Glyph of Stoneclaw totem

[Multibocks]

hmm what shaman isnt casting tremor totem?

[asonimie]

Edit: removed, you aren't worth it.

http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/...an/shaman/any/

[remanz]

Not to start a flame war here. Just to discuss the options.

I might be too focused on the problem and did not look at the whole picture. Statistically, I don't recall losing any of my matches due to fear. Sometimes, I even want them to fear me. So I take less damage when spreading out (30% dmg reduction when feared). I am having trouble staying alive when cleave team melee AOE me. Since all my guys are standing together facing one direction, when they run in and melee AOE, I have to either turn or move, avoid damage is only one of the reason. More importantly I have to make sure my guys are facing the melee. This turning and facing takes time. I think stoneclaw buys some precious time for me. Combined with divine sacrifice, I am buying a few seconds that I don't have to worry about dying. Around 1500, no teams are dumb enough to take me head on. They come from behind and start with CC. When I am heavily CCed, they start their AOE game.

Now if you are saying you can just instantly kill the melee , no need to move at all, or you can move turn and face in less than 1 GCD, or even your gear and healer are good enough to keep you alive. Then by all means, add more dps, reduce that CD on TS.

So the question is how exactly do we deal with melee. Veteran boxers seemed to have mastered it. Please share the wisdom.

For the record, I've been TS + root these guys. But paladin with freedom, rog lock down, and warrior with shield always have their way with me. and I've been dropping stoneclaw all this time to buy time.

[asonimie]

Not to start a flame war here. Just to discuss the options.

I might be too focused on the problem and did not look at the whole picture. Statistically, I don't recall losing any of my matches due to fear. Sometimes, I even want them to fear me. So I take less damage when spreading out (30% dmg reduction when feared). I am having trouble staying alive when cleave team melee AOE me. Since all my guys are standing together facing one direction, when they run in and melee AOE, I have to either turn or move, avoid damage is only one of the reason. More importantly I have to make sure my guys are facing the melee. This turning and facing takes time. I think stoneclaw buys some precious time for me. Combined with divine sacrifice, I am buying a few seconds that I don't have to worry about dying. Around 1500, no teams are dumb enough to take me head on. They come from behind and start with CC. When I am heavily CCed, they start their AOE game.

Now if you are saying you can just instantly kill the melee , no need to move at all, or you can move turn and face in less than 1 GCD, or even your gear and healer are good enough to keep you alive. Then by all means, add more dps, reduce that CD on TS.

So the question is how exactly do we deal with melee. Veteran boxers seemed to have mastered it. Please share the wisdom.

For the record, I've been TS + root these guys. But paladin with freedom, rog lock down, and warrior with shield always have their way with me. and I've been dropping stoneclaw all this time to buy time.

You're exactly right, stoneclaw totem buys you time. Unfortunately it costs time too. Time is everything in 5v5. I'll touch more on this in my guide I'm writing, but one of the main themes of real 5v5 is Kill a DPS ASAP. What you're observing is true, those stoneclaws are prolonging your death.... but when it's done you'll still die.

And I wouldn't say any of us have "mastered" melee. They suck and its difficult to out-dps healers on a melee sponge who's weaving around you. Honestly I usually either kill melee after a TS, or I kill the ranged support and completely ignore the melee. I once put down magma totems and then put so much dps / interrupt pressure on the healers causing them to run away... that 2 melee died from my magmas lol. Good times. I'll leave it at that for now as I'm already writing a huge post on general arena info.

Also spreading out isn't very viable. It will reduce the damage you take but it completely kills your precision and dmg output. Facing issues FTL

[heyaz]

Same way you stagger your tremors. Just add stoneclaws and empty comas in your macro accordingly on the shaman not casting tremor and you'll never be without a staggered tremor.

Way too many globals, not worth it for that shield.

[Clovis]

Edit: removed, you aren't worth it.

http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/...an/shaman/any/

Fucking badass, I'm the #9 ranked team IN THE WORLD!! =)

I use stone claw quite a bit in the BGs to buy time if I'm retreating to the rear of a paticular fight (ie, AV where it tends to be 20 on 20 and I'm not getting focused but rather pot shots and aoe).

But let's say you replace stoneclaw -- what to replace it with? I know some people have said wrath and while that looks promising, that gylyph only works if each shaman has the totem of wrath down, correct? Ie, no magma or frost resist totems, right? Currently I drop two searing totems, ToW and frost resist for my fire totems.

[asonimie]

my preference is lava, shocking, thunder

[Naysayer]

Way too many globals, not worth it for that shield.

You're supposed to use the shield preemptively, not during the action. Like a priest stam buff, shield, or warlock sac re-summon.

They should rename it to Glyph of 434 stamina buff. We all know how "useless" 434 stamina is, right asonime? I never even let priests use fort on me or pallies Kings me in arena because it's "useless". Opponent is just going to blow through it in 1 second as asonime said.

Thunder is much more useful. You know when you've used that 5th thunderstorm and the fight isn't decided yet, and you really need that extra thunderstorm? Yah man, all the time.

[Otlecs]

So the question is how exactly do we deal with melee.

This is perhaps the broader question behind my original post, but I'll wait for the two promised guides to read about that

To be honest, it's good to see that there's no "obvious" right answer. Not only does it make for some good morning-coffee-entertainment (thanks guys) but it means I wasn't necessarily being just plain stupid when I was struggling to make the decision for myself.

In the meantime, I've taken it on just one of my guys (my normal resto-specced "leader") and tried to work it into my survival rotation.

It definitely saved me a few deaths last night in WG and AV, but then I'm not at the stage of the game where a single GCD will make or break an encounter for me yet - I'm barely beyond the mindless keyboard mashing stage!

[remanz]

interact with target is a keybind where you can configure it to bind to a key in the key binding manual. The function itself is restricted thus cannot be invoked in a macro. it has to be keybind.

After bind it to a key, you have to turn on "click-to-move" in the interface manual. Now when you hit this key, it will turn and run towards the target trying to interact with it (friendly) or attack it (melee attack for hostile).

Now for the real usage, after a fear all your guys will face random directions, you hit this key for all. They all turn and face your target. and try to run towards it. You hit your "stop moving" key. finally start casting.

I used it in arena like this. Ret paladin run in with freedom on or arm warrior blade storming, I basically press and hold my spread key. All my shamans are start to run towards different directions. Then "interact with target" => "stop moving" => "FS , Lava burst FTW". This way I ensure at least 3 of my shamans will face the target. If i don't move, they do the melee dance. and they avoid all 4 spells that I casted.

Now, i bet someone might come out and say this is useless :P

Well i posted in another thread related to interact with targets for how I deal with melees. This is all I come up with. Not a life saver or game winner in arena yet. 3 key presses is the draw back. But I say worth a try. And it is very funky to look at also. 4 guys running, turnning and attack. Almost god (bot) like.