Getting into Legion PvP

By sipollo Updated: 2018/07/30

Getting into Legion PvPWhat is PvP and why do it?Warsong Gulchlovely appearancesmountsWhat to play

Death Knight
Blood
Frost
Unholy

Mage
Arcane
Frost
Fire

Rogue
Assassination
Outlaw
Subtlety

Demon Hunter
Havoc
Vengeance

Monk
Brewmaster
Windwalker
Mistweaver

Shaman
Elemental
Enhancement
Restoration

Druid
Balance
Feral
Guardian
Restoration

Paladin
Holy
Retribution
Protection

Warlock
Affliction
Demonology
Destruction

Hunter
Beast Mastery
Marksmanship
Survival

Priest
Discipline
Holy
Shadow

Warrior
Arms
Fury
Protection

You'll need to use survival abilities far more often - learn the ones for your class!

In PvE you get bosses who'll interrupt you, but it is often telegraphed - eg Unnerving Howl which has a 1.5s cast time. This is never the case in PvP - you should assume that any cast you make could be interrupted

You are going to die. A lot

If you are a healer in PvP you'll probably find that you're going to be singled out of the opposing side thanks to the impact you'll have on the fight

Gearing for PvPPvP template systemfar

In the world

In a battleground

Health

4,359,060

Health

5,481,600

Strength

27,937

Strength

22,935

Armor

6948

Armor

8,189

Crit strike

17%

Crit strike

23%

Haste

16%

Haste

19%

Mastery

32%

Mastery

19%

Versatility

10%

Versatility

Leech

Dodge

19%

Parry

24%

Parry

19%

Tthe above values were correct at time of writing and have now changed as subsequent PvP seasons have increased the ilvl the template uses - the illustration the numbers above show hold true however

The only real benefit better gear for instanced PvP is for each ilvl above 800 you'll have 0.1% added to the stat template. Thus an average ilvl of 910 will give you an 11% increase to the stats. This is done by the buff Principles of War; the example to the right is when I went into a battleground with an ilvl of 917. There the 11.7% increase is rounded down to 11%

Whilst this boost means there is a reason to improve your gear, it means that players who are very well geared will not be the gods of destruction they were in previous expansions when compared to a fresh character who just reached the level cap.

PvE set bonuses are disabled - PvP gear doesn't have set bonuses any more

Legendaries are disabled

Trinket procs are disabled - even those obtained through PvP!

Ablities may change how much damage they do compared to PvE

Obliterating PvP gearEchoes of BattleMarshal FrazerViolet Shadowmend

Gladiator gear obliterates for

Combatant gear obliterates for

User interfacewill

Capping Battleground Timers
A good replacement for DBM's now discontinued PvP module, this provides timer bars for battle grounds

Dont Cast
Players have a lot of defensive abilities; this addon warns you when you shouldn't cast or attack a player. eg a Paladin has Divine Shield on them, or a Warlock has Nether Ward up

H-H-T-D
aka "Healers Have To Die". This addon clearly marks players who are doing a lot of healing so you can focus them down

Talent Set Manager
I have very different talents depending on if I'm raiding or doing PvP. Having an addon like this to manage different talent builds makes life a lot easier

Weak Auras
This addon allows you to build custom alerts for events in the game - eg an ability has become usable.

Artifact powerConcordance of the LegionfallAcquiring and Spending Artifact Power

Source

AK 0

AK 55

Every other honor level

Glory of the Melee

PvP World quests

Soldier's Splendor

1st battleground win of the day

Soldier's Esteem

Battleground wins after the first win of the day

Soldier's Grit

Sometimes rewarded with a battleground loss

Soldier's Exertion

Soldier's Worth

Glory of the MeleePvP talents and spells... if only I had for raiding!Honor talent calculator

Death Knight
Blood
Frost
Unholy

Mage
Arcane
Frost
Fire

Rogue
Assassination
Outlaw
Subtlety

Demon Hunter
Havoc
Vengeance

Monk
Brewmaster
Windwalker
Mistweaver

Shaman
Elemental
Enhancement
Restoration

Druid
Balance
Feral
Guardian
Restoration

Paladin
Holy
Protection
Retribution

Warlock
Affliction
Demonology
Destruction

Hunter
Beast Mastery
Marksmanship
Survival

Priest
Discipline
Holy
Shadow

Warrior
Arms
Fury
Protection

Honor and Prestigehonorhonor levelsprestigeetcHowever

Your prestige level is increased by one

You get any rewards associated with that prestige

Your honor level is reset to 1

Honor level

First prestige

Later prestiges

1-10

400

800

11-20

425

850

21-30

450

900

31-40

450

950

41-50

500

1,000

Total

22,000

44,000

Even numbered honor levels reward you with Glory of the Melee

Odd numbered honor levels reward you with 200g

Honor level 49 rewards 2,000g

The currently available prestige levels and their rewards are shown below; each prestige level has a unique character portrait.
This is a nice touch which also means you can tell at a glance how much PvP someone has done.

