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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlood Sport: Beginner's guide to arena, part II
by C. Christian Moore 
Dec 14th 2009 at 5:00PM
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column.
Listening Music: The cutest kid you've ever seen covering Jason Mraz. Blood Sport normally features the musical works of professionals. For this little guy, we have to make an exception. My favorite part is right before the first verse. I love the intense scrunched face and little head nod. I dare you to find anything even half as cute. That video of a tickled kitten has nothing on this.
Last Week: part one of our beginner's arena guide. First, we fielded a possible complaint about catering to casuals. After that, we talked a little bit about some of the best ways to gear up: finding an arena team, doing battlegrounds, and running Vault of Archavon. Check it out if you have the time.
This week, we'll talk about some frequently asked questions players have when considering jumping into the arena. Read on for part two of our arena guide for beginners after the break!
Frequently Asked Questions
The two most common questions new arena players have are: What spec should I choose? What team composition should I play?
The first time I was asked to give advice on arena, I was flattered. He played warlock-paladin in 2v2. He asked me "what would you do against druid-warlock if you were us?"
If I recall correctly, I typed the guy a War and Peace sized answer. I detailed the finer points and intricacies of crowd control chains, using Curse of Shadow on opposing felhunters, debuffing with the felhunter, using Drain Mana on not just druids, but also near-oom felhunters, and the importance of Judgment of Justice (no E in judgment because I'm not British and neither is the spell I just linked).
After about five minutes, he responded "Okay, dude, that's cool. What do we kill?"
Me: "...Everything? You're a warlock team. You have four dots. You should put them on the druid, warlock, and felhunter."
Curious George: "Okay, why didn't you just say that to begin with?"
I was shocked. I figured this guy wanted to know how to beat the very best warlock-druid teams. Nope. He just wanted some very basic direction. Now, I usually give one sentence answers to basic inquiries because 90% of the time, that's what people want. If I try to wax philosophic on why spec, comp, and gear don't really matter, people usually think I'm not much help at all.
So, I'll split this article into two sides for each of our talking points -- easy answer and long answer. Easy answers will be what I tell people with no explanation. Long answers are what I would actually recommend to PvP newbies who think arena might be a part of the game they will really enjoy (eventually).
What spec should I choose?
Easy (gigantic margin of error) Answer:
Pick what you enjoy most in other aspects of the game. Spec doesn't really matter. If you choose to do arena as a fire mage (the worst spec I can think of in arena off the top of my head), you can make it work. You're not going for gladiator here, you're just trying to get a feel of how arena works. Even if you were going for gladiator, you can probably attain it with good teammates and a composition tailored for your spec.
Certain specs do better with certain compositions. If you are planning on healing, you don't have to think very hard about which spec to choose. On the other hand, if you are a warlock thinking about getting into 3v3, you will have a lot of spec options. For example, many warlocks choose affliction for "balanced" compositions (melee + caster + healer), but on teams with two casters and one healer, almost all warlocks spec destruction. If you hate one and love the other, just play the spec you enjoy regardless of team composition.
If you have the luxury of picking up two PvP specs with dual spec, it gives you the ability to try a different spec after every game without worrying about spending lots of gold. If you're tied down to keeping your PvE spec, or you just don't have enough gold to buy dual spec, don't worry about it -- just pick one and run with it.
If you have the very unfortunate circumstance of being tied down to two PvE specs (and I cringe at the thought), feel free to switch back and forth in between games to see which one works best for you.
Moral of the story: You're just trying to get your feet wet -- you're not jumping overboard just yet. Pick your favorite spec and play it, you'll have much more fun. Remember, playing arenas is fun!
What team composition should I play?
Easy (and probably incorrect) Answer:
Go to an arena website and copy whatever is popular. The SK-100 and ArenaJunkies both have ranking pages that you can check out what composition is best for your class. Go there, check it out, and play that.
Long Answer:
Team composition, like spec, does not really matter that much. People seem to get bogged down about team composition more than anything else when it comes to starting up an arena team.
There is enormous danger in copying a 'good' team composition as your first arena team. Let's say you choose to play rogue + mage + priest. I'll refer to this comp (as many player do) with the abbreviation RMP. This 3v3 team comp is perhaps the most famous and well-renown of all 3v3 team compositions. If you've played more than 20 arena games in 3v3, chances are you've played against two or three RMPs.
