If someone pro elemental could do a pvp guide it would be great because thats what i would need right now xD
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If someone pro elemental could do a pvp guide it would be great because thats what i would need right now xD
I'm not "pro" elemental by any definition of the word but I can tell you enough to get you started.
Use 4/5 ele gear (Gladiator's Mail) and resto hands (Gladiator's Ringmail Gauntlets). Get spell pen cloak and then maximize your haste with your offsets, boots necklace etc., as well as reforging.
Offstat priority is 4% spell hit > haste > mastery > crit. Gem for intellect. With the talent Elemental Precision your spirit will count for hit so you can reforge to that instead to get your hit cap.
Talent build is flexible. You can change it around to suit your preferences.
This is one possibility, showing the most commonly used glyphs as well. Some people prefer a few points (1/3 or 2/3) in Feedback talent so they take points out of Elemental Precision and Elemental Warding for it instead. It's really your choice. NEVER take Earthquake, the bottom talent. It has a disgusting mana cost, pitiful damage, a very low chance to knockdown, and a lengthy cast time. It's garbage in pvp. You can optionally switch out Glyph of Elemental Mastery for Glyph of Hex, they're both good, it's your choice.
When you're fighting, put Flame Shock on a guy, then hit him with Lava Burst whenever it's off cooldown or when its cooldown resets due to Lava Surge talent procs. When Lava Burst is on cooldown, or if it's locked out because you got interrupted, then you kite and throw lightning bolts at them while moving thanks to Glyph of Unleashed Lightning. Earth shock when your Lightning Shield reaches 9 stacks (made possible by the ele 4set bonus) for some extra burst. Heal yourself with Healing Surge when you have to. Pop Elemental Mastery for burst. That's the basic gist of it.
It's all easier said than done, though. Elemental is a pretty difficult class to play in cata pvp, Blizzard made them very fragile. While they do a lot of burst damage, they have mana troubles in longer fights and limited defensive cooldowns, such that they're very easy to kill compared to other casters. Most people know this, too, so when they see you in a BG or arena they will always jump on you right away. If you ever play arenas as ele, you absolutely need a partner with a lot of CC, like mage, and your partner has to be really good at keeping them off of you.
In MoP though elemental shamans got huge buffs, so if you want to have fun facerolling as ele I'd recommend you play MoP, not cata.
The two main weaknesses of elemental in cataclysm are that they're one of the few classes who don't have an immunity or heavy damage reduction ability, and their mana regeneration is kinda weak, to the point where they can easily become mana burn targets in arena.
On the other side, they're a class who can produce some of the most brutal instantaneous burst, and they've got the most powerful cleave spell in the game (chain lightning). Sitting still and spamming chain lightning over and over on 3+ targets literally is the best AoE dps you can produce.
Carryflags, I have a question in regard to the talent spec you posted. I noticed you skipped Feedback, and mentioned that some people like to spend a few points in it. I'm curious why you choose to not take it?
Appreciate the write up as well. I have an elemental shaman I enjoy playing, and I like to hear how other players approach playing the class.
Thanks!