There's a very nice Thread on the Shaman forums about handy tricks u can perform, i made a helpful post myself but even if u dont usually visit the forums urself, i advise u check it out if u play shaman
Link:World of Warcraft (en) Forums -> Awesome shaman tricks!
- Against "clever" casters, You can use Windfury totem and other air totems as a "fake" Grounding totem, Mages and alike will stop to remove it. through experience players rarely read the totems name just the colour :P
- In Heroic ToC when ur fighting Lord Jarax hes mistresses throw silencing kisses at u, when u see its hit u cast a lavaburst, it will lock ur fire school only and u can continue Healing
- Anticipate peoples actions, Battlegrounds are a prime place to notice different classes "Habits" learn from these. e.g. a DK will often throw a strangulate after he pops Gargoyle try to ground it, Most paladins play like scrubs they open their attack with HoJ , throw a grounding as soon as u see a pala's within like 15yards.
- Use searing totem against rogues it annoys the crap out of them try kite around it or if u tend to move around large amounts like me always remember to bring the important totems with you.
- If u see a shaman in the distance and they're not dual wielding immediately assume they're Elemental ! Stay the feck away from him near cliff edges until u know for sure.
- In the majority of situations u should save trinket for Deep Freeze against Mages
- If u dont Fake cast heals LEARN TO ! u wont get very far without this technique.
- If you r midway through a cast and the warrior pops Spell Reflect STOP and Wind shear/Purge him this will remove the reflect.
- Learn to dance in and out Warriors charging range. In addition 2 more tips against warrior:
> Heal though Bladestorm don't try and pathetically run away, u avoid no dmg doing this.
> Hex the warrior 2-3 seconds before Mortal strike fades for one easy heal instead of spammin LHW
- Think its been mentioned here before, but HEX a Mage early on ! interrupt the sheep and throw a hex on him, he'll no doubt use trinket giving u a full duration hex in 45secs.
- Always have stacks of Honeymint tea in your bag u cant be wasting your arena water or relying on a Mage.
- Shield swap intelligently against melee u will most likely have to swap Earth shield for Water at some point to avoid going oom (think ahead) and against Castes u can also swap Water for Earth to get some easy heals.
- Throw a Fire resist totem against hunters they open with explosive shot and u will resist a good chunk
> Use magma totem immediately when u see a snake trap
- If u see a Mage slow fall over u don't gaze in awe as he glides majestically... purge the crap out of him and watch him hit the floor like a sack of Sh*t. :P
- Dont stride around with Water shield active... When som1 hits u gaining 490+ mana when ur full isnt going to help u ! Use Earth Shield.
- Sadly no matter how good u are, or how many fools u have in your battleground its usually more productive to stay with them as u can do little on your own and what u can do takes way too long
(Talking Resto here)
- He-man up your Earth shield Pop a "on use" SP trinket to boost the healing power of the shield. I HAVE THE POWER!
- Do not underestimate the power of Frostbrand Weapon hardly any1 makes use of this and in specific circumstances it can be awesome. I personally make a quick switch to Frostbrand to proc the snare on hunters then make a switch back to Earthliving.