth Shock when you have between 5 and 7 charges of Lightning Shield.
• Cast Lightning Bolt as a filler.

As in Cataclysm, you will need to use Flametongue Weapon on your weapon, and Lightning Shield as your shield.

Totem Cooldowns

As we have seen earlier, you have a number of totems that act as DPS cooldowns. With the removal of your buff totems, the only totem you will need to constantly keep is Searing Totem. Other than that, you are free to make use of your totems however you see fit, including for using these DPS cooldowns:

• Earth Elemental Totem;
• Fire Elemental Totem;
• Stormlash Totem.

In addition, you have two Water totems that you can use as healing cooldowns: Healing Stream Totem (30-second cooldown) and Healing Tide Totem (a powerful raid healing ability on a 3-minute cooldown, given by a Tier 5 talent).

Finally, Call of the Elements is a Tier 3 talent that enables you to finish the remaining cooldown on all your totems with a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes.

Regular Cooldowns

In addition to Spiritwalker's Grace and Feral Spirit, which work in the same way as in Cataclysm, you only gain one new DPS cooldown:

• Ascendance can be used as a single-target or multiple-target DPS cooldown, depending on what is most beneficial during a fight.

AoE Rotation

Your AoE rotation will not change much.

For 2 enemies, maintain your single-target rotation on one of them, replacing Lightning Bolt by Chain Lightning and Searing Totem by Magma Totem. Make sure to also keep Flame Shock up on the second target.

For 3 enemies, give up on Lava Burst.

For 4 enemies or more, spam Chain Lightning (with Glyph of Chain Lightning), and use Thunderstorm and Earthquake on cooldown.

Talents

Tier 1 talents have been designed with your own survival in mind. You have the choice between:

• Nature's Guardian, which is a passive ability that reduces your threat and increases your maximum health when you get below 30% health;
• Stone Bulwark Totem, which is an Earth totem on a 1-minute cooldown that grants you an absorption shield;
• Astral Shift, which is a damage mitigation ability on a 2-minute cooldown.

Nature's Guardian will be useful if you find yourself pulling aggro from the tank. Otherwise, your choice between Stone Bulwark Totem and Astral Shift will depend on how often you will need damage reduction during an encounter.

Tier 2 talents have been designed with crowd control and utility in mind. Whichever you will choose will largely depend on the encounter you are attempting. You have the choice between:

• Frozen Power, which grants Frost Shock a 5-second snare effect;
• Earthgrab Totem, which is a 5-second snare followed by a movement speed reduction;
• Windwalk Totem, which provides you with a raid-wide movement-impairing effect removal.

Tier 3 talents have been designed with totem cooldown and mobility in mind. You have the choice between:

• Call of the Elements, which resets the cooldown of your totems that have a base cooldown shorter than 3 minutes, and will most likely be the default choice for Elemental Shamans;
• Totemic Restoration, which reduces the cooldown of your totem proportionally to the duration that remained on them before they were destroyed or replaced (very useful if you want to use, for example, Fire Elemental Totem every 2 minutes for 24 seconds);
• Totemic Projection, which enables you to relocate your totems to a new location (useful in movement-heavy encounters).

Tier 4 talents have been designed to improve your DPS throughput. You have the choice between:

• Elemental Mastery, which has a 2-minute cooldown and increases your haste by 30% for 20 seconds;
• Ancestral Swiftness, which has a 1-minute cooldown, gives your next spell an instant cast, and provides you with a passive +5% increase to your spell haste;
• Echo of the Elements, which gives you a chance to duplicate your offensive spells.

We believe that Elemental Mastery is the best alternative there, as it provides you with a powerful DPS cooldown. If you prefer a passive increase to your damage, Ancestral Swiftness is the way to go.

Tier 5 talents give you a new healing cooldown or a new healing mechanics. All the talents are viable and will depend on the encounter you are progressing on.

• Healing Tide Totem will heal the 5 most injured nearby players for 10 seconds.
• Ancestral Guidance can be used as a healing cooldown. You can use it every 2 minutes to copy, for 10 seconds, 40% of your healing to the 3 most injured nearby players. We believe that this will be the default choice for Elemental Shamans.
• Conductivity is a very potent ability that will increase the healing done to players standing in your Healing Rain. It will be particularly useful in fights where you can make extensive use of Healing Rain.

Tier 6 talents increase your DPS throughput.

• Unleashed Fury improves your Unleash Elements, which will increase the damage of your Lightning Bolt by 30% for 10 seconds.
• Primal Elementalist causes your Earth Elemental Totem and Fire Elemental Totem to deal 50% more damage.
• Elemental Blast is a on a 12-second cooldown and will enable you to maintain a 66% uptime on a buff that changes randomly each time you refresh it: +3500 Critical Strike Rating, +3500 Haste Rating, or +3500 Mastery Rating. The ability also deals a bit of damage every time you use it.

Which of the three talents will provide the highest DPS increase remains to be seen. Unleashed Fury will require you to use Unleash Elements on cooldown, which is not something usual for Elemental Shamans. Primal Elementalist and Elemental Blast might be the better choices here.

Glyphs

Glyph of Flame Shock is the only major glyph that provides a direct DPS increase. The other major glyphs will have situational uses.

• Glyph of Chain Lightning increases the number of targets hit by your Chain Lightning.
• Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem can be useful for lining up your Fire Elemental Totem with periods of increased damage on the boss, by increasing its duration and cooldown by 40%.
• Glyph of Thunder can increase your DPS in AoE situations.
• Glyph of Unleashed Lightning enables you to keep casting Lightning Bolt in movement-heavy encounters.
• Glyph of Unstable Earth slows down ads, if necessary.

Minor glyphs mostly have cosmetic effects. The only two minor glyphs that could be useful are Glyph of the Lakestrider and Glyph of Astral Recall. However, they serve no purpose in a raid.

This concludes our Elemental Shaman preview for Mists of Pandaria. We hope you have enjoyed reading it and that it proved useful to you. As always, we are looking forward to reading your opinions on the matter!