Elemental Shaman DPS Artifact Talents/Traits and Relics (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Priority List
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Ascendance Build
    • 2.2. Lightning Rod Build
    • 2.3. Icefury Build
    • 2.4. Mythic+
    • 2.5. Lightning Rod Build
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• ×Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
    • 1.4. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 2. Relic Choice
    • 2.1. Ascendance Build
    • 2.2. Lightning Rod Build
    • 2.3. Icefury Build
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
    • 1.1. Single Target Rotation - Ascendance Build
    • 1.2. Single Target Rotation - Lightning Rod Build
    • 1.3. Single Target Rotation - Icefury Build
    • 1.4. Multiple Target Rotation
      • 1.4.1. 2 Targets
      • 1.4.2. 3 Targets
      • 1.4.3. 4 Targets
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Stormkeeper
    • 2.2. Lava Burst and Flame Shock
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Maelstrom Management
    • 3.2. Cooldown Usage
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
    • 4.1. Icefury Opener
    • 4.2. Ascendance Opener
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Odyn
  • 2. Guarm
  • 3. Helya
  • 4. Nythendra
  • 5. Ursoc
  • 6. Elerethe Renferal
  • 7. Dragons of Nightmare
  • 8. Il'gynoth, Heart of Corruption
  • 9. Cenarius
  • 10. Xavius
  • 11. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Icefury Build
    • 1.2. Ascendance Build
    • 1.3. Lightning Rod
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Why is Mastery Good in Patch 7.1.5?
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Critical Strike vs Mastery
  • 2. Gems
  • 3. Enchants
  • 4. Consumables
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Shamans
    • 2.2. Wind Shear
    • 2.3. Purge
    • 2.4. Macros for Elemental Shamans
      • 2.4.1. Mouseouver Earthquake
      • 2.4.2. Stopcast Gust of Wind
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonus
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket Notes
  • 3. Legendaries
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

This page shows you how to level up the Artifact and how to choose the right Relics for your Elemental Shamans. It is updated for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5.

The other pages of our Elemental Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewers

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been written in collaboration with the team at Storm Earth and Lava, a group of Elemental theorycrafters that includes top players and prominent theorycrafters such as Stormy, Sadozai from Wizards IRL, and Gistwiki from Indestructible.

1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points

1.1. Early Point Investment

After acquiring the initial Surge of Power, take the high road into Firestorm for some juicy Flame Shock damage. Elementalist is a great point, especially on fights where it will allow an extra usage of Fire Elemental. Go through Protection of the Elements and into Molten Blast for the Lava Burst Critical Strike. Grab your first Golden Trait, Power of the Maelstrom, which is a nice boost to your sustained single target damage. Swing back from Protection of the Elements and invest into Static Overload for the single point.

1.2. Second Golden Trait

Head down into Lava Imbued for some sweet, sweet Lava Burst damage and follow the left path into Call the Thunder. The Nature damage is very nice overall, and it leads into our second Golden Trait, Fury of the Storms. This adds a nice little bit of extra burst to your Stormkeeper once a minute.

1.3. Final Point Investment

Head upwards from Molten Blast into The Ground Trembles, a great point for dungeons and Mythic+. Earthen Attunement gives you some more nuke damage on Earth Shock and acquire your final Golden Trait, Volcanic Inferno, which adds some nice passive cleave to your kit.

Finally, take Electric Discharge for the damage to Chain Lightning. This trait can be taken much earlier if Mythic+ dungeons are your primary focus, but does not have great value for raids. Grab the extra overload from Master of the Elements before filling out your last point, Shamanistic Healing. If you ever feel fragile you can skill 1 point into Shamanistic Healing for the proc itself earlier in the progression, whenever you feel the defensive utility is necessary, and finish it after the rest of your points are completed.

1.4. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path

Patch 7.2 has replaced the 35-54 Paragon system with several additional new traits becoming available upon acquisition of the 35th point. All of the previous Relic traits will also unlock a 4th rank, along with a new Paragon system becoming available after all traits have been filled (via Concordance of the Legionfall) which all additional Artifact Power will be spent on.

Detailed below is our suggested maxing order after 35 traits:

1. Power of the Earthen Ring
2. Elemental Destabilization
3. Swelling Maelstrom
4. Seismic Storm
5. Fourth rank of Lava Imbued
6. Fourth rank of Firestorm
7. Fourth rank of Molten Blast
8. Fourth rank of Call the Thunder
9. Fourth rank of Earthen Attunement
10. Fourth rank of Electric Discharge
11. Fourth rank of The Ground Trembles
12. Fourth rank of Protection of the Elements
13. Fourth rank of Shamanistic Healing
14. Concordance of the Legionfall

2. Relic Choice

Elemental Destabilization is the best Relic for all builds.

2.1. Ascendance Build

1. +3 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 4.5% DPS increase;
2. Elemental Destabilization - 3.4% DPS increase;
3. +2 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 3.0% DPS increase;
4. Lava Imbued - 2.3% DPS increase;
5. Molten Blast - 1.7% DPS increase;
6. Firestorm - 1.6% DPS increase;
7. +1 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 1.5% DPS increase;
8. Earthen Attunement - 1.5% DPS increase;
9. Call the Thunder - 1.2% DPS increase.

2.2. Lightning Rod Build

1. +3 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 4.3% DPS increase;
2. Elemental Destabilization - 3.1% DPS increase;
3. +2 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 2.9% DPS increase;
4. Lava Imbued - 1.7% DPS increase;
5. Firestorm - 1.6% DPS increase;
6. Earthen Attunement - 1.5% DPS increase;
7. Call the Thunder - 1.5% DPS increase;
8. +1 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 1.4% DPS increase;
9. Molten Blast - 1.2% DPS increase./li>

2.3. Icefury Build

1. +3 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 4.3% DPS increase;
2. Elemental Destabilization - 3.1% DPS increase;
3. +2 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 2.9% DPS increase;
4. Lava Imbued - 1.7% DPS increase;
5. Firestorm - 1.6% DPS increase;
6. +1 Weapon Item Level (regardless of trait) - 1.4% DPS increase;
7. Molten Blast - 1.1% DPS increase;/li>
8. Earthen Attunement - 1.0% DPS increase;
9. Call the Thunder - 1.0% DPS increase.

3. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 22 Jun. 2017: Added Lightning Rod relics, updated Ascendance/Icefurty relics.
• 27 Mar. 2017: Added new path for Patch 7.2 traits.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Updated Relic priority and leading talent builds.
• 01 Dec. 2016: Split Relic choice section into two separate sections to account for leading talent builds.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Added