This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
10.2.7
PTR
10.2.6
Beta
A Basic Guide to Warrior PvP (2.0)
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
Malekith
Malekith’s Guide to PvP v1 (TBC)
Class List/Order
i) Rogue
ii) Mage
iii) Warrior
iv) Warlock
v) Priest
vi) Druid
vii) Shaman
viii) Hunter
ix) Paladin
i) Rogue
Subtlety
Subtlety rogues are the most common form of rogue you will meet in PvP at the moment. Using either daggers or maces/swords/fists, the subtlety rogue can be a deadly foe for the warrior. Using a combination of evasion, shadowstep, blind, and a range of stuns, the subtlety rogue is often hard to beat if played by an experienced player.
As an arms warrior, you should have improved overpower. Because of this, you should try to stay in Battle Stance if playing offensively. It can be argued that playing defensively against a rogue is better than playing offensively. I'll try to outline the differences of both.
Playing defensively, you throw on a sword and shield, and tank the rogue down basically. Stay in Battle Stance, because your main ability will be overpower at this point. Use overpower whenever you can. Rogues tend to have a very high dodge chance, even without evasion, due to the amount of agility spread out over their gear. Be careful here. The idea of playing defensively is to outlast the rogue. Disarm can help, but is often dodged in my experience. Save your trinket for kidney shot, or blind (and if the rogue starts bandaging). Hopefully you will have second wind, which is extremely useful for surviving those stuns. Other than that, just play normally.
If you play offensively, you need to be confident in your damage. A rogue can dish out a lot of damage whilst you are stunned/unable to do anything. I would say that if you don't have enough crit chance, try to stick a rend on the rogue. Again, stay in Battle Stance for the most part of the fight. Overpower whenever possible, and disarm where you can. A common trick is for the rogue to use blind and then start bandaging. If you have your trinket up and your bleed has ticked off, use it, every bit of HP counts against a decent rogue. Try to keep hamstring up. Bandage if the rogue vanishes and runs away.
Lastly, watch out for Cheat Death. Any smart subtlety rogue will have cheat death. Against a subtlety rogue, try to avoid using execute. If cheat death absorbs the execute, you are left without rage to deal the last blow. Until cheat death has come up, try not to use execute. When it has gone off and after waiting 3 seconds, feel free to use it. Remember that against all rogues Berserker Rage can break Gouge or Sap, so if you know a rogue's coming to sap you, it may be a good idea to sit in 'zerker stance.
Assassination/Mutilate
Assassination rogues are based around getting combo points quickly, and finishing you off through using Mutilate. Beware of the range of poisons a rogue uses. Like against a subtlety rogue, save your trinket for either kidney shot or blind.
Try to keep bleeds up, and try to keep your front towards the foe. Mutilate, like backstab, needs to be used from behind the enemy to be used. Do your best to avoid being hit by it, whilst using overpower and your other useful abilities (MS, disarm, whirlwind). If all goes haywire, try playing defensively (read above).
Combat
Combat is arguably the least useful rogue spec in PvP. There are some useful abilities, but most serious PvPers will go either subtlety or assassination. If the rogue is using swords/maces/fists, my advice would be to try and tank them down. Again, read above. Keep your bleeds up, try to keep hamstring applied. Hopefully, your second wind will keep you up long enough for you to take chunks off the rogue's HP.
If the rogue is specced for daggers, try to keep your back turned away from the foe. Backstab is a dagger rogue's main ability, so try to avoid being hit by it. It hurts. Watch out for Adrenaline Rush (5 minute cooldown, 15 seconds of 100% extra energy regeneration rate).
ii) Mage
Frost
A frost mage is considered one of the hardest fights for a warrior in PvP as arms (I assume you're arms). The mage has many tricks up its sleeve. Despite having a small amount of HP and armor, they have many spells and abilities useable to help them survive. These include Ice Barrier (absorbs a certain amount of damage), Ice Block, Frost Nova, Blink, Freeze (via Water Elemental) and the elemental itself.
