Elemental Shaman Guide: Midnight Season 2 Builds and Rotation

This Elemental Shaman guide covers Midnight Season 2 on patch 12.1.5: Farseer vs Stormbringer, the talent choices that matter, both openers, single-target and AoE priorities, stats, gear and trinkets, the dungeon-by-dungeon utility swaps for Mythic+, and how Elemental does in PvP. Blizzard's October 27 class tuning didn't change Elemental (Icy Veins hotfix summary). Builds and priorities follow Icy Veins' Elemental Shaman guide and Method, cited inline.

Quick summary

• Farseer is the hero tree. Icy Veins calls it "uncontested" in Season 2: better in raid on everything and ahead in Mythic+, especially on smaller pulls.
• Keep Flame Shock up. It boosts most of your damage by 10% through Inferno Arc, procs Lava Surge, and makes Lava Burst always crit (Icy Veins).
• Burst together: Stormkeeper, Ancestral Swiftness, then Ascendance with on-use trinkets, Bloodlust and Light's Potential.
• Stats: Mastery > Haste > Crit > Versatility on Icy Veins. Method has Haste roughly equal to Crit for Farseer.
• In Mythic+ Elemental wins with utility. Use the dungeon-by-dungeon swap table below.

Elemental Shaman strengths and weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Strong multi-target burst and sustained damage (Icy Veins M+ page)	"Mediocre mobility" with few instant spells (Icy Veins)
Big utility kit: Wind Shear, Capacitor Totem, Thunderstorm, Poison Cleansing Totem, Purge, Cleanse Spirit	Maelstrom overcapping wastes damage, especially with Stormbringer
Crits hit very hard thanks to Elemental Fury, Primordial Fury and Feedback Loop (Method)	Damage depends on lining up Ascendance and Stormkeeper
Farseer is "easier to play" than Stormbringer	The 12.1 Elemental Overload nerf made Mastery less dominant

Elemental is one of the three DPS specs that define top-end Mythic+ right now: it appeared in 86.5% of the world's top 2,000 timed keys on October 28 (Raider.IO), alongside Subtlety Rogue and Arms Warrior. Our Mythic+ tier list compares it with other key specs.

Best Elemental Shaman build: Farseer or Stormbringer

Content	Pick	Why (Icy Veins)
Raid	Farseer on everything	"Simply performing much better"
Mythic+	Farseer	Ahead overall, especially at lower keys and smaller pulls. Stormbringer only competes with heavy mass AoE
Delves	Farseer Delve build	Leaves out Primordial Bond so Earth Elemental tanks, and adds Healing Stream Totem, Capacitor Totem and Wind Shear
You enjoy the style	Stormbringer	More complex, less mobile and lower damage across the board

Icy Veins provides import codes for Farseer Single Target, Farseer Mythic+ and Farseer Delves. Paste them with the in-game import button. Its class trees deliberately leave out some utility, such as Purge, so add it per dungeon using the table later in this guide.

Choose Elemental Blast or Earth Shock

Icy Veins says Elemental Blast is "much more damage," but it costs mobility. If Earth Shock feels better, the loss is "only" about 5% at most. Start with Elemental Blast on stationary bosses. Switch to Earth Shock if you're dropping casts on movement-heavy fights.

Pick Earthquake's version

Icy Veins prefers the area-targeted Earthquake and recommends an @cursor macro so you aren't placing it by hand every time.

Take every point of the apex talent

Feedback Loop is Elemental's apex talent. Icy Veins calls its ranks "absolutely mandatory picks in every circumstance":

1. Elemental Overload damage increased by 35%.
2. Spell crit chance +5% or +10%, and Elemental Fury adds 25% or 50% more crit damage.
3. Elemental Overloads have a 25% chance to cause another Overload, once per cast.

It doesn't change your rotation. You get slightly more Maelstrom, and Mastery becomes more valuable.

Omnium Folio

Icy Veins says the Folio runes are "fairly weak" and can be swapped any time, so you can't make a permanent mistake. Use our Omnium Folio guide for the full rune list.

Elemental Shaman opener

Single-target opener (Icy Veins):

1. Cast Stormkeeper about 3 seconds before the pull.
2. Cast Lava Burst about 1.5 seconds before the pull so it lands right after.
3. Use Ancestral Swiftness.
4. Cast Ascendance with on-use trinkets and Light's Potential.
5. Cast Lightning Bolt.
6. Cast Tempest.
7. Cast Lava Burst.
8. Continue the priority and cast Elemental Blast as early as possible.

Multi-target opener: Stormkeeper, then Ancestral Swiftness, then Voltaic Blaze, then Ascendance with trinkets and Light's Potential. After that, follow the AoE priority.

Elemental Shaman rotation: single target

Icy Veins' Farseer list, condensed. Skip lines for talents you don't have.

