PvP Stratagies and Class Weakness Exploits

[Kayluus]

After an extensive amount of PvP I have had to learn quite a few things the hard way. An amazing amount of people realy arn't to great at it, either they don't have enough time to die over and over again and thus learning through experience or just don't have the natural aptitude for it but would still like to learn.

In my opinion no one is ever the best and there is always someone better out there and one should NEVER shy from learning more. In light of this I am hoping that those of you who have stratagies and methods for taking on certain classes with your chosen class and exploiting your foe's class weaknesses will share them here. Also posting your own classes weaknesses will be helpfull to those of us who don't play your class.

Please, please avoid flaming! This thread has the potential to turn nasty if someone thinks another person's methods are not up to par. If you are not going to offer constructive advice please don't post! I will post a few fundimentals and a few Rogue Vs other classes stratagies when I have had time to compile some information. Unless one of you beats me to it :grin:

[Stigg]

Mage

As a general rule of thumb, while not ganking, I always polymorph the player at the beginning fo the fight, unless it is a druid. If for some reason or another I have the first attack unhindered I will combust a pyroblast.

Rogue - After polying, I will unleash a fireball x2, then fireblast. Once he gets close enough, I Frost Nova, back away and repeat. If not dead by this point, (which he should be) I run in circles using strafe to keep distance while fireblasting him. Rogues at the same level as me are fairly easy to kill unless they get a stunlock on me, or resist my frost nova.

Mage - Quick Battle. 2 squishies going against eachother is a sure fire way to have a battle over in a few seconds. I put on my mage armor and fire ward before the fight and get within range of a fireblast. I fireblast them, and assuming like most mages do, they will be casting a fireball. I have more than enough time to cast my fireblast and a counterspell. This gives me no damage taken yet. I will then cast a fireball followed by a fireblast. All of those will have gone off before the mage can deal any damage to me except maybe a fireblast. By this point they are either dead, or I will scorch the remains of them.

Hunter - I will open with a poly, then a pyroblast. I ignore the pet until I get a pyroblast and a fireblast in. Then i run at the hunter and frost nova him. I stay out of range of melee, away from his pet, and inside range of his gun/bow. A hunter was my first character, so I knew how mages beat me, whcih lets me know how to beat hunters now. They are my favorite class to go against.

Warrior - Similar to a rogue, I will always poly first and get maximum distance. I will unleash a pyroblast followed by a fireball, fireball, fireblast. Then Frost Nova them in place, Cone of cold them, and get maximum distance to start the process over again. They will still be very much alive after another round of Fireball, fireball, fireblast, so I strafe from them in a circle spamming fireblasts until the are dead. Intercpets suck though.

Shamans - Dont do it, seriously dont do it. Not only does their windfury drop me to 10% health in 1 swing, their Earthshocks will stop me from casting fire spells for a few seconds, whcih is more than enough time to get in the last few hits to kill me.

Druids - Forget about polying them, they'll just transform out of it. I will get in a fireball, fireblast, frost nova, then try again. If they are smart they will do that thing where the lightning bolt from the sky hits me, whcih will disrupt my spells, but if I can get a critted spell off, generally they will drop quickly.

Locks - Unleash every spell at them, use frost nova to keep minion off, then spam any fire spell that is available. They generally drop quickly, but I need to eat as soon as the battle is over to prevent their DOT's from killing me.

Pally's - They are a lot fo fun. Poly, combustion pyroblast, fireball, fireball, fireblast, wait for them to shield/heal themselves, repeat. Frost nova them in place and blink out of their hammer of justices. Keep Distance and conserve mana. If they are shielded, DO NOT SPAM DAMAGE on them. Tahts a sure fire way to lose your mana quickly, which means you are dead.

Priest - Poly, Combustion pyroblast, fireball and they are dead. Not too much of a fight unless they are awesome.

Ways to beat me. I get taken down my fair share. But here is some ways to do it.

mages - Please throw on mage armor and a fire ward. It makes it much to easy if you dont.

Druids - Transform out of my polymorphs, you will easily die if you dont.

Warriors - Intercept me, hamstring me, keep me close. Use a 2H weapon, I promise Ill die quickly! When I frost nova you, switch to a defensive stance and take out your best shield.

Rogues - Stealth and vanish liek your life depended on it, cuz it does. I get a kick out of rogues who start a battle unstealthed or try to run at me w/o stealthing. If I get you in my running circle game, vanish out and sneak up on me. keep me in stunlock or else you are dead.

Pally's - Try to save your shield/heal until after I use pyroblast. It will kill you if you dont.

Hunter - Scatter shot me, and dont use the sting that lowers my mana. It really doesnt matter, my mana pool is huge compared to the 500 that the spell will suck out of me. But, my health isnt huge and it will drop quickly if you use that sting instead. Get a cat. Fast attack speed means I cant cast spells, whihch means you live. If you see me runnign towards you, back up.