Generally, a smart mage will never blink after you charge in. Most will wait out the 1 second stun, then use frost nova (rooting you in place), and either run away and cast a frostbolt, or sheep you and then cast. The most effective way to deal with this is to charge in, and use your PvP trinket to escape the snare. However, be careful because some mages also use polymorph just in case you use your trinket, which will let you out for a second or so before you become CC'd once more.
If all goes to plan, the mage will then blink away, which you should intercept. This gives you an important 5 seconds in melee. If the mage has its Water Elemental cooldown up, it will then most probably use it, and get it to use freeze, making you rooted once more. The best thing to do here is to try to use your Intimidating Shout. Once you've done this, try not to hit the mage, because the fear will break instantly. Let the freeze run down a little first. Often, once the mage has used all of these tricks, you gain the upper hand. Mages hate being within melee range. They are ridiculously vulnerable without any of the above spells ready for use.
Now, if you can't get the mage down in time, be prepared to play defensively. The mage will likely use Ice Block, which leaves you pretty damn stumped. Best thing to do is to take down the elemental if it is close, which is important for Spell Reflecting later on. With cooldowns back up, the mage will probably frost nova, rooting you in place once more, and begin casting a frostbolt. Here is where you hit your spell reflect macro. Try to time it so that the mage thinks you aren't going to use it. If all goes well, you will reflect a hefty 3000 or so damage, with the mage's shatter combo being used against him/her. If you took the elemental down, you shouldn't have any problems, but often the elemental's waterbolt uses up your spell reflect.
At this point, the mage should be a little worn down. His/her HP should have lowered a fair amount, and his/her mana should be dropping as well. By now, your intercept should be up again, so be prepared to intercept the mage where possible.
Any smart frost mage should be able to beat a warrior fairly easily. That's just the way it is, and unless you get lucky with critical hits, you shouldn't expect to win most fights between yourself and a frost mage.
Fire
You don't come across many fire mages in PvP, because it is classed as more of a PvE spec. This is due to the lack of survivability, namely Ice Barrier and the Frost Elemental.
Most fire mages you encounter will nova you, then sheep you, and try to cast either a fireball or a pyroblast (the damage-obsessed maniacs that they are). Your best bet is to trinket out of the polymorph and intercept them, interrupting their spell cast. If they blink away, pray you have enough rage to use spell reflect. A fire mage's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness against a warrior. They deal a lot of damage given the chance.
Fire mages are a very offensive type of mage to face.
Post by
Malekith
Their abilities include Blastwave and Dragon's Breath, as well as Combustion. Dragon's Breath (2-second disorient in a cone in front of the mage) acts as a temporary CC which can swing the fight around. The best bit of advice for facing a fire mage is to play it safe. Try to spell reflect when you can, and take advantage of their lack of defense - hit them hard when you can. Mana Shield can be a bit nasty but it wears the mage's mana down. If you can outlast the mage then you should be successful, otherwise just play it safe and reflect what you can. Remember to watch out for Ice Block, as any mage can now use it.
Arcane
Also considered more of a PvE spec, the main things you need to look out for are Slow and Presence of Mind with an Arcane Power kicker. Arcane mages, often referred to as '3-minute mages' are exactly what the name suggests. Every 3 minutes, they can deal an absurd amount of damage over a short period of time. If you can, try to reflect the PoM, because the mage will then receive a sweet helping of at least 2.5k damage. If it crits, be prepared to laugh.
