A different approach to initial and continuous burst - Elmental Shaman

[Altsoba]

This is from ElitistJerks, a 2.4k rated elemental shaman (non boxing):

"This is a topic of contention among me and many elemental shamans on my BG. Fortunately, you are already reasonable enough to understand to use EM LB, while most shamans see fit to use LvB or CL. Those are both stupid for their own reasons (however, EM LvBs and CLs do have their place, but only in niche occasions). My recommended burst order is as follows:
FS (obviously, but refresh for Relentless totem effect), LvB, CL, EM LB, Pyro Rockets, Frost Shock, and possibly a Thunderstorm.

The idea is this: stagger damage so as much of it hits in as small of a timeframe as possible. With 3.4k SP, this will nearly always kill somebody with 1k resilience at 18k health (assuming they are fully purged). To squishier targets, with my hunter providing additional DPS (most importantly, the MS and kill shot are crucial), we can often lust after fully purging them and drop them in two globals.
Anyway, LvB is a projectile. So, you have time after casting that to cast the CL. This means that the CL and LvB hit at once. Next, you EM the lightning bolt (saving more casttime than EMing either other spell), which is off GCD, Pyro rockets, also off GCD, and Frost Shock. The FS hits before those two, bridging the gap between the LvB/CL and the LB/rockets. This means that, while you cast for about 3s and used 3 GCDs, you're putting tons of damage that all hits in about 2.8 seconds on average (depending on distance, really) - under 2 GCDs. People tend to be unable to react to this, and unless they predicted and precast defensive cooldowns, they are often in peril of death from this burst.
(The thunderstorm at the end is often used if they start to get hit by it and begin LOSing. Once you cast your two spells, the rest are instant, so you should spend that entire period running into close range of them. If they don't die and try to run, this puts you in position to TS them and/or earthbind root them for your partner/you to kill.)"

What are your opinions on this? I feel something is very right here... even for multiboxing.

[Ualaa]

Burst is good, and damage in a smaller window means less reaction time.

The only thing I don't like is Flame Shock announces your target somewhat.

But an actual casting time, kind of suggests you are not attempting to burst now.
Which means they will likely be anticipating you to be bursting soon.
And then it all hits in a very small window.
And with more then one shaman doing the same, its even more deadly.

The example is 3.4k SP dealing 18k damage to a 1k resilience target, in 2.8 seconds.

[Mokoi]

This is a great idea, and I have been practicing landing a FS > (target switch) > LB > LB > (switch to FS target) LvB > EM LB > CL > FS and even though I am terrible at it still, I find some healers dumb enough to preheal huge heals on the FS target while you are softening up the secondary target (usually a healer to make them panic) and then switching to the main target for the burst.

Now, the tradeoff, is that its likely your FS or two may have been purged, but I feel that when they do that, they might forget about that target, and be unprepared for the dmg incoming from the LvB > instant LB > CL > Shock which, all land AFTER the lava burst.

I guess even with no flame shocks on, the lava bursts will dispel any dmg mitigating effects like shields, AMS or most things which absorb huge amounts of dmg, leaving the LB / CL and shock to hit all at about the same time, doing a huge amount of dmg on a largly unprotected target. a good purge is also very handy before the initial FS, or even right after, to dispel any bubbles that may be on it, and the best part, is that the healers will be very busy healing themselves that the dmg target usually doesn't have time to pop their own defensive tools.

I have found that this is actually most effective with a paladin target, and one windshock/frostshock castsequence while they are healing their partner silences them and prevents the bubble if they are fast enough.

Now, this all sounds good on paper, and I haven't had time to really try it out a whole lot, only on teams I would have probably killed with the FS> instant LvB anyway.

thoughts?

[asonimie]

This is how I have always approached kill shots in multiboxed 5v5. LB CL FrostShock is one of my most used combos, and reason? all 3 spells land on the target at the same time. It is very crucial for a non-MS class, but i wouldn't say its a "different" approach.

[Altsoba]

This is how I have always approached kill shots in multiboxed 5v5. LB CL FrostShock is one of my most used combos, and reason? all 3 spells land on the target at the same time. It is very crucial for a non-MS class, but i wouldn't say its a "different" approach.

Well for me it was and it is also new regarding what I usually see in posts here (unless I misread/interpreted it). I've always seen that rotation as a rotation spammer but with the logic presented here it's almost like FS+LvB (with all due cds oc )are the spam and this is the killing sequence.

[asonimie]

Well for me it was and it is also new regarding what I usually see in posts here (unless I misread/interpreted it). I've always seen that rotation as a rotation spammer but with the logic presented here it's almost like FS+LvB (with all due cds oc )are the spam and this is the killing sequence.

With a single shaman ya, but as boxers I think the big kill shots are definitely LvB, and LB CL FrS. Single shamans can't get away with blowing their wad earlier like we can.

[Clovis]

This is what I do - its especially effective in BGs where you can play the turret.

I have my CL on a /castrandom macro with frost shock immediately following it so the key spam is simply 2 (lightning bolt) and 1 (chain / FS)

This is how I have always approached kill shots in multiboxed 5v5. LB CL FrostShock is one of my most used combos, and reason? all 3 spells land on the target at the same time. It is very crucial for a non-MS class, but i wouldn't say its a "different" approach.

[Kromtor]

did they fix castrandom or does it still get stuck on spells? if it's not fixed no one should be using it.

[drevil]

did they fix castrandom or does it still get stuck on spells? if it's not fixed no one should be using it.

Since 3.2, /castrandom selects one spell from the list on first use and tries to cast it until it is successfully cast. It cannot be used anymore to create "use first ready spell" macros.

[drevil]

btw.
The FS DoT only has to be active upon completion of casting LB. If the DoT wears off while the LB projectile is traveling, it will still crit.

but has anyone accurate data if there are multiple FS on a target and your gets dispelled while casting LB?