Quote Originally Posted by 'Vyndree',index.php?page=Thread&postID=82919#post8 2919
The closest comparison to elemental shaman is mages. The only other caster DPS is warlock or priest, which means DoT classes.

Priest is to warlock what ele shammy is to mage.

I still disagree on chain lightning being > lightning bolt -- chain lightning has a lower +spelldamage coefficient and scales worse than lightning bolt.
Generally accepted rotations
  • Lightning Bolt Spam
    Lightning bolt spam is the most mana efficient rotation, but lower in terms of damage output. Best used in mana sensitive situations. Requires less spell crit, as it has lower mana use.
  • 3 Lightning Bolt/1 Chain Lightning
    The 3/1 rotation is three Lightning Bolts and one Chain Lightning. This is the most practical of the high (non-hasted) DPS rotations. It uses three bolt casts while waiting for the 6 second chain cooldown to finish. Can also be used for short fights/trash pulls where it is possible to drink often.
  • 4 Lightning Bolt/1 Chain Lightning
    4/1 is the hasted Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning rotation, as once your bolt cast time drops bellow 2 seconds an additional bolt cast is used to allow Chain Lightning to finish its cooldown.

First, chain lightning > lightning bolt issue
Chain Lightning has a higher damage/cast ratio. And the 3/1 rotation provides much higher dps because you can cast more spells than a shorter amount of time, and there are usually more than 1 mob per pull increasing the viability of chain lightning even furthur. Not to mention spell damage is NOT a primary stat of ele shamans, crit/haste is. However, it uses more mana on a per damage basis, so may not be used when mana is an issue, either at low gear levels, buff availability, or encounter mechanics. Which is why i recommended him the lightning bolt spam "rotation" if he is having these problems pre-water shield.

As far as comparing other classes to a shaman, idk there are minor aspects of the mage/warlock classes that could compare to shamans. Neither classes have as much mana concerns, neither class relies on critting for mana effeciency - exluding fire mages. Shamans have no cc, no agro wipe/reduction, not barely similar itemization. I guess your arguement is hinging on the spell rotation of spamming frost bolt - or coa, immolate, shadow bolt spam, refresh dot/immolate, shadow bolt spam(refering to destruction locks) or that they all use ranged mana spells. Other than that there are hardly any similarities between shamans and other caster classes and I would feel uncomfortable comparing them to the others. Not to mention how much better off they are in every aspect of the game- shamans need a major overhaul and I believe where they will be in wotlk is where they should be now.

Idk how i am coming off in these post, but i assure you i am not trying to sound angry or come off as rude - quite the contrary i am really enjoying our theorycrafting battle