Season of Discovery (SoD) Shaman Dual-Wield DPS Build Guide & Best Runes

The Bronze Dragonflight may have had a hand in the making of this build, as it’ll appear ever so slightly familiar. While these abilities most definitely borrow from the future a touch, it’s exciting and new to see them in a context they’ve never been seen before! Read on to delve further into a build to satisfy your want to combine elemental spells with hard hitting melee swings.

Build Summary

There are several paths you can run down that will all likely be viable in their own way. Without going into every minor variation you may take depending on the situation there are two builds that will offer a foundation for any minor tweaks you may feel necessary.

For the first type it’ll be your more classical melee-focused build that makes use of the Lava Lash rune to make your dual-wielding capabilities quite a bit more dangerous. You can open with a quick Lightning Bolt, apply Flame Shock, set down a Searing Totem, and from there use Lava Lash off CD while weaving in the appropriate shock spells.

If you’re willing to stray from the path of the melee for a moment, there is some merit to equipping Lava Burst over Lava Lash. This will make the rotation a touch more awkward having to weave in a hardcast when Lava Burst is off CD, but the burst damage of the spell combined with its Flurry talent synergy should still make it well worth your while. The opener will likely be similar with a Lightning Bolt into Flame Shock application. Then a Lava Burst for the crit, Searing Totem for passive single target damage, and appropriate shock spells for the situation.

The utility packages will be the same, regardless. Pre-combat you’ll want both your weapons enchanted with Flametongue Weapon, Lightning Shield on (Although in group content this will likely take low priority to reapply), and a Strength of Earth Totem down in the pull vicinity. Healing Stream Totem can fill an empty slot in your rotation with not much cost to yourself. And, of course, if the encounter calls for it you have access to abilities like Purge, Tremor Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Poison Cleansing Totem to help with group survivability.

Runes

Chest

Dual Wield Specialization

This is the bread and the butter that makes this build what it is and thus I’d consider it 100% required. It allows us to equip two one-handed weapons as well as increases both our melee and spell hit chance, which is quite big at the lower levels.

Gloves

Lava Lash

A core skill enhancing your dual-wielding abilities to make it so that more than just your auto-attacks lay the beatdown on your enemies. With access to both Flametongue Weapon and the Dual Wield Specialization you’ll get max value out of this rune. A button to press as often as you can.

Lava Burst

A touch unconventional in a build like this as it’ll need to be hardcasted, but despite the downsides does synergize more than you’d think. Not only does the spell itself offer a large amount of burst damage, it’ll also trigger a guaranteed Flurry proc if you’re properly keeping up Flame Shock on the target.

Legs

Shamanistic Rage

A reliable defensive CD that’s great against predictable bursts of damage, as well as offering you the benefit of some decent mana regeneration as well. It’s up for a full 15 seconds, and offers mana regeneration scaling based off 15% of your attack power each second it’s active! A 2 minute cooldown is fairly reasonable, so don’t be afraid to pop this simply to stop yourself going OOM. This will likely be your standard option in the slot.

Ancestral Guidance

If in group content and some extra off-healing is what’s called for then this can serve as a reliable option – scaling off your damage done to heal 3 nearby party members. This will also benefit you if you’re really in trouble and need to bust out some healing spells for your allies as the enemy with your most recent Flame Shock application will receive 100% of your healing done as damage.

Talent Build

Running it down a single tree with all your points is most definitely going to be the way to go here with only 16 total points available. The Enhancement tree is the obvious choice, but not the only choice. There’s really only one flex point in encounters where you have the ability to use Ghost Wolf – and that’s the point sitting in Guardian Totems. Whether you want 1% more dodge with Anticipation, or a touch more Lightning Shield damage with Improved Lightning Shield there’s not going to be a large difference. For indoor content where Ghost Wolf is not available then freely move those talents to defensive options within the Enhancement tree.

The Enhancement tree is definitely recommended if you’re going to be using the Lava Burst rune as it forces a guaranteed Flurry proc. Especially useful since your critical strike might not be as high as you’d like with the limited gearing options available.

This tree is more about consistency, with decent % damage bonuses with Concussion and Call of Flame. The latter of which will give a fairly good benefit to your Searing Totem. While points in Reverberation will reduce your shock cooldowns by almost a full second, offering easier multi-dotting with Flame Shock and decreased downtime in your rotation. Elemental Focus offers a fairly good tool to improve mana efficiency, and at the price of just one talent point is well worth the pickup. The point in Elemental Devastation is more useful the more your spells have a chance of critting and could be flexed into the last point in Reverberation if you value the consistency for the time being.

The Lava Lash rune can make use of either talent tree build, although the Elemental tree might give it the consistency it needs until you’ve acquired enough gear that the Enhancement tree makes sense.