1. Stormkeeper. Hold it if Ascendance is coming soon and cast it one or two GCDs before. Don't delay it more than about 10 seconds.
2. Ancestral Swiftness.
3. Ascendance, synced with on-use trinkets, Bloodlust and Light's Potential.
4. Flame Shock if Fire Elemental fades within 3 seconds, or when Flame Shock has 6 seconds or less left. Voltaic Blaze follows the same 6-second rule.
5. Elemental Blast or Earth Shock when you have both 4-piece buffs, Flowing Elements and Overcharge.
6. Lava Burst if Flame Shock is up, it won't overcap Maelstrom, and Master of the Elements isn't up.
7. Tempest or a Stormkeeper-empowered Lightning Bolt with Master of the Elements.
8. Earth Shock or Elemental Blast.
9. Tempest.
10. Lava Burst only with Flame Shock up. Never hardcast it without Lava Surge as filler.
11. Lightning Bolt as filler.

Example. Flame Shock has 5 seconds left. Icy Veins explains that Pandemic lets you refresh with up to 30% of the duration left. A refresh at 5 seconds adds 18 seconds, for 23 total, and Fire Elemental doubles these numbers. Use the refresh as your instant cast while moving.

Elemental Shaman AoE rotation

4 or more targets (Icy Veins):

1. Stormkeeper, Ancestral Swiftness, Voltaic Blaze on cooldown, and Ascendance with trinkets and Bloodlust.
2. Elemental Blast on a target without Lightning Rod if you have no Elemental Blast buff and 1 or fewer Tempest stacks.
3. Earthquake at 1 or fewer Tempest stacks.
4. Tempest at 2 stacks if you have fewer than 4 Stormkeeper stacks.
5. Chain Lightning with Stormkeeper if it won't overcap Maelstrom.
6. Elemental Blast if no Ancestors are up and there are 5 or fewer targets. Otherwise, Earthquake.
7. Earthquake, then Tempest, then Lava Burst (ideally on a Lava Surge proc) to consume Purging Flames, then Chain Lightning.

Exactly 3 targets: the same cooldown opening. Keep one Flame Shock up, alternate Elemental Blast on targets without Lightning Rod, and use Earthquake when Ancestors are up.

Exactly 2 targets: play close to single target. Refresh Flame Shock on both targets when Fire Elemental will fade within 5 seconds. Use Earthquake when Ancestors are up and Earth Shock otherwise, and switch targets between spenders if you use Lightning Rod.

Target thresholds (Icy Veins FAQ):

Question	Answer
When to use Chain Lightning over Lightning Bolt	Always in multi-target. The exception is Stormbringer on 2 targets with Stormkeeper
When Earthquake beats Earth Shock (Farseer)	2+ stacked targets that live the full duration, if any Ancestors are up
When Earthquake beats Elemental Blast	With no Ancestors up, at 5 or fewer targets. At 6 or more, stop using Elemental Blast
Flame Shock on how many targets	Voltaic Blaze on cooldown. Without it, one Flame Shock with 3 or fewer targets

AoE caps: Meteor hits up to 8 targets, Earthquake soft-caps at 20, and Stormfury has no cap but loses damage beyond 5.

Manage Maelstrom, tier set and cooldowns

• Don't overcap Maelstrom. Icy Veins' example: if Lava Burst would overcap you with more than 8 extra Maelstrom, an Overload proc will likely be wasted. Cast generators at lower Maelstrom than the strict limit.
• 2-piece: spenders hit harder, with no rotation change.
• 4-piece: grants builder stacks (up to 4) and spender charges. Icy Veins reports it "has several bugs." It only procs after both cooldowns fade when you use them together, and spender charges can be overwritten. Spend Flowing Elements and Overcharge charges before they're replaced.
• Cooldowns: plan Ascendance and Stormkeeper around Bloodlust or Heroism timing, intermissions, forced movement and add spawns (Icy Veins).
• Movement: Spiritwalker's Grace (15 seconds, 19 with Farseer, plus 20% speed), Gust of Wind or Spirit Walk, Wind Rush Totem, and Ghost Wolf with Thunderous Paws.

Elemental Shaman stat priority, gems and enchants

Source	Stat order	Notes
Icy Veins	Int > Mastery > Haste > Crit > Vers	Mastery soft cap 86% with Elemental Blast, 76% with Root Warden's Regalia
Method (Farseer)	Mastery > Haste ≥ Crit > Vers	12.1 Overload nerfs made Mastery "less valuable than it has been historically"
Method (Stormbringer)	Mastery > Crit > Haste > Vers	Crit gets extra value from Farseer's Ancestral Spirits

Icy Veins: "Having 150 of your worst stat is often better than having 100 of your best stat." Item level usually wins. Diminishing returns start at 1,380 rating for Mastery and Crit, 1,320 for Haste, and 1,620 for Versatility.

