Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Get some Fulmination with your Lightning Bolts! Sort the shocks from the flames with Totem Talk: Elemental, brought to you by Sarah Nichol, otherwise known as Pewter from The 'mental Shaman and the Obscurecast podcast and founding member of TotemSpot.
Dragons and spiders and flaming cats, oh my! It is officially summer time here in the UK, so by all rights I should be either talking about the weather or inundating you with extremely bad puns involving heat. Instead, lets talk about the latest in mail-based fashions as we
prepare for the Firelands.
As with the previous tier, the gear for tier 12 is obtained through a mixture of justice points, crafting and
vendors unlocked by daily quests. The snazziest headgear, weapons and trinkets still require the bravery necessary to take on the later bosses of the Firelands. Tier 12 has a great, if occasionally frustrating, two-piece bonus and the four-piece bonus is nothing to shake a stick at. Our tier itemization is lacking in spirit, so non-tier items in a haste/spirit or mastery/spirit combo will be in demand.
This list does not include gear from heroic modes, but for the most part the heroic versions of the better items are even better. And by "the most part," I mean all. As there is still a week or so to go until patch day, this list is subject to change. If you've just dinged 85, then I suggest checking out the
troll gear guide and the
pre-raid gear guide to augment items picked up from rep and crafting in patch 4.2. Ready for fire-themed upgrades? Read on.
Hats, glorious hats
If you're going for your four set bonus, then I recommend dropping either the gloves or the helm. As both the token and the off-set helm are likely only to be available from Ragnaros, this decision is a moot point until you've picked up the shoulder token. The off-set head, with meta and
Reckless Ametrine brings marginally more stamina, approximately 30 crit, 80 spirit, and 3 intellect over the tier helm. The tier helm, combined with the crafted gloves, brings 50 more haste. (That includes a
Brilliant Inferno Ruby.) As you can see, the offset helm provides more reforge fodder, so the optimal choice is to take the Crown of Flame. It's also easier to get the four-piece bonus this way, as you will only need to acquire one token.
Hot shoulders with mustard
Almost the exact same choice, stat-wise, as the helms presented us with. You can pick a haste/crit combo, or a haste/spirit combo. As ever, I favor a combination with spirit for extra reforging flexibility. If you will be pursuing a token, this is the one to get.
Cor, look at those chest stats
The Tier 12 chest is a tasty mastery/haste combo, and in my opinion should be one of your first valor point purchases. However, if your character is sporting a purple chest already but is lacking in other areas (for example, the ring or the relic), it can be better to chose something else first. Gatekeeper's Embrace is also very well itemized for us, so if tier bonuses are not a priority for you it will do just fine. It also functions well as a double duty item for a resto offspec.
Cold cloaks with custard
The two capes that are available from Avengers of Hyjal reputation are good upgrades for almost anyone. Personally I'd plum for the Rippling Flamewrath, but if you often switch specs, the Flowing Flamewrath Cape is more usable for resto. The cloak from Sinestra is still damn fantastic, but will remain less accessible than these delightful rep cloaks.
Bracers
Mastery versus haste once again! The valor point bracers are a marginal upgrade over the heroic Chaos Beast Bracers, and are well itemized for elemental shaman. If the Lava Line Wristbands still haven't dropped by the time you have finished purchasing tier gear, rings, and relics, then the Bracers of Misting Ash are an extremely sensible purchase.
Gloves
As with the helm, the T12 gloves are some what weak when compared to the offset pieces. The resto equivalents for both slots are crit/spirit based, and thus not really a useful source of alternatives. While I recommend recommended taking the gloves as opposed to the helm, it might be worth getting the leatherworking gloves until you've picked up the shoulders and have the valor points for the volcanic gloves. Ideally, the volcanic gloves will be picked up via Baradin Hold -- it's always nice to save some of those points.
Waisted
That's right, just the one mail belt is known about so far. It's relatively easy to obtain even if you're not raiding. That crit can be reforged into spirit or mastery as necessary.
Legs
Yup. I'm going to be saving up for those pants. Or that skirt. There goes my goal of wearing practical trousers for this tier! I like the idea of kilts, but the models that Blizzard use have a tendency to make us look like cloth wearers. This should be your second Tier 12 purchase after the chest piece, as presumably both the legs and gloves will have a chance to drop from the new Baradin Hold boss. Avoid the off-set legs if you already have T11, although they will still be an upgrade for any shaman still sporting 5-man gear.