RMP has been a successful team composition in every single arena season. The primary reason for this is the synergy of the crowd control RMP has access to. Polymorph, Psychic Scream, Sap, and stuns are all very powerful when combined with each other.
When you are just starting to play arena, you might not have exceptionally skilled teammates. If you play as the priest on the team, your mage and rogue might not have a lot (or any) experience playing with each other or arena in general. Your rogue might not get a successful Sap off to start the game. Your mage not be able to position himself to Polymorph the healer and DPS the kill target simultaneously. You will not have a grasp on what an opposing team's likely kill target will be. You might expect the opposing team to target your mage, but they kill your rogue in a global cooldown or two.
Some players think that if they are 'running an overpowered team comp,' winning will be much easier. This is never the case. If you believe team comp is the primary factor when it comes to arena victory and losses, you are in for a rude awakening.
Playing as a successful popular composition can actually be a detriment. Many opposing teams will have played against your composition in the past and have strategies worked out beforehand to combat you. These strategies might have evolved over hundreds of games spanning multiple seasons. Playing something "ridiculous" like fire mage + demonlogy warlock + holy priest might catch a seasoned team off guard and you'll be able to steal a game or two where you wouldn't have otherwise.
Although there is certainly a precedent for public opinion, there will always be "hidden" comps that are amazing if piloted by skilled players. Priest + mage in 2v2 and beast mastery hunter + enhancement shaman + holy paladin in 3v3 were mocked for the majority of arena history as being terrible compositions. Those are some of the most successful compositions right now. Don't be afraid to play what works for you.
Losing is fine. It's the learning process. You'll definitely lose more games than you win in your first week of arena. It's not a big deal. You and your teammates will eventually learn what works and what doesn't. Have fun in the process.
Moral of the story: Don't copy what's popular, try to find what works for you. It might catch opposing teams off-guard.
If you really want my recommendation in different brackets:
Remember, these are just recommendations, they're not must-haves. The above still holds true (fun should be your primary goal, not success -- make that secondary or tertiary). These recommendations are based on what I've found to be generally (not always) successful for new players.
In 2v2, you can make literally anything work. I've seen protection paladin and protection warrior at 2600+ ratings (and yes, they were playing those specs in arena). Hunter + mage, enhancement shaman + feral druid, discipline priest + discipline priest (no typo there, yes two disc priests) all sound terrible to your flavor of the month gladiator, but each of those comps have hit top twenty on a battlegroup in the past. Play with your best friend and have a blast.
In 3v3, I would recommend playing with one (and only one) healer. If you have great PvE gear and you're a melee DPS class, two healers + you can be successful when you're just starting out. Otherwise, I would try to stay away from two healer setups -- you and your partners probably (unfortunately) don't have a lot of PvP gear to make it work.
In 5v5, try to organize a team with two healers, two classes with very high DPS, and a class with a 50% Mortal Strike effect. Most high rated 5v5 teams follow this model because it combines the best defensive capabilities with offensive capabilities. With a four dps or three healer composition, you'll experience 5v5 in a way that might bias your approach to the bracket in the future.
Moral of the story: They're just recommendations. Don't get hung up on them. If you want to play 5v5 with all DPS classes because you think you will have more fun, do that and ignore the above advice.
Long column this week.
I planned on discussing how to gear your character up for PvP and what to do when you actually step inside the arena. Oh well, I guess they'll have to wait until next week. Maybe I'll skip the advice on gearing your character and jump right into strategy. What do you think? Leave a comment below!
Listening Music: The cutest kid you've ever seen covering Jason Mraz. Blood Sport normally features the musical works of professionals. For this little guy, we have to make an exception. My favorite part is right before the first verse. I love the intense scrunched face and little head nod. I dare you to find anything even half as cute. That video of a tickled kitten has nothing on this.
Last Week: part one of our beginner's arena guide. First, we fielded a possible complaint about catering to casuals. After that, we talked a little bit about some of the best ways to gear up: finding an arena team, doing battlegrounds, and running Vault of Archavon. Check it out if you have the time.
