Elemental Shaman DPS Mythic+ Tips - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2024)

Elemental Shaman is currently an above-average ranged-DPS specialization forMythic+ in Dragonflight. It can provide strong multi-target bursts and sustaineddamage, as well as a lot of utility. Its mobility is much better than before, and it is slightly less fragile. Its single-target damage is good, but nothingspecial.

If you are unfamiliar with Mythic+ and its associated general mechanics, youcan read more about it on our Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 4 page below.

To get an idea of the approximate power level of different specs in Mythic+,visit the page below. Tier lists are not the end-all for the actual value ofspecs in various content, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Both the single-target and multi-target rotations do not change in Mythic+content. For more information about the Elemental Shaman DPS rotation, referbackto the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilitiespage.

A couple additional habits you should practice in Mythic+:

• Pool your Maelstrom towards the end of every trash pull in order to reducethe ramp-up time needed to reach your maximum output.
• Keep in mind that efficiency is important and that you should not wastespells that do damage over time on enemies that will die within seconds. Inparticular, limit the amount of Flame Shock and Earthquakecasts. This, of course, also goes for cooldowns. Do not waste cooldowns on packsthat are about to die.
• Damage is not all there is in Mythic+, so you will often want to weave incrowd control abilities, such as Hex or Capacitor Totem,between damaging abilities.

Elemental Shamans provide support for the party through heavy crowd control,a variety of dispels, and occasional healing.

• Your Earthquakes will always knock down non-Boss enemies once.Being able to spam Earthquakes results in considerable crowd control.
• Healing Surge heals for a moderate amount witha fast cast time. It costs 25% of your Mana pool. Do not hesitate to use it onyourself or others.
• Earth Shield and its sister talent Elemental Orbit are niceways to help your healer, especially combined with your own healingspells.
• Earth Elemental is a summon that is primarily used to helpwith tanking for 1 minute. It can taunt and take quite a bit of punishmentbefore dying while also dealing okay damage.
• Wind Shear is your "kick". It is fairly unique in that its 30-yardrange and 12-second cooldown are shorter than most other ranged characters.This makes Wind Shear one of the best interrupts in the game, and you shoulduse it a lot. This cooldown gets even lower if you are using Flash of Lightning, typically along with a Lightning-focused build.
• Capacitor Totem is your only way to stun targets. You cast it at atarget location, and after 2 seconds, it will stun enemies within 8 yards for 3seconds. This ability has a 1-minute cooldown, which can be reduced by usingthe Static Charge talent or lead to a follow-up stun if using Guardian's Cudgel.
• Hex is the Shaman equivalent of Polymorph. This spelltransforms 1 enemy into a frog for 60 seconds, preventing it from attacking orcasting spells as long as you do not attack it. It only works on humanoids andbeasts.
• Earthbind Totem projects a totem that slows everything around itfor 20 seconds. It is very useful, especially if you kite around the totem.
• Earthgrab Totem is the previous totem's big brother; it rootssurroundingtargets for 8 seconds, then slows them.
• Thunderstorm does very little damage but knocks away enemiesaround you and slows them by 40% for 5 seconds. It is quite useful, especiallywhen you use it to displace an enemy in a specific direction, which is extremelyuseful to push enemies off Sanguine in Sanguine keys.The Thundershock talent, recommended in most other situations,transformsThunderstorm into a more reliable crowd-control spell that does not risk pullingadditional enemies.
• Tremor Totem summons a totem removing all Fear, Charm, and Sleepeffects on party and raid members within 30 yards every few seconds for 10seconds.
• Purge remove 1 beneficial effect from an enemy target. Greater Purge removes 2, which is rarely useful in PvE.
• Cleanse Spirit removes all curses from a friendly target.
• Healing Stream Totem does a decent amount of healing over time. Ifyou havea few seconds before a pull, it can be a good idea to drop one before the fightbegins.
• Chain Heal does significant healing in dungeons. You should not useit often, but it can be very good to help your healer or to keep your partyup if your healer dies or runs out of Mana.
• Nature's Swiftness is a must-pick in every situation
• Depending on the dungeon, pick Wind Rush Totem or Earthgrab Totem.Earthgrab can be used reactively and makes for safer "discovery" of dungeons,whileWind Rush is better with pre-planned use to gain some time or kite.
• In some dungeons, Poison Cleansing Totem or Stoneskin Totemmight have some use. Most notably, Poison Cleansing Totem is a godsendto help the tank survive poison stacks when fighting Hungry Lashers inAlgeth'ar Academy, or to deal with the Afflicted affix.
• Ancestral Guidance can potentially be useful if your healer cannotdealwith some damage situations properly in high keys, or just to help save theirMana.

