TBC Classic Elemental Shaman Guide
Welcome to our Elemental Shaman guide for TBC Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play Elemental Shaman proficiently. Click the links below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
Elemental Shamans are the best support caster class in TBC Classic, and also have good ranged DPS on their own, which starts off strong due to the abundance of spell hit and Critical Strike they can get from talents alone.
They are a source of Bloodlust or
Heroism and provide the
unique
Totem of Wrath, which can be combined with
Wrath of Air Totem,
for a massive spell damage buff for the Shaman's party.
TBC introduces Shamans to the Alliance side through the new Draenei race, which can be leveled from the pre-patch onwards.
If you would like to see where Elemenal Shamans fall in the overall rankings among DPS specs for both PvE and PvP in TBC Classic, we have created pages dedicated to explaining what classes and specializations are the best of the best through multiple factors. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Excellent DPS at low gear levels.
Able to burst on demand with
Elemental Mastery.
Best support caster in the game with
Totem of Wrath,
Wrath of Air Totem and
Bloodlust /
Heroism.
Low mobility and survivability.
Poor scaling with gear when compared to other casters.
Struggles with sustaining Mana in longer fights, especially when at low crit levels.
Elemental Shaman Changes in TBC
Elemental Focus is changed in TBCC and now lowers the Mana cost of your
two next damaging spells by 40% after you cause a damaging Spell Critical Strike.
You can easily fish for these procs with lower rank shocks and
Lightning Bolt
if needed, and should also look to use the expensive
Chain Lightning when
you have a proc, if Mana will be an issue in your current encounter.
Call of Thunder now grants 5% Spell Critical Strike at maximum rank,
rather than the 6% it provided in WoW Classic.
Lightning Mastery now reduces
Lightning Bolt's and
Chain Lightning's
cast times by up to 0,5 seconds, rather than WoW Classic's 1-second reduction.
To compensate for the previous change, Lightning Bolt and
Chain Lightning
have a baseline cast time 0,5 seconds faster than they used to. Overall, this
results in a reduction in their spell coefficient, while having the same cast
time as they did in WoW Classic after
Lightning Mastery is taken into
account.
Totem of Wrath is a new talent which creates a Fire Totem that increases
the Spell Hit and Spell Critical Strike chance of nearby allies by 3%. This is a
major DPS increase for any caster, and the main reason to place an Elemental Shaman
in caster parties.
Water Shield is a new baseline spell that creates a
shield on yourself which provides passive Mana regeneration and extra bursts of
Mana whenever you are hit. This is great in all types of content, but especially
so if you are being consistently hit for the extra Mana returns, so expect to
get a ton of Mana back while soloing and leveling!
Bloodlust /
Heroism are new meta-defining
spells, which grant a huge amount of Haste for 40 seconds to the Shaman's party.
By rotating Shamans into your DPS parties for this cast, you can ensure
near-permanent uptime on the buff in any given fight, drastically increasing
raid DPS.
Wrath of Air Totem is a new support totem that increases spell
power for the Shaman's party, making it a must-have in any caster party.
Totemic Call is a new spell that allows you to destroy your
current totems in order to recover 25% of their Mana cost. You can use this
to avoid pulling patrols with your totems, to recover some Mana when moving
to a new place and even just to recover some Mana for free when your totems are
about to expire!
Earth Elemental Totem creates an Earth Elemental that taunts and
generates threat on nearby enemies. Due to its relatively high health, it can
serve as an emergency tank for you and your group.
Fire Elemental Totem creates a Fire Elemental that deals
significant single and area of effect damage, making it great for contributing
damage to your group or while soloing.
The overall result of all of these changes and additions is a much stronger
Elemental Shaman, mostly courtesy of Totem of Wrath,
Wrath of Air Totem
and
Bloodlust.
Best Races for Alliance Elemental Shamans
Draenei is the only race available. While it is not one of the most impactful Shaman races, it does provide useful benefits, especially to caster parties with its 1% Spell Hit aura effect!
Draenei Elemental Shamans
Gemcutting increases your Jewelcrafting skill by 5.
Gift of the Naaru is a short cast with a 3-minute cooldown that heals over time. Because it is free, it can be occasionally useful, and being on the Holy school allows you to cast it in PvP even while Nature-locked.
Inspiring Presence increases your party's chance to hit with spells by 1%.
Shadow Resistance increases your Shadow Resistance by 10.
Best Races for Horde Elemental Shamans
Troll is the best race for PvE, Orc is the best race for PvP and second best for PvE and Tauren is a close second for PvP.
Troll Elemental Shamans
Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you between 10-30% increased attack and casting speed depending on your health, with the effect being greater the more hurt you are.
