Shaman Elemental Rotation & Opener
Built from the current top-100 Mythic parses on WarcraftLogs — the real opener sequences, casts-per-minute and buff uptimes of the best Elemental players, not theorycraft.
AI coach — raid
How to play: Lightning Bolt is your filler (top players: 19.1/min), Lava Burst rides Flame Shock procs (11.6/min), and Flame Shock never drops (2.5/min = refresh only). Maelstrom feeds Elemental Blast (6/min); a procced Tempest takes priority (3.8/min). Stormkeeper on cooldown. Watch: Flame Shock's remaining time — every Lava Burst proc depends on it; never cap Maelstrom, dump Elemental Blast on refresh.
Real Opener Sequences — Vorasius
First ~12 casts of actual top-ranked kills. Trinkets and racials vary by setup; the skill order is what to copy.
Bilboi — Thrall (US)
1.
Lava Burst
2.
Ascendance
3.
Heroism
4.
Nullsight
5.
Light's Potential
6.
Lava Burst
7.
Nature's Swiftness
8.
Tempest
9.
Lightning Bolt
10.
Lightning Bolt
11.
Lightning Bolt
12.
Lava Burst
Loloup — Zul'jin (US)
1.
Stormkeeper
2.
Lava Burst
3.
Ascendance
4.
Light's Potential
5.
Nullsight
6.
Nature's Swiftness
7.
Tempest
8.
Lava Burst
9.
Lightning Bolt
10.
Lightning Bolt
11.
Lava Burst
12.
Lightning Bolt
teukhwassagae — ajeusyara (KR)
1.
Stormkeeper
2.
Heroism
3.
Spiritwalker's Grace
4.
Spiritwalker's Grace
5.
Ascendance
6.
Nullsight
7.
Light's Potential
8.
Lava Burst
9.
Tempest
10.
Lava Burst
11.
Lightning Bolt
12.
Lightning Bolt
Casts Per Minute — Raid Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Lightning Bolt | 19.1 |
| Lava Burst | 11.6 |
| Elemental Blast | 6.0 |
| Tempest | 3.8 |
| Chain Lightning | 3.1 |
| Flame Shock | 2.5 |
| Stormkeeper | 1.4 |
| Spiritwalker's Grace | 1.4 |
| Nature's Swiftness | 0.9 |
| Nullsight | 0.8 |
| Ascendance | 0.6 |
| Astral Shift | 0.5 |
CPM = median casts per minute across the sampled top kills. If you're far below on a core ability, that's usually the first thing to fix.
Buff Uptimes to Watch
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Deepening Temptation | 88.4% |
| Visage | 76.7% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 71.6% |
| Unlimited Power | 66.8% |
| Elemental Blast: Critical Strike | 66.0% |
| Elemental Blast: Mastery | 60.0% |
| Elemental Blast: Haste | 59.7% |
| Precision of the Dragonhawk | 46.7% |
| Riftwalker's Temptation | 45.1% |
| Black Attunement | 36.9% |
Mythic+ Differences
AI coach — Mythic+
How to play: Swap to Chain Lightning on packs and feed Maelstrom into Earthquake (placed under the pack, covering their path); Lava Burst goes to Flame-Shocked priority targets. Keep Earth Elemental summoned — it's your second life. Watch: Earthquake placement actually covering the pack; switch to Chain Lightning at 2-3+ targets and back to Lightning Bolt on singles.
Casts Per Minute — Mythic+ Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Lightning Bolt | 11.4 |
| Chain Lightning | 10.0 |
| Elemental Blast | 5.4 |
| Tempest | 4.3 |
| Earthquake | 3.9 |
| Lava Burst | 2.8 |
| Voltaic Blaze | 2.4 |
| Stormkeeper | 1.0 |
| Ghost Wolf | 0.7 |
| Nature's Swiftness | 0.7 |
| Spiritwalker's Grace | 0.6 |
| Emberwing Heatwave | 0.5 |
| Ascendance | 0.4 |
| Astral Shift | 0.4 |
Mythic+ Buff Uptimes
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Earth Elemental | 93.0% |
| Ebon Might | 82.0% |
| Unlimited Power | 68.9% |
| Prescience | 65.1% |
| Alnscorned Essence | 55.9% |
| Elemental Blast: Mastery | 52.5% |
| Elemental Blast: Haste | 51.8% |
| Elemental Blast: Critical Strike | 50.6% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 48.8% |
| Shifting Sands | 38.8% |
Compare yourself in-game, live
The GearInsight addon overlays your own CPM and buff uptimes next to these benchmarks during combat.