Now.
Far be it for me to throw you directly into the lion's den, but I need to give credit where it is due.
Arena Junkies, if you can ignore the RAEGING TESTOSTERONE OUTPUT, is a very informative site devoted to...well, arenas.
As long as you have a skin thick enough to endure the comments.
There are sections devoted to specs, macros, strategies, rankings (if your epeen decides it needs stroking), and in general, it's a massive wiki-style site, so you're going to get some hits, like their page on Druid Macros (though some are out of date), and misses, such as the singular moonkin spec listed among the druid specs. I can't bring myself to agree with some of the talent choices, and it's not exactly rated very well among the masses.
Ignore all the haters, though; moonkin arena is alive and thriving. I have seen no less than a dozen comps with moonkins in every bracket.
Anyway. Arena Junkies is a good generic arena site. In general, it is very informative, particularly in the strategies section. Go check it out, but use protection.
Showing posts with label arena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arena. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sola Does Arena, Part 3
Not very long after being invited to do 3s with our GL, I received an invite to our guild's premier 5s team, the aptly-named NEED MORE STARFALL. Ironically, the team didn't have a moonkin in it when I joined...but I guess it did way in the past. But now the team has more starfall than it can handle.
I was whisked into our arena matches, and told that all I gotta do is cyclone a healer and have at the DPS target.
I like 5s. So uncomplicated for me.
Now that I have had some experience with all three arena brackets, I can safely nail some jello to the wall and proclaim the Roles a Moonkin Plays in Arena:
1) (Banana) Peel
I often hear the Captain say over Vent "peel off me", especially in 2s and 3s. To peel is to literally tear an opponent off a teammate, particularly a healer. Typhoon is especially good for peeling, or typhoon followed quickly by roots or cyclone if it's a secondary target. Moonkins are among a rare breed of classes and specs with a knockback on such a short cooldown, so it is important to maximize its usage, and to save your healers at the same time.
2) Annoying CC
Cyclone.
So amazing. So annoying. In our 2s, I hardly have a chance to use cyclone, since I'm usually busy peeling and trying to DPS my assigned target. However, when we come across a powerhouse plate-wearing DPS and a healer, usually I am asked to cyclone the powerhouse and try to take down the healer. I'm personally trying to get in the swing of cycloning my target then cycloning another target when the first one breaks. So annoying, but so delicious.
3) Pushback/constant DPS
Most of all, and best of all, we're good at the Deeps in arenas. Our treants, when placed on a healer, are actually a pretty noticeable annoyance and source of a semi-reliable pushback. In just about all our 5s matches, I came out on top for damage done, and sometimes for killing blows (wtf 4 out of 5 like four matches in a row) mostly because of my favourite thing in the world; starfall.
I managed to get enough arena points to afford a piece of relentless gear this past Tuesday, which was great. My resil in my PVP gear is now at something like 1025...it could stand to go up, but my gear shall only improve from here.
Happy pwning!
I was whisked into our arena matches, and told that all I gotta do is cyclone a healer and have at the DPS target.
I like 5s. So uncomplicated for me.
Now that I have had some experience with all three arena brackets, I can safely nail some jello to the wall and proclaim the Roles a Moonkin Plays in Arena:
1) (Banana) Peel
I often hear the Captain say over Vent "peel off me", especially in 2s and 3s. To peel is to literally tear an opponent off a teammate, particularly a healer. Typhoon is especially good for peeling, or typhoon followed quickly by roots or cyclone if it's a secondary target. Moonkins are among a rare breed of classes and specs with a knockback on such a short cooldown, so it is important to maximize its usage, and to save your healers at the same time.
2) Annoying CC
Cyclone.
So amazing. So annoying. In our 2s, I hardly have a chance to use cyclone, since I'm usually busy peeling and trying to DPS my assigned target. However, when we come across a powerhouse plate-wearing DPS and a healer, usually I am asked to cyclone the powerhouse and try to take down the healer. I'm personally trying to get in the swing of cycloning my target then cycloning another target when the first one breaks. So annoying, but so delicious.
3) Pushback/constant DPS
Most of all, and best of all, we're good at the Deeps in arenas. Our treants, when placed on a healer, are actually a pretty noticeable annoyance and source of a semi-reliable pushback. In just about all our 5s matches, I came out on top for damage done, and sometimes for killing blows (wtf 4 out of 5 like four matches in a row) mostly because of my favourite thing in the world; starfall.
I managed to get enough arena points to afford a piece of relentless gear this past Tuesday, which was great. My resil in my PVP gear is now at something like 1025...it could stand to go up, but my gear shall only improve from here.
Happy pwning!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sola Does Arena, Part 2
So, kinda randomly, I ended up in a 3v3 team with the same guild leader from the previous post, and a guildie.
Our composition is resto shaman/balance druid/hunter.
As the hunter put it, our composition is "less than orthodox", which actually gave us an advantage last night as we stumbled our way to 5 arena victories. I noticed that our composition works especially well versus teams with no healer. We encountered two of those last night, and we wrecked them.
