Maybe I'm just not playing my Shaman correctly........

[Nisch]

Ok, well I just can't get into my Shaman team. It seems like I have to keep dropping totems, which takes forever, and then with casting time, it just seems like a slow moving team.

Perhaps I'm just not playing them right. I'm actually thinking of deleting my 60 shamans and rerolling them to learn how to play them differently.

So given the following situations, how would you handle them with your 5 shaman team?

• 1-3 elite mobs near your level. Do you drop totems every time you run across a fight??

• 2-6 non-elites near your level. Do you drop totems all the time?? Just mana totems?

• 1-2 players near your level. How do you handle the setup? If they come in from behind or land a flying mount on you, how do you prepare for the battle without totems?? I run out of mana so quickly with no totems, it's not even funny.

it just seems like the Shamans need a lot of setup.

My favorite team is my Paladins, where I just run in and start beating on things. But I know the cookie-cutter team is the Shaman team and I want to make sure I'm not missing out on something.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Bollwerk]

I only drop totems for boss fights, but then again, I have a pally tank.

[Frojax]

I am by no means an expert, but this is how I handle things.

1-3 elite mobs near your level. Do you drop totems every time you run across a fight??

Usually a straight forward fight, if they didn't jump me, I'd pull with elemental mastery and chain lightning, drop nova totems as they approach, bolt, bolt, chain if their's still 3 of them and heal the main as needed. Not normally a problem.

2-6 non-elites near your level. Do you drop totems all the time?? Just mana totems?

Non-Elites are even easier, chain lightning, nova, bolt to death.

1-2 players near your level. How do you handle the setup? If they come in from behind or land a flying mount on you, how do you prepare for the battle without totems?? I run out of mana so quickly with no totems, it's not even funny.

Players are a whole different thing, depending on what they are, grounding goes down first, tremor is always ready and on round robin. Again, i don't bother with healing or mana totems, I tend to find pvp is over so quick that it is just a waste of time. Nova totems down too if they land on top of you. Then I would flame shock the softest target first and EM/Chain lightning and bolts. Cleansing totem is always there when needed though.

I've found the biggest pain in the arse in pvp for me, is when they jump through your ranks, so make sure you keep some keys bound and passing to all clients for turning, it can save you.

The way I see it though, shaman are so versitile, it's just a matter of learning what to do when, but always be flexible and on your toes. That said, I've yet to master any of this and often can be found "face down, dead on the ground"

[Jubber]

Elite mobs - setup your totems.

normal mobs - I usually just drop a healing totems and 1 totem of wrath. 1 button does this

players - grounding totems and healing totems. thats about it.

Edit: It's true PVP fights go quick but during that time I would prefer to spend that time dishing out damage than worrying if my chain heal will make it. and the healing from my totems is just enough extra heal to make it worth while. adding on another sec or 2 to allow my heals to finish or my spells to fire.

[Ken]

Don't forget to keep Water Shield active at all times, that gives you a lot of mana.

[Nisch]

Don't forget to keep Water Shield active at all times, that gives you a lot of mana.

But only if you get hit, right?

Edit: I never realized it was a regen too......hmm. That may be a big part of my problem.

[Hachoo]

You weren't casting it because you thought it only worked if you got hit? It costs no mana to cast, you should always have it up no matter what (unless you're using lightning shield instead which for a tank + 4 shaman team is only useful in PvE when you're getting AoEd).

I don't find shamans slow moving at all. I drop a totem farm every time I'm fighting more than 1 elite - it takes 3 seconds or so, and even with having to drop totems throughout an instance I can still mop up things like Heroic Gundrak, Heroic DTK, Heroic UP, Heroic UK, Heroic AN, etc, in 25 minutes or so each... things like Heroic VH I can do as fast as the mobs will spawn (18 minutes for the entire run or something).

But my question is, why would rerolling your entire shaman team help you learn how to play them any better? You still have to go all the way from 60 to 80 which will teach you far more about playing a shaman then running 1-60 even 10 times will.

[BobGnarly]

I drop a totem field on every pull. I find that by spending the time to do this, I save time down the road by not having to drink.

[Dorffo]

for me -

• totems go down before every fight unless its a single mob in instances - you can drop them as you run into position (full 16 takes... 4 secs omg!).
• Always have watershield up...
• Pvp - groundings and tremors poision/disease cleansing always, then stay in range of them. re-drop if needed.

As far as rerolling - questing/grinding from 1-60 again will not really improve your game as much as pressing on from 60 and working out the kinks - you might try playing one of your shaman solo for a bit to get an idea of how to play the class.

[Ogloo]

when u hit 80.. go into BG's or create a 5's team.. play play play play.. even if ur team is 1200.. keep playing.. ull get confortable with it.. and ull see small things like. O fear totem hear good.. and each match ull improve a little bit.. and well.. ur going somewhere