While this obviously isn’t true for every Shaman out there, I’m here to weigh in with my experience with shaman pvp glyphs for those of you looking for suggestions.

Firstly I’m going to assume we have the same goal in PvP… and that is do lots of damage fast (aka play to your strengths).

Don’t try and cover your weaknesses as an enhancement shaman – we’re a class that needs to be played with a degree of finess. We are in many ways the only melee glass cannon.

In fact I’d happily argue that any class is  more survivable than shamans, but lets get to the point of the artile… Shaman PvP glyphs!

These 5 shaman glyphs are your best PvP options:

1. Glyph of Storm Strike
2. Glyph of Spirit Wolves
3. Glyph of Fire Nova Totem
4. Glyph of Windfury
5. Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem

I’m personally using storm strike, spirit wolves and stoneclaw right now, but here’s a run down on who should be using what PvP glyphs.

1. Glyph of Storm Strike: 8% extra damage on nature spells after an SS. It might seem like a small figure, but when added to the already 20% extra damage, you’re almost doing 30% more damage per lightning, chain lightning, earth shock, lightning ball… etc.

2. Glyph of Spirit Wolves: 30% extra attack power. This is one of the most commonly agreed upon glyphs for enhance shamans.

It may not be a good choice for new level 80 shamans (or shamans below level 80) because you won’t have tons of attack power floating around making a big difference to your wolves.

If you do have lots of AP floating around…? This is a must.

As a new 80 most of my gemming went to hit, so I went with SS/Fire Nova/Stoneclaw rather than SWolves early in my level 80 experience.

3. Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: An awesome glyph for those of us who get the 2 second stun in the elemental tree (that should be all of us!).

This glyph changes the cooldown of FNT to 12 seconds, down from 15 seconds. Again, easy to balk at but in the heat of battle getting another 2 second stun opportunity just a few seconds early can seriously mean the difference between life & death. At the end of the day, probably better for ele shamans than enhance – but that’s gonna change when patch 3.3 comes out…

4. Glyph of Windfury: I don’t like to suggest taking this glyph – 2% extra chance for WF to proc is just too small, especially for PvP. Over long fights (I’m talking against raid bosses/elites/etc…) yes, 2% extra windfury chance will stack up. In a 30 second PvP encounter though? Unlikely, and too random.

Skip Windfury glyph for PvP!

5. Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem: This one is a keeper. I know I said earlier that we want to play to our strenghts, but given we’re paper thin, an extra 4 THOUSAND hitpoints of shield might give us time for just one more Windfury proc.

This is another of the most commonly agreed upon glyphs for PvP.

Take it & drop it constantly. Btw.. the shield on this is NOT affected by the stoneclaw talent…!

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So, given I love writing about talent builds, I’m gonna share the build I’m using now.

This build is specialist. It won’t work very well outside PvP.

The build also works on a critical strike heavy theme, we want crits to trigger elemental devastation (extra melee crit chance), and when we do crit with spells & shocks we will crit hard thanks to elemental fury.

We’re also trying to reel in a few weaknesses us as enhancement shammy’s have – lack of stuns and low survivability.

So here’s my 17/54 PvP enhancement build, and below that, notes on how these talents work together:

17/54 Enhance Build

I want to talk about a few key things for you new level 80 Shamans, and you other Shammy’s out there that are just lost on how to make this class work in PvP.

Oh and for you doubters it DOES work in PvP – I know of a few enhance shaman’s in arena PvP in top 5 for 2v2… so the problem is not enhance shamans, its YOU.

First thing – if you’re a new 80, you might want to draw points from other talents & max out our stam buffing talent. Until you have a full set of deadly or furious gear your health will lag around 15k HP and with our chain for protection you’re just a 1 shot rogue magnet.

So 5 points in toughness for new guys, drop it when you’re in your pvp gear.

Now lets talk about the elemental side of the tree.

You’ve got a good 6% damage reduction if you max out elemental warding, and a 2 second stun from improved fire nova totem. These are musts, and go well with spirit wolves for stunning and staying alive when you use them right.

