Breakfast Topic: Best Arena Group Composition
by Elizabeth Harper 
Aug 21st 2006 at 8:00AM
If you wish to compete in arena PvP matches in the expansion, you'll have to be part of an arena team. Formed and organized similarly to guilds, these teams will have a set membership and a maximum size (4 for 2v2 arenas, 6 for 3v3 arenas, or 10 for 5v5 arenas). So the question is - what's the best class makeup for an arena group? I'm considering a priest/hunter team - but more because my best in-game friend plays a hunter than because I think it's the perfect class combination. I honestly can't decide on the best combination for these arena battles. Would you attempt to stack multiples of powerful classes - a pair or trio of shadow priests, for example. Or try to cover all of your bases with hybrid classes - pairing a druid off with a shaman or paladin. So what do you think the ideal class balance will be for these arena matches - and do you have your dream team ready to go yet?
Filed under: PvP, Breakfast Topics, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mordiceius Aug 21st 2006 8:36AM
My guild had a VERY long discussion on this trying to figure it out. At first we thought two mages and then we came to the conclusion that it would probably be a mage and a priest.
nea Aug 21st 2006 9:06AM
I've played a warrior and I'll play a warrior in TBC, and the best partner I can ever dream of is a paladin. In 2v2 a well played paladin can nullify mage's polymorph on both me (dispell) and himself (b.o.sacriface), as long as neither of us is CCed we have a great chance against most other non-healer + healer combo, MS debuff shines in such situations.
That being said, I doubt there is any superior combination for 2v2 battles, there is a counter for everything, for us it might be warlock and shaman for example.
And we have yet to see new lv50-70 abilites and new talents...
Adam Aug 21st 2006 9:45AM
For 5 man...
Hunter (trapping, burst dps, set pet on enemy caster to slow down casting time)
Paladin (healing, cleansing, etc.)
Mage (polymorph, aoe, dps)
Priest (fear, heals, dots)
Warrior (dps, fear)
However here is the problem (IMO) with the arena system. With almost any class, you can just use that class only and have a ridiculous team. Five mages AOEing? Five rogues, moving from target to target in unison, downing each one in seconds? Five hunters, five pets, five traps, five aimed shots. The list goes on. What would you counter these with? What about a five paladin team? They'd probably lose eventually but they'd be alive for around 45 minutes...lol
Ryan Aug 21st 2006 11:05AM
5 shadow priests
/cry
I play a shaman and I think if I had a nice well-played warlock friend we would do very well.
Aside from that, paly/warrior is a great match, as well as druid/anything else. I think druids, pallies and shaman will be valuable because of their versatility, especially in such small-scale environments.
ooh!
Dranei shaman and dwarf paly.... FTW
inframike Aug 21st 2006 12:01PM
What we don't know is so many of the variables that the Arena itself will have -- how long will the matches last before the winner is whoever is "ahead on points"? Are there going to be powerups available like Warsong Gulch, and if so, how important will they be to winning? If the powerups are spread out, it could possibly provide an incentive for your group to split up and be picked off. And, how large is the arena itself? Your hunter might be a liability in a small 2v2 arena, but absolutely own a large 5v5 arena where players are forced to spread out.
Moonbat Aug 21st 2006 1:10PM
5 warlocks. each warlock would have a different pet out, with the 5th getting their choice of any pet, or even summoning an Infernal.
perma-fear with all those stacking DoTs would kill almost any other group.
Ryan Aug 21st 2006 1:39PM
I'm reminded of that guy who 5-boxed a team of 4 mages and a priest...
Mat Aug 21st 2006 1:42PM
I'm excited about doing 2v2 with my girlfriend. She's a warlock, and I'm a resto druid. The combo of her DOT and pet (especially the suc) coupled with my healing and ability to take damage is going to make for some fun matches.
Derf Aug 21st 2006 2:18PM
With the few details we have about the actual match process this may not come to pass, but I think the more interesting topic is how you will form a team. If you don't know which members of a team you will be playing, what team composition will give you most issues in deciding what members will play a given match. If you know you're facing a team with, for example, two shadow priests, a warrior, and rogue in a 2 against two match, but you don't know who will actually play the match before you set your lineup, what would you want to put up?
Lycane Aug 21st 2006 2:40PM
did anyone understand that example?
Juice06 Aug 21st 2006 2:55PM
Two priest would be tough, but give me two warlocks plus any other class.
Lock #1
Sccy
Healthstone
Soul Stone
SpellStone to absorb
Conflag build with destructive reach
Lock #2
Felhunter
HS
SS
Spell Stone
another conflag build would mean
immolate 800-1300 x 2 = 1600-2600 1.5 secs
conflag 1000-1700 x 2 = 2000-3400 instant
One target would take 3600-6000 pts in the first 2 secs.
Argent Aug 21st 2006 3:36PM
you can only have one member of any class in your active team, so class stacking of the '5 mages' variety isn't feasible. that said, for a two-man...warlock-mage.
jpc Aug 21st 2006 5:16PM
Where does it say that you can only have 1 member of each class?
Giffo Aug 21st 2006 10:39PM
Im personally going to group with people i get on with well, people that i know will learn and work together to win.
no particular class selections are going to win over good and happy teamwork :P