Totems Are A Shaman's Best Friend (Part 1)

Dogs may be a man's best friend but when it comes to shamans, totems are a Shaman's best buddy. Whether it's to add a bit more dps, to boost a party with some buffs (providing they aren't overwrited and are in range but let's not get too picky) or to save your life when you get swarmed (I'm looking at you, Earth Elemental Totem), totems are fun gadgets for the Shaman class. James Bond would love for Q to hand him a totem. Spy talk aside, this post is going to take a look at all the totems and give my views on them. I will also be adding some ideas for extra totems at the bottom since there's a couple that I think could work well. By the way, I've not really theorycrafted ideas or thought about them greatly in the grand scheme of things so things may seem over-powered or may not balance too well. Ah well...It's TOTEM TIME! (yes, that's a Power Rangers pun.)

EARTH

Earthbind Totem-This totem's come a long way thanks to some changes in talent trees. On it's own, it's a useful escape tool if you need a quick getaway and it can have situational uses. With Earthen Power (Enhance talent), it's a handy snare removal and with Storm, Earth and Fire (Element talent), it's a nice 5 second root. However, I'm disappointed that the root and snare removal only come with talents. I'd like to see the snare removal become standard and the root part will be dealt with for the Earthgrab Totem idea that will be in Part Two.

Stoneskin Totem-I was happy when this got it's change to an armour increase rather then the melee reduction so that it became useful. Don't bother putting it down if you're with a Pala who has Improved Devotion Aura since the two don't stack up. However, with the vast supply of DK's around with their Horn Of Winter, you may find that this one is the one that gets used more with a DK in your party.

Stoneclaw Totem-I like to usually use this totem in a combo with Fire Nova to give FN enough time to go boom. However, it's become a pretty useful PvP totem with it's ability to shield other totems which costs enemies time when they want to get your totems as long as you cast them in the right order to get the totem shielding. If you PvP, make sure to get the Glyph to give yourself a shield too. One thing I'd like to see is the totem forcefully making enemies target the totem instead of your shaman when it taunts. I know that it seems like a bad idea cause it makes it easier for your totem to be destroyed and leaves the others vulnerable BUT I feel it would be a nice way to avoid a killing blow by forcing others to focus on Stoneclaw. Also, that's how the totem should work in my head-it should be forceful when it taunts.

Strength Of Earth Totem-This totem is great for boosting the melee monkeys in your party or raid. However, if there's a DK around with Horn of Winter, it's probably best to use another Earth totem unless you have put 3 points into Enhancing Totems (Enhance talent). If you've done that, tell the DK to take a hike because this town isn't big enough for the both of you (buff wise...DK's and Shamans are still fine to work together in the same town)

Tremor Totem-Useful if you're up against a boss with Fear/Sleep capabilities or fighting a class that likes to use Fear. Otherwise, nothing else to really say about the totem. If unsure about when to use Tremor Totem over Grounding Totem, remember that Grounding has a cooldown while Tremor does not.

FIRE

Searing Totem-This totem is my little sidekick. I call him Comet. Now, Magma Totem has the potential to do better single-target dps BUT I prefer to use Comet cause it's much cheaper mana-wise. I guess I'm just a cheapskate really.

Fire Nova Totem-Tick...tick...boom! That's what Nova does. As I said above, I like to put Stoneclaw down first then this to avoid Fire Nova being pwned since it generates aggro when you put it down. If you want a triple whammy, go with Magma Totem afterwards. Now, I personally think that a nice touch for this Totem would be that those who are caught in the explosion wind up with some DoT fire damage. That would give the boom a nice after-effect in my opinion.

Magma Totem-A charming AoE damage totem. If you are fighting a group, use this and enjoy when your enemies are extra crispy. While I still prefer Comet with single targets, another thing of note is that Magma doesn't generate threat whereas Comet does so use this if you're in a threat sensitive situation.

Frost Resistance Totem-Simple really...if you need frost resistance, put this up. Otherwise, ignore it. I find it weird that the Fire Resistance and Frost Resistance totems are where they are though.

Flametongue Totem-I'm glad this changed from what it used to be. I never used it for the fire damage stuff it offered before they changed it to boost spellpower. If you're in a group that's mainly casters or healers, put this baby down. However, if there's another Shaman and they are Elemental and you are not, don't bother. You'll only cry when you realise your Flametongue is inferior to his Totem Of Wrath.

While I could type the rest out now, I wanted to have a break to make it easier to read and therefore, easier to digest. I'm so thoughtful! And for those of you who are observant, I'm sure you'll be there going "Wait...where's Totem of Wrath eh? EH?" Well, I've not put it here cause it will come up when I do my post on Elemental Shamans so bear with me. This will also be why Mana Tide Totem will not make an apperance in Part Two. So don't be too disappointed when it's not there.

Part Two will bring us the Water totems, the Air totems, the Elemental totems (Earth, Fire and my ideas for Water and Air) and finally, a couple of new totems I'd like to be added. So stay tuned, folks! Part Two will be here after the adverts!