Help me suck less

PVP Battlegrounds
1

Hi! I’m the classic pve-only player who’s forced to pvp for Marks of Honor for profession recipes. I know I’m currently a waste of space in any bg unlucky enough to have me.

I’d love for someone to point me towards useful Youtube videos or websites that cover basic talents and rotation play. I watched a video by Savix about ret pally pvp that seemed helpful - although my only ambition is to be slightly less awful in bgs, so a lot of his tips about arena play don’t apply.

I play (all 120s, in 390-ish pve gear):
Ret pally
Holy/shadow priest
Resto/elem shaman
Frost mage
Havoc DH

Right now I mostly just play my pve rotation, occasionally remember I have a stun or fear, and spend a lot of time in the graveyard. I assume it’s helpful to play as a healer on my shaman and priest, but I’m not even sure about that.

Remember: if you help me out, I may just make your next random bg slightly less awful. :wink:

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I can’t exactly help but for priest people usually watch anboni and ret for savix for ele watch tiqqle don’t know any frost mage channels. Here’s a random dh vid guide I found https://youtu.be/r53GSS3i_Lg

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I don’t have any specific links, but some good general things

  1. Generally the medallion is the best CC break option.
    1a) Don’t use your trinket on the first CC to hit you, use it when you can save yourself, someone else, or land a kill.
  2. Playing healers are awesome, but you will be harassed by enemy players who know whats what
  3. If you’re playing a healer, try to keep hidden as much as possible. Try to find objects in the BG that break line of sight from the enemy but let you see and heal your teammates. Don’t feel like you have to heal everybody, you don’t. Someone in your group just needs to be the last one standing.
  4. Focus less on your rotation and try to focus on using your Crowd Control abilities to sway fights. Stunning/kicking an enemy healer at the right time wins skirmishes.
  5. Burst damage is your friend.
  6. Try to learn something from every match.
  7. Hopefully have some fun, so you decide to stick around for a while.

Good Luck!

Also, if you want someone to run with I’m on most nights 8-10 EDT. Am almost always willing to play with fun people.

idaelus#1433

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Learn where the enemy graveyards are and mind your positioning relative to them.

Don’t “trickle,” standby until other teammates arrive for things like kill attempts at the enemy flag carrier.

Mind the objectives. As tempting as it may be to dismount and join in on a team fight that’s already going in your favor, your talents are probably better used elsewhere.

Playing for yourself, even if you’re dying/losing often, is often a faster and more effective way to learn than watching others play.

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Gah, I’m getting so old and forgetful. How did I not make this point 1.

Good catch.

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Thanks! Those will definitely get me started in the right direction!

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Icyveins, then go straight to the PvP tab for your spec

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D’oh! I have icyveins bookmarked for their class guides, but I always looked at the main guide (mostly for azerite traits). I never noticed the separate link to a pvp guide.

I knew there was info out there; I was just oblivious to it. Thanks!

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Great attitude by the way! Always awesome when people want to improve. I was a pver at first too but fell in love, hopefully you do too!

Anyways to the meat and potatoes…

  1. Play what you like. It’s all about having fun. Yes healers are important but honestly you can be more impactful as dps if you’re better at it.
  2. Just open the mini map and try and look/play around objectives. If a node is undefended go there.

These two will win you more games than you lose.

  1. Definitely check out PvP guides for your classes/specs. Most specs varry greatly from pve. Some abilities and their uses are important in PvP. I like wow head ones.

Some generic advice is to try not to tunnel vision. Raiding you can kinda just slap the boss and win. Force yourself to look up :joy: (I still suck at this majorly)

Lastly don’t be afraid to ask your friends to que up with you! They might know some things and friends are always more fun. Stay away from lfg because 90% of people in there are toxic :joy:

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Change that. Any and all CC are your most important abilities. They peel attackers off your healers (or yourself), they help take down enemy healers or good at neutralizing a particularly dangerous enemy’s burst.

The hardest part is knowing what to use, when to use it, who to use it on and what each class can counter with. So first, get to know your abilities. Then get to know the abilities of other classes.

Damage is important, but you do more damage against opponents that can’t smack you back.

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Just have fun with them too! I’m 290 ilvl and I can still help my team get wins in by utilizing my CC/abilities appropriately. Sure my main does more baseline damage especially with trait stacking, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun regardless of gear.

There’s a sticky post on the arena forums (i know you wanna BG for now) that you should read. It’s about “Crowd Controls and Diminishing returns”… That’s something that’s VERY much worth looking at for all PVP. That way you know when to use your stuns/cc and when to hold them. Granted even amazing players sometimes make mistakes and over DR something, especially in BGs.

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I like to open with a stun, most players will waste their trinket on the first one. Don’t be one of those players.

Don’t hold on to all your cooldowns waiting for that perfect moment. Most fights it doesn’t even come, and you could have melted the player way before you did. For paladins, mages, rogues, and hunters… save a stun. I wait until they get to ~20% hp then stun them I try to burn them down during the stun before they have a chance to use their get out of jail free card (pally bubble, mage ice block, hunter turtle, rogue vanish) some can be used while stunned, but if they’re stunned and getting low, then panic could lead to a lot of user error.

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Learn the lingo: “Inc” is “incoming”, “fc” is flag carrier, “efc” is enemy flag carrier, etc. Maps have their own abbreviations , most often nicknames for bases: Arathi Basin has LM (Lumber Mill), GM, (gold mines), BS (Blacksmith), ST (stables).

Use the minimap, shift M. It brings up a small version of the BG map in your lower right hand corner, and shows bases, your teammates, and any flag runners.

If you healed a lot in pve, you may be used to u sing the raid grid. You can use it BGs in combination with the minimap to see who on your team is taking damage where. Though it takes a good amount of time.

Communicate! Call incomings, locations of the enemy. Ask for someone to take your place if you’re a healer alone at a base. Offer to do the same for any healers if you’re playing DPS.

Learn to use not only your CC abilities, but information gathering ones. Hunters have Tracking and Eagle Eye; shaman have Far Sight.

Take insignias when you can; doing so forces the enemy player to resurrect at a graveyard, instead of using Reincarnation or Soulstone to return to life on the spot, being battle-resurrected, or running back to their body to defend a base. It also prevents enemy players who don’t release from spying on what you’re doing.

It’s going to take time to process all the tips you’re being given. Don’t beat yourself up over it , and in the meantime, do your best, play to win, and give the enemy nothing!

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Do you play alliance or horde … whether you sucking is to my benefit or detriment highly depends on that :sweat_smile:

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Assuming nothing has changed with the BG interface, press shift and M. Pulls up a small map which makes it easier to see objectives.
Try not to do anything alone.

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Play defense and call out all the incs you see asap. You will get friend requests for playing solid d.

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  1. Positioning is numero uno. Where are you in relation to allies or enemies or LOS? If you find yourself surrounded by enemies, look to being more aware of your placement on the battlefield to help solve that.

  2. Stay with your friends. If you wander off alone you’re just asking to get sent to the GY. Support is important, especially when you’re learning.

  3. Don’t fight fair. Only fights when you have the edge or an advantage. Especially important if you’re a baddie or undergeared. Follow that big warrior around and only 2x1 everyone you see.

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I really like #3. I think the most fun I’ve had so far in bgs is when I’ve been on my healer following around a tanky player who knows what he’s doing.

I may just do most of my bgs on my healers, since Marks of Honor are account-bound. They definitely get focus-fired, but synergy with a good player, knowing you saved a point by keeping the competent player alive, is a good feeling.