Stigg

[Hateblade]

As a rogue, we really have the beauty of it all. Unless we are fighting an exceptional player of thier class, there really is few classes that we can't beat. When I make this statement, remember that I am not speaking about duels, or goofy BGs group zerg PvP. I'm speaking of 1 vs 1, open-world PvP. Also keep in mind that certain specs are almost Impossible for a rogue to beat. When it comes to PvP, anything goes. In this case, I will use everything in my power to beat you into submission. Pots, tea, cooldowns, ect. Anything that is at my disposal will be used. Now then:

An optimal situation is the opener. Getting that Cheap Shot off, or the big numbers Ambush is awesome. About 98% of the fights I have where I get the opener, I will walk away victorious. I'm going to explain each fight with and without a successful opening move, on the part of the rogue.

Mage- Success=Big numbers Ambush. With decent gear, and a good crit, the mage is going to watch half their health be instantly sucked away. Most of the time, unless the mage is fast on thier fingers, I can also get a backstab off. If both of these crit, and the mage isn't in decent gear, it's normally enough to kill them outright. If not, hit them with a kidney shot. A mage is going to instantly blink away from you, and try to get you Frost Novaed. Blind them. Restealth, and either Cheap Shot/Evis, or hit them with another Ambush. No mage in this game has the HP to survive this, if you are decently equipped. You WILL burn cooldowns fighting a GOOD mage. There is no way around it. So, make sure you are prepared, before you try to tackle one.

Failure= Hope that the mage goes for a polymorph. Most will. You should have your PvP trinket equiped, for a speedy break of the poly. Worst case scenario is that the Mage will PoM poly you again. Most mages won't due to diminishing returns, and wasting that PoM. If you are polyed again, watch for the spell they are casting. If it's a frostbolt, be rdy to vanish, AS SOON AS IT HITS. This will break their target lock on you, and will remove that slow effect. Back away from the mage a bit, and re-evaluate for the possible opener. If it's a fireball, be rdy to mash your sprint button, if they are out of range of blind. Either case is to get in range to blind them, and restealth for a possible opener. Remember that a mage will ALWAYS blink out of stun, if Blink is not on cooldown. Always be prepared to keep as close to them as you can. No Mana Shield, no Ice Armor, no nothing can keep you from beating them into the ground, once you are in range. They will try to prevent this at all costs.

Warlock- Woohoo, this is a tricky one. There are so many different specs to Warlocks. You really need to know your target, or be able to study them in combat, to have a grasp on how to deal with them.

Soul Link = Kill the demon that they are linked to. Most Soul Link 'locks are based around fear kite and curses, while they wait for the Nightfall proc. Your best hope is to CC the Warlock, while you dispatch the demon. A good Warlock will have thier Succubus out against a rogue. If they don't, your life is that much easier. Sap/blind the Warlock, and wait for the Seduction from the Succy. Use whatever means you have to break the "charm" effect(trinket/wotf/ect) and then kill the succubus. Once dead, the Warlock is much easier to handle, and will either have to insta-summon another demon, or face your wrath.

Nukers(Destruction/ruin/ect) = These guys are all about the fire dmg. They may have a demon out, and they may not. I've fought a few that totally rely on thier own dmg, and have no need for the demon. DO NOT let them kite you. If they get the range on you, it's going to be a world of hurt. Use whatever means you have to keep them in range for stunning. Lock them down, and thier health will melt away.

Most Warlocks I've seen are the above builds, or hybrids of such. As I stated above, the Warlock is a tricky class, and you really need to know your opponent.

Priest- Ah, the priest. Another class that if played badly, is no challenge. But, if played properly, can spell certain doom. My personal experience leans towards a love of Shadow-priests. They have the dmg mitigation, but they can not heal in that form. And, there is no form of "mitigation" that can stop a determined rogue.

Shadowpriests: They WILL have 3 points into Imp. Shield. This means they will ALWAYS have a shield up, and will renew it every 15seconds, if given the opportunity. Sadly, 1.10 will give ALL priests this ability FOR FREE, and they will then use the points to make that shield absorb MORE. Watch for the priest to shield themselves. Start counting. 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, ect. At 13 seconds, sap them. Continue to count. Your sap should out-last the 17seconds remaining on the shield. During this time, you should have re-stealthed, or have Imp. Sap. Begin a stunlock on the priest. Most priests will either be mashing the fear button, or thier dots. Those dots hurt, so try to keep them locked down. If the priest gets a fear off, break it ASAP. If a good Shadowpriest gets you kited, it's pretty much over. The dots/Mind Blast/Flay combo can eat through just about any rogues HP in mere seconds. Keep them locked down, and try to prevent spell-casts. Imp. Kick works wonders here, as you can silence the whole Shadow tree.

"Normal" priests: I call them normal, as they are not specced for Shadow. These priests are even MORE dangerous than Shadowpriests. They may not hit quite as hard as a Shadowpriest, but that's because they don't need to. If they get you fear-kited even once, you will be facing that priest back at full health. You must prevent this AT ALL COSTS. If it looks like you are going to lose your stunlock at any time, blind them, and regain control. A priest that can heal will outlast ANY rogue. There is no way around it.

