Elemental shaman PvE guide (3.2 updated)

[Fuzzyboy]

Shaman gear by slot (PvE)

In general, it's important to keep in mind that unless you're raiding, you don't really need much +hit and the +hit you do need, you'll get whether you like it or not (tier8 pieces for instance). Heroic bosses are considered lvl 82, which means that with +hit talents and draenei bonus, you need a grand total of 53 hit to cap +hit. You'll get 120 hit from chest and helm alone, so you may actually consider not spending points on some of the +hit talents in the elemental tree, although keep in mind that these are also the threat reducing talents (Elemental Precision), so only do that if your tank has a healthy threat lead at all times.

Most important stat is spellpower, after that haste rating, after that crit rating and finally mana per 5 / int. You don't need to gear for int or mp5 though, once you're decently geared, neither int nor mana regen will be an issue.

I have not included triumph gear, but I will once 3.3 hits. The badges you get for the daily heroic can be spent either on a www.wowhead.com/?item=Totem of Electrifying Wind (I would just go with totem of hex though) and save up for tiered shoulders / gloves for the very nice 2-set bonus (9 sec increased duration on flame shock - which means no recasting of flame shock for most encounters).

Back: www.wowhead.com/?item=Kurisu's Indecision / www.wowhead.com/?item=Deathchill Cloak

Chest: www.wowhead.com/?item=Conqueror's Worldbreaker Hauberk

Head: www.wowhead.com/?item=Conqueror's Worldbreaker Helm

Feet: www.wowhead.com/?item=Lightning Grounded Boots (expensive) / www.wowhead.com/?item=Boots of the Crackling Flame / www.wowhead.com/?item=Barkhide Treads

Ring: www.wowhead.com/?item=Sinner's Confession / www.wowhead.com/?item=Titanium Spellshock Ring

Hands: www.wowhead.com/?item=Gloves of Augury / www.wowhead.com/?item=Gloves of Dismal Fortune

Legs: www.wowhead.com/?item=Leggings of the Weary Mystic / www.wowhead.com/?item=Leggings of the Snowy Bramble

Main hand: www.wowhead.com/?item=Mariel's Sorrow / www.wowhead.com/?item=Spectral Kris

Neck: www.wowhead.com/?item=Symbol of Redemption / www.wowhead.com/?item=Frozen Tear of Elune

www.wowhead.com/?item=Boots of the Crackling Flamewww.wowhead.com/?item=Barkhide TreadsShield: www.wowhead.com/?item=Protective Barricade of the Light

Shoulder: www.wowhead.com/?item=Mantle of the Eternal Sentinel / www.wowhead.com/?item=Pauldrons of the Deafening Gale / www.wowhead.com/?item=Valorous Earthshatter Shoulderpads

Trinket: www.wowhead.com/?item=Abyssal Rune / www.wowhead.com/?item=Darkmoon Card: Illusion / www.wowhead.com/?item=Sundial of the Exiled

Waist: www.wowhead.com/?item=Windchill Binding / www.wowhead.com/?item=Girdle of the Dauntless Conqueror

Totem: www.wowhead.com/?item=Totem of Hex

Shield: www.wowhead.com/?item=Protective Barricade of the Light

Shaman glyphs (PvE)

EJ suggests that ToW glyph is better than Lava until a certain amount of spellpower is achieved. Keep in mind though, that only the shaman who casts the ToW totem gets the buff, which means you either have to have all shaman use ToW, or they all have to cast two fire totems (one for the buff, a second for the "real" totem). Glyph of Lava is more bursty, which is nice for PvP.

I'd suggest going with Glyph of Lava and once you get the tier8 2-set bonus (for helm + chest), you can omit the glyph of flame shock and replace with Glyph of Totem of Wrath.

The minor glyphs are mostly a matter of preference and convenience. Since mana isn't really an issue for me, I don't bother with Glyph of Water Shield, but if you find yourself a bit pressed on the mana bar, replace it with one of the component savers (= bag space savers).