Gems (Icy Veins): one Powerful Eversong Diamond, one dual-stat gem of each color aimed at your weakest secondary, then Flawless Masterful Peridot in every other socket.

Slot	Icy Veins	Method
Weapon	Rite of the Hash'ey	Rite of the Hash'ey
Chest	Mark of the Worldsoul	Mark of the Worldsoul
Legs	Sunfire Silk Spellthread	Sunfire Silk Spellthread
Rings	Eyes of the Eagle	Eyes of the Eagle
Helm	Empowered Blessing of Speed or Empowered Rune of Avoidance	Rune of Avoidance
Shoulders	Akil'zon's Swiftness or Amirdrassil's Grace	Amirdrassil's Grace
Boots	Farstrider's Hunt or Lynx's Dexterity	Lynx's Dexterity

Consumables: Flask of the Magisters if you lack Mastery, or Flask of the Shattered Sun if you lack Crit. Light's Potential (or Potion of Recklessness) during Bloodlust with Ascendance. Silvermoon Parade or Harandar Celebration feasts. Concentrated Silvermoon Health Potion. Thalassian Phoenix Oil if you don't use Flametongue Weapon. Optionally Void-Touched Augment Rune and Vantus Rune: Radiant.

Races (Method): Tauren or Dwarf for their crit damage passives, and Dwarf adds Stoneform. Method says the difference is "incredibly minor."

Elemental Shaman BiS gear, best weapon and trinkets

Season 2's tier set is the Ophidian Oracle set, obtained through the Catalyst. Icy Veins' overall best-in-slot list includes Aqirbane Reliquary (neck, Ula'tek), Serpentine Mixing Belt (Vashnik), Silken Voodoo Drape (Coiled Altar), Ferocious Scaleboots (Sszorak) and the Apex Brute's Claw ring. It calls the Awoken Dreadfang Cuirass "very important."

Voidcore plan (Icy Veins): Nebulous Voidcores are an alternative Great Vault reward from the second Vault of the season. Orin Straylight near the Catalyst in Silvermoon also gives one extra Voidcore each week starting with 12.1.5.

1. Weeks 1 to 3: use bonus rolls on Heroic Ula'tek with your loot specialization set to Restoration. This removes a mediocre trinket from the pool and guarantees all three best-in-slot items from that boss.
2. Bonus-roll priority: Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang, then Venomcursed items (Aqirbane Reliquary, Awoken Dreadfang Cuirass), then Twisted Horror's Tendril or Gebbo's Bottomless Bag, then the rest of the list starting with helm and legs.
3. Ascendant Venomstones go to weapon, then on-use trinket, then passive trinket, then necklace. Ten stones raise a fully upgraded Myth-track piece from 334 to 340 (Method's Venomstone guide). Mythic Coiled Altar and Ula'tek loot already reaches 344 and can't take them.

Best weapon: Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang from Ula'tek is first on Icy Veins' bonus-roll list. Outside the raid, Icy Veins says Altar of Fangs has two good weapons. Spend crests weapon first, then off-hand, trinkets, and the big armor slots.

See our Great Vault guide.

Tier	Trinkets
S	Twisted Horror's Tendril, Gebbo's Bottomless Bag, Freightrunner's Flask, Wavecaller's Seastone, Vile Vial of Volatile Venom. Any S pair except two on-use trinkets
A	Fang of Umbral Malignance (stacked adds), Vexhul's Everflowing Gland (M+), Lightspire Core (only if you can stand in the beam), Stormbound Emblem of Dazar
B	Hex Lord's Dooming Idol, Glorious Crusader's Keepsake (best from Delves), Drum of Renewed Bonds, Knot of Writhing Serpents
C	Ruby Whelp Shell, Font of Venomous Rage, Sapling of the Dawnroot, Mindpiercer's Sigil

Farm these dungeons: Altar of Fangs (two good weapons and your best trinkets), Murder Row (a top trinket and good jewelry), and Voidscar Arena and Temple of Sethraliss. If a craft fills a gap faster, see our crafted gear guide.

Elemental Shaman in Mythic+: utility swaps per dungeon

Icy Veins' M+ habits: pool Maelstrom near the end of each pull, don't waste Earthquake or cooldowns on dying packs, and weave in Capacitor Totem. Use a focus Wind Shear macro: /cast [@focus,exists,nodead][@mouseover,exists,nodead][] Wind Shear.