I’ve chosen to go 4 points in elemental fury, but you might take another point to get the full 100% crit damage increase on spells, and take one out of elemental warding – especially for those of you with some survivability in your gear.

You can’t go too far wrong in the enhance tree as long as you don’t do something stupid like putting points in earth’s grasp or guardian totems, or god forbid anticipation.

Again if you’re well stam’d up and have decent gear, also leave toughness alone.

Get your hp from your gear not your talents.

The key talents you need to keep in mind for this pvp enhance build are the 2 points in frozen power, 2 points in earthen power and 2 points in imp ghost wolf. Bind imp ghost wolf to an easy hot key or mouse button and use it regularly.

Frozen power is kick ass for stopping runners, or stopping some annoying super fast rogue from dancing around you. Its also great in WSG where you can stop flag carriers for a vital few seconds (glyph it if you’re doing a lot of WSG).

Earthen power’s snare & root breaker is also awesome, especially in AV if you have a lot of friends that just got nailed by an ice nova.

Make sure those spells are all bound to easy to remember hot keys and practice till you never fail.

In the next few days I’ll write some follow ups on exactly how to use these talents to their full advantage, glyphs, addons, and a few gear ideas you might have not even known existed.

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19/52/00 Fire Mage

Become a Fire-Spewing Combat Monster!

When it comes to the Mage class in WoW these days, all I ever seem to see lately is a Pyroblast spec, or a non-Pyroblast spec.

How boring! I mean – I LOVE the spec, but when everyone is the Pyro, it becomes old.

I’m tired of seeing big chunky rocks of fire flying from Fire Mages in WoW, and I’m here to do something about it!

Introducing the “FireCane”, or “Dragon Breath” Mage.

If you’re cringing already at losing Pyroblast, you should probably leave now, because this build is as much about doing something different as it is making an effective Fire Mage spec.

And effective it is!

While you might lose Pyroblast and Blastwave, you also can now lose another 3 points from the Hotstreak talent.

Where do these missing 5 points go now that we’ve “lost” Pyroblast? Generally speaking – we’ve added utility, longevity, and flexibility where before we simply stretched for a few percent higher DPS.

Get the whole story of the build below, and the link to the build itself to the right.Before we discuss why we’re choosing particular talents, and where you can or should make changes to suit yourself, you might be asking, “Who will this build suit?

Primarily, this Fire spec is for someone who is into the later game, doing PvE to level – around 55 plus for the best Fire-breathing action, or lower for anyone who wants to be flexible enough to enjoy WoW without pigeon holing themselves into a “raider” a “PvPer”, and so on.

So lets begin!

How to Create a Well Rounded Fire Mage Build in WoW

Row 1 (Improved Fire Blast, Incineration, Improved Fireball)

Improved Fire Blast can be nice for PvP, any insta-cast spell is in my book, but unless you lean far into the PvP camp, leave it out, and take its two solid cousins — Inceneration (increased crit chance by +6%) and Improved Fireball for a half a second faster casting speed.

Row 2 (Ignite, Burning Determination, World in Flames)

Ignite is another nice critical strike bonus – when maxed you’re doing another 40% damage over 4 seconds, great in any Fire mage’s (burning) tree.

Burning Determination is a weird one. During PvP it can be handy, but as a cloth wearer you’ll know the first time you’re interrupted or silenced is usually the last time – in other words, you die very soon after. Drop BD and move on.

World in Flames is an easy choice – 3 points here nets you another 6% critical strike chance, which with Incineration makes 12% bonus crit strike chance.

Row 3 (Flame Throwing, Impact, Pyroblast, Burning soul)

Sink 2 points into Flame Throwing for a multi purpose boost to your fire spells – an extra 6 yards is handy in PvP, and lets you get another spell off before a mob hits you with melee attacks.

I can’t decide on Impact – the 10% chance to stun on hit for 2 seconds is handy, but I find I will usually look at Burning soul and other spells first. Speaking of Burning soul – 2 points there to help with push back from the inevitable casting you’ll be doing in CC.

Pyroblast!

