Chain Lightning worth it?

[Jayne]

Hey there!

I have barely begun instancing with my new PvE team (Warrior, 3x Shaman and Resto Druid), and let me first say what a blast it is to clear instances! Can't wait for them heroics!
Anyway, on to the question at hand... After I cleared Halls of Lightning I checked my Recount addon to see some details about the abilities used by my shaman DPSers. Lightning Bolt was apperently shot 225 times and did 603963, and Chain Lightning was shot 220 times for 498755. Which I guess means that Chain Lightning did less damage while costing more mana for my little dudes. And since my team is a bit short on equipment (I do have some mana issues sometimes), would it be alright to skip Chain Lightning from the /click macro?

I use the /click macro posted on the wiki (which is great! I think it has upped my DPS a lot!):

/assist focus
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","0")
/cast elemental mastery
/click MultiBarRightButton1
/click MultiBarRightButton2
/click MultiBarRightButton3
/click MultiBarRightButton4
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","1")

/castsequence reset=combat flame shock,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
/castsequence reset=combat lava burst,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

/castsequence reset=combat chain lightning,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

/cast lightning bolt


(Also, being a total noob at macros, would the above ones work if I just remove chain lightning from it? Or will I have to change the ",,,,,,,"s on the others?

Cheers for reading!
Jayne

[Jubber]

Lightning bolt spam has shown better results. Only thing you really need chain lighting on is trash. Just make 2 Big Button Macros. The trash macro would be your current macro

/assist focus
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","0")
/cast elemental mastery
/click MultiBarRightButton1
/click MultiBarRightButton2
/click MultiBarRightButton3
/click MultiBarRightButton4
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","1")

Your boss macro would be
/assist focus
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","0")
/cast elemental mastery
/click MultiBarRightButton1
/click MultiBarRightButton2
/click MultiBarRightButton4
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX","1")

[Zal]

Lightning bolt spam has shown better results. Only thing you really need chain lighting on is trash.
this is pretty much it.

[Jayne]

Wow, swift reply! Thanks a lot! Will use this :)

Cheers again!

[Whowantstoknow]

Incorrect.

Everything I say will depend on your gear level but for most of us CL will be a dps boost even against single targets - this has been true since the shamanism change in 3.2.2 . The only time you should drop CL from your rotation is either when you do not have the mana to sustain it (should not be an issue if you only CL after a CC proc) or if you BL.

[BobGnarly]

For most of us, it's marginal either way. I'd say it's down to personal preference, so do what you feel most comfortable. I only CL if there are 3+ mobs (for simplicity sake) and I've managed just fine.

[Fursphere]

I only pull CL out for CC fights.

Most of the instances / raids is trash mobs - and more than one. So AoE of any kind is going to speed things up. I just leave it in so I don't forget.

[Whowantstoknow]

For most of us, it's marginal either way. I'd say it's down to personal preference, so do what you feel most comfortable. I only CL if there are 3+ mobs (for simplicity sake) and I've managed just fine.

The difference is usually quite big actually - just going by Jayne's numbers

LB - 603963/225 = 2684.28 damage per cast
CL - 498755/220 = 2267.09 damage per cast

Now Im going to assume that Jayne does not have much haste yet so assuming LB has a cast time of 2.0s and CL 1.5s

LB - 1342.14dps
CL - 1511.39dps

obviously you are going to prioritise CL as it is over 12% more dps than LB even on single targets

[Jubber]

We'd need a little more info than just total numbers here across the entire instance as AOE can crazy dps numbers. He/She would be better off testing their group on a test dummy and comparing themselves if it is worth it or not to drop.

[Fursphere]

You'd have to spec OUT of lightning overload as well. Procs will scew your numbers.

[Jubber]

As will totems and clearcasting and everything else in the tree. lol.. I was just looking for more singl target info. From a min/max point of view also dependant on gear weaving in a CL into your rotation is ideal because it allows a tighter rotation which gives you more LvB casts giving you even more dps.

I will take back my earlier statement as that is false. From my point of view, I was able to obtain similiar sometimes better dps just LB spamming bosses then throwing in CL every cooldown which is why i dropped CL out of the rotation and only use it on trash. That and not having to worry about mana was enough for me to my conclusion that LB spamming was better off.

If Jayne is worrying about gear and mana then LB spam is just fine. It's up to you to decide if it's worth it to keep CL in or not. Test it out for yourself on a dummy. That will give you the best outcome to make your decision.

[Whowantstoknow]

Im guessing you are using Bloodlust on bosses? If so absolutely drop CL as once you drop below 1s cast on CL the dps on LB overtakes the dps on CL very quickly.

The numbers have been run by various sources and everyone I have seen shows CL as a dps boost on single target (including LO procs) I added the caveat of depending on your gear as I honestly do not know if there is a gear level that CL would not be a dps boost over LB but if there were it would be in much better gear than Jayne has.

[Ualaa]

My dps has significantly gone up, moving towards the click castsequence.
Which prioritizes FS - LvB - CL - LB.

For me, Chain Lightning is a dps boost.
And most of my spacegirls aren't terribly well geared.
The team is happy to run dailies, or when I'm in the mood heroics.
Pretty much a mix of AH 25-man BoE's and quest stuff, the odd heroic/badge piece.

Keep the same talents you have, and test your rotation several times.
Give yourself Full mana to Out of mana runs, say 5 or 10 of each.
Test with CL in and out, and see what works for you.
The target dummies are good, because they show that CL can arc.

[BobGnarly]

The difference is usually quite big actually - just going by Jayne's numbers

LB - 603963/225 = 2684.28 damage per cast
CL - 498755/220 = 2267.09 damage per cast

Now Im going to assume that Jayne does not have much haste yet so assuming LB has a cast time of 2.0s and CL 1.5s

LB - 1342.14dps
CL - 1511.39dps

obviously you are going to prioritise CL as it is over 12% more dps than LB even on single targets

Again, each person needs to evaluate for themselves. When I did the comparisons, I found that it wasn't anywhere near 12% difference (in part because i'm using Totem of the Elemental Plane), was using more mana, and wasn't worth the complexity of the rotation (I don't use sequencing macros). It was a (minor) dps boost, just not enough to justify these things to me.

I understand what you're saying, and if he wanted absolute max DPS, he would need to add CL into the rotation. That isn't what the OP asked. He asked if he could drop it because he is working on gear and having some mana problems. The answer is, yes, and you aren't going to be gimped because of it.