WoW Rookie: How to win Tol Barad
by Michael Gray 
Mar 31st 2011 at 2:00PM
Tol Barad can be a massive, confusing, hot mess to anyone who isn't already accustomed to its evolution. Don't worry, though -- despite all of the dailies quests, NPCs, and various fluff, Tol Barad is actually fairly simple.
There are two parts of Tol Barad. There's the "always open" quest area and the battlefield area. The quest area is Tol Barad Peninsula, while the battlefield is just plain Tol Barad.
Winning Tol Barad gets you honor and other fabulous prizes. Winning is about flag control, similar to Arathi Basin. Essentially, there are three flags located in a triangle inside larger fortification. When you stand near the flag, a slider will move in the direction of your faction. The more people near the flag, the faster it goes.
The basic rules
There are a few basic rules that add depth to the game of Tol Barad. The most important part of these rules depend upon whether you're attacking or defending.If you're attacking Tol Barad, you win as soon as you capture all three flags. When you die, you resurrect near the flag you were attacking. There are three locations with siege engines. You can park the siege engines by the towers to extend the timer, giving you longer to win the three flags. The attacker's challenge is all about coordinating your strike teams so that you get all the flags simultaneously.
If you're defending Tol Barad, you win by letting the timer run out. That means your challenge is one of endurance as well as coordination. The moment all three flags are owned by the attackers, the game is over. You can't risk letting the enemy's getting even two flags for longer than necessary, because the second that third flips, it's game over. If you die while on defense, you resurrect at the center of the map. This is a good situation because it allows you to quickly reallocate your team equally across all three flags.
If the attacker owns two flags, then the slider will move considerably faster on the third. Owning two flags is not a neutral situation because of how much faster the slider moves in that case.
Smash-face tactics
Even though the rules for Tol Barad are a little different depending on whether you're attacking or defending, the general tactics are about the same. You want to deliver a slightly more powerful force to where your opponent is the weakest, forcing them out of that flag.
When attackers have two out of three flags, then obviously they must go to the third. The danger here, of course, is that if you leave the first two flags insufficiently defended, the defenders will easily take it back.
Tol Barad comes down to smash-face PvP. Warsong Gulch depends on your ability to run with flags. By contrast, in Tol Barad, if your force can't force the other team out of the flag areas, then you can't take back the base.
Be sure you always leave at least two or three people to defend your owned flags; this will allow them to yell for help before getting overwhelmed.
Personal performance
Since Tol Barad relies so much on personal performance, here are some tips to help make sure you can do well in the battle.
- Duck and cover. There are lots of corners, poles, and obstacles in Tol Barad. If you have the option, get behind them. Don't give hunters and casters a chance to go hog wild on you.
- Pair up. Grab a partner to watch your back, and in turn, watch his back. This is especially important because rogues will take the opportunity to stunlock and gank people who stray from the pack. If a pair is protecting one another, rogues will have less chance to do that.
- Heal. Healing is a key part of winning in Tol Barad. Because of its fast-paced and energetic nature, a lot of the damage in Tol Barad is relatively "incidental." Damage dealers rarely get the chance to lock down on a single target and really unload. Throwing heals will minimize the likelihood of half-hearted opponents' easily killing your team.
- Protect the healers. Healing is important; therefore, protecting the people who are doing that healing is equally important. It's also a great way to mow down the enemy; if opponents are trying to kill someone that's not you, you're left relatively open to fire through a full rotation of damage.
Caveats
There are a few things that can significantly set back your team. Here are some things to avoid (or at least be really sure of the situation before you start doing them):
- Don't fight away from the flag. The goal of the game is to flip the flag; the farther from the flag you are, the less likely it is that you'll take it. Fighting on the roads tends to be the ultimate sin, because it's a distraction.
