Reflections on Elemental Shaman in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

Greetings adventurers! Today we have an insightful blog post from WowCarry, our Elemental Shaman Writer, HawkCorrigan. In this post, HawkCorrigan takes us on a journey through the world of Elemental Shamans in the Dragonflight expansion and shares some thoughts on what they hope to see in the upcoming expansion, The War Within. Join us as we explore the evolution of the Elemental spec and analyze its performance and design in Dragonflight.

Elemental in Dragonflight: A Retrospective

After nearly two years, it's time to take a deep dive into the Elemental Shaman experience in Dragonflight. Let's compare it to previous iterations of the spec and evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, and lessons learned. We'll explore the new talent system, the impact of removing "borrowed power" systems, and some of the challenges faced by Elemental Shamans in this expansion.

In Dragonflight, the talent system underwent significant changes, which affected the playstyle and choices available to Elemental Shamans. Tier sets, which previously focused on either Lava Burst or Lightning Bolt, divided the player base and limited gameplay decisions. This has led to frustration with the lack of impactful gameplay moments and diminished the overall power of spenders. Additionally, spenders lack visual impact outside of the Elemental Blast spell.

Another aspect that influenced Elemental Shamans' performance in Dragonflight was the stat distribution and the introduction of the Mountains Will Fall talent. While efforts were made to address the spec's issues with utilizing Mastery, it was only partially successful. Mastery remains situational and primarily used in Single Target builds focusing on Lava Burst. On the other hand, Crit performs poorly with these builds but excels in AoE situations.

The Call for Utility and Defensives

One area where Elemental Shamans lag behind is in unique utility and raid buffs. Since the addition of Hunter's Mark's damage effect, Restoration and Elemental Shamans are the only remaining specs without any Party or Raid Buffs. Furthermore, the value of our Bloodlust has decreased significantly in Mythic+ content, where Augmentation's prevalence renders it less impactful.

Defensively, Elemental Shamans face challenges despite the popularity of Protection Paladins and Augmentation Evokers. The removal of Harden Skin and the nerfs to Ancestral Guidance have left Elemental with only Astral Shift and Earth Elemental, making it one of the weakest defense toolkits among all specs.

Analyzing the Balance of the Elements

The Elemental spec is known for its builder-spender mechanics, utilizing spells like Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt to generate Maelstrom, which is then spent on powerful abilities like Earth Shock and Elemental Blast. However, the current design has resulted in a split among players, with some feeling that spenders lack impact and the overall rotation feels dull.

Seasonal changes in Dragonflight have further exacerbated this issue, with different tier sets and talents dictating which spells are most prominent in the rotation. This has led to a lack of consistency and confusion among players, as the spec has flip-flopped between different rotational approaches.

The Influence of Randomness and Skill Expression

There is a common belief that Elemental Shamans' damage heavily relies on luck or RNG. While some talents can lead to feast or famine gameplay, data analysis shows that Elemental Shamans fall in the middle regarding variance. However, the removal of decision-making elements and simplified rotations in certain seasons have reduced the impact of player skill, leaving performance heavily reliant on random procs and raid DPS optimization.

Build Consistency and Downsides

Elemental Shamans face unique challenges when it comes to talent requirements for specific fight styles. Unlike most other specs, Elemental Shamans constantly find themselves making trade-offs to optimize their damage output. These trade-offs often lead to a roughly 10% loss in Single Target damage in exchange for improved AoE performance.

Furthermore, Elemental Shamans struggle to compete with other specs in terms of damage output, especially when it comes to scaling in different target counts. The lack of relevant raid buffs and utility, coupled with limited damage potential beyond a certain number of targets, places Elemental Shamans at a disadvantage in raid and Mythic+ content.

The Underutilized Utility Toolbox

When Dragonflight introduced an array of potential utility talents for Elemental Shamans, there was hope that they would have a meaningful impact in group content. However, most of these utility spells, apart from Poison Cleansing Totem, have failed to feel impactful or relevant. Spells like Mana Spring and Stoneskin Totem have fallen out of favor due to significant nerfs, leaving Elemental Shamans with limited options for group support.

Furthermore, Elemental Shamans often find themselves overshadowed by other classes that bring similar utility spells but in more effective versions. This lack of impactful utility has left Elemental Shamans feeling neglected and less desirable in group compositions.

The Cry for Attention

The Elemental Shaman community is frustrated with the lack of attention from Blizzard. While other classes received reworks and updates in Dragonflight, Elemental Shamans remained in a stagnant position. Hearing that The War Within would not feature any reworks further adds to the disappointment. Several key issues the spec faces cannot be addressed without significant changes to the talent tree, and the lack of reworks in the expansion raises concerns about the future of Elemental Shaman.

Looking Ahead

With The War Within on the horizon, there is a call for the developers to address the fundamental issues that plague Elemental Shamans. A clear plan is needed to provide a consistent vision for the spec's design, emphasizing its unique aspects and interconnecting the different Elements within the rotation. The talent tree also needs to be re-evaluated to prevent unnecessary complexity and ensure that each talent choice has a meaningful impact.

In addition, the scaling of damage between different target counts should be reexamined to allow Elemental Shamans to excel in both Single Target and AoE scenarios. The lack of relevant raid buffs, utility spells, and defensives also requires attention to elevate Elemental Shamans from feeling like a liability in group content.

We hope that Blizzard takes these concerns to heart and implements the necessary changes to revitalize the Elemental Shaman experience in The War Within. Stay tuned for more updates on the spec as we eagerly await the expansion's release!

About the Author - HawkCorrigan

Our author, HawkCorrigan, is an experienced Elemental Shaman player on Draenor. They have devoted their time to mastering the spec and are actively involved in assisting other players in the Elemental Shaman community through platforms like the Earthshrine Discord and Simulationcraft. As one of the active maintainers for Storm, Earth, and Lava, HawkCorrigan continues to contribute to the advancement of the spec. Follow them on their journey and stay connected with the latest Elemental Shaman updates!

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