Putting the MENTAL in Elemental.

Oh, Blizzard...I'm keeping my eye on you, you sneaky devils. I go away on holiday (camping in Wales) and I come back to find that 3.2 has made it's apperance! However, while I could make a 3.2-related post, I shall actually bring out a Shaman-related post like I've been saying I will for some time now. So no more distractions...here is a post that will look at Elemental Shamans!

Now, let me start with a warning. If you're looking for an expert post about rotations or the gear to get or the best spec EVER or how to do sexy uber amazing faceraping DPS...this is not the post for you. However, this post will give my viewpoint on the best race for an Elemental Shaman, the spells that come under the Elemental spellbook tab and you might even see my own ideas show up. However, bear in mind that it's all opinion opinion opinion and I'm not trying to be a Shaman guru. I just want to entertain myself and anyone else who reads this. So let's actually get to the Shaman stuff!

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Well, obviously I don't have a vast choice of race (thought it's up to two now with Cataclysm and all which is groovy) for the Alliance in terms of Shamans. However, I personally think Draenei's suit Elemental and Resto the most so I'm all for the spacegoats hurling lightning. This would be my preferred choice for an Ally Elemental Shaman.

Dwarf-Now...I compare Dwarf Shaman to Orc Shaman since that's how I imagine them to be. As a result, I see Dwarf Shaman best as Enhance or Elemental. While I think Enhance is the best spec for a Dwarfy Shaman, I would still be happy to see them zapping enemies with Chain Lightning or Thunderstorming enemies away from them.

Horde

Goblin-Well...I admit I'm not a huge fan of Goblins being Shaman but the idea of it is growing on me. However, it took me a while to think of what specs are best for them. With regards to Elemental, I think it works okay but this is my least favourite spec for Goblin Shamans. However, this could change when I see them in action or I know more lore-wise or I grow to like the Goblin Shaman more which would turn Goblins into the first "all-rounder" Shaman race for me.

Orc-This is my favourite Horde race for Elemental Shamans. Maybe I just spent too much time as Thrall on Warcraft 3...but to me, Orcs are the Shamans who are most in touch with the elements and they are the ones I love to see firing bolts left, right and centre.

Tauren-While I love the Tauren Shaman, I don't like Elemental for them so much. I know that they have the capabilities within them to be all PEWPEW with bolts but it's just not as cool to me as it is to see Orcs or Trolls firing lava and lightning. It's just my personal preference to leave the Elemental stuff to the other Horde Shaman.

Troll-While Orcs are my first choice, Trolls also look pretty funky using bolts and bursts. And I reckon Boltthrower is the perfect name for a Troll Elementalsham too...just throwing that out there. Kudos to those who know of the band name and therefore, get the joke.

Abilities

Lightning Bolt-This spell will be your bestest fwend. Don't fall out with it now because you don't get Lava Burst until level 75 so you need to have to learn to spam this spell. This is why Elemental Shamans are sometimes viewed as "turrets"...only these turrets can heal themselves, come back a second time and walk on water.

Earth Shock-Ah, Earth Shock has recently had a fancy 3.2 attack-speed reduction makeover which is pretty handy since Wind Shear already has interruption covered. However, Earth Shock tends to be more suited to the Enhance Shaman crowd. Elemental Shamans prefer to have Flame Shock as their friendly mascot.

Flame Shock-FS is the spell that went from C-list to A-list celebrity thanks to Lava Burst and the Glyph you get for Flame Shock. Get the Glyph and be a very happy Elemental bunny.

Purge-Purge is a very useful spell that has both PvP and PvE uses. However, you have to be careful in case the enemy has put on useless buffs as a Purge defense. Now, I understand that it can't have the movement speed reduce it had in WC3...but I'm curious as to why it isn't allowed to do damage to summoned units still.

Wind Shear-Renamed from Wind Shock for some reason (perhaps Wind Shock scared little kids or they just wanted to distance it from the Shocks. Nah, definitly too scary.) but it's now more useful then it was before because it doesn't share a cooldown with the Shock spells.

Frost Shock-FROST SHOCK! Now that's out of the way...this is the shock to use for PvP really or if you want to slow down a retreating mob. Otherwise, it just sits there with envy eyes aimed at Earth Shock and Flame Shock.

