Elemental Shaman PVP Guide 3.3.5
Some credentials; I've been playing an Elemental Shaman as my main for 2 years, reached 2k rating in 2s and 1800 in 3s, I'm not claiming to have unreal skills but more than enough to teach someone new the ropes.
So why an Elemental Shaman?
Elemental Shamans are THE highest bursting class in the game, period. Nothing hits as hard and fast as we do, and everybody knows it. The sheer sight of an Elemental Shaman makes everyone panic. On top of this you have amazing utility and support to ensure you and your team can put the hurt on your enemies. Still not motivated? Check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft_Zc-I-Ws8
Races:
Orc - Passive Stun reduction is always nice, and Blood Fury gives a temporary boost to spell damage which can mean the difference in scoring a kill.
Troll - Passive snare reduction is ok, less useful since you have Ghost Wolf, but Berserking is fantastic.
Tauren - Increased HP means dying slower, and Warstomp is a gamebreaker when used correctly (Warstomp + Hex).
Drainei - Unfortunately the only Alliance race available to Shamans, free 1% hit frees up space for more offensive stats. Gift of the Naaru heal is also decent in a pinch.
Any race is viable, I play Tauren for the stun.
Talents/Glyphs/Important Spells
Spec: http://wow335.gamestool.net/shamant....00000000000000 5 floater points, distritube how you want between Elemental Precision and Thundering Strikes, depending on whether or not you need Hit.
Glyphs:
Major -
Glyph of Lava
Glyph of Thunder
Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem
These are mandatory. Lava increases the benefit from Spell Power of your Lava Burst by 10%, main bursting spell, very important. Thunder reduces the cooldown of Thunderstorm by 10 sec. Once you learn the versatility of Thunderstorm you will understand why this glyph is mandatory. Stoneclaw Totem places a shield on you equal to 4x the shield it puts on your totems. Shamans don't have many defensive cooldowns, so this works wonders. Drop it right before you get bursted. Minor glyphs do not matter.
Important Spells and how to use them:
Grounding Totem - This little guy seperates skilled Shamans from bad ones. It absorbs the next spell cast at you or anyone in your party, and it's on an 11.5 sec CD. I can't stress how vital this is to you and possibly your team's survival. Learning when to use it is key. A Mage just froze you? Drop Grounding and watch as his Deep Freeze goes to waste. Big nasty Chaos Bolt about to eat your face? Ground that ****! The uses for this are infinite, whether to block burst or CC on you or your team. If you've ever played a Warrior you will pick up on Grounding Totem quickly, its similar to Spell Reflect. When you REALLY get the hang of it, you can do amazing things like ground Death Coil etc, and become the flaming ninja all other flaming ninjas talk about in hushed whispers.
Thunderstorm - Shamans are 1 of 3 classes with a knockback effect (and the most viable one for arenas imo). Thunderstorm is an interrupt, a kiting tool, a positioning tool, troll skill and mana regen all wrapped up into 1 nifty little ability, and it can be used while stunned! Try using it to interrupt important spells if you're close enough, and on maps like Nagrand and Dalaran Sewers, you can totally change the game by knocking someone down and getting improved positioning on your opponent. Use it in response to gap closers (Charge/Shadowstep/Death Grip) or to troll someone and knock them off Eye of the Storm
Wind Shear - One of a Shaman's defining abilities, it interrupts an enemy spellcast and locks that school for 2 sec, and its on a 6 sec CD. 2 sec may not sound like much, but by the time the interrupt is over, Wind Shear is usable again in 4 sec. That means casters only have a 4 second window to attack, and healers to heal. Consistently landing Wind Shears is incredibly important, learn to watch for fake casting, try to interrupt the spell when its nearing the end of its cast. More often than not in arenas, you will have a focus Wind Shear macro for the healer. Use this to eat Warrior's Spell Reflect. You've not mastered Wind Shear until you can interrupt Mass Dispels in 3s (hysterical when you do xD)
Purge - Dispels 2 beneficial magic effects from an enemy. Dispelling is essential, and is one of the main attractions to a Shaman. Fully dispelling buffs from the kill target makes it so much easier to land a kill, dispelling defensive abilities like Hand of Freedom, Barkskin, Power Word: Shield, Sacred Shield etc. Dispel that Druid's Innervate and watch him oom. Dispel offensive CDs like Icy Veins, Bloodlust, Wings ANYTHING! Any magic related buffs are subject to Purge. Don't charge in guns blazing and start blowing CDs, dispel all those silly buffs/shields and then start damaging, you'll be surprised how much of a difference it can make. ALWAYS PURGE! ALWAYS!
