Hello fellow member of MMowned,
i've been playing shaman since 2006, in pve and in pvp and i've seen alot of noob shaman ( ill not hide that shaman is hard master), alot of people whine in the shaman forum that they suck and are underpower, its true that compared to some other class, we're weak, but when played correctly we're simply unstopable.
I will start by linking a youtube showing what a good shaman can do.
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This guide will have 2 part, Pve and PVP.
PVE
We'll start by a "how to gear"guide.
I will assume that your guild as karazhan, gruul and karazhan on farm.
Elemental:
Head: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29035 Even if its a leather headpiece for druid, this is the best helmet for a shaman elemental, the helm lack of mp5 but as a shaman you should never be out of mana.
Neck : Adornment of Stolen Souls - Item - World of Warcraft
Cloak : Brute Cloak of the Ogre-Magi - Item - World of WarcraftOR Shadowcaster's Drape - Item - World of Warcraft Choose the second one if you do not have mana problem and your critical strike retaing is good
Chest : Garments of Crashing Shores - Item - World of Warcraft
Wrist : Netherstrike Bracers - Item - World of Warcraft If you are a leatherworker, other wise choose Earthquake Bracers - Item - World of Warcraft
hand : Grips of Nature's Wrath - Item - World of Warcraft
Waist: Aftershock Waistguard - Item - World of Warcraft
Pant : Avalanche Leggings - Item - World of Warcraft
Feet : Hurricane Boots - Item - World of Warcraft IF your are a leatherworker, otherwise choose Windshear Boots - Item - World of Warcraft
Ring : Ring of Unrelenting Storms - Item - World of Warcraft AND Ring of Recurrence - Item - World of Warcraft
Trinket : The Lightning Capacitor - Item - World of Warcraft AND Hex Shrunken Head - Item - World of Warcraft OR Quagmirran's Eye - Item - World of Warcraft
Weapon : Wub's Cursed Hexblade - Item - World of Warcraft
Shield : Mazthoril Honor Shield - Item - World of Warcraft
Totem : Skycall Totem - Item - World of Warcraft
With all those item you will be more than ready for serpent shrine cavern and the eye.
For pve elemental is very easy to play but hard to be a beast at the dps meter and and know when to bast bloodlust and wich totem drop in wich situation.
Every class as his main spell, the first combo i will show you is for who dont have alot of mana regen and may be oom.
You will always wait 5 sec before starting dps on every boss ( on normal pull you can survive since you wear mail and have a shield)
while you wait, you will drop all your totem ( totem of wrath, totem of wrath of air, mana spring totem) after this you will start with elemental mastery and pop your trinket, if there is no cc and you have an aoe tank you will cast a chain lightning, this will boost your dmg. then you will cast fire shock then spam lightning bolt.
the goal with this is to keep fire shock always refreshed ( the dot on FS will have a 100% benefit from your spell dmg since its a dot)
For 1.50 minute you will do this, then you will recall all your totem 5 second before they fade, this will give you back 25% of the mana you wasted on them.
Remember to always keep Water shield UP!
If you have some enhance shaman in your raid you cann tell them to NOT use earth shock, so your lightning bolt will benefit from +20% nature dmg debuff on the mob.
You will also try to always keep one of your trinket up, so if you have 2 trinket with a "use" effect ( ie: add 225 spell dmh for 20 sec) you will have 40 sec of the buff, its better than 20 of a greater buff since you will have more lightning bolt launched.
I suggest you to drink a mana potion at 70% mana.
The "no mana problem" combo
The only difference is you will stop only spamming lightning bolt and fire shock and use a rotation of chain lightning, fire shock, lightning boltx3, rinse and repeat.
This will burn you ALOT of mana but will also increase your dps by alot and even more in aoe fight.
AOE FIGHT :
there is a lot of aoe fight in hyjal and zul aman, the goal in an aoe fight like these is to ALWAYS keep magma totem up and fire nova when up.
If you are assigned to aoe you wont dps the fight, so forget what i said about your rotation, your job is to cast chain lightning on crowded area and keep your aoe totem up!
(ie: i was often tanking some mob in hyjal, i was in mail they werent hitting hard)
Mana regeneration :
As shaman you only have one talent giving you more mp5, and its 15% of your intellect if i remember
so your raw mp5 will be very important ( spirit is totally useless for us)
hopefully we have alot of tool to help us keeping our mana, water shield give 50/mp5 and 230 on hit, mana spring give also 50/mp5, 100/mp5 only with these 2 ability! +50/mp5 from wisdom , you should never be out of mana as shaman, oh and have i forget the most used talent ever?
Clearcasting:
reduce the cost of spell by 40% for nest 2 spell, considiring a shaman have about 35-45% crit full buffed, you should always or almost always have clearcasting up.
Knowing this, the only thing you need to know to be ready black temple is the startegy of the bosses!
PVP
This is where shaman are tough to play.
i will include some strat against each class and why to use each ability, i will also explain how to counter what each class can do.
Hunter : Hunter can be a nightmare, if they are bm they will be very hard to kill if you dont have the 4/5 gladiator set piece, however you can increase your chance by trying to kite the pet, frostshock the pet and run away, spam cl and lb this fight is a very long fight, your goal is to stay alive and kill the hunter, remember, he cant heal himself so the longest the fight is, the more chance of killing him you have.
i also suggest to keep searing down to kill the hunter's pet, mana spring, earthbind and poison cleansing totem down.
Mage : They pretty easy to kill if they dont have improved counterspell, grounding if your friend there.
You will start by dropping grounding and purging every buff he have! then you will cast elemental mastery and chain lightning. earth shock his first spell and continu to dps him down, remember to purge his shield.
Dont interrupt his second spell, the grounding totem will eat it, earth shock his third spell and then drop grounding, this is always the same pattern.
Always heal you, he counterspell you and you are at 20% he will pwn your face!
Keep nature swiftness for when he will cs you, right after it finish pop ns healing wave.
Paladin : i assume they are retribution, this will be a tough fight if they are skilled, because they also can heal themself, cure your snare and burst alot.
You will drop earthbind, manaspring, firenova> searing, grounding> warth of air.
Your gold is to try to keep him away from you, so use frost shock to see if he is skilled, if he is, simply run in ghost wolf form and spam lightning bolt, always keep earth shock up to interrupt his heal
Also, purge every single buff from him, he will be way weaker.
Warlock : FIRST RULE : always keep tremor UP!
with tremor up, they wont be able to fear you, wich is a very good thing :P
purge all their buff and interrupt their shadowbolt/drain life.
You can also kill their pet if they are annoying, they dont have alot of hp so its easy to kill it in 2-3 spell.
remember to keep grounding down so they will waste they insta sb in it.
Dont use your cd when they're pet is on u, he will eat it.
**THIS POST IS NOT FINSHED BUT I WILL EDIT IT AS I FIND MORE STRATEGY AND I HAVE MORE TIME**