Blade’s Edge Arena Strategy and Positioning

Often I hear of team’s and player’s who struggle on Blade’s Edge arena. This is in part because its’ the most complicated of any arena map and doesn’t offer the clear cut protections of a pillar or coffin to LoS around. That said, learning to LoS and positioning properly is still an attainable goal.

For the purpose of this guide I’ll be referring to all position references from a healer’s point of view, and the ideal locations team’s should attempt to position both DPS and healer positions in order to maintain LoS for heals, but avoid being relentlessly attacked.

To the right I’ve detailed a small map of Blade’s Edge arena with various positioning options you have available.

• Red lines - these are short range positions that take advantage of the pole extensions on the 4 corners of the bridge. Ideally the DPS would be centered in the bridge while you heal from the top ramp positions.
• Purple lines - these are long range heal positions where you’re simply trying to take advantage of healing range over the range of other casters. Same thing as above, heal from the ramp, fight in the middle.
• Position swaps - the green dots represent a few of the possible positions you could choose to stand at. None of these are set in stone. A healer or a DPS could stand in either one of them since the line of sight continues regardless.
• Ground level pillars - I’ve indicated them with red circles, you can use these just as you would use a pillar in Nagrand arena. In addition, while I have not indicated it on the map you can also use the pillar posts that hold up the bridge in the same manner. This can be a disadvantage though (discussed in next point).
• Plane of Interaction - there are 2 planes of interaction in blade’s edge, one on the ground level and another on bridge level. Generally speaking the bridge level plane is superior in every way. You have both position and distance LoS easily at your disposal, and you can quickly reposition to heal teammates on the bottom. For this reason choosing to fight on the ground level may not be an option. If your opposition sticks their healer or a ranged character up top you could be in a lot of trouble. At this point the advantage is 100% into their favor, especially if you are unable to completely avoid being attacked by the players on the ground you’re attempting to kite.
• Bridge Overhangs - there is one other location that can be particularly devastating from a LoS perspective if used correctly (and with the right classes). It’s positioned directly underneath the bridge right as the ramp part begins the bridge. There are small obstructions that jut out here, allowing a healer or DPS class (typically hunters) the ability to stick themselves in there and avoid most LoS. This is because it’s so difficult to find continued LoS to attack them, since you can move to either the left or right side of these small obstructions in these locations.

The overall strategy we’re going for with these positions is the development of a fluid and constantly moving line of sight technique. As a healer not moving is just not an option. You need to continue the constant position change in order to effectively heal, regain mana, and avoid damage. If you can successfully accomplish this then you’re well on your way to becoming a top tier arena team.

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

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

This rogue / rogue vs. warlock / rogue 2v2 arena strategy demands you move fast. If you’re dealing with human rogues then you have to get on the warlock quick no question. If you’re talking a human with paranoia you’re done. The sheer amount of stealth detection will make it extremely difficult to get an opener.

Rogue #1

Open up on the lock with CS going into Expose Armor. Continue to wail on him, the opposing rogue will most likely open on you (as you should be the first one to open), hit him with a quick blind and call his trinket. If you’re dotted don’t cloak quite yet(DoTs give you the freedom to trinket something like a KS lockdown or maybe a fear, but really never let a lock get a fear off.) Manage your energy wisely, as you’ll have to be on the alert with interrupts.

Rogue #2

Open on the lock with a garrote, and hit him with a Kidney shot. Once the enemy rogue trinkets blind him(You now have 5 seconds to down the lock OR 5 seconds before you have to vanish/sap him). Again don’t immediately Cloak while you have DoTs as you’re given the freedom of trinketing.

This is a very quick match, and it’s almost a win every time if you get the opener. Locks are good at surviving burst damage, so don’t get frustrated.

Looking for more rogue / rogue action? Check out Scyth’s the full strategy guide, rogue / rogue 2v2 arena strategy!

Rogue / Rogue vs. Warlock / Priest 2v2 Arena Strategy

This combo can be a very tricky one, if you save your Cloak of LOLspellsdon’thitme, then you victory will be much more easily guaranteed(a good time to use it is when the lock is lighting you up with about 4-6 DoTs.)

