world of warcraft: pvp bible v2.1

www.PvPBible.com

1

http://www.PvPBible.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any other means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holders.

http://www.pvpbible.com/�

www.PvPBible.com

2

Contents Part 1: Basic PvP Information ........................................................................................................................ 8

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 8

What is PvP in World of Warcraft? ....................................................................................................... 9

The Honor System ................................................................................................................................. 9

Stats and Gear for PvP ........................................................................................................................ 13

Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 16

Keybinds and Macros .......................................................................................................................... 18

Part 2: Duels ................................................................................................................................................ 22

Warlock ................................................................................................................................................... 22

Talent Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 22

Strengths and Weaknesses ................................................................................................................. 23

Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 23

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 24

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 24

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 25

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 27

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 28

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 29

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 30

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 31

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 33

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 34

Warrior .................................................................................................................................................... 35

Talent Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 35


Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 37

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 37

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 38

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 39

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 40

www.PvPBible.com

3

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 42

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 43

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 44

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 45

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 46

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 47

Druids ...................................................................................................................................................... 48

Talent Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 49


Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 50

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 50

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 51

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 52

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 53

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 54

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 55

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 56

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 58

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 59

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 60

Hunters.................................................................................................................................................... 61

Talent Build ......................................................................................................................................... 62


Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 63

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 63

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 64

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 65

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 66

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 67

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 68

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 69

www.PvPBible.com

4

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 71

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 72

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 73

Mages ...................................................................................................................................................... 74

Talent Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 75


Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 76

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 76

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 76

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 78

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 79

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 80

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 81

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 82

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 84

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 85

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 86

Paladins ................................................................................................................................................... 87

Talent Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 88


Your Gear ............................................................................................................................................ 89

Death Knights ...................................................................................................................................... 90

Druids .................................................................................................................................................. 90

Hunter ................................................................................................................................................. 91

Mage ................................................................................................................................................... 92

Paladin ................................................................................................................................................. 93

Priest ................................................................................................................................................... 95

Rogue .................................................................................................................................................. 95

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................... 96

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................... 98

Warrior ................................................................................................................................................ 99

www.PvPBible.com

5

Priests .................................................................................................................................................... 100

Talent Spec ........................................................................................................................................ 100

Strengths and Weaknesses ............................................................................................................... 101

Your Gear .......................................................................................................................................... 101

Death Knights .................................................................................................................................... 102

Druids ................................................................................................................................................ 102

Hunter ............................................................................................................................................... 103

Mage ................................................................................................................................................. 104

Paladin ............................................................................................................................................... 106

Priest ................................................................................................................................................. 107

Rogue ................................................................................................................................................ 108

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................. 109

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................. 110

Warrior .............................................................................................................................................. 111

Rogues ................................................................................................................................................... 112

Talent Spec ........................................................................................................................................ 113


Your Gear .......................................................................................................................................... 114

Death Knights .................................................................................................................................... 114

Druids ................................................................................................................................................ 115

Hunter ............................................................................................................................................... 116

Mage ................................................................................................................................................. 117

Paladin ............................................................................................................................................... 118

Priest ................................................................................................................................................. 119

Rogue ................................................................................................................................................ 120

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................. 122

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................. 123

Warrior .............................................................................................................................................. 124

Shamans ................................................................................................................................................ 125

Your Spec .......................................................................................................................................... 126


www.PvPBible.com

6

Your Gear .......................................................................................................................................... 127

Death Knights .................................................................................................................................... 127

Druids ................................................................................................................................................ 128

Hunters.............................................................................................................................................. 129

Mage ................................................................................................................................................. 131

Paladin ............................................................................................................................................... 132

Priest ................................................................................................................................................. 133

Rogue ................................................................................................................................................ 134

Warrior .............................................................................................................................................. 135

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................. 137

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................. 138

Death Knights ........................................................................................................................................ 139

Ideal PvP Talent Build ........................................................................................................................ 140

Death Knights .................................................................................................................................... 143

Druids ................................................................................................................................................ 143

Hunter ............................................................................................................................................... 144

Mage ................................................................................................................................................. 144

Paladin ............................................................................................................................................... 145

Priest ................................................................................................................................................. 145

Rogue ................................................................................................................................................ 146

Shaman ............................................................................................................................................. 146

Warlock ............................................................................................................................................. 147

Warrior .............................................................................................................................................. 148

Part 3: Arena PvP ...................................................................................................................................... 149

Rating System ........................................................................................................................................ 149

Combat in the Arena ............................................................................................................................. 150

Winning a Match .............................................................................................................................. 150

Positioning ........................................................................................................................................ 150

Your Line of Sight .............................................................................................................................. 151

Communication ................................................................................................................................. 151

Creating a Strategy ................................................................................................................................ 152

www.PvPBible.com

7

General Group Strategies .................................................................................................................. 153

DPS Burst Damage Groups ................................................................................................................ 154

Healing Teams ................................................................................................................................... 158

Melee Group Strategies .................................................................................................................... 161

Specific 2v2 Groups ........................................................................................................................... 163

Specific 3v3 Teams ............................................................................................................................ 176

5v5 Teams ......................................................................................................................................... 180

Part 4: Battleground and World PvP Objectives ....................................................................................... 183

World PvP Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 183

Nagrand – Halaa ................................................................................................................................ 184

Hellfire Peninsula .............................................................................................................................. 186

Terrokar Forest (Bone Wastes) ......................................................................................................... 187

Zangarmarsh (Twin Spire Ruins) ....................................................................................................... 188

Lake Wintergrasp .............................................................................................................................. 188

Battlegrounds ........................................................................................................................................ 190

Alterac Valley .................................................................................................................................... 190

Arathi Basin ....................................................................................................................................... 199

Eye of the Storm ............................................................................................................................... 203

Warsong Gulch .................................................................................................................................. 207

The Strand of the Ancients ............................................................................................................... 208

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 213

Custom Interfaces ..................................................................................................................................... 215

Unit Frames Addon ............................................................................................................................... 215

Casting Bar ............................................................................................................................................ 217

Scrolling Combat Text ........................................................................................................................... 217

Action Bar .............................................................................................................................................. 218

Visual Combat Log ................................................................................................................................. 218

Websites ................................................................................................................................................... 219

www.PvPBible.com

8

Part 1: Basic PvP Information

Introduction

World of Warcraft has always offered a unique take on the MMO genre. From the way in which quests

are provided to avoid grinding sessions to the detailed manner in which the game provides deep story

and humorous content, it has strived to raise the production value expectations among fans

everywhere. It has led to the downfall of more than one new MMO that has failed to capitalize on the

raised expectations and has made WoW the top game in the world for nearly four years now.

When you take all that into account, it is no small wonder that World of Warcraft has managed to put

together one of the more active PvP communities – one in which millions have participated and for

anyone to excel, you need to find the right combination of resources and tools to help you get to the

top.

This guide was written for every World of Warcraft player out there who has ever wanted to step to the

top of the PvP pile and take over the role of top player in their respective guild or server. It is a long road

www.PvPBible.com

9

to get there, but when you take into account the content you are about to read, you will soon

understand why a comprehensive guide like this is so necessary.

Before we jump into the nitty gritty of the details involved in becoming a top PvP contender, we are

going to go over a few of the things that every WoW player should have a good grasp of before they do

anything additional.

What is PvP in World of Warcraft?

I’m not going to walk you through what PvP is in the game. If you are reading this guide, you have

probably encountered PvP at some point or another. You already know it is the facing off of Horde and

Alliance characters in single combat or battlegrounds or the face off of teams in the Arena. What is

important though is the details of how PvP works in the game – the way it provides rewards and

credentials that can be carried between different factions and your fellow players to show that you are a

truly great player.

Honor

Honor is given to players who kill an opposing faction player when they are flagged for PvP. This can be

done in 1v1 duels or in battlegrounds where every player is flagged. This honor provides you with

increased ranks and eventually ways to get additional items and land quests from certain NPCs that only

highly ranked players can play through.

Arena Points

When you fight in an Arena, you can gain points that can be used throughout the game to purchase hard

to acquire gear and items from the Arena. The PvP gear that is released every season in the Arena is one

of the many rewards you can acquire in this manner and a primary reason so many people spend great

deals of time in the Arenas playing. A great bit more detail will be laid out later in the guide about what

you can expect here.

The Honor System

The honor system in World of Warcraft provides various rewards for players in PvP combat. When you

defeat an opponent, you receive honor points which you can then use to purchase your rewards from

www.PvPBible.com

10

PvP vendors throughout the game. There are four different ways in which you can acquire honor,

including: honorable kills, killing racial leaders, battleground objectives, and world PvP objectives.

Honorable Kills

When you defeat an enemy in battle, you are given an honorable kill, as long as you are within a given

level range of their level. When you get an honorable kill, you gain Honor Points and the amount you kill

will vary depending on a few factors including:

Victim’s Level – Your opponent’s level when you kill them will affect your Honor Points. If they are well

below your level, they will appear as Grey and will net you no honor points. If they are red, they are

much too high to attack and you will likely die.

Your Level – The amount of honor points you gain scales much like experience as you level up. At Level

60 you gain much more than you would at Level 30.

Grouping – If you are in a group, you will share your honor points from enemy kills, such as in raids.

There are diminishing returns on the honor points received and if certain players are too far away from

the kill, they will receive nothing. You must also be part of the fight to gain honor from your kill – either

by providing crowd control or by healing.

Racial Leaders

www.PvPBible.com

11

Any NPC that is considered a leader of its particular race will net a certain amount of honor points,

usually much higher than normal kills. They will have a 2 hour spawn timer and the total amount of

honor you gain is split between all players involved in killing them. Here are all the NPCs that count as

racial leaders:

• Thrall

• Lady Sylvanas Windrunner

• Cairne Bloodhoof

• Lor’themar Theron

• King Magni Bronzebeard

• Prophet Velen

• Archdruid Fandral Staghelm

• Highlord Bovar Fordragon

Battleground Objectives

When special objectives are completed in a battleground, bonus honor is awarded for their completion.

Every member of the faction in the battleground will be givin that bonus honor as a reward. Objectives

will vary from simply winning the match to grabbing enemy flags such as in Warsong Gulch. This is the

fastest way to gain honor in any given way, regardless of how many enemies you kill while fighting in the

raid.

World PvP

General World PvP, in which you fight opposing faction members while in Azeroth or Outland makes up

a great deal of honor opporunity on PvP servers and adds depth to the PvE experience. It also pushes

people on PvE servers to engage in more combat with opposing faction members to gain that honor.

Currently, you can gain PvP honor points that designate as being from Azeroth or Outland and there are

additional rewards for PvP objectives in Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, the Bone Wastes and Nagrand.

Calculating Honor Points

www.PvPBible.com

12

Honor points are calculated immediately as of the 2.4 patch, whereas before they were calculated at the

end of the day. This means any honor points you gain can be immediatley spent in any way you deem

fit. There are no more diminishing returns on honor in the field any longer as well, but if a character dies

50 times or more in the battleground, they will be an honorless kill for the rest of the fight.

Additionally, there is an instant honor quest called “Concerted Effort” for Alliance and “For Great

Honor” for Horde. This quest will allow players to turn in four Marks of Honor for 314 Honor. Each mark

comes from one of the four battlegrounds and they can be turned into the battlemasters in each city.

PvP Vendors

With your Honor points you can buy various rare and epic quality items from

vendors located in major ciites and battlegrounds:

Horde

Orgrimmar Vendors:

Lady Palanseer (Armor Quartermaster)

Sergeant Thundrhorn (Weapons Quartermaster)

Raider Bork (Mount Quartermaster)

Arathi Basin Vendor:

Rutherford Twing

Alterac Valley Vendors:

Jekyll Flandring

Grunnda Wolfheart

Warsong Gulch Vendor:

Kelm Hargunth

Alliance

Stormwind Vendors:

Captain Dirgehammer (Armor Quartermaster)

www.PvPBible.com

13

Captain O’Neal (Weapons Quartermaster)

Lieutenant Karter (Mount Quartermaster)

Arathi Basin Vendor:

Samuel Hawk

Alterac Valley Vendors:

Gaelden Hammersmith

Thanthaldis Snowgleam

Warsong Gulch Vendor:

Stats and Gear for PvP

Illiyana Moonblaze

Getting the Most Honor Posssible

There are a few things you can do to ensure you gain the most possible honor in each situation. The first

is in your timing – the time of the week has a great deal of impact on how much honor you can gain per

hour. There are certain days of the week when more honor is gained or more enemies are available – for

example on weekend days, you can gain more honor in the battlegrounds that are chosen for that four

day period. These special weekends are scheduled ahead of time. You should always play in a

battleground during its special “Call to Arms” weekend if you can to gain the bonus honor that comes

with it. Keep in mind though that Alterac Valley does not reward nearly as much as other Battlegrounds

so this one may actually not be quite as rewarding to choose for its special weekend.

Many players will start PvPing by waiting around and attacking their enemies only when they get the

killing blows to boost their kills and Honor Gain. However, this is not only discouraged by Blizzard, it is

poor sportsmanship and can alienate your own teammembers. To partially stop this, players become

worth no honor after dying a certain number of times. Farming honor, in which you don’t complete any

objectives is generally a waste of time, if only because when you complete objectives, you get more

honor for winning (or even losing) a battleground and because you are going to get to face new, fresh

opponents sooner.

In PvP combat, many things will change from your normal approach to the game. Even the gear and

stats you focus on will fundamentally alter as you shift from whatever your role was in raiding and solo

www.PvPBible.com

14

play to trying to stay alive longer in PvP play. For this reason, many players undervalue stats such as

resilience and stamina and put way too much stock into stats like critical rating, attack power, and spell

power. Of course, these stats are still important, but in PvP, your defense is going to be more important

than offense almost every time (except for rare exceptions such as Fire and Arcane Mages).

For the most part, if you are a Level 80 character in PvP, you had better have at least 15,000 health (up

to 20,000 if you wear plate) with your gear fully selected and 9,000 health with no gear at all.

Additionally, if you can stay alive in battlegrounds and the like, you can make more honor per hour there

and the more honor you get, the better rewards you can acquire.

Resilience

The first stat we are going to take a look at is Resilience. For a long time, this stat did three things for

most characters and with Patch 2.4, it now does a fourth. First off, Resilience reduces the chance that

you will be hit by critical strikes. The rough conversion is about 39.4 resilience for 1% decreased chance

of being hit. Additionally, resilience will reduce the damage taken by critical strikes by twice as much, so

39.4 resilience reduces critical damage by 2%. It will also reduce the amount of Damage over Time you

take by 1% for every 39.4 resilience and with the new patch, it will reduce mana drain effects by 2%.

For these reasons, this is a highly important stat in PvP. It reduces almost every form of damage that can

truly hurt you in a fight and makes you much more capable of surviving. Say for instance you had 400

resilience and a similar character with the same stats had 0 resilience. If your opponent is dealing

damage with a 33% crit chance, you are getting hit with a critical strike every third hit, but with reduced

critical strike, the DPS you take is reduced by as much a 12% with that resilience boost. Add together

multiple players attacking a tank in 5v5 or in battlegrounds, and you could be cutting back a ton of

damage.

Resilience should be at least 250 for anyone just starting in PvP and those same players should aim for

400 resilience whenever possible. The cap for resilience affecting critical strike reduction is 25% or 492

resilience, however there is no real reason to go over 400 as it starts to take away from your other stats

too much.

Stamina

www.PvPBible.com

15

This is another stat that too many players ignore for no good reason. It is not quite as important as

resilience because it doesn’t affect as many things, but it is vital in boosting your health and making it to

15,000 where all good PvP players should be. The cap range for players that are generally avoided for

being too hard to kill is around 18,000 health, which is where you start to spend too much of your points

on stamina. However, always remember to aim for 15,000 for starting in PvP.

Knowing What Stats Are Best

\So, how do you know which stats are best for what you are trying to accomplish? Each class has their

own means by which to break apart stats and balance them out – refer to a class guide for more specific

instructions – but there are some general guidelines you can follow for balancing out your stats as much

as possible with the gear you have.

First of all, never sacrifice too much from your other stats just to get resilience and stamina. Being hard

to kill does you no good if you cannot hit your opponent – it only makes for a very long fight. People

who give up 70 Spell power for 20 Stamina or Resilience are sacrificing too much of their firepower for a

minimal boost to survivability. You want to balance the stats out correctly, with resilience around 400,

stamina getting you to slightly above 15,000 health and the rest of your stats balanced out among your

class’s primary stats.

www.PvPBible.com

16

Your Gear

There are a number of sources you can turn to to pick up your PvP gear, including battleground

purchases, heroic instances, arena play, and raiding.

Battleground Gear

You can get all epic gear just by playing Battlegrounds and upgrading with the Honor Points you gain.

Here is a quick example that showcases the best possible gear you can pick up while in Battlegrounds:

PvP Medallion (16,983 Honor) – This is a must have no matter who you are or what you are doing. In

PvP, you need to have this trinket. It breaks crowd control and will save you more than one match.

Vindicator’s Gear – The set of Vindicator’s Epic gear, including Bracers, Boots, Rings, Neck, and your Belt

will cost you a total of about 90,000 Honor or so but will provide you with the much needed boosts you

will be looking for and with some extra enchants, you can truly boost this setup. Additionally, the

Gladiator’s Shoulders for 11,250 Honor are a great way to boost resilience and other base stats

exceptionally.

Breaking up the Monotony

To maximize the honor you need to purchase the more than 100,000 Honor Points worth of gear listed

above, make sure to start every day by completing the Battleground Daily Quest. This will usually get

you an extra 419 Honor and 13 gold and will make it easier to pay for your repairs and enchants on a

daily basis.

Another good way to boost your honor gain and to break up the monotony of completing battlegrounds

day in and day out to get Honor is to play them with a team. Practice and coordinate your moves in

Battlegrounds by trying to hold graveyards or take on a huge wave of opponents – this helps everyone

learn how to play better together outside of an instance while always gaining Honor and helps to ensure

that you don’t get bored out of your skull waiting for the honor to come in.

Some players will stick with Alterac Valley and just keep repeating it over and over again, but this truly

will wear you out and make you want to move on quickly enough. Alterac Valley honor comes in bursts

early on – you get most of it in the first few minutes, so line up for a few battlegrounds in queue and be

ready for it while overlapping your honor gain.

www.PvPBible.com

17

Crafting or Looting Items for Gear

There are plenty of ways to go about getting the gear you need outside of PvP activities. You can land

gear by crafting it, as in the case of the Resolute Cape or Thick Felsteel Necklace, both with solid stamina

and resilience boosts. Additionally, you can boost your stats with loot that can be grabbed from

instances and raids with resilience, as outlined in the three links below:

Regular Loot with Resilience

Heroic Loot with Resilience

Arena Fighting

If you have no gear to start with and no Honor to gain that gear, you can hop into the Arena right away

and gain points without even winning matches. Don’t worry about your record as you can just reform

the team after you’re properly geared. Always start by buying the PvP rewards gloves in the Arena

because of the equip bonus that you get from them for each class. Follow with the head so that you can

socket in a Meta gem and then go to Shoulders, chest, legs, and everything else.

Enchanting and Socketing Gems

Finally, don’t forget that you can actually just resocket and enchant your existing PvE gear to be more

suitable for PvP. Look for gems with stamina, resilience, and high critical ratings as well as enchants with

run speed, resilience, and stamina. You can usually gain as much as 1500 health and 30 resilience just by

changing your gems and enchants – a great way to get a head start as you look to regear later on.

http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=cr=79:105;crs=1:-2323;crv=5:0�

http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=cr=79:106;crs=1:-2323;crv=5:0�

www.PvPBible.com

18

Keybinds and Macros

Anything that can cut down the time it takes you to make a move or strike an opponent is extra time

that makes you more viable in a fight. That means that you will be more capable of killing your foes

quicker or reacting before they can react. Yet, many high level players still neglect to utilize the top tier

techniques of keybinding and macroing your movements. The best way to play (no matter how

uncomfortable it might seem at first) is to move and select opponents with the mouse and use abilities

with the keyboard through keybinds instead of clicking on abilities.

First, it takes longer to move the mouse and click it than it does to just press a button. Second, there is a

smaller chance of making a big error and hitting the wrong ability. Third, you can free up your mouse for

advanced movement of the camera and faster turning, strafing and melee combat. You can use more

complex movement patterns for greater ease and you will be much more able to control your melee

range against your opponents.

www.PvPBible.com

19

Still, this is a tough transition, so it should be done over the course of a handful of days to ensure you

have the time you need to acclimate to the seemingly backwards method. To create keybinds, simply go

into your options and interface menu and attach your abilities to certain keystrokes. Ensure you have

multiple action bars on screen for reminders of what those binds are.

Macros

Macros are vital to being able to get all of your abilities bound to the same few buttons. With dozens of

attacks and moves and only a limited amount of space on a keyboard, this is almost necessary. You can

change the button moves depending on stances and forms (for Warriors and Druids) or according to

your health or your position. You can even make it to where you use only Rank 1 of certain abilities,

which is vital in PvP when you will need to save your mana as much as possible. There are hundreds of

macros out there, not all of which can be listed here, but if you do a little searching online, you can

easily find which ones are best suited to your class and your PvP environment.

Cast Sequence

This form of macro can make things a lot easier to format if you know you are going to cast certain spells

in the same order every time – put them into a specific cast sequence and you can effectively combine

things into one button instead of two and make more space on your action bar. For example,

Deathcoil/Fear is a good macro to have for Warlocks as they pretty much always go in unison. Here is

how you would make these macros, with the Warlock DoT spells as an example at the start of the fight

when you unload as many of them as you can on an opponent:

/castsequence reset=combat/target Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Siphon Life

You can also spam these macros for instant casts where you mash the button and you cast the next spell

in the sequence whenever the global cooldown is over. In general, this can help you save a ton of time

on finding those casting buttons.

Max Camera Distance - Use this macro to maximize the distance your camera distance can scroll back

within the game:

/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMax",30)

www.PvPBible.com

20

Focus Your Mouseover – This Macro will allow you to set your Focus Target to the current Mouse Over

Target:

/focus [target=mouseover]

Drink and Shadowmeld – This Macro will allow you to Left Click for a Manna Biscuit and Right Click for a

Star’s Tears, immediately followed by a Shadowmeld for Nightelves.

/use [btn:1] Conjured Manna Biscuit; Star's Tears

/cast Shadowmeld

Self Bandage – This allows you to instantly bandage yourself when you are able to:

/use [target=player] Heavy Netherweave Bandage

Inspect – This will allow you to inspect your target from any distance regardless of whether or not you

can see them on the screen – good for knowing what they are holding when they attack:

/inspect target

Use Your Healthstones – This will allow you to use your healthstones in order, starting with 2/2 Imp

Stones, then 1/2 and 0/2 stones to maximize your healing:

#showtooltip item:22105

/use item:22105

/use item:22104

/use item:22103

Auto Mount – This macro will allow you to automatically mount your flying mount or regular mount (if

you have no flying mount) – make sure to put the names of your mounts into the spaces in the macro

below:

/use [flyable,nomounted] name of your flyer; [nomounted] name of your regular mount

/dismount

Drink Any Water –This Macro will allow you to drink any water you have on hand to ensure you get

something in you during the fight:

www.PvPBible.com

21

/use Conjured Glacier Water

/use Conjured Croissant

/use Star's Tears

Use Your Trinkets – This macro will allow you to use your trinkets with a click and a shift click:

/use [nomodifier] 13

/use [modifier:shift] 14

Combined Set – Clear Focus – This will allow you to set your focus to whatever you mouse over if it is a

target. If not, it will set it to your current target if you have one. If you have neither it will clear your

current focus:

/focus [target=mouseover,exists][exists]

/stopmacro [target=mouseover,exists][exists]

/clearfocus

www.PvPBible.com

22

Part 2: Duels

In this section, we are going to touch on each class and their fundamental basic strategies. In addition to

providing detailed instructions on how to approach each class in a duel (with a total of 81 strategies),

you will learn which PvP talent builds are best and what gear is best suited for your particular class when

going into PvP combat. For anyone starting in PvP, this is the section in which you want to start.

Warlock

The Warlock is best known for its ability to land a great deal of Damage over Time on an opponent and

then follow up by fearing them while those spells work. For this reason, your main approach is going to

be on ensuring your abilities land and that you can survive if your opponent is able to break fear and

strike you. One thing you should keep in mind for this strategy section is that you should always have

your Felhunter out if you are facing a caster – this is the single most devastating pet you have against

casters due to its silencing and fear abilities.

Talent Spec

There is little argument over which spec is best for Wizards due to the necessary talents you need to

defeat your foes. With an Affliction Hybrid, you can maximize the effectiveness of your Crowd Control

and DoT spells that will be used to defeat essentially every enemy you face while ensuring you have a bit

of firepower on hand if you really need it.

Affliction – 32 Demonology – 11 Destruction – 28

Suppression 1/3 Improved Healthstone 2/2 Bane 5/5

Improved Corruption 5/5 Demonic Embrace 5/5 Aftermath 2/2

Improved Drain Soul 2/2 Fel Vitality 3/3 Molten Core 3/3

Improved Life Tap 2/2 Soul Link 1/1 Cataclysm 1/3

Soul Siphon 2/2 Shadowburn 1/1

Improved Fear 2/2 Ruin 5/5

Amplify Curse 1/1 Intensity 2/2

Grim Reach 2/2 Destructive Reach 2/2

www.PvPBible.com

23

Nightfall 2/2 Improved Searing Pain 3/3

Empowered Corruption 3/3 Devastation 1/1

Shadow Embrace 1/5 Nether Protection 3/3

Siphon Life 1/1

Curse of Exhaustion 1/1

Improved Felhunter ½

Shadow Mastery 5/5

Dark Pact 1/1

Strengths and Weaknesses

Warlocks are strongest in casting their instant DoT spells while kiting their enemies. With excellent

crowd control ability that makes it possible to keep an opponent running wild while they slowly die,

Warlocks often don’t even need to do anything after these initial casts. Additionally, the Felhunter

makes the Warlock one of the most vicious foes of any caster.

If you face any class that has the ability to break fear or remove your DoTs, you are slightly in trouble. In

these instances, the entire approach will be changed with the use of spells in the Destruction Tree to

cause more direct damage instead of the fail-safe DoT you started with. Additionally, you will need to

learn and master Drain Life and Life Tap for these instances to ensure you don’t run out of valuable

mana.

Your Gear

For a Warlock, the most important thing you can worry about is your stats – specifically spell power,

spellhit and stamina with a little resilience tossed in for survivability’s sake. Because the majority of your

damage comes from DoT spells, you don’t even really need to focus on spellcritical like other casters

either – just the ability to hit every time and maximize DPS. It can make finding gear easier because you

have only a few things to look for and at the same time a little tougher because you have less options to

choose from.

www.PvPBible.com

24

Death Knights

Handling a Death Knight starts with the same method you would use against any melee class – you kite

them with fears, terror and your DoTs – nothing new here. However, you need to keep in mind that they

have a Death Grip ability that can cooldown as quickly as 25 seconds with talents. You should ignore

their ghoul completely with the exception of hitting it with Corruption – it is a waste of time and mana

to do otherwise. If you get Death Gripped, try to negate it with Death Coil or Shadow Fury. You can also

use your trinket if you get stunned.

Follow up with a Soul Fire or a Death Coil if the cooldown is up and then use Immolate or Incinerate.

Death Knights can use Mind Freeze or Strangulate to block your casting so it will be hard to control this

fight much as they can rotate between these on cooldowns pretty effectively. If they are a full Unholy

spec, expect as many as 5 different anti-magic spells in all, making getting your damage in pretty hard.

Keep your fel hunter out to stop them from casting too much and if they cast stun immunity, fear them

right away or use Death Coil to override any fear immunity. Death Knights are a very complex and

problematic fight for Warlocks, especially with the revamped talent trees in the class, but if you strike

them hard to start and mitigate their attacks as often as possible throughout, you should be able to

maintain enough control to beat many of them.

Druids

Druids are incredibly versatile, so a fight against one can become a bit tough. However, keep in mind

that Druids are week against fear above all else, so maintain your use of

this ability frequently. They only have a PvP Trinket to use in this case

and after that, they’re done. Use DoT and Fear often and have your

Felhunter out to block any chance of them being effective in their casting

form. Look out for them getting into stealth while in cat form however. If

they do this and effectively land an opener, they can severely lower your

health and your armor very quickly. Always maintain distance and keep

your pet out there and in the way.

Attack Sequence

www.PvPBible.com

25

1. Start by Deploying your pet and Casting Corruption

2. Use Spell Lock if the Druid attempts to use any spell with a casting time.

3. Siphon Life

4. Fear – In caster form, they can use their trinket, but in Feral form, they can do nothing against

this.

5. Unstable Affliction

6. Fear – Use this as soon as it wears off the first time – it will be weaker, but you shouldn’t need

much.

7. Amplify Curse followed by Curse of Agony

Their Attacks

1. The one thing you have to look out for with Druids is their Heal over Time spells – if they cast

them, use Devour Magic from your Felhunter to counteract it.

Finishing Them Off

1. The final attack sequence will be largely this combination of attacks until they die (make sure to

refresh all DoTs as they expire):

2. Immolate

3. Shadow Bolt

4. Drain Life

5. Shadowburn – when they get close to death, use this to make sure it kills them and you don’t

waste a soul shard.

Against Warlocks, Druids are fairly weak. Without any form of protection against fear, they cannot do

much other than try to stay alive and your goal is to drain them down – which should be easy enough.

Hunter

Hunters will always strive to get away from you as quickly as

possible. They want to remain in ranged fighting mode so that

they can attack you without worrying about your pet or your own

www.PvPBible.com

26

attacks. You want to close that gap as quickly as possible. Your Felhunter should be counteracting their

Concussive Shot and any other movement slowing abilities they may have and you must work to avoid

their traps. If you do get caught in one, use your PvP Trinket to counteract it. Beast Masters are the

hardest for Warlocks because they can use their pet against you and they are immune to Crowd Control

for long periods of time. However, in the end, Hunters really only have their trinket and after that’s been

used, load them up with DoTs and Fear and the fight is essentially over.

Attack Sequence

1. Start by casting Amplify Curse, followed by Curse of Agony

2. Run toward the Hunter and deploy your pet.

3. Cast Corruption next, followed by Siphon Life

4. Follow up with Death Coil – Do not use this before now as you want to ensure you restore a

good chunk of your own life. Too early and you waste part of its benefit.

5. Fear – Use this after Death Coil so the Hunter cannot react or counter it

6. Unstable Affliction is next followed by resetting all of your DoTs as they fade.

Their Attacks

1. They will use Feign Death to break your spells and interrupt your fear. Make sure to only fear

after Death Coil to keep this from happening.

2. Scatter Shot – This is another popular ability used to block your fears. Just follow the steps and it

should be negated.

Finishing Them Off

1. Drain Life

2. Shadowburn – Only use this when they are close to death so as not to waste a soul shard. If not

dead yet, use fear and wait for DoTs to kill them.

Make sure you avoid Silencing Shot here if you can. It is only a 3 second duration and has a long

cooldown though, so if they do get it off, just use a health stone and wait it out.

www.PvPBible.com

27

Mage

Warlocks have a tough time against Mages due to their crowd control abilities and their use of shields

and dispels for pretty much anything a Warlock can throw at them. They can

remove your curses and have a ton of instant spells they can cast on your for

massive burst damage. Stay out of range of their big spells and try to get off

Curse of Tongues on them to slow casting time. Always have your Felhunter out

against Mages as well due to their ability to devour magic users so thoroughly

with Silence and Dispel abilities. Counterspell is a big problem for you here

though as well as it can block your spells for up to 8 seconds with a 4 second

silence. Try to make them use their Counterspell early on a Fire Spell that you

won’t use again to keep from ruining your routine. Use fear immediately

afterward and wait for them to die from DoTs.

Attack Sequnce

1. Start with Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony – most of the time they will dispel; just do it again if

they do.

2. Deploy your pet next and follow with Spell Lock on any spell they use with a casting time.

3. Corruption and Siphon Life should follow.

4. Howl of Terror – If they use Ice Block, start over from the beginning.

5. Unstable Affliction and then refresh all of your DoTs.

Their Attacks

1. Frost Nova – In Melee, they will try to use this right away – Counter with the first three steps

listed above.

2. Polymorph is another problem spell they may use to stop and recover for a second. Use Devour

Magic to remove the effect and continue.

Finishing Them Off

1. Shadowburn – This should only be used when close to death to save a soul shard. Fire and

Arcane Mages will die, but Ice Mages should be seen to with the following steps before using

this one.

www.PvPBible.com

28

2. Fear


4. Death Coil

5. Reapply DoTs and follow up with Immolate – if they use Counterspell, switch to Shadow Spells

6. Shadowburn (for Ice Mages)

For a Warlock, Fire and Arcane Mages are pushovers. However, Ice Mages are a longer, harder fight.

Continue your strategy with DoTs and fear though and they will eventually die.

Paladin

Paladins are a pain to fight no matter what your class is because they have a nasty habit of being entirely

too hard to kill. Their ability to bubble and heal themselves can

essentially give the three lives and that can be a long fight without

enough mana on your end to see it out. Additionally, because of

their Dispel ability, your DoTs are useless. However, keep in mind

that they cannot dispel anything you cast on yourself. You should

always have a Felhunter out to interrupt anything that they may

cast or even silence them. You will likely resort to bursting them

to death while negating their healing with your Felhunter. In the

end, if you can get their mana down and not die while they heal,

you can win, but expect a long fight.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony

2. Next, deploy your pet

3. If they use a non-instant spell, use Spell Lock

4. Unstable Affliction stops the use of Cleanse.

5. Move away and cast Corruption

6. Siphon Life

7. Refresh your DoTs

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

29

1. Divine Shield – They will use this to protect themselves and heal to full. Just wait it out and

reapply your DoTs when it fades.

2. Hammer of Justice – If they are within 10 Yards they can stun you with this and then attack in

melee for bit. Wait it out and then use Death Coil so you can use a Healthstone.

Finishing them Off

1. Fear


3. Curse of Agony

4. Corruption

5. Siphon Life

6. Shadow Bolt

7. Shadowburn – Use this only when they are close to death to save yourself a soul shard.

Your goal here is to keep their mana down and out of melee range – if you can pull that off, you can kill a

Paladin even with their dispels because you can fear them aplenty.

Priest

Priests are tough for Warlocks because of all those healing spells they have on them. They can also

dispel multiple effects with a single cast and can remove your buffs with ease.

Have your Felhunter out and ready right away to remove their own buffs and

debuffs. Also, they can fear you with Psychic Scream which you can get rid of

with your trinket, but only once. Also, your fear is less useful because of Fear

Ward – the class ability given to all Priests. Wear down their mana as much as

possible and limit their restoration of health as best you can. The fight here is

less about their HP and more about their Mana. When it goes down, so do they.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Ward to start – reset it whenever it expires

2. Amplify Curse followed by Curse of Agony

3. Deploy your pet

www.PvPBible.com

30

4. Use Spell Lock if they use a long cast time spell.


6. Run out of melee range to avoid Psychic Scream

7. Corruption

8. Siphon Life

9. Fear – they will probably get rid of it, but it gains you some time.

10. Shadow Bolt

Their Attacks

1. It’s not really an attack so much, but watch out for their healing. Interrupt their heals as often as

possible with Death Coil, Fear, Spell Lock, and Howl of Terror.

2. Power Word:Shield and Renew – These will block you out so they can heal. Use Devour Magic to

get rid of them and continue attacking.

Finishing them Off


2. Fear

3. Shadowburn – Use this only when their health gets low so you don’t waste a soul shard

This is a hard fight for Warlocks, but if you can knock down their mana and be careful it is not an

impossible fight by any means.