Boots
If you want the best, and don't already have your hands on the boots from Sinestra, then this Tier is going to cost you. Not only can we get great gloves crafted, the best boots are also crafted (not counting the heroic Treads of Implicit Obedience). The Fiery Treads are a good stop gap once you've unlocked the vendor via the Mount Hyjal dailies, but they simply don't compare to the Footwraps of Quenched Fire.
Ring
You might have noticed that I still tend to lean towards haste-based items, but rings are an excellent place to tip back in the other direction. The Avengers of Hyjal rings will take a while to get, and are unique equipped. They're heroic quality, and both choices are good for elemental. You can't really go wrong with a smattering of reforgeable hit, haste, and a lovely socket, but it's worth trying out the mastery/spirit ring as well. The other rings tend to be mastery-based, so pick as your capabilities allow. The Spirit Fragment Band is a lower ilevel than the other rings, and so has a slightly smaller stat budget, but it's a great item while you're on the way to raid drops or valor points.
Trinkets
Doesn't that Variable Pulse Lightning Capacitor look tasty? This tribute to
The Lightning Capacitor from Karazhan will call to any elemental shaman. Is it better than
Darkmoon Card: Volcano? I think we need more data to truly get an idea of the value of this trinket, but it seems like the VPLC and Necromantic Focus will be our best-in-slot trinkets for this tier. The Rune of Zeth/Mark of the Firelord is as good as the Vibrant Alchemist Stone, and with a little reforging, is only a little behind Theralion's Mirror. However neither the Mark nor the Quintessence are a match for T11 heroic trinkets or DMC: Volcano. The Moonwell Chalice is better than many 5-man trinkets, but not worth pursing if you already have Darkmoon Card: Volcano or any raid drops. Notice the distinct lack of haste on these trinkets. I'm so glad that there are haste/spirit options available for other slots.
Relics
Plumed Sigil of Aviana and Soulflame Vial are beautifully itemized. Which one suits your gear set up best will depend on what you've had crafted, and what drops you've been lucky with. The Soulflame Vial is easily the best, pure-DPS wise. Relic of Elune's Light is an okay stop gap, but certainly not essential. Either of the valor point relics will make a good third purchase after the two-piece set bonus has been achieved.
Amulets
That Flowform Choker is excellently itemized for DPS, as well has having a gem socket. As Majordomo Staghelm is the penultimate boss of the tier, it may be a while before you get your mitts on it. In the meantime, the Heartstone of Rhyolith is excellent drop, although it is near identical to the valor point necklace (both are mastery/spirit combos). The Nightweaver's Amulet is a handy replacement for the Wildhammer Necklace in the event of valor point slowness and lack of drops (or opportunity). I advise leaving the Amulet of Burning Brilliance to the mages and warlocks.
Weapons
Yes, Dragonwrath is missing from this list. There is no doubt that the eventual staff is our best in slot, but getting hold of this legendary may elude many of us due to the way the questlines work. Good luck! As for the rest, did you see that caster axe? Did you? I call dibs. Delicious mastery, a side order of spirit, and it's an AXE. Suck on that, mages and warlocks, with your fancy-pants caster swords! If only I knew where it dropped. In the meantime you can splash out on the AH (or hope for a raid trash drop) for Chelley's latest special. This BOE dagger can be upgraded to a heroic version, and comes with around 300 extra spellpower and 20 intellect over the otherwise excellent crafted hammer. The crafted dagger is not really worth it. The best in slot, excluding Dragonwrath, is of course the mace that drops from Ragnaros.
Off-hands and shields
Ward of the Red Widow is a straight upgrade for those of us who are still using the Elementium Stormshield, and is a marginal upgrade for anyone using the heroic version of
Kingdom's Heart. Globe of Moonlight, from vendors that need to be unlocked via Mount Hyjal dailies, has a massive 201 intellect on but isn't really worth getting if you already have the Elementium Stormshield and would prefer not to drop the haste for the mastery gain. The Ward of the Red Widow drops from the first boss, and Molten Scream is only really worth the upgrade if you get the heroic version. The Goblet of Anger is pretty decent, but honestly I want the new shield. To go with my axe.
A final word
There you have it -- at least 2 crafted items, 3 rep items, 2-4 items from valor points and a couple of items from vendors unlocked by Mount Hyjal dailies. Prestige items like weapons, shoulders, helms and trinkets still need actual boss kills to obtain, but there are decent items available for every slot except perhaps the waist. On the other hand (or hoof), those non-raid items will take consistent dilligence to obtain with any speed.