Rogue 1

Immediately get on the priest CS=>Expose Armor, blind the lock(or wait for your partner to force the trinket with their blind) and down the priest. Sorry you can’t vanish sap a lock unless the pet’s down and the energy use isn’t worth it.

Rogue 2

Sap the lock and garrote the priest going into a kidney shot. Blind the lock(or again wait for your partner to force the trinket with theirs) and continue to down the priest.

Fast match, if you can avoid ridiculous chain fears and being eaten <50% by DoTs you’ve won.

Looking for more rogue / rogue action? Check out Scyth’s the full strategy guide, rogue / rogue 2v2 arena strategy!

Warlock Macro Guide

If you play a warlock then you know how difficult it can be to manage all of the abilities required of the class. Between nuking spells, DoTs, curses, debuffs, and multiple pets…well, it’s enough to drive anyone keybinding crazy. However, a few well placed macros can dramatically ease your pain.

Also, if you’re looking for focus macros make sure you check out my warlock focus macros guide.

Trinket + Shadow Bolt
/use Hex Shrunken Head
/cast Shadowbolt

Make sure you change “Hex Shrunken Head” to your current +damage trinket

DoT Rotation Macro
/castsequence reset=10 Immolate, Corruption, Curse of Agony, Siphon Life

Warlock Buff Macros
/target <self>
/castsequence Fel Armor, Soul Link, Detect Invisibility, Unending Breath

/castsequence Detect Invisibility, Unending Breath

First macro is just for your self buffs, and the second is for buffing your party / raid members.

Amplified Curse + Curse Macro
/cast Amplify Curse
/stopcasting
/cast Curse of Agony

You could also create one for CoE, simply change the last cast line, or try this trinketed version below.

Trinket + Amplified Curse + Curse Macro
/use Hex Shrunken Head
/cast Amplify Curse
/stopcasting
/cast Curse of Agony

Devour Magic Macros
/cast [target=mouseover,exists] Devour Magic; Devour Magic

The above macro will devour magic on your mouse over target if you have one, otherwise it will devour magic on you. You might also choose to use this more specific macro.

/cast [modifier:shift, pet:Felhunter] Devour Magic; [pet:Felhunter, target=player] Devour Magic

This macro will devour magic on you when clicked or your target when shift clicked.

Spamable Drain Macros
/cast [nochanneling: Drain Life] Drain Life

/cast [nochanneling: Drain Mana] Drain Mana

Simple, yet effective macro. Allows you to spam your drain abilities without accidentally spamming them on and off.

Life / Mana Drain Macros
/cast [modifier:shift] Drain Mana; Drain Life

Pretty simple, casts drain mana with shift and drain life without shift. Nice way to consolidate action bar keys. Below I’ve listed several iterations you may find helpful.

/cast [modifier:shift] Drain Life(Rank 1); Drain Life

/cast [modifier:shift] Drain Mana(Rank 1); Drain Mana

This next one is a bit more complicated, but you may find it useful.

/cast [modifier:shift] Drain Mana; [mod:alt] Drain Soul; Drain Soul

Of course, as with any of these macros you can change the modifier key to what ever you prefer. You can choose between shift, alt, or control.

Instant Pet Summon
/cast Fel Domination
/stopcasting
/cast Summon [name of pet you want to summon](Summon)

An absolute must macro for all your PvP locks out there. Just insert your pet’s name in there and you’re good to go.

Totem Killing Macro
/petattack [target=Healing Stream Totem]
/petattack [target=Windfury Totem]
/petattack [target=Mana]
/petattack [target=Tremor Totem]
/petattack [target=Grounding Totem]

Priest / Rogue vs. Shadow Priest / Warlock 2v2 Arena Strategy

Yet again, not the most popular combo these days, but it still pops up every once and a while. The strategy here isn’t too complicated, open on the priest and just punish him. The only really important thing to remember here is to save your cloak for when your priest is really controlled.