With an arcane mage, be prepared to reflect whenever you feel a big spell incoming, such as Arcane Blast. Arcane mages run out of mana very quickly. Try to burn them down when possible, but again, play it safe. Playing too defensively can encourage the mage to play riskily. Pray on any wrong moves the mage makes. Trinket out of frost nova or polymorph, and interrupt any spells that you can do, as well as reflecting whenever you see fit.
iii) Warrior (courtesy of Chronatus)
Any spec
Against other warriors, the best you can do is just try to outplay them. Make sure to put demo shout on them, and thunderclap. Try to disarm them if your getting low on health. Keep hamstring on them so they can't run out and intercept you. If they for some reason don't hamstring you, or you can get into intercept range, just remember that if they're Arms, they've likely got second wind, and stunning them will be like giving them free rage and heals. Also, if your low on health, you can try to fear them and bandage, but just be careful of any DoTs on them, as that'll break the fear.
iv) Warlock
Affliction
Affliction is the warlock talent tree that focuses around applying lots of DoTs, which wear you down whilst they drain back the HP that you take from them. Against any affliction warlock, the fight is basically a damage race. You need to throw out more damage than the warlock can take (obviously). Warlocks, although cloth, have quite high survivability because their gear (correct me if I'm wrong) has a lot of resilience spread out over it, making them less prone to critical strikes, and reducing the damage they do.
Against any warlock, your main priority is to avoid being feared. This means mainly staying in Berserker Stance so that you can hit Berserker Rage when you see it casting.
Spells to watch out for include Death Coil (also known as lolcoil or skillcoil), Siphon Life, Drain Life, and the range of other DoTs. With equal gear, most warriors would win in a bout with a warlock. Berserker Rage completely counters Fear, which is a deadly ability if you get caught in it. Do your best to pummel/interrupt either Fear, Unstable Affliction or Drain Life. Also, if you want, you could try using Spell Reflection to knock back one of their DoTs. With affliction, the demon doesn't really count for much against a warrior. Being a class that doesn't cast spells, the usual pet (felhunter) only dispells a couple of our buffs and deals melee damage.
Be prepared to die after the warlock dies, as the DoTs last through death.
SL/SL (Siphon Life/Soul Link)
SL/SL is a very common spec to see in PvP at the moment. It combines the same gameplay as affliction with that little bit of extra survival from demonology (namely Soul Link, 15% of damage taken by the warlock is taken by the pet instead). Another trick that the warlock might use is sacrificing a Voidwalker, giving them a 2000 or so damage shield that you need to penetrate before you can deal any real damage. Like I said, it is practically the same gameplay as the affliction warlock, so do your best to interrupt, avoid fears, and reflect important spells.
Demonology/Felguard
Not so common in arena these days, the demonology talent spec focuses on buffing the warlock's demon, as well as himself (through the summoned demon). There are arguably many different ways to approach the demonology warlock, but in my experience the best way to deal with them is to just focus on the warlock. Use your fear, if you can, to force the felguard away. Be careful though, because if the warlock doesn't die within the time the felguard is feared for, you'll be intercepted, with the same mechanics as our intercept, without the shackles of minimum range.
You shouldn't have too much trouble facing the demonology warlock, just try to avoid being feared (as usual) and keep the felguard off your back. You could even try to disarm the felguard, reducing the damage you take from that. Keep the warlock hamstrung, and burn it down, without giving it the chance to cast a shadowbolt.
Destruction
Destruction is nowadays considered more of a PvE spec. In PvP, it is hard for a warlock to cast spell with a cast-time without being interrupted.
Watch out for seduce (via Succubus), shadowfury, fear (again), and shadowbolt/soul fire. Generally, the destruction warlock has relatively the same gameplay as the fire mage. Being more of a PvE spec, their chance to win relies upon their spells hitting hard when they do, and 'trying' to keep you CC'd. Often, the warlock will try to seduce you, cast curse of elements (~10% increase in damage taken by fire, shadow, frost, arcane spells), and begin casting either Soul Fire (given the time) or shadowbolt. Your best bet is to trinket out of the seduce, either fear the Succubus, kill it, or just intercept the warlock straight away.
It can be argued that it is more effective to reflect the warlock's soul fire/shadowbolt, which might throw the warlock off-guard.
