F2P Bop's Guide to F2P Arena's

Bop

Remember the Treeline
About The Author:
Hello, I go by the IGN Bop, Aeternas, and Auve. I played endgame WoW for over 6 years, and for about 5 of those I was involved competitively in max level arenas. I achieved the Gladiator title a total of 4 times; Seasons 4 (Brutal), 6 (Furious), 8 (Wrathful), 9 (Vicious). I also achieved Hero of the Horde in season 11 (Cataclysmic).

I have been a member of the F2P community for about 22 months now, when I was introduced to it by Oldspike (SevenSlacks7) who happened to be on the realm on which I chose to make my F2Ps (Mok’Nathal). During this time, I have done hundreds of arena matches with varying comps and classes on many different servers.
I hope you can learn something from this guide, or that you can simply use it as a quick reference for a term or a specific class’s strengths and weaknesses.
Yours truly,

~Bop of Mok’Nathal



Table of Contents


 
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Arena Vocabulary:
*Terms that will help you understand this guide or any conversation about PvP
in general. These may also serve to give you an idea of important PvP concepts.*


Term
Description
CC: Crowd Control, any ability that affects the gameplay of others, causing them to lose at least partial control of their character. Stuns, Silences, Interrupts, and Disorients are all examples of “hard” cc. Slows and snares are examples of “soft” cc.
Diminishing Returns: An invisible timer activated after a character has been affected by CC. The next use of the same type of CC on that target will have a half duration, then a quarter duration, then total immunity. The timer lasts approximately 15 seconds. Note that interrupts have no diminishing returns.
Diminishing Returns Categories: Groups of abilities that activate the same DR timer on enemies. Examples are Arcane Torrent and Avenger’s Shield, Hammer of Justice and War Stomp, Fear and Psychic Scream.
Juking: Cancelling a spell cast timer early by moving or using a stop-casting macro in order to bait out interrupts.
LoS:Line of Sight, the act of hiding behind obstacles that prevent an enemy (or ally) from being able to use their abilities on you.
Peeling:Using CC to assist an ally in escaping damage while they are being focused down.
Kiting:Keeping a safe distance from an enemy so as to prevent them from using their abilities while they are focusing you.
Z-axis:The dimension of height in arenas. Used to describe Dalaran Arena and Blade’s Edge Arena due to their multiple levels.
Shadow Sight: A buff similar to those found in battlegrounds that appears on a 90 second timer. It allows the vision of stealthed targets in arena for 15 seconds, while also increasing all damage taken by 5% and preventing the holder from stealthing. Shadow Sight always appears in pairs, with the first pair appearing at 90 seconds after the start of the arena.
Mechanic: The effects of an ability outside of damage and healing. Forms of CC, movement speed increasers, leaps, and buffs are all examples of Mechanics.
Burst: The ability to put out large amounts of damage in a small period of time.
DoT/HoT: Damage/Healing over time. Examples are Arms Warrior's Rend, Warlock’s Corruption, and Druid’s Moonfire.
 
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Basic Arena Concepts:
*While these are much more difficult to explain than they are to learn,
a brief description of each can be helpful. As you read these, try to
imagine using them in a pvp scenario.*

Name
Explanation
Positioning: Simply put, positioning is where you place yourself. Of all the different aspects of gameplay that can make or break an arena match, this is perhaps the most vital. Keeping up with your own team’s positioning is one thing. After all, in the heat of the moment getting overextended can lead to being focused down or a CC chain.
However, keeping up with the enemy team’s positioning is another thing altogether. Difficult to master, awareness of your opponent’s positions makes it very easy to successfully CC a healer or focus down a DPS. As a general rule, as a healer try to stay LoS of your enemies but while still having vision of your team. As a DPS, try to stay between your healer and the enemy team.
CC Chains: The art of locking down an opponent (usually a healer) with one form of CC after another. A wide variety of CC is the best method to a CC chain, since the CC won’t share a diminishing return with one another. I.E., a warlock and mage can CC chain practically indefinitely, while a rogue and mage will find that polymorph and sap share the same DR group.
Swaps: The art of quickly switching targets and bursting them down hard. The idea behind a swap is that it will take a moment for the enemy healer to react. Often, this brief hesitation is a great segue into a CC chain.
Communication: Without coordination, a team won’t be living up to its maximum potential. Swaps and CC Chains are both very difficult without some form of communication, and positioning becomes a lot easier to master with a way to speak to your team. I recommend either Skype or Ventrilo.
Keybinding: Using keys on your keyboard for movement and to cast spells, as opposed to clicking. This is perhaps the most crucial part of improving at PvP, as a good click player makes for a great keybound player. Using keybinds for strafing instead of turning from left to right (“Keyboard turning”) is also optimal in PvP. Turning should be performed by right clicking with the mouse, and not with the keyboard. This is a journey that everyone should take on their own, as specific styles often do not translate well from one person to another. The only advice that I can give is to take the keybinding process in baby steps. Try binding your trinket first, then your main 1 or 2 spells, etc.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=6770
 
