The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Netherdrakes.

The Arena is live and filled with Gladiators brutally tearing one another apart. Obviously, then, it's the time for the return of the Colosseum, where we interview the players in your battlegroups to get an idea of what they're doing, what they're thinking, and what might be coming up next.

Lightss of Korgath currently sits as a Holy Paladin on the Vengeance battlegroup's 9th ranked 3v3 team Lore Fanclub. He's only been Holy since patch 3.0.8 however, since before that ... Lightss fought in the Arena as a Protection Paladin! Part of the buzz about Season 5 has been that healers are suffering in the current season. Additionally,. I don't think anyone would claim tankadins are perfectly tuned for PvP. This makes Lightss interesting not just as a healer, but also as a unique gladiator. Let's see what he has to say behind the cut.

WoW Insider: Who are your teammates right now? What's the general plan behind your composition? What challenges does your team have? How do you prefer to run your comp?

Lightss: In the days before the patch (3.0.8), I was Protection spec in PvP. The 3v3 composition was my serious bracket that I focused on. My team partners were Ankiseth and Wmw. We ran a team made up entirely of Protection Paladins, and I ran 2-Protection-Paladin team in 2s with Ankiseth.

The general plan was to burst someone down or cause an immunity then quick swap in order to keep the pressure on. Our main challenge was mainly just the Rogue-Mage-Priest comp. For 2s there were alot more challenges, because most of the comps were counters. I plan to be running Holy/X soon once I speak to some people. We ran 3s very offensivly.

WoW Insider: What's your opening strategy? What do you like to do as soon as the gate opens?

Lightss: In 3v3, our opening strategy would be to instantly figure out the oppposing team, and before they had a chance to respond, we would blow up whatever target we needed to. Depending on the team composition of the other team, we would force an immunity, interrupt a heal and quick burst. It was all dependent on what the other team comp was and how they would play.

WoW Insider: Which mods do you use -- how have you customized your screen?

Lightss: The main mods I use are just Gladius and Xperl. I like Gladius alot more then Proximo. Don't really need any others to run successfully. Basic Blizzard bars, and a normal UI. Not much to it.

WoW Insider: How do you work out target designation? (Does someone call it out, or is everyone on their own to figure it out?)

Lightss: This was the best part of our entire team in both 2v2 and 3v3. The three of us have known each other for a while and we are all friends. We would call out what was needed in Ventrillo, whether it be Ankiseth, Wmw, or myself.

We wouldnt really need to do that often, though. The three of us knew when to swap and what to swap to, we didn't have to tell each other because by the time it was said out loud, we'd already swapped to the target in one form or another.

WoW Insider: How do you schedule your playtime? Do you try and work during "good times to queue?" Is this different now than in previous seasons?

Lightss: We would PvP whenever we wanted really. Mostly on weekends, we wouldn't really care about who we queued against we just enjoyed playing 3s and playing in the Arena.

I think it is different than previous seasons, especially in the higher brackets of Arena. Sometimes there isn't always a ton of teams playing in the upper brackets of Vengeance (our BGroup) so the queue times can sometimes be long. That leads to 2 point wins. With the new system though, that's changed.

WoW Insider: What's been the biggest change in your strategy between each bracket of ratings? (1500s, 1600s) Is there a big change for this season?

Lightss: The strategy would always be the same for us no matter what rating. The only thing that changes is the caliber of player you face, which changes thier playstyle and makes the challenge from arena more interesting. I think the difference is rather drastic between lower bracket to higher bracket mostly because of the quality of teams and players you face. Some are just the lucky people who get there because of comps, some are the people you know earned the rating they got.

WoW Insider: What signals to you that you need to radically change strategy midmatch? (And how do you accomplish that change?)

Lightss: I take into consideration the arena, the comp of the other team and what they are capable of. If they manage to do what they are capable of, I take adjustments accordingly. I accomplish it through communicating it with my partners or fixing it myself.

WoW Insider: What's the key for your composition's strategy? Are there multiple tactics you can use?

Lightss: The main key to our composition is our communication and how we all know what we should do in advance. We don't have to worry about lag across the game to swap or change targets and all that fun stuff that has been happening recently. We do have some multiple tactics depending on the team setup and we would have one of us go on a different target to keep pressure.

WoW Insider: You hear a lot about clicking versus binding. Which skills do you still click, which do you tend to bind?

Lightss: I never click abilities. I think it hinders pvp mobility and makes everything way to complicated. I bind all my keys. Being left handed with my mouse makes things A LOT more complicated PvP wise. But I have a setup I have tried at the very end of season 4 that has been working amazingly. I just wonder why I didn't try it sooner.

WoW Insider: What are you trying to improve?

Lightss: The main thing I am trying to improve, since I now took the role as a healer in arena as of patch 3.0.8, is getting used to the Holy for pvp. It's something new that I am enjoying and just fixing the kinks with bars and figuring out logistics.

WoW Insider: A lot has been made of healers not having a strong role in Season 5. What do you think about that commentary?

Lightss: I'd beg to differ. Good healers can entirely change a team. The healing clases have the capability to be pushed to higher brackets nowadays. In previous seasons, Holy paladins have always been the "laughing joke" of the 2s bracket, for example. Now in this season, Holy paladins are one of the most played classes in 2s. It all depends on the players themselves and their quality of gameplay. I have played against some of the best healers in Vengeance and they do an amazing job in arena. Priest/Paladins/Druids/Shamans alike.

WoW Insider: What are you hoping to see improved in 3.1?

Lightss: I'd like to see Arena fixed and more balanced, but we'll see how things turn out with this new Arena system and such. The "4 pvp classes" need some things changed. I believe Blizzard is aware of the things and that they want PvP to be better. Hopefully some changes will come before it is to late for WoW Arena.

The Colosseum is a new interview series by WoW Insider, meant to reveal strategies, compositions, and tactics from the Arena fighters who use them. For more PvP information, be sure to hit up Blood Sport and the Art of War(craft).

Filed under: Paladin, Analysis / Opinion, Add-Ons, Interviews, The Colosseum