Bow Specialization increases your Critical Strike chance by 1% when using a Bow.
Throwing Specialization increases your Critical Strike chance by 1% when using a thrown weapon.
Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration and allows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.
Trolls are the best PvE choice if your goal is to maximize
your throughput, due to Berserking, which quickens your attacks
and casts, especially if activated at low health. Beast slaying can also be
useful against beast-type enemies.
Orc Elemental Shamans
Axe Specialization increases your expertise by 5 while wielding an Axe.
Blood Fury is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your Attack Power by 282 (at level 70) for 15 seconds, but also reduces healing effects on you by 50% during that time.
Command increases your pet damage dealt by 5%.
Hardiness increases your chance to resist stuns by 15%.
Orc is the go-to PvP
race, due to Hardiness, which allows you to occasionally resist stun
effects. This is especially useful against Rogues. They also have
Blood Fury, which is a powerful throughput cooldown, but does come with
a significant penalty which leads to it not being usable in every situation.
Tauren Elemental Shamans
Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
War Stomp is a 2-minute cooldown that stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, with a 0.5 second cast time.
War Stomp is quite reliable in PvP, often allowing for an emergency
Lesser Healing Wave or
Chain Lightning cast, but has
few PvE uses. The 5% increased health from
Endurance is minor. Finally,
Taurens have a larger hitbox (especially males), which grants them a slightly
increased casting range, but also makes them more likely to be hit by enemy abilities.
Best Professions for Elemental Shamans
While all professions have their unique benefits, we would recommend PvE focused
players to level Leatherworking, for the Windhawk Armor set,
which doubles as a very strong Restoration Shaman set. You will
also get Drums of Battle, which are an important consumable only brought by
Leatherworkers.
Enchanting also has significant personal benefits due to exclusive
ring enchants which will increase your throughput for all of TBC. Alternatively,
Engineering has many explosives that will drastically increase your
area of effect damage, such as the new Super Sapper Charge.
Tailoring is not recommended, as it only provides a set bonus for the Spellstrike Infusion set, which is not comparable to the benefits of the other previously listed professions. If you do take it, make sure to make some gold with its periodic cloth transmutes.
Finally, Alchemy is a good passive goldmaking profession due to the transmute recipes and the new elixir, potion and transmute masteries, making it a strong profession on an alt that you do not want to min-max your throughput on.
If you would like to learn more about how your profession of choice can be used to supplement your goldmaking, along with a variety of other means to bolster your income, see our full goldmaking guide linked below:
Best Shaman Macros and Addons
Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing TBC Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.
If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Restoration Shamans, check out our guides below:
Changelog
- 15 May 2022 (gear page): Added more helm options.
- 05 May 2022 (Phase 3 gear page): Guide moved.
- 05 May 2022 (gear page): Updated for Phase 5.
- 02 May 2022 (enchants page): Updated for Phase 5.
- 24 Mar. 2022 (stats page): Adjusted stat priority for the current content phase.
- 24 Mar. 2022 (talents page): Updated talents for more AoE damage, in line with the current meta.
- 21 Mar. 2022 (gear page): Updated for Phase 4.
- 01 Feb. 2022 (pre-raid gear page): Updated for Phase 3.
- 29 Jan. 2022 (gear page): Added more gear options.
- 14 Jan. 2022 (enchants page): Updated for Phase 3.
- 09 Jan. 2022 (Phase 2 gear page): Guide moved.
- 09 Jan. 2022 (gear page): Updated for Phase 3; separated previous Phase 2 list into a new page.
- 15 Oct. 2021 (gear page): Added Band of Eternity.
- 26 Sep. 2021 (pre-raid gear page): Added Brewfest trinkets.
- 26 Sep. 2021 (gear page): Added Brewfest trinkets.
- 19 Sep. 2021 (Phase 1 gear page): Page restored.
- 09 Sep. 2021 (pre-raid gear page): Added new Phase 2 gear options.
- 18 Aug. 2021 (gear page): Page added.
- 16 Aug. 2021 (stats page): Added a note on how sitting increases Spirit-based regeneration.
- 14 Jun. 2021 (pre-raid gear page): Added more Helmet options.
- 14 Jun. 2021 (enchants page): Clarified that CSD is the only meta to use.
- 31 May 2021 (this page): Added links to the Shaman Macros and Addons guides.
- 30 May 2021 (pre-raid gear page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (enchants page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (stats page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (rotation page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (talents page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (spells page): Guide added.
- 30 May 2021 (this page): Guide added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original Burning Crusade player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman (as Woah) and Druid Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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