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Arena Maps Overview:
*While there are several other interesting Arenas, they will not be included in this guide because they are not accessible at level 20.*

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Dalaran Arena:
A relatively small Arena with two LoS pillars and a water pillar LoS in the center of the map that spawns roughly every 30
seconds. There is a “z-axis” from the bottom of the arena to a slight plateau that makes up the majority of the area.
Favors high mobility classes such as warriors, hunters, mages, and druids. (The edges of the plateau may be easily
accessed without stairs by all of these classes). Shadow Sight spawns in front of each team’s Arena entrance.


dalaran_arena.jpg


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Blade’s Edge Arena:
Two plateaus with a bridge in between. This is a “z-axis” arena. Entrance to bridge from either main platform has small
LoS pillars. Two ramps extend up the bridge from either side. Two LoS pillars underneath the bridge. Favors ranged
DPS and healers. (Fighting on top of the bridge features very poor LoS, while fighting below the bridge allows for the
enemy team to control the fight). Shadow Sight spawns on either side of the map opposite of the central ramps.


blades-edge-1.jpg


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Ruins of Lordaeron:
Wide open arena with a crypt at the center of the map to serve as LoS, as well as 2 tombstones on the hill and a plague cart in the Ooze Lake. The crypt is large, rectangular, and able to be
walked over. Both the tombstones and the cart are fairly small LoS columns, but the cart can be jumped on top of if performed correctly. This map favors close range classes, movement control, and DPS classes in general. Shadow Sight spawns at the
far corners of the map to the right of each team’s Arena entrance.


ruins-of-lordaeron-3-thumbnail.jpg


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Nagrand Arena:
Very Wide open arena with four large LoS pillars parallel to each other. Widely considered to be the most balanced arena
map. This arena favors no particular class or mechanic. Shadow Sight spawns at the far right and far left of the map,
relative to the Arena Entrances.


nagrand_arena.jpg


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Class Overview:
The vast majority of skill in arena comes from experience in any form of PvP. Arenas are obviously the best way to get experience in arena but dueling, battlegrounds, and world PvP are all excellent ways to practice PvP principles.



Druids:

Lots of survivability, damage, and healing. Little to no forms of hard cc (stuns, silences, interrupts). Generally paired with a teammate who can provide their own means of CC. All druids in arena should use Wild Charge. The numerous plays you can make with this ability coupled with a short cooldown make it the most realistic talent choice for F2P druids. Displacer Beast is a slightly better escape mechanic than Wild Charge, but with a longer cooldown and less overall utility. Feline Swiftness should only be used if the druid is the main source of damage for his team, and has a dispelling healer. Without an escape mechanic, Druids are dead in the water against hunters and rogues, not to mention the lack of utility from not having Wild Charge.

