The idea is strong. But like several other things, it fails in execution (warfronts, islands…BFA in general).
I’ve gone over situations in my head and can’t find any where the current iteration of this would ever be useful with minor exceptions.
Most of the time, when trying to keep someone locked down, you would be better served with a hard cc or an incapacitate.
So you could prevent them from targeting the totem by stunning them, but that defeats the purpose of the totem to begin with. Same with things like poly or cyclone, etc.
The niche situations where I can see this finding use are:
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you combo it with a silence on.an all caster team that simply cannot melee the totem down
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you combo it with a hex and they have no decurse
But its still frustrating that skill tech use of this ability is nonexistent. Unlike ring of peace which can effectively block off areas for its duration (like the wsg tunnel entrances, which can literally win games), this totem is dispellable by anyone from any range and will only ever see its full duration when combo’d with things that would prevent the enemy from moving away to begin with (stuns, etc.)
Lastly, an area where it would be useful (m+ to keep enemies inside our earthquakes) is completely cut out from the ability due to it being pvp only. Ironically, this is the only place it wouldn’t get ended early.
What the ability SHOULD be is:
Thunderdome - PvP talent (elemental)
- strike an area with a bolt of lightning, creating a thunderdome of electricity that enemies cannot pass through for 6 sec. 30 yard range. .5 second cast. 60 sec cooldown. Requires shaman. Requires level 10.
Giving it a cast time still makes it worse than ring of peace, but keeps it at the skill level of shadowfury cc. Not tying it to a totem allows for it to exist for all 6 seconds, which opens up tech use for blocking entrances and exits.