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.

Anthany from Korgath is heralded on the Armory as "the Flawless Victor," someone who has completed the achievement Hot Hot Hot Streak, winning at least 10 rated matches at a rating greater than 2000 (at level 80). So, you can assume just from that information that Anthany might be pretty good.

His teams also fit some criteria for being skilled, also. His 2v2 and 5v5 team are both ranked 5th on the Vengeance battlegroup, and his 3v3 team is number 1 right now.

Anthany of Korgath was kind enough to take the time to talk to the Colosseum about his current experience in the Arena, and what he worries might be coming down the pipe for his beloved playstyle.

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?

Anthany: In the 2v2 bracket, I run Rogue/Mage (Sushibomber). Running this composition at the moment, as far as tactics go, is pretty much based around precise coordination on initial bursts on the called target. Then, following with counterspells, blinds,sheeps, and such to disable the partner. The only other 2v2 team coming to a halting stop and completely disabling us is DK/Resto Druid. They're the team that actually give us the most problems.

In 3v3, we have actually hit 1st place this season running Rogue, DK (Aralez), and Holy Pally (Meehkz). Unlike most Rogue 3v3 RMP composition teams, I tried a different approach using more of a dual focused tactic, I'd say. We pretty much pick a target, burst it, and follow with CCs. The only other comp we actually had a problem against was before last patch, when a BM Hunter could run around untouched for 36 seconds in Beastial Wrath causing immense amount of problems. Rocket Boots were pretty much an instant win for the other team if they knew what they were doing.

Our 5v5 comp is Arcane Mage (sushibomber), Priest (Dcane), Death Knight (Aralez), Holy pally (Meehkz), and Rogue. Nothing really too much to say here, very easy comp to run, aside from the immense amount of burst. We can pretty much just pick a target and pain train. Target switching is easy running this. With the offensive dispels, Mages and Pallies are surprisingly the easier targets.

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

Anthany: I really love to catch opponents off guard, so 9 outof 10 times, I will usually sprint-sap open on the other side.

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

Anthany: Most of my mods are just vanity mods, only improving the look of my screen and CT bars. I like to keep the PvP mods to regulated rules, which is to say none. But the way the native UI is setu up, it's damn near impossible doing 5v5 arenas without using Proximo.

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

Anthany: Most likely, I call out the focused target. If not, my partners are usually on call with just improvising and going along with what I'm doing.

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?

Anthany: Our playtime is usually around prime time, 7 server time, unless we happen to be on very early. I pretty much also have every partner's cell phone number, so if we are waiting to see if they log on or not, I can simply just call them.

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?

Anthany: From 1500 until 1800 bracket, there can be some unorthadox comps running around. But for the most part, they're all very easy to overcome with coordination. As for this season, I've had numerous Glad buddies even have trouble getting out of the 1500 ratings because of the so called "Ghost rating." Even though they have rerolled the team and started fresh, they are still fighting top tier glad teams at 2100+ and losing immense amount of points. So, truthfully, in my opinion, this last patch has been the killer to top tier glad teams at the moment.

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

Anthany: I wouldn't say much in signals, just more along the lines of yelling through the mic to pay attention. LOL. Either that, or pre-emptively let my partners know I'm about to switch 5 to 10 seconds before I actually do.

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

Anthany: The main key with our comp is to always have pressure kept on the other team. Keep them on the defense, and never let them go on the offense. This season is solely based so much around initial burst, with much coordinated switching. Being very communicative helps alot.

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

Anthany: Before Seaon 5, I pretty much had everything bound except for sprint, evasion, and prep. Since now the arena is so fast paced, I don't leave a single key unbound. You just can't afford that split second which could lead to a kill or your own death.

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

Anthany: I'm going to base this off of 3v3, since out of all the brackets, it's the most balanced at the moment. I'm going to go against the wind on this and say gimping yourself and sacrificing a healer for another DPS this deep in the season is a bad idea. Now other healers have stacked resilience, and being without one would only hurt your team.

People need to understand, in the first 2 or 3 weeks, healers were unable to achieve top resilence ratings. Because of that, they were percieved to be useless. Now that we have healers running at 900+ resilence, they are really starting to make a come back. This is true not only for the plate healers, but for the cloth, leather, mail healers as well.

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

Anthany: Truthfully, in my own opinion, and speaking on behalf of the top arena players in all seasons, I really hope Blizzard reverts back to the old system arena ratings. Even with some flaws, the system really made arena the most fun in that season.

What Blizzard is trying to implement this season is to pretty much satisfy the casual player sitting and complaining in the 1500-1600 brackets, which are 60% to 70% of the arena community. Now, Blizz tries to better serve them in those odds. But what Blizzard doesn't understand is that by balancing the arena around Causual Joe, the top tier teams, glads, and competetive players are seeing arenas as a complete mess. Slowly, there will be more casuals playing the game, but more of the competitive players will simply drift away.

I'm speaking for myself on this one, to let you know the damage and distress this new season has brought. Arenas just simply are not as fun as they used to be, comparing back to the days where you could play with friends, reroll teams whenever you wanted, and just simply to have fun.

I just don't think I will have much interest in the upcoming seasons if things stay the same. Based off what many other Arena PvP players are saying, they won't have much interest either.

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).

Tags: anthany, arena, colosseum, interview, korgath, pvp, the-colosseum

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Interviews, The Colosseum