Paladins and Warriors in the Arena
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 16th 2007 at 6:48PM
Relmstein has been doing an excellent examination of the two seemingly strongest forces in the Arenas-- Paladins and Warriors. His second column probably should have come first-- he did a breakdown of Paladin and Warrior numbers on some of the top teams in the Arenas, and as you might have expected, they're out there. Out of the twenty teams he looked at (the top five teams on four different battlegroups), 15 had at least one Paladin and one Warrior, and 18 had at least one Paladin or one Warrior. One top team (Pretty Standard on Stormstrike) even has one Paladin and three Warriors-- two Arms, and one Fury.So now back to Relmstein's first post on the subject-- what's the deal here? Arena is singular among most of WoW's PvP in that it isn't about capturing flags or nodes or completing objectives or earning points for your team. It's all about staying alive. And no one does that better than Paladins and Warriors. Combine that with the fact that both classes have amazing talents for either keeping others alive (Paladins can heal and stay alive), or negating the opponents' attempts to stay alive (Warriors can stay alive and do Mortal Strike), and you can see why Warriors and Paladins are so valued in the Arenas.
This doesn't mean Warriors and Paladins are unbeatable-- a Paladin needs mana, and a Warrior can be counteracted by crowd control like fear and Hunter traps-- but it does make the classes tailor made for getting in fights and remaining upright at the end. Blizzard has already said that they're fine with letting certain classes be stronger in some areas than others, so it seems, as Relmstein says, that in Arenas, the Arcanite Reaper days are back. Beware Mortal Strike and the Paladin healer in the Arenas.
Filed under: Paladin, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Classes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GamerJunkie Oct 16th 2007 7:33PM
If you look at PVE numbers without even getting them. What % of guilds have Warriors as Tanks? I bet its 99.9&
How many guilds have Pallys as Healers, probably 99.9% again..
The fact that Warriors have plate, can DPS make them good PVP class.
Plus, easy to play.
Paladins, also have Plate, higher chance of survival with Bubble make them good PVP healers.
Stats do not tell you they are a must have combo, they are simply easier to play and use in Arena than other classes who are dependent on certain class synergies for higher chance of survival and success.
Charlie Oct 16th 2007 7:48PM
Super geared priest/frost mage combos can take down any mage/warrior team. Their biggest proboblem is their lack of surviability, which is the war/pally greatest strength. The thing about PvP gear is, that it's emphasis is on Stam and Resilience, not Dmg or Crit, so this evens out the "surviability curve"
Pallies biggest weakness is that they have no way to really regen mana. A priest can mana burn a pally down to 0, and mass dispell his shield. Mages can kite around warriors. Attack the mage, and the priest should have enough time to heal him if he's well geared. Attack the priest and he can kite you around pillars while the mage slows you.
Thats the great thing about arena, is that even though there are dominant classes/teams/combos. There is always a counter.
Its also the bad part about arena. if you go up against a team (Priest/Warlock vs Priest/War is ugly for the warlock team) that is better suited to beat you, its hard to win. So alot of the time your win/loss record is part of the draw. Pallies and Warriors have few weakness, so they are found at the top of the list, but they are not unbeatable.
And never try to CC a warrior with fear, most of the time they berserked, and can't be feared. [Rant QQ warning]. I swear, ya'll need to get someone to proof read your posts for ignorant remarks.
Charlie Oct 16th 2007 7:49PM
Edit/typo for above. And well geared priest/frost mage combo can take down any PALADIN/warrior team.
Talk about proofreading Oo
begone77 Oct 16th 2007 7:52PM
yeah what was that about locks being OPed...yeah no nerf pali kthxbi
draeth Oct 16th 2007 7:59PM
whoa whoa whoa, warriors are not easy to play! with 3 seperate stances with a seperate arsenal of moves in each adds a bit more complexity to warrior play style than you might think. Its not just charge, hamstring, mortal strike and execute you gotta know when to stance dance to unleash the full potential of warrior's pvp capabilities.
Greengreen Oct 16th 2007 8:07PM
WoWinsider-Your first stop for the latest in pvp.
Errr no. Only noobs think warrior + paladin is unbeatable. Welcome to the first 2 months of season 1... And GG about saying fear is a good cc against warriors hahaha
Dave Oct 16th 2007 8:15PM
Greengreen: Read the first sentence of the last paragraph. "This doesn't mean Warriors and Paladins are unbeatable"
Go back to first two months of grade 1.
Ferocious Oct 16th 2007 10:30PM
LOL
Warrior can be counteracted by crowd control like fear and Hunter traps--
Warriors faeared? they are the single class with the most counters to fear on low cooldowns....a warrior feared in any arena is just a horrible noob.
So HOLY pallys and MS warriors are dramaticaly OVER represented in pvp........
And they aint OP?
Sorry Sir but THAT is the definition of OP.