Call Of The Elements-One of three fancy new spells to go with that shiny totem bar gadget Shamans got in the latest patch. This button is my "Enhance Totem Gang" button and I'm just glad Blizzard finally gave us the ability to put a totem foursome down in one big swoosh.

Chain Lightning-Ah, Chain Lightning. It's the zap one, get two (three if glyphed) free deal. Total bargain! It's best to use when you want to AoE zap a few mobs because it's too mana costly to use it on just one single target. If you're going for PvP, I suggest getting the glyph. However, if you're a PvE type then there's probably better glyphs out there for you.

Call Of The Ancestors-This button is my "Resto Totem Gang" button. And once again, I thank Blizzard for saving us Shamans some time. Shamans, salute Patch 3.2!

Call Of The Spirits-Now, this button will probably be my "PvP Gang" button but since I don't PvP often, this button will probably be lonely for a while. Aww, I see a sob story coming soon..."The Tragic Story of the COTS Button."

Lava Burst-Lava Burst strolls in at level 75, taps the Elemental Shaman on the shoulder and gives them another buddy to use besides Lightning Bolt. Get the Glyph of Lava and the FS glyph and you'll soon be dancing with your Lav Burst and your Light Bolt in a rotation of love. I'm really glad that Elemental Shamans have something else to use besides Lightningspamz.

Hex-Ah, the spell to turn your enemy into Kermit's long lost cousin. I believe this was Blizz's way of soothing Shamans after they wouldn't be invited to places cause all they would get is "Sorry, need CC." Never fear, Hex is here! Okay...I wouldn't hail it as a champion spell but it's a nice breathing room spell. It has a lengthy cooldown of course but that's probably cause it doesn't heal the enemy (like Polymorph) and because it won't auto-break on damage. Hex mainly gets a big thumbs up for me cause I can go "I have CC!"

Elemental Mastery-Now, we come on to the talent tree spells. EM is a beautiful talent really. Instant cast LBolt, Lav Bur or CL? Yes please. Oh...and a 15% increase in crit for 15 seconds too? Double yes please!

Totem Of Wrath-Now...this talent has me undecided. On the one hand, it's clearly superior to Flametongue and you'll want this up to help you and others in your party/raid. But the downside is that you can't have any other fire totems up and that could make a dent into your dps since you don't have a lovely Sentry totem beside you firing away. I think that the best solution would be for ToW to put up a buff on the party/raid for a period of time and that lets the Shaman switch to another flame totem after to not have to sacrifice too much flame totem dps.

Thunderstorm-If you've seen the "Thunderfuck" vids, you'll know how you can have lots of fun with this spell in PvP. But does it have any use in PvE? Well, the mana recovery part is useful for PvE but you have to be careful with the knockback element. You don't want to pull more mobs with a mis-timed knockback after all. Now, my one small change to make it a little bit better for PVE would be to either make it give the Shaman a small dps buff for 10 seconds odd or make it so that it leaves all the mobs/players it hits with a "Charged" debuff or something that increases the damage they will take from CL or Light Bolt.

Earthquake-Now, there's a part of me that wants this spell in WOW because it's the Far Seer's ultimate move from WC3 and I used to enjoy doing it. But I also think it would be a handy Elemental only spell so my intentions are good. However, it took me a while to think of what a spell like this could offer. It can't destroy buildings of course (I pondered whether it could destroy siege weaponry but that seemed a bit OP) and I don't think an AoE movement debuff is that interesting. However, inspiriation hit me and I reckon that Earthquake should be an AoE that targets the ground in front of the Shaman or an area of ground of the Shaman's choosing and reduces the hit chance of all enemies located on the shaking ground by 10% or something like that. To balance this, it would have a reasonable cooldown and you can just get off the affected area too. This would force ranged attackers to move before they start firing again and I just think it gives the Elemental Shaman a nice Earth related spell.

Now, I know I could go into glyphs and the talent spec I would use but I don't think that's necessary right now. I can look at specs and glyphs in future posts after all. Instead, I'm gonna focus on the classes and the spells that they'd use in each spell tab for now and see if I can come up with ways to improve current spells or conjure up new ideas. I find that it's more interesting that way since I like to give my opinion on things and I don't feel I'm experienced enough yet to be acting like a Shamaster. See what I did there? Genius, I know. So, next up will be an Enhance Shaman related post followed by a Restoration Shaman one which will both follow a similar format to this one.

Hope you enjoyed reading this and stay tuned for the next blog post!