Elemental noob here.
I haven’t tried Nature’s Swiftness yet. Reading the description and a few guides, I assume it’s a preparatory spell similar to Stromkeeper. But unlike Stormkeeper, Nature’s Swiftness is insta and allow for only 1 spell cast next to be insta.
It’s suggested in most of the guides I’ve seen. I’m just not getting it being so popular with the 1 minute cooldown and it’s just good for a SINGLE follow up spell. Seriously I don’t get why it’s in every Talent guide I can find.
Why would i give up say, my healing Totem, for Nature’s Swiftness? For both Restoration and Elemental. 60 second cooldown!!?? What am I missing?
OFF TOPIC:
Any thoughts on using a Staff versus the Shield and 1 Hander? Pros and cons? I’ve seen my Elemental Shaman block 2 melee attacks in about 8 weeks of game play. The shield buff is weak at best.
I assume the guides you are seeing relate to the Farseer hero builds?
With those, Nature’s Swiftness activates an Ancestor to duplicate the spells you cast for it’s duration. Core ability for the build.
Regarding dual wield vs staff. It doesn’t matter. Use the highest level one you have.
Theoretically, sword/board should be better. But it doesn’t make enough of a difference to matter over an increased ilvl staff.
Healing totem for ele is absolutely useless
Being able to use a spell while moving is pretty nice
Or can just take the lazy route and macro it to something like tempest/ele blast/lava burst
Nature’s Swiftness is also a must have for Stormbringer - this is because you’re attempting to pack as many abilities into your Ascendance window as possible as your overloads are buffed during this moment; typically, you’ll use NS for an instant Elemental Blast so you can maximize Earthquake usage.
I play Stormbringer in pvp and I save my NS for when I have a Tempest and I am in a lobby that is not friendly to casting. Basically, an instant cast Tempest.
The shield offers extra armour. Straight passive physical damage reduction. The block animation doesn’t always play with the caster specs since you don’t actually pull the shield out, but I guarantee you, you are blocking occasionally.
Steves used to give slightly more stats than a 1h/OH combo, but that went away several expansions ago.
The only real benefit to a staff is early on when you might have a lower level 1h or OH. When they’re all the same item level the stats match up.
If you play with Thunderstrike Ward it won’t work with a staff.
Staves might look better with casters depending on your personal preference, but shields do offer a bigger benefit.
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