Major

1. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Flame Shock
2. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Lava / www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Totem of Wrath
3. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Lightning Bolt

Minor

1. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Renewed Life
2. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Water Breathing
3. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Water Walking

or

4. www.wowhead.com/?item=Glyph of Water Shield

Shaman PvE talents

Not a lot to say about talents - it's pretty cookie cutter:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hEh0qcdItGfzAo0xxco

Alternately you can go something like this:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hEh0qzdItGfzAZ0xxco

And spend the remained on totem improvements, spread out on each shaman (ie. one gets enhancing totems, another guardian totems), but IMO it's not really worth it since the impact of your totems on the tank is fairly minor in heroics.

Shaman gems

Meta: For your meta gem you want www.wowhead.com/?item=Chaotic Skyflare Diamond for the incesased critical damage.

Red slots: www.wowhead.com/?item=Runed Cardinal Ruby (+23 SP)

Yellow slots: www.wowhead.com/?item=Reckless Ametrine (+12 SP, +10 haste rating)

Blue slots: www.wowhead.com/?item=Glowing Dreadstone (+12 SP, +15 sta)

You need two blue gems for your meta gem requirement, but if you're pressed on socket bonuses you can use a www.wowhead.com/?item=Nightmare Tear although the T8 pieces should give you the blue slots you need and besides, most socket bonuses suck.

Enchants

Fairly straight forward. You pretty much want to prioritize spell power and haste. I haven't included tradeskill-specific stuff like JC gems, LW fur lining, BS sockets etc.

Back: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed

Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats

Feet: Enchant Boots - Icewalker / Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality

Hands: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower

Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower

Shield: Enchant Shield - Greater Intellect

Wrist: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower

Shoulder: www.wowhead.com/?item=Greater Inscription of the Storm / www.wowhead.com/?item=Lesser Inscription of the Storm

Head: www.wowhead.com/?item=Arcanum of Burning Mysteries

Legs: www.wowhead.com/?item=Sapphire Spellthread

Waist: www.wowhead.com/?item=Eternal Belt Buckle (not really an enchant, but hey...)

Professions

Your main priorities is having an enchanter on your team for enchants and disenchanting. You want to get that ASAP. Other than that, the following professions yield bonuses significant to the shaman team:

- Leather working: Fur Lining - Spell Power (+46 spell power compared to bracer enchant)
- Inscription: Master's Inscription of the Storm (+46 spell power compared to www.wowhead.com/?item=Greater Inscription of the Storm )
- Jewelcrafting: www.wowhead.com/?item=Runed Dragon's Eye x 3 (+48 spell power compared to www.wowhead.com/?item=Runed Cardinal Ruby x 3)
- Blacksmithing: 2 extra sockets (+46 spell power with www.wowhead.com/?item=Runed Cardinal Ruby x 2)
- Enchanting: 2 x Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower (+46 spell power)
- Alchemy: Mixology (+46 spell power when using flask of the frost wyrm, +47 with flask of the north)

Herbalism, Skinning and Tailoring all yield less usefull benefits than the above.

Engineering deserves special mention. If you have the cash to level this, it's great. It has a lot of nifty bonuses, not to mention rockets that provide burst, wormholes, mail boxes, repair bots etc. I'd recommend having at least one engineer on your team, if you can afford it, get 5 :-)

As for the first mentioned professions, they all pretty much provide the same bonus, so the secondary bonuses should decide what you choose:

- Leather working: Crafting (can create mail items for shammies), although these are easily obtained elsewhere.
- Inscription: Cheap to level plus no faction grind for Sons of Hodir shoulders.
- Jewelcrafting: Can make gems for the rest of the team and dragon's eyes for selling with daily quest (+100g per char per day)
- Blacksmithing: Slots are colorless so you can get you mandatory blue gems in without losing socket bonus
- Enchanting: Enables disenchanting and enchanting of group members item, but seconday benefits doesn't stack
- Alchemy: Transmutation for extra gold, cheap to level
- Mining: Profession bonus is extra health, corresponding to the bonus of other professions. This isn't useful for the shaman, but it's nice for the tank, so it's a definite option. Also, there's a melt option for some extra gold on a daily basis.

I'd recommend going with inscription for the lazy factor (cheap, no faction grind) and engineering if you can afford it, otherwise I'd spread leather working, jewelcrafting, enchanting and alchemy across my chars. Jewelcrafting is a nice secondary option also, because of the daily quest, but remember to have an enchanter on the team always.