Between all the fears, death coil, silence, and spell lock your priest is going to be hurting for casting time. You’ll want to try and save it to clear as many DoTs as you can and also keep yourself alive until your priest can cast again.

As the priest your best bet is going to be spamming instants every time you aren’t controlled. Prayer of mending, shield, renew are all important, all the while attempting to stay out of line of sight as much as possible to avoid other controlling spells.

Can’t get enough arena strategy? Check out the complete priest / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Mage / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

In my opinion this team much scarier than Warlock/Rogue. Sure the lock has chain fears, but when it comes down to the burst ability of mage/rogue you’re really under pressure to be smart about not being taken out of the game by CC. I’ve put here two strategies you may apply and it really comes down to what you’re comfortable with.

Strategy One
Rogue Arena Strategy
Be patient at the beginning of the match. Even if you see the mage don’t attack him set a focus target on him if you have a focus casting bar mod, as this will come in handy for evading sheeps. The second you see the other rogue open up on your shadow priest partner open up on him and lock him down with CS straight into a KS. Continue to stick to the rogue and bring him down. Chances are you can probably down him 1 on 1 as he’ll be so obsessed over killing your partner.
Priest Arena Strategy
Hit the mage with a few dots and keep your shield up as the rogue is going to try and bring you down. While your rogue is busy with the other rogue you can go ahead and try and nuke him, or you can try to solo the mage. If going 1 on 1 is out of the question atleast try to help interfere CC from him.

Strategy Two
Rogue Arena Strategy
Move fast on the mage, and sap the rogue if you happen to see him. Move fast because if you get sapped you just lowered your chances of winning to slim(if not just plain none.) Use a garrote opener on the mage as CS’ing if you don’t know by now will simply be a waste of energy. Zerg down the mage with everything you’ve got and try to save trinket for the blind as it turn a good game to a bad one VERY QUICKLY!
Priest Arena Strategy
Just like strategy number one the rogue is probably going for you, so just start dispel spamming and dealing damage whilst keeping yourself alive. Pressure is going to be on this match, so keep a cool head and try to create a blind/sap opening for your rogue.

Again apply what you feel comfortable with, and I hope this helps.

Need more strategies? Check out the full shadow priest / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

Strategy courtesy of S-Scythe

Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Warrior / Priest 2v2 Arena Strategy

This team actually isn’t too bad. Keep in mind that a warrior can still lock down a shadow priest well, but you guys can really be a handful for his partner.

Rogue Arena Strategy
Once you’ve determined your opponents go for a sap on the warrior. If the opposing priest is a Night elf you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding them. Open up on the priest and on your first 5 points use a Kidney shot. Another 5 points and you’ll probably want to Expose Armor as they have probably popped pain suppression(you may also pop Ar/BF at this time if you’re Ar/Prep.) Continue to lay out dps and Kidney shots, but also be wary of interrupting heals. If your KS is resisted don’t be afraid to continue to Expose Armor or even SnD(regardless of ShS’s yellow damage orientation).

Also if the warrior decides to lock you down simply use an Evasion + Ghostly Strike combo and run circles around the priest(literally just run). Once the priest is down shiv spam crippling poison on the warrior so you can give your partner some breathing room. Mainly shiv spam so that you can give your partner a higher chance to survive, chances are he’s low on mana and popped his shadowfiend already. Also as Shadowstep going toe to toe with a warrior isn’t a very appealing idea.

As opposed to sapping the warrior, sap the priest then open up on the warrior. Continue to lay out DPS and spam shiv to keep him off your partner. Once your partner forces the other priest to pop trinket hit him with a blind, bomb the warrior, vanish and sap and it’s good game from there.

