The Spirit Realm

I just purchased the shaman AA slow and I like the fact that it lasts longer, is a short cast time, and short refresh time. However, my first experience using it in RSS was that it was resisted an awful, awful lot. Balance of discord was never resisted.

So, my question is this..what is the advantage of this spell besides the longer duration / freeing up a spell slot? Is there any or for a normal grouper / non raider was this a wasted purchase?

Balance is a -60 to resist and the AA is -25. The AA can be used between cast much like TA. The advantage is you can slow multiple mobs more quickly than with spells alone. The AA still does vary well against most mobs in regards to resist in most cases. Those with a TA tend to use the AA in conjunction with the clicky. Those without tend to use it in conjunction with BoD. Well, in my experience anyway. Either way it was not a waisted AA.

I on the other hand, coming from the enchanter world where the best slow I have is -30, don't hardly notice the resist rate on Turgur's Swarm at all. If it's important to slow something, I'll Malo it first, or use some sort of of Mal- after the first resist. I haven't memmed a single-target slow on my shaman since I got this AA. (Though I also don't raid on my shaman. BoD would be key there, I think.)

I think basing how well the AA slow works on a run through RSS is misleading. OOW mobs had really high resist (imo). In newer content, I find that the AA slow lands very reliably. When I get a resist, I cast malos, then use the AA slow again. It is not as much of a slowdown as you would expect because the AA does not have the spell gem refresh delay.
Before the AA slow, I would cast BoD (1.5 sec) then wait for the spell gem to refresh (1 sec ??) and cast my next spell. So, about 2.5 to 3 seconds before the next spell can be cast.
Now I cast AA slow (1 sec) and immediately start my next spell. If I get a resist, then casting Malos takes 3.5 sec (5 sec, but with spell haste adj), but as soon as it is done casting I can slow while the spell gem is refreshing. Total turn around is 5.5 sec before I can cast something other than slow. That is not too bad and I have a free spell gem.
If you are really worried about a resist, then simply keep BoD in your spell set. Slow with AA, if it is resisted, immediately slow with BoD. Since you don't have to wait for the spell gem to refresh after the resist, you are only adding a 1 second to your overall cast time. The AA slow is one of my favorite AAs and is definitely not a wasted AA. I did get a little frustrated when running through Anguish and I loaded up BoD, but in general, the resist rate is low.

Lead with Malis, then use AA slow. 99% of mobs get slowed 1st time. Every mob should be resist-debuffed, it makes everything work much better all the time thereafter. The 1% resist doesn't resist the next one.

Malis is a bigger negative check than balance. and it helps ever single spell land (except disease, and who cares about those) thereafter, and ever proc. It helps everyone else in the group. I never ever load a slow spell for backup. I don't need them. ever.

I did notice balance getting resisted in RSS also which i thought was odd.

I have really no need for malos as my group setup is always monk, warrior, rogue, ranger, shaman, cleric. warrior / rogue are mains, rest are boxes, so ranger nukes rarely.

I think I'll play around with it some more in frostcrypt and vald. I just was surprised going 3 months or so with no slow resists (outside of raid mobs / anguish trash), to having 4 in a row off of one mob.