Key Spells and Abilities

Flametongue Weapon

With lv 25 being the cap we sadly won’t have the Windfury Weapon enhancement available, so Flametongue Weapon is going to be our choice. Especially with the synergy that the Lava Lash rune has where it deals 20% more damage if your off-hand is enchanted with Flametongue. If threat is a non-issue (Such as solo-content), you could try Rockbiter Weapon on your main-hand and Flametongue Weapon on your off-hand. Honestly, double Flametongue is likely going to be your best choice in all situations, though.

Flame Shock

One of the most important damage abilities available to us at any point in the game once you’ve trained it. It offers fairly good damage, isn’t terribly difficult to keep permanently on your main target, and has extra synergies with the new Lava Burst spell available through runes if you so choose to go that route.

Searing Totem

A solid single-target option that gives a lot of value for one GCD in single-target situations. While Fire Nova Totem does exist and is available as an AoE option by lv 25, it really isn’t that valuable outside of large pulls with its long wind-up time and long cooldown. Searing, on the other hand, is more of a set-and-forget totem for us that while not bursty, offers consistent damage over a long period of time for a single GCD.

Earth Shock / Frost Shock

These two shocks will offer significant instant damage bursts. Your shocks share a cooldown, so which one you choose to use will be situational. Earth Shock offers considerably more damage, an interrupt to your target’s spellcasting, but has the downside of generating more threat. Earth Shock is likely the primary shock you’ll be casting as it also has the added benefit of rank 2 being available by lv 25, offering a considerable damage upgrade.

For Frost Shock, while it’s less DPS, it’s a safer option if threat is an issue, and also has added kiting potential if you or your tank gets in a dicey spot and needs a breather.

Noteworthy Items

Before hopping into the item recommendations, it should be noted that weapons have some extra considerations. Lava Lash scales from off-hand weapon damage, so slow-speed high-damage weapons are going to be required if you go the Lava Lash rune for your off-hand slot. For your main-hand, high-speed weapons (<2) will likely offer better results as it’ll give more opportunity to crit and proc Flurry if you’re in the Enhancement tree. If you’ve chosen Lava Burst as your rune of choice, two fast weapons will likely be your best bet for the same reasons regarding Flurry procs. Axes will have the added benefit of Axe Specialization if you happen to choose an Orc as your race.

Callous Axe

This is a one-hander that works perfectly for us due to it being fairly easy to get, its slow speed, and the ability to equip it in our off hand. Ott, in the Hillsbrad Foothills, will sell this item to you for about 2g. Slow speed, high DPS is going to be something to look for in your off-hand specifically due to how Lava Lash rune deals damage based on your OH weapon damage.

Blurred Axe

Our main man, Ott, is back at it again with yet another easily accessible weapon option if you head over to him in the Hillsbrad Foothills with about 2g on your person. It’s fast, it’s an axe, and it has agility on it! The downside is that the DPS is a bit underwhelming, and so while it’s a great starter weapon you can find upgrades in places like Shadowfang Keep.

Bearded Boneaxe

A fantastic main-hand option if you’re able to pony up and buy one off the auction house or get lucky enough to have it drop for you. It has the benefits of being a fast main-hand weapon, allowing for more opportunities to proc Flurry, while also having a rather high DPS.

Spritekin Cloak

A quest reward from Bloodfury Bloodline in the Stonetalon Mountains, and within a safe level range making it quite easy to pick it up.

Silverlaine’s Family Seal

A solid DPS ring among limited choices. It drops off Baron Silverlaine in Shadowfang Keep. As an alternative, or for your second slot since this one is unique you can also get the Seal of Sylvanas from the Arugal Must Die dungeon quest for Shadowfang Keep.

Humbert’s Helm

The choices for this slot are extremely limited. This is a decently rare BoE that drops off a rather dangerous elite mob, but it is one of the only real options to aim for as things kick off.

Race Choice

Orc

Between Blood Fury and Axe Specialization this is an extremely useful race to choose. Axe Specialization will be especially useful with the level cap being lower as hit on gear will be tougher to come across, while axes should be fairly easy to attain. Blood Fury is just a solid DPS cooldown that benefits us as melee players.

Tauren

War Stomp and Endurance give bonus survivability if that’s something you’re worried about, but there’s no real DPS bonuses to picking a Tauren. If you’re looking to eek out every ounce of damage you can, probably not the choice for you, but don’t let your moos be unheard if the cow life is your dream!

Troll

Berserking is going to be your main reason for picking a Troll Shaman. It does require you to be damaged to get the full effect of the haste buff, but even at a 10% increase to casting and melee speed it’s still worth considering. Beast Slaying can also give you some incidental bonus damage when fighting against beast-type mobs which is not to be overlooked as 2 bosses in BFD are beast-type!