In terms of valor points purchased, the recommended order is chest, then legs, then relic. Subsequent purchases will depend on what has already dropped in the raids you've attended, but will include necklace, ring, and bracers. Get the leatherworking boots crafted, and grind that Avengers of Hyjal rep for the wonderful rings and belt. The enchants for these items are the same as last tier, focusing on intellect, spellpower, haste and mastery.
Be sure to get your hands on the new
Glyph of Unleashed Lightning as soon as your guild scribe learns it, and try to source a blacksmith and leatherworker for the other craftables. With patch 4.2 I am confident that elemental shaman will move a couple of rungs up the DPS ladder as our DPS becomes more robust! Any thoughts, feel free to send me
an email, or give me a poke on twitter
@mentalshaman.
Show your totemic mastery by reading Totem Talk. Ready to take your elemental shaman up to the new level cap? We'll help you get to level 85, dig into pre-raid gear and DPS trinkets, and find the addons that'll help your performance shine.
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Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk, Raiding
Jun 23rd 2011 at 8:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hailene Jun 23rd 2011 8:47PM
second paragraph—"justice" should be "valor," with regards to T12 acquisition
Great overview/guide though!
Sarah Nichol Jun 24th 2011 12:53AM
What with there being only one tier item with spirit/hit on them, you'll still need spirit/hit on your tier 12 upgrades as you replace your tier 11 stuff.
Sarah Nichol Jun 24th 2011 12:54AM
oops, bad reply there ;) And thanks for the spot
connor.carleton Jun 23rd 2011 9:08PM
Uh...under no exception should relics ever be bought before getting tier. Relic is always...always...ALWAYS last to be purchased. It's merely a stat stick, and a very small stat boost at that. Especially since you can get the old valor relic for justice points now there is no reason why you would get the relic early on in the game.
Our T12 2 piece is going to be a considerably DPS increase provided it works properly. Relic has always, and will always, be the smallest DPS upgrade you can get. There is no real rush to the 4 piece though since it's going to be iffy on it's use. If our off set pieces were better we wouldn't even get it, but alas Blizzard made most of our off set pieces better for resto.
The off-set helm is also BiS because it is an ilevel 384/397 whereas the other pieces are 378/391. We go for 4/5 tier with the helm off set because there isn't a big enough DPS by dropping our tier because our off-set gear isn't itemized very well for us.
Really what you need to be emphasizing is a BiS list with items that can be replacements until you get it. But you're making it seem more like a choice when it never is with a DPS class.
Overall this wasn't a bad post, and at least it was relevant to content this time, but it's not very well organized, and It's going to mislead people. A BiS list with gear that can be used as stand in gear would be better. Throwing everything up there for people to see and talking about it will mainly lead to confusion on what we should be aiming for.
Talash Jun 23rd 2011 9:43PM
It's funny, because from reading your post I get the impression you're quite the serious raider, and yet here I am, the most casual of casual raiders, and I can very clearly see what Sarah is saying:
"...but it's not very well organized, and it's going to mislead people."
I do have to disagree with you here. Whilst us casuals might not all be the sharpest tool in the box when it comes to gearing up, I can tell that one drop is better for my character than the other based on what the tooltip says. What Sarah has so cunningly done is post all my viable options, though generally she's also told me which of the options is best.
Don't worry dear, sometimes an article isn't written with you in mind. Sometimes an article is written in a way that it can be a useful reference guide to more than a narrow subsection of people, and I believe you may have inadvertantly mis-clicked on your www.elitistjerks.com bookmark and come here.
Also, starting a post with "Uh..." and saying things like "...always...ALWAYS" makes you sound ruder than you perhaps meant to. Just a little tip.
Boozard Jun 23rd 2011 10:15PM
you're in the wrong article. it doesn't say BIS for elemental shaman... it says Gear for Elemental shamans... to me, it sounds like she was just listing ALL the gear available for elem shamans.
besides, she said "Either of the valor point relics will make a good third purchase after the two-piece set bonus has been achieved."
which sounds a bit like what you said "Our T12 2 piece is going to be a considerably DPS increase provided it works properly. Relic has always, and will always, be the smallest DPS upgrade you can get. There is no real rush to the 4 piece though..."
connor.carleton Jun 23rd 2011 10:16PM
Maybe I'm being a bit harsher than I need to be, but I've started checking out wowinsider when cataclysm started, and obviously went to check out my elemental blogger when I did. Some of Sarah's posts have made me just guffaw (I won't bother naming articles), and I'm a bit bitter with the inconsistency of the articles with the questionable quality.
