Well with 3.2 around the corner I have been checking the patch notes to see if there have been anymore changes Shamans. For now it looks like the Totem Bar and Resto changes are the big things for this patch. Lets look at the current patch notes:
Shamans
A customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems. The naming scheme of the spells to summon the different totem sets has been changed to make it less confusing for players:
A customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems. The naming scheme of the spells to summon the different totem sets has been changed to make it less confusing for players:
Call of Fire (Totem Bar 1, the first one gained at level 30) is now named Call of the Elements.
Call of Water (Totem Bar 2) is now named Call of the Ancestors.
Call of Air (Totem Bar 3) is now named Call of the Spirits.
Call of Earth (the spell to recall all summoned totems) is now named Totemic Recall.
All Shocks now have a default range of 25 yards, up from 20 yards.
Base health increased by approximately 7% to correct for shamans having lower health than other classes.
Chain Heal: Jump distance increased by 25% to 12.5 yards. In addition, the amount of healing now decreases by 40% as it jumps to each new target, instead of 50%.
Earth Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell casting, but rather reduces melee attack speed by 10% for 8 seconds (exclusive with similar effects such as Thunder Clap).
Ghost Wolf: Can now be learned at level 16. While in this form, snaring effects may not bring the shaman below base normal run speed.
Wind Shock: Has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.
Talents
Enhancement
Maelstrom Weapon: Now also has a chance to reduce the cast time of Hex.
Shamanistic Rage: Cooldown is now 1 minute, down from 2 minutes. Successful melee attacks now have a chance to generate mana equal to 15% of the shaman's attack power, down from 30%.
Restoration
Ancestral Healing: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead of increasing the target's armor.
Cure Poison and Cure Disease: Combined into a single spell, Cure Toxins.
Earth Shield: Dispel effects will now remove charges of Earth Shield rather than the entire aura.
Healing Way: Redesigned. Rather than providing a chance of increasing Healing Wave spells on a friendly target, this talent now innately increases the effectiveness of the shaman's Healing Wave by 8/16/25%.
Mana Tide Totem: Totem health now equal to 10% of the shaman's health.
Nature's Guardian: Redesigned. Now has a fixed 100% proc rate, has a 30-second internal cooldown and increases the shaman's maximum health by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 seconds.
Nature's Swiftness: Cooldown is now 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.
Tidal Waves: No longer reduces the cast time of Lesser Healing Wave by 30%. It instead now
provides +25% critical strike chance to Lesser Healing Wave, along with the previous 30% cast time benefit to Healing Wave.
Improved Water Shield: This talent now has a 10/20/30% chance to be triggered by Chain Heal, and the charges of Water Shield are no longer consumed by this talent.
The totem bar is a welcome change as blowing 4 global cooldowns before even starting your rotation is such a waste of time and having to drop them every time you move is a major pain in the @#$. I have not had much time for testing this patch on the ptr but from speaking to some other shamans that have tried they love being able to drop 3 different sets of totems in one GCD.
As you can see there have been no real changes to the Elemental Spec this patch and I really don't expect there to be any announced before the patch comes out. The only real benefit will be the increased range on all shocks and the base stamina buff.
What would you have liked to see added to help Elementals this patch?
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