Rogue

Fighting a Rogue is a tough task no matter who you are – they are considered among the top PvPers in

the game for a few different reasons – they’re use of stealth, combos, stun locks, and poisons. They can

deal huge burst damage and if they are really good, you won’t even land a hit

on them. Throw in their numerous ways of getting around your own attacks

and defenses and there isn’t much you can do against them but try to survive.

Your goal then is to outlast their opening moves and then fight them on your

terms. You will want to use fear as much as possible, along with your stable of

DoTs, heavy attacks, and try to end the fight as quickly as you can. You should

www.PvPBible.com

31

always have soul link up if it is available to you and curse of exhaustion can be incredibly helpful to help

slow them down and keep them from running circles around you.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with Paranoia to detect their stealth

2. Curse of Exhaustion stops them from running away and pulls them from stealth

3. Corruption

4. Siphon Life

5. Death Coil as soon as you are in melee range


7. Fear – They can break fear one time with their trinket, but that is it, so after that initial break,

they are open to it as many times as you can cast it.

Their Attacks

1. Rogues will use an opening move of some sort and then attempt to stunlock you to death – your

best hope to stop this is to interrupt their stealth from the start of the fight. If they land it, just

try to survive and then start your own attack sequence.

2. Cloak of Shadows – This will remove debuffs and then allow them to use Vanish and reopen on

you. If this happens use Death Coil when you are stunlocked so that you have some time to heal.

Finishing them Off

1. Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony – Do this while you run away

2. Corruption

3. Siphon Life

4. Shadowburn – Only use this when they are low on health so as not to waste a Soul Shard.

Their goal is to remain in Melee range as much as possible. Your goal is to stop them from doing so. Use

Curse of Exhaustion often and slow them down while loading up DoTs to keep them out of stealth.

Shaman

www.PvPBible.com

32

When fighting a Shaman, you are really fighting their totems. If you can defeat the numerous instant

heals, nukes, and dispels they have, you can stand a chance. Your

key here is to use Fear often, but only after getting rid of their

totems, especially the Grounding Totem they will always have on

the field. Knock out Totems the minute you see them and then drop

Immolate and Corruption on them followed by fear to start draining

their health. Other things to look out for are Earth Shocks and

shields. Always be wary of Shamans and hidden totems they may

have too.

Attack Sequence

1. Deploy your pet and set them to work destroying totems – grounding and tremor totems take

priority

2. Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony

3. Corruption

4. Siphon Life

5. Fear

6. Unstable Corruption

7. Immolate

Their Attacks

1. They will respond by using Earth Shock to interrupt your fear attacks. Always follow this with

Death Coil and Unstable Affliction to tag them back. Other attacks can be ignored or negated if

you follow your attack plan.

Finishing them Off

1. Shadow Bolt

2. Fear

3. Shadow Bolt

4. Shadowburn – Use this only when they are about to die to salvage your soul shard.

www.PvPBible.com

33

Destroy totems when they hit the ground and save your spell lock for when they try to heal and you

should do alright.

Warlock

A Warlock versus Warlock fight is always an interesting face off. Usually, the

winner here is the player with the better strategy and ability to manage

their mana usage. Always start with your Felhunter out and start casting

early and often. You should get silence or debuffs onto your opponent

before they can hit you to get a headstart – often the only difference in a

fight like this. They will banish your pet (as you should theirs) but get a Curse

of Tongues on them in here to slow casting. Watch out for spell lock with

their Felhunter and try to trick them into locking your fire spell. Stack them

up as usual and if they try to cast a shadow spell of their own, spell lock them. Prepare to be feared as

well – have your necessary trinket on hand and try to outlast them.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Ward – This will weaken their shadow damage

2. Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony

3. Deploy your Felhunter and use Spell Lock if they cast anything in the Shadow Tree

4. Banish their pet – Felhunters can resist this at times, so beware they might remain in the fight.

5. Corruption

6. Siphon Life

7. Fear – If they break fear, continue as planned and use it again.

Their Attacks

1. Death Coil – When they use Death Coil, followed by Fear, use your Shadow Ward to absorb the

damage and follow with Devour Magic to remove Fear effects. Use your trinket a second time.

2. Otherwise, try to avoid their DoTs as you would use them the same.

Finishing them Off

www.PvPBible.com

34


2. Immolate

3. Drain Life

4. Refresh your DoTs

5. Shadowburn – Only use this when their health gets low to save your soul shard.

You’re not going to win this fight in a shootout – simply try to outlast them and use your healing abilities

such as Death Coil, Healthstones, Siphon Life, and Drain Life effectively to stay alive and wear them

down.

Warrior

When you fight a warrior, you must change a bit of how you fight. First, the Felhunter must be benched

– they don’t do much good against melee opponents. Also, fear is

largely useless as Warriors can break it relatively easily. Your Curses and

DoTs are good and with Soul Like (if you have it), you can stay alive a

little longer. DoTs keep them in combat so they cannot use an opener

and if you can stay at range you will stand a chance of not dying too

quickly. Warriors can kill a Warlock in about 3 seconds if they get close,

so you must really stay away – your Succubus is a good addition here

with Seduce. Watch out for Undead Warriors though as they are

immune.

Attack Sequence

1. Amplify Curse and Curse of Agony – Use these quickly before they can get into charge range to

stop them from landing that opening blow and getting into melee.

2. Deploy your pet

3. Immolate – Do this before they can use Intercept to keep them away from you.

4. Corruption – Use this while running away

5. Siphon Life


Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

35

1. Intercept – They will use this to stun you, followed by Hamstring to keep you nearby and kill

you. Use your Death Coil if they land it and then follow it up with Curse of Exhaustion to keep

them as far away from you as possible. If they land Intercept before Death Coil, you will

probably die.

Finishing them Off

1. Refresh your DoTs as they expire and keep running away

2. Shadowburn – Use this when their life gets low

Warriors can be easy kills if you keep them at range, but if they close into melee, you’re usually dead.

Keep this in mind and you might stand a chance against most Warriors you face.

Warrior

Warriors will vary in how you fight depending greatly in what your opponent’s class is largely because

they will change their approach to you dramatically. Because Warriors have the most health and the

highest armor of any class in the game, many players get lulled into a false sense of security in thinking

they can survive initial onrushes but that is not the case with casting or ranged opponents. No matter

who you are fighting, your goal will always be to close the gap between you and them as quickly as

possible and start dealing melee damage. When you manage to open up a 3 second window in which

you can unload on them, you can guarantee that you will almost always win the fight.

Of course, their goal as your opponent is to never allow this to happen. To optimize your chances, you

will almost always be in Berserker Stance – if you are not properly specced for this, prepare to do some

alterations. Your shouts are incredibly valuable here as well and you will quickly learn to use Disarm on

fellow Melee opponents. Intercept and Hamstring are primary attacks against any opponent, especially

those that are ranged and Pummel or Shield Bash will interrupt casters many times.

Talent Spec

For the most part, the best talent spec for a PvP Warrior is the Arms/Fury Hybrid because of the Mortal

Strike you gain at the end of the Arms tree. You will have three choices for your specialization here –

www.PvPBible.com

36

poleaxes, maces, or swords. Remember that the mace proc that existed for a long time has been nerfed

so there is no real major difference between your choices except for the weapon you get.

Arms - 58 Fury - 13 Protection - 0

Deflection 5/5 Cruelty 5/5

Improved Charge 2/2 Unbridled Wrath 5/5

Iron Will 3/3 Blood Craze 3/3

Tactical Mastery 3/3

Improved Overpower 2/2

Anger Management 1/1

Impale 2/2

Deep Wounds 3/3

Two Handed Weapon

Specialization 3/3

Taste for Blood 3/3

Sweeping Strikes 1/1

Sword Specialization 5/5

Improved Hamstring 3/3

Trauma 2/2

Second Wind 2/2

Mortal Strike 1/1

Strength of Arms 2/2

Improved Mortal Strikes 3/3

Sudden Death 3/3

Endless Rage 1/1

Blood Frenzy 2/2

Wrecking Crew 5/5

Bladestorm 1/1

www.PvPBible.com

37


Your greatest strength is your enhanced stamina pool and your ability to deal massive burst damage

very quickly and often. You can crowd control multiple opponents and with more than one AoE attack,

you are a very powerful foe in Battlegrounds and Arena PvP.

On the flip side, your limited movement and range makes it hard to combat ranged fighters and can be

very frustrating if they are skilled at kiting. You have almost no ranged damage ability and your moves to

close that range can be countered by a skilled opponent, rendering you almost completely impotent in

battle.

Your Gear

For a Warrior, the clear and obvious most important gear is the weapon you carry – the piece that deals

the most possible damage. For the most part, the slower the weapon you get the higher its damage

output, making it important to get a slow weapon – ideally one that is at least 3.4 or slower when 2

handed. You will also want to look for the highest possible top end for your damage to max out your

critical hits. The stats that come with two handed weapons are some of the most useful out there, but

you should make sure they are actually the right stats for your situation first. The stats section earlier in

this guide will give you an idea of what kind of stats you should be looking for.

For Arms Warriors, you are going to have even more decisions to make as well as you have three

specializations to choose from – poleaxes, swords, and maces. At one time, the Mace spec was the best

because it offered a proc that stunned the enemy. That proc has been nerfed, making the mace spec

just as good as the other two. For that reason, pick up the one that is the best possible damage dealer of

the three with the best stats. You can always change your talent allocation if you find a better sword

later when you are specced for poleaxes. For the rest of your gear, the answer is pretty simple – boost

your basic Warrior stats with Resilience and Stamina to make a well rounded PvP fighter.

Death Knights

Facing off against a Death Knight starts with understanding that at their core, they are still just a melee

class so it shouldn’t be too much tougher than any other melee class. However, unlike those other

melee classes, Death Knights have a few tricks up their sleeves that you need to be ready for, including

Death Grip, a pet in the form of their ghoul, and a boat load of anti-magic spells. While the latter won’t

www.PvPBible.com

38

affect a Warrior all that much, a Death Knight can also pump out the DPS in close range, so you’d better

be ready for whatever they dish out.

To start combat, most Death Knights will use Death Grip to stop you from using Charge and getting your

stun in. They might also start with Chains of Ice to slow you and keep you from closing distance until

they get you with a few ranged attacks and diseases. You should use Demoralizing Shout before they get

off their Strangulate spell and make sure to keep from getting snared. Mortal Strike should be used

repeatedly as well while you watch out for whatever kind of presence they activate for the fight.

For the most part, you can use your normal strategy. Make sure to keep the fight short and use things

like Flurry and Berserk because you are going up against a Plate wearing class that can heal itself while

dealing you DoTs. You have the bigger bite, but you need to get it in faster.

Druids

Druids will attack you in a number of different ways and you must respond to them in the same manner.

If they attack you like a mage, treat them like one, but if they go into

melee, do so yourself and start attacking. Faerie Fire is a big one to

watch out for in their casting form – use Pummel right away if they try to

use it. If they remain in Feral form and close to melee, use Disarm and

start bashing them with your powerful attacks. Against Bear Form

Druids, use Sunder Armor and against Cat Form Druids, use stun. They

have lower health than other melee classes, so you can deal some hefty

damage pretty quickly. Try to keep your Nature Resistance high as well if

you know you will be facing Druids in PvP – this will help reduce the

damage you take significantly.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – This only works if they don’t cast first. If they use Moonfire or something similar,

switch to Berserker stance and Use intercept instead.

2. Hamstring – Use this repeatedly – they will use their shapeshifts to get out of it, but you can use

up their mana and waste their time by doing so.

www.PvPBible.com

39

3. Demoralizing Shout – Only against Feral Druids

4. Go to Berserker Stance and use Death Wish to break fear and become immune for 30 seconds

5. Mortal Strike

Their Attacks

1. Entangling Roots – You can remove this with your Trinket. The second time, use intimidating

shout – after that the attack will be much weaker.

2. Bash – They will stun you with this –again your trinket helsp here. Use Pummel to interrupt their

heals.

3. Cyclone – Same as above.

Finishing them Off

1. Whirlwind

2. Mortal Strike

3. Whirlwind – Continue this pattern until they are low on health – duration will depend on what

form they are in.

4. Execute – Use this when they are close to death.

A Druid’s primary strategy is to heal and wear you down. Use Mortal Strike repeatedly and stun them

whenever they enter casting form to keep this from happening.

Hunter

A Hunter’s pet should be essentially ignored at all times. The pet is only useful to them when they are

using it for crowd control and since your goal is to get into melee,

it is a waste of time to even try and kill it. Use Intercept to get

close and Hamstring to keep them there. Stuns and Disarm are

very useful if you can get him to stay for a second and then

attack as hard as you can. You can hit the pet however if you are

www.PvPBible.com

40

snared and need to build rage. Also, be sure to be in Berserker Stance so you can use Intercept often.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – If they shoot you first, switch to shield and sword and rush in on them.

2. Piercing Howl – This will slow them by as much as 50% making the fight a bit easier.

3. Demoralizing Shout

4. Mortal Strike

5. Hamstring

6. Berserker Stance and Berserker Rage

Their Attacks

1. Freezing Trap – They will stand on this trap as you run toward them to freeze you and get back

to range. Switch into Berserker and use Intercept right away to continue and close the gap.

2. Scatter Shot – They will use this the next time you enter melee to get away. Use Intimidating

Shout to fear them for 8 seconds and get back into melee again.

3. Wing Clip – If they use this to get away again, use your trinket and then follow with Piercing

Howl.

Finishing them Off

1. Whirlwind

2. Mortal Strike – continue using these two in succession until they are near death.

3. Execute – Finish them off when they go low on health with this move.

Hunters are only a problem while they are far away. Your only goal should be to get into melee range

and hit them then. If you can do that, they have no defenses. You will

need to mitigate ranged damage as much as possible though to keep

from dying early.

Mage

Mages are easy on paper because you use the same basic idea over and

over again. Use your Pummel as the basic response to their casting and

then use Intercept when they run to stop them from using Blink.

www.PvPBible.com

41

Hamstring will keep them in place while you hit them and with Recklessness on you can make sure to

land some seriously powerful blows. If you can outlast a Mage’s mana pool, you will win the fight. Keep

in mind that they will likely have their Mana Shield up, so HP is not necessarily a telling sign against a

Mage.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge

2. Hamstring

3. Berserker Stance and Berserker Rage

4. Death Wish – Blocks fear and makes you immune for 30 seconds.

5. Mortal Strike

Their Attacks

1. Frost Nova – They will use this immediately when you hit melee range and then Polymorph you

to get back to their own range. Use your trinket to remove the effects and when you can

interrupt Polymorph.

2. Blink – They will use Blink as soon as Pummel wears off to get away. Use Intercept to close the

gap again.

Finishing them Off

1. Whirlwind

2. Mortal Strike

3. Intimidating Shout – Use this to interrupt their Frost Nova cast if they use it.

4. Whirlwind

5. Execute

Though it is not included above, it is assumed that you will use Pummel repeatedly to interrupt their

casting and keep them from hitting you with major nukes. They have powerful spells that you cannot

really block but can keep them from getting off. If you are facing an Ice Mage, they may be even tougher

with Frostbite and Ice Block in hand. Bandage right away if they use Ice Block and try to deal as much

damage as possible when in melee range.

www.PvPBible.com

42

Paladin

Warriors have the hardest time against Paladins for a few reasons. They are basically a cross between

melee and casting with the heaviest armor in the game and the

ability to heal at will. You should be using disarm while they are in

melee range and Pummel when they try to cast on you. Hamstring

should be a regular member of your attack sequence as well to hold

them in place if they try to run and use Sunder Armor on their Plate

to weaken their defenses. They are hard to hit because of their

defenses and bubbles and they will heal to essentially give

themselves a second and third life so you need to be aware of what

you are dealing with early on and except a long, drawn out fight. If

you can outlast their mana, you can stand a chance.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – They cannot really counter this so make sure to get it off.

2. Hamstring

3. Demoralizing Shout – Keep this up as often as possible to reduce their Attack Power.

4. Go to Berserker Stance and use Berserker Rage

5. Death Wish

6. Mortal Strike

Their Attacks

1. Hammer of Justice – This is a popular leading move for Paladins. Use your trinket to counter it

and continue.

2. Blessing of Freedom – They will use this to remove your snares and become immune to

additional snares you might cast. Continue if they do as normal and recast.

3. Divine Shield – This is the big bubble you must look out for. You cannot really stop it, so just heal

yourself when they cast it with bandages and if your health is still high try to interrupt it and

continue attacking.

Finishing them Off

www.PvPBible.com

43

1. Whirlwind – Get back to range for Intercept here

2. Intercept – If they use their trinket to remove the stun here, continue as planned.

3. Mortal Strike

4. Whirlwind

5. Execute – Only when their health is low.

Paladins are hard but predictable. They will use their heals to stay alive and then slowly wear you down.

Use Pummel as often as you can to interrupt heals and then repeat with Mortal Strike to keep your

debuff up on them. If they cast Repentance on you, make sure to use Berserker Rage to remove the

effect.

Priest

Priests are pure casters, so you will want to stick with Pummel and then use Mortal Strike in between. If

they use fear on you, cast Berserker Rage and counter it quickly to return

to the fight. Hamstring is your best bet to slow them from running while

Intercept will bring them back. If you can cast Pummel and Disarm while

in melee, you will have all the time you need to land a few heavy blows

and end the fight.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – If they use Instant Casts to block this, use Intercept

instead and continue.

2. Death Wish – Used to block fear, keep it on at all times.

3. Hamstring

4. Berserker Stance

5. Mortal Strike

6. Whirlwind

Their Attacks

1. Psychic Scream – This is pretty much useless against you because of your Death Wish and

Berserker Rage, so the only thing you need to do is move in and kill them.

Finishing them Off

www.PvPBible.com

44

1. Intercept from distance

2. Mortal Trike

3. Whirlwind

4. Execute

Fighting a Priest with a Warrior should be a breeze. They will attempt to heal often, but with Pummel in

hand and Mortal Strike on your bar, you can keep them from doing pretty much anything you don’t

want them to do and move in for the kill at your leisure.

Rogue

You are going to want to work to disarm a Rogue as quickly as possible and keep them from running

away from you. Hit them with Hamstring early and make sure to use Overpower on them to get past

their consistent dodging. Don’t let them get far away where they can use

Vanish and always have some Free Action Potions on hand if they stunlock

you. Thunderclap is another good option not listed below against Rogues as it

will break their stealth. Usually, a few hits will take care of a Rogue with ease

though.

Attack Sequence

1. Start in Defensive Stance to keep them from doing too much damage

early with their opener and combos

2. Demoralizing Shout – Only use this when they are visible and you are

unlocked.

3. Piercing Howl

4. Berserker Stance

5. Death Wish

6. Mortal Strike

Their Attacks

1. Evasion – They will use this to dodge your attacks for up to 15 seconds. You can remove

Crippling Poison with your PvP trinket and get away in this time and then recast Piercing Howl to

keep them from dropping combat and restealthing.

www.PvPBible.com

45

2. Vanish – They will vanish from your hamstring and reopen with this. Use Piercing Howl to keep it

from happening.

3. Gouge – This will stun you and give them time to restealth. Use Berserker Rage to remove the

effect and follow up with Intercept

Finishing them off

1. Hamstring

2. Whirlwind

3. Mortal Strike

4. Whirlwind

5. Execute – Only use this when their health gets low

Throughout the fight, the Rogue will use Cloak of Shadows and Vanish to get back into stealth so they

can reopen. Bandage when they do this and try to outlast their attacks. If you can do this and get back

into melee where you can attack, you can stand a chance.

Shaman

Shamans have one thing to deal with and that is their totems. You will need to be carefully attuned to

the totems as they set them down – make sure to destroy them as

soon as they hit the ground and regardless of which totems they are

using, knock them down. Use Disarm, Pummel, Mortal Strike, and

Execute at will and most of all just be patient. Shamans can heal and

are very survivable so wait them out and hit them when you can.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – If they have Grounding Totem down, you cannot do

this. Just attack manually after that.

2. Piercing Howl

3. Demoralizing Shout – refresh constantly

4. Go into Berserker Stance and use Hamstring

5. Berserker Rage

6. Death Wish

www.PvPBible.com

46

7. Mortal Strike

8. Whirlwind

Their Attacks

1. Nature’s Swiftness – They will use this to heal when they are low on health – keep your Mortal

Strike active to counter as much as you can of it.

Finishing them Off

1. Run away from the Shaman to get into Intercept Range

2. Intercept

3. Mortal Strike

4. Whirlwind

5. Execute

A Shaman will try to heal as much as possible so use Pummel at will to

interrupt their casts and make sure to keep Mortal Strike active if they get

one through. Intimidating Shout is another good cast to keep active as it will

also continue to interrupt.

Warlock

Warlocks will use Fear on you repeatedly regardless of your Death Wish, so

use Pummel to counteract it and Berserker Rage when they land it. Ignore

their pet for the most part as it is usually not very useful. Otherwise, approach

them as normal casters and use Pummel as much as possible to wear down

their mana. If they do manage to cause you trouble with their pet, use Intimidating shout on it to

remove it from battle for a few seconds.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – They can usually hit you first because of their long range spells – If they do, switch to

Berserker and use Intercept

2. Death Wish

3. Hamstring

www.PvPBible.com

47

4. Sweeping Strikes

5. Mortal Strike

6. Berserker Stance (if not already in it)

7. Whirlwind

8. Mortal Strike

Their Attacks

1. Death Coil – They will usually use this as soon as you get into melee range. It cannot be blocked

by Death Wish so you will just have to reengage after it happens with Intercept

2. Fear – If Death Wish fades, they will use fear. If they land fear, make sure to use Berserker Rage

quickly to break fear.

Finishing them Off

1. Whirlwind

2. Mortal Strike

3. Execute

When the Warlock casts Death Coil the first time, they will become pretty much defenseless against you

so you should start unloading damage as will.

Warrior

When you fight another Warrior, the winner is usually a combination of who has better gear and who is

smarter in battle. Disarming will be tossed back and forth a lot (make

sure to use Disarm as often as possible yourself) and make sure to keep

your stamina and strength high if you know you will be fighting a fellow

warrior ahead of time. Also, start with disarm and use your stuns as

often as possible – because you are going to be in melee range anyways,

don’t waste time on attacks like Hamstring, but fight smart and

carefully. If you make a mistake it can mean big damage for you.

Attack Sequence

1. Charge – Whoever uses charge first will get this in; if it’s not you, just turn on auto attack

www.PvPBible.com

48

2. Death Wish


4. Hamstring – keep this applied

5. Berserker Stance

6. Berserker Rage

7. Mortal Strike

8. Whirlwind

Their Attacks

1. Your own Attacks – At level 70, you are pretty much fighting yourself, so know your attacks well

and think about what you might do in any given situation. This is like the end game of a chess

match – either of you can make the same moves, but who makes them best will win.

Finishing them Off

1. Back out of Range and use Intercept

2. Mortal Strike

3. Whirlwind

4. Execute

These battles are usually very short and come down to the best strategy (and when disparate, the best

gear). Keep your demoralizing shout and hamstring up and you should be able to stand a good chance in

this battle most of the time.

Druids

Druids are incredibly versatile in PvP because of their multiple forms and ability to quickly transition

between them. Even in losing battles, you can give your opponents enough headaches to frustrate them

or even turn the tables if well played enough. Because of that versatility, you will find that Druids are

good in almost every situation.

Your ability to shapeshift between different forms makes you essentially immune to Polymorph,

Entangled Roots, and Frost Nova and as a Tauren Druid, you also have War Stomp to add to your

www.PvPBible.com

49

repertoire as a crowd control ability. Your own Entangling Roots ability will be used often against any

casting classes and melee classes while the speed of your cat form will be vital to get away from

enemies or to kite them for long range while casting your own DoTs. Other good attacks for Druids

include Nature’s Grasp for holding Melee classes in place. While Feral Druids will choose between their

bear and cat form in a fight and switch often, Balance Druids will stay in Moonkin form against almost

every class to continue casting.

Healing is the final part of the Druid’s balanced attack and will be used even without speccing for it. You

will want to heal early and often, even more so if you are fighting a melee class. Don’t waste any heals

but don’t drop too low either.

Talent Spec

Choosing the “best” talent spec for Druids in PvP is hard because there truly are a few different options.

He two major choices are Balanced or Feral – casting or melee. This particular guide will go with the

numbers as about 70% of PvP Druids use the Feral build because of its versatility but don’t be put off of

the Balanced Druid as a casting Druid is a very powerful opponent.

Balance Feral Restoration

Nature’s Grasp 1/1 Ferocity 5/5 Furor 5/5

Feral Aggression 5/5 Naturalist 5/5

Savage Fury 2/2 Natural Shapeshifter 3/3

Survival Instincts 1/1 Omen of Clarity 1/1

Sharpened Claws 3/3 Master Shapeshifter 2/2

Shredding Attacks 2/2

Predatory Strikes 3/3

Primal Fury 2/2

Primal Precision 2/2

Faerie Fire 1/1

Heart of the Wild 5/5

Survival of the Fittest 3/3

Primal Tenacity 3/3

Leader of the Pack 1/1

www.PvPBible.com

50

Improved Leader of the Pack 2/2

Predatory Instincts 5/5

Mangle 1/1

Improved Mangle 3/3

Rend and Tear 5/5

Berserk 1/1


It is almost impossible to crowd control a Druid because of their shapeshifting abilities and with healing,

stealth, and high armor combined, they are very hard to kill as well.

On the flip side, Druids are susceptible to fear (watch out for Hunters when in beast form) and do not

heal very quickly. Additionally, with slow casts, any class with solid interrupts stands a greater chance of

defeating them.

Your Gear

Because there are three distinctly different types of Druids and countless different mediums in between,

you have plenty of options as to how you will build your Druid’s gear depending on their spec. Feral

Druids should focus on stats from weapons and stats alone as they will not actually use the weapons you

give them; however there are some specific Druid weapons that will add damage output to your stats,

so look out for those. Additionally, you should look for item slots to boost stats such as strength, agility,

resilience and stamina for Feral Druids and spell power, healing, and spell crit for Balance and Resto

Druids.

Death Knights

You should stick with your bear form throughout the fight because it will help to mitigate much of the

physical damage output. Your damage output will fall as a result and they will probably stay at a

distance and hit with attacks like Icy Touch and Death Coil to keep their attacks from getting blocked by

your higher armor in bear form. You need to be able to land your snares when it is time to heal as well.

Nature’s Grasp is vital and Cyclone will be used to stop them from striking. However, make sure they

www.PvPBible.com

51

have already used Mind Freeze (waste a spell to get them to use this), so that you are not blocked from

casting when you need a heal.

Some DKs will also be Unholy specced with Anti-Magic Shell, so you need to be sure to watch for this –

they can use it at inopportune times to get out of your debuffs and snares and hit back rather hard.

Most fights between Druids and DKs will be races between cooldowns in which you need to be sure you

have your attacks up when they do not.

Keep in mind as well that if you are well trained with your cat form, you should use it at your own risk to

hit for higher damage and attempt a stun defeat of your enemy. This is harder, but if you can pull it off,

it is hard for them to counter.

Druids

Your talent spec and your opponent’s talent spec will largely decide exactly how this fight is fought. For

the most part, Restoration and Balance Druids are very similar in how they fight (and Resto Druids are

almost never found in PvP) while Hybrids and Feral Druids will vary greatly

in how they approach each fight. Casting Druids should be worn down in

mana so that you can outlast them. If you can interrupt their casts and

snare them repeatedly, you can do well against them. Against Feral

Druids, you will do the exactly opposite – staying as far away as possible

and attacking when they least expect it in cat form with stealth or in

casting form with your spells.

Attack Sequence

1. Start stealthed in cat form

2. Pounce

3. Mangle

4. Switch to Caster and use Faerie Fire

5. Return to Cat and use Shred twice

6. Rip – You should already have four or five combo points on your opponent at this point and this

should put a hefty debuff on them to top it off

www.PvPBible.com

52

7. Back in caster form, heal with rejuvenation

8. Switch to Bear form

9. Enrage

10. Mangle – Repeat this whenever the timer is up.

11. Lacerate

12. Bash (when they are in healing form)

This fight will go on for a long time. The list above is just a common attack sequence to help you out in

the fight. For most fights between Druids, the goal is to outlast their Mana, so attack when you can and

be conservative. Expect a long fight between the two of you.

Hunter

You want the pet out of your way quickly, so use Hibernate or Root on them to knock them out of your

way. If they have high Nature resist, these spells may not work on

them at all. Use Barkskin if this is the case and ignore the pet as

much as possible. You will want to get into the dead zone on the

hunter of about 5-8 yards and attack them. The strategy below

outlines fighting them in Feral form, but keep in mind that this is

relatively risky because of their fear beast ability. If you can beat

their mana pool, you can usually beat them as they will lose almost

all DPS when they lose mana.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, use Pounce – If they have a freezing trap at their feet, you will be frozen here for 12

seconds. Switch to the Caster form immediately if this happens.

2. Mangle

3. Faerie Fire

4. Shred

5. Shred

6. Rip

7. In Caster form, close the gap to 5-8 yards and cast Rejuvenation

www.PvPBible.com

53

8. Abolish Poison

9. Bark Skin

Their Attacks

1. If the hunter manages to get back to ranged fighting position at any time, use entangling roots

on them to hold them in place, followed by Nature’s Grasp.

Finishing them off

1. Switch into Bear Form and use Feral Charge if they get more than 8 yards away.

2. Mangle

3. Bash

4. Mangle – use this repeatedly until they are low on health

5. Lacerate –Use this to finish them off.

Use Frenzied Regeneration to gain some health back if you find yourself really low but close to victory.

Mage

Fighting a Mage is best started in cat form so you can stealth them, but if they catch you first, it can be a

good idea to start in a different form so that you can break their polymorph

when they cast it. They will also counterspell you often, so that if you use

your heals they block it. Use Starfire to counter that if you can. For the most

part, healing shouldn’t matter until you get rather far into the fight – you

simply want to deal damage fast and heavy in cat form.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, cast Ravage – if they use Blink to get out of Melee range,

use Dash to get back in.

2. Faerie Fire

3. Mangle

4. Shred – Use this twice

5. Maim

www.PvPBible.com

54

6. In Caster Form, cast Healing Touch – only if the Mage is stunned by Maim to ensure they don’t

Counterspell you.

7. Entangling Roots

Their Attacks

1. Frost Armor – When you attack, they will attempt to snare you with this. Switch to Caster form

and use Entangling roots in this case and if they have already used up their Blink, they are stuck.

2. Frost Nova – Switch forms to break out of this and pretty much any other snare they throw at

you.

Finishing them Off

1. Back in Cat Form, use Mangle


3. Ferocious Bite

If they manage to land any heavy damage causing spells on you, you will need to switch into casting

form to heal. However, counterspell can be a problem here, so try to snare them first. Never use Heal

over Times or they will take your spell.

Paladin

This is a tough fight and a battle to see if they can heal and regenerate mana faster than you can hit

them. Use Moonfire, Faerie Fire and Dire Bear form to beat them

down quickly and because their DPS is lower than other melee

classes, you can usually kite them in cat form and build combo points

with your basic attacks.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, start with Pounce

2. Mangle

3. Faerie Fire – Keep this applied throughout the fight

www.PvPBible.com

55


5. Rip

6. Mangle

7. Shred –Use this three times

8. Maim

Their Attacks

1. Divine Shield – This will be used when they get low on health to regenerate through healing and

essentially restart their health. If you stick to fast damage dealing, this becomes pointless in

time.

Finishing them Off

1. Caster Form

2. Regrowth

3. Rejuvenation

4. Switch back to Cat Form and repeat your Mangle, Shred, Maim combo until they die

It will take a lot of time to kill a Paladin because they can heal a bunch and have a lot of armor. If you

can run them out of mana first, it is actually a slightly easier fight, so make that your goal.

Priest

Priests can pretty much heal faster than you can hurt them, so this fight

becomes something of a time consumer. You will really want to start

outlasting their mana and maintain high DPS throughout the fight

without using your own mana to be effective. Never get too low on

health yourself lest you get feared and silenced to death. Also, remove

Vampiric Embrace and use Healing Touch instead of any HoTs you have

as they can be dispelled. Feral Form is immune to Mana Burn, so it is

your form of choice for now and the more you can interrupt them, the

better you will perform.

www.PvPBible.com

56

Attack Sequence

1. In stealthed cat form, start with Ravage

2. Faerie Fire

3. Mangle

4. Shred – Do this twice

5. Maim

6. Switch to caster and use Healing Touch

7. Rejuvenation

Their Attacks

1. Psychic Scream – They will try to use this right away if they can. Wait for it to fade away and

then return to your attack sequence

2. Silence – Shadow Priests can wallop you with this, so don’t let your health get low to where this

can kill you.

Finishing them Off

1. Switch to Dire Bear Form

2. Mangle

3. Lacerate as soon as you have the rage you need

4. Frenzied Regeneration if you get low on health and have no options

5. Bash – if low on health and have not used Frenzied Regeneration

6. Healing Touch in Caster form – if you have no other healing options

7. Rejuvenation

8. Cat form and then return to the Mangle, Shred, Maim combo until they are dead

This is a tossup fight. If the Priest is good with mana and you have to wear down their pool first, it can

take 20 minutes to beat them, but you will beat them. Just be patient and wait them out.

Rogue

www.PvPBible.com

57

Rogues usually get the first hit in because their stealth is better than yours, so you will want to start in

Dire Bear Form and try to outlast them. Use your roots and stuns and time your heals well so that you

stand a chance in this fight. Stop them from vanishing and healing on you at

any given point in time and when you can, use a claw attack on them before

they start fighting to block their openers. If you can mess up their timers as

well, you can be more effective. Finally, don’t run too far as they can start

hitting you with their throwing weapons and interrupt your heals and then

spring back to you in a split second.

Attack Sequence

1. In Dire Bear Form, cast Faerie Fire to block their stealth

2. Enrage


4. Mangle – repeat this whenever it cools down

5. Lacerate – Use this whenever it is available

6. Bash – Only for use at 50% health to surprise the Rogue

7. Switch to caster form away from the Rogue and cast Rejuvenation and Abolish Poison

Their Attacks

1. Stuns – They will try to stun you when you are in casting form. Use your trinket to break the

stun.

2. Cloak of Shadows – They will use this to remove debuffs and then use Vanish to restealth and

attack you. Stay in Dire Bear Form and use Demoralizing Roar to pull them from stealth.

3. Adrenaline Rush – Run back out of melee range if they use this.

Finishing them Off

1. Barkskin

2. Faerie Fire

3. Back in Bear Form, use Mangle

4. Lacerate

5. Frenzied Regenaration – only for use when you get low on health

www.PvPBible.com

58

There isn’t anything complicated here, just a lot of repetition and careful timing. If you can combat the

Rogues combos and stay in Dire Bear form, you can catch them off guard and stand a chance of beating

them in combat.

Shaman

Shamans are hard to fight and harder to prepare for. They have a very

similar setup to you in that they can act as a healer, melee fighter and

ranged class all at once and that makes them very hard to combat. If

possible, watch them before you fight them to see how they attack and

what you can expect in combat. If you know their spec, it can be a huge

advantage. They do have a smaller mana pool than Druids do as well so

you can attempt to outlast it as best as possible and always try to knock out their totems with Moonfire

Rank 1. If they cast a shock, remember they are on the same timer so youc can be safe knowing another

one isn’t coming for a few seconds. Their range is a bit shorter than yours as well so you can get a little

further back and attack from there.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, use Pounce

2. Mangle

3. Faerie Fire – keep this up throughout battle


5. Maim

6. In Caster Form, use Healing Touch

7. Nature’s Grasp

8. Switch to Dire Bear Form

9. Feral Charge – interrupt their heals

10. Enrage

11. Mangle

12. Lacerate

www.PvPBible.com

59

This is your best strategy against a Shaman because there is very little they can do against it. They may

try to kite you, but with less mana than you, you can just outlast their mana if they do and then strike.

