The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, 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 Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player.

Last week, we had the opportunity to look at a mega-mix of about six different gladiators from Korgath. However, since it's likely going to be a little while before I can come back around to Korgath, I wanted to make sure to include one final person.

This person is Starcaller Dimitrius. While Paladins have probably had enough face time in the highest Arena echelons since Wrath of the Lich King, the accomplishments from Dimitrius are a little different from what we've featured before. Specifically, Dimitrius has achieved the #1 spot on his battlegroup in 5v5.

Take a look at what Dimitrius had to say behind the cut. Don't worry -- the interview is fairly short, especially as compared to last week's epic.

WoW.com: 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?

Dimitrius: The main bracket I am playing this season is 5v5. I am part of the team Ghostbusters, who are currently 1st ranked in our battlegroup.

My teammates are Rinen (a Warrior, also our team captain), Hecter (Ret Paladin), Rommen (an Elemental Shaman) and Felleny (a Resto Druid). With our team composition, the general idea is to put a ton of pressure on the opposition healers by Cleaving a squishie repeatedly.

We spot a target and we go hard on him until he is dead or BoPed. (I can assure you it does not take long at all). We usually have a predetermined "swap target" that we call in the beginning of the game.

The biggest challenge I have in 5v5 (and, I cannot speak for the rest of my teammates here) is when we play the team known as WE ARE THE FIVE FX. They are all very skilled players that have been playing together for the longest time and every time we enter the Arena against them, I know I am gonna be required to be at the top of my game if we want to win.

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

Dimitrius: As i have previously said, we try to spot the easiest target to cleave. Usually it will be a warlock or a mage. (Having access to two Hands of Freedom helps a ton versus mages). As for my part in the opening, I choose who I will put my Beacon of Light on for maximum efficiency and I use Sacred Shield on Rinen because I know he will be the first one that gets hit no matter what.

While the two teams face each other, before actually engaging, I spot the totem (if against a shaman) that I am going to kill as the game begins (usually Grounding or Tremor). When the game starts, I attack it.

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

Dimitrius: I run with very limited mods: X-perl raid frames, Cooldown Count, Gladius (for arenas), a custom Beacon of Light mod that lets you know if it is dispelled or fades, and the rest is PvE stuff that is not important. As for the general UI, I use the Blizzard default bars, nothing fancy.

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

Dimitrius: Usually Rinen calls out our initial targets. He knows what is easiest for him and Hecter to cleave, but that's just a general and initial plan. As the game starts, Rommen will call if someone on the opposite team is in a bad spot so we can hard swap to him. Since he's the ranged DPS, it's usually easier for him to have a general view of the entire fight. When Rommen calls out a possible swap, our melee will say if it's possible for them to swap or if they prefer to wait/go on another target.

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

Dimitrius: Hahaha, that's a good question. We all know it's quite hard to schedule 5v5 games, especially since I am the Guildmaster of Burning Sensations and I have a pretty heavy PvE raid schedule. Felleny is also a member of my guild on his rogue, so he's tied to the same schedule I am.

We try to plan our games around that PvE schedule. Sadly we can't "snipe" good teams to play against them because due to that, but we always manage to find some time to play when some good teams are queuing in our battlegroup.

WoW.com: What's been the biggest change in your strategy between each bracket of ratings? Is there a big change for this season?

Dimitrius: Honestly, this season, we went straight to the top in the first week of the season right below the WE ARE THE FIVE FX, so we didn't spend too much time in the 0-1900 bracket (especially combined with that new MMR rating system). If there was a change of strategy from the beginning to the 2200+ bracket, it was that we started to have a strategy at all. Before that we could just go in and kill someone in 5 seconds and move on to the next game.

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

Dimitrius: That would be when we see that we can't put enough pressure on their DPS or when we are getting CCed to death. Then we would immediately call out a target swap, often on a healer to throw them off balance, then swap again to one of their CC users. I am also always checking our mana versus their healer's mana to give my team an estimate of how we are doing and how long we can still hold.

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

Dmitrius: There is not many strategies possible with our composition. I mean, we are just a cleave team with the potential for insane burst and almost no CC. Good teams will make it very hard for our druid to Cyclone, and our other crowd controls don't last very long in 5s. All we have left is pressure through pure damage and we do it very well.

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

Dimitrius: All serious players in this game (PVE and PVP) know how important it is to bind skills. It's simple: I have everything bound, including trinkets and blessings. You just can't click a skill and expect to do it fast enough against skilled players. The only thing I click (gasp!) is my hearth stone haha!

WoW.com: What are you trying to improve?

Dimitrius: The biggest thing I want to improve in 5v5 is to assist DPS during bursts. I do it as much as I can, but I really need to improve my vision of when I can actually help doing it or when it matters the most. I also find it pretty hard with our current composition and our lack of CC.

Since their team is not CCed, I'm spamming heals a ton to counter and that is what makes it hard to put out my own DPS abilities without falling behind on healing my team. That is, I think, my biggest flaw but I'm working hard to fix it.

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Tags: arena, arena-guide, arenas, dimitrius, featured, guide, how-to-play-battlegrounds, how-to-pvp, pvp-guide, pvp-interview, pvp-interviews, the-coliseum, world-of-warcraeft-interviews, wow-arena-guide, wow-guide, wow-interview, wow-interviews

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Colosseum