Prestige

Portrait

Reward ( / )

Alliance Enthusiast / Horde Fanatic

Renowned Blades

Honorable Pennant

Prestigious Bronze Courser

Title:

Crest of Heroism / Crest of Heroism

Dutiful Squire / Dutiful Gruntling

Prestigious Pennant

Prestigious Ivory Courser

Title:

Crest of Carnage / Crest of Carnage

Elite Pennant

Prestigious Azure Courser

Title:

Crest of Devastation / Crest of Devastation

Esteemed Pennant

Prestigious Forest Courser

Title:

Soldier's Legacy

30x Mark of Honor

Prestigious Royal Courser

Title:

Soldier's Legacy

30x Mark of Honor

Prestigious Midnight Courser

25
Honor 50

Title:

duni50posted in Vanion's blogCross-faction rewardsHorde FanaticDutiful GruntlingCaptain RobertsSarah the SavageHow long will it take?are

Activity

Honor per day

Time to..

Prestige

Complete a season

1x PvA WQ

500

~3 months

~year

3x Tower WQ

900

1½ months

6½ months

3x Tower WQ + 1x PvA WQ

1,400

~month

4¼ months

3x Tower WQ + 1x PvA WQ + first BG win

1,700

3 weeks

3½ months

3x Tower WQ + 3x PvA WQ

2,400

~2 ½ weeks

~2 ½ months

3x Tower WQ + 4x PvA WQ

2,900

~2 weeks

~2 months

3x Tower WQ + 4x PvA WQ + first BG win

3,200

2 weeks

1¾ months

World quests

Each day, three PvP tower world quests will be up, with one in Val'Sharah, Highmountain and Stormheim.

These are based around old Warden towers which the opposing faction has taken over - you have to defeat the Captain at the top of the tower and a number of NPCs.

The tower quests always reward 300 honor and have rewards like:

Order Resources
Soldier's Splendor
Cruel Gladiator gear - I built this full outfit on my paladin from nothing but these world quests!
Mark of Honor used to purchase legacy PvP items for transmog
Gold

Talon's VengeanceIvory HawkstriderYou will be flagged for PvP if you remain in this areaCalled to Battle

The mobs are somewhat tough for a fresh 110 to handle as they have 2m to 5m health and come in packs; fortunately there is help with Powder Keg scattered around the quest area.

Click on them to pick them up and you'll be given an action button to throw it at a targetted location. The mobs bit by this will take a good amount of damage and will be stunned for several seconds make the quest much easier to do.

The only downside is your movement speed is halved whilst you carry the keg. And you only have 15 seconds to throw it before it blows up.

aka

Found in the north-east corner of Stormheim, Bareback Brawl needs you to make 20 mobs submit to you or for you to kill 20 players.

Once a mob has submitted to you at ~20% health it turns into a vehicle you can mount, giving you an extra ability depending on the mob. Casters should really use this as it allows you to cast whilst moving, giving you a big advantage.

The rare spawn Stormtalon can be made to submit; this awards the achievement Wake the Dragon and gives you the ability to fight whilst flying.

The mobs you need to make submit always respawn quickly so its common for players to ignore each other here.

Complete this twenty times for Saddle Sore

Found in deep in a cave in the south east corner of Highmountain, Darkbrul Arena needs you to kill 10 NPC brawlers or players.

If you have flying, you can fly all the way into the cave and drop the last 20ft or so. If you don't have flying, get a goblin glider, take a flight to Ironhorn Enclave and then follow Gliding into Darkbrul Arena for the fastest way to get into the quest area.

Within the arena you can find healing & berzerking buffs and deep shadows to hide into.

Whilst players often ignore each other here, you're more likely to end fighting other players here than with Bareback Brawl.

You can exit the arena by using the signed exit in the south of the arena. It looks a lot like a dust cloud.

Complete this twenty times for The Darkbrul-oh

Found in the north west corner of Azuna, Operation Murloc Freedom is the only PvP related in the zone. It has you freeing murlocs from Naga. And players.

