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!

Rogue / Druid 2v2 Arena Strategy

The druid / rogue combo is an excellent team matrix and has the potential to go to the highest ratings. At times it may seem weak, but with practice you’ll learn to master the mechanics of coordinated crowd control that this matrix requires.

As with any team, there are distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Rogue / Druid Advantages:
-Awesome crowd control via the druid
-You can go out of combat (OOC) at virtually any time if something goes wrong or you need mana.
-Dual stealth.
-Lots of control via the rogue’s stuns and interrupts
-Very strong cooldowns and the ability to kite quite well.
-Ability to play both very offensively and defensively (spec depending)

Rogue / Druid Disadvantages:
-The druid must rely heavily on the rogue to lock down opposing targets, thus allowing the druid to crowd control and heal effectively
-Very precise matrix, timing is key in this matrix (specifically with cyclone)

Druid Arena Talent Builds
Restoration
8/11/42 This is the baseline restoration build. It offers the most healing of any viable talent build for druids.
11/11/39 Similar to the build below, slightly less offensive allowing for additional points in healing centric talents.
13/11/37 A more offensive version of the restoration build. Drops points in some of the excessive healing talents for 20% range on balance spells, insect swarm, and improved moon fire.

Resto-kin
34/0/27 This talent spec is vastly different than the above 3 I have listed. I requires a very offensive approach on both the rogue and druids part. While you pickup some of the good restoration talents you don’t have the ability to survive long durations as easily with this talent specs. However, plays comfortable with quickly shifting from defensive to offensive roles (IE..spamming wrath during bomb periods once you’ve got some crowd control out) will find this build well suited to them.

Need more spec advice? Druid Arena Talent Specs

Rogue Arena Talent Builds
Mutilate
41/20/0
49/0/12 (Heavy Poisons)
Mutilate is a viable spec, but it requires a very distinct “finesse” play style. If you’re not experienced with mutilate already I would not suggest playing it until you’ve had a chance to thoroughly advance your abilities with it.

Combat
16/45/0 (my preference)
20/41/0 (Vile poisons version)
20/41/0 (Riposte + Vile poisons version)

Subtlety
20/0/41

These are just a few of the potential specs you could choose to go with under the combat category. There are an infinite number of possible talent specs, you’re personal play style will determine which talents suit you better.

Need more spec advice? Rogue Arena Talent Specs

Rogue / Druid Arena Matchups:

• Warrior / Druid
• more coming soon!

Additional Resources:
Rogue Macro Guide
Rogue Focus Macros

Rogue / Druid PvP Arena Videos
Moonkin / Rogue 2v2 Video - Buddhist and Lewt

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!