Priest Arena Strategy
Your job is to also hop on the priest, but you will be put under pressure by the warrior. Basically hit the opposing priest with some dots, dispel spam, fear bombs(on the warrior too), and mass dispel the pain suppression if you can find some room to breathe. Most of the time the warrior will be trying to lock you down. Simply fear the warrior as you would any melee class, and you can all the trinket pop for a blind(but keep in mind it probably won’t last the full ten seconds due to the disorient immunity.) With dispel spam, mass dispel on pain suppression and your DoTs combined with your rogue’s damage the opposing priest’s health will be hurting. When you find the priest near death simply do a Focused casting Mind Blast + Shadow Word: Death combo to send him packing. During the shiv spam period(listed above) just kite and DoT as much as your mana allows you to.

That would be the usual way that me and my partner do it, but the alternative(and probably simpler sounding strategy) you could apply is the following(please keep in mind this strategy is going to be harder or maybe plain impossible to pull off with undead opponents):

Alright you too are going to want to lay out some moderate damage, but your main goal is to use fear and force the opposing priest to trinket. Once this happens it’s up to your rogue partner to pull off a blind/sap and you continue to both bomb on the warrior.

Need more strategies? Check out the full shadow priest / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

Strategy courtesy of S-Scythe

Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Priest / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

This match is a hard one, so don’t feel too bad losing to them. Luckily I play this combo, so I’ll start by breaking them down.

The opposing rogue will either be: Mutilate, Shadowstep or Deep Combat. In BG:Ruin, Shadowstep is definitely the most common of the three for this setup.
Now as for the priest they will 9/10 times be deep disc meaning they have pain suppression. If they don’t, then this match just became ridiculously easier. If your opponents are undead that just lowered your chances of winning by a very good amount…

Rogue Arena Strategy
Much like the warrior/priest fight you will be doing your best to lock down the priest via stuns and kicks. Before moving on the priest keep your eyes peeled for the opposing rogue and get the sap off. Chances are if he’s mutilate or combat he’s going to be a far distance away from his priest, so explore a good amount of turf. Once the other rogue is sapped proceed to open up on the priest. For this combo you’ll want to look out for a blind/sap combo on whichever target has their trinket on cool down. You must also be careful of them pulling a blind/sap combo on you. Also you can drive-by gouge the opposing rogue as needed, because no opponent even with their trinket up is going to pop it on that.

Priest Arena Strategy
Well if your rogue didn’t catch the opposing rogue you’re pretty much done(if he’s shadowstep maybe not). With Combat you have to be careful of Ar/BF you have to try and keep the guy busy so he doesn’t get a full duration to just bomb you. Mutilate you can’t give him too much time either especially with the Imp KS. It turns into a battle of outlasting the disc priest, but chances are you will lose this. Now if you did manage to catch the rogue first then hop on the priest with your rogue. Dispel spam, DoTs, fear bomb when the opposing rogue comes back. You will want to try and find a time for your partner to do a blind/sap, but if you can place a well timed silence the priest will be under pressure to perform.

Need more strategies? Check out the full shadow priest / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

Strategy courtesy of S-Scythe

Warlock Arena Talent Specs

Unlike most classes that are locked into a very small number of possible specs to be competitive in arena, warlocks have a wide variety of potential talent distributions. The choice you make will be dependant on your gear, play style, and team matrix.

6/44/11 Demonology / Felguard
The full demonology spec differs from many other warlock specs as it relies heavily on the pet for both survivability and damage output. Obviously the biggest bonus for specing so deep into demonology is going to be the felguard. So learning how to have constant control and management over your pet is going to be of utmost importance. If you aren’t comfortable in micro managing your pet in this manner I’d highly advise against the demonology felguard spec.

Most warlocks and high level arena players consider 6/44/11 to be one of the most linear and unviable arena specs available for warlock. Which is true to a degree, though it really depends on the player behind the warlock that will determine if it will truly be viable for your team. 6/44/11 in the right hands can be just as effective as more traditional specs, whether or not it’s right for you will come down to personal preference in your reliance on your pet.

43/7/11 Affliction / UA
Affliction is currently going to be one of the “squishiest” warlock specs for PvP. Without a traditional soul link build you will lose some of your survivability. However, by trading in soul link you receive unstable affliction and great DPS. The affliction spec can work in a wide variety of team combinations, though I feel it really shines in 5v5 when combined with a shadow priest.

