Ele sham mana issues (pvp)

I've fallen in love with ele shams as a caster class in pvp. They're just a lot of fun for me to play--great toolbox with various totems and Frost Shock, huge guaranteed crits with lava burst, one of the best AoE damage spells in the form of Chain Lightning, healer offspec, yaddy yadda.

But their mana issues as a class simply break my heart. 30 seconds of combat and I'm nearly oom, and my only options are piddly Thunderstorm or try to leave combat and drink.

I've read enough to know that this is intrinsically a problem with the class; our spells cost a lot of mana and we lack any form of consistent regeneration like lock's Life Tap or spriest's SW:D. I understand, therefore, that no matter what I do, I'll always be dealing with mana issuse to some extent. That said, for you pr0 pvp ele shams out there, what techniques, if any, are there for staying in the fight longer?

If it matters, I'm still mostly in vicious/ruthless gear (playing on Warsong), which means my mana pool will get larger as I earn Cataclysmic gear. I'm not sure whether or not this will contribute much toward my cause.

As much as I adore ele sham, if I can't figure out a way to manage their mana pool, I might just have to settle for playing a different caster class like spriest (my most familiar class from retail), because the way things are right now, my frequent oomness is just too crippling in those decisive brawls.

We'll have to know more about the current way you are playing Ele sham. Yes we have mana issues in long pvp matches, but if you are oom after a mere 30 seconds I suspect you are doing (or not doing) one of the things beneath.

How often do you spam Chain Lightning?
How often do you use Thunderstorm?
Do you run healer/dps or a double dps comp?
Do you use Water Shield outside of bursting opportunities (if ever)?
Do you spam purge?


Explanation:
ÔÇó Chain lightning is rarely used in 2s. You might get faster lightning shield stacks but it's not worth the insane amount of mana. We are feared for our single target burst.
ÔÇó While thunderstorm is a very tactical spell the mana regen shouldn't be disregarded. It has a relatively short cd so make good use of it, both tactically and as a mana regen tool.
ÔÇó Ele shaman works best in conjunction with another dps especially considering your low gear. Double dps matches are too short for you to have mana issues.
ÔÇó All we need is 1 small cc chain to score a kill, this means outside of those bursting opportunities you should play quite defensive (depending on your comp and the comp you are facing). Standing there like a pve turret is gonna do just that: wasting mana.
ÔÇó The wotlk days of spamming purge without worrying too much are over. The stuff you purge has to be worth the mana cost.

Do you have Rolling Thunder or Glyph of Chain Lightning? When I fight against 3 or more players, I generate more mana than I waste.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cytolysis

We'll have to know more about the current way you are playing Ele sham. Yes we have mana issues in long pvp matches, but if you are oom after a mere 30 seconds I suspect you are doing (or not doing) one of the things beneath.

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Ah, I apologize. I should've stated in the OP that I play ele sham exclusively in battlegrounds (in arena I switch to resto). But to answer your questions in order:

1. I spam chain lightning anytime there's 3+ targets, which is most of the time.
2. I reserve Thunderstorm for use as a defensive CD, i.e. rogue shadowsteps+kidneyshots+shadow dances, counter with Thunderstorm. Maybe I should start using it more often.
3. Well, since I'm in BGs, I guess both. :p
4. I never use water shield as ele! I hadn't thought of that (it somehow got registered in my mind as one of those "healer abilities" that other specs shouldn't touch).
5. Yes, on mages and priests, but you're right, I should probably be more judicious in its use.

I do have Rolling Thunder 2/2. I've been using Glyph of Hex over Glyph of Chain Lightning (the other two being Stoneclaw and Thunderstorm).

Here's some changes I'll be trying out over the next couple of days:
- Swap Glyph of Hex for Glyph of Chain Lightning (for moar Rolling Thunder).
- Reforge all haste to mastery (for moar free lightning = moar Rolling Thunder).
- Spark of Life 3/3 down to 2/3; Elemental Warding 1/3 down to 0/3; Convection 2/2 up from 0/2.
- Use water shield more frequently.
- Use Thunderstorm more frequently.
- Use Purge more judiciously.

Let's see how my mana holds out now.

Ah I was convinced this was an arena question.

BG-wise I would just go for a pure damage spec. If you go for the objectives rather than playing the bg like a Team Deathmatch you are doomed to die eventually making the mana issue irrelevant.

I can't say I really agree with the CL glyph. How many times will 5 people be stacked together enough to get some profit out of it? I don't see it happening that often.

Are you using Earthquake?

That's my problem, though--when the fights on the objectives are prolonged, I run out of mana, and then I promptly die because I can no longer afford to drop totems or heal. Today in BGs I've been faring a little better. Still iffy on the CL glyph too for the exact reason you stated, but I'm giving it a shot--sometimes you really do get a pile of 5+ people on the tighter objectives like BS, DR, and around the EFC in any flag map, particularly when you add huntard pets, mage pets, spirit wolves, etc.

No earthquake. I used it for like a day, then I concluded it's pretty much garbage, even in BGs.

You went haste, I think it's your main problem. I believe that mastery procs give you Rolling Thunder too. I have around 48% with trinket proc.