Like I said maybe I'm a bit harsher than I need to be, but I stand by my statements as well.
Also I've been to elitistjerks maybe 10 times since I discovered it in WoTLK. If you want to think that I'm some elitist douchebag because I'm calling out problems with the article then so be it. I'll get over it.
And finally some of these items would only be viable options to people going from dungeon gear to firelands (in which case very few people will be since they'll get justice geared first and running nerfed T11 normals). If you really wanted viable options all these items with hit/spirit + crit would disappear. They're not viable to anyone T11 geared.
Call me elitist if you want. I consider myself realistic and most of these items are not realistic upgrades.
Sarah Nichol Jun 24th 2011 12:57AM
Unless you're in full heroic gear, and not a lot of shaman are, then most of these items will be an upgrade for you simply because of the sheer amount of intellect. I've steered clear of the spirit/crit upgrades, but otherwise the spirit/hit is still extremely relevant for anyone in normal raid gear or dungeon gear.
And honestly, get the chest first, like I say in my penultimate paragraph. If you think you have a shot at a tier token early on, then by all means get the gloves, for everyone else plan your gear according to your raiding habits.
Dreadmist Jun 24th 2011 1:51PM
While I have had issue with the quality of Sarah's posts in the recent past, I have to thank her for such an excellent post here. This is EXACTLY what we needed, and is an excellent article for ele shamans everywhere!
@connor.carleton
Either you are ill-informed, deliberately ignorant, or simply have a poor grasp of the practicalities of gearing up. The relic is an excellent choice for a 3rd valor piece. Why? Achieving the 4 set bonus will be impossible until you down one of the penultimate bosses in this tier for the Helm or Shoulder Token. For the majority of guilds this will be a number of weeks or months. After chest and pants, there is no sense having tier gloves when both the drop from Alysrazor and the crafted piece are much better itemized for us. I for one will get good use from them until we are able to down bosses that drop tokens - and even then, it may be a while before A) my token drops, and B) I win it over over shaman, warriors, or hunters vying for it.
The best relics can ONLY be obtained from valor vendors, and it makes much more sense to grab it early. Your other slots can be filled in many other ways, including Avengers vendors and early raid bosses. In T11 raiding, the non-relic valor pieces were by far the best gear around, with very few if any other (non-raid) sources for epic gear. That is not the case with this tier.
As far as the layout and content of this article, it is just what we needed. Sarah lists each slot and our choices for that slot. That is information that the savvy elemental shaman can use. A BiS list at this point is a ridiculous and stupid idea. First, any BiS list these days varies with race and professions - reforging has resulted in a myriad of "Best-in-slot" combinations that vary from one another by only a few dozen dps when simmed. Indeed, the last tier of raiding the "BiS" thread on Elitist Jerks had constant updates for weeks as people posted slightly better combinations which simmed to a few extra dps. A BiS list is not something you can formulate in one sitting, it takes not only weeks of careful examination, but also requires you have information on every item available in game - and using PTR information will not cut it.
Second, a true BiS list would have all heroic gear choices listed. Except for the 0.1% (or less) of raiders that will have the regular modes completely cleared by week 1 or 2 of 4.2, that list would not be achievable or useful for us readers. The way Sarah has currently set up this article, anyone can peruse the choices and decide which items from each slot are most attainable for them at any given time. The items I choose from the above list may vary drastically from someone who is not a raider but will be grinding the dailies and have access to Avengers of Hyjal rewards and/or a maxed Leatherworking alone.
"But you're making it seem more like a choice when it never is with a DPS class."
You are clearly in the wrong here - these days it ALWAYS is a choice. What factors into my gear choices are:
1) What else is available, and from what source?
2) Am I willing to wait and compete against other raiders for Item X (if it even drops) or shall I grab another similar item and focus on other slots?
3) Is Item Y almost as good as Item X when I reforge it, and if so, should I obtain that instead?
4) Is money not a hindrance, and as such should I buy BoE's from the AH to fill out my slots?
5) If an upgrade ends up being only a temporary one till I get Item X, is that ok? Or do I want to aim for the item that I will use for a much longer time?