SpecDescription
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Balance:Heavy Damage, uses 2 spell schools. Has soft CC in the form of Entangling Roots. Mediocre Off-heals.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • Two spell schools makes it hard to shut down damage.
  • Very powerful HoT healing and DoT damage.
  • Extremely reliant on cast time spells to secure kills.
  • Vulnerable to being locked out during Starsurge, which shuts down both spell schools.
  • Elemental Shamans - High burst damage and offhealing as a team. Eles provide a knockback and an interrupt, which Balance druids sorely need.
  • Survival Hunters: while the DoT damage and consistent burst from all hunters synchronizes well with Balance, Explosive Shot specifically contributes to hard switching to secure kills.
  • Elemental Shamans - A low cooldown, ranged interrupt coupled with a purge for rejuvenation makes Elemental one of the few casters that can out-duel a Balance druid.
  • Arms Warriors - Very difficult to peel for extended periods of time due to Double Time. Their burst will often force a Balance druid to play defensive before the casts can start putting out pressure.
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Feral:Heavy damage, but very centered around using Savage Roar and Tiger's Fury in combination with a 5 combo point Ferocious Bite. Excellent at staying on a target due to Cat form, their main damage shapeshift, having a consistent speed boost. Decent off-heals now that they have Nurturing Instinct, which converts agility to spell power.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • High consistent damage and extremely powerful burst
  • High mobility and mobility CC
  • No forms of Hard CC
  • Very setup / cooldown reliant
  • Hunters - More consistently strong damage, more mobility control, and CC for healers to get kills
  • Priests - Roots into Psychic Scream for healer CC, offensive healer for aggressive play
  • Elemental Shamans - Purge counters rejuvenation self-healing, Shear counters roots, move-while-casting damage, and Thunderstorm for Wild Charges
  • Restoration Druids - Swift Form with HoTs counters Cat Form with bleeds. Wild Charge Feline is mirrored with Wild Charge Swift. High instant burst healing is reactionary to the high burst from Ferocious Bite
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Guardian:With Warlords of Draenor came an interesting change in Guardian Druids. The introduction of Thrash has made them into a close-range AoE monster. Mangle hits for a massive amount of damage, and Maul received a buff making it a decent rage dump. Overall, Guardian Druids have massive pressure in WoD and are not to be underestimated.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • Extremely resilient and mobile
  • High DoT damage and a hard CC mechanic
  • Very little burst damage
  • Reliant on Bear Hug for pressure
  • Arms Warriors - Mobility Control + Hard CC is all that Arms needs to maximize its high damage kit. Also, Charge and Bear Hug do not share a DR category.
  • Rogues - Double stealth, low setup times, hard CC + 5cp finishers.
  • Druids - High mobility makes it difficult to land a Bear Hug. Bleed damage is minimized by Rejuvenation.
  • Shamans - Purge Rejuvenation, Shear Roots, Nature's Guardian makes securing a kill with Bear Hug difficult. High mobility works to mitigate high mobility.
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Restoration:Restoration Druids now have some of the lowest base healing of any healer. They struggle to heal through some of the higher damage dealing classes. However, with the increased buffs to Ferocious Bite and the addition of Killer Instinct, Restoration Druids can be niche healers in 2's, because of the looming threat of a high damage Ferocious Bite critical strike. In terms of control, they only have Soft CC (Snares, Slows) to speak of.
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Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • Extremely high burst healing
  • Exceptional mobility, mobile healing, and mobility control
  • No forms of hard CC; low DPS
  • Extremely reliant on Swiftmend during periods of heavy damage
  • Arms Warriors - high pressure coupled with powerful healing, mobility control, and assistance burst
  • Hunters - High DPS and healing, coupled with an extremely varied collection of movement control mechanics and scatter shot.
  • Shamans - Purge HoTs to deny Swiftmend. Shears on Regrowth.
  • Holy Priests - Chastise + Psyfiend/Scream. High CC vs No CC.

Guide:

MrCer's Guide to F2P Druid



Hunter:

