Resto/Elemental Shaman PvP Guide

[mobikenobi]

I will be creating this thread in hopes to help all the other restoration and elemental shamans that are trying to begin or elevate their PvP abilities. This thread will be on-going and hopefully updated often to answer any questions or concerns anyone may have.

This is my first MMOwned guide and i will gladly accept any tips to make it as clear as possible, just make a reply and ill do my best.

I will be constantly adding to this post as i dont want to do it all in one sitting, and will add a change log to save you time on browsing through the whole post for any additions.

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July 11, 2010 - Thread Begins
July 12, 2010 - Rough Elemental Outline/Updated Color/Macro Section/Expand Elemental/Basic Strategies/KnowYourAbilities(considering removal)/Addons/ElementalHaste Section.

Plans -
Totem Set Colors (i.e. blue water red fire)
Elemental/Addons/Comps/Misc
Reference Points (i.e. "see Restoration - gemming")
Thinning out certain paragraphs (to the point")
Better colored for more readability
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1. Very Basics

Races. "If you are just now starting your shaman, and what to choose the most optimal class/spec combination"

Enhancement = Orc (Basically, bonus damage)
Elemental = Tauren Priority 1 (Warstomp / Hex) See Basic Strategies
- - Troll Priority 2 (Berserking / DPS)
Restoration = Tauren (Warstomp / Hex)

Basically, as far as elemental and restoration, war stomp gives you a free stun/hex combo, basically giving a free trinket breaker which can turn a game. Berserking i would consider for elemental as haste would be your primary stat.

For restoration, tauren is really the only choice.

Basic Strategies.

Warstomp/Hex Combo, what this means is, for one example, you are 1v1ing a resto shaman, if you cast hex he will drop a grounding totem, wasting you 45 sec CD. So Warstomp, gives a stun, long enough to cast hex without being grounded or interrupted, basically giving a free trinket breaker.

Grounding Totem, this ability should not be used on cooldown, unless fighting a melee cleave or something without offensive casters. Against a wizard cleave, grounding totem should be saved by priority CC > All Cyclone > Polymorph > Fear, with mana burn of course ontop, but only if you can not LOS it.
Yes you have a tremor totem to break fears, but if you let fear go off, then drop a tremor, thats a good 1 second of you or your partners not being able to do something, which can make a game, interupt the fear.

Wind Shear, should be used to interrupt on the same priority as grounding totem seen above. See Macros

....................

Know Your Abilities.
//Needs to be alphabetized
Earthbind Totem - Used for slowing when either shocks are on CD, mass slow (i.e. pets)
Earth Shock - Worthless in today's arena
Fire Nova - Used for breaking stealthed players or elemental DPS (inefficient mana for restoration dps)
Flame Shock - Keep rogues out of stealth, elemental primary dps shock
Frost Shock - Highest resto dps shock (flame then frost spam) Elemental ranged slow
Hex - only real CC, used primarily on the decurser of a team.
Lava Burst - Restoration and Elemental DPS abilities
Lightning Bolt - Lava Burst on Cooldown
Magma Totem - waste of mana
Purge - One of Strongest Shaman Abilities, should be spammed whenever moving or not dpsing/healing.
Searing Totem - occasional elemental dps
Stoneclaw totem - used with glyph, shamans bubble through silence.
Wind Shear - interupt that should be used on all cooldown See Macros //needs color

If i must go on, please make a reply and i will finish this list



2. Restoration

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LHW Versus HW. (lesser healing wave vs healing wave)
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I personally would suggest healing wave spec with a full mp5 set (main/offset) versus lesser healing wave because LHW has a lower overall HPS and way too much RNG to be effective.

People usually go LHW because on the outside it appears mana efficient compared to HW spec, though in order to gain the mana efficiency you are relying on crits, with a 60% chance ontop of the ~40% crit chance to gain a mana orb proc.

With those chances, and my luck, i would go oom before anything.

Then HW specced, you can stack ridiculous amounts of mp5 and give yourself a steady and passive effective mana regen ontop of the occasional healing wave orb procs, giving much more reliability then LHW spec.


--
Healing.
--
A normal (non crit) LHW heals for 5-6k (W/ Earth shield glyph) A none crit HW heals for about 11-12k.

If thats not enough of a picture, you are basically relying on crits to heal with LHW, the only way LHW is effective. If you do not crit its basically a 100% loss of healing which you could have gotten with a HW spec.

Lets picture yourself healing an arms warrior, would you rather have a hopeful 10k or a guarenteed 12k?!

Now, im not blind to both sides of the story, LHW brings several perks such as keeping Ancestral Healing up guarenteed, and Ancestral Awakening is procced much more often.

But I'd still rather have 11-12k heals over having Ancestral Healing pretty much any day.