Warlock

When fighting a Warlock, you have a few choices. First, you can simply outlast them if you are a Resto

Druid as you will have more mana than them – you can simply heal faster than

they deal DPS. In Feral form, you will have a tougher fight as they load you up with

DoTs, rendering your HP largely useless. Always try to stay about 70% health if you

can because of peak potential that Warlocks have and use your Decurse as often

as possible to counteract the Warlocks debuffs. Imps can be ignored and other

pets can be stopped with Nature’s Grasp and make sure to keep Regrowth and

Rejuvenation up with a Succubus.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, cast Ravage

2. Switch to caster and cast Faerie Fire

3. Decurse as needed throughout the fight.

4. Entangling Roots – Use this if they try to run at all.

5. Regrowth

6. Rejuvenation

7. Switch to Dire Bear and cast Feral Charge

8. Enrage

9. Mangle

10. Lacerate

11. Frenzied Regeneration – If you need to regain health

12. Bash – To stop the Warlock and heal in caster form if necessary

Their Attacks

1. Fear – They will fear you as soon as you are in Caster form. Use your trinket to break it in caster

form. If they cast again, wait for it to be over and cast Rejuvenation.

www.PvPBible.com

60

2. Death Coil – They will use this after a Feral Charge most often to get back out of Melee. Go into

Caster and use Entangling Roots when it fades.

Finishing them Off

1. In Cat Form, use Mangle

2. Shred

3. Ferocious Bite

Warlocks have a lot of things you cannot counter immediately, so the fight can get a little tough. Heal

often and try to outlast their ability to fear you and their DoTs and you may be able to eke out a win.

Warrior

When fighting a warrior, you need to try and outlast them as long as possible in your Dire Bear form. If

you are A Balance Spec, you are going to want to keep your distance and

cast as much as you can without them getting into melee range – Starfire

and Wrath will be common casts. In Cat form, you can also do a ton of

damage, unloading bleed effects. Save bash for later as you will need to

heal at some point and make sure to keep Nature’s Grasp available to

create distance between you and them. They have Pummel, so don’t cast

anything unless you have that distance.

Attack Sequence

1. In Cat Form, cast Ravage, followed by Faerie Fire

2. Mangle

3. Shred – Use this Twice

4. Rip

5. Switch to Caster Form and move away

6. Barkskin

7. Rejuvenation

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

61

2. Intimidating Shout – They will use this when you are in caster form. If they do, use your trinket

to break it and try to get them locked or stunned.

3. Intercept – If they get into Melee range with this, use Barkskin, still available to you while

stunned.

Finishing them Off

1. Go into Dire Bear form

2. Enrage

3. Mangle

4. Demoralizing Roar

5. Mangle – Repeat at every cooldown

6. Lacerate

7. Frenzied Regeneration – Use this whenever your health gets low or use Bash with Regrowth and

Rejuvenation.

This will likely be yet another long fight for Druids, but if you heal regularly and hit the warrior often

with your Mangle, Lacerate combo, you can win eventually. Keep them in place, keep your distance

when casting, and hit hard.

Hunters

In PvP, Hunters are among the best against most classes due to their wide array of ability and strengths

in keeping foes away from them. They have their weaknesses though, mainly their complete lack of any

melee attack abilities and their inability to mitigate damage if they get stuck in Melee. See how long

your Hunter lasts when they get dropped beside a Warrior.

But with the ability to set traps and block paths to the Hunter and to constantly interrupt and break

aggros against casting classes and Rogues with Feign Death and Disengage, Hunters add a whole lot to

their already very impressive stable of damage dealing abilities.

www.PvPBible.com

62

Talent Build

For Hunters, the best talent build is one that combines Marksmanship and Survival. You want to ensure

the most possible DPS in every fight, but you also want to maximize your traps and your ability to get

away when needed as provided in Survival.

Beast Mastery - 14 Marksmanship - 53 Survival – 3

Improved Aspect of the Hawk

5/5

Focused Aim 3/3 Hawk Eye 3/3

Endurance Training 5/5 Lethal Shots 5/5

Thick Hide 3/3 Careful Aim 3/3

Aspect Mastery 1/1 Improved Hunter’s Mark 3/3

Mortal Shots 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot 3/3

Aimed Shot 1/1

Rapid Killing 2/2

Improved Stings 3/3

Readiness 1/1

Combat Experience 2/2

Ranged Weapon Specialization

5/5

Trueshot Aura 1/1

Master Marksman 5/5

Rapid Recuperation 2/2

Wild Quiver 3/3

Silencing Shot 1/1

Marked for Death 5/5

Chimera Shot 1/1

www.PvPBible.com

63


Hunters can instantly cast damage from the longest range in the game (41 yards with talents) and

multiple abilities to handle crowd control, DoT, and mana draining shots. With multiple shots to ensure

constant DPS, they can take out most foes very quickly.

However, Hunters have nothing to counter with when they get dropped into melee range. If a Hunter

loses their ranged advantage, they quickly become a much weaker opponent and can be defeated

relatively easily.

Your Gear

For Hunters, your gear largely depends on your spec, but for the most part, Hunters should be focused

on maxing out their Stamina, Critical Strike Rating, Attack Power, and Resilience for PvP with the

constant focus that goes with Agility as the primary stat for ranged fighters. Your ranged weapon

selection is incredibly important as well, not just for stat boosts but for DPS. You should look for one

that is slower and that has the highest possible critical strike rate – especially for PvP. DPS over time is

not as important here as burst damage. Look for nothing faster than 2.9 for a ranged weapon. Your

melee weapon is only a stat booster – if you get into melee combat as a hunter, you will probably be

trying to do everything you can to get out of it, so don’t worry about your damage output.

Death Knights

Always start the fight with a frost trap at your feet. You will use the same basic shot rotation you use

against most opponents in this instance as kiting is still the best way to defeat a melee class character.

However, keep in mind that they have Death Grip, which can be as low as a 25 second cooldown or have

a 1 second stun proc if they get the glyph for it. You will need to make sure to keep out of this possibility

as much as possible or you could get hit hard in that 1 second as you disengage. They also have Icy

Chains which will slow your movement speed for 10 seconds and Icy Touch which will slow casting speed

on a revolving basis.

Your best strategy is to use crowd control on the ghoul and then try to stay as far away as possible. Your

max range is longer now in WotLK and can outmatch theirs, but you need to maintain it. You should use

Wing Clip and Disengage to get out of their attacks and always have your traps down. Use Concussive

Shot to slow their advance and Chimera Shot to disarm them right before they hit with Death Grip if you

www.PvPBible.com

64

can. If you get gripped, make sure to use your Master’s Call (if BM specced) or your PvP trinket to get

out – the same goes for Chains of Ice. At first, a Death Knight seems a bit tougher to deal with when

kiting, but in general, a Hunter will always outmatch a melee class character if they are well played in

PvP.

Druids

A fight with a Druid is often long and rather gruesome and because they can continually heal

themselves, they can fight for a long time. They can also switch between forms quickly and are generally

considered on par with both Warriors and Rogues in combat style. You

must be patient, use your fears, and be quick to react to anything they do.

Attack Sequence

1. Drop a Freezing Trap at your feet

2. Send in your pet

3. Cast Hunter’s Mark

4. Viper Sting if they are in Caster form – they can remove the

debuff, but cast it anyways.

5. Multishot

6. Concussive Shote

7. Arcane Shot

8. Steady Shot

Their Attacks

1. Entangling Roots – They will use this to snare you and move away from your range. Use your

trinket to get away and continue attacking.

Finishing them Off

1. Multi-shot

2. Arcane Shot

3. Silencing Shot

4. Scatter Shot

www.PvPBible.com

65

5. To finish them off, strafe around the trap and use multi-shot, Arcane Shot, and Silencing shot in

succession until they die.

Your goal here is to interrupt their heals often and to stay out of melee range and use your trinket or

feign death whenever they use or try to use Entangling Roots. It will be along fight, but you should be

able to win it with ease.

Hunter

Facing a hunter, you should strive to hit them as hard and as fast as possible because they will be trying

to do the same thing to you. If they have better gears and stats than you

they will usually have the upper hand, so you should expect, in a fight

with a Hunter for there to be a strong correlation between who wins

and who is the best prepared. Mana really shouldn’t matter in this fight

– only attacking fast and hard.

Attack Sequence

1. Freezing Trap – This will negate their pet’s impact if they send them in.

2. Viper Sting – Start draining their mana quickly – if they run out first, you can easily win.

3. Multi Shot

4. Concussive Shot

5. Bestial Wrath and Beast Within – For Beast Masters only, negates crowd control.

Their Attacks

1. They will seem to mimic you – get used to it as it will be pretty much the way this whole fight

and every Hunter v. Hunter fight goes down.

2. Rapid Fire – They will use this to boost ranged damage – move into melee to negate it.

Finishing them Off

1. Arcane Shot

2. Silencing Shot

3. Scatter Shot

www.PvPBible.com

66

4. Multi Shot

5. Arcane Shot

6. Viper Sting

7. Multi Shot

8. Arcane Shot

9. Steady Shot

As you can see, this can be a long fight with lots of shots in it and a complex shot sequence. However,

you need to maintain this sequence if you want to ensure their mana is drained and that you can attack

them effectively without being trapped or hit hard.

Mage

For Hunters, Mages are usually a pretty easy fight. Your range is longer than theirs so you can keep your

distance and just unload damage on them, while they are forced to use long

casting times for longer attacks and leaving you more open to hit them.

They will probably sheep your pet but that doesn’t really matter – if they do

polymorph you, just have your pet continue to attack while you are waiting.

If they blink into closer range, pretty much use Scatter shot to interrupt

their movements and get back to a good range where you can strike at

them. Usually, once their defenses are down, a Mage will only last for a

couple of powerful hits.

Attack Sequence

1. Freezing Trap – Keeps them out of melee range

2. Deploy your pet

3. Hunter’s Mark

4. Silencing Shot – Silence them for three seconds and unleash damage after this hits.

5. Multi Shot

6. Arcane Shot

7. Steady Shot

www.PvPBible.com

67

Their Attacks

1. Polymorph – They will use this to slow you and kill your pet. Use Scatter shot to confuse the

enemy and block them for 4 seconds. If they use it again, counter with Feign Death.

2. Blink – They will use this to close the range between you quickly – however your freezing trap if

it is set should grab them.

Finishing them Off

1. Arcane Shot

2. Multi Shot

3. Silencing Shot

4. Steady Shot

5. Arcane Shot

The mage should die relatively quickly if you do this method properly – if they are a pure Frost Mage,

they might still be alive and you will need to be more persistent. If they are using Ice Block in particular,

expect a longer fight. If they do manage to get Polymorph on you, make sure your pet is attacking them

to interrupt casts or they will kill you quickly.

Paladin

This is going to be a long and arduous fight, so be patient and learn not to waste your mana on anything

needless such as stings, traps, or your hunter’s mark. They will not really be able to kill you easily, but it

is still going to be rather hard to kill them. Use your kiting methods

well though and stay clear of traps and slows because they have

Blessing of Freedom and will block those attacks. Arcane Shot

should be used at will as well to dispel the Blessings and get your

attacks in. Viper Sting Rank 1 is also another good attack to

continually use as it will drain their mana (even though they will

probably cleanse it as well.

Attack Sequence

www.PvPBible.com

68

1. Deploy your pet

2. Attach Aspect of the Viper – Don’t use any marks or traps though

3. Arcane Shot

4. Multi Shot

5. Silencing Shot

6. Arcane Shot – Strafe away from the enemy to put some distance between you and them.

7. Multi-shot

8. Arcane Shot

9. Multi-Shot

10. Silencing Shot

Their Attacks

1. They will probably not do much in response to your attacks as they will be busy trying to stay

alive and close into melee- keep them doing that and you should be good.

2. Divine Shield – If they get low on health, use a freezing trap and stop to drink. If they use Divine

Shield, run back to attack range and wait.

Finishing them Off

1. Rather than list it all out, just follow the same attack sequence above. Outlast their healing and

stay far away and you will win.

Priest

Priests have the survivability of Paladins but deal the kind of DPS that a Mage can be capable of at times,

making them hard to kill outright or to wait out. Their spec will have a

major impact on how you approach them though – if they are holy, they

are weaker but can last a long time thanks to heals. This means you will

wait out their Mana pool. If they are Shadow, they have higher DPS and

can regenerate mana, as well as fear you and cast shields. In this fight,

www.PvPBible.com

69

your goal will be to keep a distance and stay ahead of their casting times with attacking bursts.

Attack Sequence

1. Freezing Trap

2. Deploy your Pet

3. Viper Sting – This won’t do much right away but if a fight goes on for a while, it can be effective.

4. Concussive Shot

5. Silencing Shot

6. Multi Shot

7. Arcane Shot

Their Attacks

1. Mana Burn – They will try to use this early to lower your mana. Use Feign Death, Silencing Shot,

and Scatter shot to keep them from casting this on you.

Finishing them Off

1. Arcane Shot – Draw them toward your freezing trap with this attack – when they trigger it attack

as much as you can before moving back out of range.

2. Set another Frost Trap and repeat the last step until they die.

This is another long fight, so just sit back and be patient, making sure to wait it out as you keep your

cooldowns up. They will try to overwhelm you in DPS if they are a Shadow spec, so just use your

interrupts as much as you can to overcome them.

Rogue

Rogues are a tough fight for every class, so don’t feel bad if you have a hard time here. They are

essentially a cross between the melee output of Warriors and the agility and speed

of Hunters. They will get up front and attack you easily so you need to make sure

and pay attention to them and never lose track of them or let them go into Stealth

unbidden. Use your Flare ability to break their stealth and traps to stop them from

www.PvPBible.com

70

getting too close to you. Kite them normally if they activate a trap and use your Wingclip ability when

they get too close. Survival is still most important in this fight though, so focus on outlasting them and

not dying and deal damage when you have a chance and you should be alright.

Attack Sequence

1. Frost Trap – Don’t use Freezing Trap – Rogues can negate it with Cloak of Shadows

2. Hunter’s Mark – you can now see them even when they Stealth or Vanish

3. Flare – Stand on a flare and the Rogue cannot use Vanish to get an opener on you. You will have

negated their stealth abilities at this point.

4. Concussive Shot

5. Serpent Sting

Their Attacks

1. Evasion/Sprint – They will get to you quicker this way, but should not matter if you continue to

attack as normal and keep your traps up.

2. Cloak of Shadows – This will remove all debuffs and allow them to use Vanish to reopen. If they

do this, expect Cheap Shot and Shiv – use your trinket to break the snare and reply with a

Scatter shot to confuse them and get back to ranged fighting.

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Trap

2. Arcane Shot

3. Multi Shot

4. Scatter Shot

5. Scatter Shot again if they use blind on you – follow up with Deterance or Raptor Strike to get

away.

6. Silencing Shot

7. Arcane Shot

8. Multi-shot

9. Arcane Shot

10. Multi-shot

www.PvPBible.com

71

As you can see, this will take a long time, so just continue laying in your shots and waiting for the fight to

be over with. You must truly anticipate your enemy’s moves if you want to be effective in this kind of

fight though, so be sure to prepare for anything they might do. Stay ahead and you will win.

Shaman

Shamans have a great deal of attacks and totem abilities, making them relatively tough to deal with as a

hunter. They cans melee, deal DPS from long range, and heal all together

no matter what their spec is and they are quite dangerous. They have

quick attacks and instant shots that are relatively powerful and they can

kite very effectively with Frostshock while using Earthshield to block

attacks and wearing Mail armor.

Attack Sequence

1. Frost Trap

2. Deploy your Pet

3. Hunter’s Mark

4. Concussive Shot

5. Viper Sting – Rank 1 – they will cleanse it so don’t waste your mana.

6. Multi-Shot

7. Arcane Shot – continue by strafing around the trap and firing to keep them at arm’s length.

8. Steady Shot

9. Steady Shot

10. Arcane Shot

Their Attacks

1. Frost Shock – They will use this attack to slow you down. Try to keep out of range, but if they

land it, use your trinket.

Finishing them Off

1. Multi Shot

www.PvPBible.com

72

2. Arcane Shot

3. Viper Sting – continue using this three shot combo until they are dead.

Restoration Shamans will make for a long fight, so make sure you are careful with your mana in these

fights. Save Silencing Shot and Scatter Shot for Resto Shamans as well until they are about to heal and

are low on health. Your pet should be continually attacking totems and nothing else as well. The less

totems that are out, the better you will perform in the fight.

Warlock

Warlocks are tough in PvP, but Hunters have a few tools that make them particularly good against them.

Beast masters especially have an upper hand because they are immune to being

feared. Additionally, channeled spells can be stopped by your pet and DoT is

breakable with your fleeing abilities. The longer a fight with a Warlock takes

though, the less chance you have of winning it. You must be able to hit them fast

and hard to do any real damage. Ignore their minion because it is a waste of time

to fight and use as much burst damage as you can from far away.

Attack Sequence

1. Deploy Pet

2. Hunter’s Mark – stay away from the Warlock to keep them from fearing you or your pet right

away.

3. Silencing Shot

4. Multi Shot

5. Arcane Shot

6. Serpent Sting

Their Attacks

1. Death Coil – Warlocks will use this freely when Silencing Shot wears off. Don’t let this happen or

you will die. Lay down a Frost Trap and run away while casting instant shots to keep them at

range. Also use Scatter Shot and Concussive Shot to create distance between you and them.

www.PvPBible.com

73

Finishing them Off

1. Multi-Shot

2. Arcane Shot

3. Silencing Shot – continue this shot sequence until they are dead.

Fear is the bane of your existence in this fight and will keep you from performing well in many fights. To

keep this from becoming an issue, keep your distance and try to keep silences and traps on the Warlock

at all times.

Warrior

Because they are solely melee, Warriors are a bit tough. Toss in their plate armor and high stamina and

they are downright a pain. You need to maintain your range here or the

warrior can knock you out in a matter of seconds as well. But, if you do stay at

distance, you should be able to win. Traps are pretty much useless because

they can use Intercept and Charge to get into melee and jump over your trap.

So, stay out of range of those attacks and be ready for anything.

Attack Sequence

1. Freezing Trap – This is your final safeguard against the Warrior if they enter melee range

2. Concussive Shot – Use this outside 25 yards to stop them from using Charge.

3. Arcane Shot

4. Multi Shot

5. They should hit your trap about now, freezing them – return to distance and set another trap

6. Multi shot

7. Arcane Shot

Their Attacks

1. Intercept – They will use this to stun you for 3 seconds and get into melee range where they can

use Hamstring. Use Scatter Shot to fight this and confuse them and your trinket to break it if

they land the hit.

www.PvPBible.com

74

2. Intimidating Shout – They can fear you for 8 seconds with this attack. Deterrance should be used

to block the effects along with Wing Clip or Raptor Strike to get away to ranged fighting again.

Finishing Them Off

1. Serpent Sting

2. Arcane Shot

3. Silencing Shot

4. Multi-shot

5. Arcane Shot

6. Multi-shot

The fight will likely be over at this point; if they are still alive for some reason, continue with the final

shot sequence until they are. Remember as well – if you give a warrior more than two or three seconds

alone with you, you are as good as dead.

Mages

Mages in PvP are interesting to approach because of the variety of different things that they can do.

They are incredibly powerful right away, but just because a PvE opponent will wait as they are nuked to

kingdom come does not mean a PvP opponent will do the same. The key to playing a Mage is keeping

opponents in place and away from you so that you can land big attacks and not waste mana.

Without any means of healing in battle and with very minimal protection or damage mitigation it is no

wonder that you cannot really strike hard against them in most cases. Your goal in almost every fight will

be to deal damage fast and hard and end the fight early. The longer a fight goes on, the less chance you

have to win. Chill effects followed by Frost Nova and Blink to get away from them and Ice Block to keep

them at bay while you cast are great as you will almost always have Ice specs in your talent build. DPS is

what you will be aiming for with attacks like Arcane Missiles and Scorch dealing heavy damage.

One thing you do have that is incredibly useful though is your ample abilities to crowd control. With

Polymorph, you can remove opponents from battle for 10 seconds – extremely useful in group PvP. Add

www.PvPBible.com

75

your freezes and stuns to the mix and you can hold people in place fairly well as you get back to range

and unleash your true DPS dealers.

Talent Spec

The Mage’s best talent spec in PvP is a toss up, but usually involves a combination of Frost and Arcane.

You will need the benefits of Frost to keep you alive but the fire power of Arcane to kill enemies quickly.

There are those that play PvP with strictly Frost Mages however, slowly wearing down enemies over

time – it works very well even if it is a little slow going.

Arcane – 34 Fire – 0 Frost - 37

Arcane Subtlety 2/2 Improved Frostbolt 5/5

Arcane Focus 5/5 Ice Shards 5/5

Arcane Concentration 5/5 Frostbite 3/3

Arcane Impact 3/3 Improved Frost Nova 2/2

Arcane Fortitude 1/1 Icy Veins 1/1

Improved Mana Shield 2/2 Arctic Reach 2/2

Improved Counterspell 2/2 Shatter 5/5

Arcane Meditation 3/3 Cold Snap 1/1

Improved Blink 2/2 Improved Cone of Cold 3/3

Presence of Mind 1/1 Frozen Core 3/3

Prismatic Cloak 2/2 Winter’s Chill 3/3

Arcane Instability 3/3 Ice Barrier 1/1

Arcane Power 1/1 Shattered Barrier 2/2

Spell Power 2/2 Empowered Frost bolt 2/2


The primary strength that most Mages have is their ability to deal heavy burst damage incredibly fast

early on in a fight. You have low cooldown times and huge mana pools that add to the benefits here and

you can remove pretty much any debuff on your with Ice Block while crowd controlling your opponents

with ease.

www.PvPBible.com

76

For all of your strengths though, a Mage is just plain weak. If you get into melee range somehow, you

can be killed in just a hit or two by most melee ranged fighters and with no mitigation, no healing, and

minimal health, you’re playing with fire if you let this happen.

Your Gear

Gearing for a Mage in PvP is extremely easy. Forget anything about armor or any of that and focus on

getting your spell power and criticals as high as possible. You should also add a little focus on Stamina

and Resilience to get the requisite 10,000 health and 400 Resilience, but everything else goes into

firepower for a Mage because a long fight for you is one that you will probably lose.

Death Knights

Mages are going to have an interesting time with Death Knights in almost every fight you have. Arcane

and Fire Mages don’t have much in the way of kiting abilities against Death Knights and since they can

snare you, silence you and use anti-magic shields, they are pretty well specced to counteract magic of

almost any kind. If they can Death Grip you and then silence you, you’re going to die almost every time.

Fortunately for Mages, an Ice Spec has the best chance of surviving against a Death Knight and a well

played one can often out maneuver a Death Knight in many cases. First, always have your trinket on

hand to get out of their Death Grip stun if they have it glyphed to stun you for 1 second. Also have Blink

on the ready to get away and Ice Block up to stop these attacks.

Wait for them to blow their most powerful cooldowns – Death Grip and Anti-Magic being the big two –

and you can go to town on them with your Arcane attacks. If they are smarter than that, attempt to kite

them in the traditional Ice Mage fashion – throw down your attacks, slow them, freeze them and then

back away. If you can survive their Death Grips, you should be good here.

Druids

Fighting a Druid as a Mage is going to come down to you being able to deal

a lot of DPS quickly without them having the chance to heal at all. They will

have multiple Heal over Times at their disposal and because they are

immune to Polymorph and Frost Nova, you really have strike quickly and

hard. Their form will greatly affect your fighting style though. If they are

www.PvPBible.com

77

Feral, they will try to wear you and your mana down and the heal in casting form. Bears are slow and

easy to hit and can be combated with Ice Carrier and Blink fairly easily. Cats can be treated as Rogues

with ease and you should try to stick to fast spells like Scorch and Frostbolt. Counterspell should be used

on casting Druids along with Dampen Magic and Mana Shield. Your overall approach is to be well

prepared for anything they might do and to learn how to effectively interrupt their heals. If you can do

both of those, you will stand a very good chance of defeating essentially any Druid, but it will still be

relatively tough.

Attack Sequence

1. Frost Bolt

2. Frost Bolt

3. Fire Blast

4. Frost Bolt – Use this until they try to heal

5. Spellsteal – When they start to heal, use this.

6. Arcane Power

Their Attacks

1. Bash – This will stun you for 4 seconds so they can heal. Blink and continue as planned.

2. Healing Touch – This is an instant heal, so you need to be quick and use Counterspell.

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Bolt

2. Presence of Mind

3. Frost Bolt

4. Frost Nova

5. Ice Lance

6. Cone of Cold

7. Fire Blast

Druids really cannot interrupt any of your casts, so unload your attacks on them quickly and powerfully.

You should really just be trying to stop them from healing – pull that off and they are pretty easy to kill

in most instances.

www.PvPBible.com

78

Hunter

When you fight a Hunter, you are essentially taking on two opponents at once – making the fight a little

bit tougher than necessary. Pets can slow spell casting and take apart your armor while hunters hit you

with long shots and drain your mana. You need to choose who to

polymorph first – with a Beast Master, polymorph the Hunter and

kill the beast as quickly as possible. If the pet goes into Bestial

Wrath, they will become immune to Polymorph so beware and run

away. If the hunter is the other two specs, CC the pet and hit the

hunter first. Watch for traps and stay as close as possible, ideally

between 5 and 8 yards where they can do nothing to you at all.

Attack Sequence

1. Mana Shield – Drain their mana and absorb damage

2. Polymorph

3. Arcane Power

4. Frost Bolt

5. Presence of Mind

6. Frost Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Silencing Shot – They will use this when you try to Polymorph. Just wait for it to fade and use it

again.

2. The Beast Within – Beast Masters can use this to become immune to CC for 18 seconds. Just

wait it out with Ice Block up and then use Polymorph afterwards.

3. Scatter Shot – Use Frost Nova in response to freeze and slow the opponent if they use this

attack.

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Nova – They can break this, but continue as planned anyways.

2. Ice Lance

www.PvPBible.com

79

3. Cone of Cold

4. Fire Blast

5. Ice Lance

6. Cone of Cold

7. Fire Blast

Do as much damage as you can quickly here. If you get into a long battle with a Hunter, they will almost

always win it because of their ability to drain your mana from you over time.

Mage

When two Mages meet up in PvP the end result comes down to who is the fastest caster. If you throw

the same tricks at each other, the only real difference is who does it faster and how well they save

mana. Polymorph fast and early and then hit your opponent with the most

powerful nukes you have. They will have Counterspell, which you need to be

aware of, so don’t use any long casting time spells. Stick near instants like Fire

Blast and Cone of Cold. If you can force them to waste their own counterspell,

you will be wide open to use anything you want and nuke them out of the

match. Keep your defenses up at all times and use Dampen Magic and you

shields to mitigate damage and you should stand a chance here.

Attack Sequence

1. Fire or Frost Ward – This depends on their spec – try to find out

before casting it

2. Polymorph – if they remove it, just recast

3. Arcane Power

4. Frost Bolt

5. Presence of Mind

6. Frost Bolt

7. Counterspell

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

80

1. Counterspell – When polymorph breaks, they will cast this – reply with a Frost Bolt and your

own Counterspell

2. Ice Block – They can stop some spells for a time with this. If they cast it, bandage and wait for it

to fade before continuing. Don’t waste mana by continuing to cast.

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Nova

2. Ice Lance

3. Cone of Cold

4. Fire Blast

5. Frost Blast

The winner is the one who unleashes the most damage as quickly as possible. If you can be that player,

you will probably win. Be faster and be smarter and this fight is yours, and probably in just a few

seconds.

Paladin

Against Paladins, your primary strategy is going to be to Frost Kite them across the screen. They have no

ranged attacks and cannot use their abilities to get into melee range so

they are sitting ducks for kiting. If you can make sure they don’t heal,

you will be pretty much sure to defeat them every time. Run them out

of mana before their health and they will be easily killed. If you see

lightning forming around their hands, cast Counterspell to block their

healing spell and block it for a while then unload as much DPS as you can

on them as quickly as you can – they may even waste a bubble here

making it that much easier to kill them faster.

Attack Sequence

1. Frost Bolt – Blink away and continue if they use Hammer of Justice to interrupt you.

2. Frost Bolt – Use this continuously until they finally use Divine Shield. While they heal, bandage

and then continue until they try to heal again.

www.PvPBible.com

81

3. Counterspell – Block their second heal attempt with this.

4. Arcane Power

5. Frost Bolt

6. Presence of Mind

7. Frost Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Blessing of Freedom – They will become immune to snares – try to use Spellsteal to block it and

continue

2. Avenging Wrath – Again, use spellsteal here if you can to steal the buffs they get from this spell,

adding 30% to your own spells.

Finishing them Off

1. Ice Lance

2. Cone of Cold

3. Fire Blast

The only way a Paladin can beat a Mage is to get at least two heals in and wear you down. If you can

interrupt their heals, you will be able to outlast their mana and win the match with ease.

Priest

Priests can be defeated by Mages more or less, but the ease of doing so will largely depend on which

spec the Priest is and how you go about approaching them. Holy Priests are

pretty much able to negate your damage with their heals while Shadow

Priests can cast debuffs on you and deal some hefty DPS. Strike first and use

Polymorph as quickly as possible. You should then have time to charge up a

major attack such as Pyroblast and to cast Dampen Magic on yourself. Spell

Steal is a good one to use when they shield, heal or buff themselves as well

and Counterspell should be used quickly – as soon as they start casting – to

block DPS or HoTs. Silence is another very useful skill here, and always

www.PvPBible.com

82

remember that Priests have Mana Burn which can wear you down pretty effectively over time.

Attack Sequence

1. Spellsteal – Take their Renew and Power Word: Shield buffs

2. Polymorph – Cast twice as they will remove the first time with their trinket.

3. Arcane Power

4. Frost Bolt

5. Presence of Mind

6. Frost Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Silence – If they use this to stop your casting, use Counterspell to block it from happening.

2. Psychic Scream – When you get into range, your opponent will attempt to use this and fear you.

Use your trinket and remove the effect.

Finishing them Off

1. Counterspell

2. Frost Nova

3. Ice Lance

4. Cone of Cold

5. Fire Blast

6. Frost Bolt

You are going to want to use Ice Block as liberally as possible to counteract any spell power you may

encounter. Also, you will want to counteract their use of the Silence ability and during heals to stop

them from rebuilding their health supply.

Rogue

The winner of this fight is the player who can land the first blow and keep it up. If

a Rogue manages to attack first out of stealth, they will land massive damage on

www.PvPBible.com

83

you and then stunlock you to death. If you manage to stay alive, you should blink away and put up an Ice

Barrier and then start casting polymorph – if it works, heal as quickly as possible and use Pyroblast for a

DoT to keep them from Vanishing on you and restealthing. Have blink consistently ready so that when

they get in range quickly you can react.

Attack Sequence

1. Mana Shield

2. Arcane Explosion Rank 1 – Break their Stealth as they use their opening move

3. Frost Nova

4. Cone of Cold

5. Ice Lance

6. Fire Blast

7. Blink – get out of melee range

8. Presence of Mind

9. Frost Bolt

10. Ice Lance – at a distance

11. Fire Blast

12. Ice Lance

13. Frost Nova

Their Attacks

1. Sprint – They will use this to close the gap quickly and get a drop on you. Use your trinket if you

can to break the snare and use Frost Nova to follow up.

2. Vanish – The Rogue will then attempt to use Frost Nova and reopen their attack on you. When

they do, use Arcane Explosion to break stealth and continue attacking.

3. Cloak of Shadows – Remove all of their debuffs with this attack and resist their spells for up to 5

seconds. You will only waste your mana if you attack in this time so just run away and use Blink

if you can.

4. Blind – Use Ice Block to remove and then Frost Nova.

Finishing them Off

www.PvPBible.com

84

1. Arcane Power

2. Frost Bolt

3. Ice Lance Fire Blast

4. Cone of Cold

As you can see, this is going to be a very long and arduous fight if you can manage to win it. Keep your

cooldowns up and have a mana shield ready whenever they use Vanish and always be prepared for

them to use Cloak of Shadows on you.

Shaman

A Shaman is a hard opponent to face no matter how you look at it and they will come in one of three

varieties. They can use Earth shock to block your magic for 6 seconds

and they can actually block Polymorph with ease using their grounding

totems. They can heal instantly and responses will largely depend on

specs. You will want to face them as they resemble other classes – with

Elementals looking like Mages that you stay far away from and try to

interrupt, Enhancements playing like rogues with melee and burst

damage (time to frost kite) and Restoration Shamans as healers whose

attacks are weak but can block a lot of your attacks. Beware of each

type and if you can find out what they are before you face them.

Attack Sequence

1. Fire Ward – They can purge this, but ignore it and continue.

2. Ice Lance

3. Polymorph – If they interrupt you, recast and continue

4. Arcane Power

5. Frost Bolt

6. Presence of Mind

7. Frost Bolt

8. Frost Nova

9. Ice Lance

www.PvPBible.com

85

10. Cone of Cold

11. Fire Blast

12. Counterspell

13. Frost Bolt

14. Cone of Cold

You are going to notice that they will use Earth Shock quickly and often to interrupt your casting – use

only instant casts to keep this from happening too much and if they use Earth Shield, use Spellsteal.

Block Grounding totems with Ice Lance.

Warlock

For Mages, Warlocks are going to be your biggest challenge, especially if they happen to be Demonology

and Affliction specced. They are trying to use DoT spells and fear to kill their

opponents and will load you up with attacks and wait for you to bleed to death.

The only thing you can really do is use Dampen Magic and Remove Curse to

counter their attacks. Ice Block removes DoTs as well but can only be used once

per fight and will need to be saved for when you are really backed into a corner.

To top things off, you must deal with their pet and because it is a demon you

cannot polymorph it – it must be frozen or killed. With some Warlocks having

Soul Link, it is even more important to kill the pet early on. A good idea here is to

polymorph the wizard while you kill the pet – Succubuses and Felhunters are the

biggest threat while Imps and Voidwalkers can be ignored for the most part.

Attack Sequence

1. Fire Ward

2. Polymorph

3. Spellsteal – Take Fel Armor from them if they have it to boost 100 spell power

4. Arcane Power

5. Frost Bolt

6. Presence of Mind

7. Frost Bolt

www.PvPBible.com

86

8. Fire Blast

9. Ice Lance

Their Attacks

1. Death Coil – They will follow Polymorph with this, so be ready with your trinket to break it.

2. Fear – When they try to fear a second time, use Counterspell to interrupt and block shadow

spells for a few seconds. Ice block is good to use here finally if they do pull of the fear.

Finishing them Off

1. Ice Lance

2. Cone of Cold

3. Fire Blast

4. Frost Bolt

When they have a Felhunter out, only do instant casts as they can counterspell you as well. Also, don’t

forget to use Remove Lesser Curse constantly to remove their Curse of Agony and Tongues.

Warrior

Warriors are usually easy pickings for most Mages. You can stay at a

distance and because they need range to attack and need to be in melee

they are useless when you stay far away. Of course, the opposite is true if

they get into range and hit you with Pummel – a 4 second silencing

attack. Frost Nova and Blink are very useful here though. Try to avoid

being hit at all because they are very powerful with burst damage and if

you see a shield come out, use Ice Lance right away.