My general strategy as a moonkin in these matches is to either cyclone the healer or the least-squishy DPS, depending on who we think is a priority. At that point, I tend to go (pardon the gender-specific terminology, even though I'm not a dude) balls to the wall, popping starfall and trees and letting the other two try and tab through the treants to get me. There's a visible hesitation present in the other team when I do that...I like that. It's like a smoke and mirrors-esque distraction which lasts just long enough for me to get off barkskin and a few nukes before they can get to me.
I've noticed in our composition as well that I tend to be the focus target. It's possible this is because they think I might be squishy? In either case, with glyph of barkskin and the deliciousness of Nature's Grasp essentially made me "the tank". It's tempting, then, to give that 51/8/12 spec I linked in my spec post a try...see if the extra armor helps at all with this tanking business.
In either case, back to the grind!
Our composition is resto shaman/balance druid/hunter.
As the hunter put it, our composition is "less than orthodox", which actually gave us an advantage last night as we stumbled our way to 5 arena victories. I noticed that our composition works especially well versus teams with no healer. We encountered two of those last night, and we wrecked them.
My general strategy as a moonkin in these matches is to either cyclone the healer or the least-squishy DPS, depending on who we think is a priority. At that point, I tend to go (pardon the gender-specific terminology, even though I'm not a dude) balls to the wall, popping starfall and trees and letting the other two try and tab through the treants to get me. There's a visible hesitation present in the other team when I do that...I like that. It's like a smoke and mirrors-esque distraction which lasts just long enough for me to get off barkskin and a few nukes before they can get to me.
I've noticed in our composition as well that I tend to be the focus target. It's possible this is because they think I might be squishy? In either case, with glyph of barkskin and the deliciousness of Nature's Grasp essentially made me "the tank". It's tempting, then, to give that 51/8/12 spec I linked in my spec post a try...see if the extra armor helps at all with this tanking business.
In either case, back to the grind!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Sola Does Arena, Part 1
A central reason why I decided to create this blog was to document my foray into not only PVP but arenas! Our guild leader/captain (we have a pirate-themed guild, you see) is my 2v2 partner on his shaman. He is vastly very much experienced in the arena department...not on his shaman, but on his paladin, who is a force to be reckoned with in his 2s team with a guildie warlock.
Our composition is resto shaman/balance druid.
So far it has been an interesting ride. We've done two weeks' worth of matches which have run the gambit of compositions (but only tonight have I seen another moonkin, which was so wonderful), and so far, I have made some general observations on targeting priority in a 2v2 setting.
Assuming you roll with one of the specs listed in my earlier post, this seems to be the general strategy should you come across one of these teams:
Mage/Priest: If you happen to have a team with someone who can keep an eye on the healer, you should immediately engage the mage. With luck, the mage will run out of mana and attempt to run and evocate. Let them. Run up to them as soon as they start to channel and typhoon them away, interrupting their spellcast. Hopefully at this point, you are mere nukes away from victory.
Warrior/Paladin: This composition will be intimidating to deal with as a balance druid/healer team, but the important part here is to, at all costs, keep the warrior off your healer. Typhoon works great, roots, whatever you have to do. Hopefully you will enrage him enough to get him to attack you. After that, put up Nature's Grasp and Barkskin and typhoon him away between charges.
We actually lost our match versus a warrior/paladin team tonight, but this strategy seems to be one that will win the match. It's all a matter of protecting your healer and popping cooldowns that will keep your ass alive.
Warlock/Warlock: A team composition that is also known as OMGWTFWHYAMINEVERINCONTROLOFMYACTIONSGUYS. We lost ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY to this composition, but should we see them in our bracket again, I have an idea. Pick a warlock and cyclone them. If the other one goes to fear you, drop trees only if it's the single-target fear. Let the fear happen as your trees begin to beat on the warlock. When the first warlock comes out of cyclone, immediately switch to the warlock you have treanted and cyclone them instead. Engage the second warlock. At this point, put up Nature's Grasp to keep pets off you and hit starfall every cooldown. When the first warlock comes out, hopefully the second warlock will be low enough that you can just finish them off without worry. An exception to this rule would be if one of the warlocks is using their succubus, in which case you would attack them with everything you have before the first seduction.
All in all, that composition is crazy hard if you have slow reflexes. It comes down literally to a 2v1, since the locks were essentially single-targeting me to remove me from the equation. Crazy times.
Warlock/Priest: On the other hand, while this may sound intimidating, your strategy will be similar to the Mage/Priest composition above. Try to have your healer keep the other healer occupied (or quickly cyclone them if they become too much of a threat) and single-target the warlock with everything you have.
My rule of thumb for using my PVP trinket against warlocks is to only use them on the long fear. The fear actually called Fear with a capital F as opposed to Howl of Terror or Death Coil. Your gut reaction upon being feared by anything will be to use your trinket, but if it's a warlock, and you're in an arena, it's important to be careful, for your partner's sake.
