Season 6 Preview

Worried about the new system? Don’t worry, in case you haven’t stepped into arena yet you win 47 p

oints and lose 0. It seems you will continue this trend past 1k and won’t win less till around 1500 or so. To be exact at 1079 you win 45 points. It may take a couple extra games but don’t

sweat it, you will get there after a while. Remember the goal of the hidden rating is to go 50-50 whatever your team rating is. Also, you get to see your matchmaking rating now in the arena window, so make sure to check that out.

Healers:

Killing healers in a global has changed. With the increase in resilience and survivability buffs you can probably focus on getting healers oom before setting up a kill . Priest can penance themselves, Shamans have a 4400 shield usable while silences, Druids armor buffs in tree form.

Shamans get a 4400 shield from glyph of stoneclaw totem. Since totems are physical now you can use while silenced. Druids armory value in tree form was increased from 100% to 240% and barskin reduces chance spells will be dispelled by 60%

and reduce chance you will be melee crit by 25%. Priest can pain surpression themselves while stunned and penance is now usable on themselves.

Season 6 Tier 2 weapons:

Finally, what all the pvpers have been waiting for. Weapons that are equivalent to the pve ones. If you can’t get 2200, dont worry there are still tier 1 weapons available at 1850 rating. Season 5 was dominated by Turning Tides and Betrayer of Humanities, but you probably won’t see many pve weapons anymore. Also, the new pvp weapons come with gem slots.

Casual PvP: Does it exist?

Goals and you.

If a person is a casual gamer than they have to realize that they can either be mediocre at a million things or amazing at one thing.  Setting realistic goals as a casual gamer will keep a person upbeat moreso than trying to do everything all the time like their 100 hours of playtime a week friend is. I personally get to play video games 10-15 hours a week.  Keep in mind I have a 360, a Wii, college classes and a baby and wife to worry about.  So how do I play

WoW and still have fun? Goals.  With 10 hours a week do I expect to be in a 2400 rating team with Season X gear and all the ladies I want, no I don’t. What I expect is to be a solid player and an asset to a team.  So what if I’m rated 1800, I may wait a couple of extra weeks for my chest piece, but I still got it.  Hardcore gamers in WoW are just like billionaires in RL, they both have too much time, look way better than you or me, and laugh at everyone below them. Don’t let this dishearten you, realize that you don’t live in a basement, have friends, and see the sun on a daily basis. Setting reasonable goals is the only way a casual gamer or casual anything will ever feel a sense of accomplishment.

Cookie Cutters are OK!

I love to experiment with ridiculous specs and strategies that will probably never work, but are a blast to play.  However, if you are on time restraints working out the kinks of these ideas will take forever(almost take me literally there). Don’t be afraid to use cookie cutter builds, they are cookie cutter builds because they work. You can be assured they work because someone with an infinite(take me almost literally again) time on there hands has tested them a ridiculous amount of times.

The term cookie cutter should not have a negative connotation to it, it should have a safe productive connotation to it.  Look at it this way a Christmas tree, snowman, or jackolantern cookie cutter is there for a reason; people use them, they work, and they fit a specific purpose, the only difference between real cookie cutters and arena ones is that the real ones taste good!

Forums are our friends.

Every forum post whether it be from some idiot complaining about needed nerfs or the super elite ZUG himself has something to be learned from it. If nothing else read the guides for your class that Blizzard stickies on their forums.  I promise they will enlighten you. Unlike fractions forums really are your friends.

Practice makes near perfect.

Lastly, practicing is the most important learning tool there is. Losing or winning a player of any game can learn from practice. At the end of every match win or loss, don’t focus on the other teams gear, or l337ness level, but on the strategies used and the class/spell combos used against you. A crappy geared player who knows how to play can beat a well geared player who doesn’t.

I end with a goal.

I will end this guide with one goal for every player who reads this guide. The next time you lose an arena match do two things. Don’t blame your teamate(s) and then ask them how you could help them win.  I hope this guide helps at least one casual gamer, if it does then I have accomplished my gal in writing it.

