When to use Totems

[Poglia]

I play Shaman since 2 years and I want to share this little guide about Totems, written by me right now (so it can't be a repost). Ok, it contains some basic and obvious things, but I'm just trying to help new Shamans.

PVE: SOLOING

If you are soloing a single mob, don't bother putting totems: they are a waste of mana. You may want to put only Searing Totem since you kill the mob faster and it cost only 205 mana at level 70.

However, if there are a large amount of mobs and you want to pull 2+ of them, you should put:

- Healing Stream Totem
- Grace of Air Totem if you are Enhancement, or Wrath of Air Totem if you are Elemental or Resto

Then pull the mobs with Chain Lightning. When they are near you, put (in these order):

- Stoneclaw Totem
- Fire Nova Totem

If you put only Fire Nova, mobs will see and kill it immediately, so it's better to use Stoneclaw. After Fire Nova has detonated, put Magma Totem to do additional AOE.

If you are going to kill an elite (without adds), put:

- Healing Stream Totem (or Mana Spring Totem if you think that it will be a very long fight)
- Grace of Air Totem if you are Enhancement, or Wrath of Air Totem if you are Elemental or Resto
- Strength of Earth Totem if you are Enhancement, or Stoneskin Totem if you are Elemental or Resto
- Searing Totem

Remember keep always Searing Totem up. Put also Grounding Totem if the elite do some spells like Fireball.

PVE: INSTANCES

First thing: never, ever use any fire totem (Searing, Magma and Fire Nova) if there are CCs in your group. You don't want to break CCs and die. You can use these totems against bosses or single mobs.

If you are the healer, put Mana Spring Totem; otherwise put Healing Stream Totem (unless the healer tell you that he prefer Mana Spring). BTW if you heal remember to keep Water Shield on you and Earth Shield on tank ALL the times.

For Earth Totems, Strenght of Earth is the best for Instances. If there are another Shaman in your group, you will put Strenght of Earth and he will put Stoneskin.

For Air Totems, you may want to put Windfury, Grace of Air or Wrath of Air, based on your group. If it is full of melee put the first one, if there are hunters put the seconds and if there are many casters put the third. Be prepared to use Grounding Totem against certain bosses like Talon King Ikiss (SH), that can polymorph.

Never use Tranquil Air Totem, even if mobs are on you: it reduces the threat of ALL party, including tank. In three words: it does nothing. You can use it only if you are in raid and your group (only your group) has trouble with aggro.

If mobs are doing poisons or diseases quite often (like in Wailing Caverns or Maraudon), use the Cleansing Totems instead of dispel those stuffs one by one with your normal Remove spell.

Last but not least, use Elementals Totems (and Bloodlust/Heroism) against bosses or when there are big pulls. Remember: Earth is the tank and Fire is the DPS. And always heal them!

PVP

In PvP, the most common totem is Earthbind. It can ALWAYS help, both if you are caster (Elemental or Resto) and you want to keep melee far or if you are melee (Enhancement) and you don't want to let casters run away. You can use Frost Shock too. Against Warlocks and Priests you should use Tremor Totem, this is obvious.

About Fire Totems, just put Searing Totem againt ALL classes. It's very annoying, trust me. Against Rogues, you should put Magma Totem, since it breaks Stealth. Against Frost Mages, you can use Frost Resistance Totem if you want.

About Water, you can put:

- Healing Stream
- Mana Spring if you think that it will be a long fight (e.g against healers)
- Poison Cleansing against Rogues and Hunters (stings are poisons)

And about Air, put Grace of Air or Wrath of Air (it depends on your spec) against melee. Against casters, ALWAYS use Grounding Totem: it can absorb almost everything from Fireball to Fear to Polymorph to Counterspell. And remember: NEVER, EVER heal yourself without Grounding Totem down if you are fighting a Mage or a Shaman. They will simply do Counterspell or Earth Shock and you will die.

I hope it helps.

[b2zeldafreak]

i think i'm going to rep you for this one

[JoeBruce]

Very nice, well done.