It seems that the more players who are in the PvA area, the slower the NPC naga respawn. Each mob only rewards 2% progress; there are two elite mobs who reward 25% progress each, but have a 15 minute respawn time.

It used to be that fighting other players would always happen here; the addition of flying has drastically reduced the frequency of fighting other players - now people stay out of reach above the area, searching for Naga to kill. Death literally comes from above here!

Whilst here, look out for the flowers which give the buff Songflower Serenade - the buff lasts for an hour so long as you stay within the Broken Isles.

You can collect Timeworn Artifact doing this quest which can be handed into King Mrgl-Mrgl for a small amount of honor.

You get Timeworn Artifact by killing NPCs and players
If you die you will loose an amount of Timeworn Artifact
You can loot Timeworn Artifact from Timeworn Jar scattered around the Murloc Freedom area

Complete this twenty times for Mission Accomplished

Found in the north of Val'Sharah, Black Rook Rumble is held in an arena within Black Rook Hold.

You are almost guarenteed to fight other players with this PvA quest

If you are the only player in the arena an NPC will spawn for you to fight and get quest credit; otherwise you'll have to fight the other players who are in the arena.

If the NPC hasn't spawned for you then you're probably about to be attacked by a Rogue or Druid from stealth!

Each NPC or player is killed in the arena, you'll get a stack of Rumbler's Momentum, which stacks up to 10 times.

Complete this twenty times for Off the Top Rook

Free For All, More For MeReins of the Prestigious War SteedReins of the Prestigious War WolfFree For All, More For Me

Death knights pick Unholy Reclamation

Demon Hunter pick Fel Hammer's Wrath

Mage pick Arcane Intuition

Paladin pick Grand Crusade

Warlock pick Seed of Corruption

Warrior pick Bladestorm

BattlegroundsGroup FinderSoldier's EsteemSoldier's Grit

Capture the flag - get the enemy flag back to your base whilst defending your flag

Resources - hold points to gather resources; first side to get enough resources wins

Kill the General - kill the other team's general before they kill yours!

Kill the GeneralreinforcementCapture the flagResources

Alterac Valley aka AV

Size

40 v 40

Type

Kill the General

Stables
Gold Mine
Blacksmith
Lumber Mill
Farm

Arathi Basin aka AB

Size

15 v 15

Type

Resources

Mind Control

Pandarian Mine
Goblin Mine
Center
Horde cart
Alliance cart

Deepwind Gorge aka Gorge

Size

15 v 15

Type

Resources

Capture the Flag

Mage Tower
Fel Reaver Ruins
Blood Elf Tower
Draenei Ruins
Flag

Eye of the Storm aka EotS

Size

15 v 15

Type

Resources

Capture the FlagMind Control

Alliance Gate
Alliance Gate
Alliance Gate
Horde Gate
Hode Gate
Horde Gate
Docks
The Workshop
The Hanger
The Quarry
The Refinery

Isle of Conquest aka Isle

Size

40 v 40

Type

Kill the General

must

Ruins
Crash Site
Waterfall
Plunge
Ridge
Tar Pits
Bonfire
Temple
Tide Pools
Tower
Shipwreck
Overlook

Seething Shore

Size

15 v 15

Type

Resources

Claim JumperBlindPolymorph

Mine Depot: Top
Mine Depot: Water
Mine Depot: Lava
Mine Depot
Points
Points
Cart Spawn Point

Silvershard Mines aka Mines

Size

10 v 10

Type

Resources

Attacker start point
Attacker start point
Green Gate
Blue Gate
Purple Gate
Red Gate
Golden Gate
Ancient Titan Relic
Demolisher
Demolisher
Demolisher
Demolisher

Strand of the Ancients aka Strand

Size

15 v 15

Type

Capture the Flag

If the defenders in the first round held on for the full 10 minutes, the second round will be 10 minutes long

However, if the attackers in the first round reached the artifacted, the second round will only be as long as the attackers took

Purple Orb
Red Orb
Blue Orb
Green Orb

Temple of Kotmogu aka Temple

Size

10 v 10

Type

Resources

Pick it up!I'm going to die a lot anyway, so I may as well go down in a way which helps us win

Mines
Lighthouse
Waterworks

The Battle for Gilneas

Size

10 v 10

Type

Resources

Alliance flag
Horde flag

Twin Peaks

Size

10 v 10

Type

Capture the Flag

Mind Control

Alliance flag
Horde flag

Warsong Gulch aka WSG

Size

10 v 10

Type

Capture the Flag

BrawlsArathi Basin in a blizzardThe UnderbellyThe UnderbellyThe Underbelly

The eastern one is what I'd describe as the main entrance, with access to the safe area and Raethan

The western one - which is also used by Warlocks heading to their class hall - is best described as a back entrance

The last is to jump down the well near the northern bank; this drops you at a random location within the Underbelly

Sightless Eye

Rank 2 and 3 profession recipes and other recipes like Pattern: Flaming Hoop

Crafting reagents

Items to summon NPCs which can in turn drop more Sightless Eye

Crate of Ratstallion Harnesses - run around the Underbelly on a rat!