Warriors- Yes, the "rock" to our "scissors". A well-played Warrior should have no issues tearing a rogue into little leather scraps. A well-geared Warrior is going to have around 4-7k HP, depending on Spec/Gear, and about 4-8k Armor. You will know the difference between a Protection Warrior, and a Fury/Arms Warrior. Most, if not all Warriors that are not Protection will be 31/20/0 Mortal Strike Warriors. These hit HARD. They will have thier finger poised over thier "Overpower" hotkey, waiting for us dodgey fellows to light it up. Protection warriors will laugh at our little dagger/swords, as we backstab for 100dmg, or Sinister Strike for 75. Trust me, I've lived it.

"DPS" Warriors: They hurt. No doubt about it. If you even HOPE to stand a chance against a good one, you'd better have bandages and Health pots at the ready. Open with a Cheap Shot. There is no other option. Ambush isn't going to hit that hard, unless they are geared poorly. If that is the case, then they aren't a problem anyways, but we are speaking of well-geared players here. CONTROL is key here. If you can keep a warrior totally locked down, then you have a major success. As I stated above, you are GOING to get hit by Overpower. It's unavoidable. We dodge, it's what we do. Depending on the Warrior's gear, it may or may not hurt BAD, but it will hurt. I personally pop evasion, as soon as I see my first dodge light up. I know the Overpower is coming, but I'd rather dodge everything else that Warrior throws at me. Make sure to use Blind, if you are getting low on health. Blind them, back off, and try to bandage up. If you have good health pots with you, save them for after the bandage. They are instant, and could very well save your life. Lock them down as best you can. Combat rogues do fairly well against them, thanks to Riposte. But, if the Warrior has a weap. chain, or the Stonghold Gauntlets, you will be at a large disadvantage.

Protection Warriors: I avoid them. I've seen some with almost 8k UNBUFFED HP, and 8k armor. They have +defense in the 400ish range, and they will have a shield on with an insane amount of +block on it. With all honesty, I have never beaten a GOOD Protection warrior. They do what they are supposed to. They OUTLAST. For the bad warriors, kite them. Try to get an Expose Armor on, to help a bit with that huge AC count. Hit them with Rupture, as it is Armor-ignoring damage. Keep kiting. Try to stay just inside Intecept range. Hope for the best.:grin:


Druids: Once again, another fairly complex class. If they are not Feral, they really are no challenge. Resto spec/Moonkin druids do not have the skills needed to effectively kite a well-played rogue, while mitigating the insane damage that we can put out. If they root you, vanish. If they kite you, sprint. If they heal, interrupt. Keep in melee range, and chew them up.

Feral Druids: THESE, on the other hand, are quite the threat to a rogue. They have the ability to do that of a healer/tank/rogue all in one, and can do so at will. While not as effective as each of those classes individually, wrapped all in one, they are powerful indeed.

Successful opener= We are hoping they are in caster form. They have the least amount of armor in this form, and are the easiest to lock down. Do your damndest to keep them stunlocked. They will most likely try to root you, and get a heal off, before shifting into a feral form. Most good druids will be trying for Bear-form, as that gives them the best chance to mitigate our damage. A well-equipped bear-druid is going to have armor and HP comparable to a Protection Warrior. Follow the guide-line above for warriors, and try to keep them stunned. Watch for them to Feral Charge you, as they will do it when they get low on health. They will charge, and then back away to heal. If a good feral druid gets healed to full, and then back into the fight, you WILL have to pot, or blind/bandage. At this point, you have a serious problem, and you might not walk away alive. :grin:

Failure= I'm sorry for you. If a druid gets the drop on you, it will most likely be in cat-form. They will Ravage you, and get a DoT on you. Also watch for Farie Fire, which will keep you from stealthing AT ALL. At this point, you have a serious problem. Try to keep them stunlocked, and in cat-form. While this isn't as good as caster form, it still has less armor than bear-form, and is about your only chance.

Shamans= Complex class. If they are specced for PvP, and know what they are doing, a good Shaman is basically unbeatable 1 vs 1. They have a way to remove any form of CC we have. Posions are worthless. If they know how to kite well, consider the fight basically lost. They will use thier PvP trinket to break your stun, and then Frost Shock you. They will then most likely lay a EB totem, and a Fire totem. This will then keep you out of stealth, and continuously damage you. Your only hope is to be able to front-load so much damage on them, that they cannot heal enough through your stuns to compansate. You WILL burn cooldowns here. Keep them stunned AT ALL COSTS. Shamans are the only class that, when specced and played right, can front-load and heal MASSIVE amounts of damage. I've seen Earth-Shock crits for 2.5k, and I've seen Chain Lighting crits for 2k. It's a scary scary thing to face a PvP specced Shaman who is geared well 1 v 1.

Most Shamans that are Raid/healing specced won't be doing much fighting. They have given up most of thier heavy-hitting damage to be an asset to their raid. Shamans HAVE to be heavily specced into one side of thier trees or the other, to be truly effective at one thing. If they aren't, then they really do fall short. It's because of this that Shamans are not considered "broken" by Blizzard. The only deviance of that is once they are geared well enough to make up for those short-falls. When that becomes the case, just run from them. One of the reasons I rolled Horde. :grin:

Paladins- Interesting bunch. Kinda like the pale shadow of Shamans. They can heal like champions, and can actually front-load some pain, if they are specced to do so. Reckoning Paladins are evil evil creatures. They have these horrid bubbles, that NOTHING in the game can do anything about. Fighting one is essentially fighting 3, as that is how many health bars you are going to kill.

