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Which Totem(s) for what situation?
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Post by
Wowkopf
Hello there.
After a long pause, I finally came back to my Shaman to lvl to 80. I am currently at 54, have never been in an instance but want to start.
So, my question is about what totems to drop when going into 5 man instances.
I know I can narrow it down depending on what class I am grouped right? For example, Mana totem, Flametongue would be great for casters/Healers, Strength of the Earth, Windfury for melee, and maybe Stoneskin for the tank.
Well, that's 5 totems. So which one should I leave out? Plus, do any of you Shammies drop 4 totems after each fight? If I do that, I'll run out of mana, after the third fight or so.
When I solo I have no problem with them but I was wondering what to do for instances.
Of course it doesn't help that I am not that familiar with each instance to know where and when to drop an cleansing or tremor etc.
It also takes me a while to see which totem got replaced and which type it was (Air/Fire etc) to quickly re-cast one from that specific element.
In a pvp situation it seems even harder for me to decide which one to drop. There are too many which would seem important, such as Windfury, Strength of Earth out for the melee boost? Then Grounding, Cleansing, Tremor, Stoneclaw. Or is there a specific basic pvp set that any of you use?
If I could get some suggestions on how some of you deal with that, I would greatly appreciate any help.
Post by
GenXCub
In PvE, it depends greatly on what spec you are, and if you know which of your totems are made obsolete by other classes' abilities. Don't worry about the mana costs once you get to higher levels, as mana won't be an issue.
Start with a certain base set:
Strength of Earth, Healing Stream, Flametongue, Windfury
If I'm enhancement, then SoE will beat out a death knight's horn of winter, so keep SoE. If you're not enhancement, and you have a Death Knight, you'll sub out SoE for Stoneskin (unless you know the upcoming fights will need Tremor totem). There will always be at least 1 melee who can benefit (your tank), unless he's a DK and can keep HoW up. The extra AP and Dodge that the totem gives is almost always a better benefit to extra armor from stoneskin.
Mana stream totem is counteracted by a paladin's Blessing of Wisdom. If you have no pally, and you know that casters will like mana spring, do mana spring, otherwise Healing Stream or Cleansing if you know the fight will need it. Paladin and Druid healers generally will prefer to heal through disease/poison damage so they don't waste a global cooldown on cleansing, so helping them with cleansing is a big help if you know the fight will need it.
Fire totem - Totem of Wrath if you're elemental. If you're not elemental and have no elemental shaman around to use his totem of wrath, it will most likely be flametongue. If you're an enhancement shaman, and you deem your group good enough to not need flametongue, you'll be dropping magma totems to up your personal dps.
Windfury totem. This is counteracted by a Frost Death Knight who has Improved Icy Talons. IIT gives the same haste as an enhancement shaman's Improved windfury totem. So if you're all about the melee haste, and you know there's a DK with IIT, change it up to help your casters (wrath of air). If there's no DK with IIT, it's really just about whether your group needs melee or spell haste. Decide early on in the grouping. They're both good. Some PvE fights benefit from Grounding totem (Skaarvald and Dalronn in Utgarde Keep, Mal'ganis in Culling of Stratholme, and a few others). If I'm healing, I will give up caster haste to drop grounding totems when I know the fight needs them. Against Mal'ganis, just dropping tremor and grounding totems can make that fight need almost 0 healing spells.
Post by
385379
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Post by
Wowkopf
Sorry, forgot to mention I am an enhance Shammie.
In regards to your "basic" set, Is it really worth it to use the Healing Stream totem? I mean 12 health every 2 seconds doesn't seem like a lot. Just wondering.
Thanks for the great post btw.
Post by
GenXCub
Sorry, forgot to mention I am an enhance Shammie.
In regards to your "basic" set, Is it really worth it to use the Healing Stream totem? I mean 12 health every 2 seconds doesn't seem like a lot. Just wondering.
Thanks for the great post btw.
When you're at level 80, because of your Mental Quickness talent, you're going to have about 1000 spellpower, which improves Healing Stream a lot. As enhancement, when I'm over 3000 AP, my Healing Stream is ticking at about 200 per tick (100 healing per second on each person)
Post by
153026
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Post by
104658
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Post by
tomgc
Earth
Tremor Totem* > Improved Strength of Earth > Horn of Winter > Strength of Earth.
Tremor Totem* > Stoneskin > Devotion Aura, except for range. Unless you have a Paladin for every Aura, then it makes no difference.
*When you can get feared
Air
Icy Talons > Improved Windfury Totem > Windfury Totem.
Using Aspect of the Wild > losing Windfury or Wrath of Air buffs. If one Shaman's air totem is recundant, use it for Nature resists over your Hunter.
Fire
Elemental: Searing when ToW is covered > ToW > Flametongue Totem
Resto: Searing if FT/ToW is covered and you can afford a GCD for DPS
Magma or Flametongue for Enhance? Depends if the buff to casters is more necessary than Magma...
Frost Resist Aura > Frost Resist Totem. Is Frost Resist Totem better than ToW/FT/Magma? Depends on the fight
Water
Fire Resist Aura > Fire Resist Totem > Cleansing Totem > Healing Stream
Mana Spring totem if you're providing the mana regen buff > Healing Stream
Post by
367590
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Buttery
Shaman are a utility class and like the mighty utility belt of Batman, it's all about having the right tool at the right time. This is done by having the most knowledge of anyone in the group. The difference between a great shaman and a mediocre one is having this knowledge and anticipating what is going to be needed.
First, you need to know your totems front and back, group only vs raid wide, range of effect, limitations of it, what other spec/class brings a better version, etc. Then set them up properly. I suggest a single button for the 4-pack "calling" changing the "call" before raid depending on role. i use three main sets of totems: melee, caster and pvp. For individual ones, i have 4 keys for each element type (ex. 1 = fire, 2=air, 3=water, 4=earth) with a modifier key(use wowwiki macro page) for each totem (ex. 1=magma, shift+1= searing, ctrl+1=fire elemental). This keeps things organized in your head.
Then you need to know every boss, every trash pack and what kinds of debuffs they have and type of damage they do. Then you need to find out, remember the best totem combo for it and decide whether it is worth putting down. then dps, run and repeat.
At your level, you just got shamanistic rage? use it often. Work on totem positioning, drop it for 4+mobs and try to include the next pull too. Good tanks always pull to generally the same spot. Totems work through walls and such, but they dont aggro through them (not the same as "in" them).
Being a shammy is one of the most rewarding classes, but it's almost all self satisfaction, most people dont care that your totem just gave them a 300 dps gain, they'll still take all the credit for the final number and thank the pali. But people who matter will notice, other shammies and intelligent raid/guild leaders.
Batman is badass, but it's no coincidence that the tough fights are always without the belt. Nerdiness crit! used a batman analogy on a world of warcraft forum, +3 for using wow terminology and DnD reference.
tl;dr Shamanz r so smertie. Do moar research!
Post by
178827
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Post by
Modibybob
Another thing to remember is it depends what you are fighting. For example, on Ignis in Ulduar I would drop the fire resist totem, whereas on Hodir, frost resistance is almost a must have for his frozen blows. Granted, it doesn't stack with pally auras, but you can make it so the resistance totem covers a greater portion of the room.
Post by
323965
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