Elemental Shaman Playstyle and Rotation Guide

General Rotation:

With Amirdrassil Tier set:

Can you press Lava Burst? Press Lava Burst. The rotation for this build is extremely simple, Lava Burst has such high priority that it should be cast at every opportunity that doesn’t overcap Maelstrom. 

Don’t overcomplicate Icefury and Frost Shock, their only purpose is to serve as improved filler spells for when Lava Burst can’t be cast.

1. Fire Elemental
2. Primordial Wave
3. Elemental Blast if the next Lava Burst would put you way past 150 Maelstrom and Master of the Elements is active.
4. Lava Burst
5. Elemental Blast with Master of the Elements
6. Icefury
7. Frost Shock with Icefury active
8. Lightning Bolt

With Aberrus Tier set:

The goal is to always buff Stormkeeper bolts with Surge of Power, Electrified Shocks and Lightning Rod while always buffing Elemental Blast with Master of the Elements and Electrified Shocks.

1. Storm Elemental
2. Flame Shock if it’s not on your target or is about to expire and you don’t have Surge of Power.
3. Lightning Bolt with Surge of Power and Stormkeeper
4. Stormkeeper if you have at least 116 maelstrom or at least 41 with an active Surge of Power. 102 or 27 maelstrom is enough with an Icefury charge left.
5. Frost Shock if Icefury is active while the target doesn’t have Electrified Shocks or it’s about to expire and you don’t have Surge of Power. 
6. Elemental Blast if you have Master of the Elements.
7. Icefury
8. Lightning Bolt with Surge of Power.
9. Lava Burst if maelstrom is 63 or higher.
10. Lightning Bolt

By following this priority and planning ahead of the 2-set Stormkeepers, you will be maximizing the damage of the Stormkeeper bolts and Elemental Blast.

A lot of times, you will get into a cycle where after an Elemental Blast, you cast 1-4 Lightning Bolts into a Frost Shock and then Lava Burst to put you at 75 maelstrom to repeat the process.

Openers:

Amirdrassil tier build:

1. Fire Elemental 3 seconds before pull
2. Lava Burst
3. Flame Shock
4. Primordial Wave

Barely even qualifies as an opener, just follow the default priority list after this.

Aberrus tier build:

1. Storm Elemental 3 seconds before pull
2. Lightning Bolt 
3. Lightning Bolt 
4. Icefury
5. Flame Shock
6. Frost Shock
7. Lava Burst
8. Elemental Blast
9. Lightning Bolt until 75+ maelstrom
10. Stormkeeper
11. Frost Shock
12. Lava Burst
13. Elemental Blast
14. Lightning Bolt
15. Frost Shock
16. Lava Burst
17. Elemental Blast
18. Lightning Bolt

This opener sequence has some variance to it because the 2-set triggers at different times between pulls within the first 5 seconds. If you were unable to fit a 2nd lightning bolt before the Icefury in the opener, you need to cast an additional Frost Shock before the Lava Burst at step 7. This also has to be done if neither Lightning Bolt overloaded to ensure that you reach 75 maelstrom after the Lava Burst.

This opener achieves buffing every Elemental Blast with Master of the Elements, every Stormkeeper with Surge of Power without overwriting the 4-set buff, and also doesn't waste too many Frost Shocks for better uptime of Electrified Shocks.

Multi Target:

All the priority lists for AoE are fairly similar but value Chain Lightning and Surge of Power to different levels.

Amirdrassil Tier AoE build 1-2 targets:

1. Fire Elemental
2. Liquid Magma Totem
3. Maintain as many Flame Shocks as possible, use Surge of Power to get more per cast if needed. 
4. Stormkeeper with 70+ maelstrom.
5. Lightning Bolt with Stormkeeper and Surge of Power
6. Primordial Wave
7. Lava Burst with Lava Surge
8. Earth Shock with Master of the Elements
9. Lava Burst
10. Lightning Bolt at 1 target, Chain Lightning at 2

Amirdrassil Tier AoE build 3-5 targets:

1. Fire Elemental
2. Liquid Magma Totem
3. Maintain as many Flame Shocks as possible, use Surge of Power to get more per cast. 
4. Stormkeeper
5. Chain Lightning with Stormkeeper and Master of the Elements
6. Primordial Wave
7. Lava Burst with Lava Surge
8. Earthquake with Master of the Elements
9. Lava Burst
10. Chain Lightning

Amirdrassil Tier AoE build 6+ targets:

1. Fire Elemental
2. Liquid Magma Totem
3. Maintain as many Flame Shocks as possible, use Surge of Power to get more per cast. 
4. Stormkeeper
5. Chain Lightning with Stormkeeper and Surge of Power.
6. Primordial Wave
7. Chain Lightning with Surge of Power.
8. Earthquake with Master of the Elements
9. Lava Burst with Lava Surge
10. Lava Burst
11. Chain Lightning

Aberrus Tier AoE build 5 targets:

1. Storm Elemental
2. Liquid Magma Totem
3. Stormkeeper
4. Earthquake if Echoes of the Great Sundering is active
5. Elemental Blast on a target without Lightning Rod
6. Chain Lightning

It’s ideal to pool maelstrom before Stormkeeper in order to get at least two Lightning Rods up for 40% more damage. 

If you’re hitting a single target ignore Echoes of the Great Sundering and just keep casting Elemental Blast.

With 2-targets it's normal single target rotation but utilizing Echoes of the Great Sundering and trying to have two Lightning Rods up as much as possible. Lightning Bolt is only cast with Surge of Power, otherwise Chain Lightning is the filler. 

With 3-4 targets the AoE rotation is the same but you cast Icefury and maintain Electrified Shocks.

At 6+ targets utilize Surge of Power with Chain Lightning and avoid casting Elemental Blast and Earthquake back to back.

Playstyle

Elemental in Dragonflight has a more robust toolkit than it has had in many years.

It has more mobility than it has ever had before with Gust of Wind, Spiritwalker’s Grace with Graceful Spirit and Thunderous Paws.

Survivability wise it has lost a very powerful ability in Harden Skin which the Primal Earth Elemental no longer provides, it now instead retains part of the Shadowlands conduit that increases your max health while it’s active, reduced to 15%.

No longer is choosing Wind Rush Totem a loss of Nature’s Guardian. Brimming with Life is a fantastic new talent, Elemental Warding with Ancestral Defense provides some additional passive damage reduction.

Elemental retains its position as a robust caster that will survive a lot of damage but still doesn’t compare to the tankiness of Warlock. It still has very weak self-sustain and relies heavily on healers to stay alive.