Heavy + consistent damage, excellent CC, very high mobility. With the right pet selection can generally put out enough pressure to kill a healer by itself. Narrow Escape Talent should be used in most situations. The ability to capitalize on poor positioning by the enemy team via a long duration snare cannot be over exaggerated. Posthaste Talent should be used against snare/slow teams, such as rogues, hunters, or mages. The increased speed also makes it easier to chase pillar-humping healers. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera has almost no purpose in the F2P bracket. Half of the talent is wasted on a spell that isn’t available at level 20. A slightly decreased cooldown on Disengage is not worth the amazing utility of the other two talents.
SpecDescription
Beast Mastery:A very pet reliant Hunter spec that has suffered since the removal of Intimidation as a low level Hunter ability.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • Damage is split between the hunter and his pet, making his DPS output hard to shut down
  • Damage can be made safely from a range due to Kill Command being based on the pet's positioning
  • Managing pet focus is difficult with Kill Command, and requires the hunter to be dealing consistent damage in order to quickly generate pet focus
  • A dead pet greatly diminishes damage output until it is resurrected
  • Rogues - Crippling poison makes it easy for both the pet and the hunter to stay on one target, assuming concussive shot is being used to peel another target.
  • Druids - Instant cast heals used on a Beast Mastery Hunter's pet allows for significantly more survivability; which in turn leads to higher DPS output.
  • Rogues - crippling poison, evasion, and high base dodge all work to shut down much of the pet's damage and a good portion of the hunter's.
  • Taunts - any class that has a taunt can pull the focus of your pet away from its intended target. This can be devastating in particular to BM hunters due to a higher reliance on pet damage.
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Survival:The hunter bread and butter spec. Extremely high burst via Explosive shot, this is the most common spec of hunters in arena.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
  • Strong burst, High CC, High consistent damage, High mobility
  • Cooldowns on all abilities are very low
  • Enemies can LoS a significant portion of damage during CC chains on their healers
  • Reliant on other classes for either CC or burst damage to force kills
  • Arms Warriors - Mortal Strike, high burst numbers, and charge interrupts are all mechanics brought to the table by Arms Warriors that compliment Hunters perfectly.
  • Priests - Scatter Shot followed by Psyfiend/Scream, high damage from a healer, and instant cast absorbs for times of burst causes Priests + Hunters to synchronize together strongly.
  • Line of Sight - pillar humping Hunter damage while a team's healer is CC'd is the closest thing to a hunter counter mechanic.
  • Holy Paladins - the anti-crit mechanic from Denounce can help to soften the hunter damage, and Trinket + Divine Shield + Trinket can escape many potentially lethal kill opportunities from the Hunter's low cooldown CC. Dispelling Serpent Sting also does a good amount to reduce hunter damage, and using Hammer of Justice defensively on the Hunter reduces DPS output immensely.
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Marksmanship:Very dangerous if played correctly. In 5.4, the buff to Aimed Shot damage has made Marksmanship hunters even more of a threat. Expect to see Marksmanship hunters swapping targets frequently by using their Passive combined with Aimed Shot.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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NameDescription
Moth: The Moth Interrupt is the most effective way of killing a healer for hunters.
Bird: The Bird allows for one of the only disarm effects in the bracket.
Fox:Choose the Fox pet's Tailspin if you know you are facing a caster heavy team.
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Guide:

MoP F2P Hunter Guide



Mage:

Very high skill requirement class. Mages have an excellent payout when used correctly, but pay the price with low survivability and weak consistent DPS. LoS the polymorphs or do all you can to interrupt them. Be very aware of the mage’s frost nova cooldown. This allows for them to shatter their next global cooldown into you. Juking Counterspell is an absolute must, since the spell is a low cooldown, extremely long duration interrupt. Presence of Mind is a very strong talent choice, as it allows them to get off a polymorph on a healer LoSing heavy. Blazing Speed gives great kiting potential, and should be used against melee cleaves or heavy burst teams. Ice Floes may see more play after its buff, but currently the other two options are almost forced choices in arenas.

SpecDescription
Arcane:1300+ damage in one global cooldown. Don’t let it happen to you. Watch the mage’s arcane charges. When they’re at 4, avoid sitting in a frost nova at all costs.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Fire:The damage is both too weak and too slow to be viable in arenas.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Frost:High utility and decent burst opportunities make Frost a viable arena spec. Two shatters make Frost more consistent with damage than Arcane, but have less maximum potential burst.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

F2P Mage Guide



Paladin:

Extremely high survivability. Damage is moderate to high in all specs. They have arguably the best form of Healer Killing CC in the game with Hammer of Justice. For Holy, Pursuit of Justice should be used as a talent because it allows consistent movement speed to kite enemies or abuse LoS. For Prot or Retribution, Long Arm of the Law is the go-to Talent. The quick bursts of speed on a low cooldown allow for easy chasing. Never go Speed of Light. Ever.