Tremor Totem - Removes any Fear, Sleep, or Charm effect from all nearby party member every 3 sec, no cooldown. Yes, no cooldown. When facing a team with any of those CC abilities, its crucial that you keep Tremor up 100% of the time, something I'm admittedly bad about doing :3 Having your team get caught in a Howl of Terror/Psychic Scream is bad news, and this will prevent that from happening. Try to position it behind something and near your healer, if it gets destroyed or replaced, place it again. Very skilled players will Fear you and then destroy your totem, so don't sit on top of it, it has a decent range.
Earthbind Totem - Roots all enemies in its range for 5 sec when cast, and continues to slow them while it lasts. Use it to kite, sometimes multiple opponents, or to root someone behind LoS in arenas. If you play with an Affliction Warlock this root is invaluable, since it peels and cannot be dispelled due to Unstable Affliction.
Cleansing Totem - Your best friend when facing DKs, Rogues, Shadow Priests and Ferals (yes, Infected Wounds is a disease). It pulses every 3 sec, and removes 1 Disease/Poison effect from all party members every pulse. When facing the classes above, this can really turn the tables. Dispelling DKs diseases before he gets Unholy Blight up really screws them up, making them waste runes on reapplying, eliminating Rogues poisons is ESSENTIAL, that means no slow, no 50% heal reduction, and no damage if they're Envenom spec. Getting rid of Devouring Plague (also a disease) and using your 1337 skills to stop Vampiric Touch means you're only going to get damaged by Shadow Word: Pain. Taking away a Feral's only slow helps a ton when facing them as well.
Hex - Your only direct CC ability, turns the target into a frog for 10 sec, they can move but cannot attack or cast spells. Whats nice about Hex is that its classified as a curse, so unless I'm mistaken, only Resto Shamans, Druids, and Mages can remove it. Use it after you've gotten somebody to trinket or to heal in a 1v1 situation.
Elemental Mastery - Makes your next Lava Burst, Chain Lightning, or Lightning Bolt instant cast and increases your haste by 15% for 15 sec after. Your burst CD, macro it with on-use trinkets for maximum effect. The burst "rotation" is Flame Shock>Lava Burst>Instant Lightning Bolt>Chain Lightning>Frost Shock>spam cast. This is a LOT of damage output. Also useful as a finishing blow type move.
Bloodlust/Heroism- The single greatest cooldown ever. Increases attack and casting speed of all party members by 30% for a whopping 40 sec. Bloodlust will win you the game more than you can ever imagine. Use it when going for the kill, making your damage and CC spells lightning fast. Be wary as it is easily dispelled, so make sure to keep up trash buffs.
Gear/Enchants/Gems/Stat Priority
Hit - Increases your chance to hit your target. Cap is 4% or 6% if you take into account racials. This is your most important stat until its capped.
Haste - Decreases the cast time of your spells and also decreases your global cooldown. Unfortunately we don't have access to haste offsets, so getting this is a bit tougher for Ele Shamans. 500 is the benchmark, bringing Lava Burst to ~1.3 sec cast or 1 sec with Bloodlust. It's an amazing stat, you'll want to get it asap.