The skill that set me in motion to write this Mage build — no doubt its a great skill, in fact I wrote a build centered around it not too long ago… Its high damage, efficient mana, and can be insta cast down the line, but we’re going to skip it and its supporting skills in favor of concentrating on Dragon’s Breath and other very handy abilities from the arcane tree.

Row 4 (Improved Scorch, Molten shields, Master of Elements)

This row is one of my favorites with Molten shields making an appearance – 2 points here makes your Fire and Frost ward spells very handy for reflecting damage. Either in PvP or PvE I commonly have a ward up (when I remember to cast it… !) and I think this talent is one of the most underrated in this spec.

Improved Scorch is great for the extra crit chance, and for grouping and raids is awesome for its ability to increase spell vulnerability on the target. 3 points here, and 3 in Master of Elements for some mana savings on crits.

Row 5 (Playing With Fire, Critical mass, Blast Wave)

Get more critical power in this row by maxing Critical Mass, otherwise leave the other two.

Obviously Blast wave is left out due to lack of its pre-req, Pyroblast.

Row 6 (Blazing Speed, Fire Power)

Another “maybe” PvP talent here is Blazing speed – I’m tempted to take it, but in practice the ability doesn’t fire often enough, and by the time it does, your cloth wearing ways means you die fast – pass again… and Blizzard, make this one an insta cast with a 3 second duration and you might get more takers.

Put 5 points into Fire Power which gives off a solid 10% bonus to all fire damage, another easy pick.

Row 7 (Pyromaniac, Combustion, Molten Fury)

Another awesome ability in this line is Combustion, and is required to progress on to Dragon Breath – so 1 point here. Since this insta cast ability is on a relatively short cooldown, be sure to use it often, and when you do, spam your insta cast fire spells and fireballs to get your critical chances flowing!

Row 8 (Fiery Payback, Empowered Fire)

Another Fire Mage talent I feel doesn’t do enough is Fiery Payback – again we’re so weak that once we’re down to 35% health (the point at which this talent procs) we’re about to die anyway. More useful for PvE than PvP, and of course, definately a taker if you’re making out Pyroblast, but for us, we’re passing on Payback.

Empowered fire is another taker for this build, 3/3 here for yet more increase in base fire and frostfire damage.

Row 9 (Fire Starter, Dragon’s Breath, Hot Streak)

One of my favorite talent lines for the Fire Mage gives us the Fire breathing talents. Dragon’s Breath and its helper talent, Fire Starter get maxed out here, and let us unleash a torrent of magical fire in a cone ahead of us for a whopping 35% base mana cost, and disorienting them for 5 seconds.

This talent is pure gold, great fun, and usable almost anywhere. Fire starter makes it even better when maxed – giving you an insta cast Flamestrike immediately after using Dragon’s Breath… lots of time to line up your target!

Row 10 (Burnout)

A lonely talent in row 10, Burnout is another no brainer, increase your spell crits damage bonus by 50% and pay 5% extra mana for those spells that do crit. I’ll pay that all day long, 5 points here.

Row 11 (Living Bomb)

Ahh Living Bomb! Great fun, great damage, a good way to finish up the Fire Tree. Obviously take the point and have fun learning how to use it well.

Summation and Arcane Talent Additions

That’s the basis of the build – I’ve taken nothing that didn’t keep our spells doing the most damage possible (that’s why we’re fire magi!) and left enough to add some very handy arcane talents which will help keep our mana costs down and damage out put up.

Take special note that I’ve chosen Magic Attunement – this talent and its accompanying spells, Amplify and Dampen magic, are very much underrated, and most Fire Mages could do with dampen magic running 100% of the time while solo and in PvP – there just isn’t enough healing being done to justify otherwise!

For the Arcane row, max out every row up to 3, but leave out Arcane Stability, Magic Absorption (though I was really on the fence on this one) and Focus Magic.

Thats it! Get out there and give this build a go – I know you’ll have fun, and above all, you’ll actually be different!

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Level 29 Elemental Shaman PvP Build

Low level Shaman’s can be great in PvP if you know what you’re doing.