SpecDescription
Holy: With superb healing, Hammer of Justice, a magic dispel, and Denounce spam, Holy Paladins are an extremely powerful arena healer. Their main weakness is in the form of interrupts, as that locks them out of every spell they can cast (including Divine Shield).
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Prot:Very high burst, very high CC. This is one of the classes that has a decent shot at killing a healer by itself. Avoid letting them use Avenger’s Shield to interrupt your casts.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Retribution:Weaker damage and CC than Prot. Much higher ability to off-heal.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

Broken's guide to F2P paladins
 
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Class Overview: *Continued*

Priest:

Mediocre survivability, low damage. But the Priest class makes up for that and more with what is perhaps the best CC kit and talent selection of any class in the bracket. Void Tendrils provides a very powerful AoE snare that does not break on damage. Psyfiend gives priests an opportunity to fear targets that are keeping a safe distance from Psychic Scream. Dominate Mind is perhaps one of the highest skill-scaling mechanics in the F2P bracket. By taking over an enemy DPS, the priest can buy precious time for a teammate rogue to restealth, a hunter to regen focus, etc. Priests excel at killing DPS on a healer/DPS team.

SpecDescription
Discipline:Penance allows them an offensive or defensive mechanic that helps make up for the low healing/damage output they have relative to other healers. Rapture allows them to spam heals with less risk of running out of mana.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Holy:While still having a following, Holy is generally a weaker choice at F2P compared to Discipline. The one redeeming quality of Holy is Holy Word: Chastise, which can be used as a segue into a Psychic Scream or as an interrupt against the enemy team.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Shadow:Very low damage output. Not much reason to go Shadow over Discipline, which is capable of doing more damage. The only interesting quirk regarding shadow is that it is the only class that can keep a consistent slow mechanic up while also being able to heal. Potential viability in some 2v2 comps.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

F2P Priest Introduction



Rogue:

High burst, decent consistent damage, decent survivability, and a low CD 5-second interrupt via Kick. Rogues excel in that they have one of the best slows in the game via Crippling Poison. They can outlast many DoT spells via Recuperate, and their Stealth mechanic is extremely useful in the F2P bracket. All of their talent choices are also viable and very comp dependent. Nightstalker is preferable in situations where mobility while stealthed is a must, such as after sapping a healer and catching up to a DPS. Subterfuge is excellent in high burst openers, such as games with a hunter or a warlock. It also allows for interesting plays while making restealths with DoTs still on the rogue. Shadow Focus allows for easier sap swaps and for situations where the rogue wants to open with ambush + slice and dice.
SpecDescription
Assassination: Extremely strong consistent damage. This is due in part to a higher poison application chance and less reliance on Combo Points for burst. Be careful when the rogue is at full energy, as double mutilate can hit for a large amount of damage.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Combat:Eviscerate hits extremely hard because of Revealing Strike. Combat rogues are best used on teams with strong setups, such as Arcane Mages or Elemental Shamans.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Subtlety: Extremely high burst in the opener with Ambush + Nightstalker, allowing Subtlety rogues to restealth can be fatal. At least keep DoTs on the rogue if you will be incapable of keeping him in combat.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

Hathôr's 5.4 F2P Comprehensive Rogue PVP Guide



Shaman:

Good damage, Good healing, Good survivability. A ton of different utilities sets the Shaman F2P class apart from the others. A low cooldown interrupt, a movement increaser, and a magic buff remover are all part of every shaman’s kit. Nature’s Guardian is an excellent talent choice against heavy burst teams that can keep the damage coming, such as hunters, rogues, and arms warriors. Stone Bulwark Totem is probably the most useful of the talents, as the shield has recently been buffed and can make the shaman incredibly bulky. Astral Shift is absolutely crucial against heavy burst teams such as with paladins (through Hammer of Justice) or mages (through shatter), but otherwise the long CD with a short duration probably won’t be worth it in many other situations.
SpecDescription
Elemental: A very powerful arena DPS spec. Be extremely careful when the shaman gets to 7 stacks of Lightning Shield, because fulmination crits can lead to 800+ damage. Thunderstorm is an amazing interrupt/repositioning utility. Move while casting Lightning Bolt is excellent as well.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Enhancement:Generally considered non-viable, the damage that enhance can deal is dwarfed compared to Elemental. However, the surprise value is worth something; a fully geared enhancement can keep a healer busy and provide decent off-healing.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Restoration:The only other class besides Hpallys to have a magic dispel. With dispelling allies, dispelling enemies, micro managing wind shears, and Purification, Rshams have a lot of arena utility and are most certainly underplayed in arenas at the moment.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

F2P Shaman Guide



Warlock:

Mediocre Survivability, Decent Damage, Godlike CC. When it comes to the ability to control the playing field, not even hunters can brag about having more CC than warlocks. With Fear, Seduction, Voidwalker Disarm, and Curse of Enfeeblement, Warlocks are a force to be reckoned with in arenas. Dark Regeneration is almost exclusively the go-to talent choice for F2P warlocks. The HoT effect when combined with healthstone, drain life, and your own healer turns the cloth armor – low base Health Warlock into a very bulky CC-bot. Soul Leech, however, scales so pathetically it doesn’t even warrant this sentence. The final option, Harvest Life, is viable in arenas since 5.4, but primarily for Affliction. The damage is now pretty solid, and the healing is strong. This talent is best used if Drain Life would be the main source of damage for the warlock anyways.
SpecDescription
Affliction: Relatively low damage. However, there is potential with Affliction if played right. Since 5.4, Affliction's damage has become stronger and more viable in arenas, but most warlocks will still choose to go Destruction for the burst or Demonology for the mobility.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Demonology:Mediocre Damage, but much higher survivability via Demonic Leap. Hand of Guldan adds just another CC tool for the already impressive collection of mechanics.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Destruction:Very solid damage. Conflagrate slow is another great warlock CC mechanic. Destruction warlocks excel in doing considerable damage without much build up.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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NameDescription
Imp: The damage is lower than the Succubus, but at a range. The Imp provides the warlock a "hidden", non-controllable dispel, that will be used whenever the warlock is CC'd by a magic effect.
Voidwalker:Should be used against physical damage teams that can easily focus down the warlock with heavy burst. The Voidwalker has a controllable disarm with an 8 second duration.
Succubus:Should be used against heavy CC teams or in games where the lock is trying to maximize burst at the cost of the Voidwalker disarm. The Succubus has a "hidden", non-controllable seduce, that will be used on an enemy if they succeed in CCing the warlock.
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Guide:

Salfir's F2P Warlock Guide



Warrior:

High Survivability, High DPS, High Burst Damage, but minimal CC.Charge provides an excellent gap closer and utility in arenas. Juggernaut should basically never be used as a talent. It is inferior than the other options. Double time is most often the best option in arenas, since warriors are often kited and peeled very heavily. The two charges allow for more up-time, which is extremely important for warriors. Warbringer since Warlords of Draenor is a very niche choice for specific situations in F2P arenas. Since Charge no longer stuns the target, Warbringer is best chosen in situations where a stun is absolutely necessary, or at least when the mobility provided by Double time isn't as necessary as an interrupt.
SpecDescription
Arms: Extremely high, spreadable DoT damage, a Mortal Strike effect, and a powerful Execute. Healing through an Arms Warrior’s DoT spread is difficult in 2v2, let alone 3v3.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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FuryIn 6.1, Fury warriors made a strong return to the F2P arena scene with the bug-fix that made Bloodthirst actually be able to proc 2 free Wild Strikes. In addition, they have a wide AoE slow and a specialization-unique Execute. Their playstyle is somewhat similar to Arms in Mists of Pandaria.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Protection: Very low damage, Extremely high survivability, Not much place in arena however due to lack of actual damage. Harassing a healer with Warbringer while a stronger DPS wreaks havoc can be marginally effective.
Pros
Cons
Compliments
Counters
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Guide:

Oldspike's F2P Warrior Guide


 
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Arena Addons:
*I have never been what is called an addon minimalist. I believe that if an addon makes a certain aspect of gameplay easier for you, then you should definitely use it. That being said, not all of these addons are necessary to be successful. In fact, none of them are. They are simply tools designed to make gameplay easier to follow; leaving more time for you to focus on the arena match at hand. Here are some addons that I personally use in the Arena, and have found to be excellent at bolstering my play.*


Interrupt Bar:
  • Incredibly useful. This addon keeps track of the timers on enemy spells and abilities and displays it in a very compact yet visible frame that is very easy to customize. While the default addon only shows the most important CC abilities, an advanced user can go into the code and add more abilities to keep track of.

Gladius:
  • While a bit outdated, this addon nonetheless provides an invaluable arena unit frames display which is far superior to blizzard’s UI. Trinket timers, Important buffs, cast timers, and an improved health/resource bar are all displayed by Gladius.

GladiatorlosSA:
  • This addon has audio files for every important spell in the game. At the F2P bracket, only the major spells of each class and spec are vocalized. While other addons may perform this same function in a visual format, the sound from GladiatorlosSA allows for audio to be integrated into PvP as well.