Spell Penetration - Decreases your opponents resistance to magic by 1 per point of Spell Pen. 130 is the cap, and you want to reach it for one reason: Purge. It scales with Spell Pen, meaning it won't get resisted and you will always get 2 buffs from your opponent opposed to 1 if you're not capped.
Spell Power - Increases the damage of your spells, duh. Elemental Shaman's base damage is already quite high, so you don't need to stack this to achieve good damage, but it's definitely something you will want a healthy amount of.
I will provide 2 different weightings depending on where you are regarding Haste
<500 Haste - Hit until 4%(6% with racials)>Spell Penetration until cap>Haste>Spellpower
>500 Haste - Hit until 4%(6% with racials)>Spell Penetration until cap>Spellpower>Haste
The reason for this being that if you're far above 500 haste, it diminishes the value of things like Bloodlust/Heroism, Berserking, and other haste buffs you have. 500 is your "static" haste, it gets passively increased by things such as Wrath of Air Totem (which is always present) Bizuri's Totem Effect (which is always present). Too much Haste results in spells being under the GCD, which doesn't benefit you whatsoever. Find the balance between speed and power, you don't want too much of one and not enough of the other.
Meta Gem: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
4x Stormy Majestic Zircon
The rest is preference, I stack full Haste in the rest of my sockets, but if you must match your sockets, SP/Haste for red and Stam/Haste for the remaining blue.
Gear:
Unlike most casters, Elemental Shamans stick to 99% PVP gear, due to having few defensive abilities, and you will be focused very often in arenas/BGs.
5/5 Wrathful Gladiator's Mail Set + Wrathful Gladiator's Blade of Alacrity/Celerity and Wrathful Gladiator's Barrier for weapons. Bizuri's Totem of Shattered Ice is by far the best relic, get it.
Full Wrathful offsets (you can try to mix in a couple PVE pieces here for additional Haste if you're experienced) + Ashen Band of Endless Destruction
Medallion of the Horde/Alliance + Charred Twilight Scale for trinkets (any Haste trinket will do if this is not available to you) OR Corroded Skeleton Key for a more defensive setup.
Never drop below 1200 resil, and going that low is a bit risky. You are going to get focused a lot, and all the PVE gear giving you 1337 damage isn't going to help you survive getting 2v1 while your healer is CC'd. I personally run with a bit over 1300.
Enchants:
Head - Arcanum of Dominance
Shoulder - Inscription of Dominance
Back - Spell Piercing
Chest - Resilience
Wrist - Spell Power
Hands - Spell Power
Legs - Earthen Leg Armor if low on resil, else Sapphire Spellthread
Feet - Icewalker
Weapon - Spell Power
Shield - Resilience
Macros
Wind Shear:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Wind Shear <stops whatever you're casting and wind shears your target
Focus Wind Shear:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Wind Shear <can replace wind shear with hex for focus hex
Wind Shear + Purge
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Wind Shear
/cast Purge <Purges the target you Wind Shear. DO NOT USE THIS AS SIMPLY WIND SHEAR, this macro is situational and its up to you whether to decide to Wind Shear or Wind Shear + Purge., as there are scenarios for both.
Burst Macro:
/use [your trinket here without brackets]
/cast Elemental Mastery < pops a trinket and elemental mastery
General Tips
-Keybind, keybind, keybind. Keybinds lead to success. Any spell you use, keybind it. Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, and Tremor Totem should all have individual keybinds, do NOT just place them in Call of the Elements and drop them all together, they are situational. Keybinds are personal there is no right or wrong way to do it. A nice tip is to use Q + E or A + D to strafe and learn to move with your mouse. Keyboard turners are just as bad as clickers! Unbind your S key and put a skill on it so you don't back pedal. Stick to buttons that are comfortable to press and not too far away.
-You must manage your totems well to be successful. If you get kited to the other side of the map, drop your totems again, make sure you are always within range of them, they give you 280 Spellpower, 3% crit, 5% haste, and a bunch of other useful things. Do NOT forget about them.