Attack Sequence

1. Ice Lance –Stop them from entering melee

2. Polymorph

3. Mana Shield

4. Arcane Power

www.PvPBible.com

87

5. Frost Bolt

6. Presence of Mind

7. Frost Bolt

8. Frost Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Spell Reflect – They can use this when their shield is out to reflect a spell back at you. Use Fire

Blast Rank 1 to remove the buff.

2. Intercept – When they attempt to use this, use Blink to get away and remove the stuns they put

on you.

3. Intimidating Shout – They will interrupt your casting with this.

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Bolt

2. Frost Nova

3. Ice Lance

4. Cone of Cold

5. Fire Blast

Keep yourself out of melee range and you can stay alive and usually stand a fair chance of defeating

your foe in this fight. Ice block is a possible add to your plan as well, but beware of using up your mana if

you don’t kill them right away.

Paladins

Paladins are interesting class for a few distinct reasons. First, they have three very different and

generally useful specs throughout the game. They can be tanks, healers, or damage dealers in any case

and that means that in PvP you have a lot of choices to select from in how you fight your enemies. That

said, you are generally not going to get much out of a Protection or Holy Specced Paladin in PvP because

you need to be able to deal damage. You can still bubble and heal against nearly anyone while dealing

your DPS using major attacks and spells and with so many seals to judge, your role here will be to

www.PvPBible.com

88

survive for as long as possible (and Paladins can outsurvive nearly anyone) and wear down the

opponent.

Talent Spec

Your choices vary greatly for talent spec selection with multiple options in every tree. For the most part,

protection is useless in PvP – tanking gets you nowhere when you are facing an opponent one on one.

Healing is important but long fights turn into even longer fights when Holy Paladins enter PvP. The best

choice for a few reasons is Retribution with a few Holy Talents tosses in to boost your healing. You want

to deal damage and you want to stay alive. This will do that for you.

Retribution – 56 Holy - 15 Protection - 0

Improved Blessing of Might

5/5

Divine Strength 5/5

Benediction 2/5 Divine Intellect 5/5

Improved Seal of the

Crusader 3/3

Spiritual Focus 5/5

Vindication 3/3

Conviction 1/5

Pursuit of Justice 2/3

Improved Retribution Aura

3/3

Crusade 3/3

2H Weapon Specialization

1/3

Improved Sanctity Aura 5/5

Vengeance 3/5

Sanctified Judgment 3/3

Sanctified Seals 1/3

Repentence 5/5

Divine Purpose 3/3

Fanatacism 5/5

www.PvPBible.com

89

Sanctified Wrath 2/2

Crusader Strike 1/1

Righteous Vengeance 5/5

Divine Storm 1/1


Paladins are survivors. They just plain don’t like to die and with the right gear, they can be offensive

machines as well. Toss in their ability to heal and they essentially have three lives and a whole lot of

bite. They’re hard to kill no matter who’s fighting them.

On the flip side, Paladins lack any form of ranged attack and cannot close distances like a Warrior. They

don’t have the kind of DPS potential of other classes and without any snares or burst damage, they can

make for long fights and lots of running after people as they are kited across the zone.

Your Gear

For a Paladin, gear depends largely on your spec going into battle. For the most part, Protection Paladins

don’t have a place in PvP as they can’t really land much in the way of damage, but for Retribution and

Holy Paladins your selections will be starkly different.

Retribution

For this spec, you want to find gear that matches your melee combat necessities with a focus on

maximizing your damage output while increasing your stats accordingly. When you pick out a weapon,

look for a two handed slow weapon with maximum output at the top end, with a top speed of around

3.8 at the most. You will then ensure that vital attacks like Seal of Command and Cruader Strike always

land when you need them to.

Holy

For the Holy Paladin in PvP, you are essentially a caster and so your melee stats are slightly less vital and

your spell power, healing, and spellcrit are highly valuable. Look for these stats along with stamina to

boost your health above 10,000 and resilience to get over 400. Then you should be much harder to kill

(even for a Paladin) and a tough fight for any class.

www.PvPBible.com

90

Death Knights

Against a Death Knight, Retribution Paladins are a solid match because your melee damage output is

higher than theirs is and because you are built to mitigate shadow damage. Blood Death Knights are

especially troubled because they need to be in melee range to be effective, but in a straight up duel, you

are stronger than them, so you can simply bash them down. This forces most Death Knights to go ranged

against you which is harder because that leaves them with only two attacks- Icy Touch and Death Coil.

They can also use Death and Decay for AoE and Blood Boil for Disease manipulation but if you can heal

between fights, use your bubbles well and get into melee occasionally for a nice burst of damage, you

will be a pretty tough foe for them to fight.

Frost strike is a tough one from a distance, so be sure to have your Divine Intervention on hand and

always have your judgments up. If you can regain health or mana off of them during the fight with your

two lesser judgments, you can pretty much just wear them down throughout the fight since they won’t

be able to heal by getting into melee range against you.

Druids

When fighting Druids, you will often be fighting Feral Druids, but if you run into a Balanced Druid in PvP

combat, you will want to judge your seals on them and heal through their

damage so as to drain their mana pool as quickly as possible. They will

attempt to ambush you and with plate armor in place, you won’t be able to

do much about it. Restoration Druids, should you encounter them are the

biggest problem you will face as they can outlast your mana use and heal

more efficiently than you. Use Blessing of Wisdom and judge it to the Druid

to counteract this and then judge it on the Druid.

Attack Sequence

1. Sanctity Aura

2. Blessing of Wisdom

3. Judge the Seal

4. Crusader Strike

5. Judge Seal of Command

www.PvPBible.com

91

6. Continue steps 4 and 5 until they switch into caster form to heal

7. Hammer of Justice – Stun them and get your seal on them.


Their Attacks

1. Bash – They will use bash so they can switch into caster and heal. Use your trinket to get out of

it.

2. Cyclone – They will do the same with Cyclone so they can heal. Use Divine Shield to block it and

then attack to finish them off.

Finishing them Off

1. Crusader Strike

2. Repentance


4. Hammer of Wrath – Only available when they get below 20% health.

With two healers fighting each other, expect a long fight and because you have no power to interrupt

them when they heal, just outlast their mana and you should be able to win the fight.

Hunter

With plate armor on, Hunters don’t have a lot of offensive power to strike with. Additionally, their

snares and stings are useless because you have Blessing of Freedom and Cleanse in your stable of

attacks. Because they cannot stay at range too long without snares,

you can get into Melee and, if you get snared, break free with your

shields and bubbles, and attack. If they use Feign Death for some

reason, use Consecrate in response.

Attack Sequence

1. Sanctity Aura

2. Judge Seal of Justice

www.PvPBible.com

92

3. Blessing of Freedom

4. Crusader Strike


6. Hammer of Justice – only after Blessing of Freedom has gone


8. Crusader Strike

Their Moves

1. Scatter Shot – When they use this to create some distance between you, use Repentance to

reclose that distance.

Finishing them Off


2. Repentance – after last one fades


4. Crusader Strike

5. Hammer of Wrath – Only after their health gets below 20%

They will regularly get out of your range here and make this a relatively complicated fight. Use cleanse

often to get rid of their stings and try to outlast their mana while keeping your health up.

Mage

Fighting a Mage, your goal is to stay alive longer because they will start with massive bursts of damage

right off the bat. If they cannot kill you in those initial few seconds, you are probably going to have the

upper hand with their lowered mana and your long term survivability.

Make sure to watch out for counterspell as they can cancel your casts and

silence your healing. If they get a spell lock on you, you’re a sitting duck for

10 seconds and that is usually enough time for you to be killed, so don’t let

it happen.

www.PvPBible.com

93

Attack Sequence

1. Frost/Fire Resistance – Try to judge what spec they are first before doing this

2. Judge Seal of Justice (fire mages) or Seal of Crusader (frost mages)

3. Seal of Command

4. Blessing of Freedom – If they steal it, use Cleanse to take it away from them.

5. Crusader Strike

6. Hammer of Justice

7. Judge Seal of Command.

Their Attacks

1. Polymorph – They will try to lead off with this and then get to range and hit you hard – use your

trinket to break free before they can do this.

2. Blink – They will reply with this after Hammer of Justice. Judge Seal of Command in response.

Finishing them Off

1. Crusader Strike

2. Repentance


4. Hammer of Wrath

They will follow with Counterspell as you try to heal. Make sure to heal as often as possible and only use

Flash of Light to counteract this. Save your Divine Shield for emergencies with low health.

Paladin

Paladins fighting Paladins can lead to long winded, often times dull fights. You will want to use the same

seals and cleanses as always and they will follow your suit, so the only

real thing you can do is try to outlast their mana pool. Ignore their health

bar and just wear down their mana. You can both heal so if they lose the

ability to do so first, you will win.

www.PvPBible.com

94

Attack Sequence

1. Sanctity Aura

2. Blessing of Wisdom

3. Crusader Strike



6. Crusader Strike

7. Repentance

8. Judge Seal of Command – Auto attack them and run them low on mana

Their Attacks

1. Hammer of Justice – They will use this the same as you do – use your trinket to remove the

effect.

2. Divine Shield – They may use this to remove debuffs and heal – just wait and heal while they do

it and try to save yours for later.

Finishing them Off

1. Crusader Strike – This step starts when they are out of mana



4. Crusader Strike

5. Repentance


7. Hammer of Wrath

Be ready for a long fight as you both have the same basic abilities and

know how to respond to each of them. Stay away from any spells they can

cleanse so you don’t waste mana and try to wear down their pool first and

you should win.

www.PvPBible.com

95

Priest

Fighting a Priest, especially a Shadow Spec, is incredibly tough for Paladins. Your strategies are limited

but not non-existent. To start with, you should only use Rank 1 Seals because of their ability to dispel

your judges. They will attempt to land a Mana Burn on you as well; try to block the spell if possible or

run away when they try to cast it. If you run out of mana, the fight is over. Additionally, fear is a big

problem here – Bubble when necessary to negate the fear and heal yourself and always have Shadow

Resistance Aura up to reduce damage from the Priest.

Attack Sequence

1. Sanctity Aura

2. Seal of Command Rank 1 – They have dispel so don’t waste higher ranks and your mana pool

3. Crusader Strike


5. Judge Seal of Command Rank 6

6. Seal of Command Rank 1

7. Crusader Strike – Use steps 6 and 7 in repetition until they run out of mana.

Their Attacks

1. Psychic Scream – If they use this to fear you, use your trinket to get out of it. If they do it

again, wait it out.

Finishing them Off

1. Repentance



4. Hammer of Wrath – when they hit 20% health

If they use Mana Burn here you have the most problems as it cannot really be countered. If they get

your mana to zero, you are pretty much dead so cleanse often and remove any debuffs they land on you

instantly.

Rogue

www.PvPBible.com

96

When you fight a Rogue, your goal should be to keep Retribution Aura and Consecrate Rank 1 up at all

times. Use Hammer of Justice while the Rogue is already stunned and make sure to heal when they are.

They will try to repeatedly run away and stealth on you – when they attempt to so

have Consecrate at the ready and watch out for their Blind ability – this can be

broken with Blessing of Protection if they attempt to use it. Rogues are fast and

agile – if you can outthink them though, you can often win the fight.

Attack Sequence

1. Blessing of Might

2. Sanctity Aura

3. Judge Seal of Justice – They can remove this; if they do, reapply

4. Seal of Command

5. Crusader Strike – Use Hammer of Justice if they try to Evade and get away

6. Consecration Rank 1 – Repeat whenever cooldown is up


8. Crusader Strike – repeat steps 7 and 8 in succession until you need to heal.



11. Holy Light

12. Crusader Strike

13. Repentance


15. Hammer of Wrath

You are going to be faced with a whole lot of DPS from a Rogue, so be ready to heal a lot and have

Divine Shield at the ready at all times. If they try to restealth at any given tim, let them do it as you can

usually survive their attack and heal. However, do your best to interrupt or break the stealth.

Shaman

www.PvPBible.com

97

Shamans are toughest when you are not ready for them. Because they have so many abilities and all

those totems on the ground they are a hefty menace to combat.

Additionally, they can Purge your Seals and Auras, but because they have

less mana and a lower regen rate than you, you can usually just reseal and

wait them out. Run their mana pool down and stay alive and then you can

usually take them out. Use Rank 1 Seal’s Judgments to kill totems and be

sure to not let them interrupt your heals with Earth Shock.

Attack Sequence

1. Sanctity Aura

2. Judge Seal of Wisdom

3. Seal of Command Rank 1 – They will Purge this, so continue casting this as Rank 1


5. Crusader Strike




9. Crusader Strike – Repeat Steps 8 and 9 in succession until their mana is drained

Their Attacks

2. Earth Shock – the Big attack to watch out for from them is Earth Shock as they will use it often to

interrupt your healing. If you need to heal, try to use Flash of Light instead.

Finishing them Off

1. Repentance


3. Hammer of Wrath

Make sure to keep Judgment of Wisdom on the Shaman at all times to keep your mana regen up. The

goal here is to outlast their mana – pull that off, and you should do alright in this fight.

www.PvPBible.com

98

Warlock

Warlocks are always hard because they can cast Fear and Seduce on your to interrupt your abilities.

They will drop a ton of DoT spells on you and then wait as you drain away

while CC’d. They also have a Felhunter that can lock spells and drain blessings.

Use Exorcise on their demon pets as soon as possible – it doesn’t always work

but it is worth the try. Stay in melee range during the fight and if you can avoid

fear with your shields and bubbles and not run out of mana you might stand a

chance. This is an otherwise very tough fight though.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Resistance Aura

2. Judge Seal of Crusader

3. Seal of Command

4. Crusader Strike



Their Attacks

1. Fear – They will try to keep you still to load you up with DoTs. Use your trinket the first time

and wait out the later fears as they will be shorter

2. Death Coil – Repentance is a good response to stun them and get back to melee

3. Felhunter – They can spell lock you, so have Divine Shield on hand to respond as needed.

Finishing them Off

1. Crusader Strike


3. Use your top healing spell here

4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 in succession until they reach 20% health

5. Hammer of Wrath

Cleanse is your best friend in this fight – you need to keep those DoT spells off of you at all costs as they

are how they do damage. Do not cleanse Unstable Affliction though as you will end up silenced if you

do.

www.PvPBible.com

99

Warrior

Paladins usually get the edge against Warriors for a couple good reasons. First off, your armor and

defense is only slightly lower than them. Second, they cannot use Hamstring

or Intercept because you want to stay in melee range just as much as they do.

Finally, you can heal which they cannot – make sure to heal though as soon as

you get down to around 75% health or you will be out of luck. They do have

heavy blows that you do not, so they can take you out pretty quickly if you let

them. Also, wait for their rage bar to be empty before using shields and heals

or they will use Pummel on you to silence your spells.

Attack Sequence

1. Blessing of Might

2. Sanctity Aura

3. Judge Seal of the Crusader

4. Seal of Command

5. Crusader strike

6. Consecration Rank 1 – repeat at every cooldown


8. Crusader Strike

9. Hammer of Justice – when Judgement cooldown is ready


Their Attacks

1. Hamstring – To get out of Hamstring, use Blessing of Freedom as often as possible. This may

not even be an issue since you are going to stay in melee range.

Finishing them Off

1. Holy Light – they must be stunned for you to use this – if they are not, they will Pummel you.

Your other option is to Divine Shield and heal then.

2. Crusader Strike


4. Hammer of Wrath

5. Crusader Strike

www.PvPBible.com

100

You should have an easy time here because you can heal and they cannot. If you can keep up with them

in melee and get your heals through before you hit the 75% health mark, you should do pretty well in

this fight. But of course watch out for that occasional rare triple critical that will allow them to blow you

out of the water in a single hit or two.

Priests

For Priests, PvP is essentially the same basic idea – don’t get attacked. With only cloth armor on their

backs and minimal damage mitigation, it can be a very quick, very ugly fight if they get caught unaware.

While you can heal with abilities like Flash Heal and you do have a series of shields as a Priest that keep

you safe, it is the proper use of these abilities that can be hard to master. The Priest’s best friend is their

Psychic Scream ability with a 26 second gap between cast and cooldown.

Damage dealt will be done with Shadow Word: Pain and combinations of Mind Blast and Mind Flay.

Silencing is a very popular ability for any Priest facing a casting class and is usually best used toward the

end of a long cast. In the end, Priests need to keep their distance (except against fellow casters)

regardless of spec and use fear as often as possible.

Talent Spec

For the most part, the best build for PvP is the one that deals the most damage and offers the best

crowd control – that being the Shadow Spec. Shadow Priests are toughest to kill and have the most

strength in their attacks. Because your heals will only be used a couple of times, you don’t need to put

any points into Holy to maintain your health in battle.

Discipline - 10 Holy - 0 Shadow - 51

Unbreakable Will 5/5 Spirit Tap 5/5

Improved Power Word:

Fortitude 2/2

Shadow Affinity 3/3

Improved Power Word: Shield

3/3

Improved Shadow Word: Pain

2/2

Improved Psychic Scream 2/2

Improved Mind Blast 5/5

www.PvPBible.com

101

Mind Flay 1/1

Improved Fade 2/2

Shadow Reach 2/2

Shadow Weaving 5/5

Silence 1/1

Vampiric Embrace 1/1

Improved Vampiric Embrace 2/2

Focused Mind 3/3

Darkness 5/5

Shadowform 1/1

Shadow Power 5/5

Misery 5/5

Vampiric Touch 1/1

Misery 3/3

Vampiric Touch 1/1

Pain and Suffering 3/3

Twisted Faith 2/5

Dispersion 1/1


High damage output and the ability to heal make a Priest a tough foe in PvP. In addition, you can dispel

magic, use fear in AoE and attack with Ranged attacks with ease. Out of cloth wearing classes, this is also

the best class for damage mitigation, for what little that is worth.

The problem with Priests though is that they lose their healing ability when switching to shadow form

and while in healing form they cannot mitigate damage, so it is a careful balancing act between the two.

To be at all successful, balance is key.

Your Gear

For a Priest, the obvious choice is to boost your stats. You want to ensure you have the highest possible

maxed out stats for spell power, intellect, spell critical, and healing. Stamina and resilience are obvious

www.PvPBible.com

102

additions as well – because you wear cloth armor and don’t use a weapon, your choices are relatively

simple but they are also less impactful, so be very particular about what you gear yourself with.

Death Knights

Most people assume that Priests have minimal defenses against Death Knights, and while it is true that

they are not as well situated as most classes to fight the new class, they are not completely helpless.

There are things like Anti-Magic Shell, Mind Freeze, and Strangulate that will cause you problems, but

because of fear and the ability to kite, Priests have a chance against the anti-magic melee caster.

Fear is the key here – if you can get your fear spell off often enough, you can get your damage in during

those sessions. You will need to stay away from them as much as possible too because a Death Knight

hits extremely hard for a great deal of damage. They will likely start with a Death Grip to get you close

and then silence you. They can then hit you a couple of times and you will probably be dead soon

enough. If you blow your heals too early, they will use Mind Freeze to interrupt your casting as well.

For this reason, you need to get your fears in as fast as possible and have your Power Word: Shield on

hand to mitigate their anti-magic spells. Also have your trinket on hand for the first death grip. If you can

fear them right afterwards, you can blow their cooldowns and land a good deal of damage on your own.

Stay out of melee range as much as possible and mitigate their strikes from a distance and you should

do alright.

Druids

This is not just a tough battle – is a long battle. You can both heal with ease and have a lot of mana so

you should expect for this to go on for a good long time, but don’t let it

adversely change your tactics. Druids usually only have HoTs though so you

can use Dispel on those as well as on any buffs they may have on

themselves. Also, you have Mana Burn at your disposal to drain their mana

down and quicken the fight – make sure to keep this on at all times to

speed things up. When they are out of mana, they are less powerful, even

in Feral form because they cannot heal.

Attack Sequence

www.PvPBible.com

103

1. Shadow Word: Pain

2. Vampiric Embrace

3. Vampiric Embrace

4. Psychic Scream

5. Mind Blast

6. Mind Flay

7. Mind Flay

Their Attacks

1. Feral Charge – They will use this to interrupt you and get into melee range. Ignore and continue.

2. Healing Touch – Use silence if they start to use this spell.

3. Maim/Bash – They will use this to stun you while they heal. Use your trinket to interrupt them if

they do this.

Finishing them Off

1. Mind Blast

2. Refresh your DoTs and Debuffs

3. Mind Blast

4. Shadow Word: Death – make sure this kills them so it doesn’t hurt you.

Use dispel liberally throughout the fight to get rid of their HoT spells and waste a bit of their mana in the

process. Otherwise, just keep at them with Mind Blast.

Hunter

Hunters are not necessarily more powerful than you, but because

they have Viper Sting which will drain 1100 mana from you, you

must watch out for them. Ignore their pet as they will do minimal

damage, even to you, and will only give the Hunter more time to

shoot at you. Your goal here should be to close the gap between

www.PvPBible.com

104

you and them and get into the 5 to 8 yard range where they cannot do anything. Fear them as often as

possible and try to avoid or get rid of Viper Sting. If they try to run away from you or speed up with

Aspect of the Cheetah, use Shadow Word: Pain to stun them.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Word: Pain – while running toward them

2. Vampiric Embrace

3. Psychic Scream – in Melee range – recast whenever cooldown is up

4. Vampiric Touch

5. Mind Blast

6. Mind Flay

Their Attacks

1. Freezing Trap – They will stand on this and wait for you. Make sure to fear them before getting

close enough to spring this and Shadow Word:Pain to DoT them.

2. Feign Death – Retarget and continue

3. Viper Sting – You must kill them fast before this runs you out of mana. Be quick and efficient as

possible.

4. Their Pet – If it is in the way, fear it

Finishing them Off

1. Mind Blast

2. Shadow Word: Death – Only when they are low on health. If they are not yet, continue

alternating between Mind Blast and Mind Flay

This should be a quick fight. If it goes long, they will likely win because of Viper Sting. Make sure to fear

often and hit them hard and you should be alright though.

Mage

www.PvPBible.com

105

Shadow Priests against Mages are a tough fight and will often result in a series of issues between

combatants but the Priest usually has the edge here. With Silence and

Fear at your disposal you should be able to combat most of their moves

with relative ease. Beware of Frost Mages with their Kiting abilities and if

they manage to hit you with Polymorph, they can usually Pyroblast you as

well and get in huge amounts of damage. Silence them to stop this from

happening. Heal while they are silenced but only during this time lest

they spellsteal you. This fight is full of small details that can make the

fight turn quickly one way or the other – be wary and you can come out

on top though.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Word: Pain – while moving toward them

2. Vampiric Embrace

3. Vampiric Touch

4. Silence

5. Mind Blast

6. Mind Flay

Their Attacks

1. Polymorph – They will cast this right away to stun and then burst you to death. Use your trinket

on the first one – later polymorphs won’t last as long.

2. Ice Block – This will remove all debuffs – wait for it to fade and recast

3. Counterspell – Interrupts and blocks shadow spells for 10 seconds – Use holy spells instead for

that time period.

Finishing them Off

1. Psychic Scream

2. Mind Flay

3. Mind Blast

4. Shadow Word: Death

www.PvPBible.com

106

Be prepared for Ice Block at all times and be constantly ready to shift out of Shadowform when they

counterspell you. Use Dispel regularly and make sure you are never frozen for longer than a second or

two.

Paladin

Paladins come at you with healing abilities and Divine Shield which can make them downright

complicated to take on in many instances. They will usually run you

out of mana before killing you in melee, so your goal here is to use

Mana Burn early and silence them between fears to run their own

small mana pool down. They will have pretty much three lives with

Divine Shield in hand, so this will be a long fight in which your goal is to

combat their timers and mana well before their health.

Attack Sequence

1. Mind Blast

2. Psychic Scream

3. Mana Burn – use this twice to drain their mana

4. Mind Blast

5. Mana Burn – Continue using this in succession to drain their mana – maybe 5 or 6 times total.

Their Attacks

1. Hammer of Justice – Stuns and blocks your casting. Remove it with your trinket and continue

with Mana Burn

2. Arcane Torrent – If they are Blood Elf they can silence you with this – wait and return to normal

attacks

Finishing them Off

1. Shadow Word: Pain – Start this sequence only after they have run out of Mana from your Mana

Burn

2. Vampiric Embrace

www.PvPBible.com

107

3. Vampiric Touch

4. Mind Blast

5. Mind Flay

6. Mana Burn – remove any mana they regenerated


With Mana Burn in Hand, Paladins are relatively easy for Priests to kill. Use Dispel if they try to use

Divine Shield and don’t use any DoTs until they are out of mana as they can dispel as well.

Priest

Priests fighting each other have been noted as probably the most frustrating and longest fights in the

game for a good reason. They take forever and usually end with the winner

being the better mana user. For Holy and Disc priests, you will have an edge

because of your boosted Mana Burn. Keep Dispel, Fear, and Silence at hand

at all times and shield often. This strategy will make the fight a battle

between mana bars more than anything else.

Attack Sequence

1. Mind Blast

2. Psychic Scream

3. Mana Burn

4. Mana Burn

5. Mind Blast

6. Mana Burn – Up to 6 times total to drain them.

Their Attacks

1. Psychic Scream – They will follow your model and use this first – Use your trinket and wait out

the second time.

2. Silencing – They will silence you for 5 seconds – ignore and continue with Mana Burns afterward

3. Mana Burn – They will try to Mana Burn you as well – silence them if you can and continue.

Whoever runs out of mana first will lose.

www.PvPBible.com

108

Finishing them Off

1. Shadow Word: Pain – Start this sequence when they are out of mana

2. Vampiric Embrace

3. Vampiric Touch

4. Mind Blast

5. Mind Flay


Use dispel whenever you can to stand against their own techniques and keep your Power Word: Shield

up at all times. Keep recasting and mana burning and try to outlive their mana.

Rogue

When you start this fight, put your shield up and leave it there. Rogues will often attack you from stealth

and then try to stunlock you to death, not allowing you to do anything until you

are dead. Your hope is to last long enough for them to make a mistake in their

sequence or to catch them offguard before they can do this to you, keeping them

feared throughout the fight. Undead Rogues will have Will of the Forsaken though

and most opponents will have their PvP trinkets, so this is a tough thing to do. This

is a hard fight that you have the disadvantage in, so be patient and try to outlast

their defenses and you might stand a chance.

Attack Sequence

1. Psychic Scream – if they don’t open with a stunlock on you, use this

2. Shadow Word: Pain – stop them from restealthing

3. Vampiric Embrace

4. Vampiric Touch

5. Mind Blast

6. Mind Flay

7. Mind Flay

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

109

1. Kick – They will use this to interrupt casting. Ignore and continue

2. Gouge – This also interrupts. Hopefully they use both of these, do little damage and have them

both on cooldown for a while.

3. Cloak of Shadows – They will use this to remove debuffs to they can vanish and reopen. Heal

and continue.

4. Blind – If they use this, use Shadow Word: pain to keep them getting off a combo.

Finishing them Off

1. Mind Blast


If they take longer to kill, refresh debuffs and alternate between Mind Blast and Mind Flay. If you can

avoid their stunlocks and combos, you can kill them but if you are not prepared, this will be a tough

fight.

Shaman

Shamans were once tough to beat for anyone, but since their rebalance, they are a bit easier, even for

Priests. Your goal here in being successful is to drain their mana down to

nothing as early as possible and then keep them silenced throughout the

fight. Use Dispel if they cast Frost Shock or Ghost Wolf and destroy any

grounding totem you might find incredibly quickly or you will only waste

your mana on attacking spells.

Attack Sequence

1. Use Shadow Word: Death on their Grounding Totem

2. Shadow Word: Pain – only when grounding totem is gone

3. Vampiric Embrace

4. Vampiric Touch

5. Silence

6. Mind Flay

7. Psychic Scream

www.PvPBible.com

110

Their Attacks

1. Earth Shock – They will use this to interrupt your casts. Continue as normal and try to get

around it.

2. Tremor Totem – They will break fear with this. It is not 100% though so just keep casting and

ignore if they do get through your fear.

Finishing them Off

1. Mind Flay

2. Mind Blast

3. Mind Flay


The key here is to keep them from using their heals or their totems. Pull that off, and you will be able to

kill them more or less every time. If they absorb your attacks and can heal, you are in trouble.

Warlock

Initiating a fight with a Warlock should always start with your Shadow Protection

up to block their Shadow Spells. You will see that they rely almost entirely on fear

for their attacks along with DoTs, so they cannot kill you outright, making it

possible to heal in between strikes. Use silence early and dispel their DoTs as they

are cast. Your success here is not guaranteed though as a Warrior with the right

spec can be much harder – look out for their Felhunters as they can pretty much kill your casting ability

and drain your mana pool.

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Word: Pain

2. Vampiric Embrace

3. Silence

4. Vampiric Touch

5. Mind Blast

www.PvPBible.com

111

6. Psychic Scream – recast if they remove it

7. Mind Flay

Their Attacks

1. Shadow Ward – They may cast this to mitigate up to 920 shadow damage over 30 seconds.

Dispel it.

2. Felhunter – They will try to spell lock you with their Felhunter to block casting for 8 seconds. Go

to Holy, shield, heal and wait for the spell lock to pass before switching back to Shadow.

3. Fear – Use Fear Ward to block fear once and your trinket a second time – after that it is less

useful for them.

Finishing them Off

1. Mind Flay

2. Mind Blast

3. Refresh Debuffs and continue with Mind Flay/Mind Blast until near death


Continue using dispel throughout the fight to ensure they never get a chance to land their DoTs on you.

Stay away from Silence if they get Unstable Affliction on you.

Warrior

Warriors are just plain tough to beat for a caster because of all that damage output they carry around

with them. You cannot boost your own armor and if they land any hits on

you, they will take massive chunks out of your health. They also have the

ability to reduce the effects of your healing spells, so your goal is going to be

to stay far away and use your fear ability often to keep them from getting

into range. If you can manage to stay in the dead zone of 5 to 8 yards you will

stand a better chance but with Warriors this is a dangerous area to wait

around in. Keep your shields up and your Pain and Mind Blast abilities on key

spam between heals and hopefully you can stand a chance.

www.PvPBible.com

112

Attack Sequence

1. Shadow Word: Pain – Cast as soon as you see them to keep them from Charging

2. Vampiric Embrace – Run away and continue running away as you cast

3. Vampiric Touch

4. Stop Running and cast Mind Blast

5. Mind Flay – Do this twice

6. Mind Blast

Their Attacks

1. As soon as you stop running they will use Intercept to get into Melee range. Use your trinket and

continue

2. Pummel – Silences you for 4 seconds. Wait for it to let up and continue.

3. Battle Stance – Use Psychic Scream to fear them in this stance – do not use it in Berserker stance

as they can break it.

Finishing them Off

1. Lower their health with the Mind Flay/Mind Blast combo while refreshing debuffs

2. Shadow:Word Death – when they are close to death.

Remember you can use Inner Fire to mitigate some damage here but don’t let them get too close if you

can – they can usually kill a Priest in about three seconds or so if you let them into your melee space for

that long.

Rogues

Rogues are considered the kings and queens of PvP for a few good reasons. They are fast, powerful, and

versatile. They have the ability to strike quickly and leave their foes stunlocked while they attack

mercilessly until the opponent is dead. Warriors will face Bleed, ruining their armor and their high speed

and stealth keeps them from being anywhere near catchable by melee classes. Poisons are another

addition that can slowly kill opponents and openers in combos are about all they need to pull off to be

successful.

www.PvPBible.com

113

Crippling Poison will be the primary poison for all Rogues in PvP with Mind Numbing Poison in the off-

hand. A second option is to use Wound Poison in the main hand and Crippling Poison in the off hand.

Because many opponents will try to run away, you cannot really afford to use Instant Poison – you need

them stuck in place so you can attack. You can expect pretty much every ranged and casting class to flee

from you. Warriors, Paladins, and Rogues will stay, but only because they have little choice.

The Stunlock

The Stunlock is a relatively recent ability that came with patches as a means by which Rogues can keep

their enemies stunned while they knock of huge chunks of their life. It is considered a cheap move by

some but because it is so complicated and requires such precise timing very few people can pull it off to

its full effect. Stun locks open with a stun opener and will be followed by a few combo abilities as combo

points are built up until a weak, stun inducing finisher is used to prolong the stun and a new opener is

used to start over.

Talent Spec

Your best bet for a solid PvP talent build is to combine Subtlety and Assassination as both sets of talents

compliment each other well. Combat is a strong tree, but more so for Raiding than in PvP.

Assassination - 25 Combat - 0 Subtlety - 46

Improved Eviscerate 3/3 Master of Deception 3/5

Malice 5/5 Opportunity 5/5

Ruthlessness 3/3 Dirty Tricks 2/2

Puncturing Wounds 3/3 Initiative 3/3

Relentless Strikes 1/1 Improved Ambush 3/3

Lethality 5/5 Elusiveness 1/2

Vile Poisons 4/5 Serrated Blades 3/3

Cold Blood 1/1 Heightened Senses 2/2

Preparation 1/1

Dirty Deeds 2/2

Master of Subtlety 3/3

Deadliness 2/5

www.PvPBible.com

114

Premeditation 1/1

Cheat Death 3/3

Sinister Calling 5/5

Shadowstep 1/1

Slaughter from the Shadows 5/5

Shadow Dance 1/1


As one of the strongest PvP classes, Rogues are good because they can fight any class on even terms.

They can counteract most situations and because they can take apart any class with armor lower than

Mail, they are powerful against a good percentage of other players.

Their weaknesses lay in when they drop stuns or let their opponent get back to ranged mode. They lose

most of their advantage in this instance and if they cannot disengage from battle, the fight can become

very close.

Your Gear

Your weapon slot is the most valuable because all of your damage output is via melee. You should work

to properly spec yourself for this kind of fighting style so that you can attack quickly but powerfully. For

daggers, you want to have a main hand weapon at 1.7 and 2.4 or slower for anything else you may carry.

Your damage cap should be as high as possible to max out critical strikes as well and because only

Combat Rogues (which do not really fight in PvP) really care about what kind of weapon they have, you

can pretty much ignore that beyond its base stats. There isn’t a best choice anymore anyways, so

Daggers are usually recommended because they have the highest critical chance.

Death Knights

Rogues are a unique class because there really isn’t a single class out there that is going to outperform

them in PvP combat if you are well schooled in how to combat them. Death Knights are not much

different in this, so you are not in the same boat as everyone else in that you need to relearn your own

abilities to be effective.

www.PvPBible.com

115

For the most part, stunlocking will still be the best way to combat a Death Knight. They have no defense

against being kited, even in melee range and they can only break stun with their trinket. Once that is

blown, they are wide open. Make sure to stay out of their AoE damage when they are not stunned and

hit Dismantle whenever they cast DoT or AoE to get out of it. If you know you’re going into a fight with a

Death Knight, Shadow/Frost Resistance is a must and your dodge should be capped out. When they

Death Grip you, vanish before you run away so that they cannot death grip you out of your running. You

need to be sure you mitigate their ability to grab you as much as possible.

Druids

Druids can heal and that makes them tough to kill. Toss in their spells and physical attacks and they are

among the best rounded foes you will face. They can cast damage shields

which will repair them very quickly because of the speed of your attacks

and with regenerative spells in hand they can recover their health in not

time. You want them to go into Feral form if possible because they are

forced taking damage in this state – in casting form, the best you can do is

use Kick to interrupt their casts as much as possible.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation – start with 2 CP

2. Garotte

3. Shiv – Snare them – if they try to shift out, use Kidney Shot

4. Rupture

5. Backstab – use this three times to build CP

6. Expose Armor – only on Caster Form

7. Shiv

Their Attacks

1. Bash – They will use this to stun you and heal – if they do, use Evasion to stop it and cast Kidney

Shot

2. War Stomp – If they are a Tauren, they will use this for CC to heal. Have Wound Poison on them

at all times to weaken heals.

www.PvPBible.com

116

Finishing them Off

1. Kidney Shot

2. Backstab

3. Cold Blood

4. Eviscerate

Not on the list but equally as important, remember to follow up with Kick, Gouge and Deadly Throw to

interrupt whenever you can – especially if they try to heal at all. Battles get very long when you don’t

remember to do this.