Whether you get the opener or not, the outcome is going to be the same. You WILL be Hammer of Justiced, and they WILL heal. If you get them really low really fast, they WILL bubble. WATCH for what type of "bubble" they use. If it's thier "total stoppage pwnt" bubble(you know the one:wink:), then back off, and bandage up. You might even get lucky, and be able to re-stealth, while they heal. I also like to do a bit of /danceing, while they heal up. Once this is over, you now have HP #2. Continue to beat on them. Watch for when and if they cast thier second "shield". This looks like a flash of light through thier character model. This makes them immune to physical and magical damage. They will then try to heal again. BLIND THEM. Thier shield makes them immune to damage, but you CAN blind them, and make them walk around all funny looking. Best part of this is that the shield lasts 10seconds, and so does blind. You are now in the home stretch. So, restealth, and start stunning them again, once the shield is gone. Now then, the FINAL straw of the Paladin. You may or may not see this, depending on how badly you have pissed off the Paladin. Lay on Hands. This is a 1-hour cooldown INSTANT full-life to the target spell. I offer congrats to you, if the Paladin has to do this, because they REALLY want to kick your butt at this point. This is a fight about endurance, and tact. You have to bide your time, and chip away at them. Keep your cool, and beat them down.

Rogues- Ahh the rogues. Our fellow stealthy lurkers of the shadow. In my opinion, both the easiest and hardest fight you will have. If you get the opener, and you know your stuff, it should be all over with. Rogues have no real way to counter stuns, so a stunlock will most likely spell death. If you give a GOOD rogue an opening in that stun lock, they will blind/gouge/vanish, and then begin a stunlock on you. So, your best hope is to get the opener. If not, watch for them to make a mistake, and exploit it. The key here is to lock them down, and make sure they don't get that second chance. Be ruthless, and don't hold back.



So, this is just my general knowledge and experience, on my travels in the World of Warcraft. I have yet to play any other class to 60, so I'm not too wise in the ways that other classes play. I only know how they counter Rogues, as I see how they attempt to deal with me. My advice is to get out there, and get to fighting. You can only learn through trying.

[Shellar]

To Mages - Unless you happen to catch a priest AFK, always do an Improved Counterspell before going for Polymorph + Fiery Combo of Doom. Otherwise, you have a good chance of eating a Silence, which will instantly make this fight hideously difficult.

[Sephiroth[TR]]

Mage
Locks - Unleash every spell at them, use frost nova to keep minion off, then spam any fire spell that is available. They generally drop quickly, but I need to eat as soon as the battle is over to prevent their DOT's from killing me.
Stigg

I dont think a warlock drops quik at all.. To me warlocks are one of the strongest duelers (and im a shaman oO) They can have 6k unbuffed hp or even more..

Epic geared Soul link warlock also has butload of resistance and with soul link you have to dish out 14k Damage before they drop. Not to mention there life drain wich makes them last even longer. And on top of that the felhunter wich can stop you from casting a spell. And they proly try to chainfear you.

Have i mentioned they RESIST quite alot ?

[degnar]

']I dont think a warlock drops quik at all.. To me warlocks are one of the strongest duelers (and im a shaman oO) They can have 6k unbuffed hp or even more..

Epic geared Soul link warlock also has butload of resistance and with soul link you have to dish out 14k Damage before they drop. Not to mention there life drain wich makes them last even longer. And on top of that the felhunter wich can stop you from casting a spell. And they proly try to chainfear you.

Have i mentioned they RESIST quite alot ?

Agree that warlocks are some of the toughest opponents. But I think some of it may be specific to shaman. Locks have a lot of things that shamen can't counter. (No proof, but I think they are the rock that crushes a shaman scissors). Mages on the other hand.... yum. :D

[Hateblade]

Agree that warlocks are some of the toughest opponents. But I think some of it may be specific to shaman. Locks have a lot of things that shamen can't counter. (No proof, but I think they are the rock that crushes a shaman scissors). Mages on the other hand.... yum. :D

Hasn't anyone ever told you that Shamans and Mages are paper? Warlocks are Mushrooms. :laugh:

[Steamboat]

Mage vs. Lock completely depends on builds.

any Mage vs. SL Lock, the mage is pretty much dead.

Warlock summons felhunter in .5 seconds. He then silences you with the felhunter and oh yeah he has +60 to all resistances and after Soul Link, healthstones, and death coil he affectively has 9900 hp with average gear. Using polymorph is useless since the felhunter will free him from it, not to mention the felhunter will sit there removing your mage armor, dampen magic, ice armor, arcane superbuff, super mage explosion buff, arcane intellect, and whatever the crap other mage-ey things you buffed yourself with.

Mage vs. Destruction Lock is very similar to mage vs. mage. Probably whoever is luckier with crits will be the winner.

[rutty]

Druids: Once again, another fairly complex class. If they are not Feral, they really are no challenge. Resto spec/Moonkin druids do not have the skills needed to effectively kite a well-played rogue, while mitigating the insane damage that we can put out. If they root you, vanish. If they kite you, sprint. If they heal, interrupt. Keep in melee range, and chew them up.