Anyway, be sure to incapacitate the succubus in some way, before turning to the warlock. Avoid being feared, interrupt whatever spell you can, as destruction warlocks have a general routine and it can throw them off balance. It shouldn't be too hard to take the warlock down when you're in melee range, because, like fire mages, they are very vulnerable up close.
v) Priest
Discipline
Discipline is one of the most common form of priest you will find in PvP. With a combination of Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, Reflective Shield and Shadow Word: Pain, the discipline priest can be a tough cookie for the warrior to bring down. Reflective Shield converts 50% of damage done to a Power Word: Shield into damage done to you instead. Although this will likely only last a couple of swings, taking damage from that as well as SW:P can leave you eating dust before you've even made a real dent in the priest's HP if not done correctly.
The main thing about fighting a discipline priest, or indeed any kind of priest, is that you can find yourself rage-starved quite easily. PWS stops you from generating rage from white swings, so when you see the shield up, try to burst through it with instant attacks, such as Mortal Strike or Whirlwind.
Post by
Malekith
The smart priest will use it whenever they can, which leaves you a little stumped. The best thing you can do is, as I said, try to burst through the shield with instants, leaving the priest vulnerable to attacks, and allowing you to generate enough rage.
Keep hamstring up if you can, and it might be an idea to stay in Berserker Stance to avoid being feared. The discipline priest play-style is to just survive for as long as they can whilst their DoT ticks you down. Pain Suppression can complicate things when they use it, as it reduces the rage you generate and gives the priest a chance to heal up without getting too close to dying. It might be an idea to run away when they use PS and bandage up a little if SW:P isn't applied to you.
If you're unlucky with crits, the discipline priest can be a very tough fight for a warrior.
Holy
The Holy priest is one of the most powerful healing classes in the game if played correctly. However, in PvP, they miss out on things like Reflective Shield and Pain Suppression, leaving them a little more vulnerable. Like the discipline priest, try to burst through the PW:S as soon as possible with your instants, allowing you to generate rage through white swings. Again, like a discipline priest, the holy priest's task is to survive long enough for either help to come or for their DoTs to tick you down.
Try to force the priest to play more defensively. If you deal enough damage priests often forget to re-apply SW:P which gives you a little extra time to take it down. If you get lucky with crits, the fight will be short and sweet. However, resilience complicates things. Again, try to interrupt any heals being cast. You can run out and intercept in again to stop heals, as well as use your fear whilst you wait for pummel to come off cooldown.
Shadow
Do not underestimate the shadow priest. They can tear you down with ease if not taken carefully. The key thing here is to interrupt or reflect. Mind Blast and Mind Flay are the shadow priests' main source of damage. Interrupt the Mind Blast if possible, and watch as they run round like headless chickens for 4 seconds. Use the usual tricks for interrupting, such as running out and intercepting back in, or using your fear. If you deal enough damage, the priest is forced to play defensively - such as changing out of shadowform and attempting to heal. Be sure to keep Mortal Strike applied, as if they get a renew or a flash heal off, you'll regret it. Once they start to play defensively, generally you'll win the fight. By trying to heal, they stop dealing damage, and they, being cloth without many defenses, suffer the consequences.
vi) Druid
Balance
The balance druid, or moonkin/boomkin druid, can be an extremely frustrating class to face, just as any druid is. With a combination of roots, cyclone, and a thick coat of armor, the moonkin can be a tough opponent. However, they are fairly easy to beat if you use the right tactic. Spell Reflect can be a gem. If the druid roots you and begins casting a Starfire, use your spell reflect macro to send it right back at them. The druid will then probably start running around and spamming moonfire for a bit, as you've disrupted their general routine.
When you're in melee with them, interrupt whatever spell you can, and trinket out of cyclone when the druid uses it. When you're rooted you can still use spell reflect, but when you're cycloned you're unable to do anything, and a lot of druids time their starfires so that they hit just after you are released. Like I said earlier, trinket out of this if possible and either intercept to interrupt them or use your spell reflect macro.
