[4xShaman Arena] Totem Loadout Changes

[Boylston]

This is my latest totem loadout, I'd welcome feedback. I've only had a little bit of time in the BGs/Arenas, so I'm still on the fence about a few issues. I do not use a cast sequence mod, I simply have 4 keys bound for PvP totem dropping (U-I-O-P). I press them in that order, as well, so my characters drop:

Button U: 1-Wrath of Air, 2-Grounding, 3-Tremor, 4-Healing
Button I: 1-Poison, 2-Earthbind, 3-Grounding, 4-Tremor
Button O: 1-Tremor, 2-Poison, 3-Healing, 4-Grounding
Button P: 1-Searing, 2-Searing, 3-Searing, 4-Searing

My current tradeoffs/considerations:

* I run with 3xTremors and 1xEarthbind. This seems to give me good fear resistance (should be better in patch 2.4) and I do like having an earthbind down to deal with melee folks or mages who want to jump around on my team and mash arcane explosion. I think it's a good tradeoff vs. 4xTremor, but I'd welcome feedback here. Character "1" is my main, so I lay down staggered tremors with a /follower going first to avoid an easy wand/melee kill.

* I run with 3xGrounding and Wrath of Air. My guys are still a little undergeared, so I hope the extra spell damage makes a difference. I often drop a 4xGrounding mid-fight to refresh, so the WoA may not always be up. I'd love feedback about this choice, because I'm not sold on it and may just do 4x grounding. Also would like feedback on staggering these. My key concern is to get at least one down ASAP.

* I run with 2xPoison/2xHealing. I could see going to 4xPoison, since rogues are such a pain for me. I'd love input here!! This is the totem class I'm least set on.

* I have re-arranged my sequence so that the searings are all on the fourth button press. I used to have them staggered. Often times, I will just lay down 12 totems, expecting to need to use a 4xFire Nova drop on a melee. If I'm on the move, this gives me a chance to get totem protection up with 3 GCDs instead of a full 4, and I can still use 4xSearings if I have the time to lay them down (they are handy for extra DPS and pointing the way to nearby enemies I may not instantly see).

Anyhow, I'd love more feedback. I'm still very much getting pounded in Arena (due to my gear), so I'd like to at least have the best totem rotation going...

[Mosg2]

Edit: Hit enter too soon lol.

Mmmmm. I go with full four Tremor Totems and I have them in a castsequence with Mana Spring. So two of my guys drop Tremor and two drop Mana on first click, then second click i get the opposite. That staggers Tremor fairly well. I used to have it alternate with Grounding but I found that I preferred to just have one button to drop 4 Grounding Totems. Looking at your setup though, I may well go with 1 Mana/1 Poison/2 Tremor and then the opposite. Hmmmm.

I have Wrath of Air and Earthbind as single keyclicks only on my main and just have'em on the hotbar for the others. I'd rather be able to drop them situationally since I've found I'd rather have the extra fear coverage than an Earthbind that may or may not be worth anything... Especially considering how hard it is to get a cast off on someone who's jumping around even if they are Earthbound. That's what 2x FS/2x ES and Fire Nova is for :)

As an aside... Have 4/5 S1, Vindicator's Neck, Ring, MH, and I'll get the Vindicator's Bracers at rollover... I'm absolutely stunned at the survivability of 4 Shaman now that they have ~220 res :)

[Quix]

a seperate button for each:
1. 4x grounding
2. 4x TOW (im 69, at 70, this will be something else, not sure yet)
3. 3x Healing 1.mana, but I may just switch to 4x healing, this was more while grinding, & I just never changed it.
3. 2 tremors, 2 earthbind, on cast-sequence, Reversed for 2 of my guys.

I drop poision & other things situationally.

[yarr]

in pvp i'd recommend 1 separate button to drop at least 3 groundings simultaneously, you don't need to stagger these, and casting em simultaneously will be easier for cooldown management. That way you only have to hit the button once (every 12 or so seconds)

[Boylston]

I have Wrath of Air and Earthbind as single keyclicks only on my main and just have'em on the hotbar for the others. I'd rather be able to drop them situationally since I've found I'd rather have the extra fear coverage than an Earthbind that may or may not be worth anything... Especially considering how hard it is to get a cast off on someone who's jumping around even if they are Earthbound. That's what 2x FS/2x ES and Fire Nova is for :)

As an aside... Have 4/5 S1, Vindicator's Neck, Ring, MH, and I'll get the Vindicator's Bracers at rollover... I'm absolutely stunned at the survivability of 4 Shaman now that they have ~220 resI'm so jealous, my poor guys are still very undergeared... slowly, slowly, improving them.

