That unfortunately is one of the problems with the death totem. It requires coordination and preplanning that can sometime be difficult to pull off. it's great when you can preplan and use it before a fight starts but it really falls apart mid combat when you're team might be split up and not in a position to use the totem.
Out of curiosity, are abilities usually built around not requiring teamwork to be useful?
Nothing for or against that, I just never considered whether that was a design goal.
Depends on the role of the character but we have found though that legends that offer team utility tend to be more desirable.