World of Warcraft: Forever · class guide
Elemental Shaman
Ranged damage
Lightning Bolt and 
Flame Shock now, 
Lava Burst from 21 points. The weakest spec in the level-30 beta before its rework (now untested), with AoE through 
Chain Lightning and 
Fire Nova.
Elemental casts Lightning Bolt between Flame Shocks, adds Fire Nova around its Fire totem for packs, and from 32 Chain Lightning. Elemental Alacrity cuts half a second off every lightning cast, Elemental Fury (behind Lightning Overload) builds crits, and Lightning Overload repeats a bolt at half damage for free. Lava Burst, a 21-point talent with no prerequisite, hits 20% harder on your own Flame Shock, and Elemental Mastery is the 31-point talent. Before the rework it was weak: its damage at level 30 was quite weak because Lava Burst was out of reach and base spell damage was lowered. It keeps the full totem kit, the interrupt and the off-heals.
Strengths and weaknesses
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Lightning Bolt and Flame Shock give a simple ranged rotation | Single-target damage is weak at level 30 because Lava Burst is out of reach |
| Chain Lightning and Fire Nova handle packs | Lightning Overload does not apply to Lava Burst |
| Keeps the full totem kit, the interrupt and the off-heals | Stays mana-hungry, and downranking Lightning Bolt costs damage and procs |
| Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem let it kite melee enemies | Talent route is tangled: Lava Burst, Overload, Fury and Mastery chain on prerequisites |
Stat priority
- Spell damage
- Critical strike
- Hit
- Intellect
- MP5
- Spirit
- Stamina
Spell damage, then crit (Elemental Fury raises the crit bonus), hit, Intellect, MP5, Spirit, Stamina. At level 30: Nature damage and spell power first for Lightning Bolt, then Intellect, leather over cloth when the stats match, Stamina little and healing not at all. Hit and crit are one stat for spells and attacks in Forever. Healing gear adds a third of its bonus as spell damage.
Do this
- Kite dangerous melee with Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem: run in circles round the totem and keep shocking.
- Keep buff totems up in a group: Strength of Earth for your melee is worth more than one more Lightning Bolt.
- Spend Clearcasting (Elemental Focus) on Chain Lightning when the pack is safe to hit, or on Lava Burst.
- Lava Burst only counts your own Flame Shock, not another Shaman's.
Watch out for
- Downranking Lightning Bolt to save mana costs damage and Lightning Overload procs: low ranks get less from spell power and proc talents less often.
- Lava Burst has no prerequisite, Lightning Overload needs Elemental Alacrity, Elemental Fury needs Lightning Overload and Elemental Mastery needs Lava Burst: plan the route. Call of Thunder was removed.
- Lightning Overload doesn't apply to Lava Burst.
- Elemental Mastery is back in Forever as the 31-point talent: 0.5 s off Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst and no Chain Lightning cooldown for 15 s, on a 3-minute cooldown.