5x Shaman teams, how do you use your Totem of Wrath?

[Mac]

My 5x Shaman group just hit 50 and got their Totem of Wrath. Yay. I noticed right away that it is a Fire totem as I was doing Maraudon and used my magma totems a lot, especially for those earth elemental patrols. Which got me thinking, the only time the 5x tow would be helpful would be when I'm fighting a ranged fight, or suspect that I could kill the mob before they got to my group and I wouldn't need the extra help from fire totems. So I got to wondering how other people with this set up use them, do you drop 5, or a couple or something else Im not thinking of.

TIA,
Mac

[Crayonbox]

if its a 1 - 3 mobs, tow is probably going to be the better bet for you. if the mobs are nature immune and thus impervious to your lightning bolts and chain lightnings, fire nova, magma and searing are your friends along with the frost shock spam when you can. Its slightly painful. But doable.

[Mac]

I like to use them as bowling pins.

lol

[DemonWithin]

sorry i know this is a noob question but ive never played shammy past level 19, is totem of wrath stackable if u drop 5 of them? otherwise i dont see why u WOULD drop 5

[TMNT]

sorry i know this is a noob question but ive never played shammy past level 19, is totem of wrath stackable if u drop 5 of them? otherwise i dont see why u WOULD drop 5

If they didn't stack, why would we be talking about it?

i lol'ed

[Mendicant]

I use them most always before a pull. I only replace them with fire nova totems if there are 3+ mobs who actually get to me, which is rare.

[Crayonbox]

getting hit by a fear bomb when youre not ready is the worst possible thing to happen to you >_>

[Jaese]

To answer the OP's question, I use them everytime I drop totems. I have four buttons I press in order, and that drops 3x ToW (I have a resto shaman that drops flame tongue, which will be changing when WotLK hits).

If I need something else, I just hit a button I have setup for searing / magma / nova / fire elemental totems. (using modifiers).

In instances, just about every pull I'm dropping totems. Out questing, I rarely drop totems. If there is horde in the area, I random drop Tremors... never know when that fear-bomb will hit.

If you could post your totem macros, that would be great (or if you have posted them, send me that way).

Right now I have 3 buttons for totems (I'm 29): Earth, Fire, and Water. Earth staggers Tremor, puts down all Stoneclaw, or RRs Earthbind depending on mod. Fire puts down all Fire Nova, Searing, or Magma depending on mod. Water just puts down a Mana Spring and the rest Healing Stream (all Healing Stream with a mod).

It's working for me now but I foresee issues when I want to get fancy with my totems.

[Mac]

Thanks for the replies.

I was wondering if people where dropping tow x5 and pulling for the initial best possible burst, then dropping the others, i.e., fire & earth as needed depending on what was left of the pull. It looks like Fursphere uses 3 for the 9% and Mendicant uses all 5 for the 15% initially.

Fursphere, I think your running 4 shammys if I remember right, is there a reason you don't drop all 4 tow on the initial pull? What benefit is the flame tongue giving you, I assume your dropping that for your tank? Is it that helpful? And, what will you replace it with in wotlk?

[-silencer-]

World PvE, I rarely drop ToW.. usually just stick to magma since I tend to pull large groups to my pally.
Instance PvE, I use ToW / LB / Chain Lightning on elites, and Magma on non-elites.
World PvP, I drop ToW, then fire ranged LB (or Chain Lit if more than 1), then frost shock.. if enemies charge, I'll drop down Fire Novas and Earthbinds. I had a lot of fun last night in Zang - a couple lvl 70's were camping some low-60's at Orebor, so I went out past the guards and waited. Sure enough, a PvP-epic'd lvl 70 pally fired his goblin rocket launcher into my pally then came running toward me, and he ate 4x ToW, 4x LB, 4x Frost Shock, 4x LB.. dropped him cold before he even got into melee range. A 70 druid tried to battle off his wraths on my pally while eating 4x ToW'd LBs.. and he didn't last as long as my pally even though he had twice the hp.

ToW is very helpful for countering the resiliance of those welfare epic'd 70's if they stay ranged enough for you to LB/CL them down.