Rogue / Druid vs. Warrior / Druid 2v2 Arena Strategy

Probably one of the most common match ups you are going to be facing in arena. Also, one of the more difficult teams. The strategy my team employs here is fairly simply, just train the druid. Any druid based 2v2 team’s success or failure will be largely determined by the ability of the druid. As the rogue your strategy is very easy.

Rogue’s Arena Tactics

You have one goal and one goal alone here, slay the druid. The druid and warrior are going to do everything they can to prevent you from getting to / staying on the druid. So there will be a carefully balanced dance between you and your druid to make certain…

1. the warrior is crowd controlled as much as possible
2. the druid is prevented from crowd controlling you

As the rogue you’ll be in charge of eliminating much of the CC. For this reason it’s important you do not turn and gouge or hemo the warrior (unless you have no CP on the druid anyway), you always want to try to maintain you combo points on the druid. Always having a few combo points on the druid will be a crucial element in your victory.

• Deadly throw the druid to prevent entangling roots and cyclone
• If the druid is attempting to run away and drink you can use slice and dice to bring them back into combat, even if you are a long ways away. This will only last for a few seconds though, so make sure you get to the druid quickly.

Druid’s Arena Tactics

The druid’s job here is incredibly more difficult than the rogues. For your rogue to have any success on the druid you absolutely must nail your crowd control rotations and healing / spell interrupts. These include:

• Your cyclone, root, feral charge, bash combo will be essential in keeping the warrior off of your rogue. Learing to use this fluidly and throughout an arena match is a must.
• A bit more on the advanced side of things, at least from the perspective of timing is concerned. You’ll want to always be watching for when you think you can get a kill on the druid. If your rogue just cannot catch the druid you may need to throw a cyclone on him to allow your rogue the time to catch up.
• Consider using cyclone as a means to stop the druids CC rotation, druids heals, immune his HoTs if he’s fully HoT’d himself, interrupt heals with feral charge, etc.

This is NOT an easy combo for rogue druid, not by any stretch. If we are able to go 50 and 50 against high rated teams then we’re feeling pretty good. The warrior’s mobility and overall damage output are much higher than the rogues, but the rogue can level the playing field through well timed use of crowd controls.

Above all, do not panic. This is a very slow and methodical match. You probably are not going to bomb the druid down in a KS, you’ll likely just need to beat him out of mana and keep the pressure up until you’ve slowly one of the match. Stay focused, stay on the druid and nail your CCs. if you can remember these few points you’ll be well on your way to victory.

Looking for more rogue / druid strats? Check out the complete Rogue / Druid 2v2 Arena Strategy!

Mage / Rogue Vs. Warlock / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

This is really quick match, and it will only be quicker if anything goes wrong for either team.

Rogue Arena Strategy

Rush the warlock with everything you’ve got, and try to avoid as much of the opposing rogue’s damage as possible. Attempting to find a rogue with paranoia is an unnecessary risk.The lock will probably be dotting both of you, so if you’re dotted and caught in a Kidney shot feel free to trinket to finish up on the lock.

NEVER let the lock get a fear off, as that’s almost a guaranteed loss. Once the lock is down, you’ll probably have used up most of your cooldowns at this point, it’s up to your mage for a smooth get away from the rogue.

Mage Arena Strategy

Shatter combos on the lock as fast as possible. Sheeping the rogue might not buy you the full window of CC you’re used to, but it can buy you atleast 3 seconds as it will take time for the lock to send his fel hunter for a dispel. The pressure is really on for you to keep your rogue out of the danger zone and to shatter the warlock on demand. When the lock is dead attempt to control the rogue to let yours heal up, as a 1v1 while in your advantage is annoying and time consuming.

Looking for more mage / rogue strategy? Check out the complete Mage / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy Guide.

Mutilate Rogue / Shadow Priest 2v2 Video – Tuska 4

My initial impression of this video was just wow…I’ve been playing World of Warcraft and watching PvP videos for years now and in all that time I’ve never seen a 2v2 video that even comes close to this. This video features a mutilate rogue / shadow priest 2v2 combo from Doom Squad on EU. It’s filmed in the 2100-2350 bracket and features some of Europe’s best teams and players.

The video offers a strategy break down for each different match up they fight and points out some of the subtle strategic decisions they make throughout the fight in order to secure a win. All the strategies are sound and executed to perfection.