The lack of massive burst damage can make them seem underpowered, and their staple spell in PvE, Lightning Bolt, just takes too long to cast for a lot of situations.

The other KEY problem at this level is the lack of Nature’s Swiftness which gives us an insta cast nature spell, and Elemental Mastery which gives us an insta cast Lightning, or Lava Burst spell, as well as a 15% increase crit chance for 15 seconds.

So what kind of build can make us competitve in PvP, and where does it shine?

Click the image to the right to go to WoW Europe’s Armory with the exact build, or read on to find the guide that goes with the spec.

Level 29 Elemental Shaman PvP Build

Before I go into this 20 point build, let me outline the key talents that go with the build.

Firstly, this build will work from level 26 to 29 – you need level 26 to access the main ability I use in this build (Imp Fire Nova Totem).

As explained earlier, since we don’t have the insta cast help from either Nature’s Swiftness or Elemental Mastery, your key goal with this build should be to provide support, then healing, and lastly secondary DPS.

The talents you need to be most of aware of are:

• Improved Fire Nova Totem (2/2 points),
• Call of Flame (3/3 points), and
• Elemental Fury (5/5 points)

Improved Fire Nova Totem is at the centre of this build thanks to its 2 second stun to all targets hit by its blast. Now outdated! Imp fire nova totem no longer stuns. Will update for cataclysm on release (thanks Kryz).

This is the centre of the build because you’re fairly squishy (easy to kill) at this level, and it allows you precious seconds to heal, or otherwise gain the upper hand in the fight.

The other good point about Fire Nova Totem comes from the other 2 talents I listed above, the 100% extra crit damage, and the extra 15% fire damage, so you’re dishing out some really useful blanket damage and stun here every time you lay your totem.

Here’s a big tip: be sure that when you’re using the Fire Nova Totem to do so wisely.

What I mean by that is, don’t drop the thing before you start fighting!

As soon as you do that, if your opponent is savvy, they’ll realize they’re about to be hit by a big wall of damage (or if they’re really savvy, they’ll know a stun is next) and they’ll whack your totem down.

If you drop it just after you’ve engaged, they’ll likely not notice it, or not be able to react fast enough without severely disrupting their attack on you.

Use the 2 seconds stun time to either cast a lesser healing wave on yourself, or get a lightning bolt off, followed by a fast frost shock, at which stage you can drop an earthbind totem, and run, ready to setup another 1-2 combo with lightning bolt and a shock.

This of course will vary depending on the opponent you face. Stay in a mage’s face and use your Earth Shock, while for Rangers and Warlocks just hit them with Frost to keep them squarely in close combat range. You get the idea.

The other way this build works well on the offence is just finding large packs of enemies and dropping the Fire Nova Totem. Its not very subtle, but in the heat of combat it gets the job done, and can stun a bunch of players in one hit, giving your side a big upper hand.

As you should know, the Shaman really is a class which excels in groups, so I highly recommend you hang out with big groups as often as possible and use those totems heavily.

One last option — while this isn’t a resto PvP spec, you can be a real pain in the ass by simply using your water shield, lesser healing wave, and stunning Fire Nova Totem to stay alive for long enough for friends arrive, or to tie up a player who just wants to steal your flag for an age.

Many times I’ve used this technique against a class like a Hunter and pet attacking me, and stayed alive long enough for even fights to go our way – not to mention stunning the other combatants numerous times while I soaked up a ton of DPS.

You’ll also find at this level you can be very valuable simply by helping to chase down opponents with the flag with Frost shock, or by stalling a pursuit by dropping your Earthbind totem.

So to wrap up – use your Shaman against large groups by dropping that Fire Nova totem, use him on the defence (when you’re not the only one around!) to slow and annoy flag stealers or attackers, and use that big repetoir of harrassing abilities to slow, stun, interrupt and help out your team!

If you’ve got any other tricky moves for low level Shaman builds in PvP, let me know below!

Want Some Tips From 2200 Rated PvP Gladiators?

Check out Ultimate WoW PvP Strategies, and find match up strategies, macro guides, mods, talent specs, and detailed class analysis that’ll help take your PvP game to the next level!

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