Moonkins do indeed have a thick coat of armor which is annoying, them being casters, but when you're in melee range all they'll do is spam moonfire. When you're next to them, keep them hamstrung, and deal as much damage as possible.
Feral
Druids of the feral tree are often very tough to beat. A lot of druids can take a warrior by just staying in bear form and tanking you down, just like a protection warrior. If this is the case, try to stay in Battle Stance and use overpower when possible, as druids have a high dodge chance in bear form. The high amount of armor they have is horrible, and combined with resilience, makes it impossible to do any real damage to a druid in bear form, unless you crit with every attack. Even if you get them down to low HP, they'll start using Frenzied Regeneration, turning their rage into HP. Make sure you keep MS applied to counter this.
If the druid stays in cat form, you'll have arguably more of a chance to win. They have much less armor, and when they dodge be sure to throw and overpower their way. This aside, they also have a fair amount of damage. If you know a druid is going to attack you from stealth, throw on your sword and shield and go into defensive stance. This can save you a lot of HP for later on in the fight.
Often when you get the druid to low enough HP in cat form, it'll change out and either go into bear form, or go into their tauren/nightelf forms and use HoTs to heal themselves up. For this reason, keep MS applied as standard, and when the druid is in its normal form, take advantage of the temporary lack of armor and try to burst them down before they can heal up enough. If they cyclone you, trinket out and chase them down once more.
Restoration
Most restoration druids you encounter won't have tree form, and will run around in either bear form or cat form until they get below half HP, when they'll come out and likely use Lifebloom/Rejuvenation. Restoration druids are less effective in bear form than feral druids are, so don't expect to take any real amount of damage from them.
Other restoration druids play it caster-style. They can run around in their normal form and give it the whole cyclone/roots and starfire or moonfire spam. Reflect what you can, and likewise interrupt what you can. Trinket out of cyclones, or even roots if the druid is on low-ish HP. Take advantage of the low amount of armor and try to burn them down quickly. Druids have high spirit and, hence, good mana regen. It is practically impossible to force them to use all their mana before you are dead yourself. Deal as much damage as you can, keep MS applied, and interrupt what you can.
vii) Shaman
Elemental
Elemental is the spell casting damage-dealing type of shaman. Usually wielding a 1h and shield, and wearing mail armor, you'll often find yourself hitting for rather small amounts against them. However, don't fret, there are many ways to beat an elemental shaman.
If you have the rage and time spare, slap on a couple of sunder armors, just to amplify the damage of your next load of swings. Elemental shamans combine their shocks with Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt to unload a vicious amount of damage in a small space of time. Shamans have no real way of escaping you when you're in melee range. Keep them hamstrung, and make sure that if they use their trinket you put another one on as soon as possible. Its easy to stay within melee range of a shaman, so be sure to interrupt whenever you can. Spell Reflection is also very useful here, as you are using the elemental shaman's main strength against it.
For the time being, totems are still easily taken out.
Post by
Malekith
Hamstring, costing 7 rage with the PvP gauntlets, destroys the totems by itself. If you see anything that might hinder you, be sure to take it down asap. Note here that you should be careful not to use up a white swing on a totem whenever possible.
When the shaman gets low on HP it'll likely start casting a heal. If your pummel is on cooldown, remember to either use your fear, or run out and intercept back in again. Every hit point is crucial here.
Enhancement
Often misspelled as enchantment, the enhancement tree is based around melee damage and shocks. Firstly, you should prioritize taking down a windfury totem, if the shaman puts one down, because an (un)lucky proc at the wrong time can leave you tasting dirt. I can't lie here, enhancement shamans can do a massive amount of damage given half a chance. This is why one of your priorities is also to disarm the shaman when necessary. Disarmed, the shaman is pretty much redundant for 10 seconds. The smart shaman will try to heal up, but you can interrupt that with no issues.
