Continue reading Encrypted Text: Assassination in Wrath

Encrypted Text: Assassination in Wrath originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0 Leveling Spec

Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0 Leveling Spec originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players. This week, Michael Gray guest writes to talk about the perennial Warrior build for the upcoming Season 4.

If you're like me, you're looking forward to June 24th with almost breathless anticipation. New season, new ratings, new competition. And like hundreds (thousands?) of others, we have a Warrior sitting patiently at the stables, prepping for the gates to open. He sits there, foaming at the mouth, smiling nervously at his partner Druid or Priest, with Mortal Strike almost literally visible in his pixellated eyes.

Build Shop has discussed Warrior hybrid builds previously, but that 28/33 build was focused on actual hybrid play - a mix of PvP and PvE. The classic Arena-based "Mortal Strike Hybrid" starts off with at least 31 points sitting in the Arms tree -- you can't have a "Mortal Strike Hybrid" without Mortal Strike. Mortal Strike is a foundation of the Arena build. While there's leeway earlier in the Arms and Fury trees for this build, the deeper in the trees you get, the more certain talents become "mandatory."

After the break, let's talk about the talents and whirligigs that make the Mortal Strike Hybrid so popular and powerful in the Arena.

Continue reading Build Shop: Warrior 31/27/3 for Season 4

Build Shop: Warrior 31/27/3 for Season 4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Build Shop: Shaman 18/43/0

Build Shop: Shaman 18/43/0 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

Ah, warlocks. Before the Burning Crusade, there was no class I hated more. Of course, my opinion of the class did a 180 once I got my own Warlock to 70. This build (and variants of it) is often called SL/SL, because it picks up both Siphon Life and Soul Link (talents in the Affliction and Demonology trees, respectively). Unlike most other Warlock builds that focus on damage output, this build is meant to help you outlast your opponents by mitigating some of the damage you take, while using Siphon Life and Drain Life to get your health back. Warlocks with this build can be annoyingly difficult to kill, and is still a popular spec in 2v2 Arena.

The downside (and there's almost always a downside, folks) is that you won't top any DPS charts when it comes to PvE -- it's just the nature of the build. If you think you can live with that, I strongly encourage you to try this build out for yourself. I'm a big fan. And if you're looking for even more info on it, Zach covered this build in-depth last week.

Continue reading Build Shop: Warlock 24/37/0

Build Shop: Warlock 24/37/0 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Build Shop! I've got a lot to say this week, since this is a spec that is near and dear to my heart (even though my Paladin is Protection spec these days) -- Retribution. I've tried to strip it down to the essentials (or what I think is the essentials) so that you can shift points around depending on what you want to do with it.

Continue reading Build Shop: Paladin 5/8/41 + 7

Build Shop: Paladin 5/8/41 + 7 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

It's been a long while since there was a Shaman build featured on Build Shop, and I think it's time that changed. I'm looking at an Enhancement build this week that's built for raid damage yet provides a good amount of utility and group buffs. As expected, the majority of the points go into the Enhancement tree, but instead of putting the remaining points into Elemental to buff personal DPS, this build places them in Restoration in order to provide stronger utility for the raid and additional hit chance for you.

Continue reading Build Shop: Shaman 0/45/16

Build Shop: Shaman 0/45/16 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday, when dealing with broken computers), Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

I'm sure some of you noticed that Build Shop went on an unscheduled vacation -- this was unfortunately due to the death of my old computer. My new computer is all set up and ready to go (and plays WoW better than ever), and so I'm now officially back on the scene. There was a lot of talk in the comments from last time about the RiP (Rogue in Plate) build, so this week I'm taking a look at it for those who are interested.

RiPper builds (like 17/44, the one I'm examining) are so named because their DPS potential is quite close to rogues (hence, Rogue in Plate). It's a sustained damage build, similar to a combat spec Rogue, but because of their ability to wear plate (and a shield) have more survivability and off-tank potential. They're quite capable of inflicting incredible damage, and can be especially nasty when paired with a Shaman's Windfury totem.

The Fury tree is utilized extensively for this build -- points are mostly put into Arms in order to grab Impale, which increases critical damage, but it also picks up a few nice talents for tanking and utility.

Continue reading Build Shop: Warrior 17/44

Build Shop: Warrior 17/44 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

This week's build comes to you courtesy of reader James (who put this together anticipating the changes to the Fury tree coming in 2.4), so today I'm going to dissect his build. Fury heavy builds are quite strong and very popular for PvE encounters through the end game (the most famous perhaps being a variant of 17/44, sometimes called a RiP (Rogue in Plate), which is desirable for the high damage output).