On top of being an excellent tutorial video it’s also an incredibly entertaining and enjoyable movie. The editing and music fit very nicely together and the whole package just comes out looking beautifully. 5 / 5 stars.

Talent Specs
Rogue – 54/0/7
Priest – 20/0/41

Music used:
P.O.D. – The Messenjah
Papa Roach – Getting away with murder
Static-X – Burn to burn
The Offspring – Hammerhead
P.O.D. – Satellite

Addons:
Xperl Unitframes
Morganti’s Buffbars
Telo’s Bottom Bar
Second Bottom Bar

Rogue / Priest Strategy: Position Discussion Audio

One of the most important, yet most overlooked aspect of playing rogue / priest 2v2…or for that matter any arena team comp, is without a doubt positioning. Too often I think players and teams get so caught up in the ideas 100 other factors that they completely forget about their positioning.

Being in the right place at the right time isn’t an accident, in many ways it’s the only true strategy in arena. Knowing the type of strategy your opponents are going to attempt will allow you to develop a strategy to appropriately counter your opponents.

This is the very essence of arena position strategies, but believe me, learning how to do this is no easy task. It takes a lot of experience and practice, but by simply being aware you’ll have a keen eye for areas where you can exploit your opponents position and quickly take advantage of their mistakes.

I say all of this in preparation for the very first Zug Gaming audio strategy discussion. A few weeks ago I had a brief conversion (relatively speaking!) with a member of the Zug Gaming community. He had a some questions regarding different strategic aspects of rogue / priest as well as overall positional awareness factors in arena.

The following recording includes:

• Priest / Rogue strategy discussion
• Positional strategy points
• Healer / DPS movement factors of arena
• Among other points

Rogue / Priest Strategy: Audio Discussion

I’ll try to get an actual player up later this evening.

Mage / Rogue Vs. Mage / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

Ah yes, the mirror match. Mage / rogue arena strategy mirrors can be particularly difficult, as they require quick reaction time and well executed strategy in order to successfully gain the edge on your opponent. As with any double DPS team even the slightest of errors can quickly lead to a loss

Rogue Opener Strategy

Ideally you want to find the rogue and immediately open up on him. However, this is easier said than done. Chances are both rogues are going to have max stealth talents, so it’s pretty much a toss up that you’re going to get the opener. However, if you do happen to get the opener on the rogue you’re in a great position, you’ve immediately forced the opposing team to have to react to you.

If they don’t make the correct decision with an immediate crowd control they are going to be far behind and well on their way to losing.

Mage’s 2v2 Strategy Role

If your rogue does happen to get the opener then you need to be able to go right into action. If at all possible get immediate CC on the opposing mage and start dropping shatter combos on the rogue. This is where things start moving really quickly.

Side Note: Mage 2v2 Tips Compendium

What If I can’t find the rogue?

This is where things can get really sketchy. If the match timer gets to the point where the shadow sight buffs come up it’s probably just going to be a wash as far as the opener is concerned. Your only concern at this point is to not get absolutely screwed.

How can you get completely screwed you ask?

1. Both mages are going for the buff, your mage gets sapped, then the mage and / or rogue gets the shadow sight buff, finds you and the rogue opens on you.
2. The opposing rogue picks up the buff, vanishes and shadowstep + cheap shots you.

That said, these are the techniques we are going to try and use against the opposing team in order to gain the advantage. A lot of rogues will simply let their mage pick it up and trade the openers, and this is a fine strategy I suppose. But for me I’d much rather have the fight in my hands, so picking up the stealth buff and immediately going after the rogue is my game plan.

All the while my mage is either going for the other buff and / or keeping the other mage temporarily distracted and /or crowd controlled. If all goes well you’ll have the opener shortly there after and have a huge lead early on.

Game Pace and Reaction Time

More than anything else your reaction time and understanding the pace of these games is going to be a key factor in your success. If your a mage you’re prime goal early on is going to be keeping the other mage out of the fight so you can assist your rogue. Additionally, if you’re the rogue you need to do everything within your power to avoid taking damage while locking down and punishing the opposing rogue.

