Number breakdown on classes in 5v5 arenas
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 6th 2007 at 1:32PM
Our good friends at Paladin Sucks point to this very interesting breakdown of classes in all the 5v5 area teams over 2000 arena rating. Can you guess which classes are winning the Arena PvP game?The answer surprised me: it's warriors. For all of their bellyaching, warriors are cutting through the opposition in the arena-- they make up almost 20% of all the players with teams above 2000 arena rating. And next on the list, surprisingly enough, is paladins-- with 33, they're 18% of the winning players. And maybe most surprising, Druids and Warlocks, the two teams who seem to dominate in PvP, are bringing up the rear in terms of players, with a measly 4% and 3% respectively.
Now, this makes no distinction about what these players are actually doing in these teams-- when I go into the arena with my Shaman, it seems that all I'm doing mostly is trying to stay alive, and warriors with a healer behind them are very, very good at that. I believe the numbers came from the Armory (where you can sort by rating, but only by battlegroup), but whoever wrote it up didn't say where the numbers came from. I've reprinted the full list of classes with the number of players in teams with an arena rating of over 2000 after the jump, for the benefit of those of you at work.
Number of players in each class that are members of 5v5 arena teams with a rating of 2000+
(via http://www.worldofming.com/?p=393)
Warrior - 35
Paladin - 33
Mage - 28
Priest - 27
Shaman - 17
Hunter - 13
Rogue - 12
Druid - 8
Warlock - 6
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ragbar Mar 6th 2007 2:06PM
If anyone goes over to worldofming.com, he has an EXCELLENT insight as to what makes a good 5v5 arena team, what the typical group makeup and style of play are. He's quite analytical and very intelligent.
The "typical" top-tier teams in 5v5 are "tri-healer" teams, or 2.5 healer teams. This usually consists of a Priest-Paladin linked with another Pally, a Druid, or a Shaman. Then your DPS-ers are a Warrior/Rogue, or Warrior/Mage. There are some teams with tri-dps as well, either way though, a warrior is key. You need someone who can hack down and hammer an opponent quickly. This is why the Warrior/Rogue combo is so leathal. Huge crits plus poisons, along with a warrior's high dmg and mortal strike make it almost impossible for a healer to keep their target alive for long.
tripp Mar 6th 2007 2:41PM
And this is before Warriors are getting buffed and Druids are getting nerfed? I actually am very surprised by everything but the high Paldin number. That was to be expended. 5v5 is an endurance fight afterall.
Lex Mar 6th 2007 2:58PM
Two words: mortal strike.
I haven't done any 5v5, but I imagine there are often groups with three, four or even five classes with some healing abilities. You can try to CC them all with the talents of all your players, or you can make all their healing useless by adding one class.
Now just wait until charge, intercept and intervene remove movement-impairing effects.
Gamerz22 Mar 6th 2007 2:06PM
From what I've seen, the ones that know how to play, are complaining about PvE, not PvP.
Cormack Mar 6th 2007 2:57PM
Yeah, because 5v5 pvp is essentially designed with warriors in mind. You get a set group with a healer who will actually pay attention to you, and very likely a paladin who will blessing of freedom you. Of course, you've also ground the mandatory blacksmithing to get the bop axe/mace. And of course, if you want to raid and pvp you're going to have to spend 100g a week to alternate between 35/23/3 and 5/5/51. So yes, at the end game, with a lot of gold and a competent team, warriors are apparently useful. Wasn't that the point that warriors were the end game, scales well with gear, wait till you hit 70 for the good times class?
To be fair through, warlocks and druids are markedly more popular in the 2v2 and 3v3 brackets. Apparently warlocks are just too squishy to be usaul in 5v5, but have much better survivability when they can't simply be assist trained down.
Hidden_Agenda Mar 6th 2007 4:10PM
Perhaps Locks would be a bit higher on the list if we had anyway to gain shards during arena fights. As it stands, if we use a spell or conjure an item that uses a shard, we have no way to get one back.
I refuse to even step foot in the arena until this is fixed.
jahuel Mar 6th 2007 7:43PM
collecting arena points sucks.
it doesn't matter how many teams you are on, it seems - you only get points for your highest ranked team.
so if you get 1400 points, expect 225 that week
if you're on 2 teams with roughly 1600 points each, expect 375. or one 1 team with that many for that matter.
Physical Original Mar 6th 2007 3:22PM
I wonder how these number stack up against census numbers, percentage-wise. Last I heard warrior was the most played class with druids and warlocks falling toward the bottom. If the correlation were perfect wouldn't that simply suggest that classes are pretty well balanced, and that simply the top players of each class are doing well?
Rezza Mar 6th 2007 2:40PM
I have seen posts similar to this befor, but just for the top 20 5v5 teams in a battle group. The rankings were very similar but with paly's on the top and druids on the bottom.
