Elemental Shaman DPS Stat Priority — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, you will find out the optimal stat priority for your Elemental Shaman. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations. Our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Elemental Shaman stat priority.
The Basics of Stats for Elemental Shaman
Intelligence is your most important stat. This means you should most of the time equip your highest item level gear and sim yourself from there for adjustments that will be specific to your gear.
Note that in some extreme cases, stacking too much of one stat can lead to significant diminishing returns beyond the usual relative values.
For exact ratios, this will vary depending on your talents and other factors. To obtain the exact relative values for your character, we recommend simming your character.
Ideal Secondary Stats Spread for Elemental Shamans
Out of 100% of your secondary stats you should have a spread of:
- 45% into Mastery;
- 30% into Haste;
- 25% into Critical Strike;
- As little Versatility as possible.
When close to reaching BiS item level, you will have around 40,000 secondary stats. This means that you should have around:
- 18,000 Mastery
- 12,000 Haste
- 10,000 Critical Strike
Note that you will always have some Versatility because of the Tier Set. The least Versatility you can have with an ideal BiS setup is 519 from 639 Tier Shoulders and 147 from a Versatility gem to empower your Blasphemite.
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
The gems, enchants, and consumables you will use are directly derived from your stat priority, and you can find our advice on this topic in our dedicated page.
These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.
Statistics Explanations for Elemental Shaman
Mastery, through Mastery: Elemental Overload, increases all your Elemental and Physical damage done and causes some of your spells to have a chance to deal additional damage and generate extra Maelstrom. Note that with the Mountains Will Fall talent, your Mastery will apply to your spenders, making Mastery more valuable.
Haste increases the speed of your casts as well as the tick rate of your damage-over-time effects.
Critical Strike increases the damage of your spells. Worth noting that Elemental Shaman has multiple talents increasing their Critical Strike damage.
Versatility increases all damage done increase and reduces all damage taken.
Changelog
- 22 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated some wording, removed unnecessary sentence.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Split stat priorities between builds. Added some words to make the relative value of stats clearer.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
- 17 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 05 Mar. 2024: Updated Fire Builds AoE priority.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated with the new stat priority for 10.2 builds.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 02 May 2023: Simplified into two main builds, added commentary.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1 and added priorities for builds using the T30 tier set.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Shaman Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Stormy, Elemental main since Wrath of the Lich King and member of the Storm, Earth and Lava Elemental theorycrafting team.
- War Within and Classic Weekly Hotfix Summary: November 11th – 17th
- Not Even a Sanctuary Can Help You: Doomwalker Rampaging Through Anniversary Event Grounds
- The Most Popular Specializations in Mythic+ in Patch 11.0.5
- Is a Legion Remix on the Horizon? Ion Hazzikostas Hints at Possibilities
- Player Completes Anniversary Quest in Record 21.6 Seconds—Here’s the Trick!
- Don’t Waste Your Pots: the Ultimate Tempered Potion-Popping Macro:
- A Promotion Nightmare: The Growing Title and Queue for the Guest Relations Manager Is Getting Out of Hand!
- Blizzard Talks WoW’s Future: Player Housing, Undermine(d) Patch, and More in Windows Central Interview