I think I might take your suggestion and just mouseclick Earthbind situationally. It is nice to basically not worry about fear too much, and the 4xTremor allows me to scatter them around some if I set up in a defensive totem farm.

Thanks for the feedback!

[unit187]

In pvp combat I prefer a few keybinds.

First, castsequence for Big Average Fight:

Toon 1: grounding, tremor, mana spring totem, searing
Toon 2: grounding, tremor, poison cleansing totem, searing
Toon 3: tremor, grounding, poison cleansing totem, searing
Toon 4: tremor, grounding, poison cleansing totem, searing

And a few other keybinds, like only 4x grounding, or only 4x searing

[Mosg2]

In pvp combat I prefer a few keybinds.

First, castsequence for Big Average Fight:

Toon 1: grounding, tremor, mana spring totem, searing
Toon 2: grounding, tremor, poison cleansing totem, searing
Toon 3: tremor, grounding, poison cleansing totem, searing
Toon 4: tremor, grounding, poison cleansing totem, searing

And a few other keybinds, like only 4x grounding, or only 4x searing

See, I kind of had mine set up like that at first but then I realized I didn't want to have to wait ~3 seconds for all of my Grounding totems. I'd rather have to use one extra hotbutton but be able to drop 4x immediately.

[Dezeral]

I use a similar setup. I was going with the 4 grounding totems in one key press at first, but found that if the other team charged straight across and feared, then I was screwed, so I swapped to a method to get my initial 16 totems down in the first 4 GCDs. I still have a single button to drop 4 grounding totems which I use to refresh them. I feel a lot more comfortable now about getting a mix of totem down now in the first 8 seconds than I did by dropping 4 grounding and then the others.

I use staggered cast sequences.

/cast sequence reset=15 Tremor Totem, Grounding Totem, Searing Totem, Mana Spring Totem
/cast sequence reset=15 Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem, Poison Cleansing Totem, Searing Totem
/cast sequence reset=15 Poison Cleansing Totem, Searing Totem, Tremor Totem, Grounding Totem
/cast sequence reset=15 Grounding Totem, Posion Cleansing Totem, Searing Totem, Earthbind Totem

[unit187]

See, I kind of had mine set up like that at first but then I realized I didn't want to have to wait ~3 seconds for all of my Grounding totems. I'd rather have to use one extra hotbutton but be able to drop 4x immediately.


Dezeral ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=User&userID=2418') is right. At any time you can get fear bombed from behind or a guy with epic mount rushes at you and insta fears. Boom! You are dead.

And why do you say that you gotta wait 3 seconds? You push the castsequence button once and you get 2 groundings and 2 tremors. Now goes GCD for 1.5 sec. Then you mash the button once more and get 2 more groundings and 2 more tremors. So you have 4 groundings and 4 tremors in 1.5 seconds after you push the button first time.

Sure, you surely must have a button for 4x grounding, but from my BG/arena experience, I use it not that often because there is always some kind of fear dealing class nearby.

[Dezeral]

You need to space out your tremors to get the maximum benefit. Dropping two at once isn't going to shorten the fear duration any. By spreading them out, each one will pulse at a different time thereby limiting how long you are feared. I'm not sure if that is why he was saying 3 seconds or not though.

[dizz]

I didn't quite understand the 4 buttons layout in the original post, along with 4 separate totems per button click, with no cast sequence... but I think my totem layout is very similar:

I have 1 button for my initial /castsequence:

toon 1: tremor, healing, grounding, searing
toon 2: searing, tremor, healing, grounding
toon 3: grounding, searing, tremor, healing
toon 4: poison, grounding, searing, earthbind

Then I have another button (tilde) for adjusting fire totem:

normal: fire nova (good for when they get in range and i have issues targeting, this has no modifier as it needs to be accessible FAST)
ctrl: magma (can sniff out rogues coming into range (theoretically, I'm still playing with this.)
shift: searing (refreshing searing totems.)
alt: fire elementals (for bg fun)

I could probably add another button for refreshing groundings as others suggested. I might also swap out a healing for a mana spring, but in arena I have issues with health far more than oom issues (so far)

[Mosg2]

You need to space out your tremors to get the maximum benefit. Dropping two at once isn't going to shorten the fear duration any. By spreading them out, each one will pulse at a different time thereby limiting how long you are feared. I'm not sure if that is why he was saying 3 seconds or not though.