-Remember that if your Flame Shock is dispelled, you get 30% haste for 6 sec (equivalent to Bloodlust). You must watch for this so you don't waste Lava Burst. Also, I see a lot of Shamans simply sit there after you dispel Flame Shock, waiting to recast it and use Lava Burst. You have 30% haste, USE IT! Spam Lightning Bolts, you'll still do decent dps and by the time the buff is over, Flame Shock is back up.
-When you are silenced, feared, or stunned, you take 30% less damage (Astral Shift). If you are getting focused, sometimes its better to sit in the CC for the damage reduction. Don't panic and trinket HoJ because you're getting Bladestormed, you're already gonna get hit by it regardless, at least reduce the damage you're taking. Save your trinket when you're going for the kill and you get CC'd.
-Make sure to refresh Water Shield often, a Shaman with no mana is just as useful as a Shaman with no health.
-You cannot be slowed below 100% movement speed while in Ghost Wolf Form. Use this and Frost Shock to kite anything.
-Rule of thumb; if it has a CD, Ground it. If it doesn't, Wind Shear it. If you Wind Shear something like Mind Blast, he can use it when the interrupt is over, however, if you Ground it, it will go on CD.
-Do not use Chain Lightning if there is an enemy nearby who is under the effects of a damage sensitive CC (Sap/Poly/Blind etc), the aoe damage will break the CC.
My Addons
Gladius - Essential for Arena. Specialized Unit Frames to track things like CD usage, CC timer, cast bars and more.
LoseControl - Timer for CC durations, very helpful in PVP.
MikScrollingBattleText - Highly customizable battle text to display anything you need to keep track of.
MoveAnything - Simple, lightweight addon to allow movement of all Unit Frames.
OmniCC - Numeric displays of time left on your own CDs, very helpful when you need to pop something the second its ready.
PowerAuras - Aura displays for anything, infinite customization, useful for anything PVP related. A must have.
PreformAV Enabler 2.5 - If you want to do premade BG's (I almost can't BG without a premade now xD)
Quartz - Cast bar modifier as well as timers for DoTs and CC's on enemy (useful for tracking Shock durations)
SpellAlerter - Developed right here on Molten, this addon gives vocal cues for enemy CD usage. Get it. Its too good. Kudos to Trolololol for this.
TidyPlates - Nameplate addon to replace default nameplates, as well as picture display durations with numeric timers of buffs/debuffs on target.
Arena:
Elemental performs the best in 3s/5s, but don't be shy about 2s.
2v2
Elemental Shaman/Destruction Warlock Can you say burst? Shamans have the most synergy with casters, and Destro Locks are Ele Shams long lost cousins. The idea is simple; catch the healer in a CC chain and blow up the dps. You have Hex, Fear, Wind Shear, Death Coil, Shadowfury and Seduce/Spell Lock to achieve this. You will generally open by dispelling the kill target (as you should already know) and waiting on your Lock to CC to begin bursting. Between Conflag/Chaos Bolt/Lava Burst, the other team isn't going to have a good time. Once you get the healer's trinket and the dps has blown some defensive CDs, get into position, Lust, CC healer and begin bursting. Use Thunderstorm to knock them into the open if they attempt to LoS during Lust and don't be afraid to heal your Lock if hes in bad shape. Keep in mind the Felhunter can dispel things like Poly/HoJ/Silence etc from your partner AND you, he should have a self and partner dispel macro. I have personally played this comp to 2k.
Elemental Shaman/Balance Druid Best troll comp. Nothing beats globaling somebody before they knew what happened. On top of having 2 knockbacks (umad melee?) you both have the best heals for a dps class. Have the druid start in stealth and Pounce>Cyclone the healer and pop Starfall and beging bursting. The healer will be forced to trinket and you will more than likely get some CDs out of it as well. After this huge opener, play defensively until Starfall is up again, or if a kill opportunity arises via Hexing the healer. You both must help heal whoever is being focused, as this is where the strength of this comp lies. More of a fun comp than something intended for high level play, but viable nonetheless.
