Here we go again..

[heyaz]

ah, did not realize ele blast counted as fire. in that case I'll try that out. With unleash elements and an insta cast (although I have always been an elemental mastery kinda guy) that's gonna be some sick damage.

On another note, survivability, first tier I can't quite figure out. Astral shift isn't castable in cc and is pretty short. Nature's Guardian is nice being passive but it's really just one more hit from any class and you're dead. Stone bulwark is scaling nicely with gear and (I think) pvp power as well, but... another cooldown to manage, another earth totem to overwrite when you get feared. :/

From a solo perspective (I've been playing the main one a bit) it's not horrible. From a boxing perspective the problem is not even being able to get a cast off or get set up because the cc comes in so fast and comes with damage as well. It's like my worst fear from wotlk - shadowfury but now every class has a much worse variant of it that does crazy damage as well.

[zenga]

ah, did not realize ele blast counted as fire. in that case I'll try that out. With unleash elements and an insta cast (although I have always been an elemental mastery kinda guy) that's gonna be some sick damage./

I no longer use EM in pvp, it adds little to ascendance, and even less outside of ascendance. Ancestral swiftness provides you with an extra 5% haste buff (stacks with elemental oath) so you can reforge into mastery. with enough haste left for shorter bolts/heals. And every minute an instant hex, heal or elemental blast. Echo is too unreliable for me, just like dragonwrath was. It's hilarious when it procs however.

On another note, survivability, first tier I can't quite figure out. Astral shift isn't castable in cc and is pretty short. Nature's Guardian is nice being passive but it's really just one more hit from any class and you're dead. Stone bulwark is scaling nicely with gear and (I think) pvp power as well, but... another cooldown to manage, another earth totem to overwrite when you get feared. :/

Against caster setups I go with nature's guardian, which is basically a buffed battlemaster trinket on a 30s cd. Against melee I prefer astral shift for now, it often make them having to swap during their cds. For stone bulwark totem there is a neat trick if you are only interested for the initial shield (like stoneclaw totem used to work) in combination with totemic restoration. Just make a macro like

/run DestroyTotem(2);

Drop SBT, hit the macro that will kill your totem, and the cd resets to 30s.

Either way once warriors, bm hunters and mages get toned down a bit things will look a bit better / less hopeless for the stubborn ele shamam who still pvp's.