Hunter

Hunters are hard to deal with because they have pets which can be prone to interrupt your basic

strategies. They can slow your speed down and kite you around the

battlefield with a good pet and their shots and because they can hide a

little too and send in their pet first, it is hard to get a solid opener on

them. Use Sprint, Gouge and Blind often to get into melee range and

deal damage and ignore the pet whenever possible. They are just a

distraction, not an actual target.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Cloak of Shadows – Use this to resist their trap up to 95% of the time.

3. Cheap Shot

4. Shiv

5. Kidney Shot

6. Backstab

7. Backstab

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

117

1. Scatter Shot – They will use this to get back to range. Use Deadly Throw to slow them by up to

50% and then sprint to get back to melee range.

Finishing them Off

1. Cold Blood

2. Eviscerate

3. Evasion

4. Backstab – use this until you have 5 CP

3. Eviscerate

Keep the hunter in melee range throughout this fight by using things like

Deadly Throw. If they try to use Deterrance, use Shiv to build your CP or they

will dodge your attacks.

Mage

Your DPS ability is matched only by the Rogue but because they have no

armor and minimal health, you have the edge here. Polymorph and Frost

Nova should be expected from them at any given time to crowd control you

and keep you in their specified range. Use kick to counteract Polymorph and

interrupt it and use a ranged attack to interrupt Frost Nova. Do not use Gouge and Kick together though

as you will need one available at all times for emergencies. Stunlocking a mage is very possible as well,

but make sure to use Crippling Poison to keep them from using Blink to get away from you.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Garotte

3. Shiv

4. Cold Blood

5. Eviscerate

6. Backstab

7. Shiv

www.PvPBible.com

118

8. Backstab

9. Eviscerate – This should do it for Fire Mages. You will need to finish them off if they are an Ice

Mage though

Their Attacks

1. Ice Block – Ice Mages will use this to become immune to your attacks. Use Blind afterward to

bandage and restealth. Use Garrote to reopen.

2. Frost Nova – Counter with Vanish, Sprint, Gouge

3. Blink – Counter with Cloak of Shadows, Sprint, Gouge

Finishing them Off

1. Vanish

2. Ambush

3. Eviscerate

If you have any problems with a mage, it will be their Ice Block ability – which is only available a couple

times at most. Counter with blind and heal and you should be fine – an easy fight all the way around.

Paladin

This is a tough fight for a Rogue because they have so many benefits – including Plate Mail, high

stamina, healing, and bubble shields for up to 12 seconds. You will

need to get them into a Stunlock if you want to guarantee their

death, because as soon as they are loose, they will heal and start

over again and will almost always be able to wear you down. They

also have very high armor ratings, so forget about things like

Backstab and Ambush – make sure to have Mind Numbing Poison on

at least one hand at all times as well to offset their healing as much

as you can.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

www.PvPBible.com

119

2. Garrote

3. Backstab

4. Cloak of Shadows – Use this before you think they are about to use Hammer of Justice – Most

Paladins lead with it

5. Rupture

6. Vanish

7. Cheap Shot

8. Backstab

9. Kidney Shot

Their Attacks

1. Divine Shield – They will use this to block your attacks and heal, while removing Wound Poison.

Use Sprint, run away and try to drop combat so you can reopen on them. Restealth and use

Cheap shot.

Finishing them Off

1. Backstab

2. Rupture

3. Backstab

4. Backstab

5. Eviscerate

The big move a Paladin has is Divine Shield. They can use it at any time and

completely heal themselves and restart the fight. Use Kick and Gouge when

you can to interrupt anything they try to do that will allow them to heal.

Priest

It might seem tough to face a Priest because of their numerous heals, but

with such a low armor class, no attack power, and stunlock susceptibility,

they are usually very easy to kill. They will fear you and have plenty of DoTs to

www.PvPBible.com

120

drop on you, but if you can Vanish and hit them with your opener, they are as good as dead. Be wary of

skilled Shadow Priests though as they are still capable of defeating you if you get sloppy. Always have

Mind Numbing Poison on as well to negate their healing a bit.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Shiv

3. Kidney Shot

4. Backstab

5. Backstab

6. Cold Blood

7. Eviscerate

Their Attacks

1. Fear – They will fear you as soon as you use your first attack. Use your trinket to break it and

then wait it out after that.

Finishing them Off

1. Blind

2. Cloak of Shadows

3. Cheap Shot

4. Backstab

5. Eviscerate

A fast fight no matter how it goes down, you can usually kill them quickly if they are not well geared.

But, always remember to use Kick and Gouge at will to interrupt their heals to keep the fight as short as

possible.

Rogue

www.PvPBible.com

121

Rogues facing Rogues are interesting matchups. With both of you being fast and stealthing, it is tough to

say who can ever have the advantage in such a fight. For this reason, the same

reasons you can defeat everyone else, you need to stay clear of a Rogue as much

as possible and only go in when you can stunlock and bleed them to death. If you

are a better stunlocker than them, you should win – if not, expect to die the

same way.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Cheap Shot

3. Shiv

4. Kidney Shot – Only when Cheap shot is about to fade

5. Backstab

6. Shiv

7. Gouge

8. Rupture

Their Attacks

1. Stealth and Stunlock – A Rogue will attempt to return your attacks the exact same as you hit

them, so beware of any opportunities you might give them to back out of the fight and

restealth. If they can restealth at all they will be able to possible stunlock you and get a great

deal of damage in.

Finishing them Off

1. Vanish

2. Cheap Shot

3. Backstab

4. Cold Blood

5. Eviscerate

You pretty much have to assume the opposing Rogue is not going to break free of stunlock. If they do,

they are free to hit you back which means the fight could go either way. You need to hit first and hit

www.PvPBible.com

122

hard to stand a chance here, but if you can pull it off, you can usually defeat them. If they do break free,

they will Vanish and try to reopen on you – errors are costly here so play smart.

Shaman

Shamans are downright nasty to Rogues because of their combination of Damage shields, instant casts,

magma totems, and earthshield to keep you from getting into stunlocks,

vanishing, or doing much of anything else you are used to doing. Top that

all of with their healing ability and this is a downright hard fight. If you

want to beat a Shaman with a Rogue, you have to make no mistakes. If

they give you an opening, you must take it or you are going to die.

Attack Sequence

1. Sap – If they know you’re coming start here

2. Kill the Totems – Get rid of Fire Nova, Earthbind, Poison Cleansing Totems.

3. Premeditation

4. Cheap Shot

5. Shiv

6. Kidney Shot

7. Backstab

8. Gouge

9. Backstab

10. Cold Blood

11. Eviscerate

Their Attacks

1. Nature’s Swiftness – They will cast this so they can cast big heals to repair themselves. Wound

Poison should halve their heal though, so just continue as planned.

Finishing them Off

1. Blind

www.PvPBible.com

123

2. Cheap Shot

3. Back Stab

4. Eviscerate

Use Kick and Gouge often to interrupt their heals and keep them from being ready to fight you. Don’t

give them the openings they need to attack either or you are just going to be stuck in a long, drawn out

battle. Attack fast, cut them off at every corner and try to kill them in a few seconds.

Warlock

Interrupt their casts as often as you can and you can be successful in this fight. The

biggest problem you are going to face is their Death Coil ability as it will hurt you and

heal them while it most often happens to proc fear at the same time. They will

usually cast DoTs so it is easy to interrupt them but fear is a biggie as they will use it

often. Undead Rogues are set because of fear immunity, but the rest of you are in

trouble. Also, Warlock pets can be largely ignored. Imps will make it hard to vanish, but can be taken

care of easily enough while Felhunters are useless against a non-caster such as yourself. Ignore the pets,

hit the warlock and end the fight quickly to be successful.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Cheap Shot

3. Shiv

4. Kidney Shot – Use before Cheap Shot runs out.

5. Back Stab

6. Cloak of Shadows – They will start spamming Death Coil at this point when the stun is about to

break – with this on, you will resist Death Coil most of the time. If they wait to cast it you may be

in trouble though.

7. Cold Blood

8. Eviscerate

Their Attacks

www.PvPBible.com

124

1. Death Coil – They might recognize your Cloak of Shadows and wait to cast this and get it down,

followed by fear. Use your trinket and then follow up with Deadly Throw to interrupt their

subsequent casts.

Finishing them Off

1. Vanish

2. Cheap Shot

3. Back Stab

4. Eviscerate

The biggest thing to face here is Death Coil. If you can avoid it, you should be fine. If not, they can heal

themselves and get Fear in. Keep Crippling Poison on them and have your trinket ready at all times.

Warrior

Do the same thing against Warriors that you would against a Paladin. Because they cannot heal they are

a bit easier to kill, however keep in mind that they have very powerful

instant hits that can take out massive damage right away. You will want to

stay out of melee range as much as possible until you ready and with Rend

Armor they can send your armor to zero in a second and drop your attack

speed to 10% with Thunder Slap. Also, they have 8,000 armor or more in

many cases and a 60% reduction rate, so be ready for a long fight.

Stunlocking is recommended here and just hope they don’t break it on you

too early. If you can get a long lock on them early, you can usually manage

to out melee them after that with your health advantage.

Attack Sequence

1. Premeditation

2. Garrote

3. Shiv

4. Rupture – Dwarves have Stoneform, so wait for it to fade, use Blind and restealth to restart

5. Vanish

www.PvPBible.com

125

6. Cheap Shot

7. Backstab

8. Cold Blood

9. Eviscerate

10. Evasion – Strafe to the back and use Backstab when you can.

Their Attacks

1. Fear – They can counter with fear in here – if they do it and you don’t break it, they can heal and

land a Mortal Strike to boot. Make sure to clear the fear in about 1.5 seconds or you could get

hit pretty hard.

Finishing them Off

1. Blind

2. Cheap Shot

3. Backstab

4. Eviscerate

5. Rupture

6. Cloak of Shadows

7. Restart from Step 2

When Warriors are aware of a Rogue nearby, they will go into defensive stance and wait for you to

come. They will weaken your attacks this way, but stick to your strategy and continue attacking. If they

land a Piercing Howl or Hamstring they can remove poison as well – in this case, they will then use

Intercept. If they can triple crit you here, you will die. If not, continue and try to restealth.

Shamans

The Shaman in PvP has changed a great deal since Burning Crusade was released. While they were once

considered the strongest in PvP because of their HP and Mana regeneration, they have been thoroughly

rebalanced to the point of being a slightly weaker class in PvP. They are generally considered now to be

in the middle of the pack after a few recent patches, but to be effective, you must still learn the basics of

www.PvPBible.com

126

how they operate to effectively win your fights. Earth Shock Rank 1 will be a primary ability always on

your hotbar because of its usefulness in disrupting enemy attacks while other totems such as Magma

Totem will work well against Rogues. Each totem has its own role and to be effective in PvP you must

learn how to maximize the effectiveness of each.

Keep in mind as well that you have multiple options for your Weapon spec and your shield usage, but

this guide assumes the use of the Frostbrand Weapon and Lightning Shield being active at all times (it

isn’t mentioned throughout, so keep it in mind).

Your Spec

The best Talent build for Shamans in PvP is one that focuses on the Elemental Tree with additional

points in restoration. This puts a great deal of focus on your damage dealing ability as well as your

healing strengths.

Elemental – 43 Points Enhancement – 7 Points Restoration – 21 Points

Convection 5/5 Thundering Strikes 5/5 Improved Healing Wave 5/5

Concussion 5/5 Ancestral Knowledge 2/5 Totemic Focus 5/5

Elemental Focus 1/1 Nature’s Guidance 3/3

Reverberation 4/5 Healing Focus 1/5

Call of Thunder 5/5 Totemic Mastery 1/1

Storm Reach 2/2 Tidal Mastery 5/5

Elemental Fury 1/1 Nature’s Swiftness 1/1

Unrelenting Storm 5/5

Elemental Precision 1/3

Lightning Mastery 5/5

Elemental Mastery 1/1

www.PvPBible.com

127

Lightning Overload 5/5

Elemental Oath 2/2

Totem of Wrath 1/1


Because of your totems, your method of fighting is different than any other class. You will have strong

buffs and can quickly change the course of battle with them. Additionally, because you can wear mail,

carry a shield and heal, you are incredibly hard to kill. Toss in Purge as a way of removing buffs from

enemies and high DPS and Shamans are incredibly imposing foes.

On the other side of the coin, Shamans have no means of crowd control and once an enemy attacks you,

they can remain engaged until the fight is over. Shaman attacks are usually quite short in range as well

and ranged fighters can deal huge damage before you can respond.

Your Gear

Your gear selection will largely depend on which spec you choose for your Shaman. For Enhancement

Shamans, your performance is heavily tied to your weapon selection. Unlike pretty much every other

class, dual wielding, especially with Shamanastic Rage is a clear choice because of their burst damage

capabilities with them in hand. However, you are still suggested to pick up slower weapons – at least 2.4

or slower per hand. Additionally, you are going to want to look for good stats for a melee fighter

including agility, strength, stamina, and resilience.

For Restoration and Enhancement Shamans you will want to go for a more casting based build which

means you don’t really care about damage in gear – just stats – with a heavy focus on things like spell

power, healing, and spell critical rating. Always add in the necessary stamina and resilience and your

shaman should be highly effective in battle.

Death Knights

Shamans have trouble with Death Knights still and it is largely because they are polar opposites (in a bad

way for Shamans). Death Knights wear plate, cast diseases and are highly magic resistant. Luckily a few

www.PvPBible.com

128

changes have been made to Shamans to counteract this. First of all, totems are now considered physical

and not magic – so they cannot be silenced or slowed in casting. Your shocks and other spells might be

blocked, but totems are still wide open.

Secondly, a Death Knight sequence is equally if not more complex than a Shaman’s so if you are good at

playing your class, they are easy to trip up in their sequence. If you can blow their cooldowns or mess

with their sequence, you can improve your odds many times over.

Diseases are the core source of DPS for most Death Knights and you have a means of keeping those

diseases at bay, both with your Disease cleansing totem and your cleanse disease ability. You will slow

your own damage output, but you slow theirs too and unless they are blood specced, you stop most of

their healing ability as well. Always have a grounding totem out and use your lightning shield, magma

and fire totems and shocks in succession to maintain a steady stream of damage in between damage

mitigation. If you can outlast their attacks and stop them from healing, a Death knight actually has quite

a few holes against a Shaman.

Druids

When fighting a Druid as a Shaman, you are going to want to treat them

according to their form – Bears a warriors, cats are rogues and casters

are…well, casters. Purge is a good spell to toss on them to slow their

shapeshifting ability and always keep your eye on their mana bar. If you

are Elemental, they will likely attack in cat form and shift into and out of

your shocks and binds so be patient and wait for them to switch to heal

and then earthbind and lightning bolt them. For Restoration Shamans, you

can expect them to drop into bear form and tank – keep your health

above 50% no matter what form they are in though to prevent them from

being able to stunlock you to death in Cat form.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Mana Spring Totem out

2. Chain Lightning

3. Earth Shock

www.PvPBible.com

129

4. Lightning Bolt

5. Fire Nova Totem – if they try to move into Melee range

6. Chain Lightning

Their Attacks

1. Cyclone – This does nothing, so just wait for it to be done as they are trying to rattle you and

your strategy.

2. Bash – They will use this to stun you so they can heal – use your trinket to remove effects and

then Earth Shock to interrupt their heal. Use Purge to remove their HoT spells

Finishing them Off

1. Earth Shock

2. Grounding Totem – Redrop this every time it is used or they break it

3. Elemental Mastery

4. Chain Lightning

5. Nature’s Swiftness

6. Lightning Bolt

7. Earth Shock

This should be pretty easy for Elemental Shamans as they cannot interrupt your casts and they cannot

mitigate damage very well. They will try to win the fight by outhealing you, but you can reply by using

Purge and Earth Shock to block their heals. Their biggest heal is a 3.5 second cast, so have fun

interrupting it.

Hunters

No matter which Shaman you are, fight hunters the same way. Always ignore the pet and try to get into

melee range as often and as quickly as possible. Use your grounding

totem to eat and take care of their frost and immolation traps and

keep a magma totem down to take care of snake traps. Restoration

Shamans should watch out for Arcane Shot too as it can dispel Earth

www.PvPBible.com

130

Shield and you should always lay as many totems as you can as they will attack your totems with their

pet, negating many of them.

Attack Sequence

1. You need to get them into melee range before dropping totems, so if they run away right away,

just wait.


3. Chain Lightning

4. Frost Shock

5. Frost Shock – Run toward them during these

6. When in Melee Range – cast Grounding Totem

Their Attacks

1. Freezing Trap – Beware of these near their feet. Your Grounding Totem will hopefully absorb

this if they haven’t broken it already.

2. Scatter Shot – They will use this to slow and disorient you – use your trinket to remove it and

then follow up with Windwall Totem to reduce ranged damage.

3. Silencing Shot – Used to stop you from healing, you can reply by keeping your health above 40%

at all times so they cannot kill you while you are silenced.

4. Viper Sting – Dispel this with Poison Cleansing Totem or Cure Poison – always remove it quickly

though

Finishing them Off

1. Have Frostbrand Weapon on and turn on Auto attack for when they get into melee – this will

snare them

2. Fire Nova Totem

3. Chain Lightning

4. Frost Shock


6. Lightning Bolt

www.PvPBible.com

131

Another relatively easy fight if you come into it prepared and ready for whatever the Hunter throws at

you. Stay in Melee, get rid of their traps and you should be set.

Mage

Ice Mages are the ones to truly watch out for as a Shaman. If they are ice, they are built to survive and

so you should keep your distance and use Searing Totem to lengthen their

casting times as much as possible. When you have a chance to do damage

do as much as you can against an ice mage as they will be much more

powerful. Also watch out for counterspell as it can block your heals and

make you a sitting duck. Don’t waste heals when a grounding totem is out

either and use purge to remove any elemental shields and arcane intellect

they may have cast on themselves.

Attack Sequence

1. Set out Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Mana Spring

Totem to start


3. Chain Lightning

4. Earth Shock

5. Lightning Bolt

6. Chain Lightning

Their Attacks

1. Counterspell – They will use this on you to block your spells. Hide behind rocks to stay out of line

of sight. If none are available, stay in melee until it wears off and then use Nature’s Swiftness

and Healing Wave to heal.

2. Polymorph – Mages use this when they are in real trouble to weaken you and heal. Use Earth

Shock to interrupt them from casting

Finishing them Off

www.PvPBible.com

132

1. Earth Shock

2. Grounding Totem – Redrop this whenever the cooldown is up

3. Chain Lightning


5. Lightning Bolt – if they are not dead yet, continue with above sequence until they are.

Mages can also Ice Block at any time during the fight to remove debuffs. Heal yourself if they do and

continue fighting when it fades. Also, continually use Purge throughout the fight to get rid of their buffs

such as Arcane Power, Mana Shield, and Ice Barrier. This should generally be a relatively easy fight for

you if you follow these steps.

Paladin

Against a Paladin, you are going to want to focus on keeping them from

using their heals and running out of mana quickly. These are the primary

threats a Paladin poses in almost any instance – they can pretty much

come back at you two or three times with new health.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with a Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Mana Spring

Totem out.

2. Lightning Bolt

3. Lightning Bolt

4. Auto Attack – Have Frostbrand Weapon active

5. Fire Nova Totem

6. Earth Shock

7. Lightning Bolt

8. Lightning Bolt – Continue using this until they use Divine Shield


10. Chain Lightning


12. Lightning Bolt

www.PvPBible.com

133

13. Earth Shock – continue this theme until they are dead.

Paladins cannot really counter your spells, so just attack and try to interrupt their heals and waste their

mana. Save your own mana and be careful throughout the fight and this one should be pretty easy. It

generally comes down to a war of mana attrition. Also remember to keep Purge active throughout the

fight.

Priest

If you can time things like your Tremor totem correctly and break their Psychic Scream you cans win

pretty easily in this fight. Have a town handed weapon in hand against

priests as it will do more damage right away and they have such low health.

If you are elemental stay away and avoid their silencing spell. If you can

avoid fear and silence you should be able to handle this fight pretty well –

otherwise they will take the upper hand with ease.

Attack Sequence

1. Begin with a Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem, and Mana Spring

Totem active – Stay near Tremor Totem to remove any fear effects

as Grounding totem doesn’t work with Pyschic Scream

2. Purge – Use this twice

3. Lightning Bolt

4. Earth Shock

5. Lightning Bolt

6. Auto Attack – with Frostbrand Weapon on it

7. Fire Nova Totem – when they are in melee range

Their Attacks

1. Look out for their use of Pain Suppression, Renew and Power Word: Shield – Continue to Purge

them.

www.PvPBible.com

134

2. Silence – Shadow Priests can silence you – Heal throughout the fight to stay above 40% so this

can’t work

Finishing them Off

1. Grounding Totem


3. Chain Lightning


5. Lightning Bolt

6. Earth Shock – continue with this combo until they are dead

Priests will sometimes use Mana Burn against you to drain your mana and win the fight – if they do this,

use Earth Shock to interrupt and put down a Grounding Totem to absorb if they try again. Otherwise,

stay above 40% and stick to the above strategy to remain effective.

Rogue

If a Rogue fails to defeat you right away by getting you into a stunlock, you actually stand a much better

chance of defeating them. If you can avoid their initial combo completely, you

will actually be well situated to win already. Keep your Rank 1 Magma Totem out

to keep them from Vanishing and watch out for Kick as they will use it to

interrupt your casts and you should be good. Restoration Shamans should also

use their shields and shocks to block their attacks and – in fact, it is often

recommended to keep Earth Shield up all the time to block them from sneaking

up on you.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with Earthbind Totem, Magma Totem Rank 1, Wrath of Air Totem, and Poison Cleansing

Totem out

2. Frost Shock

3. Auto Attack – with Frostbrand Weapon on

www.PvPBible.com

135

4. Fire Nova Totem

Their Attacks

1. Sap – They will often start with this to kill your totems. Wait it out and redrop the totems. If they

restealth, use your trinket

2. Cloak of Shadows – They will use this to remove debuffs and resists Fire Nova – continue as

planned

3. Kick – They will use this interrupt your casts. Back away and wait for the Kick to fade then

resume

4. Blind – Keep a Poison Cleansing Totem up at all times to negate this attack.

Finishing them Off

1. Chain Lightning

2. Flame Shock


4. Chain Lightning

5. Frost Shock

Keep your Magma Totem out at all times to keep them from using Cloak of Shadows and Vanish too

often as well as Poison Cleanse Totem to counteract their poisons – keep Dispel Poison on hand too. If

they land a lot of damage before you can even act, use Nature’s Swiftness and Healing Wave to restore

and reengage.

Warrior

To win this fight, a warrior must deal heavy melee damage – so if you can

stay out of melee range, you should be good to go. Use a lightning bolt to

initiate combat or something similar to negat e their charge and look out

for their Intercept ability which allows them to reinitiate melee from a

distance and stun you. Mortal Strike is another hard attack to counter as it

lowers healing effects by 50% on you. Use Frost Shock and stay out of

melee and you should be okay though. Enhancement Shamans have a

www.PvPBible.com

136

better chance in this fight too because they can survive in melee a little longer.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Mana Spring Totem out

2. Chain Lightning – with Auto attack

3. Frost Shock

4. Fire Nova Totem

5. Frost Shock

6. Chain Lightning

7. Lightning Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Intercept – They will attempt to respond to your early attacks with Intercept to get into melee

range. Respond by keeping a Grounding totem out to absorb it.

2. Intimidating Shout – If they get within 8 yards they will use this and then follow up with

Hamstring – use your trinket and restart your attack sequence in this case

Finishing them Off

1. Frost Shock


3. Chain Lightning

4. Fire Nova Totem


6. Lightning Bolt

7. Frost Shock

When the Warrior has already used up their Intimidating Shout and trinket, they have no real way to get

close to you again so you can simply run away and continue casting instant spells on them as they try to

get back into melee and fail. Heal early and never let your health get below 40% or they will kill you.

www.PvPBible.com

137

Warlock

Warlocks are hard for nearly every class and to be successful you had better take

control early and keep it that way. Watch out for their use of fear, death coil,

and their Felhunter to block your casting. Use your grounding totem, tremor

totem, and searing totem often and keep their pet busy with other totems

around the area. You should stay in melee range and if you are Enhancement

specced, use Windfury on your weapons. If you are Restoration, have your Earth

Shield up and always be ready with a heal if they use Death Coil to negate the

effects of its drain.

Attack Sequence

1. Start with a Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem, and Mana Spring Totem out.


3. Chain Lightning

4. Earth Shock

5. Lightning Bolt

6. Lightning Bolt

Their Attacks

1. Death Coil/Fear – They will try to start the fight with these attacks – respond by standing close

to your Tremor Totem at all times

2. Curse of Tongues – They will use this to slow casting speed – if they do, continue as planned as

you have minimal recourse

3. Spell Lock – If they throw their Felhunter out there, heal a lot when you can and be ready for a

longer fight.

Finishing them Off

1. Earth Shock

2. Chain Lightning

3. Grounding Totem

4. Lightning Bolt

www.PvPBible.com

138


6. Chain Lightning

A good warrior can kill you while you are feared so you really need to focus on ensuring they don’t

successful land fear on you. Have a Tremor Totem up at all times and use Earth Shock to continually

interrupt their casting. Your grounding totem will absorb DoTs and not be destroyed by them as well, so

always have one out.

Shaman

Shamans versus other Shamans are tough because they are usually

mirrored fights especially if they are the same spec. Time your totem

use well and take down their totems as quickly as possible to be

effective. There are too many combinations a Shaman may use

against you though, so having a specific strategy is hard. Just wait to

see how they act, break their totems and treat them like the class

they are emulating.

Attack Sequence

1. Drop a Grounding Totem, Earthbind Totem, and Mana Spring Totem

2. Earth Shock Rank 1 to disrupt the opponents own Grounding Totem

3. Chain Lightning

4. Lightning Bolt

5. Grounding Totem

6. Auto attack with Frostbrand Weapon

Their Attacks

1. They will use Earth Shock to interrupt as well. Just wait it out when it happens and recast

Finishing them Off

1. Fire Nova Totem


3. Chain Lightning

www.PvPBible.com

139


5. Earth Shock

6. Lightning Bolt

If you can successful earthshock the opposing Shaman’s heals, they will die quickly. If not, it will go on a

little longer than normal. These can be quick battles or incredibly long. If you get them below 50%

health, unload to try and end it and if you get below 50% health, heal quickly.

Death Knights

PvP for a Death Knight is a bit tough. First off, your class is relatively strong compared to others.

However, it is also very hard to master and a single mistake in a fight can cost you a win in many cases if

you are not careful. You have plenty of weaknesses as well – kiting is especially hard to overcome and

many classes simply out DPS you in a straight up fight. However, with the ability to deal DoT with

diseases, spread them in group PvP and especially to heal in multiple ways through the damage you deal

to your opponent, a Death Knight is a force to be reckoned with in almost every form of PvP there is.

Death Grip is your biggest attack in PvP as it will pull your opponent to you instantly. With talents you

can get the cooldown as low as 25 seconds and with a glyph you can add a 1 second stun proc to it with

an additional 10 seconds of cooldown as a tradeoff. Against casters this is a great tradeoff as 1 second

can give you time to do a whole lot.

You have less in the way of regular stuns though – Chains of Ice is a movement slower and can be easily

dispelled, though it has no cooldown so it can be pretty useful when used properly. If you have it,

Chillblains is very useful as well with a 10 second slow and a good amount of time to control your

opponent with minimal effect from your damage.

Your biggest weakness is being kited, and it can be done by most classes. Even Mages, who you have

multiple weapons against can kite you with polymorph, blink, and their ice attacks if they are frost

specced. Most of the strategies below will deal with getting around the kiting though.

www.PvPBible.com

140

Ideal PvP Talent Build

There is no single best PvP talent build for Death Knights. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, all

three specs work well in PvP. Second of all, each one has its trade offs in PvP. While Blood is great for

keeping yourself healed, it relies too heavily on melee combat and thus makes it easier to be kited.

Unholy is good for control, but makes it harder to deal solid DPS. Frost is the best for survivability but

can slow your fights, even with the DPS boost. Below are three different builds – one for each talent tree

– that allow you to choose which method you would like to play as.

Blood

Blood (54 points) Frost (7 points) Unholy (10 points)

2/2 Butchery

3/3 Subversion

5/5 Bladed Armor

2/2 Two-Handed Weapon

Specialization

1/1 Rune Tap

5/5 Dark Conviction

3/3 Death Rune Mastery

3/3 Improved Rune Tap

3/3 Spell Deflection

3/3 Bloody Strikes

3/3 Veteran of the Third War

1/1 Mark of Blood

3/3 Bloody Vengeance

2/2 Abomination's Might

3/3 Bloodworms

1/1 Hysteria

2/5 Sudden Doom

1/1 Vampiric Blood

5/5 Toughness

2/2 Icy Reach

2/2 Vicious Strikes

3/3 Morbidity

3/3 Virulence

2/2 Unholy Command

www.PvPBible.com

141

3/3 Will of the Necropolis

1/1 Heart Strike

3/3 Might of Mograine

1/1 Dancing Rune Weapon

The Blood build focuses on keeping you alive through self healing. Dancing Rune Weapon will boost your

DPS in a close fight and Improved Rune Tap along with Mark of Blood will both help you mitigate the

damage you take – this is good against melee classes especially like Warriors and Feral Druids.

Frost

Blood - 0 Frost – 61 Unholy - 10

3/3 Improved Icy Touch

2/2 Glacier Rot

5/5 Toughness

2/2 Icy Reach

5/5 Black Ice

1/1 Lichborne

3/3 Annihilation

5/5 Killing Machine

2/2 Chill of the Grave

1/1 Deathchill

2/2 Merciless Combat

3/3 Rime

2/2 Endless Winter

1/1 Howling Blast

2/2 Frost Aura

3/3 Chilblains

5/5 Blood of the North

1/1 Unbreakable Armor

3/3 Acclimation

2/2 Vicious Strikes

3/3 Morbidity

3/3 Virulence

2/2 Unholy Command

www.PvPBible.com

142

1/1 Frost Strike

3/3 Guile of Gorefiend

5/5 Tundra Stalker

1/1 Hungering Cold

Unholy

Blood - 19 Frost – 7 Unholy - 45

2/2 Butchery

3/3 Subversion

5/5 Bladed Armor

2/2 Two-Handed Weapon

Specialization

1/1 Rune Tap

3/5 Dark Conviction

3/3 Improved Rune Tap

5/5 Toughness

2/2 Icy Reach

2/2 Vicious Strikes

3/3 Morbidity

2/2 Epidemic

3/3 Virulence

2/2 Unholy Command

3/3 Ravenous Dead

2/2 On a Pale Horse

3/3 Blood-Caked Blade

1/1 Shadow of Death

1/1 Summon Gargoyle

2/5 Impurity

2/2 Dirge

3/3 Reaping

1/1 Master of Ghouls

5/5 Desecration

2/2 Unholy Aura

3/3 Crypt Fever

1/1 Bone Shield

3/3 Ebon Plaguebringer

1/1 Scourge Strike

www.PvPBible.com

143

There are two types of builds for Unholy PvP – the Anti-Magic Shell build or the Rune Tap build. The

build above is build for Rune Tap to improve your self healing. Anti-magic shield is usually too

situational. It only works well against a handful of classes and in some cases is usually just wasted

because you can’t move when it is cast. You will need the self healing much more than the shield, but if

you know you will be facing Priests, Warlocks, and Mages, consider the full Unholy build for Anti-Magic

Shell.

Death Knights

A Death Knight versus Death Knight is interesting for a few reasons.

First of all, the major difference is in the gear, skill level and talent

build that you both have. If you take out the things that should be

equal in a fair fight – gear and skill level – you are left with talent

build and execution, which can be measured more accurately with a

few specific tips and tricks.

Because of Rune Tap, you can usually assume that most Death

Knights will be partly blood specced for the healing aspect. This

means they will probably have Mark of Blood and you need to watch out for it. They will heal for 4% of

all damage they deal to you with this on. If you have this on, make sure not to auto attack because it will

only draw them more health. Use Death Strike, Rune Strikes, or obliterate to get around it.

With a Ghoul out, make sure to place your own Mark of Blood on the pet first to get more health out of

it. If you are fighting a Frost Spec, make sure to avoid their snare so they don’t hit you with Obliterate

for solid burst damage. If they are dual wielders, make sure to have Mark of Blood on them because of

the boost you’ll get. If they are Unholy, stay out of range and hit them with Death Coil and Icy Touch to

avoid their AoE and DoT in melee boosts.

Druids

Fighting a Druid is a tough one for most Death Knights. Most of the

time, you will be up against a Feral Druid in bear form as they will

attempt to mitigate your damage with the higher armor. Make sure

www.PvPBible.com

144

to go into Blood Presence if they are in bear form to boost your healing and then load up with Diseases

and hit with Death Coil, Scourge Strike and Frost Strike to avoid getting blocked by their armor. If they

try to heal, use Icebound Fortitude so they waste their Bash and then Mind Freeze them before they can

use Cyclone.

When they go to use Nature’s Grasp, make sure to have Anti-Magic Shell ready if you are Unholy – this

will waste their root. If you don’t have this spell, use Death Grip to pull them back to you so they cannot

heal and then strangulate them to silence their spell. Don’t waste any runes on Chains of Ice though as

they will shapeshift out of it.

Hunter

To start off against a Hunter, you need to do everything you can to keep

them in range. They can deal much too much damage on you from a

distance if you let them and can control the fight for long enough to win

almost every time. Hit them with Chains of Ice to slow movement and get

into range if you can. They will often use their Disengage to get away, so

just Death Grip them back after that to keep them in range. If you have a

stun proc, hit them with Mind Freeze after that to slow any other moves

they might use to get away.

After you get them in melee, stack your diseases while making sure to save your Frost Runes for Chains

of Ice when needed. Then boost your DPS and start wailing away. You need to have Icebound Fortitude

on hand if they have Intimidate as a Beast master and have your ghoul stay on the hunter’s pet while

you sap their pet with Mark of Blood.

Mage

Against a Mage, you will want to be ready for a lot of things – too

many Death Knights go into this fight thinking it will be a cake walk

because they are anti-magic by nature. However, in most cases, you

are going to find that Mages are well equipped to kite you. You will

www.PvPBible.com

145

want to have your anti-magic ready though – including Anti-Magic Shell, Death Grip, Mind Freeze and

Strangulate. If you do not have a solid opening sequence though, most good mages will simply frost kite

you to death.

To start the fight, send out your ghoul and then hit with Chains of Ice to keep them in place. If you have

it, use Anti-Magic Zone and make them waste their blink right away. Now, pull them back with Death

Grip and hit with Chains of Ice again with your second frost rune. Hit Icy Touch to keep the disease on

and then silence and interrupt them with Mind Freeze and Strangulate. Even without the boosts of the

Anti-Magic Shell, you should do alright if you can use your diseases properly and keep the cooldown up

on your Death Grip.