Elemental Shaman/Shadow Priest
Similar to the Warlock comp, a Shadow Priest brings nice offheals and buffs (useful dispel fodder for protecting Bloodlust), on top of good CC and damage. A Shadow Priest with Bloodlust is horrifying. Start by dispelling (with both of you doing it it shouldn't take more than 2 global cooldowns) and begin bursting. Chain Psychic Scream and Hex on the healer, follow up with Silence and a Wind Shear and gg. Remember Shadow Priests can Mass Dispel Ice Block and Divine Shield.
Elemental Shaman/Fire Mage - Can be VERY fun and effective if the Mage is skilled. Fire Mages <3 Ele Shamans (Elemental Oath + Totem of Wrath + Focus Magic = 11% crit for the Mage ;D). Your biggest problem is dispellers, you must CC the healer very well to make this comp work. Hex kill target early and dispel him and possibly even get a trinket, Poly healer and go balls out on the DPS. Use your knockbacks and freezes to kite melee, and focus Wind Shear/focus Counterspell, Poly and Dragon's Breath on the healer. You must be aggressive in this comp to be successful since Fire Mages don't do well with longevity. Anything with an Unholy DK beats you.
Elemental Shaman/Subtlety Rogue - As with any Rogue/DPS comp, its all about the opener. Rogue will Sap healer (watch for Pally's Divine Sacrifice, the shared damage will break Sap!) and open on the DPS. Get off as much burst as possible during the stunlock, after Sap Rogue Blinds healer. This forces trinket/bubble. Play defensively until the enemies' CDs are over and have the Rogue restealth. Reopen on either A) DPS if he blew defensive CD's and the Shaman can CC the healer or B) Healer if Shaman can finish DPS. DPS should be dead at this point, if not Rogue Vanish + Sap. Heal your Rogue if hes taking too much damage and your Rogue must be able to peel you. If Rogue is skilled, he will have Shadowstep + Kick macro, this coupled with Wind Shear in between CCs is devastating.
3v3
LSD/LSP (Affliction or Destruction Warlock/ Elemental Shaman/ Restoration Druid or Lock/Shaman/Holy Paladin)
Both have a similar playstyle, and either spec of Warlock works very well here, I prefer Affliction so I'll be talking about that. The Warlock must keep constant pressure on all 3 targets with his DoTs while you rotate bursting/CCing. The Druid/Pally must help with Cyclones/HoJ when able. While the Locks DoTs slowly eat everyone away, you will be pounding someone's face so that the healer MUST focus on healing him, leaving him and the 2nd dps to rot from DoTs. Once you see someone at <50% HP make a switch to him and CC the healer. Save Lust for when the healer is in a full Fear/Hex and ONLY if you've gotten the dps to blow some defensive CDs. The strength here is the insane switches you can pull off and the amount of CC you're capable of (Hex/Fear/Cyclone or HoJ/Wind Shear/Howl/Death Coil/Spell Lock). Cyclone also prevents heals, so you can Cyclone a target that's nearly dead while you CC the healer, then finish him off once Cyclone is over. The only difference between the Resto Druid variant and the Holy Pally variant is more CC vs self dispels.
Thundercleave (Elemental Shaman/Arms Warrior/Holy Paladin)
Not a complicated comp to play, try to catch healer in a full HoJ/Hex, Warrior must keep Mortal Strike up on kill target and peel if necessary, although Shamans and Paladins are amazing at kiting. Pally can Hand of Protection you vs melee cleaves and you can still cast while in it. Must be able to play defensively if you're getting bursted, especially the Shaman since you are the kill target 9/10 times. One nice thing about this comp is a very strong reset, if the enemy teams blows everything in the beginning, tank it out, you have the resources. Lust + Bladestorm to end it when you see an opportunity.