Remember, you could also try to reflect any form of shock back at the shaman if it doesn't ruin your rotation or anything. Again, sunder armor is also useful if you get the chance.
Restoration
Just like any healer in PvP, the idea of the restoration shaman is to stay alive for as long as you can whilst your totems/shocks take your opponent down. A common totem to find when facing a resto shaman is the Searing Totem. That is one of the main sources of damage you'll take throughout the fight, alongside (probably) flameshock and (possibly) lightning bolt. As most of the damage comes from totems, be sure to take the damaging ones down if you see them. Especially Fire Nova Totem. When the shaman puts one down, you have 5 seconds to hit it before it explodes, dealing about 1000 to you. Every bit of HP counts for you in this fight.
Keep the pressure on the shaman. If you deal enough damage the shaman should start trying to chain-cast Lesser Healing Wave, after its used its instant heal. This is where Mortal Strike is important. Keep it applied to reduce any heals you might miss. Do the usual tricks such as running out and intercepting back in, or using your fear. Hopefully, when you get the shaman on the defensive, you should be able to bring it down. Remember that when chain-casting heals the shaman cannot replace totems at the same time. Try not to use execute as soon as the shaman gets below 20%, because it is likely that one execute will not take 20% of the shaman's HP, unless it crits. Be careful with your rage, make sure you have enough for interrupts at all times.
viii) Hunter
Beastmastery
Against any hunter, if available, use Line of Sight to your advantage as much as possible. Hunters need LoS to do anything, just like other classes, so if there's a wall or a corner you can turn around, do it, especially if the hunter has used TBW. If you can do this, try to take the pet out if you get the chance, as that minimizes the hunter's overall damage. Use Intervene to your advantage as well. If there is an ally next to your target, target it and intervene to gain a few yards on your opponent.
Beastmastery is one of the most common types of hunter you'll encounter in PvP at the moment. Their main abilities include The Beast Within, Bestial Wrath, and Intimidation (via the hunter's pet). Watch out for Freezing Traps, and also Frost Traps, both of which can be devastating against the warrior.
The Beast Within is a 3-minute cooldown, which makes the hunter immune to slows, stuns, fears, roots, snares, incapacitates, and pretty much every form of CC there is out there. As a warrior, this is painful, as we are prone to these things.
When you commence the fight, you should instantly use either hamstring or piercing howl. This is important, because a hunter's main source of damage comes from being at range. If the hunter is within melee range of you the whole time, the only source of damage you take comes from the hunter's pet, and from the hunter's melee weapon. Neither of which should make much of a dent in your HP. So, the main priority is to stay close to the hunter, and not to give it a chance to get at range. This can be difficult, because abilities like The Beast Within and Intimidation do just that. Generally, if you get hit by Intimidation (this comes from the pet), you will be stunned for 3 seconds. Usually, waiting this stun out is the best thing to do, because you can just intercept the hunter again and continue as before. Be careful of Wing Clip, which does the same as Hamstring. If the hunter puts talents in it, there is a chance that you will be rooted for a certain amount of time. Again, try to wait this out and intercept in.
If the hunter puts a freezing trap down, it is usually a good idea to trinket out of it. The hunter would otherwise gain range on you, and make it difficult for you to get back within melee range.
Perhaps the most horrible trap is the frost aura trap. This is a 60% slow, more than your hamstring can do, and the hunter can fairly easily kite you around inside it. If the hunter puts talents in the right place, there is also a chance that you will be rooted for 3 or so seconds. Best thing to do if you don't have a chance to get back in melee range is to throw on a sword and shield, and go defensive stance, spamming shield block whenever possible.
If the hunter uses TBW (The Beast Within), use Disarm as soon as possible. This disables the hunter's ability to use Wing Clip for 10 seconds, which can be crucial. Although you cannot slow them with hamstring, you can still stay close. Do your best to stay in melee range until TBW wears off.