However, this kind of hybrid build has started to see more use in other areas. While not as effective as a RiP build in PvE, these hybrid builds often pick up a weapon specialization from the Arms tree in addition to some utility talents, making them more adaptable in PvP and solo play. James' build is 28/33, and seems to be based off of the standard Fury/Weapon Spec build of 26/35. They have a good bit of variation, though -- James' focus seems to be on PvP, with talents like Iron Will and Improved Intercept, whereas the standard build focuses on damage output.

After the break, I'm diving into my thoughts on the build, but make sure to share your experience and suggestions with James in the comments!

Continue reading Build Shop: Warrior 28/33/0

Build Shop: Warrior 28/33/0 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

Today's build has been sent in by a number of people now, so this week I'm taking a look at one of the more popular Arena Frost Mage builds -- 17/0/44. There are a number of variations of deep Frost builds, but this one goes far enough in the Arcane tree to grab the very useful and powerful Improved Counterspell. The Frost tree has been synonymous with survivability for a long time, so it's no wonder that it is so often seen in the Arena. As with other builds of this nature, it picks up talents that increase your damage output as well as those that boost your ability to stay alive. Frost allows you to kite your opponents, or hit them with reliable burst damage utilizing Shatter.

As usual, there is some wiggle room with the talent spread, so you may want to shift points around depending on your personal taste, or even the Arena bracket you spend most of your time in.

Continue reading Build Shop: Mage 17/0/44

Build Shop: Mage 17/0/44 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey there Build Shop fans! This week, I'm examining a heavy Restoration build for druids, with a few points from Feral thrown in (you know, for spice). This build comes to us courtesy of reader Arajal of Dunemaul, who had this to say about it: "Overall my build is mainly a healer spec with some utility thrown in. I like to DPS or tank instances sometimes, and my points in both trees help each role. Natural Perfection is pretty handy while tanking."

I disagree somewhat with the usefulness of Natural Perfection for tanking -- if you're a Druid tank with the proper amount of Defense, you shouldn't be getting crit at all. On the other hand, this isn't a full Feral build, and without Survival of the Fittest I'd imagine it'd be pretty tough to put together a leather set with enough Defense to get the job done, so it could be useful for reducing damage after you take the inevitable crit. I'd consider Natural Perfection more of a PvP / utility talent than anything else, but what do you think?

Arajal also has made some choices in the Resto tree that could be considered unconventional, but I'll let you be the judge. Let's take a look under the hood!

Continue reading Build Shop: Druid 0/11/50

Build Shop: Druid 0/11/50 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week on Build Shop I've got another Paladin build for you all to digest -- Shockadin (aka 40/0/21)! I like this build because it's all purpose, allowing you to act as the main healer for an instance if necessary, but giving you the freedom to go grind or farm or what have you without needing to respec. It's also got the potential for some great burst damage, if used properly.

This build picks up most of its talents from the Holy tree, but goes into Retribution for some nice support talents, as well as Sanctity Aura, which is what you'll be using if you're in DPS mode.

Alright, let's dig into this build and see what's going on!

Continue reading Build Shop: Paladin 40/0/21

Build Shop: Paladin 40/0/21 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week on Build Shop I'm checking out a possible Marksman PvP build for the hunters out there. Hunters have been underrepresented in the Arena until recently, but they've been a staple in battlegrounds for a long while, so it's nice to see them finally gaining a foothold. Today's build focuses on increasing stamina, survivability, ranged damage, and picking up a few nifty utility skills. This is definitely more of a PvP build, and as such you'll want gear that maximizes your ranged attack power, resilience, and stamina to support it. Once you're geared up though, this build should serve you quite well.

One thing this build doesn't include that I'm curious to hear your thoughts on is Improved Arcane Shot. It seems like with the new dispelling power of this shot, you'd want to take this talent but I can't find 5 points to spare for it from anywhere. Perhaps that's why I haven't seen too many builds that have it, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. Is it worth it, or is it more situational? Better in some brackets but not in others? These are some of the questions I'm hoping you can help me answer (because honestly, I don't PvP on my Hunter... I PvP with my Warlock). Read on for my dissection of the 0/45/16 build!