[pardalis1111]

if ur resto and need healing stream totem
you = epic phail
other then that its a good helper to people that dont know the proper times to drop which totems they need

[lsmokey]

However, if there are a large amount of mobs and you want to pull 2+ of them, you should put:

- Healing Stream Totem
- Grace of Air Totem if you are Enhancement, or Wrath of Air Totem if you are Elemental or Resto

Then pull the mobs with Chain Lightning. When they are near you, put (in these order):

- Stoneclaw Totem
- Fire Nova Totem

If you put only Fire Nova, mobs will see and kill it immediately, so it's better to use Stoneclaw. After Fire Nova has detonated, put Magma Totem to do additional AOE.

This is the only part I had a problem with. If you are pulling two mobs (assuming you are lvl 70) with chain lightning, stoneclaw totem will not be of help unless the lightning did not jump to the second mob. keep in mind it only remains for 15 seconds. Also, I have found that droping fire nova about 2 seconds before the mobs come (after chain lightning) is sufficient enough to have it detonate. Your dmg from chain lightning will keep their focus on you thus removing the need for stoneclaw and saving you mana. I typically use stoneclaw when there are groups of 2-3, as it will not stand for long with more mobs than that. To use it effectively you must focus fire on a SINGLE target and drop the totem as they arrive (it pulses immediately upong being dropped - so if you want to get attacked while you wait for it to tick you can drop it early...)

[Aradroth]

If you dont know how or when to drop totems at 70 just delete your char imo.

[Zonagle]

I personally didn't think this guide was very good, main reason you ask? This.

"First thing: never, ever use any fire totem (Searing, Magma and Fire Nova) if there are CCs in your group. You don't want to break CCs and die. You can use these totems against bosses or single mobs."

If you don't have the skill to control the totems so as to not break CC, then you're a bad Shaman, it's simple as that. I've always used fire totems while in groups, with or without CC. If there's something like a sheep, it's easy to avoid hitting it with Fire Nova, Magma or Searing, you just have to not suck.

This also
" However, if there are a large amount of mobs and you want to pull 2+ of them, you should put:

- Healing Stream Totem
- Grace of Air Totem if you are Enhancement, or Wrath of Air Totem if you are Elemental or Resto

Then pull the mobs with Chain Lightning. When they are near you, put (in these order):

- Stoneclaw Totem
- Fire Nova Totem

If you put only Fire Nova, mobs will see and kill it immediately, so it's better to use Stoneclaw. After Fire Nova has detonated, put Magma Totem to do additional AOE.
"

If you're Elemental, it's quite possible that the Stoneclaw totem won't hold aggro off a Chain Lightning, if you're Enhancement, it's a waste of mana, it might work for Resto. So that's far more situational than you've made it out to be.

This
"And about Air, put Grace of Air or Wrath of Air (it depends on your spec) against melee. Against casters, ALWAYS use Grounding Totem: it can absorb almost everything from Fireball to Fear to Polymorph to Counterspell. And remember: NEVER, EVER heal yourself without Grounding Totem down if you are fighting a Mage or a Shaman. They will simply do Counterspell or Earth Shock and you will die."

That is also bad information. You can heal yourself quite easily while fighting one of these classes, even without Grounding totem. Fake them out, start casting Healing Wave, cancel it, watch them waste their shock/silence, then actually heal. Faking a heal works most of the time, unless you're fighting a very skilled player, then some caution might be advised.

In the PvE section you never mentioned about dropping Tremor totem... there's plenty of instances where Tremor totem helps, maybe you should add something about that? Just a quick example: The first boss of Shadow Labs, he fears, Tremor totem can break it.

Also, you say if there's Hunters in your group to use Grace of Air? What if there was a Hunter and a Warrior? Why didn't you mention anything about totem twisting? You know, allowing the effect of both WF and another air totem to be active at the same time? (Yes, I know you said it contains basic and obvious things, and that you're just trying to help new Shaman, but still).

[wafflicious]

+Rep as I want to play a shaman so this will help me a fair bit...!

[eplis]

Spammer! And omg how big a wall of text just showing when to use totems O_o

[raage227]

wall of text XXL