Totem Management

[Cloudjumper]

Any suggestions on good strats or add-ons for Totem management?

[Kretol]

What kind of management are you looking for?

Personally, I used TotemTimers before Blizzard added in the built-in totem icons. Now, there's no use for an additional addon (for me, that is).

[Oryx]

I have tried many addons for totem management and have always come back to just using the standard UI.

You can break your totems down into a couple classes.
Buffs: 5-minute duration, non-reactive; you can place these before the fight and may need to refresh them once
Counters: shorter-duration, usually reactive (think Cleansing, Tremor, Grounding). These need to be used quickly, and in reaction to an enemy.
Offensive: shorter-duration, and need to be near an enemy (think Searing, Magma)
Elemental: used infrequently, but may need to be used in an emergency (especially Earth)

The different usages suggest different ways to setting them up.

Buffs will tend to be cast once, before combat; I put my standard lineup all next to each other and just click through them.

Counters will need to be used quickly, so reaction time counts. When I'm PvPing, I have tremor and grounding on my quickbar. I keep Cleansing on ctrl-1 at all times and it's just muscle-memory now to hit it.

Offensive totems are whatever works for you. I usually keep Searing on my quickbar so I don't forget to refresh it; magma is off to the side because I don't actually use it that often.

Elementals are a tougher call -- they're on such a long cooldown that you hate to give them a really prominent place or keybinding. I keep mine at the top-right corner of my screen so it's easy to whip the mouse over and hit it if needed. (look up Fitt's Law if you're in the mood for human-computer interface geekery )

[Guest]

I just use the Shaman bar in AutoBar lately.

[Guest]

I don't use any addons, for that, but I keep mine grouped by element and frequency of use on my bars, so I generally have everything I need front and center. I've got an earth and an air spot in my main bar (the one where you can have .... you know, it's easier to just take a picture.

I wind up swapping a lot of things on the fly, manually. It works pretty well for me, but I know it's not for everyone.

P.S. The reason they're wonky and there are spaces is the most recent talent redo. I've been working on my papers all day, so no playing and putting things right. =p

[Guest]

For Anamdubh, my resto shaman, I've mad two macroes that cast practically the same 4 totems. The only difference is one casts Strength of Earth, the other casts Stoneskin. I believe the script is /castsequence Stoneskin, Mana Spring, Windfury, Flametongue. I may have swapped out Wrath of Air (the spell crit boost one) for Windfury. This allows me to cast the 5 most common totems I use via two buttons, rather than having to remember 5 different hotkeys.