Hey all,
Recently I have been leveling a toon through legion, and class fantasy is something I miss a lot about the game. I remembered the shaman order hall pretty vaguely, as I was rushing to max level, so I decided to replay it on an alt.
During the campaign shaman are shown to demonstrate so degree of power, as if there is “technique” or some way of summoning the elements into battle. Older lore has stated that a shaman needs to work in the elements best interest however, and can be forsaken if the shaman acts out. I’m not the best when it comes to lore so I’m really wondering: How it is shamans access the elements? What does each element want? How is earth/fire/water/air “alive”? What are shamans doing now? How do shamans work in shadowlands/argus?
Hope someone with better knowledge of wow lore can help me out
I just smoke world tube. Coz I am shaman I need a spiritual connection. But seriously I have no clue how any class is unique right now with this covenant abilities
So we are supposed to be warriors with a strong connection to the elements and spirituality. Strong enough in the spirituality that we summon wolves that are ghost and help us fight. But we mostly use the elements for fighting.
Unlike mages that harness arcanr magic and change it to fire and frost we use the actual element.
Waaaay back in the day, Shamans had to go on quests where they made pacts with an elemental lord before being able to use totems of the corresponding element (we also had more and more useful totems so this was a key to our tool kit).
Elements are supposed to be the fundamental building blocks of the world (which is why we call our chart of all the kinds of atoms the periodic table of elements). Ancient Greeks believed there were only four elements: water, fire, air, and earth, and those got ported into Roman and then middle ages European culture and obviously, the idea still exists in contemporary pop culture.
World of Warcraft metaphysics is a bit complicated… there’s supposed to be Void and Light as two competing forces as well as the elements and Old God’s, Titans, and the Burning Legion, all of which are their own thing. However Shadowlands basically made it so that lore before the Shadowlands doesn’t matter because nothing we “learned” about the Lignt and the Void or the Old Gods and the Titans make sense in light of the world that Shadowlands presents (a bit of a theme for Shadowlands… nothing Sylvanus does this xpac makes any sense if you consider her character before BFA).
That aside… the basic idea is that the elements of Azaroth are represented by spirits that take a physical form corresponding to their element, and Shamans can make a bargain with these elements to use their power.
Shamans Old lore is pretty much all we have on how Shamanism works, though it is primal and simple so we don’t need much.
The elements are Alive because they are the natural forces on every World in the Great Dark, even those without a World Soul. Commonly there is Air, Earth, Fire, Water & SPIRIT however our element of Spirit was consumed by Azeroth over time, which is why our Elementals are always in disarray and combating each other, the Fifth Element TM is missing and altering the balance.
The workings of a Shaman are to get the blessings of the elements to use their power, whether this be done through some form of ritual or just basic respect and understanding between the Shaman and the Elements is not entirely clear. Which is why some Shamans can fail their trials, and not become full fledge wielders of elemental power, the elements can reject them and not give them their boon.
This is also why in Cataclysm a lot of the shamans (in lore, not in gameplay) were having trouble even using their powers, the elements were ignoring their calls. It is also why in the Siege of Orgrimmar, Thrall could not use his elemental might to defeat Garrosh, the Dark Shaman had twisted the elemental spirits for miles around so they could not hear Thrall’s plea for power.
Dark Shamans, are Shamans that FORCE the elements to do their bidding, and to give their power, it is an unnatural form of Shamanism and can corrupt or harm the land to do so. How this is done it is not entirely or thoroughly explained but that’s pretty much the standard difference you need to know.
Each element desires either balance or power, often when Elementals are at war with each other it is because another elemental has “overstepped their boundaries” and is encroaching on their land/domain. Each element on Azeroth seeks to outdo the other, which is why it was considered a major Feat in Legion when the Earthen Ring got the Elementals to work together.
The elementals Shamans summon essentially create pacts with said individuals to be summoned from their plane when needed, much like a Demon being summoned by a warlock. The major difference is a Warlock summons through Sacrifice or subjugation but a Shaman summons through mutual respect.
This is why it use to be crucial to unlock your totems through questchains in Vanilla, because the totems were the anchor to the Elemental plane, and the physical representation of your bond with said element. A nice in character touch that has been lost over time.
As I said, Argus, just as any other world has elementals, just as Draenor does and Azeroth. So the elements though most likely twisted and corrupted to no end, still exist on the planet and thus can be summoned there. Something I always wish Blizzard would do is show how the elements are different on each planet, summoning a more primal type on Draenor, and a more corrupted type on Argus would be cool. But that is more work to implement into the game so it wouldn’t be done.
I hope this spew of information helps you out Arlikai! Lmk if you need anything else.
Goblins sort of threw that all out the window, bargaining with the Elements, even their totems and culture should be a huge upfront insult to the Elements, deforestation, upsetting the Balance.
The old school lore and quest lines I grew to love and still hold such strong nostalgia over is something of a great memory now days.
They are born with a natural bond with the elements, and when the time it comes a master Shaman is contacted by the elements. The elements tell to the master about this new shaman and the master will go to find him. You can see this in the comic named Shaman and in the first shaman quest in Mulgore starting zone
Posted this over in your other topic in the Lore Area, but thought I’d copy it here for others who may not visit that section.
