Cannibalize for dummies

[Snaggles]

Yea canni dancing is more efficient if timed right but that’s why God invented YouTube. Burn that health bar about 30% less than the mana bar and sit down. Watch some cats chasing babies or whatever.

[Toehammer]

I cannot agree more; forget the dancing strategy. Your fingers and eyes will hurt from the concentration required over the hours you play your character. And the benefit over cannibalize in slot 1 + GCD clicky is just not worth it. When you eventually get cannibalize IV and Torpor some day, this is the strategy you will use anyway... it is the closest thing to manastone/complete heal a shaman can do [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

[douglas1999]

I've played two separate shamans up to level 60 (one on live and one on blue) but I've never actually gotten Torpor, could a knowledge shaman give some advice on specifically how to use it, when, what it's good for, when to use it on other people, maybe when *not* to use it?

I know it's known as one of the most game changing spells for a shaman, if not the most, but I did have epics on both chars and it already felt like I was OP as hell just with an epic and a big mana pool.

[Barm McLir]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I've played two separate shamans up to level 60 (one on live and one on blue) but I've never actually gotten Torpor, could a knowledge shaman give some advice on specifically how to use it, when, what it's good for, when to use it on other people, maybe when *not* to use it?

I know it's known as one of the most game changing spells for a shaman, if not the most, but I did have epics on both chars and it already felt like I was OP as hell just with an epic and a big mana pool.

Torpor is a heal over time. While ticking, it also slows the attack speed and movement rate of the recipient. Like most spells with side effects, you can only cast it on yourself and group mates. The slow is only 30% but will negate any spell haste while active.

You get four (and sometimes five) ticks of healing for 300HP each for 200 mana. Obviously the benefit to the shaman is to spam Canni IV with a refresh clicky, apply Torpor, and canni even more while it's running. Torpor shaman can recover from OOM faster than any class. You can win any fight where the slowed DPS of the mob is less than torpor's heal even if the fight takes hours. We don't have fast heals, or giant heals, but we are marathon runners.

When to use it?

• Dangerous pulls, provided the puller understand they are about to lose a ton of mobility. Communicate that the slow is going to hamper their ability to build aggro. Is the enchanter trying to pacify an entire room? Pre-emptive torpor time.
  
• Overpull coming in? Torpor yourself and start slowing using both Turgur's and Torgor's (cast one while the other is on cool-down) to slow the whole train. Sometimes you'll even live.
  
• Top off the main healer as they often are too occupied or reluctant to burn a mana expensive heal on themselves. Top off casters and group pets.
  
• Duo with a monk. Their excellent avoidance but low HP's synergize with our crappy heals but amazing slows.
  
• Any group mate after a rez.
  
• And solo of course. There's something hilarious about doing more damage to yourself than the mob attacking you.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Put Canni in the top spell slot. The Top Spell Slot allows you to refresh the spell before the recast timer has finished. The recast timer still exists (this is why you will get a "recast timer not met" message on longer recast time spells), but the recast timer is still going WHILE a spell is being cast. That means you can cast the spell at "recast timer - cast time" faster than other spell slots. With Canni 1 and an instant cast clickie (a "global cooldown reset" item, as it is normally called), you should be able to canni twice before sitting. This will not work on Canni 4, due to the longer cast/recast timer. But Canni 4 works best with Torpor anyway.


The way I would do it is have your macro on one keybind (1, for example), and have your global cooldown reset item on the next keybind (2, in this case).

Just did a test macro that seems to work well:

/stand
/pause 1
/pause 21, /cast 1
/pause 21, /cast 1
/sit

The strategy is to press 1 (your macro) AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE NUMBER CHANGE. It doesn't matter if the number increase is accurate. As soon as your mana number changes, hit the macro. This will cause you to stand, pause, then cast canni for the first time. As soon as the spell finishes, press 2 to trigger your global cooldown reset. Then you should cast canni again, and then sit. I only tested this briefly, but it seems to fit right into 6 seconds, and still gets me my meditate tick in. When I was doing canni dancing, I did it every OTHER tick, since it is a little too difficult to keep the timing exact every single tick. Luckily, since you can cram 2 cannis into a single tick, its basically like doing a canni dance every tick, but easier.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

when, what it's good for, when to use it on other people, maybe when *not* to use it?

In short, once you get it you will almost always want to use Torpor, all the time, for everyone. It's just better, mathematically.

The only time to bust out a Chloroblast IMHO is when someone needs healing right that second (in a group/on a raid ... and in a group you can usually avoid the need by casting a Topor earlier).

[ChooChoo Train]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In short, once you get it you will almost always want to use Torpor, all the time, for everyone. It's just better, mathematically.

The only time to bust out a Chloroblast IMHO is when someone needs healing right that second (in a group/on a raid ... and in a group you can usually avoid the need by casting a Topor earlier).

Torpor decreases attack speed by 30% and if your mana is not tight you shouldn’t be using it during a raid on melee dps classes.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by ChooChoo Train [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Torpor decreases attack speed by 30% and if your mana is not tight you shouldn’t be using it during a raid on melee dps classes.