Rogue’s Crowd Control and Damage Avoidance

Always be watching for the possible crowd control trains on you. While most teams will just play the mage vs. mage CC battle some may go for a switch, especially if you are without a trinket (this should always be in the back of your mind because you can do the same thing to them!).

If the rogue makes a stupid decision on the trinket you can simply go blind into a sap combo and bomb on the mage. Even if you aren’t able to kill the mage you’re put him into an immediate defensive position, potentially allow your team to regen / bandage some life, and certainly made the mage go through a lot of mana kiting you.

Whether it’s damage or crowd control, as the rogue you have a lot of tools to really make the mage’s job hell.

• Vanish immune shatter combos or sheeps
• Cloak of Shadows shatter combos or sheeps
• Toss a gouge if the mage is within range to cut casts
• Toss a kick if the mage is withing range. Brief note here, using focus kick macros makes this incredibly easy, so you can conduct drive by kicks on the mage without even having to target him.
• Use blind to stop casts. Not always worth it, but sometimes necessary if you are close to dying.

Mage’s Crowd Control and Avoidance

Just like the rogue the mage has the ability to prevent / break many of the potential CC’s. Versus most 2v2 teams you’d want to use these on a bit slower pace, but in an arena matchup as face paced and furious as this you simply CANNOT take a full duration poly or blind. So be prepared to quickly use your…

• Ice Block / Trinket on sheeps and blind when necessary
• Help your rogue cut the mage’s casts via sheep and crowd control, especially on shatter combos

Using focus macros for your sheep and counterspell macros will really help you out with this, I strongly recommend you get comfortable with them as they are fastest way to making quicker decisions.

Looking for more strategies? Check out the complete rogue / mage 2v2 arena strategy guide!

Rogue / Rogue Vs. Druid / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

Rogue / Rogue vs. Druid / Rogue is no easy match, typically any team with a druid is going to be a tough match for a double rogue team. That said, using systemic decision making and quick reflexes we can learn how to effectively counter these 2v2 teams.

Ideal Strategy, Jump the Druid in Stealth

Ideally what we’re going to try and do is find the druid in stealth and immediately open on him. This serves 2 purposes.

1. Gets you into combat and prevents you from being sapped
2. Puts immediate pressure on the druid

If everything goes as planned you’ll kill the druid straight up, but for any of you who have played double rogue for any stretch of time you know this is rarely how it happens.

The Druid is in Bear form, what do I do?

Often times druids are wise to double DPS teams and will immediately exit stealth as soon as they realize there are rogues and enter bear form. This is when this combo can be very difficult.

Let’s be frank, you probably aren’t going to burst a druid in bear form out. So you have a few options. First, and probably the most effective is going to be attack the open and drop a bomb on the rogue. If you get a solid opener and / or if the druid is out of position you can immediately red line the rogue. Make sure you have your rupture up on the rogue as you know he’ll be going for a vanish.

Once you’ve got the opener going on the rogue you need to be looking to crowd control the druid. Either via gouge, kick, or if the druid is dumb enough a blind / sap combo. Most games the druid is still going to get a few HoTs and the NS off, but this doesn’t mean you lose. Keep up the damage, evasion tank the rogue and keep working to get the druid out of the fight. You’ve got 2 blinds, a potential sap combo, kick and gouge to punish the druid with.

Is Switching Targets a Good Strategy?

I think many double DPS teams really are reluctant to try a target switch, in some cases this fear is rational. However, if a switch is handled in the proper way it can be very effective. For example, many rogues may panic when they see a two other rogues attacking them. In the event he trinkets a CS or  KS you’ve got him right where you want him.

What if the rogue trinkets my blind?

At this point you should throw the blind, which you’re going to transition into at least 1, probably 2 saps. This will give you a minimum of 20 seconds to have unrestricted damage on the druid. Even if the druid is sitting in bear form 20 seconds is a long period of time, especially if you can evasion tank the rogue for an additional 15 seconds after your crowd controls have ended.

Final Points on Avoiding Crowd Control

On a double DPS team every second counts, it is absolutely crucial you avoid being crowd controlled at all times. In the case of this team you are going to want to save your trinket for a blind, the only scenario you wouldn’t want to use your trinket on blind is if the rogue was just reeling on you and caught you medium / low health in a KS.

