Elemental shaman PvE guide (3.2 updated)

[Fuzzyboy]

I don't like maxdps, because they take a loong time to update after new talents, items etc. For instance, they haven't updated arcane mages for WotLK yet :-)

As for pawn, I don't really know it - I'm sure it's a good add-on, but my guide is aimed at level 80 and pseudo-BiS for boxers :-)

[Bollwerk]

Totem of Electrifying Wind >>>>>>> Totem of Hex

I strongly advise getting the Totem of EW before any T9 pieces.

[Fuzzyboy]

Totem of Electrifying Wind >>>>>>> Totem of Hex

I strongly advise getting the Totem of EW before any T9 pieces.

Obviously it's better - no one is debating that.

[item=48315]Nobundo's Shoulderpads of Conquest[/item] >>>>>>>>>> [item=40439]Mantle of the Eternal Sentinel[/item] - also, T9 2-piece bonus is very very good for boxers. It may be a matter of preference, but it's not a matter set in stone :-)

[Whowantstoknow]

Not a bad guide but It probably not a good idea to do a pseudo bis as it depends.

For example bis right now is probably 4pc t9 and merlin chest but if you do not have time to get 4pc t9 before 3.3 then giving up 2pc t8 is probably a dps loss (depending on glyphs)

I haven't seen the new emblem gear yet but my current plans for 3.3 are 4pc t10 and crafted legs.

Which brings me to cloth crafted gear is usually better itemised. Currently I am wearing cloth chest, bracers, belt, boots. Grab the haste version if the cloth pieces and try to get crit or hit (or both) as secondary stats

[Fuzzyboy]

Not a bad guide but It probably not a good idea to do a pseudo bis as it depends.

For example bis right now is probably 4pc t9 and merlin chest but if you do not have time to get 4pc t9 before 3.3 then giving up 2pc t8 is probably a dps loss (depending on glyphs)

I haven't seen the new emblem gear yet but my current plans for 3.3 are 4pc t10 and crafted legs.

Which brings me to cloth crafted gear is usually better itemised. Currently I am wearing cloth chest, bracers, belt, boots. Grab the haste version if the cloth pieces and try to get crit or hit (or both) as secondary stats

Yeah, agreed. Also, once your gear is at a certain level, it's pretty much overkill for anything but raids, since no 5-man instances require that level of gear anyway. Except for HToC, pretty much all 5-man instances can be completed with blue gear, although achievements is another matter of course :-)

[yaki]

I know the aesthetics are off, but wouldn't [item=38322]Iron-bound Tome[/item] be an improvement over [item=40700]Protective Barricade of the Light[/item]?

[Fuzzyboy]

I know the aesthetics are off, but wouldn't www.wowhead.com/?item=Iron-bound Tome be an improvement over www.wowhead.com/?item=Protective Barricade of the Light?

It's probably near a tie - since you can't enchant off-hand items, you missing out on like 60 int

[yaki]

65 after the enchant and 5/5 AK. But this comes down to the "staff vs. 1H+OH" argument again - spell power vs. stats. For DPS, power is generally king if you have enough not to go OOM or drop dead in a mild breeze. For healing, the int and mp/5 would be more tempting.

15 spell power isn't tons, so you're not exactly going to be hurting with the shield in either case.

I've been making use of PVP gear (Furious offset, Wintergrasp or Deadly depending on which has more SP) as an easy way to get moderately high ilevel epics. This will generally be -hit +resil over other options...but you don't need that much hit anyway if you're not gearing up for raids, and it is still present on a number of pieces. Also, the extra survivability helps with boxing since it gives you some extra breathing room if your attention was elsewhere.

[BobGnarly]

65 after the enchant and 5/5 AK. But this comes down to the "staff vs. 1H+OH" argument again - spell power vs. stats. For DPS, power is generally king if you have enough not to go OOM or drop dead in a mild breeze. For healing, the int and mp/5 would be more tempting.

15 spell power isn't tons, so you're not exactly going to be hurting with the shield in either case.

This is one of those cases where the intangibles add up, imo. Strictly speaking, you're right, it's an upgrade. But gaining int, mp5, and ton of armor is worth it to drop 15sp, hands down.

Nice writeup, fuzzy. A few things I would maybe disagree with, but they're all so minor that they aren't worth mentioning.

[Whowantstoknow]

This is one of those cases where the intangibles add up, imo. Strictly speaking, you're right, it's an upgrade. But gaining int, mp5, and ton of armor is worth it to drop 15sp, hands down.

Nice writeup, fuzzy. A few things I would maybe disagree with, but they're all so minor that they aren't worth mentioning.

In terms of pure dps int is a very poor stat - unless you are using CL on cooldown and the fight lasts longer than ~3 mins you should have no mana problems as an Ele sham - this means even with losing the int enchant the shield is a poor way to go - mind you the tome is not great either.

At my gear level I have theorycrafted that the highest dps off hand from non pvp or raid sources is actually a blue

www.wowhead.com/?item=Temple Crystal Fragment

the relative value of haste does vary more than other stats though so what is best for me is not necessarily best for someone else