01-11-2006, 06:51 PM
I love PvP. I love dueling. I love fighting other players, because it's always so interesting. While mob behavior is completely predictable, you never really know what another player is going to do. If you're also unaware of how they're speced and what gear they have, the variables are fascinating.
Various members of Avarice duel me a lot, and I enjoy it immensely. It's rare on the Battlegrounds that I have one-on-one matches, so practicing in duels gives me experience for those scenarios - experience that has helped from time to time beating up them Horde.
Anyway, to beat thy enemy one must know thy enemy. Just as I get experience and practice fighting against you guys in duels, you gain experience from fighting me. So, when you're on a battleground and you see that Priest on the other side, all alone (ok, chances of that ARE slim, I admit - a Priest, alone?), sporting a Benediction and Prophecy gear, you can bet they're likely healing spec'ed like me. So, how do you beat me?
My strengths:
1) Lots of hit points - well, that's really my gear and not my spec
2) LOTS of mana, more than a "PvP" or shadow spec would have
3) Insane mana regenâ¢, more than a "PvP" or shadow spec would have
4) Free-mana spell cast every 5 minutes with Inner Focus
5) Powerful self-heals
My weaknesses:
1) Little DPS
2) No snare to slow or stop you, due to no Mind Flay and no Blackout
3) Easily Stutterable casts, since I don't spec for Focused Casting or Improved Flash Heal
4) No silence ability, since that's deep in the shadow tree
5) Only "crowd control" way to keep you off me is a 30-second-cooldown fear
It's because of the weaknesses listed above that many Priests go for shadow talents when they want to PvP. As well they should. In group PvP, my inability to really do any significant damage to anyone can be frustrating at times. Still, at the same time, my enemies' inability to kill me quickly makes me an incredibly effective "harasser" - defender of flag points, and healer of both myself and that DPS'er who's kicking their butt at the same time.
How do I duel? Well, it's never going to be a quick battle, that's for sure. My only effective strategy is to play a defensive approach. My goal is to whittle down your hit points or mana while staying alive, preventing you from getting that big shot in that finally takes me. I have no big-shot damage attacks.
I am weakest against Druids, Shamans, and Warlocks. I am strongest against rogues (yes, rogues, who I used to fear greatly) and warriors. Whether this is due to my gear and spec, or my inexperience fighting these classes, well, I don't know. :)
Here's how every class should approach me to take me down:
1) Druids
I HATE YOU! Your ability to heal yourselves and protect your mana pool by shapeshifting gives me fits. See, I can't burn your mana off when you're shifted to a form that doesn't use mana. Druids who shift into bear form are especially difficult for me. You have insane hit points, so whittling you down takes forever - and when you finally get low, you can pop back into human form and heal yourselves! My only way to try to stop you is to fear you just as you go to heal yourself, and then try to burn your mana while you're feared. Often times, it just isn't enough. I have had druid duels last over 10 minutes because we just couldn't kill each other. In the battlegrounds, I once solo fought a druid in Alterac Valley for a good 5 minutes before a lucky Mind Blast crit followed by a fear and another Mind Blast crit got him.
How to beat me? Protect your mana pool and whittle me down like I try to do to you. Once you finally force me to use all my mana, you can count on me only being able to cast a spell once every, oh, 5 or 6 seconds due to my impressive regen. This gives you openings to try things.
2) Shamans
Ok, I HATE YOU MORE! Your shocks interrupt my casts, and a smartly-played Shaman will always interrupt my self-heals with that. Then you go on to heal yourself and I can't do a thing to stop you. You Purge off any buffs I have. In the end, the Shaman's utility beats my one-trick pony healing and 30-second-cooldown fears. If I only had silence...*cry*
How to beat me: be a Shaman, and don't screw up. I'm owned. Don't let me mana burn you. If I were shadow spec'ed, it might be more interesting, but oh well.
