PVE Elemental Shaman DPS Guide (WotLK 3.3.5a)  

Welcome to the Elemental Shaman DPS guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a. In this guide, you will learn about playing an Elemental Shaman in a raid. The guide includes Talents, Glyphs, Gems, Enchantments, Add-ons, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips.

Talent Tree

4 Talents marked with blue are replaceable.

Spend those 4 talent points depending on the raid, your gear, and the encounter. Sometimes you need to instantly go into the Spirit Wolf form to avoid damage. Sometimes, when you can get hit by AoE damage it's best to take Elemental Warding. Improved Fire Nova is taken more when you have BiS gear, for maximizing your damage.

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Totem of Wrath
• Glyph of Lightning Bolt
• Glyph of Lava

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Renewed Life
• Glyph of Water Shield
• Glyph of Water Walking or Glyph of Water Breathing

Gems

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
• Red: Runed Cardinal Ruby
• Yellow: Potent Ametrine
• Blue: Glowing Dreadstone

Also if you lack Hit rating or Haste, use these: Veiled Ametrine & Reckless Ametrine

Enchants

• Head – Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of the Storm
• Cloak – Greater Speed
• Chest – Powerful Stats
• Bracers – Superior Spellpower
• Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower
• Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs – Sapphire Spellthread
• Boots – Icewalker
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon - Black Magic or Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower
• Shield – Greater Intellect

Rotation

Flame Shock -> Lava Burst -> Elemental Mastery -> Lightning Bolt

Everything else is used when cooldown goes off. If needed, use also Chain Lightning

Stat Priority

Hit -> Spell Power -> Haste -> Critical Strike Rating -> Intellect

Elemental Shaman requires 17% of spell hit to always hit the target. 3% can be gained from the Elemental Precision talent, additionally 1% from Draenei racial aura. Target debuffs like Misery and Improved faerie fire reduce the requirement by another 3%.

Spell Power is the most reliable stat for Elemental Shamans as it increases the effectiveness of all spells. Stack it as much as possible. Haste is another vital stat for this spec. Ideally, the target is to reduce the casting time of both Chain Lightning, and Lava burst down to 1 second. We can reduce the cooldown to 1 second by getting 33.67% of Haste (or 1100 haste rating, while buffed).

Critical Strike Rating is a secondary stat that should be received mainly from gear. The soft cap for crit is 40%, and the maximum amount of crit that can be achieved without sacrificing too much from other stats is roughly 70%. Intellect is our core stat which increases our overall mana pool, mana regeneration and is partially converted into spell crit.