SHP (Elemental Shaman/Marksmanship Hunter/Discipline Priest)
Combining silences/interrupts, 50% healing debuff, and mean burst into one package. CC the healer via ScatterTrap/Hex/Psychic Scream. Dispel the kill target and start bursting him, Priest must be good with dispels on you and the Hunter, its your job to Purge the kill target. The Hunter controls the fight, whoever he has Aimed Shot up on is who you should be going for, you can potentially get a kill in 1 Silencing Shot/Wind Shear chain. Hunter should have a Master's Call macro for the Priest in case hes getting focused hard, assist in peeling with Earthbind/Thunderstorm. Using Frost Trap by a pillar can be gamebreaking, allowing your Priest to LoS or preventing the kill target from LoSing. Mass Dispel prevents resets, and the Priest can assist in damage if spec'd for it. Needs some coordination to be successful.
Arena section to be continued...
Duels:
Destruction Warlock - The 2nd hardest class for an Elemental Shaman to beat. They do nearly as much damage as you with 3x the CC. The key is to keep Tremor up 100% and stop Conflagrate and Chaos Bolt. Keeping Tremor up removes 1 of his CCs, which is vital. You must have something to LoS him and heal behind. He will probably open with Curse of Elements followed shortly by Shadowfury stun. Try to get in close so you can interrupt with Thunderstorm during the stun. If he gets off Immolate early, drop Grounding the second he puts it on you, because Conflagrate is on its way. If he doesn't fall for the Grounding, drop Stoneclaw to eat up the Conflagrate. He now has Backdraft and is going to attempt to nuke you. Put up Flame Shock, and if his Felhunter dispels it, use the cast time buff for a quick Hex, Purge Backdraft and reapply Flame Shock. Start casting Lava Burst, if he is bad he will waste Spell Lock on it, which leaves you with your Nature school to heal, Wind Shear and all that good stuff. LoS and heal if necessary. If you can stop Conflagrate and Chaos Bolt the Lock is done. Remember to fake cast Spell Lock, a 6 sec interrupt on your Nature school means a loss. Challenge 9/10
Affliction Warlock - THE HARDEST CLASS FOR YOU. They are nearly impossible to beat if they know what they're doing. TREMOR MUST BE UP ALL THE TIME! Eating a full Fear and getting loaded up with DoTs is bad. As with Destruction you must have something to LoS and heal behind, although its much less effective against Affliction. You want to be very aggressive, as Affliction is a much slower playstyle than Elemental. Each second that goes by tips the scales in the Warlocks favor. Your primary concern will be Wind Shearing Unstable Affliction and Ground Haunt, so it goes on CD and he doesn't get its massive heal. If you see him running toward you, hes going to use Howl of Terror and kill your Tremor. Thunderstorm or Earthbind to gain some distance. Chuck a Lava Burst in his face and fake Spell Lock. Once Spell Lock is out of the way, burst hard, he will more than likely teleport behind something. Use this opportunity to heal. Basically you will burst between Spell Locks while trying to prevent Unstable Affliction and Haunt as much as possible, all while keeping Tremor up and healing yourself. Sounds easy huh? Challenge 10/10
Arms Warrior - Easy to beat if you're clever enough. The trick is to NOT Earthbind root them constantly and trigger Second Wind. They will open with Charge (SHOCKER), Frost Shock and Ghost Wolf away. They will now Intercept, Thunderstorm it and apply Flame Shock. Fake Lava Burst until they pop Spell Reflect, Wind Shear it and begin bursting. Rotate Frost/Flame Shock depending on if you're kiting or bursting. Hex early when you're at about 3/4 hp to force a trinket or heal up, that way if you on the ropes later in the duel you can get a full Hex before his trinkets back up and can heal to full. DO NOT ****ING TRY TO RUN FROM BLADESTORM, if they're already on you when they start it, you're gonna have to take it. Drop Stoneclaw and start spamming heals (watch when Bladestorm is over so you don't get interrupted). Once it is over you can root them at this point and heal to full. Repeat the above steps until victory. Challenge 4/10