Paladin

Against a Retribution Paladin, you are

going to have a heck of a time being

effective. They are stronger than Death

Knights in straight up hand to hand

combat and that makes a Blood Knight’s

strengths harder to utilize – they can hit

for more damage than you’ll heal for in

melee range, even with Mark of Blood

on. Stay at range against Paladins and use

your Death Coil and Icy Touch abilities between your diseases. Death and Decay is good if they try to get

too close to you as they will want to flee and you’ll usually have to outlast their mana pool – once their

bubbles and heals are all used up, you can start to wear them down. Be warned though – this is a very

long fight.

Priest

Priests are another fairly simple class to combat for a Death Knight if they are properly prepared. To

start with, they cannot use Mana Burn to block your casting and they don’t have too much in the way of

www.PvPBible.com

146

kiting abilities save their use of Fear. If you can mitigate the use of fear, you are going to do well. If they

control you for too much of the fight, a good Shadow Priest will run you into the ground.

Anti-Magic Shell and Lichborne are both great spells to counteract fear along with your PvP trinket, but

you need to know in advance on fear for the first two, so be ready for it when they cast. Also, keep Mind

Freeze and Strangulate at the ready at all times to use when they get close enough – they will slow their

casting and boost your attack potential many times over.

If they do manage to crowd control you, wait it out (if your trinket is on cooldown) and then use Death

Grip immediately if you survive it. You will need to load up diseases and hit with Death Strike to heal

effectively along with Rune Tap and this will deal the most damage to most Priests. If they switch into

Holy mode, cast Strangulate and Mind Freeze right away to stop their heals or slow them and then

continue to wear them down. If you can force a Priest OOM they are essentially dead, so outlast their

fears and hit them when you have a chance to be effective.

Rogue

If the Rogue you are fighting is good at what they do, expect this to be a tough fight. If they are not very

good, this is going to be relatively easy. Most successful PvP Rogues will use a stunlock combo to take on

pretty much any combatant. They will start the fight in stealth and then hit from there into a stunlock,

killing you before you can hit them at all.

Because your parry is so high naturally you will stand a better chance of surviving until the stun breaks

and then you can hit with Rune Strikes to boost Melee and hit them hard. If they Kidney Shot you to

continue a stun, use your trinket and make sure to have Mark of Blood on them at all times because of

their multiple strikes. You can often heal through a good chunk of their damage, mitigating their huge

burst potential.

Shaman

www.PvPBible.com

147

When fighting a Shaman, you are going to need to take them

on slightly differently than other casters. First of all, their

totems are not considered magic – they are physical in the

classification of attacks so your anti-magic won’t work

against them. Elemental Shamans will attempt to say away

and use their nukes to hit you hard. Hit them with Death

Grip to pull them in and then use Chains of Ice to slow them.

If they are Enhancement, do the opposite and keep your

distance, using your ghoul to destroy totems and hitting

them with Death Coil and Icy Touch.

Shamans are a tough fight because they can cleanse your diseases quickly and hit with a good amount of

damage selectively. If they are good at what they do and can control their totems, they are even harder

to defeat. Make sure to keep your ghoul active on totems and use your AoE to disrupt their totems

when the Grounding Totem isn’t out.

Warlock

Warlocks are an interesting, yet fairly easy fight for Death Knights. They are good at long ranged DOT

and kiting, and have all sorts of stamina with minimal armor. To start, hit with Death Grip and then

strangulate to stop their casting. You should follow

up with Icy Touch and Plague Strike to get your

diseases loaded up and then hit with Death Strike to

heal since their armor is so low. Use your Mind

Freeze when they fear or use Drain Life to slow their

casting.

For those that have Anti-Magic Shell, use it to block

fear for 10 seconds (with the glyph) and then use

Lichborne to be completely immune to fear for a

while. This is especially good when they are trying to

kite you with their curses. Ignore their pet for the

www.PvPBible.com

148

most part – use Mark of Blood on everything but the Fel Hunter and keep your ghoul on them if you

want to keep from being hit for too much.

Warrior

Warriors always start the fight with a Charge if they can get it in first. To stop this, hit them with Death

Grip to pull them to you or use Chains of Ice to keep them from moving too fast. Make sure you know

what spec they are before continuing – you will want Frost Presence against a Protection spec and

Unholy Presence to boost speed and attack speed if they are Fury. IF they are Arms specced make sure

to have Blood Presence out for healing and watch out for their Mortal Strike as it can be a tough one to

face for Death Knights.

Make sure to use Strangulate before they cast Demoralizing Shout so you can avoid fear and make sure

to keep out of range of Intercept and have your trinket on hand to get out of the stun. Frost Strikes is a

good attack to use on Protection Specs so repeat it whenever you have the Runic Power for it.

Otherwise, stay in melee range and hit them for what you can. If they are Fury, stay at range and hit

with Death Coil and Icy Touch as they can hit for harder than you can heal.

www.PvPBible.com

149

Part 3: Arena PvP

In World of Warcraft, the Arena system is designed to provide players an opportunity to fight against

each other outside the typical PvP system. To get started, players need to acquire charters for their

teams from one of two NPCs – Steamwheedle Sam at the Circle of Blood or “King” Dond at the Ring of

Trials. Charters will cost players the following:

2v2 – 80 Gold

3v3 – 120 Gold

5v5 – 200 Gold

Once a charter has been purchased, you need to get all the members of your team to sign the charter –

after that has been done, turn the charter back in and you should be ready to start fighting in the arena.

You will need to form a group (group leader doesn’t matter) before entering a battle and then queue up

for a battle in your class. There are also Arena Battlemasters in each Racial Capital for you to queue up

with.

Rating System

The Arena rating system in World of Warcraft is ranked similar to how the Elo Chess rating system

works. The computer will determine the statistical chance of each side winning based on their score at

the start of the fight. The difference between probability is then the amount of points each side will lose

www.PvPBible.com

150

or gain after the fight is over. Arena Points are awarded each Tuesday during server maintenance based

on each team’s Arena rating at the time. These points can be used to purchase items from Vixton

Pinchwhistle,t he Arena Vendor. The formula for deciding the amount of points your team receives is as

follows (X=Team Rating, Y=Arena Points):

If X>1500 then Y = 2894/(1+259*e^(-0.0025*X))

Else Y = 0.206*X+99

Combat in the Arena

The method of combat in an arena is highly staged, with each team going into a staging area before the

fight. You cannot leave this area and all of your buffs are removed before the fight begins. You will be

given an Arena Buff though which will reduce your mana, rage, or energy cost for all abilities to 0 while

in the fight. Next, a countdown will appear from 60 seconds for the fight to begin. When the staging is

done, the door will open and you can enter the floor and start fighting.

Winning a Match

To win a match in the Arena, one team must be completely defeated. The sole goal is to kill the

opponents with no additional objectives. If a battle starts to take too long, the game will introduce

obstacles to speed it up. After 30 seconds, tornadoes appear on the floor that will cause 1500 damage.

After a great enough time stealth detection crystals appear. They will however cause 2% damage every

few seconds to whoever uses them so as to negate any major advantage they might provide.

At the end of the fight, the scoreboard will appear with data that tells you how many killing blows each

team member had, how much damage was dealt, how much healing was done, and the change in rating

for each player, as well as the total time elapse.

Positioning

The first thing to learn about the arenas is how to position yourself and your teammates. If you stand in

the worst places you will die no matter how well geared you are. Of course, there are no ideal positions

in any match because the match is too dynamic with too much going on, but these basic tips and

overviews will help you learn how to utilize the space in each arena effectively when you fight there.

www.PvPBible.com

151

Your Line of Sight

The line of sight is vital to every player – if you cannot see the opponent, you cannot hit them with your

attacks (even bigger for ranged and casting classes). Additionally, if your own healer cannot see you, you

will be out of luck when they try to heal. You must always maintain a good line of sight with your team

members throughout an arena fight while trying to minimize the line of sight your opponents have at

any given point in time. In doing so, you can reduce how much damage you take, prevent crowd control,

prevent silencing, and force opponents to change their structure and model of attack, throwing them

off.

When properly positioned, you can more easily execute your team’s strategies, overcome your

opponents’ and be ready for nearly anything. Still, you will need a great deal of practice to truly master

these techniques. When you enter an arena for the first time, don’t expect to be successful – and if you

can bring along at least one team member who has fought there before and knows the lay of the land.

This will immensely help your cause.

Communication

Every good arena team should practice their communication or they are going to lose no matter how

good their gear is. Even if the other team has better gear and a better setup than you, if you can

www.PvPBible.com

152

communicate better and take them on with your methods intact, you can beat them. Having the best

WoW player in the world playing on your team is useless if they don’t know how to communicate with

the rest of the team effectively.

The first step is to learn how to talk via voice and what to say (and not to say). If you are panicked,

confused, yelling, or clogging the line, you waste everyone’s time and block out the useful messages.

Practice for this very reason, discussing who should be wear, what should be said and how the com lines

should be utilized. Have a team leader who tells people where to be and how to adjust their strategy.

This person will be the calmest and most capable of assessing the entire situation, not just their own.

This will be the person to call the DPS switches, crowd controls, and heals as they are needed. If strategy

changes, they will announce it.

Additionally, if you start to blame your teammates, you get nowhere. You need to learn how to work

together and take on blame with your teammates, not dole it out. Criticism is good, but only when it is

constructive and carefully given to help the team instead of tear down a teammate. Even if someone

made a catastrophic mistake, berating them does no good – it only creates tension between the group

and weakens your next match. Make sure to approach every match with the right balance of mutual

respect and communication and you should be able to share your strategies and thoughts to the

greatest effect.

Creating a Strategy

Creating a strategy for an Arena match can be hard because you never know what you will face in your

opponents, but that makes it all that much more important. Good teams practice repeatedly and

develop strategies for almost any kind of team they might face when they enter the arena. While you

cannot build a strategy for every possible combination (5v5 teams have more than 59,000

combinations), you can build a strategy for basic archetypes such as DPS teams, melee teams, caster

teams, healing teams, and raid style teams. If you have a basic strategy going into every fight, you can be

prepared for nearly anything and what’s more, you can effectively adjust to that strategy because

everyone on your team knows exactly what is supposed to happen next. If they know you would

normally take out the healer and you decide not to in a particular fight, they will understand why and

adjust accordingly, but only when you practice and build strategies ahead of time.

www.PvPBible.com

153

Always discuss your match before you enter it and once you are in the match, talk for a couple seconds

before you engage them to make sure you are fully sure of the strategy you will use in combating their

setup. This follows directly into being adaptive in battle. While having a strategy is good, it can also hold

you back if you are not careful to monitor your opponents and ensure you are prepared for everything

they throw at you. Be sure to combat what they look like on paper and what they actually do separately

with the right adjustments being made to their specific actions or you will become a slave to your

preparations and make mistakes.

General Group Strategies

Below, you will find short strategies designed to help you understand the dynamics of certain group

formations. Because there are so many possible combinations in any of the three brackets (more than

61,000), you are not going to find them all there, but you will find some of the most popular formations

possible that allow certain strategies to be undertaken, from high DPS to tanking and healing. Later in

this section is a more in-depth look at what you can accomplish with very specific, popular 2v2 and 3v3

teams.

www.PvPBible.com

154

DPS Burst Damage Groups

The goal of a burst damage group is to be powerful and always control the offensive turn of the fight.

Many DPS groups will start battle by trying to CC and kill off one person right away. An alternate

strategy is also to start soft and hit people lightly before going in for more powerful blows later in the

game when they’ve settled on a particular target. They can quickly switch and kill someone who is off

guard in a few seconds this way. Because killing someone outright to start a match is actually quite hard,

the second switch method is often more commonly used – with Resilience over 400 for most players and

crowd control breaks being standard place for most PvPers, it just doesn’t work that well. However, a

big DPS team will usually settle in on an expected target like a mage or warlock and when it is not

expected they will switch their attention to a softer target (paladins who’ve used up their bubble or

mages who’ve used up their ice block). Always be prepared for these things too – keep your opponents

www.PvPBible.com

155

purged or dispelled before they can cast anything such as a bubble or shield so that you can dispel it

quickly when it comes up.

2v2 Teams

While it might not seem to make the most sense, a 2 DPS team in 2v2 is actually quite common. The goal

here, without a healer, is to forget having any form of healing and stick with complete rowd control of

an opposing DPS or healer. Rogues should probably use their CC on opposing DPS. That way, the healer

is alone to take on damage in a one on one fight with your other DPS who should have the advantage.

But, you need to be quick and kill fast as you will have no means of healing when the time calls for it.

Warlocks are especially good for this reason because of their Drain life ability.

Rogue/Mage – This team has very little room for error. The mage should probably be a frost mage,

though if the mage is particularly skilled a fire mage can probably pull it off. Your primary goal here

should be crowd control, so other than that any strategy will usually work pretty well. The firepower

should be focused heavily on one player though. Usually in this fight your best bet is to take on the DPS

and CC the healer, just until you know how to play in this format well. If you can kill the DPS first, the

healer poses no threat to the two of you.

Rogue/Warlock – You can expect lots of damage and CC in this setup. Fears and spell locks from the

Warlock’s pet make this a pretty simple combination to run too. Also, because of Drain Life and

healthstones, you actually have a couple ways to heal if you need a bit of extra health going into the

final seconds of a fight.

Hunter/Warlock – This gives you a bit of control for both sides of the coin with Hunters CCing the melee

classes and Warlocks taking on the ranged and casters. Warlocks should load up their DoTs on both

opposing members and the Hunter should hit hard with a focus fire on one of the two of them. The

Warlock should then fear on the other member and the two can combine forces to kill off the primary

target – Aimed Shot should be attached to the DPS target throughout the fight.

www.PvPBible.com

156

Mage/Warlock – This team is a massive, damage dealing machine. Warlocks can throw out the Soul Link

and Siphon Life combination and make it even better with health boosts even against major burst

damage on the other side. Your combination of fears and polymorph along with counterspells and spell

lock make pretty much anyone weak against your powers and will usually lead to plenty of victories for

your side.

3v3 Teams

If you want to build a purely DPS team in 3v3 you need to truly understand what it is you are doing with

your class and how the other classes in the game act and interact. You also need to have a trio of players

who know each other well and can work in a team effectively. If your team doesn’t lock down one of the

opposing team’s DPS members, you can count on there being a nice bit of problems with killing them as

you will likely lose a party member in the process. You should CC the healers on the other team and

then hit the DPS class hard – once they are dead, the other team has very little to throw back at you. If

you kill a healer early, they can still beat you with a few lucky criticals. Of course, with a Rogue on your

team, try to lock down the healer if possible and split DPS so they cannot break out of CC and block your

attempts to kill a team member. If you face a double healer combination, make sure to do this or you

www.PvPBible.com

157

will not be able to take down their health. Expect the 3 DPS build to be a tough build to master but a

fun one once you do.

Rogue/Warlock/ Mage – You have about 30 seconds to make this fight your own, so you need to act

quickly and make good moves. If you don’t kill an opponent in those first 30 seconds you will probably

lose. Get off your CC fast and make sure to know who your targets are. Your Rogue should work to lock

down the opposing team’s healer while the Mage and Warlock take on the DPS or second healer. If you

can find a good team who you can work well with, this is a great matchup because of the shear damage

output you can accomplish.

Hunter/ Rogue/Restoration Druid – With this group, you can pretty much match up against any team.

Pairing a Rogue and Hunter will allow you to take out any opposing casters with extreme ease while the

Rogue can handle Warlocks better and the Hunter handles Mages better. The Druid’s goal in this fight is

to Crowd Control and Heal over Time – your opponents will most likely attempt to take out the Druids

first though, so be ready and protect them with some solid gear.

Warlock/ Elemental Shaman/Mage – This team is an incredibly powerful DPS team. Off the bat, expect

to knock out an opponent in mere seconds and because the Shaman can heal when needed, they are

extremely useful in this setup. Have Frost Nova and Earth Bind on tap at all times with CC’s such as Fear

and Polymorph and you should be able to keep opposing DPS at bay with relative ease. No matter what

happens, you should be able to damage your opponents with ease using this setup.

5v5 Teams

The 5 person group with a DPS focus will have four DPS members at the most. Any more than that and

you will probably not survive – even then, you will need to practice often and have a good deal of team

chemistry to make this group work. Your goal here is pretty much to unload on specific targets and hit

them hard and fast to kill them right away. You want to make sure your group composition does not

allow for the opposing teams Healers to heal through everything though. There are plenty of drawbacks

to be aware of here as well. Because you only have the one healer, you are fairly exposed if the other

team has multiple DPS or if your teammates do not lock down the CC on the opposing DPS. If they can

come after your healer and kill them outright, you are in a great deal of trouble. But, if you can pull this

off, you can be a downright tough team to beat.

www.PvPBible.com

158

Elemental Shaman/ Warlock/ Warrior/ Mage/ Discipline Priest – This team is a very common 4 DPS

team. Using the strategy described above where you switch targets without notice to kill them, you can

use this team fairly well. Your first goal should be to hit your primary target hard and then to follow up

with CC on the opposing DPS classes. Then, about 30 seconds in switch all of your focus with the Shaman

using Bloodlust and everyone using all of their most powerful attacks on a single target. The casters

should hit the healers with counters and spell locks and the Priest should unload fear with the Warrior

so that you can kill your new target with ease. After killing one player, this fight should be come

relatively simple.

Paladin/Warlock/Rogue/Mage/Elemental Shaman – This team uses the above strategy just as well,

with basically the same approach. Just make sure to adjust your strategy effectively if you have an

opposing team with a strange makeup (i.e. 4 healers or their own 4 DPS setup). This can make for some

interesting matches.

Paladin/Mage/Hunter/Elemental Shaman/Warlock – This team is infamous for unloading a huge

amount of damage very quickly. Because you don’t have a Priest with Power Infusion, you cannot boost

the damage output any more than normal, but Bloodlust and Icy Veins are good replacements in this

case. Your options are numerous here as well –either hit hard and fast or do the switch method outlined

above – you can probably pull either of them off with ease.

Healing Teams

This group setup is a tough one to play for anyone that gets impatient often – you must truly learn to be

careful and patient here or you will only die that much faster. You will also learn a great deal about the

intricacies of your class in this mode as you had better be using every tool you have or you are going to

die for sure. Healers are not capable of healing the entire time – they have a number of other spells that

you need to use in succession to support the fight and even deal some damage at times. Things like

Insect Swarm, Mana Burn, and Shadow Word: Pain should be used whenever possible to add DPS to the

fray between heals. Druids are good for CC and can cast a number of HoT spells that help to keep people

alive. With more than one healer, they opponents cannot burst you down so easily and your mistakes

will not have such a huge impact – this is a good learning style and with the right players a good team to

beat your opponents with.

www.PvPBible.com

159

3v3 Teams

You are going to want to combine a couple of different classes together – you will need a DPS and they

need to be a powerful one. Usually a Warrior will do the job though a Warlock can be just as effective in

the situation. Warriors win out because they don’t run into mana problems and they have high burst

DPS which is useful for quick kills. Additionally, if the opponents have a good deal of defensive dispels,

your Warlock is pretty useless, so look out for that matchup.

Holy Paladin, Disc Priest, Warrior – This setup will take a while to do anything with. With a Disc Priest,

you can use Mana Burn which will speed things up against opposing healers and casters as the

opponents are useless once they hit zero in the mana department of their healer. Another possibility is

to throw in a Restoration Shaman with the Holy Paladin and Warrior as it will be able to stay alive on par

with the Paladin, making for an endurance team. With minimal crowd control though, this team does

have its weaknesses so learn how to work around this with line of sight and careful maneuvering and

you should be able to win.

Restoration Druid/Disc Priest/Warlock – This build combines the viability of Mana Burn with the healer

heavy necessities of the right healers to make for a long team that can take on nearly anyone. In

addition, your Druid can use CC while the Priest uses Mana Burn and the Warlock Mana Drains and CCs.

Insect Swarm is a good addition here as well along with Shadow Word: Pain – solid DPS additions to the

overall output of your group. Burst potential can be boosted too with Power Infusion on your Warlock

and with you healing all along, even heavy Burst teams will have trouble against you here.

5v5 Teams

When you get into a five person group, having three healers is actually very viable and a good idea for

many builds. If you have patience and like long matches, this is probably the best way to go in fact. You

can also afford to make some errors in this group as you have tons of healers to hold things together – a

great way to start with a new team.

Restoration Druid/Discipline Priest/Marksman Hunter/Holy Paladin/Warlock – This team combines

some aspects of a good Mana Drain team with a multi-healer team to keep yours alive and drain down

their pools quickly while you CC their DPS. First, drain their healers and then focus on killing their DPS

www.PvPBible.com

160

one at a time and then keep mana drain on the healers every 10 seconds or so. Be sure not to let healers

drink anything and always keep Aimed Shot on DPS and Viper Sting on the Healer. Your Druid is

dedicated almost solely to CC and rooting melee classes while cyclone should be kept on other targets

between DPS. Early on, your Paladin is the only healer, but once mana is drained your Priest will join in

and your Druid can help out in an emergency.

Holy Paladin/Restoration Shaman/Warrior/Warlock/Disc Priest – This is a good team with three solid

healers and your two best DPS choices due to their self-sufficience and durability. You can wear on your

opponents pretty well with this team while the Priest Mana Burns and the Druid CCs. Intercept and

Hamstring is freely available to your Warrior and other attacks like Spell Lock, Hammer of Justice, Feral

Charge, Bash, and Fear are good for adding to it. Lock down enough opponents and fight them

effectively and you should do well.

www.PvPBible.com

161

Melee Group Strategies

A group focused solely on Melee combat can be very effective if you know how to use them properly.

Often times, there has been a rush of casters into the highest ranked teams, so players have started

countering with going heavy in melee as most warlocks and other casters are weak against such

compositions. Healers are useless in casting groups due to heavy melee damage and mana dives quickly

making it a very effective high end group – of course when you hit a well balanced group the strategy

can be much harder to pull off.

3v3 Teams

While the 3v3 teams are not quite as melee heavy as their 5v5 counterparts yet, they are quickly

growing and learning to take advantage of the same strategies. And with the 2.4 patch making the

www.PvPBible.com

162

Enhancement Shaman more viable in melee, it is even more common to see this type of build. Here are

a couple of well used teams for such setups:

Retribution Paladin/Warrior/Restoration Shaman – Windfury is a great addition to this team, boosting

your burst potential but you will need to kill your opponents quickly due to a lack of anything substantial

in the way of Crowd Control. Your Paladin is good with dispel as well and should use it often to ward off

the opponents’ CCs. While this may have a great deal of weaknesses, it is generally considered a top

team for many reasons, the first of which being that it is incredibly strong. Players are durable and

bubbles make them tougher. Your opponents will not be happy to see you, that is for sure.

Restoration Druid/Warrior/Rogue – This group is not as feared as the previous group but may be better

off due to the combination of the Rogue and Druid and their viability in crowd control. Your rogue is

hard to kill and doesn’t need much from anyone else in the way of healing or buffs. Also, the Warrior

can use intercept with ease and fears to help in CC and can take all sorts of damage in melee or from

casters. If they damage is too high, switch to Defensive Stance and throw up a Spell Reflect and add

Sunder Armors to the target. This will allow you to pile on debuffs and CC them to death.

5v5 Teams

This team is going to be downright scary if you play it properly and because you can reduce the healing

potential of your opponents by as much as 50% on two different people since the 2.3 patch. This makes

for a team that can quickly negate much of the advantage a healing class team has while taking on a

great deal of different options for defeating them.

Restoration Druid/Holy Paladin/Enhancement Shaman/Warrior/Rogue – This team will essentially split

your DPS. Your Rogue can lock down damage dealing ability for most other classes while Shamans and

Warriors can take on other casters and block their spell casting ability with ease. Earth Shock and

Pummel are a great way to take them on, lowering damage substantially so that the Druid can use

Cyclone easily enough and CC an opponent throughout the match. Blessing of Freedom added to the

Warrior is a nice touch and when you run the opponents down on mana, you can pretty much take out

any combination of casters or DPS opponents.

Restoration Druid/Restoration Shaman/Rogue/Retribution Paladin/Warrior – This group is similar to

the above in how it will approach your opponents in everything except that you do not have the Earth

www.PvPBible.com

163

Shock of an Enhancement Shaman to add interrupts to your attack sequence. Be very aware of any

debuffs that are cast as well and keep your Paladin active with Dispel or they are pretty much useless in

this group – their role is NOT to be another DPS member. Your Druid should also be heavily into

decursing and your Shaman should have a Poison Cleanse totem up at all times. If you can dispel

everything as needed, opposing DPS classes are pretty much out of luck and the fight is yours. Take out

one opposing fighter and you can plow through the rest of the group with ease.

Specific 2v2 Groups

There are a few specific 2v2 Groups that have become incredibly popular because of their balance and

their versatility against nearly any other team. While there are 81 different possible combinations for

the 2v2 Arena (less if you discount healer/healer and melee/melee combinations), you will find that only

a select few of them are viable for top tier arena combat. It is impossible to go through all 81 of them as

well, so here you will find strategies to guide you through the basics of combating your opponents in a

handful of very popular builds. For those that are interested in alternate builds, remember to review

your needs, know your partner and always ensure you have the means to stay alive and deal damage.

Rogue/Rogue Combination

A rogue/rogue combination is one of the harder teams in the game to effectively pull off because you

have no means of healing or mitigating damage outside of the built in aspects of your rogue and you will

generally feel the urge to work independently of each other. The key to success here is to work on your

openers and to coordinate with crowd control with your partner. You need to be sure your partner can

properly communicate with your or this just plain won’t work out for you. You should both be experts

playing the Rogue class and for the most part, both of you should be Shadowstep specced at 20/0/41.

Here are a few teams you might come up against during your play time and a few tips for taking them

on.

Versus a Rogue/Shadow Priest Team

Fighting against this team, you will want to be sure that you can either pick out the Rogue or hit the

Priest hard before that Rogue can find you. If you do manage to pull the Rogue out of Stealth, hit them

with Sap right away and keep them in combat so they cannot restealth after the Sap is over. Your

www.PvPBible.com

164

partner should then sap the Priest. The Priest will be running around the Arena on you and that makes

them hard to catch up to but if you can sap them, you can hold them closer in place so that you can get

in and land your Cheap Shot opener. You should both use Cheap Shot if you can as the Priest has a good

chance of resisting stun and you can reduce this chance by both of you using it on him. Also,

Premeditation is good to use before you do this as well. Then, follow with Kidney Shots and Cloak of

Shadows. If the Priest tries to fear you next (which they will), use this to resist it. You want to save your

trinket for later as they will just Blind you if you try to do it now and they will just CC you and hold you

for 20 seconds so they can kill your partner. DPS the Priest and blind the Rogue and then continue to

hold them down as you finish off the Priest. Also, use Kick with your partner in conjunction to keep the

Priest from Healing at any given point in time. Once the Priest is gone, the Rogue should be easy

pickings.

Versus a Rogue/Disc Priest Team

This team is very similar to the Shadow Priest team except your Kick timing is even more vital now as

you will need it to be spot on to make sure you land all of the necessary interrupts to the opponents

heals. If you do not kill the Priest within 30 seconds of his first fear, you will be feared again and CC’d

while they heal and the Rogue saps you. Stealth quickly, stay in combat and stay away from fear so that

you do not get defeated outright. Max out DPS and hit hard without letting them land any heals. You

www.PvPBible.com

165

should CC the Rogue the same way as before as well, with Blind and Sap and then Vanish before

reopening and taking him out.

Versus a Druid/Warrior Team

The Druid will probably start the fight in Cat form and stealthed. You should be able to detect the stealth

though so spend about 30 seconds looking for them – if you can find them, attack immediately and deal

as much DPS between the two of you as possible as quickly as possible. If you don’t find the Druid go for

DPS on the Warrior – opening with Premeditation and Garrote, followed by Rupture. Kite the Warrior

from the dead zone until the Druid finally appears and then switch to the Druid and start DPS on him.

Blind the Warrior to make him use up his trinket early and then use your own when the Warrior fears

you. Shiv him with Crippling Poison to keep him out of your hair for a second and then focus on

stunlocking the Druid so that you can take him out. If the Druid breaks your stunlock and tries to get

away, use Blind and then Vanish and restart the stunlock. If the Warrior is no longer CC’d, hit them with

Evasion to stay away from them and continue attacking the Druid with both Rogues. When the Druid is

dead, you can turn your attention to the Warrior and should be able to unload on him until he dies.

Versus a Mage/Rogue Team

The same as you would handle a Shadow Rogue and a Priest, take on this team without worrying about

the enemy Rogue for a while. If you see them, use Sap on them. For the most part, your big concern

here is taking care of the Mage as quickly as possible. They will try to use these to knock you out of

Stealth. Regardless of whether it works or not, hit him fast and hard with Cheapshot and Garrote in

succession by both Rogues. Save energy on both of you for Kick when you need it and interrupt their

casts as often as possible. Shadowstep and Cloak of Shadows should be liberally to keep the Mage from

hitting you with a heavy combo at any point in time. If the Mage Ice Blocks on you, Vanish to stay away

from the enemy Rogue for a while. As soon as the Mage comes out of Ice Block hit them hard to finish

them off and take care of any remaining strength they may have. Once the Mage is dead, the Rogue

should be a sitting duck against two other Rogues.

Versus a Warlock/Priest Team

www.PvPBible.com

166

They will usually rush you quickly and you should be careful to steer clear of the Warlock as much as

possible as he will use Paranoia to break your stealth. Wait until they are generally close together and

then have both Rogues use Shadowstep and Sap them both. They should both be sapped – now open on

the Priest and carefully time your stuns to keep him locked. Also, wait on your Cloak of Shadows

because you have a Warlock on the other side who will have a ton of fear effects to unload on you.

Trinket out of his first fear if you can and then wait out the remaining fears as they will only be half or

one quarter the length after that. Always make sure to have enough energy left over too to Kick the

Priest so they cannot fear or heal. Blind the Warlock after they come out of Sap to CC for another 10

seconds and if he trinkets out of it, and then blind him again after the timer is up. Make sure the Rogue

that is being attacked by the Warlock’s pet is the one that Vanishes next so that you can knock them out

of combat and then reopen on the Warlock – after that, finish them off and its all yours.

Versus a Warlock/Druid Team

This team is a tough one to fight – even a bit tougher than the last one because of the Druid’s versatility.

Your enemy Druid will likely stand right on top of the Warlock when you get started to get the Paranoia

buff so he can see you and break your stealth. If you can, watch where the Warlock is going and try to

distract their pet. If they run from the pet, they will lose their Paranoia and miss the opportunity to snag

you. If you can spot them, Shadowstep and Sap the Warlock and have the other one attack the Druid.

Save Shadowstep for the Druid when they try to run away. They will use their trinket early and then try

to heal and take your damage with Nature’s Swiftness so the Warlock can knock out a few fears. Blind

the Druid if they try to use their trinket at low health and you have pretty much won. Use Cloak of

Shadows if you have Dots on you and then Vanish to reopen against the Druid. Sap the Druid if you need

more time and then Sap the Warlock again so you can kill the Druid. You should now have one more

Blind left to use on the Warlock – use it if necessary and knock them out of the fight as soon as possible

and continue onward. This should more or less end the fight as your Warlock opponent cannot take on

two Rogues by himself.

Versus a Warlock/Shadow Priest Team

www.PvPBible.com

167

This is going to be one of the easiest fights you have with two rogues. The Warlock should be your

primary target because of their ability to repeatedly cast fear. The Priest is limited in fearing to once

every 26 seconds which makes them much less important. Stay clear of the Warrior if they have

Paranoia cast and try to sap the Shadow Priest so that you can kill the Warlock alone. One of the two

Rogues should use Premeditation, followed by Cheapshot and Expose Armor while the other uses

Garrote and Kidney Shot after opening with Cheap Shot. The Priest will come out of Sap here and you

should Blind him. If he uses a trinket to get out of it, don’t use your Cloak of Shadows yet – use your

trinket to get out of fear. You will need your Cloak of Shadows for when the Warlock is dead so that you

can bandage before killing the Priest. Also, watch out for the opposing team’s use of Health Stones –

they can get a lot of their health back using these if you do not watch out for them.

Versus a Paladin/Warlock Team

This is going to be a tough fight for you as the Paladin will have Blessing of Sacrifice on the Warlock

almost constantly. This makes it so that if you try to Blind the Paladin and hit the Warlock, the Blind will

come off and the damage will go to the Paladin (who can heal it away with ease). Wait for the first

blessing to wear off if you can and then Sap the Paladin immediately and attack the Warlock. Blind the

Paladin right away if he comes out of the Sap and ensure he doesn’t reapply his Blessing. Always have

Expose Armor and Slice n’ Dice up at all times and save enough energy to kick so you can interrupt both

the fears and heals this team has up its sleeves. If the Paladin casts Blessing of Protection to bubble the

Warlock for healing, interrupt the Paladin’s heals and if he bubbles too, go into Vanish and bandage

before Sapping the Paladin and attacking the Warlock until dead.

Druid/Warrior Combination

This is by far the most common 2v2 combination in the arena for a few simple reasons. First of all, it is

highly versatile and incredibly survivable. Druids can completely lock down other players for a good

amount of time and can heal and drink to full on health and mana repeatedly. Their HoTs are great

because they allow for crowd control at the same time and this allows the Warrior to finish someone off

with relative ease most of the time. Here are a few different teams you may come up against with this

team and how you should approach them.


www.PvPBible.com

168

In this fight, you will want to target the Mage for DPS as they will attempt to kite the Warrior and reduce

their damage output from the start. Keep both enemies slowed as much as you can and save your

trinkets for later when you absolutely need them. If you use them up, you can be blinded, sapped, or

polymorphed at any given time. They will probably try to crowd control you themselves here, taking out

your Warrior so they can kill the Druid. Use intercept on the Rogue and disarm them if the Druid is in

danger of dying and if you can, land a Rend on them to keep them from going into stealth. If you can, get

a spell reflect on the Mage with Polymorph as well – if you can stay alive and wear down the opposition,

since they are a Dual DPS team, you can be successful in this fight.

Versus a Warlock/Rogue Team

The Warrior should focus on DPS for the Warlock here. The opposition will start by trying to kill off the

Druid (as you will find in most of these matchups) but they will also keep DoTs on the Warrior if they can

so the Druid needs to be available for healing. Don’t let the Warrior get too low on health though as the

burst from the Rogue can be a big problem. You should also try your hardest to interrupt fear casting as

often as possible and try to stay far away so that they cannot cast fear to start with. The Rogue will be in

full stunlocking mode on the Druid as well, so try to keep the Rogue slowed at all times and debuffed as

much as possible. Make sure to have the Warrior ready to disarm if the Druid gets in trouble and run out

of combat to heal. This is another dual DPS team, so just wait it out and do little bits of damage here and

there – if you can stay alive, you will stand a much better chance of being successful.

Versus a Priest/Rogue Team

This team is actually fairly easy for a good Druid/Warrior team to take on. To start with, ensure the

Warrior stays put on the Rogue and keeps him fully debuffed. The Rogue is going to want to hit the

Druid, fully crowd controlling him while the warrior is drained down. To keep this from happening, hold

the Warrior on the Rogue with debuffs and keep the Rogue slowed if you can to keep them away from

the Druid. If the Rogue decides to attack the Warrior, attack back with the rage build and if the Warrior

gets low on health, go into Defensives stance and use Overpower. If it gets too bad for either character

leave combat and heal to full health. The goal here is to run the Priest out of mana before anything else.

www.PvPBible.com

169

Watch him to ensure he doesn’t drink anything and when he is out of mana, kill him quickly and then

the Rogue.

Versus as Shadow Priest/Warlock Team

This fight is going to be hardest combination you face with your team because of the sheer volume of

their DoT spells. You will ironically only find them in the lower rankings though as this particular

combination is not very good against other teams and so will never really break the 2000 rating bracket.