I still have my Tremor totems staggered, and they're still the first totems I put down... I just don't stagger them with grounding totems. Why? You basically want to drop 4x grounding every 15 seconds no matter what.

[Dezeral]

I still have my Tremor totems staggered, and they're still the first totems I put down... I just don't stagger them with grounding totems. Why? You basically want to drop 4x grounding every 15 seconds no matter what.

If you're staggering your tremor totems, what are you doing while you're dropping them on the shamans that are not dropping them? For example, if shaman 1 drops a tremor and you wait 1 second then drop the 2nd tremor with shaman 2, what are shaman 3 and shaman 4 doing? And for that matter, what is shaman 2 doing when shaman 1 drops the first tremor?

Using a staggered castsequence will allow every shaman to get something on the ground each time you press the button. I agree that you should have a separate key for dropping all of your grounding totems at once. But if you're going to take the time to stagger your tremor totems first, then you could be dropping a mix of totems to get some defense/offense down ASAP.

If you stagger your tremors, then drop grounding, its going to take longer to get some grounding totems down.

[Mosg2]

Like this:

Pressing V has Bhumi and Apas drop Tremor Totem and Vayu and Tejas drop Poison Cleansing. Pressing V again does the opposite. Pressing 5 gives me all four Grounding Totems.

[Dezeral]

Like this:

Pressing V has Bhumi and Apas drop Tremor Totem and Vayu and Tejas drop Poison Cleansing. Pressing V again does the opposite. Pressing 5 gives me all four Grounding Totems.

If you're dropping two tremor totems at the same time, then they aren't staggered. They will pulse at the same time. Same with the poison cleansing totem. Dropping them at the same time means they will pulse at the same time.

[Mosg2]

Uh yeah, I understand that--But I get two that tick at one interval and two that tick 1.5 seconds later. That's "staggered". I'd prefer to have 2x and 2x than 1 each at separate intervals considering the range on them.

[fender967]

Uh yeah, I understand that--But I get two that tick at one interval and two that tick 1.5 seconds later. That's "staggered". I'd prefer to have 2x and 2x than 1 each at separate intervals considering the range on them.What?

That's just dumb.

That's staggering two and casting the other two for no reason. What do you mean "the range"? What does it matter if you are dropping the two in the same place anyway?

[Mosg2]

One of my biggest problems with Tremor Totems, as I'm sure you've all dealt with, is running out of range before a tick goes off. This way I can move around a bit while I'm on GCD and get a nice spread of Tremor.

As an aside... No need to call it dumb. The natural assumption that something is stupid because it's not the way you do it is uh... Dumb :)

[fender967]

No, that fact that you use two identical abilities in identical places when they do not stack fits quite well under the slang definition of dumb.

[Mosg2]

...And the fact that you're incapable of comprehending simple English makes me question a little more than just your intelligence. If you want me to explain it to you like a child, I will.

I have my lead toon and one follow drop Tremor at the same time. When the toons are moving and you do this it makes a nice spread of the two totems... I don't just sit in one spot and drop them all in the exact same position. That to me is certainly a better option than having to press one button 4 times to get all four Tremors down. Sometimes I don't want to drop all of my totems in one spot; Maybe I want to spread them out. This facilitates that plan and while allowing more wiggle room in where exactly you position yourself.

[Boylston]

Hey hey hey! Don't hijack my thread for some "dumb" reason!!

A lot of good discussion here, but keep it civil and on topic.

[fender967]

Ohhhhh, I see. So you have about two yards more range then?

[Mosg2]

1. Glad you were able to understand it this time around!

2. Two yards is huge when you're talking about staying within the pulse range of a Tremor when feared.

3. Thank you for conceding my point and accepting that you are in fact the one who was a) wrong, and b) incapable of basic problem solving.

[fender967]

Haha. I was being sarcastic. Yes, I know thats what happens when someone on follow uses a totem. Two yards is meaningless compared to casting them all in seperate places at seperate times, in with other totems. Thank you for being so pompous.

[Boylston]

Seriously, Fender/Mosg... Please cut it out. Go argue on the official WoW forums if you want to just be snotty with each other.

[Mosg2]

Hey now Boylston, I reserve the right to defend myself against anyone that calls me stupid or dumb :)

[fender967]

Alright, alright. Truce senor.