In this article, we present you the various talents and glyphs that can be useful for Elemental Shamans (WoW 4.3). We also give you pointers for customising your talent tree and adapting it to particular bosses. The other articles of our Elemental Shaman guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the left.

1. Common Talent Builds↑top

The following talent build is almost standard for Elemental Shamans. It takes most of the necessary DPS talents, as well as the most useful of the utility talents. You will want to use it (or a variation of it, as we explain in the next section) in most cases.

This talent build sacrifices mobility for a small DPS boost. It replaces Ancestral Swiftness in the Enhancement Tree with Totemic Focus in the Restoration Tree. Totemic Focus increases the duration of your Fire Elemental Totem.

2. Customising Your Build↑top

Elemental Shamans have a few choices for customising their build. In each of the two common builds we gave above, there are a few talent points that can be freely invested. Some of the glyphs are also optional.

2.1. Talents

In the following image, the fixed talents have been hightlighted in green, while the optional talents have been hightlighted in red:

Even if there are quite a few optional talents, things are much simpler than they appear. First, you should decide whether you want to go for Ancestral Swiftness (for mobility) or for Totemic Focus (for a small DPS boost). If you only play Elemental, you can have two Elemental specs, one with Ancestral Swiftness and one with Totemic Focus.

2.1.1. Ancestral Swiftness Build

If you choose to go for Ancestral Swiftness, you have 3 remaining talent points. You can freely spend them in the following talents:

• In the Elemental Tree
  • 1/3, 2/3, or 3/3 in Elemental Warding: this gives you a useful damage reduction.
  • 1/1 Earthquake: this grants you the Earthquake ability, which is only useful in AoE fights where enemies are going to remain in the same position for the 10 seconds that Earthquake lasts. Even in fights where you can use Earthquake, you will obtain roughly the same results whether you use Earthquake or not.
• In the Enhancement Tree
  • 1/2 or 2/2 in Totemic Reach: this increases the range of your totems and can be useful in fights where you frequently have to move to deal with adds before going back on the boss.
• In the Restoration Tree
  • 1/2 or 2/2 in Ancestral Resolve: this reduces the damage you take while casting. Depending on the fight configuration, this talent can be more valuable than Elemental Warding (if the damage is mostly of Physical nature).

2.1.2. Totemic Focus Build

If you choose to go for Totemic Focus, you have only 1 remaining talent point. Invest it in one of these two talents:

• 1/3 in Elemental Warding for a small damage reduction;
• 1/3 in Improved Shields for a small damage boost to your Lightning Shield.

2.2. Glyphs

Choosing the correct glyphs as an Elemental Shaman is not straightforward. There are several viable options for your choices of Prime and Major Glyphs.

2.2.1. Prime Glyphs

The two mandatory Prime Glyphs are the following:

• Glyph of Flame Shock, which increases the duration of your Flame Shock spell (making you refresh it less often);
• Glyph of Lava Burst, which increases the damage of Lava Burst, your most damaging ability.

For the last Prime Glyph, your choice will depend on how much you will have to move during an encounter:

• if you can remain stationary for the most part, then use Glyph of Lightning Bolt, which increases the damage of your Lightning Bolt spell;
• if you have to move a lot, then use Glyph of Unleashed Lightning, which enables you to cast Lightning Bolt while moving.

2.2.2. Major Glyphs

The only mandatory Major Glyph is Glyph of Lightning Shield, which saves you from having to refresh your Lightning Shield.

For the remaining two Major Glyphs, you have the following choices (listed by order of popularity):

• Glyph of Chain Lightning, which increases the number of targets you can hit with Chain Lightning;
• Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem, which transforms your Stoneclaw Totem into a survival cooldown;
• Glyph of Elemental Mastery, which adds a damage reduction component to Elemental Mastery;
• Glyph of Thunder, which reduces the cooldown of Thunderstorm, giving you more mana regeneration;
• Glyph of Ghost Wolf, which increases your travelling speed while in Ghost Wolf form;
• Glyph of Healing Stream Totem, which can be useful if your raid is lacking classes that can provide Fire, Frost, or Nature resistance.

2.2.3. Minor Glyphs

We advise you to take the following Minor Glyphs:

• Glyph of Renewed Life;
• Glyph of Water Walking;
• Glyph of Thunderstorm, which increases the mana return from Thunderstorm but removes the crowd control capabilities of the spell (which is not necessarily a bad thing if the enemies you are attacking are not supposed to be slowed down or knocked back).

The first two glyphs save you from carrying reagents with you.