Young Mutant Warturtles - summon mutant warturtles to pet battle against to cage Young Mutant Warturtle

Wild Mana Wand - make those rare spawns stronger so they drop more Sightless Eye

RaethanFizzi LiverzapperExperimental Potion: Test Subjects NeededRaethanSewer GuardsNo GuardsNo GuardsSightless EyeSightless EyeNo GuardsRaethanSewer GuardsSewer GuardsRaethanNo GuardsRaethanHired GuardNo GuardsUnderbelly TycoonRatstallionSightless EyeSightless EyeCroc MojoUnderbelly CrocUnderbelly TycoonExperimental Potion: Test Subjects NeededSightless EyeMadam GoyaSewer GuardsWild Mana WandDazzik "Proudmoore"Sightless EyeNo GuardsSewer GuardsBeyond casual PvPArenaRated BattlegroundsArena Skirmish

Comments

Comment by matrixenforcer

This is a great guide, I am going to have to get out there and do some PVP again.

Comment by jjanchan

Awesome guide! For those trying to eke out every last bit of honor, it may be worthwhile mentioning that for the World Quest area for Operation Murloc Freedom, any Timeworn Artifacts you loot from mobs and from the small containers scattered throughout the area can be turned into the Murloc King for honor - at roughly 1 honor for every 4 marks.
It's not a lot, but it adds up!

EDIT: The other important thing to mention about PvP Brawls is that entering one will give you a one-time quest that can be completed by winning a single Brawl (Something Different). This rewards 3 Marks of Honor, a piece of PvP gear, and a VERY lucrative AP token (Soldier's Legacy)!

One minor thing I noticed - under Operation Murloc Freedom it should read "lose an amount" rather than "loose an amount".

Comment by Redlegg

Thank you for the very good guide. One note though. There is a third entrance to the Underbelly in both Dalarans. The wishing well located by the Horde (North) bank. Climb up the steps and jump in. It will drop you into a random location in the zone.

Comment by AkiyaWarrior

Thanks for this guide

I do have a question: why are the PVP/WQ towers in Legion all staffed by Gilneans? (at least I think they are)
Was there a Legion/lore reason that I missed?

Also, for people like me who aren't into PVP but would like the really awesome transmog gear or the mounts or other rewards, the World Quest towers and brawls are super easy. You can also complete a quest each day with your class hall item like Cracked Horn of War.

I've only been involved with real PVP there in the Darkbruhl Arena and the Bareback Brawl. And the Bareback Brawl, I think, was just accidental aggro xD.

Comment by traut

Very nice guide! But Arathi Basin and Gilneas only need 1500 resources instead of 1600.

Comment by 1593482

Just some PvE ramblings

I may be wrong, but from what I can tell: people who pvp and reach and maintain high ratings (2000+) end up getting gear at higher ilvl than people who spam high mythic+ dungeons and/or raid. The 2 main reasons for this would be: higher frequency of items dropping and higher base ilvl (also, let´s add the possibility to obliterate the gear and use the "echoes" to eventually target a certain slot).

This gives me some diabolical thoughts for gearing up: 2 people (1 mythic raider and 1 hardcore pvper), 2 different accounts (one account "main" and another "alt"). The pvper plays most of the time on the main account, gearing up while doing his push for ratings (while keeping a lot of gear for the raider to run sims later on). The raider plays on the main account mostly only during the raid times. The other account is to be used when the other person is using the main account and it´s mostly for training. This strategy would ensure that the best possible gear is being used in the best possible scenario, which is the mythic raid. There are some problems with this strategy, which include: convincing a hardcore pvper to share accounts with you (with little to no real benefit in-game for him), lower ratio of gaining legendaries (worse than, let´s say, doing a weekly checklist which includes all raids on normal, heroic and LFR and all regular mythic dungeons), having to level and gear up 2 accounts.