Ortai Oct 16th 2007 11:47PM
If the devs are fine with some classes being stronger in the arenas, then why the noticable nerfs around hamspring and disarm? Others have covered the Fear flap in the article. Please, when writing about PvP, get someone who know what they are doing. Really the blog, for the most part, lacks committed, thoughtful discussions on PvP.
Adamarius Oct 17th 2007 12:26AM
Hmm, this report seems to have a bit of an anti warrior bias.
The reality is, a warrior is a smart choice for 5v5. In 2v2 or 3v3 there are many superior choices.
As another poster has said, welcome to Season 1.
doogan Oct 17th 2007 2:07AM
@8
um no its not the definition of OP.
OP would be if beating a Warrior/Paladin combo was nigh impossible. Which it isnt.
in 2's Paladins are the weakest healer
in 3's Paladins are the weakest healer
in 5's Paladins are a very good healer
Dipstick Oct 17th 2007 4:21AM
Agreed #11, as a paladin healer we are outdone by druids in 2v2, and priests in 3v3 - who have more skills other than a 12 second bubble to keep them alive.
In 3v3, a priest's fear, mana burn, shield, aoe heals and instant heals are far superior to the abilities of a paladin - it's a straight up case of priests having better utility.
Paladins can still get nailed in 5v5 though, if counterspelled whilst in mid-cast and being focused, they cannot bubble and will go down pretty quickly.
If you were to offer me a priest in full healing and resilience gear, I'd take it right away and abandon my paladin for arena healing.
Buuty Oct 17th 2007 6:20AM
Exactly why arenas are a stupid concept. They are NOT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. 'nuff said
Caribbean Oct 17th 2007 9:08AM
Everyone better start fearing the hunter in Arenas real soon.
Karl Oct 17th 2007 11:45AM
Don't worry Caribbean...I'll fear the living crap out of them with my Warlock, I got it covered.
Actaully, there have been a few very good points made in this post. I half-expected a "No, I'm the best class!" slew of comments.
I'll start by first agreeing with poster#5. Warriors are a very complex class to play due to the mechanics. No, it doesn't take a rocket scientist, but a Warrior who is capable of playing their class with knowledge of when to use it's different abilities is someone to respect. They are absolutely devistating in Arenas.
Paladins are awesome healers with good survival. Again, they have a lot of options to make it to the end. A previous poster claimed that Paladins are good in 5v5, which is true. I would like to also say that they are good in 2v2 and 3v3 as well. While other healers are suject to CC and have to watch their team member be eaten alive while they are a sheep, a Pally can bubble out at least once. This can mean the win.
Another thing I liked about the comments so far is that people are actually admitting that Warlocks are not the OP class many people scream about. It is worthless for me to cast fear on a Warrior. I'll go for the healer first, but if it is a Pally, it is a lost cause too. So what am I left with? DoTs? Healers dispel them immediately, and I get the attention of the DPS class...which is bad, mmkay?
Anyways, my post is certainly not a complaint about any class. You will NEVER hear me scream nerf on any other class (I have 4 70's and it would be affecting me negatively, I am sure). The poster who made the point that there are counters to every class combo is dead on the money. That is what Blizzard is shooting for. I will give them that it is hard to balance PvP and PvE. Just look at the balance of PvP if you have any doubts. Hunters are the Kings of BGs, and (in my very own opinion...which is better than anyone else's opinion) are absolutely worthless in most arena situations. Its all situational.
mcm Oct 17th 2007 12:51PM
"a Warrior can be counteracted by crowd control like fear ..."
What planet do you live on? An undead warrior with a PvP talent build and PvP trinket is damn near fear-immune.
Birio Oct 17th 2007 12:59PM
Um why does everyone look over the druid these guys are the best CC for the warrior in arena ER then Cyclone then ER again.
GamerJunkie Oct 17th 2007 3:23PM
How many times in 2v2 or 3v3, you almost killed the Warrior and suddenly Pally bubbles and casts Holy Light and fully heals the Warrior and BoFs on him.
Druid says "I'm cycloning Pally, get the Warrior" then Mage says, I'm "OOM already"
Alastair Oct 17th 2007 2:36PM
@17 Because druids are actually massively under-represented in the top 5v5 teams
Karl Oct 17th 2007 4:15PM
@17...Druids in general are not great in the arena. It's pretty easy to CC them with more classes than normal. Even Hunters can fear them while in kitty or bear form. They generally do not have the lethality of a stun-locking rogue as feral, can't break fear like a warrior as bear, can't dish out the burst that a mage can as Boomkin (although I do respect the Boomkin DPS nowadays), and even though HoT is efficent healing, when a mage's or Warrior's burst damage hits someone, it does not work well for survival.
This is a legitimate complaint that the druids have had for some time now, but are afraid to really speak up about, and smartly so. PVE, Druids are one of the greatest choices at the moment becuase their class rocks with Tank/DPS Ferals, DPS Boomkin, and Raid Healing is great. Bringing attention to themselves for PvP might just get them nerfed elsewhere.