I will dispute this charge, because I know that kcma would like me to ;)

Any good Druid should be getting Faerie Fire on you as soon as possible, either in caster form or feral. Even Moonkin druids should be able to kite you in travel form, and I suggest that if a Moonkin Druid gets this off and roots you, you're pretty much screwed. Moonkin have a lot of armour too IIRC.

A resto druid would try and get a bash off in bear form, Nature's swiftness + big heal etc. Played well a resto druid are very hard to kill

Very good information overall in this thread though. I'm only now starting to get into PvP and all tips are very welcome :)

[Hateblade]

I will dispute this charge, because I know that kcma would like me to ;)

Any good Druid should be getting Faerie Fire on you as soon as possible, either in caster form or feral. Even Moonkin druids should be able to kite you in travel form, and I suggest that if a Moonkin Druid gets this off and roots you, you're pretty much screwed. Moonkin have a lot of armour too IIRC.

A resto druid would try and get a bash off in bear form, Nature's swiftness + big heal etc. Played well a resto druid are very hard to kill

Very good information overall in this thread though. I'm only now starting to get into PvP and all tips are very welcome :)

If you fail to get the opener on a GOOD druid, you are going to be in for a fight, no matter the spec they are playing. I have yet to meet a GOOD moonkin druid. So much so, that we affectionatly call them OOMkin in my guild. They do have a decent amount of armor, but nothing that a sustained stunlock, and 1 or 2 Cold Blood Evis can't cut through.

Fairie Fire is good for widescale PvP encounters, as it keeps me from stealthing again, once I'm done handling the druid. If I've gotten the opener, I'm probably not going to go back into stealth until you are dead, or I'm running from the GY. 1 vs 1, it really makes no difference if I can't get back into stealth or not. I will have already registered that I can't stealth, and will adapt to beat you accordingly. The beauty of rogues is that we have been given so many ways to lock you down. Once you know we are around, stealth is basically null, unless you are a big-hitting Ambusher.

I've never fought a druid that wasn't full feral, that knew how to properly handle a rogue. That may be due to poor playing, or the players I've fought just not having experience against rogues. My experiences against druids have shown me that unless they are feral, they can't keep up. This may not be true for everyone, as play-styles vary.

[Kayluus]

The only thing I can really add to Hateblade's post on rogues would be an alternate stratagy on mages.

It should also be stated this is coming from a combat rogue 15/31/5.

As any Rogue worth beans is going to know; any Mage with half a brain is going to Blink out of your CS before you can land a gouge. Sometimes the gouge lands but the Mage will blink, landing gouged. Well, I spent 6-7 levels in the burning steppes grinding and I had one particular mage (who happens to be extremely well geared and aparently has his fair share of trinkets) come through my grind every day and absolutely decimate me. There was nothing I could do. Well after about 2 weeks of this I decided to start picking as many fights with mages as possible. I wanted to take this guy out. Here is what I came up with, and I'm happy to say that I had the oportunity to use this and kill my little mage friend 4 times on my way to my Onyxia Attunement.

As you aproach the mage for a CS aproach from behind, or if given no choice come from the front but turn your camera around so it is pointed behind you keeping your LMB held down open with your CS, SS, and wait until the exact second the mage lights up to blink. Mash you sprint key and now press and hold RMB. If you have been holding your LMB through all this the press of the RMB will instantly flip you 180 degrees. You will now be sprinting at the Mage's LZ. Hit Adrenaline, if he is casting poly kick him as you arrive (imp kick helps alot here) if he frosts vanish IMMEDIATELY and re-open with a CS, you need to keep pressure on him. You will have several CPS by this time so after the kick throw a SS and then KS, finish up with a few SS or SS, SS, Gouge, Evis if you landed some weak hits early on.

This is only the core. It of course would have to be modified for some specs.

[Sephiroth[TR]]

Agree that warlocks are some of the toughest opponents. But I think some of it may be specific to shaman. Locks have a lot of things that shamen can't counter. (No proof, but I think they are the rock that crushes a shaman scissors). Mages on the other hand.... yum. :D

Its not that i cant win :P sucky locks are just cannon food but the good once are just a pain. Especially if your a enhancement shaman and your weapon refuse to proc :(

[DeZypher]

I have to say, that a Feral Druid vs any rogue is a loss if the druid knows what they are doing. I have been playing a druid since the game started...and a rogule doesnt stand a chance against me. Heres what I do. First weather or not they get the drop on me...i go into bear form, get some rage...and feiry fire (keeps them from vanishing), next is to bash...stuns them for 3-4 sec...then i shift out of bear form run back out of range...and root...star fire/ moon fire, back into bear form and then enrage, and charge again stunning them and with a few more big hits form the bear, a bash if needed...they die. Most of the time im still above 1/2 health...

if you try to stand up to a rogue in cat form you cannot out damage them...and you will die..LOL learned the hard way.:cry:

[SpiritWalker]

Play a warlock, nuff said.

[Torvon]

[about Warlocks]
"They generally drop quickly"

With having only blues and 1 epic robe, I have 4.9k life unbuffed and with Soul link 30% damage absorb (+about 10% from my cloth).