Marksmanship
Generally considered to be more of a PvE spec, you still find a fair amount of Marksmanship hunters when doing PvP. To beat them, the strategy is pretty much the same as the Beastmastery section above. Marksmanship hunters don't have Intimidation or TBW, but they gain Aimed Shot, Trustshot Aura and Scatter Shot. Often you'll find yourself trapped and the hunter begins casting an Aimed Shot. It is usually best here to trinket out and intercept as soon as possible, as Aimed Shot is the biggest damage-dealing shot a hunter can do.
Scatter Shot just acts as another way for the hunter to escape melee range. Keep hamstring applied constantly, and be sure to get back into melee range as soon as possible.
Survival
Like Marksmanship, Survival does not have the advantage of Intimidate or TBW. This aside, they gain Deterrence, Counterattack and Wyvern Sting, as well as Readiness. Deterrence increases the hunter's dodge and parry chance by 25% each. Effectively this acts as a mini-evasion for hunters. Counterattack is an instant attack with a 5-second cooldown that becomes active after the hunter parries. Counterattack roots you in place for 5 seconds. This lets the hunter out of melee range. Wyvern Sting puts you to sleep for 12 seconds, which acts like a freezing trap in essence. Any damage taken will cancel the effect. This is where taunt comes in handy. If you feel a trap or wyvern sting coming, try using either taunt or challenging shout on the hunter's pet. The pet will be forced to attack you for minimum 3 seconds, which should be enough time for it to break the trap/sleep. Note that this can also be done with any freezing trap, not just a survival hunter's trap.
Post by
Malekith
ix) Paladin
Holy
The holy paladin is, as the name suggests, a healing class. Wearing plate armor and a shield, the holy paladin is often a tough cookie to crack, as they can wear you down with consecretion, seal of righteousness/judgement of righteousness, and holy shock. Just like with a druid, your first priority should be to sunder the paladin's armor as much as possible, if your rage permits. This allows you to make a hefty dent in the paladin's HP, forcing it to either bubble or begin spamming heals. Hammer of Justice is a 6-second stun, which gives the paladin a chance to heal up without using its precious bubble. (Don't forget that Hammer of Justice can be reflected as well, so if you feel it coming, give it a shot). The best option here is to trinket out. Don't forget that your second wind will have been triggered from this as well, so you'll be generating rage and regenerating HP.
Usually, when you get the paladin to around 20% HP it'll bubble. Do the usual here - bandage up (note; make sure you don't stand in the consecretion). Then, either run away to get ready to charge, or stay in melee range to beat upon the paladin once more. Remember that your sunder armor will have been removed by the bubble, so if you feel you have the time, re-apply it.
Forbearance lasts for 1 minute, so try to have the paladin down within that time, else it'll be able to use Blessing of Protection.
Protection
Generally, you won't encounter many Protection paladins in PvP, just as you rarely see protection warriors. If you outgear the paladin you'll be able to take it down fairly easily. However, if the paladin has a decent standard of gear, it'll be a tough fight for you. Although being unable to do much damage to a single target, it'll be able to wear you down fairly easily. Your best bet is to just act as though you are facing a high-armored NPC. Use sunder armor to get a bit of it out of the way, and interrupt heals if you see them coming. The same applies with Hammer of Justice, so reflect that if you can. Like any other type of paladin, the protection paladin also has the ability to bubble - you should again try to bandage up, and prepare yourself for another little bout.
Retribution
Retribution is the main damage-dealing paladin specialization. Practically warriors that can heal and bubble, the retribution paladin has a lot of armor, and can deal a fair amount of damage with a combination of seals, judgements and melee swings. Watch out for crusader strike, though there is nothing you can do to avoid it, other than disarm.
Just like with an enhancement shaman, use disarm when you can, as this removes the paladin's main source of damage. Try to stay in berserker stance, because retribution paladins also have an ability called Repentance. This is a 6-second incapacitation, and can be removed with Berserker Rage. It is important that you do this, otherwise you'll take extra damage from Judgement of Command.