What exactly are you wanting to know?
Shaman are Spiritual members of their communities. In the lore they are able to connect with the Spirits of their ancestors, as well as Nature(elements). They do this through multiple different means based on the Shaman in question’s culture. However often times this is done with herbs and elixirs and yes Totems. Shaman with a much stronger connection can achieve this connection through their own will. Thrall “was” such a shaman but even he was limited in his power.
On the subject of Thrall and Cataclysm he was asked and he hoped the Elementals could answer. Though for “reasons” most ignored him until he finally got an answer from the Fire Lord himself.
Lore wise Shaman don’t technically have any power of their own. True Shaman don’t and I’ll get to the other later. Shaman use “calls” to ask for aid from the Elemental Spirits within a given area. This aid can consist of but is not limited to physical aid or a buff to the Shaman or their allies. This is where we get abilities such as Lightning Shield, Earth Shield, and even Water Shield.
For the more offensive aid, Shaman become conduits of the elemental in question. Using their physical body to allow the elemental’s power to flow. If the Shaman is weak the power is throttled and becomes ineffective. When the Shaman is strong more of the elemental’s power is able to be released. However that doesn’t mean all of it will be. The Shaman relies on the Elemental’s abilities as well as their own. If an Elemental doesn’t want to give you their power then you’re . Think of it like your internet connection and Bandwidth. Broadband Vs Dialup. You could have a supercomputer but if your conn is poor or of low quality it will still be slow and unresponsive. On the opposite side, it doesn’t matter if you have a perfect connection if your system can’t handle the incoming data. It is also possible to overload a cpu or server causing it to crash. This is what happened to a certain Dark Iron who tried to summon the Lord of Fire. He succeeded but was killed as a result.
Now most of the above applies to true Shaman. As Zahirwrite mentioned there is also something known as a Dark Shaman. These were seen more openly within Garrosh’s Dark Horde, however have existed in the lore for a long time just under a different name. We call them Mages and Warlocks. Decay is one way Dark Shaman force their influence and will on the elements. Another is Arcane and Fel.
Dark Shaman are a corrupt version of what a true Shaman is. In some ways they are more powerful as they don’t ask the Elements but force them. Many people wrongly believe that a Mage’s Water Elemental is just a mindless construct. However Lore tells us that is not the case. a Mage doesn’t create their Water elemental with their arcane power, they summon and enslave it. The ones Jaina used on Org cried out and were heard by Thrall. This isn’t the only way Mages are akin to Dark Shaman either. All of their elemental magic comes from the Elementals. They are just oblivious to it even with all their arcane intellect. That or they just think themselves so superior they don’t care.
You saw me mention Fel above and Warlocks are not free of blame. Not only were the first Orc Warlocks prior Shaman, but many Human Warlocks started out as Mages themselves. Fel uses soul (spirit) magic and have been seen trying to manipulate the Elements with Fel. Gul’dan from Warlords of Draenor is even part of a quest chain where he is trying to do this very thing. Had we not intervened he would have succeeded.
Be it a True Shaman or a Dark one, their power often depends on if there are elements or spirits in a given area to “call” and their respect of the shaman or their power. This is why Thrall said his power was diminished when he first stepped through the Dark portal to AU Draenor. This is because the Elementals there did not recognize him or respect him as a Shaman, let alone the “World Shaman”. This would be true of any planet or plane of existence.
Having never actually done Argus I can’t be sure if the planet even had any Elementals that may not have otherwise been corrupted by Fel and the Burning Legion. Though as Warlocks are technically able to summon and control(contract) Demons who are part of the Burning Legion I don’t see why Shaman couldn’t have also garnered the respect of even such Elements.
As for Shadowlands… Well, our Lore has kind of been neglected or forgotten. As Elementals get sent to the Elemental Plain it is unlikely any would be within the Shadowlands unless summoned or brought along somehow.
“Enhancement” is mostly a gameplay spec but in-game it is listed as:
It isn’t hard to believe that in the case of this version of Shaman, takes a more direct approach to combat. Instead of channeling an elemental’s power through their own body, they instead use a talesmen of sorts. In the case above it is with Totems and the shaman’s very weapon. Though he is currently speced as Elemental; in RP(lore) Doseki’s axe is such a talesmen(totem). Forged within the Elemental plan itself it is an example of balance within the elements. Forged with Earth from the earthen plain within the fires of the Firelands, tempered with water from the plain of water and sharpened with lighting from the plain of air.
Hope I’ve been able to answer your questions lad. If ye have any other questions, feel free to hit me up.
This definitely helps alot, I remember when vanilla came out and the totem quests were some of my favorite as they truly made it seem like you were granted the favor of each element. (even though the quests are pretty dated now). Its a shame we are straying further away from class fantasy into borrowed power hell.
. Think of it like your internet connection and Bandwidth. Broadband Vs Dialup. You could have a supercomputer but if your conn is poor or of low quality it will still be slow and unresponsive. On the opposite side, it doesn’t matter if you have a perfect connection if your system can’t handle the incoming data. It is also possible to overload a cpu or server causing it to crash. This is what happened to a certain Dark Iron who tried to summon the Lord of Fire. He succeeded but was killed as a result.