Shadow Priest - The 3rd hardest class to beat. Your goal is to stop Vampiric Touch at all costs. Keep Cleansing Totem up, most people don't realize Devouring Plague is a disease, and dispelling it hurts the priest's damage a lot, also keep Tremor up, it's essential. Start Purging, after he puts up his instant cast DoTs, he will attempt to put up VT or CC you and attempt to put up VT. If he's ballsy enough to cast while you have Wind Shear up, watch for fakes and try to Wind Shear it. Drop Grounding after his instants are on you, if you're lucky you could eat his silence/disarm. If he gets you with either, drop Stoneclaw asap. Try to out range his fear with Earthbind, and interrupt VT with Thunderstorm. If he got VT on you, by this point you're probably 50%ish hp, los or Thunderstorm him away to heal. After the opener and once you're healed, apply Flame Shock and keep Purging his shield. If he dispels Flame Shock spam Lightning Bolt, but you need to pressure him into Dispersion and not let his instant heals top him off. Purge him during Dispersion and heal yourself and burst hard when its over. If you've made it this far keep Tremor and Cleansing up, Purge, and keep VT off you and the rest is common sense. Challenge 8/10
Marksmanship Hunter - Tough if they're exceptional, you will more than likely start out at a range. Make sure Cleansing is up (Serpent Sting is a poison) drop Stoneclaw, apply Frost Shock, Ghost Wolf and start running toward the Hunter. If he Scatter>Traps, trinket and close the gap. Once you're on him he can't shoot you, Flame Shock and begin Lava Burst. He will Disengage + Silence Shot, or he will Deterrence. Keep on him if he disengages, heal if he Deterrences at any point in the fight. Once Silence Shot is up you're golden, Earthbind, pop Elemental Mastery and burst as hard as possible. You can take a decent chunk of his hp before he can Deterrence. Use Thunderstorm/Fire Nova to kill snakes. Keep training him as if you were a melee so he can't shoot you and burst when you're on him, heal if he uses Deterrence. Challenge 7/10
Retribution Paladin/Protection Paladin - Probably the easiest class for us, both are beat in the same manner. Start off by Frost Shock and Purging, get all his buffs (this includes Hand of Freedom!) and keep kiting. If he gets medium distance to you drop Grounding, it will eat his Hammer of Justice/Repentence or at the worst Exorcism. Don't trinket HoJ unless he pops Wings, and Purge it immediately when he does. Thunderstorm him if he gets too close, keep him Purged and heal up when necessary and its not a hard fight at all. Challenge 3/10
Feral Druid - A tough fight, you must capitalize on the short amounts of time you can cast. Keep Cleansing up to remove Infected Wounds slow, and anticipate Cyclone and Ground it. It's a good idea to pop Elemental Mastery early, as soon as you have a decent gap you can cast in, so that the Feral will go defensive. Thunderstorm Pounce, bad Feral will waste Feral Charge to get back on you. Stoneclaw after the opener to eat some of his bleed damage, follow it up with Earthbind to root him. Flame Shock and Ghost Wolf away, try to get in a Lava Burst. After he shifts out of Earthbind, Frost Shock. The more GCD he's wasting shifting out of slows, the better. Kite around Earthbind as much as possible, create gaps and burst in those short periods of time. Watch when he goes bear form, as he can Feral Charge and interrupt your cast, fake cast this. Heal up when necessary, Purge his Barkskin, and Thunderstorm on CD to create gaps as much as possible. Challenge 7/10
Balance Druid - Who can blow who up first is an Ele/Balance duel. If they start in stealth, try to Fire Nova them out. They will Pounce>Cyclone and start HoTing themselves, trinket this Cyclone, drop totems and start bursting asap, the best way to beat a boomkin is to be very aggressive. Wind Shear Wrath, Ground Starfire as he most likely will not cast it without Wrath of Elune proc, and Grounding will eat this. Earthbind Treants, Thunderstorm when he Starfall and Ghost Wolf in the opposite direction, if there's enough room you can run from the entire Starfall. Heal up at this point as his DoTs have likely done a fair bit of damage, Purge his Barkskin/HoTs and keep playing aggressively. Challenge 5/10
