Cataclysm Classic Elemental Shaman Talent Builds (2024)

Last updated on May 19, 2024 at 00:00by Seksixeny

On this page, you will find out the best PvE talent choices and builds for yourElemental Shaman in Cataclysm Classic, as well as advised glyphs.

Elemental Shaman, like mostCataclysm specs, is heavily restricted to its namesake specialization tree, Elemental.You will always want to put points into this tree first and foremost, with the fewleftover points after you hit 31 points being dedicated to passive damage increasesin the Restoration tree.

If you want to maximize your potential DPS and raid utility as an Elemental Shamanthere are next to no optional talents in the build that you could swap around,unfortunately.

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when youare playing a Elemental Shaman.Be sure to understand your most important talents as they are vital to play thebuild to its top strength.

• Elemental Precision — increases your damage by up to 3%and, more importantly, your ability to hit enemies considerably by making Spirita stat that converts seamlessly to Spell Hit.

• Elemental Focus — improves your Mana management by causingSpell Critical Strikes to reduce the Mana cost of your next two spells by 40%,and you will be critting very regularly with Lava Burst, even at lowlevels of Critical Strike rating on gear.

• Rolling Thunder — is another Mana management talent, butit will also build Lightning Shield charges which can later be used forextra DPS with the Fulmination talent.

• Elemental Oath — increases your damage by 10% while Elemental Focus'sproc is active, and always provides 5% extra critical strike to your raid, makingit one of your raid buffs.

• Lava Flows — increases Lava Burst and Flame Shockdamage and, importantly in PvP, grants you 90% Spell Haste whenever your Flame Shockis dispelled.

• Totemic Wrath — is your other raid buff and grants 10% moreSpell Power to your raid group while you have a Fire Totem active. This is a veryimportant and rare raid buff, with only Demonology Warlocks being able to bringan equivalent one in Demonic Pact.

• Fulmination — makes Earth Shock become a heavy damagehitting ability if you have enough Lightning Shield stacks.

• Elemental Mastery — increases your damage by 15% and Haste by 20%for 15 seconds, and makes your next damage spell instant cast when used. This isa strong DPS cooldown for Elemental.

• Lava Surge — causes your Flame Shock periodicdamage to have a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Lava Burst and makeit instant cast, allowing for more burst damage.

• Feedback — causes your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightningspells to reduce the cooldown of Elemental Mastery by 3 seconds per cast.This will increase your DPS and burst damage capabilities significantly over thecourse of a long fight.

• Totemic Focus — reduces the Mana cost of your totems by30% and, more importantly, increases their duration by 40%. This makes this talenta great quality of life increase, and also a huge damage increase when combinedwith a properly snapshotted Fire Elemental Totem.

Prime glyphs are new to Cataclysm, giving you a third "row" of glyphs you canuse on your character. While there are a couple of different options to choose from,there are some very clear front runners for each specialization.

• Glyph of Lava Burst — a nice passive boost to your Lava Burstdamage.
• Glyph of Unleashed Lightning — is a gameplay-changing glyph thatallows your Lightning Bolt to be cast while moving, drastically increasingyour mobility.
• Glyph of Flame Shock — increases the duration of Flame Shockby a large amount.

Major glyphs typically offer utility-based options and can be highly situational.While there are many different options for Elemental, we will listbelow the ones we find more useful.

• Glyph of Lightning Shield — causes Lightning Shield tono longer go under 3 charges when you are attacked, making it a powerful glyph forsoloing, especially!
• Glyph of Healing Stream Totem — removes the need for using Elemental Resistance Totemby baking its power into Healing Stream Totem.
• Glyph of Chain Lightning — increases the targets hit by Chain Lightningby 2 while decreasing damage taken by the first target, a very worthwhile tradeoff against large clumps of enemies. This can be a good glyph swap in large areadamage scenarios.
• Glyph of Thunder — reduces the cooldown of Thunderstorm,which is of small, but occasional use.

Minor glyphs typically provide very minor benefits. Your choices will typicallydepend on what quality of life increase is the most meaningful for you. We givea few suggestions below.

• Glyph of Water Walking — allows you to cast Water Walkingwithout a reagent, saving gold in the process.
• Glyph of Renewed Life — removes the reagent requirement from Reincarnation, saving some gold over time.
• Glyph of Astral Recall — lowering the cooldown of your Astral Recallallows you to move around more frequently, especially if you have your Hearthstoneat your faction's central hub and all its portals.
• Glyph of Thunderstorm — increases the Mana gained from Thunderstormand removes the knockback, which can be useful if you want the Mana return but donot want the knock.