- Don't chase siege engines. If you don't pump out huge amounts of DPS, it probably won't be worth your time to chase down siege engines. It takes one attacker less than a minute to set up two siege engines on a single tower. However, if you're on defense and it seems like a chunk of attackers are actively defending siege engines ... make them defend it! If they're defending a siege engine, they're not attacking a flag.
- Don't think you're safe. Tol Barad is fast-paced. You can't stop because you think you're safe. You've got to stay focused and keep pushing to win, or you'll lose ground as soon as you relax.
Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from how to control your character and camera angles when you're just starting out, to learning how to tank, getting up to speed for heroics and even how to win Tol Barad.Filed under: WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Wightskipper Mar 31st 2011 2:08PM
People often travel in circles around Tol Barad. To counter this while attacking, start going the other way round and you have a good chance of winning.
dengarsw Mar 31st 2011 2:25PM
This is honestly the biggest thing rookie tend to ignore in TB, and I'm kinda surprised I didn't notice it in the article. Some good stuff, but this REALLY needs to be in the article itself. If you don't understand what most folks are doing, you can't emulate or counter it.
Gabrael Mar 31st 2011 4:04PM
"Don't get frustrated if your faction seems to lose a lot, because everyone feels that way."
I don't know if this is necessarily true. If you play Horde on Azol-Nerub, you hold Tol Barad 95% of the time (give or take). Personally, I think the mechanics of Tol Barad are still in need of tweaking. The sliding scale for holding 2/3 points for the attackers is nice (makes it at least POSSIBLE to win while attacking), but the defenders still have a massive advantage, and downing the towers doesn't seem to help the attackers all that much, meaning the defense has absolutely no incentive to defend the towers.
Further, the Michael Gray points out that the defense should allocate "...your team equally across all three flags." This is a TERRIBLE idea for defense. Equal distribution will allow the attackers a chance to mass up on the 3rd node. Much better for the defenders to have one or two spotters for each point, letting everyone know where the attackers are weak and then having the rest zerg from the point the defense just took to the oldest point controlled by the attackers ... i.e. if the attackers have WV and Slags (and just took Slags), then the defenders can and should easily overwhelm the opposing force at WV before the attackers have a chance to take ICG. If they do take ICG after the defense had pushed them off of WV, that doesn't matter for the defense, because they can now swarm Slags while the attackers rush to get to WV.
It's a big merri-go-round system right now that still heavily favors the defense. If the defenders are better geared or know what they're doing, they should only ever lose TB because they somehow messed up (like by trying to defend the towers).
Tol Barad can be fun, but it still offers absolutely nothing to the losing side while offering great rewards (in honor, quests, etc.) to the winners.
I'm still desperately hoping that Blizzard decides to tweak TB a little more to make it a bit more competitive (or even favoring the attackers and thus allowing more participation between the factions) and therefore more fun.
Mike Apr 1st 2011 2:46AM
@gabrael: I'm honestly enormously surprised to hear that. On our realm (EU - Shattered Hand, 4:1 H:A ratio) TB has been changing hands I'd estimate 80% of the battles ever since the last round of fixes that increased the cap speed going from 2->3. Given the amount of time you need the defense to stay focused, and stay moving and flowing, there always tends to be that lapse in concentration when ressers stay to long trying to re-cap a lost flag, or when there's two different calls going out as to what point to defend/retake next.
TB has really gotten quite good and exhilarating ever since, offering great Honor rewards, and a great sense of achievement. If anything, it's stacked in the favor of attack, now, though, because they only need to get it right for one second (and it usually is just that, the overlap between losing the first node you capped and the last just needs to be that). Getting 40+ ADH...ooooh shiny WoW players on defense to concentrate for the time needed to run down the timer with all towers destroyed is no mean feat, and that's why defense has really gotten hard, but satisfying.
Eladonra Mar 31st 2011 2:09PM
What is the significance of the spires? I get messages about spires taking damage, but haven't yet figured out why/if I should care.
The True Gamer Mar 31st 2011 2:16PM
Every spire you destroy adds 5 minutes to the game timer.
