Elemental Shaman Changes in Patch 7.3

[blue author = »Blizzard» source = »https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20755546115?page=28#post-554 ″]

Mastery Limit
• Elemental Overload deals 85% of base damage (up from 75%) and trigger chance reduced to 17%
• Totem Mastery bonus: Storm Totem now 5% (from 10%)
• Elemental Blast grants 2000 of a stat at level 110 (down from 2400)
• Damage increased by 3%

Part of the power of Mastery resides in damage triggers. The Totem Mastery reduction and Elemental Blast do not need a talent adjustment, as they are minor changes and these talents are already generally favored. The small total damage loss from these changes is offset by the base damage of the specialization. With both talents, the Mastery cap (with these changes) would increase from 10400 to 15067.

Chain lightning overpowers Earthquake
Chain Lightning is so strong that Earthquake is often not that attractive to cast. There are also other secondary problems such as the importance of the activations of Lightning Rods and the saturation of resources in the area.

• Chain Lightning damage reduced by 12% and now generates 4. de Vorágine (before 6)
• Earthquake damage increased by 29%
• Earth Shock damage increased by 13%

The damage is changed from Chain Lightning to Earthquake, and Earthquake is increased more to compensate for generating less Maelstrom (helping resource saturation issues, including activating static overload). The Earth Shock buff helps keep Earthquake from getting too close to its damage, and a damage increase to Earth Shock was pretty reasonable overall.

Again, the goal is to address these issues in a relatively contained way. Patch 7.3 is generally light on class changes, but we wanted to address these known issues. As always, we are open to your comments for any problems that these seem to introduce.

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[blue author = »Blizzard» source = »https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20755546115?page=28#post-554 ″]

mastery capping
• Elemental Overload does 85% of base damage (from 75%) and proc rate reduced 17%
• Totem Mastery-Storm Totem bonus 5% (from 10%)
• Elemental Blast gives 2000 stats at level 110 (from 2400)
• All damage abilities increased 3%

Some of the power of mastery is shifted from proc rate into damage. The nerfs to Totem Mastery and Elemental Blast don't require talent rebalancing, since they are minor and those are talents are already generally favored. The slight total DPS loss from those changes is counteracted in the baseline spec. With both talents, the mastery cap (with all these changes) would increase from 10400 rating to 15067.

Chain Lightning dominating Earthquake
Chain Lightning is so strong that Earthquake is often not attractive to cast. There are also secondary issues such as the importance of Lightning Rod procs and resource overflow in AoE.

• Chain Lightning damage reduced 12% and generates 4 Maelstrom (from 6)
• Earthquake damage increased 29%
• Earth Shock damage increased 13%

Damage is shifted from Chain Lightning into Earthquake, and Earthquake is further increased to account for generating less Maelstrom (which helps the overflow issues, including on Static Overload procs). The Earth Shock buff helps stave off the potential for Earthquake to get too close to it again, and a buff to Earth Shock was pretty reasonable generally.

Again, the goal is to address these issues in a relatively contained way. 7.3 is generally light on class changes, but we wanted to try to get at these known problems. As always, open to feedback on any complications that these look like they might introduce.

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