If you get the paladin down enough, it'll bubble. As usual, make sure you bandage up whilst it heals itself. Be prepared to fight again. It is likely that the paladin will be nearing empty mana at this point, so you could try to kite it around a bit, or just go in all guns blazing and finish it off quickly. It is a tough fight, no question.
Post by
Arideni
I wasn't able to read over majority of it due to time constraints, but this does indeed look to be a fairly complete guide to the various classes & builds.
While we need more of the community to step up & review the material as well, I will go ahead & offer some creative criticism.
First off, I recommend using
bold
or
underline
to help break up the different sections. Furthermore, I also recommend creating around 5 more posts to "reserve" space for when the expansion comes & things may or may not change, etc. Also, formatting takes up character space so you may need to add a post to allow for that.
Second, I recommend using additional posts or a numbering system similar to what you already have (embolden or make the numbers stand out so that users may use the search the page for specific classes or tactics).
I think the content part is great, now we need to make it more accessible to read because it really is a large document.
Overall, great work so far - an excellent, and most needed, contribution!
Post by
Malekith
Reformatted slightly. A couple of things moved/removed. Hopefully an easier read on the whole.
Post by
GenXCub
Here are some questions and corrections.
Warlocks are hard to kill, not solely because of resilience, but because they gear themselves to be Stamina-heavy. It's not uncommon to see a SL/SL lock with 16k life. This is because warlocks can convert life into mana, so might as well go high HP.
In the enhancement shaman section, you mention to destroy the Windfury Totem... The shaman gets ZERO benefit from the windfury totem. Only destroy it if you're in a 5v5 situation with a shaman + rogue/warriors. If a shaman is going toe to toe with a warrior, WF totem is not what they'll be dropping. It will be Earthbind, and they'll kite you around with instant ghost wolf.
Rogues, at least give a mention that Berserker Rage will get you out of Sap and Gouge.
In the Fire mage section you list the spell "Blast nova" and it's Blastwave.
Post by
mgman640
This should be stickied, as it is a pretty good guide (was able to read most of it).
Sticky please!
Post by
Malekith
Here are some questions and corrections.
Warlocks are hard to kill, not solely because of resilience, but because they gear themselves to be Stamina-heavy. It's not uncommon to see a SL/SL lock with 16k life. This is because warlocks can convert life into mana, so might as well go high HP.
In the enhancement shaman section, you mention to destroy the Windfury Totem... The shaman gets ZERO benefit from the windfury totem. Only destroy it if you're in a 5v5 situation with a shaman + rogue/warriors. If a shaman is going toe to toe with a warrior, WF totem is not what they'll be dropping. It will be Earthbind, and they'll kite you around with instant ghost wolf.
Rogues, at least give a mention that Berserker Rage will get you out of Sap and Gouge.
In the Fire mage section you list the spell "Blast nova" and it's Blastwave.
Appreciate the advice and corrections. Thanks. Working on it now.
Post by
99345
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
140351
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
133226
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
18907
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Malekith
Thanks for all the contributions so far. This is how it was intended to be; a joint effort. So keep up with your advice and everything, and I'll try and get it all down as soon as I get an hour or so spare.
Thanks for the support so far!
Post by
119023
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
95311
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
119023
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
silverd
Nice to see that you got this done Malekith :) Awesome job, and I agree, this is definitely gonna be a community effort to complete.
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents, for those cases where your target has a shield spell up like on mages and priests, while Hamstring would be absorbed and won't slow them down in that case, Piercing Howl will still affect them which can provide crucial seconds with which you can break through that barrier.
Post by
Malekith
Just thought I'd note that i still haven't had a chance to edit anything just yet. Busy shifts and stuff. If anyone wants the base document I'd be happy to send it to someone via email to finish off. (Send me a PM or something). Otherwise I'll have it edited again within the next few days.
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.