So in my opinion, HW specc is pretty much a LHW specc with 100% crit chance


Gemming/Gearing/Speccing.

Restoration
---
Recommended restoration stats
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Spell Hit - 5%+
Spell Penetration - 90-110
1200 - 1400 Resilience
24,000 - 25,000 HP (VERY MINIMUM) Safe = 27,000 (what i roll at)

Restoration you need a base of 110 Spell Penetration in order for your purges not to be resisted and wasting precious globals/mana. Three Stormy Majestic Zircon (see below) with 35 Spell Penetration to cloak brings you up to exactly 110. Again it's helpful to keep a balance between your Resilience/Stamina but if you're more comfortable with running with a higher health pool then gem more towards stamina and reversely, if you prefer more damage reduction then gem for more Resilience but I highly suggest you stay within the stated parameters (1200 Resilience/25,000 HP).


As for your meta, I've personally used Insightful Earthsiege Diamond and Powerful Earthshatter Diamond as an Orc and a Tauren and in both cases I've noticed the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond to provide a significant amount of Mp5 over even a short match.

The Powerful Earthshatter Diamond could be conisdered if you are low on gear and need to make up for it.

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Gemming
--


When you wish to gem or enchant as restoration it comes down to your comp and which playstyle there is required: Offensive / Defensive
Using Spell power+X sockets is the best idea since those gems will end up you having more "itemlvl" than normally.
I.e. socketing 23 sp and 20resilience into your chest will make you lose 1 spell power, if you would socket 12 sp 10resilience, that’s one guideline to use if you care about details.

Suggested gems:

Insightful Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft
Powerful Earthshatter Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft
Durable Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft
Stormy Majestic Zircon - Item - World of Warcraft
Glowing Dreadstone - Item - World of Warcraft
Steady Eye of Zul - Item - World of Warcraft

Currently in 3s there is no point to socket mp5, don’t think it’s even that viable in 2s.

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Gear
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*****This gear is suggested purely for the 3v3 bracket.*****

Now there's a long standing debate between gearing for full Mp5 (Ringmail) or full Critical (Mail) (Haste no longer plays a significant factor due to the haste given by Riptide and Lesser Healing Wave already having a base 1.5 second cast time) but a general consensus I've gathered is you should gear depending on your comp.

If you're going to be running a comp that's designed to last longer than three minutes, or a comp not designed to beat the opposing team in the opening Bloodlust or shortly after, such as Double Healer Warrior, then it's more beneficial to gear for Critical gear because without significant Riptide abuse you should be able to keep up your mana pool.

***Remember though that for gearing full Mp5 gear you significantly reduce your capabilities as playing Elemental for your off-spec!***

For which pieces, I see most people, running 3 set + 2 set in order to have the two set bonus (100 Resilience!) but I've found that 5/0 pays greater dividends vs. caster heavy comps such as Spell Cleave so if possible then you should pick up both and swap around accordingly.

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Spec
--


Basic Spec (Build off of depending on comp i.e. offensive or defensive, survivability or damage, mana regen, or more powerful, etc.)
The World of Warcraft Armory

As stated previously, LHW spec relies heavily on keeping up the riptide +Critical. Although this is entirely possible, a lot of the time I've found you can't keep hitting someone with riptide just to gain the buff because enough pressure is being put out that if you're not healing they will fall.

Personally I swear by the HW build, it makes healing through massive damage manageable and despite it not being cost effective in the long term, I can safely say that 1/5 games includes a large HW save, particularly vs. a rogue/x combo where you've manage to fake cast the kick.

Spec Choices via Comp
For example as RLS, a comp which has two much sexier swap targets then yourself in most situations, I've swapped the 4 points out of Nature's Guardian for Thundering Strikes and then took out the 4 points to spec to Mana Tide for an additional 3 points into Tidal Waves. Because of the very heavy-burst capabilities in this comp I traded some survivability and mana tools for more ability for more damage.

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Totem Sets
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“Basically there's a few things to keep in mind and a few options, considering the fact you can only have a maximum of 3 sets at a time.”

-“Can I afford manawise to put in 4 totems in a set or do I only really need 2-3, thus saving a few hundred mana every time I use this set?”

-“Should I prioritize my sets vs certain classes/setups or vs certain situations?”

-“Do I think I can keep track of using more than 3 sets and just change them accordingly to what I meet while queueing?”

Useful sets against several classes:

Rogues: Earthbind, Nature Resistance, Cleansing.

Rogue/Priests: Tremor, Grounding, Cleansing. Grounding/WoA/WF

Wizardcleaves: Tremor, Grounding, Fire Res, Frost Res.

Warlocks: Tremor, Grounding, Mana Spring, Flametongue

Warriors: Tremor (this basically saves you a trinket if he times his fear properly), Mana spring.

This is a basic setup,** edit accordingly.