Many 4 DPS teams now run double affliction lock, shadow priest, and two others, allowing them to take full advantage of the unstoppable power of DoTs and chain fears. As I mentioned above, the major downside to the spec is the lack of soul link. As with any talent tree the 41-point talent is going to be the biggest factor in choosing the spec over another. Beyond the fact that unstable affliction grants the warlocks DoTs, fears, and other debuffs a greater chance of not being dispelled due to the huge penalty that dispelling of UA causes, it also is infinitely easier to maintain damage on a target while crowd controlling / cursing multiple other targets. The affliction warlock is able to maintain control and also provide constant high damage, it’s easy to see why UA has become such a popular and dominant spec for arena and I can’t see it being nerfed any time soon.

24/37/0 Soul Link / Drain
Perhaps the most popular spec (and in my opinion imbalanced) among high rated arena warlocks, the SL / drain spec became a staple for many 2v2 and 3v3 warlocks in season one. At one point variations of the 24/37/0 made up 100% of the top ranked 2v2 warlock’s specs in the World, oddly enough 14 out of the top 20 2v2 teams at that time were warlocks.

When this spec was first becoming popular many warlocks viewed it as being weak, giving up too much DPS and utility for the ability to simply drain the entire game. However, all the critics were proved wrong, as the spec snowballed into one of the biggest “warlocks are overpowered” moments in World of Warcraft history.

Beyond all that, the spec is simply great. You’ve got three dots, soul link, the ability to drain, on top of all the regular crowd control and utility. This spec really shines in 2v2 with a druid or paladin healer, though it can work equally well in the right 3v3 settings as well. It typically relies on simply stacking your DoTs, aiding in crowd control and aiding your teammates by slowly life / mana draining the opposing team. The constant DoT / life drains allow you the ability to continually DPS for the entire duration of the battle. Unlike the full demo build, this hybrid utilizes the fel hunter, whose resists and utility are at least equal, if not greater than the uses of the fel guard. With practice and a quick hand, the fel hunters continually buff eating and counter spell will enable to you to effectively lock a healer out for long durations of time.
The specs I have listed above are what I consider to be the top three arena specs for warlock currently. Each will be unique in utility, play style, and effective uses depending on what bracket(s) of arena you play in. However, with practice, dedication, and the correct team matrix each has been shown to be incredibly effective for PvP.

On a side note, there may always be some slight variations in point distribution, my specs are simply guidelines and you may find you use a particular ability or skill more than another than I’ve chosen, so spec into that instead. I didn’t list the full destruction build simply because I don’t consider it to be viable for high level arena player, nor did I list any other strange specs like soul link / destruction. Could they work to an extent? Sure, however, the specs I’ve listed are the tried and true concoctions of the World’s greatest World of Warcraft players, and as they have served them so they will serve you as well.

Priest / Rogue vs. Druid / Warlock 2v2 Arena Strategy

The druid / warlock combo can be difficult, the amount of control the combo has is simply stupid. While you really aren’t going to eliminate the druid’s control the rogue can dramatically shut down the warlock if he plays it right.

That means really focusing on holding back energy so you never miss a kick, never miss a kidney shot, and do everything he can to not gear feared off the lock. The rogue is going to do a lot more damage than the warlock is if he can stay on his target.

The priest’s role here isn’t too difficult. Basically, do what you can to avoid getting controlled, IE line of sight kite as much as possible. Use prayer of mending to really punish the warlock for his DoTs.

The biggest bane for the priest is the fel hunter, as the fight drags on the priest will probably have to drink, so make sure the rogue is prepared to AR / BF down the pet on command. Killing pets can be an absolute must vs. particular teams. The best way to pull this off is typically to pull the pet out of LoS then have the rogue chase it down and drop the bomb.

Above all just remember that the rogue needs to constantly be doing damage to something, be that the warlock, the warlock’s pet, or the druid.

Can’t get enough arena strategy? Check out the complete priest / rogue 2v2 arena guide!

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