3) Warriors
You can't heal yourselves. Automatically that gives me quite an edge, but what really makes or breaks the fight is how you handle my fears. You know I can only use one on you every 30 seconds, and if I get you with it I get a free few seconds to heal myself, re-cast Shield, and prepare for your next assault. Too many warriors make the mistake of thinking "if I can just do enough damage quickly enough..." No.
How to beat me: Concentrate on beating my fears and you'll have me. Interrupt my spell casts and you'll have me. I've GOT to keep my distance from you, so don't be surprised if I'm running from you if you give me the space - I'm letting my mana regen back up and my Pain whittle you down. Don't let me get away, and use your Berserker Rage to beat my fears. If I ever get distance from you, you lose. Especially if you're spec'ed for Mortal Strike, if you can just keep near me and avoid my fears, I'm toast.
4) Rogues
Nothing used to scare me more than a rogue. It's the stun, you see. I had too many experiences of perma-stunlock-until-death getting jumped by rogues. Now that I'm a well-geared 60, however, I have too many hit points for even the best of rogues to keep me in permanent stunlock until death. Once I get that moment of freedom, I'm fearing - and even if you break the fear with a trinket it still usually buys me time to re-Shield, Renew myself, re-Pain you, and heal myself. Too many rogues think "ooh, a squishy," and try to beat me through pure DPS. I've got a LOT of stamina, though, so I can take a real beating, especially with Inner Fire up, Shields, and my powerful Renew ticks. Stuns are crucial, but you'll need more than that or I'll just keep healing myself when you're feared or things are on cooldown.
How to beat me: Obviously, stealth, and get the first hit in. Ambushes are a nice way to open up, but without a stun I'm probably just going to immediately fear you and then heal up. You can either go for a Sap or a Gouge to start out with. An advantage of Sap is that it lets you wait for my Shield to drop before really letting me have it, which would otherwise negate your first ~1000 points of damage. But a big, important thing you can do is to suck my mana dry. Recognize that I'm not a mage; the fight won't be a quick one, and if you can drop my mana pool you can take me out. Rather than going for the quick kill, concentrate on burning my mana off, dancing around me to make it hard for me to land a Mind Blast, stunning me when I try to heal, and getting back to me quickly when I fear you.
5) Paladins:
Your DPS isn't so hot, and a real goal of mine is to burn your mana off so that you can't heal yourself. Then I play you like I would a warrior. You can still damage me without mana, but it's usually not enough for me to even worry about.
How to beat me: don't let me burn your mana. Obviously, get the largest 2-handed DPS weapon you can get, since a shield won't help you. Save your stuns for opportune moments, like when I try to heal myself. Dance around me - mana burn is a LONG cast spell and if you can screw up one of my casts of it, you just gained 3 free seconds of DPS on me with no response, not to mention saving your mana.
6) Priests:
If you're not a dwarf priest, I already have a slight edge on you due to Fear Ward. Both Fear Ward and Psychic Scream are on 30-second timers. You can dispel Fear Ward, of course, so I'll be trying to time it to cast on me just as you go to Scream, thus causing you to waste your fear while allowing me to use mine freely.
How to beat me: if you're a shadow priest, silencing me at the critical moments are huge. Most priest-on-priest fights come down to mana burn vs. mana burn, so if you're talented to reduce the time of your mana burn cast you have an edge. Dispel everything off me at the start of the fight (don't worry, I'll be doing the same to you). Avoid casting SW:Pain on me, since I can dispel it cheaper than you can cast it - thus, I win the mana war that way. If both Priests are pretty decently even in spec, gear, and ability, they often wind up in a semi-stalemate where they wand each other while waiting for their mana regen to let them do something. It can be a long duel sometimes (like Priest vs Druid, or Paladin vs Paladin).
7) Mages
Mages are interesting. Like a Mortal Strike warrior, you can have extreme burst DPS, but you also have the advantage of being able to stay away from me so I can't fear you! Your goal is to blow through all my hit points so fast that I can't keep up with the healing.
