From another thread…
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.
So in the example I gave on going mage to stop the pressure, you can apply to say… a ret paladin. Go ret, get the bubble out of the way ASAP, and the ret has to play much more cautiously from that point.
Apply it to each set up how you will, experiment a bit. Listen to other ideas. Have fun.
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