Review on Elemental Shaman Wotlk Talents

[Ellay]

WoW with a side of WoW!

I don't want to get too excited here but all of the new talents for Shamans are flat out amazing on the Elemental side of things.

Laying out the new ones!

Elemental Oath - after a spell crit it reduces mana cost by 2% and increases critical bonus damage by 2%, stacks up to 3 times - lasts for 15 seconds. With 4 Shaman on a boss fight this is the equivalent of 24% reduced mana cost and 24% increase damage to critical strikes... pretty insane.

Paralysis - Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning gain an additional 10% of your bonus spell damage (more damage is always nice!), and you have a 15% chance of paralyzing the target, reducing their movement/attack/casting speed by 75%, 15% goes away every second for 5 seconds. Basically a mini cripple - but with 4 Shaman on the target it will have a 60% chance of landing. To put this in perspective I use to play 3 Fire Mages and spammed scorch which had a 10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds, needless to say anything I fought felt like it was stun locked

There is a lot of other more insane abilities on the list that come with the expansion - Totem of Wrath will easily fit into a PvP build now. Wrath of Air is an aura with 10% spell haste making it very worthwhile to replace a grounding totem with. So many good things on the horizon, only concern now is to see what actually makes it to live.

[Sina]

Well, just a note of pattern:

Talents and skills that made the beta from alpha in BC went live with very few changes. I am fairly confident that the work on talents and skills are now going to be minor tweaks much like the past 2 beta tests. Most of the changes now are going to be envirmental and events/quests.

[Drizzit]

Wrath of Air is an aura with 10% spell haste making it very worthwhile to replace a grounding totem with

Just wonder if that stacks.... bring 9 sham to a 10 man... lol 90% spell haste... 1 pally 9 sham will rule 10 mans lol

[Ellay]

If it's anything like Paladin Auras which it probably will be, it won't stack.

[blast3r]

I didn't see anything about the Hex spell. They axe it?

http://www.wowwiki.com/Shaman#Hex

Shamans are getting "Hex", a polymorph-like spell on a medium cooldown allowing them to turn an enemy into a frog. The enemy cannot cast or attack but is still in control of his character.[4] It will last 8-10 seconds.

The tooltip show at Blizzcon is several months old and does not reflect the current state of the spell. Hex
100 mana 20 yard 1 min cooldown 0.5 sec cast. Transforms the enemy into a random critter, reducing the targets movement speed by 75%. While moving the hexed target cannot attack or cast spells. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only one target can be hexed at a time. Only works on humanoids and beasts.

[Ellay]

It's still in the game - as far as I've been reading, it's also a sweet additional and have some awesome ideas for it in pvp

[Drizzit]

The best thing is that it is like a fear. You can still attack it, but might break the spell. Talk about healer lock down. But looking at some of the talents form the other classes there is going to be a huge balance issue. I can see a patch each week narfing everything.

[-silencer-]

The best thing is that it is like a fear. You can still attack it, but might break the spell. Talk about healer lock down. But looking at some of the talents form the other classes there is going to be a huge balance issue. I can see a patch each week narfing everything.

Yeah, like fury warriors being able to equip 2hd weapons in 1hd with only a minor (20-28%) attack speed decrease. Or the warlock's Haunt talent.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

The best thing is that it is like a fear. You can still attack it, but might break the spell. Talk about healer lock down. But looking at some of the talents form the other classes there is going to be a huge balance issue. I can see a patch each week narfing everything.

Agreed. They're adding stuns to mages and warriors (frost and prot lines). As much as people hate being CC'd, these changes will be highly controversial, IMO.

Also, to continue on topic:

Lava Burst
655 Mana
30 yd range
2 sec cast
8 sec cooldown

You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 888 to 1132 Fire damage. If Flame Shock is on the target, Lava Burst will consume the Flame Shock, causing Lava Burst to critically hit.

Earthliving Weapon90 Mana
Instant cast
Requires Melee Weapon
Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by 26 and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additional 360 over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.

Looking pretty nifty, if I do say so myself.

[Drizzit]

like fury warriors being able to equip 2hd weapons in 1hd with only a minor (20-28%) attack speed decrease

I wonder if you can equip 2 2hd weapons. I bet you can because i fury war is all about dps, why would you want a shield? Or you can have 1 2hd and 1 1hd weapon... either way it is still insane. With all these killer talents make me wonder how 10/25 raids will be.