To win this fight, you will need to play full on defense the entire fight and try to outlast both mana

pools. Keep your Warrior in Defensive Stance with Spell Reflect up for the whole fight and have the

Warrior slow both enemies and their Warlock’s pet. Have the Warrior taunt the pet while the Druid

drinks and goes into Shadowmeld. Your Warrior should never dip below 50% health here either because

if they do, the burst damage and crowd control on the Druid will end the fight. The good thing here is

that Shadow Priests will run out of mana pretty quickly so the fight won’t be too long. Your best bet

though is to run in and slow the enemies and then do a little DPS followed by running out of combat and

healing. The Priest should die first followed by the Warlock.

Versus a Mage/Warlock Team

Your first target here is the Warlock as they are the biggest threat. They will attempt to lock down your

Druid and hit your Warrior hard and will use Polymorph and Fear repeatedly on the Druid until he

trinkets out or the Warrior is almost dead. At this point, expect a Death Coil on the Druid along with a

counterspell – just enough time to finish killing the warrior. Have the Warrior put medium DPS on the

Warlock and try to spellreflect the Mage if possible. The Druid should continually crowd control the

Mage and the Warrior should save the fear he has until the second water elemental is spawned by the

Mage. The Druid should stand as far away as possible while the Warrior should be in between the Druid

and the enemies. Use slow and intercept to keep the enemies from the Druid and if they try to burst the

Warrior down, go defensive and try to get back and heal.

Versus as Paladin/Warrior Team

www.PvPBible.com

170

With this team, you can generally have your Warrior unload on the other Warrior with full DPS as they

try to run around and catch the Druid. Continually unleash damage on the Warrior and when the

Warrior gets down to about 50% have the Druid lock the Paladin down with Cyclone. Ignore him if he

tries to trinket out of it the first time. If you can survive past the Paladin using his bubble and his trinket,

you should be good to go and will probably win this battle with relative ease. Keep 5 sunders on the

other Warrior at all times and make sure both opponents are fully slowed and you should be set when

you CC the Paladin to take him out.

Versus as Druid/Warlock Team

Welcome to a very long, very hard fight. Expect this matchup to last upwards of 15 minutes. You will

want to have you Warrior on the Warlock for the full fight if you can pull it off and will want to kill off

both Warlock pets by taunting them and using Sweeping Strikes so you can hit the Warlock too and not

waste any DPS. Keep the Warlock sundered 5 times over and keep the opposing Druid from drinking at

any time and you should be able to control this fight fairly well. If the Warlock hits 40% health or so,

have the Druid cyclone the other Druid and then fear him with your Warrior so you can end the Warlock

without interruption.

Versus as Holy Priest/Warlock Team

This fight should involve your Warrior planting himself on the Warlock throughout. Keep an eye fixed on

the Priest as he will attempt to drink if you ignore him for too long and if he is Mana Burning the Druid,

make sure the Druid enters Feral form so he cannot get it down any further. Have your Warrior ready to

pummel at any moment as well so he can interrupt any fear casts by the Warlock. The Warrior will most

likely be fully DoTed so have the Druid on hand to heal when needed. Once you get the Warlock down

to 50%, lock up the Priest and finish off the Warlock and the fight should be yours.

Versus as Paladin/Hunter Team

This should be an easy fight for your team because of the presence of your Warrior. Keep the Warrior on

the Hunter if he attacks you first so you can negate his range. If the Hunter attacks the Druid though, put

www.PvPBible.com

171

your Warrior on the Paladin as the Druid should be able to take care of himself well against a Hunter.

Wear down the Paladin’s mana as quickly as possible. Look out for the Hunter though as he will often

change his target during the fight and make it hard to keep up with – it is imperative that you

communicate well and share information about the moves with each other as they occur to ensure this

does not persist too much.

Versus a Druid/Hunter Team

For a Druid/Warrior team, you cannot get much harder than this matchup. Expect a long, complex fight

that will probably result in a loss if you face anyone with a decent amount of experience. You cannot

attack just one target in this fight – you will need to continually switch your targets because both classes

have the means to break away and get back out of range from your attacks. Always keep the Hunter and

their pet slowed if you can – if they are not a very good team, kill the hunter’s pet. But, otherwise, they

will keep the pet on your Druid to hold him in combat and keep him from drinking while their Druid

drinks plenty and constantly regenerates health and mana. Keep your Warrior on the Hunter as much as

you can dealing heavy DPS and save up your rage as much as possible so you can hit hard when you

need to. Cyclone one if you get the chance and burst the other. In general, this fight can go on a very

long time if both sides are equal in terms of experience and gear.

Rogue/Priest Combination

This is another common combination you might decide you want to play as when you reach the arena. It

has its benefits for a few reasons. First of all, it is a very well balanced team – you can attack in melee,

from stealth and crowd control with ease using your Rogue’s stuns and your Priest’s fears. And you can

heal. That pretty much sums it up – here are a few good strategies to help you get through some of the

tougher teams you will face with this team.

Versus a Druid/Hunter Team

This will be your hardest opponent composition, no matter how you look at it. You are pretty much not

going to be able to outlast a good team but you can combat them by fighting hard and fast, going out

with your offense in full boar to start. Use Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, Smiting, Shadow

Word: Death and every other possible attack the Priest has to do as much damage to the Hunter as

www.PvPBible.com

172

possible. If you can get a fear off on the Druid as well it can help greatly and hopefully the Hunter is

dead. Now, you can follow up with a Blind/Vanish/Sap combo on the Druid and hopefully hit them well

enough to knock them out. It needs to work though because if you fail, the hunter will hold down your

Druid with his pet while their Druid heals and drinks with ease – a very tough fight indeed.

Versus a Druid/Warrior Team

This is a big problem for your team as well. You will find that this class combination is just plain good for

almost every situation. Put your Rogue on the Warrior and have your Priest try to fear and mana burn

the Druid as much as possible – this will be a long, frustrating fight for the most part. You need to keep

constant pressure on the warrior if possible and then when you have the chance, hit the Druid with a

Blind/Vanish/Sap combo. If you can keep the pressure on the Druid with his mana, you should also be

able to keep him from using cyclone or drinking too much. If you do land a Sap on the Druid, be ready to

have your Priest hit the Druid hard with solid DoTs and Smites.


This matchup will be very interesting in that those players who fully understand their opponents will do

that much better. The mage will probably be fully frost specced and the rogue will likely be

shadowstepped. This means your opponent is much better at stealth than you if you do not have

shadowstep yourself and will need to wait until openers are done with to do anything. Do your best not

to get sapped. If they do and can open on your Priest, you are probably going to lose. You need your

trinket for blind later on, so you cannot afford to use it up here if they sap you. Stay close to the Priest

and wait for him to open on the Priest – when he does, open on him and stunlock him. You need to stay

on the rogue no matter what. Additionally, keep an eye on the Mage and use your Blinds, Cloaks, and

Vanishes to keep the Mage from sheeping you. If you can stop Polymorph early, you can hit the Rogue

that much harder and stand a very good chance in this fight.

Versus a Paladin/Warlock Team

This is as combo that has grown in popularity during the 4th season in the arena and it very closely

resembles the Druid/Warlock combination that you might face. However, it is a fairly easy combo to

face for the most part which makes it that much better to handle. The Paladin can’t really control you at

all, so you pretty much stay on the warlock, stop him from landing any fears and you will win the match

www.PvPBible.com

173

with ease. Have the Priest Mana Burn the Paladin and keep his own mana in check and hit the Warlock

hard. Keep the Paladin from drinking and kill the pet if they start interrupting the Priest. If you do these

simple things, you can almost assure yourself that you will win this fight.

Versus a Priest/Rogue Team

This is basically a pair of duals going on at the same time and it’s going to make for a long, arduous fight.

The rogues will face off and the Priests will face off and hopefully your team has better 1 on 1 dualers

than they do. You should try to win your mana burning battle between Priest by coming out hard and

fast and hitting them first. Don’t try to catch up later – just start with them. If they try to heal, you

should be burning – when a Priest is out of mana they are nothing, so you can easily win if you get them

down. For the Rogue, you should work to max out your damage against the opposing Rogue and make

sure you always know where the Priest is. You can help out with the Priest with well timed kicks and

gouges for interrupts or blind/sap combos when they use their trinkets.

Versus a Priest/Warlock Team

This team is incredibly easy to combat – you pretty much treat it the same as any other Warlock/healer

matchup where you stay on the Warlock, blocking him from using any form of fear and getting away and

then have the Priest hit the Warlock’s damage output hard with Dispel and Prayer of Mending. You will

need to be sure to kill the pet before your priest drinks or they will interrupt them and leave you in a

lurch. Otherwise, just stick to the above strategy and this fight will be pretty easy to win.

Versus a Shadow Priest/Rogue Team

This opposition is interesting in that you will probably either win or lose the fight in about 30 seconds.

Your victory will largely depend on one thing – the use of the PvP Trinket. Both of the opposing

teamembers will start by attacking your priest and attacking them hard so be sure you know where you

are and keep your Rogue back and out of the way of Sap – expect the other Rogue to have a higher

stealth rating than you.

If the Priest is available to hit early, hit him hard. You should then be in combat already so you cannot be

sapped – do not let go of the Priest. Stick to them hard and don’t use your trinket yet no matter. You

should be cheap shotting into kidney shots with Cloak of Shadows, Blind, and Vanish to stunlock him.

Make sure he is locked down and stays that way. You must keep your trinket until you are blinded by the

www.PvPBible.com

174

other Rogue as they will do this eventually. When this happens, if you can trinket out of it, you can strike

back and use your own blind, hitting them hard and winning the fight.

Versus a Shadow Priest/Warlock Team

This combo is not that common in Season 4, but it is good to know how to fight it since it will appear

occasionally. To start with, open on the Priest and hit him hard. Save your Cloak of Shadows for when

the Priest is in CC mode though and between Fears, Death Coil, Silence, and Spell Lock, your Priest will

probably not be able to cast all that much. You will want to be able to clear all of those DoTs with it and

save your Priest when the time comes. Spam instant casts if you are the Priest whenever you are not

CCd and use things like Prayer of Mending, Renew, and your Shields. Stay out of line of sight and hit the

opponents when you can. This is a defensive fight for the Priest and an Offensive one for the Rogue.

Versus a Shaman/Warrior Team

In this fight, you will see the strengths in the other team in their Windfury and Bloodlust usage. The

Rogue should start with attacking the Warrior and stay on him, locking him down so he cannot reach the

Priest if at all possible. The Priest in this match should work to just stay alive. A Shaman with the right

windfury can knock a Priest down very low very quickly and if they can spam the Shaman well enough

with Mana Burn though, they can run them down and stand a chance. Also, try to get rid of those

totems as quickly as you can. Control the warrior, kill the totems and drain the Shaman’s mana and you

will stand a much better chance of winning this fight. The Blind/Sap combo should be on tap at all times

as well as you can knock out some serious DPS if you get in a good combo or two.

Versus a Warlock/Rogue Team

www.PvPBible.com

175

This team is a long fight. Your Rogue will be latched onto the Warlock the entire fight to prevent fears as

much as possible. Attempt to keep the Priest and Rogue close together on your team so you can use

Prayer of Mending with ease and make sure to use them often to offset all that damage that’s incoming

from the other side. If you can keep the Warlock under control, you can do pretty well in this fight. If

they don’t try to DoT you for some reason, look out for a Blind/Sap combo.

Rogue/Warlock Combination

This team is a powerful DPS team that is built around controlling the opponents. You will have a ton of

crowd controlling abilities built into your team for this reason with sap, blind, cheap shot, kidney shot,

kick, gouge, fear, death coil, curses, and drains between the two of you.

Your goal here will be to force the other side to use up their trinket as early as possible so your

opponents are left without any line of defense against your CC. Additionally, you want to put a long

duration CC on the opponent who is most dangerous (usually a healer) after the trinket has been

wasted. If you can pull this off, this team will be effective against nearly any other combination in the

arena with a few minor exceptions that will excel against this matchup.

www.PvPBible.com

176

Rogue/Druid Combination

This matchup is another solid one that will make it very possible to boost your way up the ranking

boards with relative ease. Despite any basic presumptions of weakness you may have upon looking at

this team, it is quite strong for a few good reasons. First off, the crowd control of the Druid is very

effective in almost every fashion. Second, you can leave combat almost any time you want if there is as

problem and restore mana or health. You can dual stealth at will and have a great deal of control with

your stuns and interrupts. You should have a great deal of strong cooldowns and plenty of kiting ability

and should be able to handle both offense and defense with most spec combinations.

Of course, there are a few downsides that every team must deal with and this one is no exception. In

this case, you should beware of the reliance the Druid has on the Rogue to hold down the opposing

targets to the Druid can heal and Crowd Control. Additionally, both players need to be highly skilled with

their timing as stunlocks and cyclones both require a great deal of coordination to effectively pull off.

Specific 3v3 Teams

In 3v3, there are even more combinations available out there than in 2v2, but for the purposes of this

guide, we are only going to touch on a couple of them. For the most part, you will build your 3v3 team in

the same way you would a 2v2 team except now you will need to have a healer of some sort on staff to

keep people alive – even if you decide to focus on melee or DPS you will need some additional means to

stay alive.

Druid/Warrior/Rogue

www.PvPBible.com

177

While the earlier seasons of PvP involved Rogue/Mage/Priest teams, the third season tended toward the

Druid/Warrior/Rogue matchup for a few different reasons. It rose to prominence mainly to combat the

casting team of the Mage/Priest, offsetting it with a pair of powerful melees and a Druid that can melee

when needed. The goal with this team is essentially to maintain crowd control in the fight – you will use

Cyclone, Feral Charge, Bash, and Entangling Roots to keep your CC targets in hand while the Melee

fighters do the damage. For the most part, with that much DPS burst damage on patrol, you really don’t

have to worry that much about being behind or out of control with your Druid and his CC. They will

usually take out one opponent fairly quickly. The best initial target is the one that is nearby and that is

easy to kill quickly with big attacks – usually another melee fighter.

Strategies

In terms of strategy, you should tend towards a Restoration build for your Druid – somewhere around

the 8/11/42 build should get the job done for you. Your Rogue is best suited with Shadowstep in hand

and with short fights, cooldowns are really not that vital, especially if you can keep out of crowd control

throughout the fight. The 20/0/41 build will usually work pretty well for this rogue. Mutilate is another

good option for the Rogue, but you should be well versed in its use before picking it up. Finally, your

www.PvPBible.com

178

Warrior should be the prototypical arena warrior build – 35/23/3 is a good one to start with though

there are many variations that will also get the job done.

Fighting with this team is pretty straightforward – keep your Druid back and on CC and keep your Rogue

up and on CC and melee. Have your warrior hit the remaining fighter – start with the healer if you can –

hard and kill them quickly and then you will have won the fight with ease in almost every instance.

Rogue/Mage/Priest

This is the fundamental 3v3 Arena build and has been around since Season 1 when people first started

building their teams. Of course, with the addition of the 2.3 patches that added nice buffs for all three

classes in Subtlety, Discipline, and Frost specs, the build became even more powerful and today more

than 19% of the top ranked teams (above 2200 rating) play with this team.

Strategy for Rogues

In this team, the Rogue will be pretty much controlling their targets. This means that they should work

to prevent casting, manage your cooldowns, and try not to allow your target to kite you in any way.

There is a lot of burst damage in this group, but also a lot of CC, so you and your team should be able to

keep in steady communication with ease and let each other know what timers and fear diminishers are

active at any given time, as well as Polymorph and Blind. Using these attacks all together on a healer is

what will help you win these fights.

Strategy for Mages

For a Mage, your job is probably the hardest of anyone in the group – with a steady balance needing to

be maintained between CC and damage output. There is not perfect answer to how this should work for

you, so just try to know when to be on defense and when to blow out on offense – the best way to truly

practice is to spend some time in duels working on your balancing tactics. The best way to get started

though is to always toss in your largest damage dealers as early as possible. If you can drop a few

combos for 6,000 damage as the Rogue locks them up, you are pretty much set. Being able to balance

that kind of aggression against your defensive CC abilities is key here.

Strategy for Priests

www.PvPBible.com

179

This member of the team is not really built to last all that long in the fights, and that is evident in their

lesser healing and mana pool from other healers. However, because they can toss CCs and Mana Burn

out there, they take on a much great role of importance in this build. The primary role is of course to

heal, but don’t’ forget to Fear and Mana Burn often as well. Power Infusion is another major cast that

should be ready at all times – always be ready for your Mage to ask for this.

Druid/Enhancement Shaman/Warrior

There are a number of good reasons why this build is such a good one. It allows you to kill essentially

anyone within a few seconds and with good gear, an Enhancement Shaman is probably one of the best

PvP players around. Toss in a Mortal Strike Warrior and you have some serious damage output. Purge is

a great addition to toss out buffs like Blessing of Protection and Power Word: Shield and maintain the

team’s assault. Weaknesses are present in the setup though with a lack of dispel being the primary

weakness most players will notice right away. If the other team has a Mage, you are probably going to

be in a big trouble with your Shaman or Warrior sheeped repeatedly or Frost Nova’d. Your crowd

control options are limited to your Druid who also happens to be your healer, which can also be a big

issue. In general, the key to winning this fight is to pressure your opponents hard right away. If you can

keep the opponents from using their Crowd Control, you can keep control of the game and hit them

hard and fast to win. Earth Shock, Charge, Pummel, and Intercept are needed for interrupts and cancels

and a whole lot of DPS never hurts.

The Druid

The Druid should be stuck beside a pillar throughout the fight and not allowed to be pushed into a

corner. Stay out of Line of Sight if you can to avoid Mana Burn, Fear, Blind and anything else that pulls

you from the fight. Your role is essential to any form of success here and if you don’t have a good

position or if you don’t have cooldowns on Nature’s Swiftness or Insignia, you are going to be in big

trouble. Additionally, you should be working hard to provide endless crowd control for your team,

keeping melees off of the Shaman with Roots and Cyclone and be ready to Cyclone the opposing healer

as soon as your DPSers prepare to kill an opponent.

The Shaman

You will be doing a lot of DPS and that means dropping your totems at the right time, in the right

location. You should have Tremor there to salvage Insignia for other crowd control opportunities and

www.PvPBible.com

180

you should always try to have Grounding Totems out to snag the Polymorphs or Roots of your

opponents. Windfury should be up at all times and against melee teams, have an Earthbind Totem up

whenever possible. Use Earthshock liberally in this fight as well, hitting your opponents’ healer or crowd

controller hard whenever they try to cast. Flame Shock is also a good touch against Evading Rogues.

Your Purge is equally vital to this fight as well against Blessings, Shields, and HoTs.

The Warrior

Your Warrior should be hard at work using Hamstring on everyone they can along with Disarm,

Intercept, and Intervene at the right moments to keep the Druid alive whenever possible. If the enemy

switches on you, make sure to be prepared for it and turn to defensive stance to stay alive. Don’t forget

you have Spell Reflect as well against casters.

5v5 Teams

It is impossible to cover all of the possible builds for 5v5 teams in WoW’s arena here in this guide, but

we are going to spend some time going over the basics of building your 5v5 team, practicing and

knowing how to approach a few key strategic situations. It may seem impossible to reach the top ranks

of the 2000+ rating teams and top rankings, but if you prepare yourself properly, you can pull it off with

the best of them.

Building Your Team

www.PvPBible.com

181

The starting bits of team selection are the obvious – race and class. Faction may seem unimportant but

generally, the Horde racial boosts are almost all much better suited for PvP. That said, most people

don’t have the option of going back and changing their race with a top PvP character. But, if you do,

Horde may be a good place to start. In terms of your specific race and class, that will largely depend on

which role you want to play. There are basically four different roles you can play in battle: DPS, Healing,

Support, Melee. The truth of the matter is that pretty much any class can be useful in a 5v5 team but

you have to be sure it is the role you want to play.

Your specific race selection after that will matter much less as you will have already chosen your faction

and the races don’t really differ that much. If you want to optimize your selection, you can pick up a

class guide though and look through some of the advice they provide on where and how to choose your

class and race.

The Arenas are broken up into Battlegroups which are clusters of Servers that play together against each

other. To be a truly high ranked Arena team, you need to find a high population, old Battlegroup that

has been around for a long time – this will allow you to play more matches more often. However,

www.PvPBible.com

182

beware as these are also usually home to the top teams that have been playing the arena since Season

1. Stormstrike, Whirlwind, Retaliation, and Emberstorm are all good choices here.

Basic Group Composition

There are essentially three basic group compositions that you will want to choose from. For the most

part, these compositions are fairly basic – they are either 4 DPS teams, 2 Healer teams or 3 Healer

teams. Make your decision based on the following differences in play styles:

4 DPS Team

The 4 DPS team has become more common in recent seasons because it is simple and surprisingly

effective. The goal here is to strike hard and fast and try to drop an opposing player right away. These

matches are usually very fast and if you don’t manage to kill an opponent right away you will usually die.

The other option is to do a DPS switch, but this method is not quite as viable in 5v5 as it is in 3v3 or 2v2.

With medium crowd control and high damage, you can balance out the lack of healing but you need to

be highly skilled with that crowd control and be able to land huge damage quickly.

2 Healer Team

With this team, you get pretty much the standard, balanced build that was used from the start to

emulate raiding parties. Usually it has a Warrior, Mage, Paladin, Priest, and some form of additional DPS

tossed in for good measure. The damage output is pretty average in general and the crowd control and

healing are middle grade as well but with that balance comes a more solid structure. Your DPS and

Warrior will unload damage throughout the fight to set targets while the Mage will CC the other team as

much as possible. The Paladin will usually be your main healer and your Priest and Shaman will work as

backups in offensive output when the healing isn’t required.

3 Healer Team

This is a boring team but a highly effective one if you are new to the Arena and want to iron out your

team work before really doing anything substantial. You pretty much just try to outlast the other team –

the goal for your opponent then becomes to outlast your mana pools and the fights will last upwards of

10-15 minutes as a result. Your damage now drops to low along with your crowd control but your

healing is very high – you need to make sure the DPS you choose will be highly sustained over time and

will cause substantial damage – Warriors, Rogues and Warlocks are usually the only options here.

www.PvPBible.com

183

Part 4: Battleground and World PvP Objectives

One of the most anticipated additions to World of Warcraft’s PvP environment when the new expansion

pack was released in early 2007 was the World PvP and Battleground PvP that would take place in

Outland and extensions of Azeroth. These new options would provide additional rewards for players

who invested great deals of time and energy into building the right PvP character build and wanted to

test themselves on a server wide basis against top players for Honor Points and opportunities to get

better gear and much desired rank among their fellow players. Currently, there are four World PvP

Objectives in Outland and 4 Battlegrounds located throughout the game, each with its own

requirements and strategies for success. In this section you will find outlined the best methods for

defeating these objectives and Battlegrounds and how you can become a top player in the game server-

wide.

World PvP Objectives

www.PvPBible.com

184

Located in Outland, these four unique locations require specific actions from each faction to control

certain parts of the map. When these actions are accomplished and the winning faction takes control,

various rewards, tokens, and vendors are made available only to the controlling faction.

Nagrand – Halaa

Located in the midst of Nagrand, Halaa is a PvP town at 42,45 where only flying mounts or bridges can

be used to reach the town. Each faction vies for control of the town and when they take control, they

gain access to special NPCs that are friendly only to their faction that provide them with special vendor

goods and token rewards. There are 18 total spawns for the town – 3 vendors and 15 guards.

When you kill an enemy player in Nagrand, you are awarded with a Halaa Battle Token which can be

used to purchase a wide array of goods available only through the faction NPC vendors in Halaa. These

tokens are awarded to only the player in on the field who lands the killing blow – however, members of

the group with the token receiving fighter will also receive a token themselves.

Controlling Halaa

www.PvPBible.com

185

When you take control of Halaa, a few things happen that are unique to your particular faction. First, the

NPCs are friendly to the controlling faction only – the faction that is not in control will be viewed as

hostile. Second, the following vendors appear in those zones according to who has taken control:

Alliance Vendors:

Quartermaster Davian Vaclav – Requires Battle Tokens and Research Tokens to purchase his goods

(research tokens are a reputation reward for gathering crystals in Nagrand)

Cendrii – Sells Halaani Whiskey, food and drink that are specific to this region (at Level 65, this is the

best food and drink you can get)

Aldraan – Requires Battle Tokens and Research tokens to buy his goods

Horde Vendors:

Quartermaster Jeffrey Norellique – Requires Battle Tokens and Research tokens to buy his goods

Embelar – Sells Halaani Whiskey, food and drink that are specific to this region (at Level 65, this is the

best food and drink you can get)

Coreiel - Requires Battle Tokens and Research tokens to buy his goods

In addition to the tokens you can use to buy things from the NPCs that are now friendly to you, you will

be able to pass freely through the town without taking massive detours around the chasms in Nagrand

to the get to the south side of the zone. If you have don’t yet have a flying mount yet, this is a very

important aspect of getting through the area. Finally, you will provided with a 5% damage buff while in

Nagrand, helpful in defending yourself against the opposing faction as they try to take back the town.

On the flip side, if you do not control Halaa, the NPCs in the town will be openly hostile toward you and

attack on sight. You will not be able to travel through the town and you cannot access these vendors –

for those leveling up, this is a very valuable town where you can easily gain around 35,000 XP in a few

minutes, so this is a small blow to your leveling (and addition to your grinding).

Taking Control

www.PvPBible.com

186

The act of taking over Halaa starts with finding the Wyvern Roosts at the end of each bridge leading into

the town (there are four). You will only be able to interact with this Roosts when the opposing faction

controls the town. Do so and you will receive 10 Fire Bombs and will take a ride on the Wyvern, similar

to the bombing quests you completed in Hellfire Peninsula when you first arrived in Outland. You can

then fly over Halaa and drop the bombs on the enemy players and NPCs in the town. To use a bomb,

find them in your open inventory slot and click on them to bring it up – move the area of effect symbol

where you want to drop the bomb and drop the bomb. It is recommended you hot bar the bombs so

you can use them faster and without having to waste time digging them out. The bomb will drop when

you click the mouse and will do around 1000 damage after being dropped with a 1% DoT proc. This is

more or less useless against enemies, but can be extremely useful against the 15 guards you have to

defeat. Halaa is considered under your control when you have killed the 15 guards at the bridges. After

that, you can enter the village on your own, but look out for the opposing faction coming in to reclaim it

themselves and bombing you.

Hellfire Peninsula

In Hellfire Peninsula, you will find the World PvP Objectives around 38,53 in the form of three towers –

Broken Hill, The Overlook, and The Stadium. These towers are captured by players when they have their

PvP flag turned on (you cannot interact with this objective if you have your flag off). Turn your PvP flag

on by typing /pvp or attacking another PvP flagged player. You then need to stand inside the tower for a

set period of time and the tower will come under your control. Flying mounted players do not count in

the capturing process.

Any enemy players killed in Hellfire Peninsula will drop Marks of Honor Hold for Alliance and Marks of

Thrallmar for Horde. You can then turn these marks in to your associated honor vendor in Honor Hold or

Thrallmar for PvP purchased items. The Alliance Vendors are Warrant Officer Tracy Proudwell and the

Alliance Field Scout. The Horde NPCs are Battlecryer Blackeye and the Horde Field Scout. After your

faction takes control of all three towers you will gain a 5% damage buff for your faction in Hellfire

Peninsula which is persistent in all four of the Hellfire Citadel Instances – Hellfire Ramparts, The

Shattered Halls, Blood Furnace, and Magtheridon’s Lair.

www.PvPBible.com

187

Terrokar Forest (Bone Wastes)

In Terrokar Forest, you will find the Bone Wastes, an open area locate around the ruins of Auchindoun

where there are five spirit towers. These towers form a rough circle around the old city with the

majority of them on the east side. The Spirit Towers are only up for contention every 6 hours or so,

when both factions have the opportunity to rush in and try to take control of them. Whichever faction

gains control of all five of them first will hold them for the next six hours until they are up again. You

must be PvP flagged to capture a tower and hold it alone for a set period of time. Type /pvp or attack an

opposing faction player who is PvP flagged to become flagged. Again, those on flying mounts do not

count toward the capturing of these towers.

Once you have taken control of the entire Graveyard in the Bone Wastes, your faction acquires three

buffs throughout Terokkar Forest, including a 5% damage boost, a 5% experience boost (only good for

leveling players, but very useful for them) and the ability to loot Spirit Shards from bosses within all

Auchindoun Instances. These buffs all remain intact throughout all four of the zone’s instances

including: Mana Tombs, Auchenai Crypts, Sethekk Halls, and Shadow Labyrinth.

www.PvPBible.com

188

Zangarmarsh (Twin Spire Ruins)

In Zangarmarsh, you can join in the World PvP by going to around 48,50 where the Twin Spire Ruins are

located. Here you will find an east and west beacon as well as a central graveyard. You can only take

control of the beacons before you can take control of the graveyard so they are required first. To take

control of a beacon, you must be flagged for PvP (type /pvp or attack a flagged enemy) and stand near

the beacon until it becomes the property of your faction. Flying mounted players do not count in the

capturing of these objectives. When both beacons are under your control, you must interact with your

faction’s Field Scout. The Horde Field Scout is located near Zabra’jin at 32,50 and the Alliance Field Scout

is located near Telredor at 64,47. After you have done that, you will be issued a banner which you must

carry to the central capture point in the central graveyard. If you can make it to the graveyard and

capture it while remaining alive, you will gain control of the graveyard for your faction.

The same battle tokens you received in Hellfire Peninsula will be issued here which you can then turn in

for rewards at Honor Hold or Thrallmar and their Vendors or with the Field Scouts in Zangarmarsh.

Additionally, once you gain control of the graveyard, your faction will gain a 5% damage buff while in

Zangarmarsh as well as unmitigated use of the graveyard in the center of the zone, something that can

come in handy when the other graveyards are in the far corners of the zone.

Lake Wintergrasp

Lake Wintergrasp is the big world PvP offering this time around in Wrath of the Lich King and is a

standalone zone located in the center of Northrend. The zone consists of two sides – first there is the

defenders, those that are charged with defending the keep from invaders. The other side will need to

take the keep by force from the defenders using a wide array of vehicles and siege weaponry.

The zone itself is considered a no-fly zone. You of course need a flying mount to reach Wintergrasp or

you need to come through a portal in Dalaran only available at Level 77. Either way, you cannot get here

early – you need to be a high enough level to hang out in this zone. When you fly over the zone, you will

be dismounted and dropped into the battle or the empty zone if it is between combat. So, don’t fly over

wintergrasp if you are simply going from Sholazar to Dragonblight.

www.PvPBible.com

189

The entire zone is flagged for PvP as well, so if you are simply farming for elementals here, you can be

killed by anyone that happens by you. The zone resets for a new fight every 45 minutes. The battle itself

will last until one side defeats the other and vanquishes them from the battlefield. The timer will

continue to count down from there, but no active battling will occur until the next battle starts. You gain

honor for your kill as well as PvP Ranks that will correspond to the siege vehicles you are allowed to use

in combat.

There are three ranks for PvP Ranks – Private, Corporal, and First Lieutenant. The first rank gives access

to the Catapult, the second to the Siege Engine and Demolisher, and the third to the Goblin Shredder

and Flying Machines. You will need to rank up to get the best weaponry in the fight.

The defenders will hold the keep with the use of turrets – motorized weaponry on the keep walls while

the offense will use the flying machines and siege weapons they have to try and destroy walls and take

over. Graveyard control is vital as there are three graveyards at strategic positions throughout the zone

as well as numerous outlying buildings which can be destroyed throughout combat.

Other Aspects of Lake Wintergrasp

In addition to the PvP aspects of the zone, you can gain a few PvE bonuses here as well. To start with,

the faction that controls the keep will have access to the Vault of Archavon, a single encounter raid

against Archavon – a 3.9 million HP boss – that will reward you with Season 5 PvP gear drops – a first for

PvE content. Additionally, the entire zone is crawling with Elementals – a perfect place to farm for

crystallized elements and a strong drawing force to make players go into the zone for PvP.

For winning in Wintergrasp, you will receive 2000 Honor Points (plus whatever honor you gained from

kills). You can turn in the Wintergrasp Marks you get as well at the PvP vendors. Additionally, you will be

able to buy a Wintergrasp Commendation for a set amount of marks which awards an additional 2000

honor.

www.PvPBible.com

190

Battlegrounds

The battlegrounds in World of Warcraft are the primary way in which most players gain the honor points

they need to get things like their PvP trinkets and the gear they need for Arena play – some of it

comparable to top gear you can gain in many of the game’s hardest instances. Each Battleground has its

share of objectives and length and will require a completely different strategy whether you enter as a

team or by yourself. It is recommended that you attempt both manners though as playing alone in

battleground PvP can be a great experience while group play can be a solid way to practice for Arena

combat.

Alterac Valley

The goal in Alterac Valley is to get into the enemy’s faction base and kill their Enemy General. As you can

see from the below map, there are 8 Horde Controlled Objectives that Alliance characters need to get

through and 9 Alliance Controlled objectives that Horde players need to get through to reach the end

point and defeat their opponent.

www.PvPBible.com

191

Basic Information

The following basic information includes the various sub-objectives you can complete for additional

honor or just to make your fight a little bit easier as a faction:

There are five graveyards located throughout Alterac Valley – these graveyards can be captured by

either side to be used as resurrection points – the more resurrection points you control, the easier the

fight will be for you as you can respawn closer to the action. Additionally, you will find numerous enemy

officers throughout the Battleground that will reward you with bonus honor that can only be killed once

per battle. The first fighters or groups that reach them will receive the honor that comes with their kills:

• Enemy Lieutenants – There will be 6 such enemy lieutenants that can be killed for extra honor.

When you kill them, certain NPC enemies will stop spawning as well.

• Enemy Commanders – There are 4 such enemy commanders that can be killed for extra honor.

When you kill them, certain NPC enemies will stop spawning as well.

• Enemy Captain – If you kill the enemy captain (there is only 1) you will receive a size, health, and

damage buff for your whole faction. You will also receive bonus honor disable certain NPC

enemies, and gain an extra buff from your own captain if they are still alive. The Horde Captain

is Captain Galvangar and the Alliance Captain is Captain Balinda Stonehearth.

www.PvPBible.com

192

• Enemy General – The enemy generals are the main objective of the fight and if you kill them you

will be rewarded with a huge extra honor boost depending on how many locations your side

controls. You will also win the game. The Horde General is Drek’Thar and the Alliance General is

Vaandar Stormpike.

Quests in Alterac Valley

Within Alterac Valley, you will find a series of quests that you can accomplish repeatedly and boost your

honor rewards during the battleground. The following quests are included in the repeatable quest

column:

Calvary Quest:

This quest starts with the stable near each faction’s base and the Frostwolf Stable Master for the Horde

and Stormpike Stable Master for the Alliance. You will obtain an item from your designated stable

master that will allow you to tame rams or wolves depending on your specific faction. You must then go

out and collect the necessary pelts from those animals – after you have filled the stables with enough of

your chosen animal and collected enough pelts, you will be able to start a calvary charge for your

faction. If you have revered or exalted reputation with Alterac Valley, you can click on the actual calvary

units and issues commands after the charge has started, giving you further control of the charge.

Unit Upgrade Quest:

This quest starts with the blacksmith in each faction’s base. For the Horde this is Smith Rezgar and for

the Alliance this is Murgot Deepforge. They will give you a quest that requires you to gather Armor

Scraps and turn them in. These will be dropped by opposing faction players and enemy NPCs when you

kill them and you will need 20 such scraps. The quest is repeatable as many times as you like and when

you finish it, you will be able to gain an extra damage buff from your general for you and all your

teammates. Honored or higher reputation players will then be able to upgrade all of the NPCs for the

faction through the smith to become higher level and more powerful in general.