Continue reading Build Shop: Hunter 0/45/16

Build Shop: Hunter 0/45/16 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So recently I put together a list of all the Build Shop articles that have ever been written on WoW Insider, and I found out something surprising -- there hasn't been a Build Shop for paladins! Today, I correct that grave injustice by looking at a heavy Protection build. Without question, a Paladin is my favorite type of tank, especially for 5 mans. Who needs crowd control? Just have the Paladin consecrate everything and let the AoE attacks fly. For those of you who haven't experienced that joy yet, I highly suggest you find a good Prot paladin and let him tank your instance.

I covered Paladin tanking techniques in a past article, so I'm just going to jump right into the build. This is one that people are sure to have mixed feelings about, but then again, that usually happens on Build Shop. The most scandalous suggestion I'm making in this build is not picking up Reckoning, but I have a few reasons why -- read on to find out.

Continue reading Build Shop: Paladin 0/46/15

Build Shop: Paladin 0/46/15 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to another Tuesday edition of Build Shop! This past week I received an email from a Rogue reader in an up and coming guild that's just starting to raid Kara who says he's a non-believer in the "No Ruthlessness, No Murder, No Relentless Strike -- No Raid" policy. He also wanted to know about the viability of a hybrid build (30/0/31), and how it could be improved for casual instances, raids, and the occasional PvP skirmish. Well, that's kind of a tall order, and I plan to address it more fully tomorrow in Encrypted Text.

However, I will deal with part of the question today by talking about why Combat is the superior tree for PvE in many cases. Although there are many different types of Combat builds (Mace + Sword, Daggers, Fist, etc) these days, I'm going to focus on Combat swords (19/42/0). This is a build that doesn't rely on positioning like Combat Daggers or Mutilate, making it great for fights with a lot of movement. This is also a build which can really crank out the damage with the right weapons and gear. I feel that this is one of the finest and most effective DPS builds in the game -- read on to find out why.

Continue reading Build Shop: Rogue 19/42/0

Build Shop: Rogue 19/42/0 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to Build Shop! After a two week hiatus to spend time with my family over the holidays, I'm back and ready to get down to some good old fashioned discussion about builds. This week we're discussing a Mage build, something that hasn't been done in a long, long time. For awhile now, Fire has been the tree of choice for the raiding mage (though some vets will remember fire-unfriendly MC and BWL). Although Fire isn't the only spec for raiding, it is the build I'm examining today.

So what makes Fire so great? Well, this build picks up all the damage-increasing talents in the Fire tree, some goodies from the Arcane tree, and even gives you a free point to put wherever you want. Hey, no one can say I'm not generous. Alright, so actually I'm not generous, there just seems to be no general consensus on where to put it, so I'm leaving it up to you. Without further ado, let's jump right in and take a look at what makes this build tick.

Continue reading Build Shop: Mage 10/47/3

Build Shop: Mage 10/47/3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey folks! This week on Build Shop I'm examining another Warrior build, but this time it's not about dealing damage with the spec -- it's about taking damage. That's right, it's time for a Protection Warrior build! This one is focused on raid tanking, and maximizing your damage reduction. It's not the most rage-efficient Protection spec out there, but 8/5/48 (and its variants) seems to be pretty popular these days. This build does skip some of the talents that make grinding and solo play easier, so I wouldn't use this one for anything but main tanking a raid instance.

Continue reading Build Shop: Warrior 8/5/48

Build Shop: Warrior 8/5/48 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Build Shop: Warlock 43/0/18

Build Shop: Warlock 43/0/18 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hello talent fans, both new and old, and welcome to another Tuesday edition of Build Shop! It's been awhile since this column examined a Hunter build (a heavy Survival build way back in June), and I think it's high time we changed that. When it comes to grinding, farming, or straight up sustained DPS, there's arguably no better build for a Hunter than Beast Mastery.

Continue reading Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0

Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back Build Shop fans! It's been awhile since this column examined a Druid build, so this week I'm examining a fun (if unconventional) build -- Moonkin! Ever since Moonkin form was introduced way back when, it's gone by many names: Boomkin, OOMkin... well, you get the point. While you certainly see many more Feral and Restoration druids these days, there are a couple of nice things that a Moonkin brings to a party or raid.

Itemization is still far from perfect for Balance druids (the proper name for a build which incorporates Moonkin form), as leather armor with caster stats is still pretty rare, but it's much better than it used to be. As such, more and more druids these days seem to be giving Balance a try! Let's take a look at an average PvE build, and see what advantages your group will get from bringing a Moonkin along.

Continue reading Build Shop: Druid 43/0/18

Build Shop: Druid 43/0/18 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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