Warriors and Paly's are resilient and are very troublesome to take down in 5v5 arena battle.
Blizzard has commented that they are balancing PvP for group battle (5v5) and not for smaller battles (2v2) so I do expect to see some additional resilience or group support skills added for some classes.
Robert Mar 6th 2007 4:18PM
My main is a druid. We're pretty worthless in arenas, imo. Even though cat form can put out rogue-like damage we don't have the stuns, interrupts, cooldowns, and blind. And bear form with its damage nerfed is only for turtling. Tree is worthless for PvP. Moonkin is okay but less versatility and damage than a mage.
Frankly the only druid I can see being useful in an arena is balance/resto spec. You can heal, cyclone and toss out nukes and DOTs, and unlike a priest if you get zerged you can drop into bear and turtle. But in a non-healing role druids are no good in the arena.
Rezza Mar 6th 2007 3:11PM
Cormak;
Granted druids and warlocks fair better in 2v2 and 3v3 duels, however, Blizzard gave the reasoning that 5v5 duels are worth more arena points because they balance their classes for larger group battles.
So, to be fair Blizzard needs to give more arena points for 2v2 and 3v3 duels or buf some classes such that they can perform better in 5v5 duels, perhaps adding skills that benefit a group in PvP.
Burata Mar 6th 2007 3:14PM
The reason us locks are so low on the arena charts is that we are gods in PvE now and there is tons of PvE content to do. I'd guess that like me, most of us are PvE'ing it up and demolishing everyone in damage in 5 mans, Karazhan and above.
Kol Mar 6th 2007 4:35PM
the thing is, if you check warcraftrealms, warriors are the most played class in arenas atm.
Ehrgeiz Mar 6th 2007 3:19PM
Not a suprise, warriors to be effective in pvp require a pocket healer. Having more then 1 would make it much harder to beat the group if you can't take out the healers first.
Sergio Mar 7th 2007 11:23AM
I'm not surprised by the warlocks. Unlike other BGs, warlocks cannot simply DoT people up and run away, or get into many 1v1 situations where the OPness of fear puts people at a disadvantage. In 5v5, they may fear one person, but still have 4 to contend with. Their DoTs can be dispelled, decursed, or healed through once the warlock is dead. They probably have better luck in 2v2 arenas.
Rezza Mar 6th 2007 4:41PM
Quote: warriors to be effective in pvp require a pocket healer
Actually, healers require a pocket dps'r.
Grimolfr Mar 6th 2007 4:43PM
This makes perfect sense to me. The 2 classes that can absorb the most damage will stay alive the longest with people actually healing them. 1v1...that is a whole different story. Also, I think you will find that all the noobs deleted their warriors and paladins to reroll a noob/EZmode class like warlock/hunter/rogue. That is probably why they are all on the bottom and people who still play warriors/paladins are generally more skilled.
Cetha Mar 6th 2007 5:03PM
i have a lock and my long time friend has a druid who is feral specced, and we own in 2v2...partly because we've played together for so long, but also because warriors aren't the only class who benefit from being healed...just about any class can...when he throws a heal on me i'm golden and you are dead...same is true for my mage...I only point this out because the previous posts point out how deadly warriors are when they are getting healed..in my exp...any class is deadly when they are getting heals if the right person is playing them
Finnicks Daerkhiv Mar 6th 2007 4:29PM
To Hidden Agenda, #11:
That was my complaint exactly after the big 2.0 patch. However, by 2.0.1 or 2.0.2, I don't remember which, they fixed that.
During the "opening" part of the Arena, before the doors open, all spells cost no mana and NO SHARDS. The Arena also resets all cooldowns after you leave, and returns to you whatever pet you had prior to joining afterward.
My favorite strategy: Summon Voidwalker, buff myself up, then at the very last second use Voidwalker Sacrifice and Fel Domination to switch to Felguard. Soul Link up, and I have about 25 seconds of free invulnerability during the first part of the match. :)
Since they fixed that, the only complaint I can see anyone making is Shadowburn's consumption of a Soul Shard in the Arena, but you should time Shadowburn to kill them anyway, so you would get it back. Also, Arena fights are by-and-large too fastpaced to even dream of trying to use Soul Fire.
DontLetsStart Mar 6th 2007 6:32PM
If you look at the census, the numbers @70 are pretty even (except for pallies and shaman, who have an obvious disadvantage at least for a while yet). Druids are at 10%, warlocks at 11%, warriors and mages at 15%, so population difference isn't enough to explain these figures.
As Hidden_Agenda mentions, the soul shard problem is a big one that probably hurts warlock's willingness to participate. But after all this time I doubt blizzard will back down on their stance that soul shards are a balance to warlock's power. IMO that approach is broken though, since you'll always either have the situation where you farm shards ahead of time and are overpowered, or if you balance for that, then once they quickly run out they're underpowered. Soul shards are fine as lore for PvE, but a broken mechanic for PvP.