Shamans, 5man dungeons and totems.

[Thafisker]

So im leveling my shaman(63 enhancement atm) and well, I kinda want to know if you guys use your totems on every pack pulled.

Also, how do you feel about that? And why hasnt a spell to move totems been implantet yet? Summon, and the recalling them is starting to annoy me.

Have the totem mechanic gotten old?

[Renzokuken]

No, I don't drop totems every pull. At this point in the game, it's completely useless. Do you really need SoE and WF to AoE a pack of mobs down in 8 secs? No, no you don't.

[PollyO]

I guess it comes down to your personal preference. Do you want to see big numbers, lots of numbers or just don't care?

I don't do 5 mans anymore, but if I was, I'd probably drop totems if they were necessary. Like if a mob fears or something.

[Insomnium]

Most of the time yes. As Enhancement.
Not really as Resto.

[zexcis]

You can't really drop totems that often as enhancement. You'll be oom for everything but the bosses. Like the previous post says, if there is some kind of utility needed like tremor or grounding totem, then I'd use those.

When I'm going as resto I'll drop them every time the group moves.

[Renzokuken]

Most of the time yes. As Enhancement.
Not really as Resto.

It's the exact opposite for me.

[Verth]

I never met someone who wouldnt buff their party at the start of the raid and every time they need to.
Totems are 1 button with lots of benefits why not bother? I always drop my totems every time i have the chance.

[Banzubie]

As resto I usually just drop magma totem to try and aoe stuff down faster because 2 outa 3 dps is doing less dps and damage than the tank. >

[Kpoof]

We've got so much mana so if it would be possible we would shit it down. I've never ever gone OOM / have to drink as any spec at level 80 with totems ever, not with the mana return abilities available. At your level though, might be a bit different.

[BurningStick]

Meh, I usually drop totems every single pull as resto, as I've got nothing to do anyways other than using riptide once in a while and refreshing Earth Shield :P

[Medivh]

I drop totems in every case as resto and enhancement

[Virulent]

I pop totems on pulls...Sometimes it may just be magma but IMO it's part of the deal, but like previous poster said I don't have mana issues except occasionally when we chain pull trash in ICC.

[Bobzor]

lol ppl still drop totems?

[XemnasXD]

aside from magma, no and i dont even like dropping magma...by the time its down and i cast FN everything i half dead anyway and i just wasted a shit ton of mana that won't get back until the next boss fight because everytime i hit SR i can only get two hits in before the mob is dead...

[JuggaloGuido]

Since you are still running content that is around your level, I would say to still drop the totems. Unless the group you are in is outgearing it; either with hierlooms or bringing along a high lvl friend, I would drop them. But as everyone is saying, it is situational, if the mobs are going to be dead in 30 sec, do you really need the extra stats.

[Primaryjane]

It would seem that most of the opinions here are coming from lvl 80 raiders, who don't need the buffs and can probably drop a heroic boss in about 30 seconds. That doesn't really help the OP. I'm in the process of leveling my second shaman now, just hit 53 and noticing mana as less of a problem with each level, but still a problem. If you drop totems on every pull, you'll be hurting for mana every other pull. What I do is drop all my regular totems on bosses or higher HP mobs where the fight will last long enough to allow SR to run it's full duration. Otherwise it's just magma and mana totems, or i just sit there and watch when everyone's on AoE. Totems for enhance use up a lot of mana at low levels, and can end up hurting your overall dps if you run OOM at the wrong time. As an 80 enhance shaman though, no I never drop totems in 5 mans, unless I'm running with guild alts.

[Endus]

So im leveling my shaman(63 enhancement atm) and well, I kinda want to know if you guys use your totems on every pack pulled.

Also, how do you feel about that? And why hasnt a spell to move totems been implantet yet? Summon, and the recalling them is starting to annoy me.

Have the totem mechanic gotten old?

You clearly never played a shaman in the days before we had totem sets, and would instead have to start every pull with our first 4 GCDs being used to drop our totems.

The current mechanic is pretty much painless and convenient. It's one cast per pull, drop 'em as you run in. You DO have a spell to move them. It's the spell that casts them. You even get a brand new duration out of it.

If the mana cost is a problem, then you're Enhancement, since it's insignificant to Resto and Ele. And what it really means is that you don't know how/when to use Shamanistic Rage. And even if you do run dry on a pull, that's why you carry mana pots.


The totem mechanic is one thing I actually really like about Shaman. About my only desire is that they could bump the standard radius up to about 40 yards, instead of the current 30; there's a few fights (like Professor Putricide in ICC) where the room is slightly too big to cover the whole thing, and the group is mobile enough that you either have totems in the middle to cover most of it, or you recast constantly which is inefficient and annoying, and probably ends up leaving people outside the radius even so.

[Airlick]

I only use totems on bosses, that is I did when I actually was doing heroics, for frost that is, I was outgearing HCs by so much that dropping totems would make killing the packs longer than without totems.

[Deleted]

TOTEEEMS TOTEEEMS TOTEEEEEMSS!!!!
I drop them all the time

[Gracin]

I drop them on bosses in heroics, or maybe a tremor if the trash fears. Other than that I drop a Totem of Wrath every five minutes because my shaman is still glyphed for it...Sometimes I wonder how many casters I piss off by doing that.