Dungeon	Utility to take (Icy Veins cheat sheet)
Altar of Fangs	Poison Cleansing Totem for Mass Envenom (interrupt first). Wind Rush Totem with Jet Stream for Paralyzing Shots
Den of Nalorakk	Spirit Walk for Glacial Tomb. Cleanse Spirit for Insatiable Hunger. Poison Cleansing Totem for Toxic Spores at The Hoardmonger. Purge for Healing Breeze
King's Rest	Purge for Bind Soul and Unholy Mending in the gauntlet. Earthgrab Totem on Animated Gold. Cleanse Spirit for Hex Volley and Hex
Murder Row	Cleanse Spirit for Curse of Doom. Poison Cleansing Totem for Heartstop Poison (Zaen Bladesorrow). Tremor Totem for Seduction, as a last resort
Ruby Life Pools	Purge for Blaze of Glory and Stormcloud Barrier. Wind Rush Totem with Jet Stream for Cold Claws stacks
Temple of Sethraliss	Thunderstorm for A Knot of Snakes, Arrow Barrage and Faithless Tormentors. Poison Cleansing Totem for Poison Spit. Cleanse Spirit for Addle Mind
Blinding Vale	Spirit Walk for Bloodthorn Roots (Ikuzz). Poison Cleansing Totem for Toxic Spew
Voidscar Arena	Poison Cleansing Totem for Poison Splash (Atroxus)

Example. On a Devour week in Den of Nalorakk, take Cleanse Spirit for both the affix and Insatiable Hunger, and Poison Cleansing Totem for The Hoardmonger. Icy Veins notes that Cleanse Spirit helps with Devour. Our Season 2 dungeon guide covers routes and rewards, and the interrupt coordination guide helps assign kicks.

Elemental Shaman in PvP

Elemental is C tier on our Midnight PvP tier list. On Murlok's October 28 ladders it's 15th of 27 DPS specs in Solo Shuffle, 16th in 3v3, 24th in 2v2 and 10th in Battleground Blitz, so Blitz is its best bracket. It wins 49.8% of Shuffle rounds on ArenaCoach's ladder. The October 27 PvP hotfixes buffed Restoration Shaman totems but left Elemental unchanged. Its PvP value is utility: Purge, Wind Shear, Capacitor Totem and Thunderstorm to peel melee off you.

Common Elemental Shaman mistakes

1. Letting Flame Shock fall off. It powers Inferno Arc, Lava Surge procs and guaranteed Lava Burst crits (Icy Veins).
2. Hardcasting Lava Burst without Flame Shock up. Icy Veins says only cast it with Flame Shock active.
3. Overcapping Maelstrom, especially as Stormbringer.
4. Splitting Stormkeeper and Ascendance. Your damage depends on lining them up with trinkets and Bloodlust.
5. Wasting Earthquake or cooldowns on dying packs in Mythic+ (Icy Veins).

Boosted, returning and alt players

• Returning players: Lava Burst damage now scales with crit chance (Method), and 12.1 nerfed Elemental Overload. Re-sim before you re-gem.
• Boosted or catch-up characters: take any upgrade with higher item level. Icy Veins says quantity of stats usually beats the "right" stats.
• Alts: use the Farseer Mythic+ import for everything until you raid, then switch to the single-target code.

Other Season 2 spec guides: Restoration Shaman if you want to heal on the same character, plus Devourer Demon Hunter and Retribution Paladin. More Midnight guides are on the World of Warcraft hub.

Want a hand with this?

If you would rather not grind this part yourself, World of Warcraft coaching services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Blizzard's End User License Agreement before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

FAQ

Is Elemental Shaman good in Midnight Season 2? Yes in Mythic+, where it appeared in 86.5% of the world's top 2,000 timed keys on October 28 (Raider.IO). It's weaker in PvP, where it's C tier on our list.

Farseer or Stormbringer for Elemental? Farseer. Icy Veins calls it uncontested in raid and ahead in Mythic+. Play Stormbringer only if you prefer it.

What is the Elemental Shaman stat priority? Icy Veins: Intellect > Mastery > Haste > Crit > Versatility. Method's Farseer order is Mastery > Haste ≥ Crit > Versatility.

Is there a Mastery cap for Elemental? Mastery hard-caps at 100%. Icy Veins suggests a soft cap of 86% with Elemental Blast and 76% with Root Warden's Regalia.

What is the best weapon for Elemental Shaman? Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang from Ula'tek tops Icy Veins' bonus-roll list. Without the raid, Altar of Fangs drops two good weapons.

What are the best Elemental Shaman trinkets? Icy Veins' S tier: Twisted Horror's Tendril, Gebbo's Bottomless Bag, Freightrunner's Flask, Wavecaller's Seastone and Vile Vial of Volatile Venom.

Related guides

• Midnight PvP tier list
• Altar of Fangs Mythic+ guide
• Midnight Restoration Shaman guide
• WoW Mythic+ tier list
• Midnight Great Vault guide