I'm finding I suck at dealing with close in melee on my 4 shaman team. I find that warriors and paladins are the worst, but geared up rogues can be a nightmare too.

To a certain extent some of this is level and gear mismatch but I've been looking at what I do and thinking of ways to improve. Thought I would share it here to help others, but also to get additional ideas.

1. Spreadout macro. This has helped a bit. 1 character strafes left, 1 strafes right and the third backs up. I run in a different direction on the lead shaman. Key problem is that back up moves slowly. Resulting in my main and the backing up shaman being too close during bladestorms, and getting blitzed. Getting to 80 and gearing up will help, but I want to get better. I was thinking having two shaman strafe left, one strafe right and the lead character running off. Problem would be if the warrior went after the two - then again they are moving at speed so he might not catch up. Is there a better way?

2. Thunderstorm. I've got a macro that blows them all at once. Does a big chunk of damage, and buys a bit of breathing space. if it doesn't kill them (which it rarely does against an 80 melee) they'll be back on me in an instant. Especially If i'm in a bunker and the walls limit the blast. I'm thinking of trying a round robin macro as an option as well. So the round robin would thunderstorm on one, then I could possibly frost shock, then possibly earthbind , then when they get back to me thunderstorm again on another shaman etc. (The frost shock might not be a great idea in this macro due to timing).
At the moment I'm not earthbinding, or frost shocking. Against a paladin with hand of freedom this may not work (does hand of freedom stop the blow back from thunderstorm?)


3. Interact with target. I've struggled with this. But I think I've sussed out why. I spread out and the shaman aren't necessarily facing the target. So i hit my assist key then my interact with target. Unfortunately this results in my shaman running back in to the target which for a bladestorming warrior is fatal (plus it makes it easier for melee to run round all my characters so I'm not facing the right way). I've realised today that I've been hitting both keys one after the other.
I only need to hit the assist key once. After which I can hit the interact with target. I should also hit the key then my drop follow key very quickly afterwards. I just want them to turn, not to run back in. I'll have to examine how quickly the turn is executed.

4. Glyph of stoneclaw. I've got it on all my shaman as of yesterday. I've found it a great help on my level 80 enhancement shaman in pvp - thinking anything that can help me to get through the initial burst period of melee would be good.


Anyone else got good tactics for dealing with melee? I've definitely improved a bit with each change I've instituted and it will become less of an issue when I'm 80 and geared, but If i get good at handling them now I'll be a handful later.