I have 2 shields for about 2k life in a battle (Vw, instant cast Vw).
Drop quickly ?

;)

[Daffor]

Warlock- Woohoo, this is a tricky one. There are so many different specs to Warlocks. You really need to know your target, or be able to study them in combat, to have a grasp on how to deal with them.

Soul Link = Kill the demon that they are linked to. Most Soul Link 'locks are based around fear kite and curses, while they wait for the Nightfall proc. Your best hope is to CC the Warlock, while you dispatch the demon. A good Warlock will have thier Succubus out against a rogue. If they don't, your life is that much easier. Sap/blind the Warlock, and wait for the Seduction from the Succy. Use whatever means you have to break the "charm" effect(trinket/wotf/ect) and then kill the succubus. Once dead, the Warlock is much easier to handle, and will either have to insta-summon another demon, or face your wrath.

Actually with a SL build i use a voidwalker to kill rogues, he can actually take the pain, give me a shield and just from MD he gives a +10% dmg reduction in addition to SL. Also improved voidwalker makes the shields 2,5k dmg absorb.

Oh almost forgot, if you try to kill him you will be feared, dotted and nuked, you propably won't even be able to kill the pet before you die yourself, and if it gets low any good warlock will sac the void for a nice shield which rogues love.

[Saboteur]

With having only blues and 1 epic robe, I have 4.9k life unbuffed and with Soul link 30% damage absorb (+about 10% from my cloth).

You've put me to shame. I have 4/8 set epics (3 felheart + nemesis helm), 1 Underworld Band and the rest of my items are what I consider very good blue items, with the exception of 1 green trinket (Ward of the Elements). I have libram +100 health enchants on my helm and leggings and all my other items are also enchanted with the highest health/stamina enchants available.

I have, if I remember correctly (am at work as I post this), 4668 unbuffed health. Are you sure that health amount you're quoting isn't buffed by a Blood Pact or something? If not, I'd love to get details on how to improve my health pool :)

(Edit: Although I must admit I am focused on +dmg gear... Is that the difference perhaps?)

[Hateblade]

Actually with a SL build i use a voidwalker to kill rogues, he can actually take the pain, give me a shield and just from MD he gives a +10% dmg reduction in addition to SL. Also improved voidwalker makes the shields 2,5k dmg absorb.

Oh almost forgot, if you try to kill him you will be feared, dotted and nuked, you propably won't even be able to kill the pet before you die yourself, and if it gets low any good warlock will sac the void for a nice shield which rogues love.


I have fought Warlocks that keep thier Voidies out. Unless you are fighting very under-geared/under-skilled rogues, your SL and the MD %s WON'T keep you alive from a rogue's onslaught. When you shield, I will just blind you, and let it wear off. When you insta-cast the next one, I will hit Preperation, and wait for you to sac it again. It does take cooldowns, but a GOOD rogue is going to laugh at you, and beg you to keep your Void out. 4.9k health is CAKE for a rogue to cut through.

[slayer13]

one issue i see with your strat Hateblade is that when you blind, thats 10 seconds the lock is incapacitated, but there will be another 20 left on the shield. plus, 4.9k unbuffed plus 10% MD reduction, plus 30% to the pet, if the pet is VW, thats a lot of extra health to eat through, plus another 5k health (with imp VW) assuming he gets both shields off. even if there is a blind in there, 20 seconds is plenty of time to put a little hurt on someone. not saying locks should be using VW (i totally prefer Succy, specially in pvp) but there is a lot of hp to go through with them

[Hateblade]

one issue i see with your strat Hateblade is that when you blind, thats 10 seconds the lock is incapacitated, but there will be another 20 left on the shield. plus, 4.9k unbuffed plus 10% MD reduction, plus 30% to the pet, if the pet is VW, thats a lot of extra health to eat through, plus another 5k health (with imp VW) assuming he gets both shields off. even if there is a blind in there, 20 seconds is plenty of time to put a little hurt on someone. not saying locks should be using VW (i totally prefer Succy, specially in pvp) but there is a lot of hp to go through with them

Indeed. I should have stated that in that 10sec timespan of the blind, I will be re-stealthing. At that time, I will back off a bit, and watch the shield disappear. I've only ever seen a warlock insta-summon once in my WoW-life. I'm assuming that's something that's done out of desperation? I have never played the class to those levels, so I wouldn't know what it takes to do all that. I just know that I've never had a warlock with thier Voidwalker out give me even a remote hassle, while I was pounding them into the floor. :wink:

[Daffor]

I have fought Warlocks that keep thier Voidies out. Unless you are fighting very under-geared/under-skilled rogues, your SL and the MD %s WON'T keep you alive from a rogue's onslaught. When you shield, I will just blind you, and let it wear off. When you insta-cast the next one, I will hit Preperation, and wait for you to sac it again. It does take cooldowns, but a GOOD rogue is going to laugh at you, and beg you to keep your Void out. 4.9k health is CAKE for a rogue to cut through.
Actually i have 5064 max hp unbuffed add to that an imp healthstone for 1440, death coil that usually does around 800 dmg (and healing for that), the fact that i am always keeping you dotted (with around +400 spell dmg this hurts a lot, for example my corruption tics for 220) so actually if you blind me you keep taking damage. Also i consider myself pretty experienced in rogue killing and have fought many rogues with grand marshal gear and better and won.