It’s very helpful to set the druid as your focus target, this will allow you to watch incoming crowd control on you so you can take the appropriate action to avoid being taken out of the fight. These actions include:

• Preemptive Cloak of Shadows on cyclone / root
  
• Vanish immune on cyclone / root
• Vanish immune on feral charge
• Preemptive evasion if you believe the druid may attempt to bash you
• Preemptive evasion if you believe the rogue is about to blind you (if your trinket is down, note: This is very hard to watch for, especially if you don’t have your focus on the rogue)

Looking for more rogue / rogue strategies? Check out the complete rogue / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

Nagrand Arena Position and Line of Sight Breakdown

When I think about Nagrand arena position strategies one word comes to mind…pillars. If you’ve played arena for any stretch of time then you are probably more than familiar with this mechanic.

That said, learning to effectively use line sight in combination with proper positioning is no easy task. It requires a lot of practice and a bit of know how, which we’re going to discuss below.

Mastering The Pillar Kite

The first and most important factor in Nagrand Arena is going to be mastering the pillar kite. As you can see on the map to the right there are 4 pillars in Nagrand arena. Which we’re going to use both as LoS positions and kiting locations (aka “pillar humping”).

If you’re a healer this is where you live in arena. Sticking near the pillar allows you to quickly move in and out of line of sight and run circles around the pillar to avoid damage. The green squares represent your prime locations for maintaining healing LoS on the arena floor.

You will need to continually change your position around these pillars so that you can…

1. Adjust your position so you can maintain healing / dispel LoS on your partners
2. Kite opposing DPS in a circular manner around the pillar. If things are really bad you could have your team mates help you by snaring / crowd controlling the DPS that’s chasing you. Giving you additional time to catch up heals.

DPS Positioning

Most of the time people associate kiting and line of sight purely with healing, but even DPS, both ranged and melee can do their part to take advantage of line of sight positions. First off we need to consider the effect that these positions are going to have on our healer’s position.

• Your healer will always want to be LoS’ing around / behind a pillar.
• Knowing this we want to position so we can still do damage, but also allow the healer to avoid taking damage / being crowd controlled.

Secondly, let’s talk about the defensive role of using the pillars as a DPS. Just like your healer uses the pillars to dodge cc and damage you should be doing the same. Granted, you aren’t going to be pillar humping as excessively as your healer may be it is still important to take advantage of this strategy. This will save your healer mana and buy you one very important thing…time. Time to drink, time cast, and time to catch up on heals. Sometimes even just a few short seconds is enough for your team to gain a mana edge and ultimately come away with the win.

General Nagrand Position Strategy

Of all the arena maps Nagrand is certainly the most simplistic. What ever way you look at it you’re going to be using pillars in your position strategy. As a healer most of your role with LoS is centered around using them to avoid damage and CC, while also turreting up to well positioned heals in the locations I’ve listed above.

As a DPS class you need to focus on always understanding where your healer is, thus allowing them an easier time to heal you. Additionally, using the pillars to LoS behind to prevent damage and / or kite melee classes will allow your healer additional time they may need during high burst damage periods.

For more position strategies check out the full guide on Line of Sight Strategy and Positioning!

Mage / Rogue Vs. Paladin / Warrior 2v2 Arena Strategy

Much like most warrior / healer teams, your opponents will probably have to try harder than you.

Rogue

Get a sap on the warrior and open on the paladin going full out dps to force his bubble. Once he bubbles reset the fight via vanish. If you and your partner are having trouble CC’ing the warrior while forcing the paladin to bubble pop Evasion and Ghostly Strike as needed to avoid unwanted bleed effect when resetting the fight. Kill the paladin, and get away from the warrior if you have to.

Mage

Crowd control the warrior as best as possible with sheeps, frost novas, Rank 1 Frost Bolts(to Frost Bite snare him). These are all able to be cleansed by the pally, so tell your rogue to dodge it up if you’re having trouble controlling the warrior. Assist dps, and once the pally bubbles hit iceblock to reset the fight and wait it out. You decide when you want your rogue to blind, but I recommend while going for a kill on the pally or after killing the pally one of you has to get away.

Looking for more strategies? Check out the complete rogue / mage 2v2 arena strategy guide!

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