I don’t get the dislike of Farseer, I think it’s fine. Proper use of ancestors can net strong healing. I only played blitz, so maybe it’s different in arena.
On paper it would seem to me Totemic would be better for blitz and Farseer would be better in arena, as one seems more AoE oriented and the other higher single target.
Properly utilizing ancestors is a bit harder to do than properly utilizing totemic. Totemic amps your totems to an insane degree, and so long as people are playing within it, or you can get them in to it, it’ll pump heals. On cart maps like Silvershard and etc, the value it has is unreal.
Healing streams giving you a massive Chain heal which is amped by I think 3-4 different talents? (Lively Totems, Whirling elements, Flow of tides or Reach, etc). Additionally it makes your healing stream heal multiple people instead of just one, albeit at reduced effectiveness.
The biggest issues to me w/Totemic are Totemic Projection & Mana issues + loss of an honor talent slot.
Having another ground based button that you ideally want people to stand in makes juggling totemic projection difficult between Surging / Earthen / Cap stun porting / Static field movement / Re-rooting w/Earthgrab by placing the totem on top of the enemy again.
You basically forgo either static or grounding, because HTT talent is mandatory and the healing rain talent is (imo) mandatory to not hit mana issues as Totemic.
Overall both are pretty decent and playable for sure, Totemic is my go to in Blitz and it could be better in Shuffle too. For 3v3 I prefer to play Farseer because I think it’s easier to keep my Destro & Sub rogue alive while they’re moving around the map.
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I think shuffle is a bit different because you START in dampening and mana is rarely ever an issue because games just end due to aformentioned damp.
In general I think this is fairly accurate. I think a lot of people default to farseer and treat it as something “easier” because you don’t need to manage another totem and positioning. However, I see people mismanage their ancestor usage a LOT (i.e. not keeping unleash on cd and knowing when to ship vs hold NS, and NOT dumping riptides before proccing ancestors). Ancestors are NOT AI pets, they’re functionally an amp because they cast when you cast on what you cast.
That’s AWESOME!
Congratulations, guys.
Mad respect to everyone here for legitimately asking for help and going out of the way to help others. Great to see!
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I wish they buffed ancestors offensive capabilities. It should be a solid go to for a more aggressive play style. It has such a potentially interesting design of offense vs. defense. I want to be able to pump out ancestors then use them for damage if I want. That to me should be farseer niche…instead of just jump around pressing riptide
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Ancestors cast Healing Surge when you Riptide, same as if you cast a Surge. As far as Ancestors go I don’t see any bonus healing coming from them when casting something compared to an instant riptide?
Correct.
Yep, exactly!
I see a LOT of shamans do what they’ve historically done and riptide x2 to get tidal waves procs, then unleash, then NS healing wave for a big NS. Thats a MUCH less effective way to play with farseer, though.
As you mentioned, the ancestors all cast heals on the same target, regardless of what you cast. Because of this, you get a LOT more sustained throughput by using unleash and NS BEFORE your riptides, because then you have 3x ancestor healing surges added to your riptides.
Does that make sense? Sorry if that wasn’t clear!
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I thought you were saying it’s better to use all riptides before pulling out the guaranteed ancestors via unleash/NS. So yeah seems I misunderstood.
I use Routine Communication, so chance on Riptide to phone a friend, but still didn’t seem smart to hold onto unleash for any reason unless a primo+NS wave is due very soon.
I do think the ancestors should cast something stronger when the shaman actually hard-casts a spell. Take me back to when casters casted more.
Feel like Rshams + Rdruids are one buff away from being a bit broke.
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You didn’t even have to tell me you were playing it. I’m sure hpriest is fine in that comp as well 
Farseer is crap rn after warrior and hunter changes in the anniversary update
Totemic all the way
ngl i thought rsham felt okay until i played preservation finally and omg it made me never want to play rsham again (fake news im rsham main 4lyfe but), where is my damage??? acid rain nerfed, ancestor damage buffs not applied for pvp, etc – we’re doing 0 damage so i dont get it, i need a 5th honor talent slot to even think about picking up counterstrike just for it to get instant 1 tapped
i’m just screaming at ppl to stand in earthen, raging, doing 0 dam completely at the mercy of my dps
its so hard to have fun in shuffle with how little agency I feel that I have to change the outcome. completely dependent on other players doing the right thing even when it comes to my own abilities especially when i have to lose static for rain dance… farseer having damage seems like an easy solution to the psychological damage i’m taking in shuffle
it doesnt help that there is like 0 rshams out there too so its everyone’s first time even seeing earthen totem, you literally gotta explain ppl what it is and to stand in it EVERY TIME
My favorite thing about it is the increased radius of all you totems.
People turn in to track stars when its time to receive spirit link totem i swear. WHY ARE YOU RUNNING
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This build is awfull most matchup you wont be runing this. Gust of wind is useless get hex insted. And only take spirit walk vs boomy even then i wouldnt drop hex cause most boomy dont run decurse even at higher cr game.
Why would you lose a talent slot ? Just dont tike the healing rain talent lmao you absolutly dont need the 3m healing it would do in arena. And it will solve your mana problem.
Gust is situationally useful, but it’s either that or the 10% stamina talent. I’d typically prefer the stamina since it also buffs totem HP, but I’m trying to get used to Gust in case I ever need to play it.
I found I wasn’t getting many opportunities to hex in the comps I play, either due to pressure contraints or just DRing my hunter’s stuff, so I dropped it. That was when I was still playing Farseer, so maybe I’d have time to do it now.
Yeah, no-rain Totemic feels good.
What does “no rain” mean? Ur straight up not pressing surging totem?
I’m so glad I am not the only person who felt and experienced this lol. They always ask the next round, “WHY DIDN’T YOU LINK?!”
You mean so you can transfer your lack of health to yourself? Ok cool, you right.
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yep, never pressing it
Rain usually tops healing, only went oom once, game was lost regardless. My build is different though.
Hello,
PVP balance is not good atm. Between the AWC and MDI the devs don’t dare touch the game (apart from an emergency BM hunter nerf).
Please do something already - the integrity of the game is more important than the 0.001% player population participating in online tournaments. If we have to wait 1 more week for the MDI to be over too, even more people will unsub. Just do the right thing.
they don’t fix the game .as rest shaman I tire of die because the other team have healer the can heal.
Thank you