3. Elemental


Recommended elemental stats
Hit (spell)- 5%
Spell Penetration - 135
Haste - See further discussion
(In order to achieve those stats, you may use the hit ring & neck and enchant your cloak with 35 spell penetration and you can gem some spell power/spell pen.)

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DPS Rotation/Priority
--

There is no true dps rotation, especially in WOTLK, but as far as elemental goes, you lava burst whenever you can, if flame shock is up, there is no reason to use a lava burst if flame shock gets dispelled, or its basically equivalent to a lightning bolt casted faster.

Lightning bolt should be used really only if you have everything on CD, or you have bloodlust/haste procs because it becomes more efficient than spamming instant casts and lava bursts

If you have no haste buffs you should be Chain lightning/Lava Burst/Flame > Frost Shock) When not that, See What Hybrid Means

--
What Hybrid Means
--


Hybrid refers to the shaman class, it can dps, or heal, a paladin can dps, or heal, or tank, a druid can dps, or heal, or tank. This is the opposite of a true dps class, or a warlock/rogue/etc.

What this means is, you have more utility and flexibility, especially in the amount of comps you can play in, for example Mage/Lock/Shaman MLS can be MLD or MLPriest

With this utility you should be using all of your capabilities. Such as healing, in elemental, LHW is usually the best choice, as you will have more crit as elemental and healing wave just takes too damn long without riptide.

If you can master the balance of using your dps, healing, and cc side of the shaman class, then you will be much more succesful as elemental, which in my opinion is easy to play, but hard to master


--
Haste
--

Haste is now considered the god stat of elemental shamans, atleast for the most part. For the first time since season 1, elemental shamans have the option of PvE gear. This includes, 1 mainset piece, 2-3 offsets, a trinket, a ring, and a shield, as long as you can keep above 1000 resillience you are fine.

As for the choice of offset gear, its really just whatever keeps you above the hit cap, and gives the most haste without sacrificing resilience, or staying above 1000. You should be able to achieve atleast 400-500 haste, a DFO always a must if possible.


Gemming


When you have met the recommended stats, you should be going pure spell power (red gem), but if you lack a little bit of survival I would recommend mix some spell power/resilience, just like you can do with spell power/spell penetration in order to obtain the proper stats overall.
Meta gem should be 3% extra damage on crits/21 critical rating


Spec


Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft - This is the spec I use when going arena, you may switch for the +hit talent if you are low on hit and sacrifice elemental weapons, or w/e


Totem Sets


1. General Set
2. Survival
3. Offensive



1. This one consists of Totem of Wrath, Cleansing Totem and Tremor Totem.

2. Stoneclaw and Grounding Totem. Casting them seperately uses 2.0 Seconds of GCD, this uses 1.0

3. This is Earth Bind/Searing totem, and make sure you use stoneclaw right after if some people just throw at it or ice lance once to protect the bonus DPS.



4. Macros
There are very few macros you have to use as restoration or elemental, but i will list mine, feel free to post any effective macros you have created.

Right away i will tell you i do not use mouse over macros or any of that, though once cataclysm comes out i will revamp my keybinds for arenapartner 1 arenapartner 2 as having to select a friendly target is a waste of time which i can not fix this far into the game without starting at square 1.

Wind Shear.
#showtooltip wind shear
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead]
/cast flame shock [target=focus, exists] Wind shear; Wind shear

This macro will cast wind shear on your focus, and if your focus is dead, it will wind shear your target. removing the /clearfocus line will make it only interrupt your focus

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Flame Shock,
if you have a button or way to quick focus, flame shock is a good thing to bind to a focus macro to spam it on rogues or druids to keep them from stealth (if someone in your team does not have this ability)

#showtooltip flame shock
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead]
/cast flame shock [target=focus, exists] Flame Shock; Flame Shock

Nature's Swiftness
#showtooltip nature's swiftness
/cast nature's swiftness
/cast tidal force
/cast healing wave

This macro should be used as minimally as possible, only if in the most dire situations, make sure you note the order so that healing wave gets the effects of tidal force.

Another macro involves not using /cast tidal force, because tidal force is one of your cooldowns it is sometimes better to use tidal force by itself at another time. Tidal Force > NS macro.

And yet, another option is the NS Hex, which i do not use often, if i get the BoTB i might reconsider it, but in my opinion it is a waste of a neccesary NS, usable only if you are sure you will get a kill with it, otherwise you can call it a game in most cases.

Bloodlust
Troll, i personally play a troll, wish i was a tauren, but im not
#showtooltip bloodlust
/cast bloodlust
/cast berserking

This macro very simply casts bloodlust and berserking because berserking alone really doesnt do anything, and when you bloodlust its usually to help healing or dps, therefor this macro helps out even further.