Diminishing Returns:
  • Very crucial to keeping track of Diminishing Returns on enemies and allies. This addon uses the UI from Gladius/Gladiusex to display the Diminishing Returns timer. This addon is also customizable, as you are able to choose which Diminishing Return Groups you want to display.

Healbot:
  • While often regarded as being a crutch to newbie pvp players or Pve players, Healbot is nonetheless an extraordinary addon. The ability to conveniently switch party targets and cast spells on allies regardless of your current target is extremely helpful to healing in Arenas.
 
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Conclusion:
Well, this is my guide! I hope you have enjoyed it and found it helpful. I think the principles listed here can help beginners to advanced PvPers alike. I would like to take the time now to end with a few shoutouts.


To you excellent addon programmers, a F2P arena addon would be absolutely amazing. I’m not sure if Yasueh would be willing to part with more of his time to write another addon (for those that don’t know, Yasueh wrote the F2P Addon that gives us our own channel), but if so it would be greatly appreciated. Something that keeps track of an individual player’s “Elo Rating” when going against other players with the addon would be extraordinary. With the upcoming promise of the return of skirmishes, this could lead to a sort of pseudo ranked arena queuing.

I’d like to give a shoutout to SevenSlacks7 for getting me this far. It’s been a long, winding, hunter-infested road, but I wouldn’t be here without you. Here’s to the adventures that have been and the adventures that still are left to be had.

And to Kochi, for always being willing to organize arenas even when few people seem interested. I feel your pain, but we both know the battles will always be worth it.

And to Twinkenstein, for getting me off my lazy butt and investing me in the F2P arena bracket. Without the start of Korgath Alliance, F2P arena would be in a very miserable state indeed.

And to Kablam (Aka Billow) for writing an awesome arena guide for this bracket. Reading his motivated me to write my own. I highly recommend reading his as well for a different perspective and method of delivery. It can be found [here] .

To this amazing world of F2P pvpers, continue to do what you do, whether that is slaying opponents in the Sewers of Dalaran or guarding a flag in Arathor or trudging an enemy infested mile of hell with only a flag to keep you company. I challenge you to always be trying other methods of PvP, such as arenas. The time spent learning the art of PvP will not be wasted.
I can promise you that.

Too poor for Rated Arenas,


~Bop of Mok'Nathal




F2P Streams

Bop + Oldspike F2P Arena and and PvP

[JTV]GladiatorAuve[/JTV]

Updates For Guide:

1.1 Version is live. 8-25-2013

1.2 Updated for 5.4. 10-11-2013

1.3 Aesthetic changes, more links added. 10-26-2013

1.4 Guardian/Feral separation. Aesthetic changes, added new Nagrand Arena picture. 1-21-2014
 
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Sticking this along with Kablam's arena guide!

Excellent guide too. I just wish I could play more arenas nowadays.
 
BUMPing this because it's a great, entertaining and above all else extremely useful guide, especially because we just entered the skirmish era.
[MENTION=18826]Bop[/MENTION] - the graveyard arena screen is missing and class descriptions are empty (it's gonna be hard work to refill them every major patch), just pointing that out as it should be in your interest to keep the guide updated and nice ;)

Thanks again for this!
 
BUMPing this because it's a great, entertaining and above all else extremely useful guide, especially because we just entered the skirmish era.
[MENTION=18826]Bop[/MENTION] - the graveyard arena screen is missing and class descriptions are empty (it's gonna be hard work to refill them every major patch), just pointing that out as it should be in your interest to keep the guide updated and nice ;)

Thanks again for this!

Mhm. I've been meaning to make this a priority once I've gotten accustomed to WoD arenas. I think I can pretty much work out the class section now.

At the very least, I can give it a go :)
 
Btw Bop... update something in feral druids... it still says a weak form of ccs but being a nelf feral you might be able to cc their healer with stealth->prowl->rake. That might help a lock/mage/pally coordinate his ccs with diminishing returns.
 
Hey Bop, good read from what I can, but do you mind taking the wall of text out of the scrolling text box impossible to scroll all the way down the page and side scroll the text, hope you understand my request and sorry if its too much trouble would just be easier to read.

Have a good one!
 

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