Mine Supplies Quest:

This quest will be started near the faction base for each sided with the Frostwolf or Stormpike

Quartermaster. The mine itself is first controlled by NPCs that do not belong to either faction and that

www.PvPBible.com

193

will be hostile to either side. Your goal will be to kill a single non-elite NPC at the back of the cave to take

control of the mine. When you’ve done that, you can then visit the Quartermaster and get the turn in

quest that requests a certain amount of mining supplies from the mine that you must go and gather. If

you are Honored or higher and your faction has enough quest turn-ins for this, you can call a given

number of Elite NPCs to help you. They will charge the battle field and attack all enemy NPCs and

players.

Arial Assault Quest:

For either faction, there are three Wing Commander NPCs that are held captive by opposing faction

NPCs at the start of each battle. You must find and interact with these commanders to set them free.

Once they have been set free they will return to the faction base – however you must make sure they

get back to the base alive. If they do, you can then get turn-in quests from them that ask you to gather

three types of Meat for Horde and three types of medals for Alliance. If you complete this turn in quest

enough times for the Faction, Revered and Exalted players will be able to get a beacon from the wing

commanders that allow them to issue an air strike on the enemy forces. Regular players receive

additional honor for their efforts.

www.PvPBible.com

194

Ultimate Unit Quest:

This quest starts with the gathering of the special quest item needed to summon the ultimate unit – in

this case “Storm Crystals” for Horde players and “Stormpike Soldier’s Blood” for Alliance players. When

you get the rare drop item, you must take it to the specified NPC for your faction – Primalist Thurloga for

the Horde in the cave beneath Frostwolf Keep and Arch Druid Renferal for the Alliance behind the Dun

Baldar North Bunker. After you have turned the item in, the NPC will visit the Field of Strife and summon

the Ultimate Unit for the faction – it requires 10 players to help the NPC during the summon for it to be

accomplished. Your ultimate units are Ivus the Forest Lord for Alliance and Lokholar the Ice Lord for

Horde, who will immediately start marching toward the opposing base.

Bunker and Tower Destruction:

www.PvPBible.com

195

When an enemy tower or bunker is destroyed by your faction, a marshal or warmaster will be spawned

who can help defend the general, making them harder to kill. You will need to kill as many of the

bunkers and towers as possible so that you can build up a nice assortment of extra NPCs as they have

high health and can slow the opposing team significantly.

Each Class in Alterac Valley

For each class, your approach to Alterac Valley will be slightly different. Because of the scope of the

battle, the presence of so many NPCs and the shear volume of quests and objectives, it is important to

have everyone in the right position and role to be as fully effective as possible. Here are a few notes for

each class on their most effective position in any given run of the battle.

Druids:

For Druids, you will start battles early on by dealing damage to enemies, but later when you start

pushing toward the goal, you should switch to healing – especially if you are a Balance or Restoration

Druid. Because Elite NPCs in the enemies bases have such high health and hit so hard you will want to

treat them like Instance bosses and push for survival above all else. If everyone in a group dies, the NPCs

will simply regenerate and be back to full, which pushes you back substantially. Any healing you can

provide helps in this regard. Additionally, Crowd Control you can offer is a big bonus. Feral Druids

however should not become healers as this is a waste of their strengths – instead, work toward tanking

enemy NPCs as they are very hard to kill and can hold high level bosses in place for DPSers to hit.

Hunters:

Hunters have a huge advantage in Alterac Valley for a few different reasons. First of all, the terrain is

great for their moves, giving them a great deal of range and open space to hit their opponents. With the

massive burst damage they can deal and the longest range in the game, they can play through AV with

ease. Your goal here should be to take advantage of your enemies and strike from a distance, landing

blows as best you can – making it so enemies are dead or out before they can even respond to you.

Mages:

Mages have heavy DPS dealing capacity and are therefore incredibly useful in taking on single and

multiple targets in Alterac Valley. Your role will be to kill as many opposing players and NPCs as you can

while using your Sheeping and Frost Nova abilities to crowd control.

www.PvPBible.com

196

Paladins:

This is the lowest DPS class in the game and for that reason they are much better suited for tanking and

healing regardless of your spec (if you are a Retribution Paladin, you may want to reconsider PvP).

However, don’t think you cannot join in the damage dealing – Paladins usually stand at the front lines

and deal damage while healing, using Hammer of Justice for Crowd Control and hitting with their attacks

in between. Since you survive longer than anyone else in a battle as well, you should be the last line of

defense in graveyards and objective points.

Priests:

Your spec matters here. Holy and Discipline Priests are among the best healers available so they should

stick strictly to healing in the battle. When they are not needed for healing, they should use mana burn

and fear on enemy players. Shadow Priests are different in that they deal large chunks of damage. Stay

in Shadowform and deal out damage between fears and silences whenever you can. Of course, if the

battle is dire, don’t neglect to switch to Holy and start healing.

Rogue:

The most powerful ability in the Rogue’s back pocket is their ability to stealth in the battleground. If you

can gather 2 or 3 Rogues together, you can enter into enemy territory and start causing quite a stir with

your attacks. Additionally, you can defend graveyards fairly easily on your own, taking out stray

enemies, or later in the battle, starting to dole out large chunks of damage in succession to Elite NPCs.

Shamans:

Early on the battle, a Shaman can focus on attacking enemies and doling out damage, but later in the

battle, you should switch to healing when things start to progress towards enemy NPC bases. The Elite

NPCs in the game are all very high in health and hit hard so having extra healers on hand can be very

handy. The last thing you want is for your team to die and the NPC to regenerate. If you are not needed

for healing, switch to interrupting casters, dealing damage, and performing crowd control.

Warlock:

The Warlock will work to dole out DoT spells in Alterac Valley, loading up as many such spells as they can

on enemies nearby and then throwing in spells such as Shadow Bolt and Fear to disrupt the proceedings.

Your goal here should be to cause havoc with as many enemies as possible.

www.PvPBible.com

197

Warrior:

Warriors can start off the battle by dealing damage to enemies, but later on they should switch to

tanking against elite NPCs in the enemy base as they will hit hard and have a ton of health. Without a

good tank, as in an instance, you team will die quickly. If your team does not need you for tanking, you

can switch to interrupting casters, doling damage, fearing, and snaring.

Alliance Strategies

While you are only one of a number of different party members in a Battleground fight, you should

know the overall plan and objectives of the battle so that you can properly play your role in the

proceedings. The following outline provides you with a basic run through of what you should accomplish

during the battle.

1. Capture Snowfall Graveyard – Your first target going south should be this graveyard. Most of the

time, the Horde will ignore this target so it is an easy pickup.

2. Capture Iceblood Graveyard – After the capture has started here, start moving toward the

Horde controlled Iceblood Graveyard. If you can capture this graveyard, you are pretty much set

for the battle. The Horde towers are in poor positions and you can pretty much rush them into

www.PvPBible.com

198

the ground. Do not however grow complacent- Alliance party members should stay here for at

least 5 minutes to maintain control before resurrections can occur.

3. Capture Frostwolf Graveyard – This is your next target – a fairly lightly defended graveyard near

the Horde base. Take it and proceed to the next step.

4. Capture Frostwolf Relief Hut – Finally, you should push to the base, running past the towers and

taking out the Relief Hut. Once you take the Relief Hut, abandon the graveyards and move all of

your players into the Relief Hut and stabilize control there – destroy the towers as well. Your

next step is to pull the Warmasters – of which there will usually be three or four. You must kill

them before the general. Because pulling one will agro the whole room, try to have a Hunter

pull one out to a tank and then feign death to drop agro. The Warmasters are very strong

though so make sure you have multiple DPS on them and a healer or two on the tank to keep

them alive.

5. Kill General Drek’thar – Finally, after killing all the Warmasters, rush into the General’s room and

start the fight. He will hit hard and can do big damage to melee fighters. Keep at least one tank

healer on full heal mode and attack with full force. Make sure to not pull the General out of the

room either or he will simply respawn inside with full health.

Horde Strategies

While you are only one of a number of different party members in a Battleground fight, you should

know the overall plan and objectives of the battle so that you can properly play your role in the

proceedings. The following outline provides you with a basic run through of what you should accomplish

during the battle.

1. Defend Iceblood Graveyard – The first thing that will happen is that the Alliance will try to take

this graveyard. Protect it by keeping at least 10 players here at all times. If you lose this

graveyard, you will probably lose.

2. Capture Stonehearth Graveyard – Next, move North and skip Snowfall Graveyard, moving to

Stonehearth Bunker. You want to keep the players dying at Iceblood Graveyard from

www.PvPBible.com

199

respawning at Stonehearth so this is your real target. Destroy the bunker and take the

Graveyard here – wait five minutes until you have full control before proceeding.

3. Take Stonehearth Outpost – This is an optional step but a good one to take as it allows you to

stop buffs that might come in for the other team as well as giving you extra rep and honor.

4. Capture Stormpike Graveyard – Next, take the Stormpike Graveyard. Leave a big defensive unit

of at least 10 players to hold it down.

5. Capture Stormpike Aid Station – You are best off destroying the Dun Baldar bunkers before

continuing to the aid station as they are both in range of the flag. Start with the north bunker

and use the bridge to bottleneck enemy players and continue your attack. Then next, move to

the aid station and start pulling Marshals. You must kill the three or four marshals that have

spawned before continuing but if you pull one enemy from the room, they will all come, so have

a Hunter pull and then feign death to drop agro. Repeat this until they are all dead.

6. Kill Vandaar Stormpike – When the Marshalls are dead go into the room and attack Stormpike.

He will not be able to leave the room so don’t drag him out or he will respawn with full health.

He is generally pretty easy to kill though, so just have a tank on him being healed and you should

be set.

Arathi Basin

Your goal in this Battleground is to control the various locations located throughout the map, of which

there are five. For every location you control, resources will be produced for your faction. The first

faction to produce 2,000 resources wins the battle.

General Information

To start with, each team is given 15 members of real players (there are no NPCs in this match). You will

need to fight for control of the Farm, Stables, Lumber Mill, Blacksmith, and Gold Mine to gather

resources for your team. To capture a location, you must right click on the flag and stand still until the

capture process completes and then hold off your enemies until they make it. Each location generates

www.PvPBible.com

200

the same amount of total resources, making it so no one location has a more enduring reason to capture

it. Additionally, the resurrection in this region is the same as in any other Battleground with players

being able to be resurrected at a friendly graveyard by an NPC every 30 seconds (if your insignia is

taken).

Basic Strategies

There are a few different strategies for how to best go about procuring victory in Arathi Basin. Below are

two of the most common of those strategies to provide you with a basic rundown of what you can

expect when you start the battleground, depending on your group and your opposition.

Hold 3:

This strategy is most often used by groups that have not worked together before and just joining up to

play for the first time. It is not the fastest nor the most efficient manner of winning the battleground but

it is highly effective in many regards if executed as outlined below. Basically, what you will do is have all

the players from each of the three groups hold a separate location on the map. If you can hold three

locations, there is no reason to capture more locations as you will have the majority of resources.

If a player at the base spots an enemy coming nearby, they should warn the rest of the team right away

along with location information. Additionally, you should not have to stay directly beside the flag when

you hold your locations. You should move between two friendly locations so that you can quickly get to

an area that needs reinforcements. If a large force approaches you, remember that another base has

been left unprotected and you can simply shift locations and take their base.

Pros

• You don’t need to communicate quite as much as in other strategies.

• It is a good strategy for beginners and those who do not have the chance to play together

beforehand.

• It is a good frame to build on for most teams and a good play style regardless of your class or

spec.

Cons

• You cannot hold a base with a 5 player team if your enemy comes with a large force against you.

www.PvPBible.com

201

• The battles take much longer this way – upwards of 25 minutes

• It takes a lot of time waiting around because you are constantly on defense, waiting for your

enemy to attack you.

Continuous Offense

This strategy is one that is used by teams that have played together for some time and have experience

working together. It takes a lot of coordination and strategy to pull of correctly and is too hard to pull off

when you are playing pickup – it is however the fastest possible way to play with matches taking as little

as 5 minutes to complete when it is pulled off to full effect. Generally, the strategy involves having 1

person stay at the Farm or Stables and sending everyone else in to take the Blacksmith, Lumber Mill, and

Gold Mine.

The communication factor cannot be understated in this match. If you cannot communicate effectively

with your teammates, you are not going to be very effective. You need to have a chat program and a

good headset for everyone with Teamspeak or Ventrilo installed. Additionally, always have a specific

offensive strategy developed that will help you avoid idle time, always be attacking, and always have

www.PvPBible.com

202

one person at each location to hold it long enough until reinforcements can come in. If you find a

location by your enemy that is underdefended, move your forces there and take it as fast as you can to

offset their balance. The best strategic location in the Battleground is the Blacksmith as you can usually

spot the other locations from here. Send as many as 7 players here to attack and the remaining players

to Gold Mine and Lumber Mill. If any location has a larger force than you are prepared for, fall back and

attack another location where there will be less defenders (due to overbalancing in one location).

Pros

• Extremely fast matches that can last as little as 5 minutes with proper execution.

• Fast games with lots of action and solid results in almost every run through.

• Keep your enemy off balance the entire time this way.

• Because your opponents will not expect it, they will be thrown off and will be easier to

overcome.

Cons

• This is a hard strategy to pull off if you do not have a well coordinated, veteran team that has

practiced together in the past.

• You should be able and willing to lose locations from time to time – if they come at one player

holding a location with 6 of their own, they are going to win that location.

• Having a single person on defense of locations requires at least two extremely skilled players

who can pull this off until reinforcements arrive to back them up.

www.PvPBible.com

203

Eye of the Storm

This battleground is built to combine the basics of Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch with both sides

trying to gather 2,000 resources (Victory Points) with 15 players on either side. Essentially, there are

towers that each side must hold in addition to flags that must be brought to friendly towers to gain

Victory Points and the first team to hit the magic marker of 2,000 will win.

With 15 players on each side, there is a single flag located in the center of the battlefield that each side

will try to take. When it is taken to a friendly base, points are awarded based on how many towers are

currently held with 25 points per currently controlled tower. This is the only unique location added to

the game while the other three are based in existing locations in the game’s zones – to get here you

must talk to a battlemaster in a major city.

There are four towers in the battlefield – the Mage Tower, Blood Elf Tower, Draenei Ruins, and Fel

Reaver Ruins – that must be fought over for control. There are no flags in the towers, just a progress bar

that starts to fill when more players from the same faction stand in the tower. It takes much less time to

www.PvPBible.com

204

capture a tower if you have multiple players there. To take the battleground flag, right click it and there

will be a progress bar until you are holding it. The flag can be carried anywhere and when it is dropped it

can be picked up by anyone who right clicks on it next. To take control of a flag from an enemy, you

must kill the opposing force member who is currently carrying it. When the enemy is dead, the flag will

drop and a friendly must right click it. Whoever right clicks it first will pick it up and has to carry it back

to one of their towers.

Points accumulate at a doubling rate depending on how many towers you control with 0.5/second for 1

tower, 1/second, for 2 towers, 2.5/second for 3 towers, and 5/second for 4 towers.

Basic Strategies

There are a couple of main ways how people play this battleground that can have a great impact on how

the battleground is played depending on your team’s experience and comfort level with each other.

Forget the Flag

This strategy basically holds that if you hold more bases than the opponents and ignore the flag, you will

be able to win anyways. To pull this strategy off, you must split your team into three groups – with 1 big

offensive group and 2 small defensive groups to capture as many bases as you can as quickly as possible.

You should leave one or two players behind to capture the two towers closest to your faction and send

the third team with as many as 10-13 players in it to capture the third tower of your choosing. This will

allow them to overpower any defenses there and capture the tower as quickly as feasible. As soon as

you take control of this third tower, leave two players behind and take on the final tower in full force.

Even if you cannot take the final tower, your pressure will keep them on defense and keep them from

taking back the other three towers while ensuring they also cannot take the flag and gain points that

way.

You should have a full conversation with everyone in your group before attempting to try this strategy

as it is generally considered rather complicated. Make sure none of your players attempt to rush the flag

as you lose the advantage you have on your opponents in numbers. Be sure to know who will be on

defense at the initial towers and how they will communicate if there are attacks on them. Make sure

that once you have control of three to four bases you break off and start capturing flags with one or two

players at once from the main group. Because you took them on head first, your enemies will be stuck in

resurrection points or in defense of the final tower so the flag is wide open. Always keep your offense

www.PvPBible.com

205

bunched together with at least 10 players so that you can defeat any size force or keep the enemies all

together. Also, take advantage of the power ups provided in each tower, regardless of what it is because

even if it is useless a better one will soon spawn afterwards. After capturing three or even four bases,

you will need to keep your enemies at bay, trapped in their final base if you can until you win the battle

or they will retake another tower – this shouldn’t take long with full control.

Pros

• This an extremely effective method that works incredibly well when you have the right

communication and coordination in place.

• You can win incredibly fast with this technique if you pull it off properly.

• It is usually considered by players to be a more fun strategy than most.

• It also keeps enemy fighters off balance for the most part.

Cons

• You must have 15 players who are all on the same page and willing to communicate often with

good technology. If you have one or two Pick-up players who rush the flag and can’t voice chat

with you, it probably won’t work.

• If they enemies start mounting large offenses, you will pretty much only start rotating towers

with one always being open and that makes it hard to win very quickly.

• You will need to have healers on staff to actually pull off the major offensives you need here.

Capture More Flags

www.PvPBible.com

206

This is the basic, traditional strategy that has long worked for Eye of the Storm with teams splitting into

two tower groups and a flag group. The two tower groups will take control of your faction’s closest two

towers while the flag team tries to get more flag runs in than the opponents to win. Each team should

be roughly the same size with about 5 players in each. You can also send 1-3 players from each tower

group to bolster your flag group once you have full control of them. Tower points become moot at this

point with each side generating 1 point/second, so you must win by pulling more flag runs than them.

To be effective, you must be able to effectively communicate with your group, even in Pick up games.

Defending players should always call out locations of enemies and their sizes while you will adjust and

maneuver your team to match the flow of the match and the enemy’s movements. You should never

leave less than two players at any tower for defense either. When this happens, single players will often

think they can handle one or two enemies that approach and then die, losing the tower without calling

for reinforcements. You need to have two so that they live long enough to call for help. If the enemy’s

flag group is bigger than yours, you can probably assume they have one tower that is underprotected

and that you can take from them. Throw them off by taking the tower and getting in there as best as

possible. Always have your Druid, Shaman, or Hunter as the flag carrier as well as they have run speed

buffs and can move faster without mounts (which are not allowed here).

Pros

www.PvPBible.com

207

• This is an easier way to go when playing pickup games.

• Strategy for beginning players and for players who do not know each other well works well.

• This is the most commonly used method so you can count on most players understanding right

away.

Cons

• This can take a long time, with as much as 20 minutes per run or even longer depending on the

expertise of the enemies.

• If the enemies can mount a good offense, you will likely lose a tower before you can get help

there.

Warsong Gulch

Warsong Gulch is by far the simplest battleground in the game as it is a simple game of capture the flag.

Your team will start with a flag at your base that must be taken by the opponents back to their own base

to be added to the score. You cannot capture the opponent’s flag unless your flag is at your base, so if

they take yours, you must focus on getting it back first.

www.PvPBible.com

208

The goal of the game is to capture the flag three times from your enemy to be the victor. You will have

10 players on each team and in order to pick up the flag, you must right click it – it will be picked up

instantly upon clicking it and in order to return it, it must be taken from a killed player who was carrying

it. The flag will instantly be returned to your base if you kill the opposing faction member who is carrying

it.

Basic Strategies

For a game of simple capture the flag, the rules are generally pretty simple, though you will find that the

basics often alter considerably depending on your situation. A druid is generally considered the best

class here for a few good reasons. First of all they cannot be hit with any roots, snares or polymorphs.

They can also run faster in their travel form than other characters and can switch to Dire Bear Form

when they reach their base and give enemies a hard time in killing them. You should always have at

least 1 Druid in your group of 10, and often times it is good to have a few more than that.

In addition, look for power ups located throughout the battleground. The Powerups are located in

various locations throughout the map and include Berserking, Restoration, and Speed with respawn

timers of between 30 and 60 seconds. While carrying a flag, make sure not to mount, use your immunity

shield, vanish, or feign death as the flag will immediately drop and be returned if you do. Always have

multiple players with the flag carrier as well to help them get it back to the base safely. The graveyard is

a vital tool here as well. Make sure to go to a friendly graveyard before your base as you can use it as an

outpost to take on approaching forces and get reinforcements.

The Strand of the Ancients

The new battleground in Wrath of the Lich King is Strand of the Ancients. The Battleground uses the

same siege weaponry as Lake Wintergrasp and pits one side as the invaders against the other side which

must defend the Titan’s Relic, located within three sets of gates that the invaders are trying to get

through. Unlike other Battlegrounds this one is not symmetrical and it doesn’t rely on resources of any

kind. Rather, you must get through all the defenses and take control of the Relic for a win. Between

each match, the two sides switch to make it relatively even. For this reason, there is a whole lot of

www.PvPBible.com

209

strategy involved in this Battleground. If you want to be effective, you need to know exactly what you

are doing when you go into battle.

Details

The Strand of the Ancients starts with one team on offense (Alliance) and one team on defense (Horde).

The offense will have 10 minutes to break through all the defenses and capture the relic. If they do not

do so in the 10 minutes, they cannot win the match. The sides switch after the first 10 minute bout and

the other side gets a chance to grab the relic.

There are only two rounds so if both sides fail to get the relic or both sides succeed, the match ends in a

draw and honor points are distributed accordingly. As of right now, the same side always goes first

though there is an expectation that Blizzard will randomize this soon to affect the strategies being used.

There are two major aspects of the fight – the offensive and the defense – and in between are the siege

vehicles, turrets and bombs that you get access to (not to mention the ever valuable graveyards).

Offense

When you start, offensive teams will be broken into two ships. If you are fast and have the add-ons to

do it, you can reorganize your teams to start to make sure each group is well built. Once you land at the

dock, you will find two tanks. The first is on the dock and the second is on the beach. Have a Death

Knight with Path of Frost jump off the ship early and get to the tank on the beach as fast as possible.

After 30 seconds of the match, you can grab the Seaforium Charges from the docks and the 2 machine

shops located near the graveyards. You should always grab one of these when you can – they do huge

damage.

Using a Tank

When you get into the tank, start going toward one of the walls and fire whenever the cooldown is up.

Make sure to keep the two tanks away from each other because the cannons on the walls can hit

multiple tanks at once if they are too close. There are two cannons on the wall – make sure they are

both occupied. Decide which one is hitting you harder and drive directly beneath it so it cannot hit you

any longer. Hit the Ram ability when you are in melee range of the wall and then shoot when ram is not

available. Your primary goal here it so destroy the wall as fast as possible, but if you can do damage to

www.PvPBible.com

210

the cannon as well, that can be very helpful. Once you break wall one, go to wall two and go beneath

the cannon doing less damage. If there are no enemies on the second wall, go to the cannon nearest the

portal and start ramming the wall there. To get to you, they will have to run all the way across the wall

to reach you and will waste time as you destroy the wall.

Those without Tanks

For those who do not get a tank when you land, you should go for a graveyard or guard a tank. Go for

the east and west graveyards if you’re near them and control them as soon as possible. If you control

them, you get access to the machine shops where you can get the seaforium charges plus 2 additional

tanks per shop.

If you get stuck guarding a tank, you can ride on the tank if you are DPS or healer. Each tank holds 2

passengers and you can cast from the tank while it moves. If you have a bomb, get off the tank and use

it while next to the wall to do additional damage. It needs 10 seconds to charge and blow so keep it

protected during that time.

After setting charges, find the tanks’ biggest opponent and start hitting them if you are ranged. If you

are melee, attack players near the wall who might be trying to disarm bombs. Once you break through

the final wall, run through and click the relic.

Other Notes

In some cases, you might simply avoid taking the southern graveyard because it forces the enemies to

respawn directly between you and the final door where they are harder to get through to click on the

relic – the final stretch just becomes a straight up brawl in this case.

Defense

The defensive team will start in the Southern Graveyard all together and you will be at full health and

ready to go. Jump on your mount and jump off the edge to the north as fast as possible. You will have as

www.PvPBible.com

211

many forces as possible at the Green Emerald and Blue Sapphire gates as fast as possible to be effective

here. Have someone at each of the four cannons as quickly as possible. And send the rest of the players

to the beach to disarm bombs or to the Red Sun and Purple Amethyst Gates to wait if the first two walls

fall.

Generally speaking, it is best to overcompensate on the beach to keep bombs from being dropped (they

deal way too much damage). This will also boost your damage output on tanks and make it easier for the

cannon operators.

The Cannons

The only true line of defense in the Defensive game is the cannons. If you cannot be effective with the

cannons, you are going to have some serious problems. You need to be sure that you aim at tanks first

and foremost (only shoot at players on foot when the tanks are not in range). You need to make sure

you are actually hitting the tanks too – the game is mildly forgiving but not enough to be lax in your

aiming. Focus on target at a time and be sure to stick with one until it is destroyed in full.

Without a Cannon

For those players who do not have access to a cannon, you need to play the role of PvP. This means

going out and defending the east and west graveyards when the front walls are breached and helping to

destroy the tanks, disarm bombs, and kill nearby players when they target the cannons. Use your stuns

and crowd control on your opponents so you don’t get interrupted when disarming a bomb – you only

have 10 seconds. Don’t waste it.

Other Tricks to Keep in Mind for the Battleground

In general, the battleground is pretty straightforward, but there are a few tricks you can use to maintain

supremacy over your opponents if you are tricky enough. First of all, keep in mind that the mini-map will

allow you to track tanks on it – this is only available here, so make sure to zone it out so you can see

anything that appears.

www.PvPBible.com

212

Second, if you are in a remote location and not that much is happening, feel free to get out of a tank or

away from a cannon to take on an opponent one on one. Too many times, players stand by and allow

other players to simply attack them and take apart their weapons or vehicles without doing anything

because they are afraid to get out of it and fight.

While it will probably be nerfed soon, Subtlety Rogues can currently sneak past enemy cannons and

walls and go directly into graveyards. They can also effectively drop charges in the middle of groups if

they are not outstealthed by another rogue and do major damage. It’s always good to have a few good

rogues on a team in this battleground.

Another very interesting thing to keep in mind is that big spells with major knockbacks can actually push

back tanks. Typhoon and Thunderstorm and similar attacks are great for pushbacks because in general

tanks are immune to all movement impairing or crowd controlling attacks.

www.PvPBible.com

213

Conclusion

Hopefully, you have learned in this guide the basic methods by which you can approach PvP in a group

setting and be effective, whether it is against a single player in a dual or in the arena or on the

battleground. Moreover, I hope you have come away understanding that there are dozens of possible

ways you can form a team, build a strategy and prepare to attack, but you can only truly be successful if

you fight with communication, practice, and experience on your side. Those teams that are at the top of

the PvP listings are those that have been most effective throughout the years because they work well

together not because they have better gear (of course, good gear always helps).

PvP is a deep, fun way to add value to your game, show you are better than your opponents and open

up new realms of possibility in the game’s interface and gameplay while enjoying the various aspects of

WoW that only appear in the latest endgame content. If you can master the basics and learn to play well

in a team, you can almost ensure that you will find your way to the top of the PvP charts and rankings in

no time.

For those that are just getting started in PvP, don’t let this guide be the only thing you use to help you

out. You should also look for additional value in the millions of other players that have come before you,

www.PvPBible.com

214

posting extra information and their experiences to forums and blogs where you can learn as much if not

more than you ever could from a PvP guide. Know what to look for, fight the best players, and practice

as much as possible – these are the tools used by the world’s top players to get continuously better at

what they do.

www.PvPBible.com

215

Custom Interfaces

The vast majority of professional players and top PvPers out there use some form of customized

interface that is entirely unique to the PvP environment. In group PvP, you need to know every possible

detail about your party members and your opponents at all times as the slightest detail can have a huge

impact. You need to have focus targets, casting bars for every member of the group and even

Arena/Battleground assist modules. Here are a few Add-Ons that are must adds for any PvP player:

Unit Frames Addon

The built in unit frames for WoW are not very good and don’t do what you need for PvP. You need

things like casting bars, group targets, and opposing team targets and only advanced unit frames addons

will help with that. The best current choice out there is Pitbull as it is the most customizable unit frame

add on out there. You can choose from basic setups and more complex ones that allow you to show any

number of details for each unit frame. The key to Pitbull is that you get a casting bar and that you can

monitor every cast your party members make. Timing is everything in PvP and this is a good way to take

advantage of that. Say you have a Warlock and Druid on the same team – how do you know your

www.PvPBible.com

216

partner is not fearing the person you are about to cyclone? Knowing their cast is about to hit shows you

that you should wait.

www.PvPBible.com

217

Casting Bar

The casting bar add on for PvP players is vital because it allows you to see your casting, your target’s

casting, and your focus casting. This makes it so much easier to interrupt your opponents’ casting and to

time your own spells and abilities to their actions. The best casting bar currently out there is Quartz as it

will sample latency and build in that latency to the lag of your spell casts to give yout he most accurate

possible data. This even gives you faster spells than you might realize.

Scrolling Combat Text

This will upgrade your text scrolling unit on the screen, another aspect that doesn’t really work well with

Blizzard’s built in units. You need a mod that can help tell you where damage is coming from and

generally is easier on the eyes. The best one out there is SCT which allows you to configure almost every

aspect of your text scrolling with relative ease.

www.PvPBible.com

218

Action Bar

This is a great addition because it will help you customize your action bar to the point that it is a little

more usable, with the bars pretty much anywhere on your screen and in any dimension you want.

Bartender3 is one of the best at this for a variety of reasons and is regularly upgraded and bolstered

because of how many people use it.

Visual Combat Log

This is a very cool addition that makes the data in your combat chat log that much easier to read. The

best one is known as Eavesdrop and it is pretty much a must have for any build you put together. The

things you can do with this include being able to mouse over lines to get more information, get recaps of

what happened, and see the criticals with ease.

www.PvPBible.com

219

Websites

There are a few websites that help to provide a great deal of extra information that will bolster your

overall gameplay experience in PvP. Some of the most useful sites are the following:

http://www.pvpsource.com/ - A great resource for anyone interested in PvP in World of Warcraft. Here

you will find a great deal of information on different builds, arena seasons, battleground changes, and

upcoming events.

http://www.wowarmory.com/ - Of course you already know this exists, but many people don’t use it

nearly enough. Every time you are defeated in combat, I recommend looking up your opponent in the

Armory so you can see how they are geared, their record and what you were up against – do the same

for the people you defeat and try to see patterns for what you are weak and strong against and strive to

better yourself in those particular instances.

http://www.arenajunkies.com/ - This site is devoted to the arena goings on of World of Warcraft with

specific details and stats of the top Arena players and teams in the game from around the world, news

about events and recent changes and articles. A great Arena resource.

http://www.pvpsource.com/�

http://www.wowarmory.com/�

http://www.arenajunkies.com/�

www.PvPBible.com

220

Reviews Section

There are plenty of other guides on the market that provide the kind of quality content you need to be

successful in World of Warcraft. Here are the few of my favorites – ones that I feel cover the content

they claim to cover.

Warcraft Pros Review

This is actually more than just one guide – it is a set of 9 Class Guides written to cover every little niche

and aspect of all World of Warcraft’s major classes. From Druid to Warrior, you get complete

information on how each class operates and what you can expect from them. You will learn how to

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/warcraftpros�


www.PvPBible.com

221

combat with that class, basic information about PvP for that specific class, which stats you should pick

for your gear, which is the best gear for your class and even your talent spec, how to spec your character

in one of five different ways including for leveling, for PvP, and for each of the three main talent trees.

You will learn how to navigate all of your class quests from start to finish and how to handle your pets,

totems, lockpicking, or shapeshifting with ease.

The best part about Warcraft Pros is that you can pick just one class guide if you like or you can choose

to buy all 9 of them together for a ridiculously reduced price. It pretty much makes it so that any player,

no matter how involved they are in World of Warcraft – starting their first character or working on one

for every class – can build that character to be as effective in every aspect of the game as possible. From

raiding to solo leveling to PvP basics, you will learn what it takes to be the best possible player with

every class and the author is promising constant updates to the guide as it evolves, making sure you

have class information about even the newest Hero Class (or classes) when it arrives. For complete class

information from start to finish, you don’t get any better than this guide.

Learn more at:

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/warcraftpros


www.PvPBible.com

222

Extreme Leveling Review

I know there are a lot of leveling guides out there and there seem to be more hitting the market every

day, but I have to say that I am very impressed with what Shawn Woods has put together with Extreme

Leveling. This isn’t just another leveling guide (well it is, but it’s a good one). Offering guides for both

alliance and horde characters, Shawn has gone through and actually provided a unique, up-to-date

leveling guide from 1-70 for all of the characters. You get unique leveling paths for all early characters

from level 1 to 12 and you will be given dozens of different strategies from there on to build a character

as fast as possible.

I was convinced this was a solid product early when I visited the site and Shawn was offering the first

section of his guide for free in an email autoresponder. You can still go there now and sign up for it,

getting the first 12 levels for every race in your inbox – a great way to check out his guide. Of course,

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/extremeleveling�

www.PvPBible.com

223

you won’t get all the awesome extras and goodies in the leveling guide until you purchase the whole

thing and believe me when I say it is well worth it – you get everything from a leveling mod to install in-

game to some pretty amazing maps that show you where to go in what order and where on the map to

be.

With this kind of leveling guide in your corner, you can have one of the quickest new Level 70 characters

you ever imagined and actually start diversifying your end-game play, enjoying raids and PvP with Horde

and Alliance characters. If you’re in the market for a guide like this, check out Extreme Leveling.

Level your characters the extreme way at:

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/extremeleveling

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/extremeleveling�

www.PvPBible.com

224

Warcraft Millionaire Review

Ah yes, the obligatory gold guide. I think I’ve read about 15 gold guides since I started playing World of

Warcraft. Some of them were pretty good and others were god awful. However, they all tended to have

a nasty habit of either leaving out beginners, leaving out veterans, or becoming severely outdated very

quickly. Other guides were written horribly and couldn’t be navigated for the life of me. Others still were

great guides but provided a lot of tips that were sometimes illegal.

Combine all of these factors and you have a market that is oversaturated but at the same time, sorely

lacking in quality content. And then along comes this little guide, one of the best looking Gold Guides

I’ve ever seen. With more content than almost any guide on the subject I’ve ever seen and with one

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/warcraftmillionaire�


www.PvPBible.com

225

heck of a lot of a quality research involved, Warcraft Millionaire is a downright magnificent looking Gold

Guide. From the addition of illustrations to the quality writing and the easily navigated set of files that

separate and outline each section for easy access, this guide is made to be both fast and easy.

Of course, the content itself is top notch too, with dozens of gold making tips known to work in the

newest patch and new updates being made with each major patch to the game and preparations

already underway for a major update when the newest 3.0 patch hits and shortly after when the Wrath

of the Lich King expansion pack lands on our shores. For anyone interested in a gold making guide that

truly delivers on every front, you really don’t have a better option. And best of all, the author is actually

a millionaire in the game, meaning you are going to get the best advice from the very best gold maker in

WoW – you can’t get any better than that.

Check it out now:

http://www.pvpbible.com/recommends/warcraftmillionaire


world of warcraft: pvp bible v2.1

Documents