Boven Mar 31st 2011 2:16PM
Destroying the spires gives the attackers more time.
coville Mar 31st 2011 2:23PM
I believe if you destroy the towers it become easier to capture a flag. If someone could clarify this I would be gratful.
GhostWhoWalks Mar 31st 2011 2:22PM
Each destroyed Spire adds a few minutes to the battle timer. But to answer your question of if you should care, the answer is "probably not".
If you're attacking, like stated, it'll take you very little time to set up the siege tanks, and once they're deployed they'll do their work without you having to control them. Once you get a kill, run around setting up the tanks, then go back to fighting.
If you're defending, ignore the Spires completely. The fight will be longer, but it will almost definitely end in a loss if you try to kill the tanks. If defenders start leaving the fight to protect the Spires, those remaining at the bases will be overwhelmed and you lose.
joshychrist Mar 31st 2011 2:09PM
this needs to be emailed to everyone on my server
Deeeee Mar 31st 2011 2:13PM
isn't tol barad a lvl 85 bg? why are you covering it on wow rookie? lvl 85 content is not rookie content. if you've made it to lvl 85...no longer a rookie. right? cover rookie content. not end lvl content in this column please.
Jaq Mar 31st 2011 2:22PM
"WoW Rookie is about more than just being new to the game; it's about checking out new classes, new playstyles, and new zones."
As Tol Barad is a new PVP zone...it qualifies. Lighten up a bit.
Necromann Mar 31st 2011 2:22PM
Maybe there are people who are rookies to TB.
Telwar Mar 31st 2011 2:26PM
...because not telling them wouldn't help at all.
Would you prefer complete newbies flailing around without knowing what's going on? Or would you rather have them know at least a little about what's going on, so they aren't a liability?
I know which one I would choose.
GhostWhoWalks Mar 31st 2011 2:25PM
Because reaching the level cap does not instantly endow you with working knowledge of every aspect of endgame content? Plus, I've seen enough people botching up Tol Barad to know that an outline of objectives and tactics is sorely needed.
Bumblebee Mar 31st 2011 2:26PM
@Deeeee You aren't automatically a veteran WoWer just because you hit level cap. For many people, level cap is where the game really begins, leveling was just practice for it. When you consider how fast you can get a toon to 85 without any heirlooms or anything and the fact that you don't need but a very rudimentary idea of how 1 spec of a 1 class works (yes, you can level to the cap without ever even trying out but 1 spec)... well, you get the idea.
It's the new players who need to learn this stuff, really. The old ones may need some work on their attitudes, really, but that's a different topic.
Hob Mar 31st 2011 2:28PM
It may be in WoW Rookie because no one can experience it at all until level 85 - it's an instance, so you can't even fly over it or ghost run it like you could with Wintergrasp.
Unlike most other battlegrounds, it's on a timer like Wintergrasp, so you have to be available to play on the battleground's schedule.
Also, there's a gate on how many players per faction can queue for it - this prevents faction imbalance. No more 80 vs 15 battles. So, if the other faction is not queueing for it in significant numbers, you may not be able to get in at all.
2 of my mains have been 85 since December, and I have yet to enter the battleground - mainly because of the timed aspect, but also because of significant faction imbalance on my server.
kenny Mar 31st 2011 2:38PM
Because as BG's go, Tol barad is the new hottness to people and it's different enough to warrant a rookie post for those freshly 85. Only a guess of course.
krakazoa Mar 31st 2011 2:15PM
Excellent Post!
Thank you.
Bumblebee Mar 31st 2011 2:21PM
The 2 biggest things people often do wrong are:
1) Fight on the road.
If you are attacking you aren't contributing to taking a flag. If you are defending you need to hold the line. You can't do that when spread out too thin.
2) Win over a flag and run to the next before checking if someone is gonna stay to defend it. Especially hurtful for your cause when attacking, since it can fast become a game of cat and mouse, where the cat is always just a little bit behind.