There are many competing builds for non-single-target situations, and what isbest will heavily depend on your stats and the specific combat situation. Theyare split into two main categories, "Lightning-focused" builds and"Fire-focused" builds. Note that while when using the full T30 set, Lightning-focusedbuilds are almost always strictly superior, people using Shaman Elemental 10.2 Class Set 4pcwant to use Fire-focused builds.

Lightning-focused builds generally have stronger and faster cleave and are best on 4+stacked targets (pre-T31), even if they do not live for very long.

Fire-focused builds require enemies that live for longer but are better againstspread-out enemies and have better priority target damage. They can also specinto reliable burst of various duration or rely on Deeply Rooted Elementsand have higher variance.

Here is an example. Remember that you can use the"Copy Export String" option to import it directly into the game. The following buildis our default recommendation for Mythic+ when using Shaman Elemental 10.2 Class Set 4pc.

Remember to get Cleanse Spirit and Poison Cleansing Totem todeal with Afflicted, make sure you have Thunderstorm tohelp with Sanguine or Hex (possibly with Voodoo Masteryto deal with Incorporeal).

Note that the class tree assumes a non-specific dungeon situation, so youmight have specific utility needs not covered by this generalrecommendation. You may find using Earth Shock more comfortable, atleast during the (re)discovery phase of the dungeons, especially on somedungeons like Uldaman, where Fire builds may still be easier to play properly.

There are multiple variants here depending on whether you want to learn a bitmore on the fire side, or want better single-target at the cost of some AoE.The main issue with Lightning-focused builds is that more of their points give mediocreor bad value compared to Fire builds. This makes hybrids viable.We will not mention every possibility here and recommend testing thingsyourself or reading our detailed opinions on talents further down thepage.

Alternatively, especially if you do not yet have access to Shaman Elemental 10.2 Class Set 4pcbut have a T30 set bonus, you can also use a Lightning-focused build. Here is an example.Remember that you can use the "Copy Export String" option to import it directlyinto the game.

As before, there are many variants of such builds, varying their strengthsand weaknesses. Choice paralysis may be a real issue for us in thisexpansion.

While these recommendations should help you with your talent picks inMythic+, in some situations, it can be better to tailor your talents to specificsituations. For a more in-depth look at all the Elemental Shaman talents,visit the link below.

For general information about Mythic+, please visit our general mythic+ page.

Elemental Shamans should excel during Fortified weeks as, depending on the tierset we use, our multi-target damage has a short ramp-up time and then will sustainat high numbers with or without the use of cooldowns, and our crowd control isgreat. During tyrannical weeks, players may want to take more single-target-orientedtrinkets, gear, or even talents, but that will be both dungeon and key-leveldependent.

Incorporeal can be dealt with using Hex, with Voodoo Masterybeing possibly a good option to help deal with this affix. Leftover mobs can andshould be kicked/stunned as available, preferably at the end of their long cast,as they will start casting again immediately.

Afflicted should be no issue for you if you can spec into Poison Cleansing Totem, which will get rid of all the mobs within 30 yards.If your group lacks dispels especially, consider using Totemic Recallwith Call of the Elements to refresh this totem, with Totemic Projectionas an option to put the totem in the middle of the mobs.

If ignoring Entangling is not possible, using Ghost Wolf(ideally with Thunderous Paws) or Gust of Wind/ Spirit Walkwill get you out of the effect easily enough.

Use any mobility or crowd-control at your disposal to help deal withSpiteful Shades from Spiteful. Elemental is particularly good atdealing with this affix because of their arsenal of crowd-control and the factthat their Earthquakes will knock down the shades, buying precioustime.

Elemental Shamans should use Thunderstorm to push enemies off of Sanguine zones when on this affix.

For more details about the Mythic+ affixes, please visit our dedicated affix page.

For a better idea of how to gear for Mythic+, please visit our dedicatedGearing guide.