Very good point: you do not want to Torpor main tanks, or anyone else trying to hold agro (EDIT: or needing mobility; good point Barm!), while they're trying to hold agro. But then also ... most raiding Shaman shouldn't even be thinking about healing the main tank in the first place: that's what CH chains are for [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For other melee though? It's not likely going to have a meaningful impact in overall raid DPS ... but saving someone's life likely will. If you're flush with mana then I guess, why not Chloroblast? But personally I tended not to be most of the time on raids (even with constant insta-Canning and self-Torporing). I guess it's somewhat situational, and depends on your raid group, but I'd just stress that someone being alive, and briefly only doing 70% DPS, is a whole lot better than being dead and doing 0% (which is what happens when the healer runs out of mana).

I'd say always Torpor unless A) full of mana or close B) target is desperately trying to hold agro or move around (this has never been an issue for me in groups, and on raids you can still Torpor 95+% of the raid), or C) someone is literally about to die and Torpor won't heal fast enough. YMMV.

[Barm McLir]

Originally Posted by ChooChoo Train [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Torpor decreases attack speed by 30% and if your mana is not tight you shouldn’t be using it during a raid on melee dps classes.

Plus the sudden loss of mobility for a tank or puller can really throw them.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Torpor is used all the time. I have Canni 4 on slot 1, and Torpor on slot 2. Forever. Only time they leave those slots is when I die.

When soloing, Torpor:
1. Torpor is how you get your Mana back in all situations. Canni down, Torpor up.
2. Torpor is how you heal yourself and your pet in all situations. Spell slots are quite premium on Shamans, since two slots are filled with Torp and Canni. In most cases, the third and fourth slot is filled with slow and malo. If the area is dangerous, gate is your fifth slot. That means you have 3 spell slots for offense or utility. This makes it tough to have Chloroblast on bar when soloing.
3. Torpor can be used as an HP buffer on a particularly difficult mob. Throw Torpor on yourself before you pull the mob, so you have some extra HP to work with while you are trying to slow. This strategy can also work on your pet. Throw Torpor on the pet, send them into the lion's den.

When soloing, do NOT Torpor:
1. Can't think of anything to put here. Don't Torpor right after you already Torpored. It is a waste of mana[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When grouping, Torpor:
1. Torpor is how you get your Mana back in all situations. Canni down, Torpor up.
2. Torpor is how you heal yourself and your pet in all situations.
3. Torpor is how you heal others in most situations. Torpor non-melee classes always, unless they specifically need to run away. The attack slow and snare has no effect on them. For melee classes, torpor is normally fine, even with the snare and slow. This is why Duoing Shaman/Monk is popular, for example. The mana efficiency makes up for the temporary loss in DPS.
4. Use Torpor as an HP buffer. This is less common in grouping, but it can be applied in specific situations, such as an enchanter trying to calm some mobs. Having Torpor there in case of a crit fail could be the difference between an aoe mez and a dead enchanter.

When grouping, do NOT Torpor:
1. When someone needs a fast heal. Torpor takes longer to cast, and heals less initially.
2. If someone has maximum buffs for some reason. Normally, ask them to drop at least one so Torpor can land. If 15 buffs is required, you must cast Chloroblast, as Torpor will not stick.
3. If the group member needs to move quickly.
4. Your group is doing well, you have full mana, you don't want to snare your DPS, and they are not dying quickly.
5. When a tank needs to build agro, and they are not dying fast enough to require a Torpor to stay alive.

When raiding, Torpor:
1. Torpor is how you get your Mana back in all situations. Canni down, Torpor up.
2. Torpor is how you heal yourself and your pet in all situations.
3. Torpor is how you heal others in most situations. Torpor non-melee classes always, unless they specifically need to run away. The attack slow and snare has no effect on them. For melee classes, torpor is normally fine, even with the snare and slow. This is especially true when fighting AoE mobs. The mana efficiency is more important than the snare and slow negative effects. No mana = dead DPS. Dead DPS = 0 DPS.
4. If you are in the Main Tank group, Torpor IS used on raid tanks when a mob is ultra powerful. AoW is a perfect example. Torpor is always on that tank, to help mitigate the insane damage being taken. In this specific case, you will try to Chloroblast in between Torpors as well.

When raiding, do NOT Torpor:
1. When someone needs a fast heal. Torpor takes longer to cast, and heals less initially.
2. If someone has maximum buffs for some reason. Normally, ask them to drop at least one so Torpor can land. If 15 buffs is required, you must cast Chloroblast, as Torpor will not stick.
3. If the group member needs to move quickly.
4. Your group is doing well, you have full mana, you don't want to snare your DPS, and they are not dying quickly.
5. When a tank needs to build agro, and they are not dying fast enough to require a Torpor to stay alive.
6. If the fight specifically requires the tank to not be Torpored.

This should cover most cases[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]