DK/Anything: Death Knights. They are so annoying to fight if they know what they're doing. There are still a lot of DKs who don't, but for the sake of argument, say you're fighting one who does. They have a lot of anti-magic, so you have to rely on your own survivability and careful timing of certain abilities. If the anti-magic bubble goes up, run away. Try and lure them away from the bubble. If they're smart, they'll pull you into the bubble, so what you do in this time is to engage the partner for a second until the bubble goes away. Without bogging you down with vocabulary, my next thought is to tell you to look out for the OTHER anti-magic bubble, which is a yellow glowing bubble about the size of Power Word: Shield. When this goes up, your reaction should be similar; engage the partner. This is where barkskin and nature's grasp REALLY come in handy, since in the time you go for their partner, they'll probably keep wailing on you.
Once I have a better grasp on my own abilities versus a DK, I will provide a more...comprehensive guide versus them in PVP. But the key thing to remember versus them is self-preservation, and watch out for their anti-magic abilities, since all you will do is waste mana.
That's it for now...that's a lot to take in (and it was a lot to type, but I was excited after our matches tonight). I will hopefully do a Part 2 to this post which will include more compositions to watch out for in 2v2 Rated Matches.
Happy PVPing!
Our composition is resto shaman/balance druid.
So far it has been an interesting ride. We've done two weeks' worth of matches which have run the gambit of compositions (but only tonight have I seen another moonkin, which was so wonderful), and so far, I have made some general observations on targeting priority in a 2v2 setting.
Assuming you roll with one of the specs listed in my earlier post, this seems to be the general strategy should you come across one of these teams:
Mage/Priest: If you happen to have a team with someone who can keep an eye on the healer, you should immediately engage the mage. With luck, the mage will run out of mana and attempt to run and evocate. Let them. Run up to them as soon as they start to channel and typhoon them away, interrupting their spellcast. Hopefully at this point, you are mere nukes away from victory.
Warrior/Paladin: This composition will be intimidating to deal with as a balance druid/healer team, but the important part here is to, at all costs, keep the warrior off your healer. Typhoon works great, roots, whatever you have to do. Hopefully you will enrage him enough to get him to attack you. After that, put up Nature's Grasp and Barkskin and typhoon him away between charges.
We actually lost our match versus a warrior/paladin team tonight, but this strategy seems to be one that will win the match. It's all a matter of protecting your healer and popping cooldowns that will keep your ass alive.
Warlock/Warlock: A team composition that is also known as OMGWTFWHYAMINEVERINCONTROLOFMYACTIONSGUYS. We lost ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY to this composition, but should we see them in our bracket again, I have an idea. Pick a warlock and cyclone them. If the other one goes to fear you, drop trees only if it's the single-target fear. Let the fear happen as your trees begin to beat on the warlock. When the first warlock comes out of cyclone, immediately switch to the warlock you have treanted and cyclone them instead. Engage the second warlock. At this point, put up Nature's Grasp to keep pets off you and hit starfall every cooldown. When the first warlock comes out, hopefully the second warlock will be low enough that you can just finish them off without worry. An exception to this rule would be if one of the warlocks is using their succubus, in which case you would attack them with everything you have before the first seduction.
All in all, that composition is crazy hard if you have slow reflexes. It comes down literally to a 2v1, since the locks were essentially single-targeting me to remove me from the equation. Crazy times.
Warlock/Priest: On the other hand, while this may sound intimidating, your strategy will be similar to the Mage/Priest composition above. Try to have your healer keep the other healer occupied (or quickly cyclone them if they become too much of a threat) and single-target the warlock with everything you have.
My rule of thumb for using my PVP trinket against warlocks is to only use them on the long fear. The fear actually called Fear with a capital F as opposed to Howl of Terror or Death Coil. Your gut reaction upon being feared by anything will be to use your trinket, but if it's a warlock, and you're in an arena, it's important to be careful, for your partner's sake.
DK/Anything: Death Knights. They are so annoying to fight if they know what they're doing. There are still a lot of DKs who don't, but for the sake of argument, say you're fighting one who does. They have a lot of anti-magic, so you have to rely on your own survivability and careful timing of certain abilities. If the anti-magic bubble goes up, run away. Try and lure them away from the bubble. If they're smart, they'll pull you into the bubble, so what you do in this time is to engage the partner for a second until the bubble goes away. Without bogging you down with vocabulary, my next thought is to tell you to look out for the OTHER anti-magic bubble, which is a yellow glowing bubble about the size of Power Word: Shield. When this goes up, your reaction should be similar; engage the partner. This is where barkskin and nature's grasp REALLY come in handy, since in the time you go for their partner, they'll probably keep wailing on you.
Once I have a better grasp on my own abilities versus a DK, I will provide a more...comprehensive guide versus them in PVP. But the key thing to remember versus them is self-preservation, and watch out for their anti-magic abilities, since all you will do is waste mana.
That's it for now...that's a lot to take in (and it was a lot to type, but I was excited after our matches tonight). I will hopefully do a Part 2 to this post which will include more compositions to watch out for in 2v2 Rated Matches.
Happy PVPing!
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