WoW Elemental Shaman guide: Shadowlands covenant, races, talents, stats
Blizzard EntertainmentFor those interested in taking a walk on the spiritual side of World of Warcraft while dealing some big damage, WoW’s Elemental Shaman class is your best bet.
World of Warcraft’s ever-expanding universe is filled to the brim with a whole host of different races and classes for you to sink your teeth into.
One of these is the Shaman, a caster with an affinity for nature and the ability to communicate with spirits from far beyond the veil.
The most popular build path for these mysterious spell slingers is the Elemental DPS one, and we’ve put together a guide on how to become the best Elemental Shaman the world has ever seen.
Contents
- What is the Elemental Shaman in WoW?
- Best race
- Talents build
- Best stats
- WoW Shadowlands: Best Covenant
Blizzard EntertainmentWhat is the Elemental Shaman in WoW?
One of the best things about playing a Shaman is the variety of different paths you can choose to go down, depending on your preferred playstyle. There’s Restoration Shaman for support-centric players or the Enhancement Shaman who fancies a bit of both worlds. Our focus here, though, is the Elemental Shaman.
With the power to bend the elements to their will, the Elemental Shaman is a long-range DPS that focuses on bursting down targets with direct hits and AoE damage.
Best races for Elemental Shaman in World of Warcraft
If you choose to traverse this devastating path, you’ll be able to do so as one of these races:
| Race | DPS |
| Dwarf | 10,465 |
| Tauren | 10,460 |
| Draenei | 10,421 |
| Goblin | 10,413 |
| Orc | 10,407 |
| Kul Tiran | 10,405 |
| Highmountain Tauren | 10,396 |
| Pandaren | 10,394 |
| Dark Iron Dwarf | 10,393 |
| Troll | 10,393 |
| Zandalari Troll Kimbul | 10,380 |
| Zandalari Troll Paku | 10,374 |
| Zandalari Troll Bwonsamdi | 10,373 |
| Mag’har Orc | 10,357 |
| Vulpera | 10,310 |
As you can see, there’s very little difference between the top-performing races and the bottom ones, but if you’re truly looking to maximize that overall damage output, choose Dwarf if playing Alliance, and Tauren for Horde.
However, because the difference is truly minimal, don’t feel as if you’re unable to roll with a race that you feel most comfortable with, or the one that you think fits your personality or character fantasy best.
Blizzard EntertainmentBest Talents for Elemental Shaman
As you progress throughout your WoW journey, you’ll very quickly start acquiring a whole host of new traits which, in turn, influence how you play out the game.
The generic best talent path that we’d recommend for the Elemental Shaman is:
| Talent | Level Acquired | Description |
| Echo of the Elementals | 15 | Lava Burst now has 2 charges. Effects that reset its remaining cooldown will instead grant 1 charge. |
| Elemental Blast | 25 |
Harnesses the raw power of the elements, dealing (140% of Spell power) Elemental damage and increasing your Critical Strike or Haste by 3% or Mastery by 5.625% for 10 sec.
|
| Spirit Wolf | 30 | While transformed into a Ghost Wolf, you gain 5% increased movement speed and 5% damage reduction every 1 sec, stacking up to 4 times. |
| Master of the Elements | 35 | Casting Lava Burst increases the damage of your next Nature, Physical, or Frost spell by 20%. |
| Nature’s Guardian | 40 | When your health is brought below 35%, you instantly heal for 20% of your maximum health. Cannot occur more than once every 45 sec. |
| Primal Elementalist | 45 | Your Earth, Fire, and Storm Elementals are drawn from primal elementals 80% more powerful than regular elementals, with additional abilities, and you gain direct control over them. |
| Stormkeeper | 50 | Charge yourself with lightning, causing your next 2 Lightning Bolts to deal 150% more damage, and also causes your next 2 Lightning Bolts or Chain Lightnings to be instant cast and trigger an Elemental Overload on every target. |
If you’re expecting to go up against enemies that do AoE or Cleave damage, we suggest swapping out Elemental Blast for Aftershock ( which gives Earth Shock and Earthquake a 25% chance to refund all Maelstrom) to make sure you’re always able to keep doing damage from afar.
Elemental Shaman: best stats to level
As soon as you start accumulating more and more items, it becomes pretty easy to get overwhelmed with all of the different buffs that accompany them.
For Elemental Shaman, the attributes you want to focus on maximizing are your Mastery, Haste, Versatility, and Critical Strike.
Mastery allows your spells to generate extra maelstrom, as well as doing some additional damage on the side, while Haste allows you to fire these devastating blasts off much more quickly.
Versatility and Critical Strike provide great buffs to your damage output, with Critical Strike also reducing the amount of damage that you take.
Blizzard EntertainmentElemental Shaman: best Covenant in WoW Shadowlands
With the introduction of WoW Shadowlands came the Covenant system. Each player has to select one of the game’s four different sects to join, each of which has added benefits for different players.
For Elemental Shaman, we recommend either joining the Necrolord or Night Fae Covenants:
- Necrolord Shaman Ability: Fae Transfusion – Transfers life force of enemies in a targeted area and deals damage.
- Night Fae Shaman Ability: Primordial Wave – Heals allies or deals damage and applies Flame Shock to enemies.
- Flame Shock sears the target with fire, causing Fire damage and additional fire damage over 18 sec.
Of these two, we recommend the Necrolord Covenant, as combined with the signature ability (absorption shield equal to 20-50% of your maximum health), it gives you a good balance between causing chaos and taking any attacks in your stride.
So that’s it for Elemental Shamans in WoW! If you’re looking to charge into the fray, this guide has everything you know to make a good start.
For more tips and tricks to help you become the best adventurer that Azeroth has ever seen, check out our other guides:
How to level up fast | The best expansion to level through | New player guide for WoW Shadowlands: tips and tricks | 5 best addons, ranked | Top 5 best races for classes in WoW Shadowlands | WoW Zandalari Troll Guide | How to get & upgrade Heirlooms in WoW Shadowlands