[Hateblade]

Actually i have 5064 max hp unbuffed add to that an imp healthstone for 1440, death coil that usually does around 800 dmg (and healing for that), the fact that i am always keeping you dotted (with around +400 spell dmg this hurts a lot, for example my corruption tics for 220) so actually if you blind me you keep taking damage. Also i consider myself pretty experienced in rogue killing and have fought many rogues with grand marshal gear and better and won.

Sounds like you have some decent gear. However, you are making the assumption that I allow you to Deathcoil me, or I allow you to eat that healthstone, or I allow you to sac that voidwalker. If I perform a perfect stunlock on you, and nothing misses, you will be dead, and not taken one step.

The problem with PvP, and discussions like this, is that no fight is ever the same. One fight, you may Howl of Terror me out of stealth, get your DoTs ticking, and I'll probably be a goner. The next fight, I get the drop on you, and proceed to stunlock you to death. The strategies that we put into play are very generalized, and only give you a base to work off of. As such, this is not an arguement about "who can beat who". It's a thread about sharing things that have and have not worked for you in PvP encounters. No one in this game has won every fight they get into. It just won't happen. There are too many variables, which is what makes this game great.

As for the GM gear comment, most of us here know that being a Grand Marshal/High Warlord often doesn't reflect on the skill of the player. :wink:

[DarksideKarma]

Coming from another Rogue my opinions and experiences on the classes go as followed:

Mage: Mages to me are generally an easy fight if I have Vanish and my PvP trinket up. I open with Ambush and move into a gouge. Gouge can't be blinked out of unlike cheapshot or kidney shot (waste of combo points on a mage unless already blinked) and I wait for energy regeneration. I'll toss a backstab and potentially be at 5 combo points after already doing ~3000 damage if Ambush/backstab crit. If the mage Frost Nova's at this point I cold blood and try and eviscerate. If they blink before I get the eviscerate off I vanish and cheapshot then eviscerate. If the Mage blinks immediately Im ready for a Polymorph, if they're almost dead i break it right away and finish them off.

Warlocks: Warlocks are generally a tough opponent regardless of the spec. If its a SL lock I try and get an expose armor on as quick as possible to increase the damage directly effecting them. I break as many fears as possible with WoTF and PvP trinket. I usually neglect the stunlock against them because deathcoil is going to allow them to get their 3 dots and a shadowbolt regardless of if I open with cheap shot or Ambush. Spell alert will tell you what spells are going up, I try and kick fear and shadowbolt and just backstab them down with expose armor and cold blood eviscerates.

For non Soul Link Warlocks i'll DPS hard still to keep them backpedeling. They have a lot more DPS and less hit points so I need to kill them quicker before they can really hurt me. Again i'll open with Ambush and either move into a gouge or do another instant backstab and wait for the deathcoil/fear. When it breaks i'll sprint in and try and CB eviscerate for the finisher or die trying.

Priests: Against Holy/Disc priests as long as you keep your energy over 45 the entire time they're an easy class for us to kill. I open with Ambush and backstab and do as much damage as I can before the fear comes. As soon as it does I pop WoTF so i'm close enough to kick a flash heal. If you screw up your timing you're done cause they'll just cast another. From there you can either CB eviscerate and finish them or pop a kidney shot. After the kick I generally wait til full energy so I can backstab and if they go for another heal gouge.

Shadow is a little different and I treat them like Soul Link Warlocks as in I pop an expose armor to drop their damage mitigation a lot. Most of them are pretty easy since I'm undead and don't have to deal with devouring plague. In duels though using expose armor really helps out and I can dish out enough damage to drop them before they drop me. Energy conservation isn't as important since their only heal is vampiric embrace/dots/devouring plague.

Druids: Druids I find to be one of the easiest classes for me to kill/duel. Any Druid found caught in caster form is dead in a matter of seconds. If they're quick to react and NS heal to full. That's one less heal you have to worry about, just stun them in caster form and they go back down to low hitpoints in no time. If you happen to start off with them in bear form. I open with cheapshot and pop an expose armor on them. I try and save evasion for when the Druid is sitting at about 35-40% I'll try and anticpate when a bash is going to come. If I get off my evasion when they're that low, I can finish the fight off without them being able to heal except for a frenzied regeneration. If they land a bash it can get tricky. They get back up to full life and back into bear form. Even if you're farie fired you can still vanish and remove roots you just wont enter stealth. Save blind for when you aren't with moonfire so you can heal. If you're rooted and they back up to heal then starfire/wrath. Check your stealth icon, even though the root is hurting you you'll be taken out of combat in enough time and you can stealth to interrupt their casting until the dot hits again. Flash bombs are your best friend. They can be used by anybody not just engineers and are easily made. It's a 10 second fear on bear/cat/travel form druids (NOT MOONKIN UNFORTUNATELY) that doesn't break early.