This week, we'll talk about some frequently asked questions players have when considering jumping into the arena. Read on for part two of our arena guide for beginners after the break!
Frequently Asked Questions
The two most common questions new arena players have are: What spec should I choose? What team composition should I play?
The first time I was asked to give advice on arena, I was flattered. He played warlock-paladin in 2v2. He asked me "what would you do against druid-warlock if you were us?"
If I recall correctly, I typed the guy a War and Peace sized answer. I detailed the finer points and intricacies of crowd control chains, using Curse of Shadow on opposing felhunters, debuffing with the felhunter, using Drain Mana on not just druids, but also near-oom felhunters, and the importance of Judgment of Justice (no E in judgment because I'm not British and neither is the spell I just linked).
After about five minutes, he responded "Okay, dude, that's cool. What do we kill?"
Me: "...Everything? You're a warlock team. You have four dots. You should put them on the druid, warlock, and felhunter."
Curious George: "Okay, why didn't you just say that to begin with?"
I was shocked. I figured this guy wanted to know how to beat the very best warlock-druid teams. Nope. He just wanted some very basic direction. Now, I usually give one sentence answers to basic inquiries because 90% of the time, that's what people want. If I try to wax philosophic on why spec, comp, and gear don't really matter, people usually think I'm not much help at all.
So, I'll split this article into two sides for each of our talking points -- easy answer and long answer. Easy answers will be what I tell people with no explanation. Long answers are what I would actually recommend to PvP newbies who think arena might be a part of the game they will really enjoy (eventually).
What spec should I choose?
Easy (gigantic margin of error) Answer:
- Priest: Discipline or shadow depending on if you're going to heal or not.
- Mage: Frost.
- Warlock: Whatever you're most comfortable with. Start out using a felhunter (or felguard if you spec demonology).
- Druid: Whatever your gear is suited for.
- Rogue: Whatever you're most comfortable with.
- Hunter: Whatever you're most comfortable with. Start out using a pet you're comfortable with.
- Shaman: Whatever your gear is suited for.
- Paladin: Retribution or holy depending on if you're going to heal or not.
- Warrior: Arms or protection, depending on what your gear is suited for. (I'm looking forward to angry comments about PvE hero protection warriors in PvP)
- Death Knight: Unholy.
Pick what you enjoy most in other aspects of the game. Spec doesn't really matter. If you choose to do arena as a fire mage (the worst spec I can think of in arena off the top of my head), you can make it work. You're not going for gladiator here, you're just trying to get a feel of how arena works. Even if you were going for gladiator, you can probably attain it with good teammates and a composition tailored for your spec.
Certain specs do better with certain compositions. If you are planning on healing, you don't have to think very hard about which spec to choose. On the other hand, if you are a warlock thinking about getting into 3v3, you will have a lot of spec options. For example, many warlocks choose affliction for "balanced" compositions (melee + caster + healer), but on teams with two casters and one healer, almost all warlocks spec destruction. If you hate one and love the other, just play the spec you enjoy regardless of team composition.
If you have the luxury of picking up two PvP specs with dual spec, it gives you the ability to try a different spec after every game without worrying about spending lots of gold. If you're tied down to keeping your PvE spec, or you just don't have enough gold to buy dual spec, don't worry about it -- just pick one and run with it.
If you have the very unfortunate circumstance of being tied down to two PvE specs (and I cringe at the thought), feel free to switch back and forth in between games to see which one works best for you.
Moral of the story: You're just trying to get your feet wet -- you're not jumping overboard just yet. Pick your favorite spec and play it, you'll have much more fun. Remember, playing arenas is fun!
What team composition should I play?
Easy (and probably incorrect) Answer:
Go to an arena website and copy whatever is popular. The SK-100 and ArenaJunkies both have ranking pages that you can check out what composition is best for your class. Go there, check it out, and play that.
Long Answer:
Team composition, like spec, does not really matter that much. People seem to get bogged down about team composition more than anything else when it comes to starting up an arena team.