Grounding Totem
#showtooltip grounding totem
/stopcasting
/cast grounding totem

This macro just stopcasts and casts grounding totem, because if you need to stop something, its more important that your current cast.

5. Addons
Basics


The fewer addons the better, in the midst of combat you will only be able to concentrate of a few addons or things at once, the more addons, the more cluttered your screen, the worse you do, keep it down to 3-5 substantial addons.

A side note, in tournaments you can not use any addons.


Arena Historian - /arenahistorian lets you review any of your arena games, how much damage dealt/etc not really substantial, but helpful if you need to examine an enemies team.

Bartender 4 - /bt in my opinion a must, a action bar addon that lets you change the scale, supports 8 bars, and has a mouseover keybind ability, very easy to use, and saves space and clutter.

DBM - not really a pvp addon, i use it simply because i also pve, it also tracks the arena timer, how long till start, invite times out, etc.

DrDamage - a theorycrafting addon for your abilities, very helpful in a pinch to look at numbers and compare.

Gladius - a must have, displays enemy arena frames and allows you to bind click actions such as purges/interupts etc, though i advise interupts be bound to something like e very easy to reach at all times.

Grid - a healing addon mostly, displays party / raid in a grid like fashion, clutterless, and allows display of whatever debuffs you want, (requires extensive setup time)

InterruptBar - shows if an enemy rogue/dk/etc kicked or interupted you and how long until it is ready again, very helpful if trying to fake casts.

KoKoStompAlert - puts a big picture of your totem on your screen when it is destroyed, helpful for beginners if you cant keep your totems up.

OmniCC - Displays CD on your abilities easy to read, no clutter.

Shamans friend - helpful to manage shaman abilities, shows what you purge, and when your water shield goes away, or your weapon is not up.

Snowfall Keypress - a must have, inputs your key when you push down, not let up, equivalent to ~35 MS i believe it was, like i said, a must have.

X-perl - unit frames, i hate the default UI, so i do my best to remove all of it. Disabling the party frames will allow you to use grid and xperl together.


.......





TO BE ADDED



Addons......

Comp Strategies.....

Misc Questions......



Credit To - Any of my arena partners who helped me learn to play my class over the last few seasons

---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 AM ----------

As of now, feel free to pile up questions, i will answer them at the bottom of the page until they can be filed appropriately

[BaboonX]

The main reason why some shamans don't use the healing wave spec is because it's to long of a cast time. It's hard to pop out and heal with a healing wave, then quickly LoS to avoid CC. Positioning is really important as a healer, and being in the open for that long can be rough.

[ArenaRating]

Yup that's right, against good team, spamming or even using healing wave casts is rarely an option, people will CC you during your casts or even cross kick, which makes you fall behind on healing.

I agree however, that in some 2on2 teams or on low ratings it's probably more effective than using LWH.

[Vyre]

Is it just me who thinks the purple text is extremely annoying? For me atleast it's very hard to read.

Other than that pretty decent guide, waiting for more to come

[mobikenobi]

The main reason why some shamans don't use the healing wave spec is because it's to long of a cast time. It's hard to pop out and heal with a healing wave, then quickly LoS to avoid CC. Positioning is really important as a healer, and being in the open for that long can be rough.

HW Spec does not mean you only use healing wave, btw, its just if you use LHW spec (no healing way) your stuck only using LHW, which does not produce enough HPS, now as we speak i play at 2700 mmr, and somehow my healing wave casts go off, if you position correctly, fake casts, and use grounding totems, you can cast HW with little to no trouble

And, you only use healing wave after riptide.
LHW = 1.5 sec cast
Healing Wave = ~1.7? i have haste so i dont know the exact number

.2 seconds for 2 times the healing is hardly something you can argue against, but yes, that .2 seconds does make a difference sometimes, and thats why HW spec does not remove your ability to use LHW =D

---------- Post added at 12:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

Yup that's right, against good team, spamming or even using healing wave casts is rarely an option, people will CC you during your casts or even cross kick, which makes you fall behind on healing.

I agree however, that in some 2on2 teams or on low ratings it's probably more effective than using LWH.

Any suggestions on the color other than purple, im too lazy to go through each color to find one, and do you know anything that'll make, making the guide easier, the box built into the forums is frigin small

[mobikenobi]

Feel free to continue browsing this guide, and asking questions, i will pause updates for the next several days, i am on vacation, and will pick it up when i am back!

[Amirite]

This thread seems to be somewhat stolen from Shaman Class Arena FAQ - Arena Junkies Forums.
I haven't read the whole thing, but just the part on gemming and using HW instead of LHW is directly taken, with a few words changed so that people can't find the original copy quickly. You did not credit this site, so please do, and try to credit everything, imagine if you had written the arena junkies post, you would feel cheated out of your work... always credit what you took from. Atm, i can only assume the whole thing is just a compendium of different guides you have read, without credit given to the original writers