Sacellum of Nordrassil

I have a question...

What buffs or auras from other classes or potions work with or negate shaman totems? For instance, I read the post on resto shamans on wow.com on 3/2, and they say to put down a flametongue totem unless there an elemental shaman in your party (I get that one) or a demonology warlock.

??? So... a demonology warlock has... some buff or spell... that cancels out or overrules or doesn't add with a FT totem. What do they have that does that? And why is it better?

What other buffs or spells add or don't add with totems? And I guess while I'm at it what buffs should I be asking for when I PUG?

This is from http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t24796-shaman_restoration/
"AIR:
1) Windfury Totem if there is no Frost Death Knight or Enhancement Shaman
2) Wrath of Air otherwise

FIRE:
1) Flametongue Totem if there is no Enhancement Shaman, Elemental Shaman, or Demonology Warlock.
2) Searing Totem/Magma if you can spare the GCD and there is no danger of grabbing aggro on phase transitions or aggoing other mobs.

EARTH:
1) Strength of Earth Totem if there is no Enhancement shaman. Death Knights have a similar buff called Horn of Winter, but it lasts only 2 minutes (3 minutes with glyph).
2) Stoneskin Totem, which stacks with a paladin's devotion aura.

WATER:
1) Mana spring if there is no paladin for Blessing of Wisdom
2) Healing Stream
3) Poison or Disease cleansing as needed"

I can tell you what I do in parties, but imo its up to you to decide what buffs you need. I'm resto btw...
My general totems are these:
Strength of Earth
Flametongue
Healing stream or Disease cleansing, depending on the area I'm in (if there are a lot of diseases, I use Disease cleansing, if there aren't, I use healing stream so I can dps and heal at the same time lol)
Wrath of Air

IF there are more melee than casters, I will put down Windfury instead of Wrath of Air.
IF there are all casters in group (except tank of course), I will put down Stoneskin instead of Strength of Earth
IF I am running out of mana a lot and have no pally wisdom, I will put down Mana totem.

I think it takes a while and a lot of trial and error to figure out what is best in any given situation.

I hope that helped a bit : )

A little. I know What to put down. I don't know Why I should *not* put down some totems.

What does a Frost Death Knight do that I shouldn't put down a Windfury totem? What icon/buff should I look for to know?

What does a demonology warlock do that tells me I shouldn't throw a Flametongue? How do I know when I'm running with a demonology warlock? Is it just because they have a minion?

Are Blessing of Wisdom and Mana Spring Totem incompatible? Does the best one win? Do they stack? Am I just wasting the totem?

Does Horn of Winter trump Strength of Earth? Is it they just don't stack?

Part of it is I just don't have a good sense of what the other classes can do for the party/raid/me, and where we overlap.

The basic precept here is that many buffs do not stack, so if your raid/party members can put up a version of the buff as part of their regular rotation and/or gives a stronger boost, that is when you should switch your totems accordingly.

As an example, Death Knight's Horn of Winter (HoW) is the same as Strength of Earth (SoE) when untalented. Death Knights have no alternative buff give and in fact use HoW as part of their rotation to gain runic power, while you can easily provide a different buff.

As far as these specifics, it's really just a matter of experience.



Frost DKs will almost exclusively be dual wielding nowadays. That is the most tell-tale sign.



If the lock has a felguard, he's demonology. Metamorphosis is another (big) clue. These are relatively rare compared to affliction/destruction.

I believe improved Wisdom wins, and even baseline Wisdom will let you put down an alternative totem.



They don't stack. Talented SoE wins, but that's enhance right? Generally another totem will be more beneficial.

Pentheus to the rescue!

Thanks. That helps a lot.

So really the general rule is check my buffs. Totems generally don't stack with buffs, and if any of the buffs I have overlap my totems, I probably should pick another totem.

Update: Found the authoritative list on what stacks with what, and what doesn't.

Buffs, debuffs, and raid stacking in WotLK