There is enormous danger in copying a 'good' team composition as your first arena team. Let's say you choose to play rogue + mage + priest. I'll refer to this comp (as many player do) with the abbreviation RMP. This 3v3 team comp is perhaps the most famous and well-renown of all 3v3 team compositions. If you've played more than 20 arena games in 3v3, chances are you've played against two or three RMPs.
RMP has been a successful team composition in every single arena season. The primary reason for this is the synergy of the crowd control RMP has access to. Polymorph, Psychic Scream, Sap, and stuns are all very powerful when combined with each other.
When you are just starting to play arena, you might not have exceptionally skilled teammates. If you play as the priest on the team, your mage and rogue might not have a lot (or any) experience playing with each other or arena in general. Your rogue might not get a successful Sap off to start the game. Your mage not be able to position himself to Polymorph the healer and DPS the kill target simultaneously. You will not have a grasp on what an opposing team's likely kill target will be. You might expect the opposing team to target your mage, but they kill your rogue in a global cooldown or two.
Some players think that if they are 'running an overpowered team comp,' winning will be much easier. This is never the case. If you believe team comp is the primary factor when it comes to arena victory and losses, you are in for a rude awakening.
Playing as a successful popular composition can actually be a detriment. Many opposing teams will have played against your composition in the past and have strategies worked out beforehand to combat you. These strategies might have evolved over hundreds of games spanning multiple seasons. Playing something "ridiculous" like fire mage + demonlogy warlock + holy priest might catch a seasoned team off guard and you'll be able to steal a game or two where you wouldn't have otherwise.
Although there is certainly a precedent for public opinion, there will always be "hidden" comps that are amazing if piloted by skilled players. Priest + mage in 2v2 and beast mastery hunter + enhancement shaman + holy paladin in 3v3 were mocked for the majority of arena history as being terrible compositions. Those are some of the most successful compositions right now. Don't be afraid to play what works for you.
Losing is fine. It's the learning process. You'll definitely lose more games than you win in your first week of arena. It's not a big deal. You and your teammates will eventually learn what works and what doesn't. Have fun in the process.
Moral of the story: Don't copy what's popular, try to find what works for you. It might catch opposing teams off-guard.
If you really want my recommendation in different brackets:
Remember, these are just recommendations, they're not must-haves. The above still holds true (fun should be your primary goal, not success -- make that secondary or tertiary). These recommendations are based on what I've found to be generally (not always) successful for new players.
In 2v2, you can make literally anything work. I've seen protection paladin and protection warrior at 2600+ ratings (and yes, they were playing those specs in arena). Hunter + mage, enhancement shaman + feral druid, discipline priest + discipline priest (no typo there, yes two disc priests) all sound terrible to your flavor of the month gladiator, but each of those comps have hit top twenty on a battlegroup in the past. Play with your best friend and have a blast.
In 3v3, I would recommend playing with one (and only one) healer. If you have great PvE gear and you're a melee DPS class, two healers + you can be successful when you're just starting out. Otherwise, I would try to stay away from two healer setups -- you and your partners probably (unfortunately) don't have a lot of PvP gear to make it work.
In 5v5, try to organize a team with two healers, two classes with very high DPS, and a class with a 50% Mortal Strike effect. Most high rated 5v5 teams follow this model because it combines the best defensive capabilities with offensive capabilities. With a four dps or three healer composition, you'll experience 5v5 in a way that might bias your approach to the bracket in the future.
Moral of the story: They're just recommendations. Don't get hung up on them. If you want to play 5v5 with all DPS classes because you think you will have more fun, do that and ignore the above advice.
Long column this week.
I planned on discussing how to gear your character up for PvP and what to do when you actually step inside the arena. Oh well, I guess they'll have to wait until next week. Maybe I'll skip the advice on gearing your character and jump right into strategy. What do you think? Leave a comment below!
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, How-tos, PvP, Features, Classes, Talents, Wrath of the Lich King, Blood Sport (Arena PvP), Battlegrounds, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Taytayflan Dec 14th 2009 10:06PM
We probably have a good idea of what gear we're going to get already: Deadly. I got 4/5 from honor from BG's and WG. I haven't arena'd at 80 before. We're probably gonna use our honor on non-Arena point gear and maybe left-over Conquests. Plus, I don't think anyone else is likely to get hung up on what kind of gear they need. PvE gear will likely make up half a newbie Arena set.