How to beat me: If you see me charging you, well, it's not to beat you with my staff, it's to send you flying. Don't let me get close to you. Start off the fight by sheeping me. Yep, sheep me, especially if I've pre-shielded myself. I'm already at 100% health, so it doesn't matter. Then back off. Get maximum distance from me that you can while still being in range for all your most damaging spells. After my shield falls, line me up. Hit me with everything you've got in a span of 2 seconds - Pyroblast (if you have it), Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, everything. If it doesn't kill me, it's going to leave me in bad shape, forcing me to stop and heal myself. Take advantage. You have to keep me on the defensive, never having the time or chance to get near you and fear you, forcing me to self-heal to stay vertical. Pour on the damage, and slow me with frost spells. If I get close, blink away. This is a fight where my normal style of whittling my enemy down doesn't work, because against a good mage I just won't be alive long enough.
8) Warlock
The choice of pet makes a big difference in this fight. Warlocks with PvP experience already know which pet is best to use against me. A lot of epic Priest gear has shadow resistance, so keep that in mind. I can't dispel curses, but other magic effects like Immolation I can just dispel off, so don't waste your time with those. Obviously, Curse of Tongues is huge.
How to beat me: Succubus. Just keep her seducing me as you blast me and I'm in trouble. I can't break or beat that crowd control, and it'll force me to use fear on the succubus instead of you. Death Coil and fear me when I go to heal myself. Don't let me get near you. Like Shamans, you have so much utility that I have a hard time against you if you play it right. If you're willing to potentially sacrifice shards, you can do sick burst damage on me. Keep Curse of Tongues up on me at all times and just lay down the shadowbolts/searing pains/whatever. You have so many tricks in your bag, that I can't possible counter them all without my own tricks like Blackout or Silence, and I lack those.
Oh, for anyone wondering, my spec is 26 disc, 25 holy, going for Meditation in disc and Inspiration in holy. All talents are designed for the most healing efficiency and regen possible. I don't tie my ego to my dueling abilities, since dueling in this game is so dependent on gear and specs that you cannot possibly claim that you are the l33test player around just because you win duels. I play Quake/Counterstrike/whatever to do that. :)
Which makes me think: what if Blizzard opened up a battleground where all players get the same spec and equipment accordant to their character choice? Interesting. I bet the players would loathe it.
-Bolty
Various members of Avarice duel me a lot, and I enjoy it immensely. It's rare on the Battlegrounds that I have one-on-one matches, so practicing in duels gives me experience for those scenarios - experience that has helped from time to time beating up them Horde.
Anyway, to beat thy enemy one must know thy enemy. Just as I get experience and practice fighting against you guys in duels, you gain experience from fighting me. So, when you're on a battleground and you see that Priest on the other side, all alone (ok, chances of that ARE slim, I admit - a Priest, alone?), sporting a Benediction and Prophecy gear, you can bet they're likely healing spec'ed like me. So, how do you beat me?
My strengths:
1) Lots of hit points - well, that's really my gear and not my spec
2) LOTS of mana, more than a "PvP" or shadow spec would have
3) Insane mana regenâ¢, more than a "PvP" or shadow spec would have
4) Free-mana spell cast every 5 minutes with Inner Focus
5) Powerful self-heals
My weaknesses:
1) Little DPS
2) No snare to slow or stop you, due to no Mind Flay and no Blackout
3) Easily Stutterable casts, since I don't spec for Focused Casting or Improved Flash Heal
4) No silence ability, since that's deep in the shadow tree
5) Only "crowd control" way to keep you off me is a 30-second-cooldown fear
It's because of the weaknesses listed above that many Priests go for shadow talents when they want to PvP. As well they should. In group PvP, my inability to really do any significant damage to anyone can be frustrating at times. Still, at the same time, my enemies' inability to kill me quickly makes me an incredibly effective "harasser" - defender of flag points, and healer of both myself and that DPS'er who's kicking their butt at the same time.
How do I duel? Well, it's never going to be a quick battle, that's for sure. My only effective strategy is to play a defensive approach. My goal is to whittle down your hit points or mana while staying alive, preventing you from getting that big shot in that finally takes me. I have no big-shot damage attacks.
