Totem & Ankh: Glyphs for the Elemental Shaman - Flame Shock vs. Flametongue Weapon

WoW Blogs - Totem & Ankh Shaman Blog

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 August 2010 22:38 Written by Savoire Monday, 23 August 2010 02:57

Totem & Ankh:  Spreading shaman love each week for your totems, ankhs, and more!  Sit down, relax, and have a glass of Dalaran wine on the house.



Savoire is sitting for a proper elemental shaman makeover and spending those extra Emblems of Frost for some new gear.  If you missed last week's article on the various types of glyphs recommended for each spec, please check it out at http://www.crusaderscoliseum.com/blogs/totem-and-ankh-shaman-blog.

Last week I had a comment on Totem & Ankh criticizing the use of Glyph of Flame Shock and recommending Glyph of Flametongue Weapon for elemental shamans.   Many sites have run the numbers and support using Glyph of Flame Shock. However, a minority support using Glyph of Flametongue Weapon since the patch 3.2.2.

Certainly Glyph of Flametongue Weapon is lovely for enhancement shamans. But is it better for elemental shamans?

I had planned this week to spend some time discussing gemming for shaman specs. Instead, I’m going to do something that has been on my Savoire to-do list for a VERY long time – since dual specs became available. I’m going to spend my frosties, gear up my girly troll, and play with her as a properly glyphed ele shammy.

Keep in mind that it’s been since before WOTLK came out since I was a main spec ele shaman. At level 70, I was new to raiding, under geared, and nervous to raid, yet wanting to prove myself. Now, I’m known as an excellent healer and I’m never asked to dps. Yet, it would be nice to have the versatility, both for myself and for others in the raid, when by some miracle, we have more than enough qualified healers available.

As I log on, I’m wondering what to do first. I have some emblems of frost for gear and I need to sort my glyphs. I am not 100% sure my current talent set-up is the best. First thing I do is activated my ele spec. (Actually the first thing I did was check my mailbox, but I have a weakness for mailboxes.) I check my glyphs. Totem of Wrath, that’s good. I replace Glyph of Lava Lash (how’d THAT get in there?) with Glyph of Lightning Bolt. Now, I’m looking at Glyph of Elemental Mastery and trying to decide which glyph to place in that spot. There’s the Glyph of Flame Shock and the Glyph of Flametongue Weapon. I will be testing both, but which first? My guild bank has neither so I check my inscriptor alt.   She can make both! I’ll get a couple of those glyphs to start my testing. As I switch to my alt, I remind myself not to get distracted! I find inscription the most fun of all the professions and it’s easy for me to get lost in herbing.   Mmmm ink, flowers, writing, glyphs . . . . *snap* Ok, got the glyphs.

As a reminder, Glyph of Flame Shock increases the critical strike damage bonus of the Flame Shock spell damage by 60%! The Glyph of Flametongue Weapon increases spell critical strike chance while Flametongue Weapon is active by 2%. Running a spreadsheet seems to indicate (if I’ve done it properly!) that Glyph of Flametongue Weapon is significantly better for overall dps than the Glyph of Flame Shock. For my own experimentation, I’ll use Glyph of Flame Shock first.

While solo questing with just myself and my totems for buffs, I ranged between 2300-2600+ dps with my current setup and the Glyph of Flame Shock. In heroics, it goes down quite a bit, in large part due to not being as quick on the rotation as I need to be and because I’m not hit-capped yet.

Solo questing in a similar manner with the same setup, the same totems, the same buffs, I ranged between 1500-1800 dps with the Glyph of Flametongue Weapon. I haven’t tried it on a heroic and I am not pleased that the results are as conclusive.

I need to continue to work on getting the appropriate gear to complement my elemental spec, as well as getting the 17% hit rating. Then, I need to test both glyphs a bit further to get a feel for which performs best for me. Also, I’m still learning how to use spreadsheets so that they best mirror my talents, gear and glyphs to estimate dps. I will continue this topic as invest in new gear and make sure I get the hit cap right before I will know for certain which glyph I like better. And the first time I raid with the ele spec, I’ll let you know how it goes!