Hello again, my reader*. It has been a while. I had a whole host of excuses for not posting more, but frankly, it would sound like whining because that’s what it would be. But now I intend to be back, at least somewhat regularly, and we’ll start with some suggestions and tips for Cataclysm Heroic dungeons, with a focus on our role as Shaman, especially Elemental.
Crowd Control
After almost a whole year of running daily WotLK heroics with 251+ gear and just treating every pull like a giant AoE pile, it has been refreshing having to pause and treat pulls as puzzles. “Okay, so we have two humanoids, 2 dragonkin and an air elemental. Let’s sheep Moon, trap Square…” Sure, a month and a half into Cataclysm, our collective gear and dungeon knowledge levels have improved, but CC still plays a key role in the groups I run with my guild. Less damage to go around means fewer deaths, less healer stress, and a better overall experience.
Now that Hex doesn’t have a longer cooldown than its duration, and having Bind Elemental, all Shaman bring some useful CC for some important mob types, so don’t be afraid to use it. If you happen to be in a random group with a tank you don’t know, politely offer to CC. I personally say “Which mark would you like me to use for Hex/Bind Elemental?”. It reminds the tank of what I can do, and hopefully also reminds him to use the abilities available to the group.
Even if you’re not assigned a CC target, you can still use that to save a wipe. Let’s imagine a dangerous humanoid mob concludes that your priest is a good source of protein and wants to eat her face as part of a balanced, nutritious, delicious breakfast. You can continue to dps your target, or switch to that mob, turn it into a harmless frog, and then go back to your target. Sure, that may have you two precious Lightning Bolt casts and that oh-so-important damage meter race, but it also probably spared your party a wipe, and at the very least it gives the tank time to corral the loose mob.
Interrupting
Several dungeon encounters, and even trash mobs, feature spells that need to be interrupted. Even when they don’t spell doom for your party, interrupting a caster may cause them to actually move towards your tank. Our interrupt does not trigger a global cooldown, and is on a 6 second cooldown, or less than that with talent points. Besides, it’s a good skill to become used to, as interrupting dangerous abilities is a key mechanic in quite a few raid encounters (let’s take this moment to say hello to Maloriak and Halfus Wyrmbreaker).
Thunderstruck!
Ah, Thunderstorm, what a joyous little spell. AoE damage, a cool graphic (really, what says “Force of Nature” better than lightning just exploding from you?), and a hilarious knockback, which also happens to interrupt spell casting. Naturally, that knockback bit tends to make tanks and melee dps a bit grouchy. All this means you must be careful with TS usage. If you think you will use it often, be sure to be out of range of CC’ed mobs, or those being tanked/aoe’d.
You could use the minor glyph to remove knockback, but you’re giving up an important tactical use of a neat spell. Let’s go back to our priestphage mob example**. If you are already CCing a different mob, you can run to your priest, and position yourself so the Thunderstorm cast throws it toward the tank, who then has a better chance of grabbing it. They may not, and the mob may come back, but at least you bought your healer time.
Threat Management What? Omen Isn’t a Contest?
As fun as it may sound, that 9-stack Fulmination is a really poor opener move on a mob your tank just grabbed. Not that I would know from experience or anything. I know that as a DPSer, your role is to kill the mobs, but giving your tank that second or two to get an attack in doesn’t make you a low DPS scrub.
Have Fun
Yes, for all the Justice Points, Valor Points and 346 ilvl drops, you’re still supposed to have fun. Be nice to people, have a good time, and don’t lose your cool if there’s a wipe.
* Yes, I assume I have one reader. Maybe.
** That’s a word. At least it was in my head.
Storm, Earth, Fire And Shields 