On a side note, only now have I realized that the best path for gearing up in PvE involves NOT doing anything that awards low ilvl gear, as true RNG does not exist (what exists is a long string of different numbers that repeat at some point) and nobody wants to waste a big titanforge on a very low ilvl item (which seems to happen a lot when you´re doing low lvl content just for the sake of higher chance for a legendary to drop).

Sorry for the long post, I hope you can enjoy a potato

Comment by Verdict1428

"The only real benefit better gear will give you is a percentage increase in the preset stats - eg an average ilvl of 910 will give you a 10% boost. "

Just a quick edit needed here: the pvp template is set at ilvl 900 and every 1 pt above 900 gives .1% increased damage. Meaning if you're in 910 gear you will be doing 1% more damage, not 10%. This is for instanced pvp zones only.

Comment by Cheesecaker

When the Underbelly has Sewer Guards, no rares will spawn, but you can kill other players for Sightless Eyes. Chests containing Sightless Eyes will also spawn, but take several seconds to open.

After 5 minutes of Sewer Guards you can bribe Raestan with 50 to change the Underbelly back to Sewer Guards. You can also hire a guard from Sewer Guards for 5 to protect you with Hired Guard whilst you're in the Underbelly.

I believe this should read:
When the Underbelly has No Guards, no rares will spawn, but you can kill other players for Sightless Eyes. Chests containin Sightless Eyes will also spawn, but take several seconds to open.

After 5 minutes of No Guards you can bribe Raestan with 50 (Sightless Eyes) to change the Underbelly back to Sewer Guards. You can also hire a guard from Raestan for 5 minutes to protect you with Hired Guard whilst you are in the Underbelly.

Comment by Deihjan

Can we have a note on the Underbelly/Rat stallion section that it's quicker for everyone who wants the mount to NOT call off the guards. The PVP aspect of the Underbelly drops far less sightless eyes and the time spent fighting only benefits the grouped up people who WILL be there, forming death squads and generally making it a miserable experience for anyone trying to get their hidden appearances/eyes.

Comment by SamashNZ

Such a brilliant guide, thanks so much!

Comment by anessandra

Thank you for this guide! This is awesome for players like me who are interested in PvP but need a really simple explanation to get started. I especially appreciate the tl;dr for the battlegrounds.

Comment by sipollo

Legion's PvP season 5 started with patch 7.3, adding achievements for gaining prestige levels 19 to 21.

We don't currently know any of the prestige rewards for this season yet - there are still a pair of prestige mounts which aren't yet associated with any prestige level. However there are no more pennants in the game yet and there do not appear to be any more PvP artifact appearances which haven't been rewarded.

The guide will be updated as we know more - for now we have placeholders in the guide. For season 4 we had https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/20732235/pvp-rewarding-prestige as a reference; unfortunately we've not had an equivalent for season 5. We've asked the @WarcraftDevs twitter for an update to this; failing that we'll find out as we gain the prestige levels!

The lack of an achievement for prestige 22 points to season 5 being the last season of Legion - previous PvP seasons have had the first PvP prestige level of the next season in the game. Thus the highest prestige level you could reach prior to 7.3 was prestige 17, with honor level 50. But the achievement for prestige 18 was at least in the game.

Comment by 1711500

Reward for Hell, It's About Nineteen is Soldier's Legacy very very veeery disappointing . :(

Comment by 1711500

reward for Double Decade of Dominance is Mark of Honor x30
definitely this will be my last prestige they lost me as member very disappointed.

Comment by 1711500

Reward for Protocol 2.3 is Soldier's Legacy
I guess will be same as last prestige sadly :(

Comment by 1711500

Reward for Prestige Quartermaster is Prestigious Midnight Courser

Comment by 1711500

at max honor u get title "the Tactician" nothing special

Comment by Ksane

Probably, honor values for first prestige has slightly changed since guide creating.
Amounts observed and wrote down for 7.3.5 on 04/2018-05/2018
1->2 - 350
...
10->11 - 350
11->12 - 400
...
20->21 - 400
21->22 - 450
...
30->31 - 450
31->32 - 500
...
40->41 - 500
41->42 - 550
...
49->50 - 550
Thus, total honor is: 21950

Not so crucial, but for sake of pedantic correctness.

Comment by Morwo

maybe a word of Prestige levels earned in Legion transfering to BfA need to be said here. im not quite sure but i heard they will be divided amoung all account chars. ie if you got currently p20 and 10 chars you end up starting BfA with P2.

thats pretty odd for me. the was a Q&A for it but i can't find it. maybe someone around here knows better!

Comment by 1884869

Looks like DBM for PvP is now discontinued, just looked it up sad day .

Getting into Legion PvP

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