Totemic Projection and Totemic Recall: the October fixes for Shaman totem control

Totems have always come with a chore: putting them down, then dealing with them when the fight moves on. Forever gives Shamans two named tools for that job, Totemic Projection and Totemic Recall, and Blizzard’s beta development notes changed both during October.

Projection comes around faster for Elemental

The update posted on 16 October, which the thread’s title lists as its October 15 update, changes Elemental Reach, an Elemental talent, so that it also reduces the cooldown of Totemic Projection by 10 or 20 seconds, depending on rank. For an Elemental Shaman, that means Projection is available more often. The notes give the reduction, not Projection’s base cooldown, so how much difference it makes will depend on the tooltip.

Recall works, and costs what it should

Two fixes affect Totemic Recall. The 1 October notes fixed an issue where Recall was not restoring mana, so taking your totems back is meant to give you some mana in return. The mid-October update then corrected its trainer price, which had been 70 silver instead of the intended 22 silver. If you put off training it at the higher price, it is worth another look.

Grounding Totem breaks after one spell

In the same update, Grounding Totem is now correctly destroyed after redirecting a spell. It takes one redirected spell and then it is gone, so plan to replace it rather than counting on it to catch a second.

Moving or taking back

As their names suggest, Projection is for moving your totems and Recall is for bringing them back, and the right choice depends on whether the fight has shifted or finished. The notes do not set out Projection’s full behavior, its mana cost or which totems it affects, so try it out on a quiet pull before you rely on it in a group.