There are always choices. For example, I was able to buy Ritssyn's Ruminous Drape from the AH this tier. It is certainly better than any of the other regular mode capes out there, but for most people it would not be a viable option. As such you would have to explore other options. Another thing to keep in mind is that Boss drops are random. In WoTLK we downed Rotface at least a dozen times before we saw Dislodged Foreign Object for the first times (either regular or heroic version) . It was all fine and dandy that it was on our BiS list, but if it doesn't drop, that will not matter! I find that happens less this xpac, but something to keep in mind nonetheless. I personally think it terms of what upgrades can I obtain quickly, no matter how temporary they may be - if it is replace next week, oh well. Not everyone would share that mantra.
TL;DR - This article is just what we needed, it allows ele shamans, whether fiercely independent solo-er or hardcore raider, to see what options are available early in this coming tier.
thebitterfig Jun 23rd 2011 10:07PM
"I like the idea of kilts, but the models that Blizzard use have a tendency to make us look like cloth wearers."
As much as anything, it seems like a lot of the cloth these days looks almost like mail. Sure, shaman and often paladins wear kilts, but they look vaguely plate/mail-ish. The cloth stuff often doesn't look like cloth.
connor.carleton Jun 23rd 2011 10:18PM
Boozard,
I am referring to the chest section where she states getting a relic upgraded first may be better if you have a purple chest already.
No. We want our 4 piece first, and chest should be the first item bought.
Crispn Jun 23rd 2011 10:42PM
I find it disappointing that you, and other people, will call a post bad because you find one sentence unattractive. This is a very helpful post that will show the options of gearing up, it doesn't say you have to buy the relic first, it simply states the option. We all agree the chest is a better relic than the chest, so stop going crazy over one sentence in a very helpful post.
connor.carleton Jun 23rd 2011 10:54PM
"Overall this wasn't a bad post" You must have failed to read that.
There's more than just one sentence FYI.
I'm a bit critical of Sarah because her quantity of blogs is lacking, and the quality can be questionable at times. Get mad at me if you want for bashing a decent post when it might not be called for, but if there wasn't a history of questionable blogs I wouldn't be doing it.
Boozard Jun 24th 2011 12:16AM
i think you're just missing the point. the title says "Elem shaman gear 4.2"... not a BIS list. she's simply stating what's out there and which are easily available and what possible combinations you may put them with. i don't know why you would think this place is appropriate for BIS lists. obviously, if people here were interested in that, we'd be going to EJ to begin with. not everyone here is trying to squeeze every iota of dps from our gear.
as for relic vs chest piece, true the chest piece maybe a bigger dps increase overall. but if you consider that the relic is 1/3 the price of a chest piece and that the chest piece would take atleast 2 weeks to get, then you may get a different picture.
Sarah Nichol Jun 24th 2011 12:51AM
Except that I said the relic should be purchased after the two piece bonus, and if someone isn't really raiding firelands or is not in line to get either of the tier tokens, there is very little reason to get the gloves before the relic - especially when the crafted gloves are so so good, and the gloves have a chance to drop from Baradin hold anyways.
And yes, this guide isn't really written for those who will be tackling hard modes in the near future, its for people who want to know what is out there and what might be the best choices from them. There are a myriad of 'BiS' lists that can be made up via wowhead and sims, but they're not useful to every single shaman, and can be down right damaging when you're trying to gear yourself up.
Telluria Jun 24th 2011 4:27AM
Not quite sure why you're talking about plumping for one or the other of the rep cloaks - just buy both, all they cost is gold!
Sarah Nichol Jun 24th 2011 4:15AM
Yes, but sadly you can only wear one at a time ;)
Dreadmist Jun 24th 2011 1:57PM
On that note, does the "Unique-Equipped" nature of the Avengers rings mean I cannot equip both Infernal Signet of the Avengers and Quicksilver Signet of the Avengers? I would assume that we could not, but just wanted to confirm.
Sarah Nichol Jun 26th 2011 9:16AM
@dreadmist Aye, confirmed :)
Erik Jun 24th 2011 4:15AM
People like Connor are why I've had a nice spreadsheet for about a week with all of this information for my own use, and haven't posted it on any blog or forum (even though I have a moderately trafficked Shaman blog).
If you disagree with something, learn to do it without the condescending tone and needless nitpicking; it just makes people feel like they wasted their time trying to post something informative. Pro tip: saying you guffaw at something makes you come off poorly. And as a writer, it's just seriously annoying. You don't like something you read, I guess that's fine; this is the internet and I suppose you can complain about free content. But real people spend valuable time writing this stuff, and your type of commentary does nothing to improve the quality or frequency of their work.