I am weakest against Druids, Shamans, and Warlocks. I am strongest against rogues (yes, rogues, who I used to fear greatly) and warriors. Whether this is due to my gear and spec, or my inexperience fighting these classes, well, I don't know. :)
Here's how every class should approach me to take me down:
1) Druids
I HATE YOU! Your ability to heal yourselves and protect your mana pool by shapeshifting gives me fits. See, I can't burn your mana off when you're shifted to a form that doesn't use mana. Druids who shift into bear form are especially difficult for me. You have insane hit points, so whittling you down takes forever - and when you finally get low, you can pop back into human form and heal yourselves! My only way to try to stop you is to fear you just as you go to heal yourself, and then try to burn your mana while you're feared. Often times, it just isn't enough. I have had druid duels last over 10 minutes because we just couldn't kill each other. In the battlegrounds, I once solo fought a druid in Alterac Valley for a good 5 minutes before a lucky Mind Blast crit followed by a fear and another Mind Blast crit got him.
How to beat me? Protect your mana pool and whittle me down like I try to do to you. Once you finally force me to use all my mana, you can count on me only being able to cast a spell once every, oh, 5 or 6 seconds due to my impressive regen. This gives you openings to try things.
2) Shamans
Ok, I HATE YOU MORE! Your shocks interrupt my casts, and a smartly-played Shaman will always interrupt my self-heals with that. Then you go on to heal yourself and I can't do a thing to stop you. You Purge off any buffs I have. In the end, the Shaman's utility beats my one-trick pony healing and 30-second-cooldown fears. If I only had silence...*cry*
How to beat me: be a Shaman, and don't screw up. I'm owned. Don't let me mana burn you. If I were shadow spec'ed, it might be more interesting, but oh well.
3) Warriors
You can't heal yourselves. Automatically that gives me quite an edge, but what really makes or breaks the fight is how you handle my fears. You know I can only use one on you every 30 seconds, and if I get you with it I get a free few seconds to heal myself, re-cast Shield, and prepare for your next assault. Too many warriors make the mistake of thinking "if I can just do enough damage quickly enough..." No.
How to beat me: Concentrate on beating my fears and you'll have me. Interrupt my spell casts and you'll have me. I've GOT to keep my distance from you, so don't be surprised if I'm running from you if you give me the space - I'm letting my mana regen back up and my Pain whittle you down. Don't let me get away, and use your Berserker Rage to beat my fears. If I ever get distance from you, you lose. Especially if you're spec'ed for Mortal Strike, if you can just keep near me and avoid my fears, I'm toast.
4) Rogues
Nothing used to scare me more than a rogue. It's the stun, you see. I had too many experiences of perma-stunlock-until-death getting jumped by rogues. Now that I'm a well-geared 60, however, I have too many hit points for even the best of rogues to keep me in permanent stunlock until death. Once I get that moment of freedom, I'm fearing - and even if you break the fear with a trinket it still usually buys me time to re-Shield, Renew myself, re-Pain you, and heal myself. Too many rogues think "ooh, a squishy," and try to beat me through pure DPS. I've got a LOT of stamina, though, so I can take a real beating, especially with Inner Fire up, Shields, and my powerful Renew ticks. Stuns are crucial, but you'll need more than that or I'll just keep healing myself when you're feared or things are on cooldown.
How to beat me: Obviously, stealth, and get the first hit in. Ambushes are a nice way to open up, but without a stun I'm probably just going to immediately fear you and then heal up. You can either go for a Sap or a Gouge to start out with. An advantage of Sap is that it lets you wait for my Shield to drop before really letting me have it, which would otherwise negate your first ~1000 points of damage. But a big, important thing you can do is to suck my mana dry. Recognize that I'm not a mage; the fight won't be a quick one, and if you can drop my mana pool you can take me out. Rather than going for the quick kill, concentrate on burning my mana off, dancing around me to make it hard for me to land a Mind Blast, stunning me when I try to heal, and getting back to me quickly when I fear you.
