Advice on a Kill Target

PVP Arenas
1

Can some of the more experienced and successful PVPers give some advice on selecting a “Kill Target”? I keep hearing many conflicting theories and would like to know what the general wisdom or consensus on going about this is.

Keep in mind I am working with PUGs usually and this alone might be half the problem. First, I am not sure what the social amenities are in the game. If someone calls a kill target, I have generally just been giving it try in hopes of building some kind of team effort. Usually at the first loss, most PUG groups are in serious danger of disbanding.

So on to selecting the kill targeting. Best I can discern, the kill target should be chosen based on how squishy they are or most likely to die… Right?? Then I have heard the other theory that the kill target changes many times throughout the match and you just need to suss it out through gameplay. I think the reason behind the changing theory is simply the initial kill target was incorrect and the most squishy target was found after running into a wall on the first choice. But, I am uncertain. Most of the time I just wing things when it seems nothing works not knowing for sure if it is right or not.

So what’s the advice? If there is any difference between 2s and 3s, please share.

1 Like
2

The bottom line is it varies based on your comp, the enemy comp, and understanding your win conditions.

The skill-capped video really does a pretty good job at explaining it:

1 Like
3

for rets this gets you pretty far
just hit anything in gib range, profit

4

It’s mostly going to depend on your comp, their comp, established win conditions, and who’s driving. The video linked above no doubt does a good job explaining it. If you want some more information though or an opportunity to ask more questions and have a dialogue, here. You can add me. Shad#1132

I’m 2400 exp in 2’s and 2300ish exp in 3’s.

2 Likes
5

i just ask the other person on my team

6

I usually pick an initial target to “open on” based on the most likely to draw cooldowns/trinkets, assuming you don’t win in the opener, but I’ll explain a few variations to give you an example.

So as aff lock/frost mage/rdru going into monk/DK/shaman, we usually go monk. They’re fairly squishy and we can prob get karma, or diffuse magic. Maybe even force AMZ or link.

The next issue comes this: they get their cooldowns back relatively quickly compared to other classes, and can exit to safety fairly easily if they have foresight.

But let’s say the DK pops AMS literally first global on the opener just to get pressure out…that became a viable kill target instead of working through karma and diffuse.

Let’s say the shaman gets kick/feared and had to trinket, and falls behind to use cooldowns, and runs directly into the middle of the map to link, or because we dragged them out of range. That’s a more viable kill target now.

I may say “go monk” before the gates open, but some situations lead to opportunities and seeing that should call for the switch. At lower ratings I would hit a warrior and get all defensive cooldowns, wonder why they don’t die, and swap. In reality, they were one more set up from dying.

Alternatively, let’s say I’m playing warr/lock/dru into monk/mage/hpal. I might go mage here if for no other reason than this: if a melee is on me it’s hard to get momentum. If we go monk, the monk is still on me and the mage is free casting. Where as if they go me, the warrior is hitting the monk but I’m generating far less pressure than the mage. So I might prefer my warrior to make the mages life difficult. In warrior/caster comps, I try to target the caster for this reason. Being the target as a caster is much more disruptive to your offensive output than it is to a melee.

Also, good healers usually make themselves difficult target choices due to positioning. But if a priest runs directly into the middle of the map…I’m taking what the opponent gives me.

TL;DR - take what your opponent gives you.

4 Likes
7

there are better targets but there shouldn’t always be 1 set kill target that you tunnel endlessly. Hit what’s in range and create pressure, knock out defensives, then after someone trinkets swap to them, etc you have to adapt. In 2s it’s pretty easy, 3s not so much but in 3s the hit anything close method holds even more value.

i will say that generally i have a hierarchy of kill targets in my mind.

Ret pally is auto target.
WW
DH
Rogue
MM hunter
Ele Sham
Frost Mage
and so on

Healers depending on class i’ll focus down priests , druids / mw become targets on my DH/Spriest. Hpal always seems like good target but i have more luck training the dps there and same with rsham

too many variables and it’s just something that’s class / comp dependent and you learn with repetition and time

2 Likes
8

As others mentioned, the KT definitely depends on your comp and the comp you’re fighting but it can definitely change mid match not just because you may have chosen wrong, but because the enemy could be severely out of position, trinketed, or used a defensive out of script.

For example, fighting turbo you typically target the enh shammy.
—Targeting the war means you’ll have to deal with plate, ignore pain, defensive stance, rally, and dbts. You could also have to deal with enh healing him.

—Targeting the enh you deal with astral shift, and his heals with mail. But you also have intervene and rally potentially.

Overal the sham will take more dmg and you’ll have less defensives to go through, especially with cross cc. So he’s the better pick but if the war finds himself with no trinket and behind a pillar in battle stance, he’s definitely susceptible to a swap. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll switch to training them all game but… there is some dynamic element to it.

Then you have stuff like frost mage. I train them every game essentially no matter what.

So, it just kinda depends. Certain classes that are dot reliant may not want to kill hunters where as a war may not care for instance.

9

This is kinda what I am taking away. Seems you need to know all the abilities of all the classes to be able to really make good decisions here. For example, most good players know to fear my wings. I am usually CCd immediately or dealt with in some way by good players. So whatever plan the opponent had before my wings seems to change fast.

I don’t know the strengths of every class, which is probably a barrier I need to knock down to really make wise decisions.

1 Like
10

Whatever tilts you the most tbh