Random Dec 14th 2009 11:41PM
I'd appreciate a gearing guide, if not next week then at some point in the near future. Your column inspired me to try some arenas on my mage, I find them addictively fun, but right now I'm sort of blundering around guessing about gear and strats, and some general guidelines for either/both would be appreciated.
Kevin S. Dec 15th 2009 1:36AM
I would like to hear about how to learn proper positioning in arenas.
C.Christian.Moore Dec 15th 2009 2:06PM
It'll most likely be in the next article. Depends on if I get sidetracked from the "strategy" article.
I might have to split the "strategy" article up into two or three articles because there is so much to discuss.
We'll see how it pans out, I'll definitely talk about positioning in great detail eventually. I might even MS paint it up.
artifex Dec 15th 2009 4:15AM
Tangent: in bgs now my lock generally fields a voidwalker, because if I'm on lookout I can tap his consume shadows to see if there's a rogue creeping up (and if I don't tap, one definitely always is). Definitely a nice extra, though stealthed enemies have to be very close for it to trigger seeing them.
Kevin S. Dec 15th 2009 2:40PM
Most excellent.
When I read articles by top arena players, the advice is often that what is most important is staying flexible out of the gates and being able to adapt. It seems implied, but never explicitly stated, that the way to adapt quickly is to be in the right spot. Yet they have a great database in their mind of the way different situations can play out that lets them do this... I suppose it comes from much experience. Newer teams seem to be more single-minded when they come out of the gates, each focusing on their own role rather than seeing the battle as a whole.
So, for example, I have mostly played as a healer in 2v2 and 3v3. Where should I be relative to my own dps, the opposing team's healer/dps, and the obstacles? How does this change depending on the classes we face?
Another question is what to do in stale-mate type situations, where the opposing healer is able to stay out of reach, and you can't burn their dps fast enough. Do these even happen at higher levels? It's boggling when you're only strategy doesn't work...
Learning to gear up can always be done by searching for gear on wowhead. Thanks for the column!
C.Christian.Moore Dec 15th 2009 3:00PM
Hi Kevin, great questions.
Seeing the battle as a whole is definitely one of those things that take you to the next level of play. Being able to adapt to what the opposing team does is another.
This article will be dealing with beginners looking to move to an intermediate stage. The questions you're asking seem to be geared towards a higher level of play, but that's okay.
For positioning as a healer, it depends what kind of healer you are a lot of times. Nagrand is a good example -- as a druid or shaman you might be able to freely move between the pillars with travel form or ghost wolf. Priests will have a fair amount of mobility as well with shielding and hots at the right time. As a holy paladin, you might be more bound to your spot when combat arises.
That's not to say you can't move and adjust as needed. Most healers will tell you that it depends on the flow of the battle. If you're a priest and you need to get a fear off to win the game, you need to move within range of the enemy healer or dps in order to do that.
Sometimes you'll need to stay next to a pillar in order to avoid mana burns or crowd control so your team doesn't die. These kinds of things are best learned with a lot of experience within the arena, but I'll try to give some starter sets of tips next week with our strategy article.
Stale-mate situations are usually because your team's and the opposing team's dps "fault." They can usually do something different to try to get a kill, a stalemate is rarely a healer's "fault." I use "fault" in quotes because you shouldn't be blaming anyone for a loss -- but the responsibility of that particular aspect of play falls on them.
For instance, if you were to not heal at all, the lack of heals (but not survivability) the responsibility for your team's growing defensive play and probably eventual loss would fall on you.
Your DPS needs to break to monotony by trying a different strategy in most (but not all) stalemate situations.
Hopefully this reply was helpful, but I can see how it wouldn't be, haha.
Question for you: Would you prefer MS paint drawings of arenas and where to stand positionally in certain situations, or do you think describing is good enough?
drtimothyleary Dec 15th 2009 3:55PM
The MS Paint Idea sounds great.
Kevin S. Dec 15th 2009 5:32PM
Yes, noob tips please! I think I broke 1550 once; was a happy day.
And words could do a very nice job, but pictures, oh man... thousands of words in one...
jgf Dec 15th 2009 7:32PM
test