5) Paladins:
Your DPS isn't so hot, and a real goal of mine is to burn your mana off so that you can't heal yourself. Then I play you like I would a warrior. You can still damage me without mana, but it's usually not enough for me to even worry about.
How to beat me: don't let me burn your mana. Obviously, get the largest 2-handed DPS weapon you can get, since a shield won't help you. Save your stuns for opportune moments, like when I try to heal myself. Dance around me - mana burn is a LONG cast spell and if you can screw up one of my casts of it, you just gained 3 free seconds of DPS on me with no response, not to mention saving your mana.
6) Priests:
If you're not a dwarf priest, I already have a slight edge on you due to Fear Ward. Both Fear Ward and Psychic Scream are on 30-second timers. You can dispel Fear Ward, of course, so I'll be trying to time it to cast on me just as you go to Scream, thus causing you to waste your fear while allowing me to use mine freely.
How to beat me: if you're a shadow priest, silencing me at the critical moments are huge. Most priest-on-priest fights come down to mana burn vs. mana burn, so if you're talented to reduce the time of your mana burn cast you have an edge. Dispel everything off me at the start of the fight (don't worry, I'll be doing the same to you). Avoid casting SW:Pain on me, since I can dispel it cheaper than you can cast it - thus, I win the mana war that way. If both Priests are pretty decently even in spec, gear, and ability, they often wind up in a semi-stalemate where they wand each other while waiting for their mana regen to let them do something. It can be a long duel sometimes (like Priest vs Druid, or Paladin vs Paladin).
7) Mages
Mages are interesting. Like a Mortal Strike warrior, you can have extreme burst DPS, but you also have the advantage of being able to stay away from me so I can't fear you! Your goal is to blow through all my hit points so fast that I can't keep up with the healing.
How to beat me: If you see me charging you, well, it's not to beat you with my staff, it's to send you flying. Don't let me get close to you. Start off the fight by sheeping me. Yep, sheep me, especially if I've pre-shielded myself. I'm already at 100% health, so it doesn't matter. Then back off. Get maximum distance from me that you can while still being in range for all your most damaging spells. After my shield falls, line me up. Hit me with everything you've got in a span of 2 seconds - Pyroblast (if you have it), Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, everything. If it doesn't kill me, it's going to leave me in bad shape, forcing me to stop and heal myself. Take advantage. You have to keep me on the defensive, never having the time or chance to get near you and fear you, forcing me to self-heal to stay vertical. Pour on the damage, and slow me with frost spells. If I get close, blink away. This is a fight where my normal style of whittling my enemy down doesn't work, because against a good mage I just won't be alive long enough.
8) Warlock
The choice of pet makes a big difference in this fight. Warlocks with PvP experience already know which pet is best to use against me. A lot of epic Priest gear has shadow resistance, so keep that in mind. I can't dispel curses, but other magic effects like Immolation I can just dispel off, so don't waste your time with those. Obviously, Curse of Tongues is huge.
How to beat me: Succubus. Just keep her seducing me as you blast me and I'm in trouble. I can't break or beat that crowd control, and it'll force me to use fear on the succubus instead of you. Death Coil and fear me when I go to heal myself. Don't let me get near you. Like Shamans, you have so much utility that I have a hard time against you if you play it right. If you're willing to potentially sacrifice shards, you can do sick burst damage on me. Keep Curse of Tongues up on me at all times and just lay down the shadowbolts/searing pains/whatever. You have so many tricks in your bag, that I can't possible counter them all without my own tricks like Blackout or Silence, and I lack those.
Oh, for anyone wondering, my spec is 26 disc, 25 holy, going for Meditation in disc and Inspiration in holy. All talents are designed for the most healing efficiency and regen possible. I don't tie my ego to my dueling abilities, since dueling in this game is so dependent on gear and specs that you cannot possibly claim that you are the l33test player around just because you win duels. I play Quake/Counterstrike/whatever to do that. :)
Which makes me think: what if Blizzard opened up a battleground where all players get the same spec and equipment accordant to their character choice? Interesting. I bet the players would loathe it.
-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.