World of Warcraft: Elemental Shaman PvP Post 3.1

The Elemental Shaman in World of Warcraft. Long feared and respected by melee classes, but also dubbed an outcast by the pure casters. Just because you wear chain mail doesn't mean you have to melee though. While it's true you're probably never going to do the amount of damage that a good mage or warlock can unleash, Shaman have some great abilities that make up for their lack of raw damage with usability and convenience. Today, I'm going to take a look at the Elemental Talent Tree after patch 3.1, and see what it still has to offer Elemental Shaman. Let's begin!

Tier 1

I know what you're thinking as you look at the first tier of Shaman talents. They're both good! You're correct, both having the ability to make your shocks cost 5% less mana is great, especially because shocks are the bread and butter of Elemental shaman, but also having that extra damage is going to help. What is a re-speccing Elemental Shaman to do? Well, this is really going to depend on your play style and gear right now. Do you have a lot of extra mana? If so, you're not going to need that mana reduction. Do you find yourself constantly doing a lot of damage but have no longevity? Take the mana reduction! In the first Tier it really just comes down to preference.

Tier 2

Elemental Devastation is where you live. Even though you're an Elemental Shaman you're still going to have the melee every once in a while. This is great for the multitasking effect I spoke of earlier. When Melee classes get you close quarters, if you're spec'd Elemental, you're going to behave very much like a pure caster, though a bit less squishy. You're going to want Elemental Devastation just so you'll be able to hold your own if some melee class nails you to a wall. The 10% better chance to melee crit after having a spell crit is good anyways, even if you're not pinned down. You can rush pure casters, crit with Earth shock, then throw a melee crit in. Elemental Devastation is the key talent for Tier 2.

Tier 3

I know the other talents might seems tempting here, and if you have extra points go ahead and take them, however, Elemental Fury is your bread and butter here, as Elemental Devastation was in the second tier. Pumping five points into this makes your most often used spells do 100% more crit damage. This should be self-explanatory, since it has the ability to just pump out a massive amount of burst damage very quickly.

Tier 4

Eye of the Storm reduces your pushback suffered when casting the lightning family of spells. Get this talent. You're going to need it when hunters and rapidly firing arrows into your back while you're trying to finish somebody off. You're going to need this when a warrior is pouncing on your mid battle. You're going to need this when facing rogues as well. This is a must have, especially when fighting multiplayer epic PvP in World of Warcraft.

Tier 5

Elemental Reach might not seem like that great of a talent, but it definitely comes in handy. Trust me on this one, never underestimate the ability to just stand farther away from your opponent. If you go up against a mage who doesn't have some sort of range enchancing talent, you'll gain a serious advantage. Call of Thunder is nice too. This works in cojunction with Elemental Fury. Not only do you crit more, but you're also going to get that extra damage when you crit. Not a bad combo. Not bad at all.

Tier 6

Lightning Mastery is the greatest talent for this Tier. You're going to be starting all of your battles (when you can) with one of the spells in the lightning family. Being able to cast this spell faster means (in some cases) being able to cast 2 instead of one. Very nice indeed!

Tier 7

Elemental Mastery is going to give you an instant critical strike spell in a clutch. This spell comes in handy in a pinch and it'll often win you battles. It doesn't have a bad cooldown either. Storm, Earth and Fire is good for all of it's effects, but most notably for it's rooting ability. Paladins and Warriors wear plate, and you don't. If you root them, they're going to be at the mercy of your shocks, lightning spells, etc. Did somebody say helpless?

Tier 8

Booming Echoes is going to make Flame shock and Frost shock do 20% more damage right off the bat. That's great in itself. Lightning Overload gives you the chance to cast a second lightning bolt at the target whenever you cast one. With the talent explained above, when somebody is running at you and you cast 2 lightning bolts, you have the chance to cast 2 more free. If this happens, the battle is pretty much over. They might not know it yet, but it's over.

Final Talents

Totem of Wrath increases your spellpower by quite a bit, so it's nice to have around. As an added bonus, it doesn it for your party members as well, so if you're lucky enough to have an organized group in PvP, this is going to kill. Shamanism is one of the greatest talents of all time. Shaman are lucky because we get a lot of talents that just increase the crap out of our damage, and Shamanism is no exception. It fits right in with previous talents we've discussed thus far. Thunderstorm is going to give you some crowd control. Up until this point we're a little bit lacking but when Thunderstorm comes along, you'll be glad you picked it up.

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