Unholy Deathknight - The anti-caster, and a prominent population of them. Get used to and good at fighting these guys. Cleansing is so unbelievably important here, it can cleanse their diseases before they have a chance to get up Unholy Blight and make them waste additional runes to reapply them. They will ALWAYS open with Chains of Ice, run up to you and Plague Strike to get their diseases rolling. Smack them with a Frost Shock and Ghost Wolf away until Chains has worn out. If they Death Grip you this early, /lol and Thunderstorm. Apply Flame Shock and prepare a Lava Burst but BE READY TO FAKE IT. Dks will wait til its coming at them and pop Anti Magic Shield and get a **** ton of RP to blow you up with. Keep kiting with Frost Shock/Earthbind/Thunderstorm until this guy is outta the way, throw in some Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolts if he's being stubborn about popping AMS. During AMS, Thunderstorm can still knock him back, so use this to your advantage. Kite and heal until AMS dissipates, apply Flame Shock and start bursting HARD. If you feel a Grip coming, anticipate it with Grounding. This is one of those reflexive skills that comes with experience, it will be hard for a noobie to predict Grip, so don't get discouraged if they manage to grab you with it. They will typically Grip you if you gain a lot of distance and being casting something nasty. When Gargoyle is popped, without LoS you're going to be in a bad way. PRO TIP: You can put the Gargoyle on Focus and Focus Wind Shear it! NEXT LEVEL DUELING MANEUVERS. NEVER try to kill the Gargoyle, its (almost) never worth it, unless for some reason its at very low hp and a Lightning Bolt will kill it. If you are facing a skilled DK that uses Lichborne to heal via Death Coil, heal yourself. Attacking him will feed him more RP to heal with. Save Hex when you need to heal or when he pops Icebound Fortitude, since bursting with that up is futile. The better you kite, the harder it is for him to heal via Death Strike. Challenge 8/10
Frost Mage - Frost Mages are, by far, the best dueling class in World of Warcraft, right next to Rogues. They will always, always, always open with Polymorph. Start off by Purging until you get Ice Barrier, which may or may not happen, and can greatly influence the way the duel plays out. At this critical stage, 1 of 2 things will happen; 1) You will get Ice Barrier in the first 1-2 Purges, apply Flame Shock, and Lava Burst, using Grounding and Wind Shear (also Thunderstorm if you're close) to stop the first 2 Polys, putting you at an advantage or 2) You will get unlucky and only get trash buffs with Purge, and get Poly'd before you can dish out any damage, putting you at a disadvantage. After the Poly, out comes the Water Elemental and a nasty Shatter combo. After the opener, Purge Ice Barrier if you haven't yet, apply Flame Shock and start up a Lava Burst. Bad Mage will waste Counterspell here, use this opportunity to run away and heal. Drop Grounding AS SOON AS you get frozen, because a Deep Freeze is next. If Grounding is on CD, drop Stoneclaw, coupled with Astral Shift should mitigate most of the damage. If you manage to Ground Deep Freeze, congratulations, keep pushing the attack, faking nature spells to get CS out of the way. You will periodically have to stop attacking and Purge their Ice Barrier, if you can Hex them to get a free full dispel and some damage off. NEVER trinket Poly UNLESS: The Mage is very low hp and is Evocating/Eating and you can score a kill within seconds of trinketting the Poly. The general strategy is to keep Ice Barrier Purged, faking CS and bursting when you can. Using LoS to heal is also a great help. Challenge 9/10 for skilled Frost Mages, 3/10 for bad ones (since Mage has very high skillcap)
Duel guide to be continued...let me know what you want to see on this guide!
UrbanJuggernautGuest
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