Totem Twisting no longer functions due to changes in patch 3.0
Totem Twisting was once a strategy employed by a Shaman in order to allow his group to benefit from two totems from the same magic school at once. It is principally used with Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem, although conceivably it could be used to with Flametongue Totem and Totem of Wrath.
The idea behind totem twisting was that, since Windfury Totem periodically applies a 9 second weapon buff, another totem can be dropped within the 9 second intervals.
For example:
- Shaman drops Windfury Totem and notices the weapon buff has been applied.
- Shaman drops Grace of Air Totem. Now group members are under the effects of both Windfury Totem and Grace of Air Totem (i.e. they are totem twisting).
- Once the weapon buff is about to expire, the Shaman redrops the Windfury Totem. Rinse and repeat.
Totem twisting is most trustworthy to an enhancement shaman since the elemental and restoration ones have a casting time and will not be able to time the twisting properly. Even so, the enhancement shaman will notice a definite loss in DPS since the act of dropping totems resets the swing timer thus making you hit less.
There was a general dispute as to whether or not Totem Twisting actually increased or decreased a raid's DPS. The general rule of thumb was that Totem Twisting was an overall raid DPS increase only when the raid consisted of a 'large number' of rogues, fury warriors, and/or hunters.
Although totem twisting was not considered an exploit, it is not considered "creative use of game mechanics". Blizzard had indicated that they will be fixing totem twisting, and since have with the 3.0 patch. (See: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2366685040&sid=1&pageNo=1)