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I am curious what your opinion is on the future of Elemental Shamans going into the expansion? I hear mixed things. I know I'm certainly not thrilled with my Shaman post-3.0 cause I feel like a lot of my damage is meant to be based around Lava Burst which I won't get until level 75. It just feels like there is a noticeable hole in my build now that wasn't there before the recent content patch.
Anyway, I have my level 70 Elemental Shammy and I am curious to hear your take on the future of that particular build.
Well, regardless of anything, ele shamans still hit freakin hard. My eye is almost entirely towards pvp, so I'm biased towards things good for that. But ele shamans still have fast-casting mana efficient lightning bolt and chain lightning. The changes to spell pushback make those a lot more doable in PVP.
Fire nova totem stuns people now, which s great, even if you can't shorten the fuse on it anymore. If you drop that, and an enemy decides to kill it, it's one less instant attack coming at you. And if they don't, it AoE stuns EVERYONE for two seconds. Enough time to get in a few more thousand damage.
And thunderstorm. Thunderstorm is the shit. It REALLY helps with the annoying rogues and warriors. Frost shock them, throw them away, then unload while they saunter back up to you at a slow pace. Gives ele shamans a major edge in pvp. Plus, it's damage is respectable and it gives you mana, never a bad thing.
In addition to our improved abilities to deal with melee classes, we also still have awesome disruption against casters. Earth shock, wind shock, and grounding totems throw monkey wrenches around like crazy. Plus tremor totem is great against the fear-happy jerks. Priests and Locks beware.
Finally, at level 80, shamans get Hex and Lava Burst. Lava Burst is simply another spammable damage spell, but it's not in the nature school, so things that silence won't totally shut you down anymore. And Hex. Hex is polymorph, but for shamans. Hex the healer, explode the threat. That's all you gotta do. Ele shaman burst damage is so insane that we will only need the 2-3 seconds hex provides to annihilate someone.
Also, well-geared ele shamans are extremely survivable now. Their shields give them massive armor, and they take a third less damage while stunned silenced or feared. Rogues, locks, and priests used to destroy me, now I laugh at them while weathering their stuns and fears and then ripping them a new one. Adding a crap-ton of resilience only makes it that much funnier.
So yeah, stick with Ele to 80. You will be able to dual spec as a healer as well(with no changes to gear), which makes you incredibly versatile. And they are just so funny in pvp. So many people still view ele shamans as hapless victims, but they won't when we're flinging them around like ragdolls, soaking up their hardest hits, and shooting HUGE damage at them all the while.
