Hi there,
I am an old-time (2005-2009) shammy who just returned to WoW and I am trying to figure out how things work now for our beloved enhancement shaman.
I see that today there are two main builds: Physical (focusing on Windufury & Stormstrike) and Elemental (focusing on Lava Lash and fire damage).
I understand the two builds works on different stats: Physical needs Haste and Elemental needs Mastery.
So I tried both, changing stats accordingly. But at the end the dps are very close, I could not see a huge difference in dps output.
What I saw is that Elemental is “easier”, you need less keys to start the fight, you do bigger numbers (I see many Elemental Blast hitting with 140k-160k), but with less hits.
On the other hand, Physical need more “preparation” to start, gives you a steady flow of many “smaller” hits, but does not give you nice & big hits like the Elemental build.
Now my question is: why is the Physical build the preferred for PvP? What are the most important talents that the Physical build has that make this the preferred build for PvP?
What would be the best rotation with this build?
Probably I am doing something wrong as I feel much more confident using the Elemental one in Arena/Solo shuffle.
because the elemental build is nerfed in PVP, MSW is only 75% as effective, Ele blast is nerfed by 15%, PW buff to Lightning Bolt is nerfed by 50%. Until these nerfs Ele build was king (tbf 300k Lightning bolts were a little much).
just FYI the phy build still wants a decent amount of Mastery and the Ele build still wants a decent amount of haste
I see… but even after those nerfs the elemental build seems to be still good as dps.
Sure, it’s not as high as it was before the nerf, but as you say “300k LB were a little much”.
I still have crappy equip (ilvl 374) but I can see (not very often, it’s true) 120-140k crits with Elemental Blast and Lightning Bolt.
On the other hand the other build do not allow me to see those numbers. Ever. Maybe I am wrong, and even with the Phys build you can dish out 140k crit?
140k in arena with ilvl 374? with Elemental Spirits? I get 120-140k with about 40%+ Mastery and Ilvl 422 in Arena using the Phy build.
The other downside with the Elemental build is you need to use MSW for damage which completely tanks your Survivability. The Phys build can still apply some damage / burst while using MSW for Healing.
No, sorry… not in arena. I don’t even look at the damage done while in arena.
I was talking about target dummy.
Yes, you are right about the downside, I did not think about it. Phys build focus on damage not from MSW, so one can use that for healing. Good advice.
Thank you.