Rogues: Rogue vs Rogue fights are opener dependant a vast majority of the time. Engineering can guarantee the win with catseye goggles. Openers of choice are cheapshot, and I like to throw thorium grenades into my stunlock to bridge the gap between kidney shot and gouge. Rupture to remove the ability for them to Vanish long, evasion for Gouge and Blind and Vanish - Cheapshot to stop an evasion (can't dodge when stunned). When 1.10 comes out it's going to be a little more strategic since evasion won't stop Blind (will only be able to miss, can't be dodged/parried/blocked) now.

Hunters: Good Hunters are the bane of my existance. There are two different types, dueling a Hunter and pvping a Hunter. Dueling a Hunter is annoying since they have a trap flared and sit on it waiting for you to come out. You can Ice Reflector it, Barov trinket the trap, or Sprint and Sap them and pray you break first. With sprint you can sap them most of the time even if they flare the area (guessing because of lag) from there on it's whoever gets out first usually, then the kiting game begings. If they know how to kite you're pretty screwed. Feign Death/Trap and Scatter shot give them the room they need to get out of your melee range.

In open PvP it can be a little easier unless you're up against a dwarf or somebody who knows what they're doing. Even getting the opener any break in a stunlock will let them scatter shot you away and give them range. Elixir of poison resistance after a scatter shot will remove the snare and with AoC they're gone. Trap dropped now without having to blow FD with distance is a death sentence. If they're Dwarf they'll save their stoneform for when you attempt to blind them or if they have multiple poison resistance elixirs they'll down another (not on potion timer).

Paladins: Reckoning Bomb and Trinket Paladins are rough for me. There's a few Paladins that are in full Judgment with ToEP and ZHC and can one shot me with Hammer of Justice at 50% life. One has Ashkhandi and will melee for a few before stunning me and trinket holy shock/judge/hammer of justice. The rest of them are pretty easy. You have to go through sometimes two lives with them. Thankfully forbearance was added and they can only use their shield 1 minute after they've used their first. The invisibile shield that only stops melee attacks can be blinded through. If they use this shield they're done for. The other one you should back up and heal. I use expose armor on these guys as well and save up a 5 point kidney shot for when I have full energy.

Warriors are tricky. It requires kiting and learning the intercept range and stance changes. Assume 2 handed warriors are always in berserker stance to break gouge. In this stance they can intercept but can't overpower. I like to toss an evasion before the kidney shot wears off so I can dodge any hamstring/mortal strikes/whirlwinds etc. If I don't have that right before the kidney shot comes i'll back out of melee range and try and hover out of intercept range and either restealth or regen energy and stun cooldowns. It's kind of like a hit and run tactic cause a few hits from these guys will drop you good.

[JosefK]

Me, being a pally (but not whining), can actually exploit general pally hatred in AB by pulling horde players away from nodes. Just do a seemingly over-comfident attack alone, then do stunning, shielding, healing and cleansing to hold agro and stay alive. Run away when they get excited, and sometimes you get pursued by lots of hordes, leaving the flag unattended, for your rogues to capture.(Leaving your designated flag in AB is the worst sin ever). Keep running till you die, or find some friends to help gank hordies. If they give you upp and return, follow them back, attack, emote and yell, this usually gives you agro again.(Yes,sometimes it is that easy). As long as you get more than 1 guy to leave flag, odds are shifted in your teams favor. Down side, after 2 minutes, you cant hold more than 2 hordies, and die.

[Raistlin Majere]

For rogues that attempt to vanish out of my roots, I always cast Nature's Grasp or start casting my roots as soon as I snag them to burn their vanish. And like a rogue, I can pull MASSIVE crits on my opponents.

[DarksideKarma]

For rogues that attempt to vanish out of my roots, I always cast Nature's Grasp or start casting my roots as soon as I snag them to burn their vanish. And like a rogue, I can pull MASSIVE crits on my opponents.

So you remain in caster form with Nature's grasp on? If I find a Druid in caster form they're below 20% when I finish my opening sequence, or are you one of the rare moonkin? In a dueling situation if you aren't starting in Bear Form it's going to be a quick fight. I'm out of Nature's grasp while you're still sitting in cheap shot, you don't have the time to cast a root.

[Raistlin Majere]

So you remain in caster form with Nature's grasp on? If I find a Druid in caster form they're below 20% when I finish my opening sequence, or are you one of the rare moonkin? In a dueling situation if you aren't starting in Bear Form it's going to be a quick fight. I'm out of Nature's grasp while you're still sitting in cheap shot, you don't have the time to cast a root.
Nah, I cast them after getting a stun or between forms. a good root can mean 30 seconds of room to heal. After catching them, I start casting again to catch them when they burn their trinket. Matters on the rogue in peticular. If the guy is clueless, I'm gonna have some fun with him. If he is a Bloodfang geared rogue, I'm gonna drop him ASAP.

[swaldman]

Mage

Pally's - They are a lot fo fun. Poly, combustion pyroblast, fireball, fireball, fireblast, wait for them to shield/heal themselves, repeat. Frost nova them in place and blink out of their hammer of justices. Keep Distance and conserve mana. If they are shielded, DO NOT SPAM DAMAGE on them. Tahts a sure fire way to lose your mana quickly, which means you are dead.


I'm not too experienced at PvP, so maybe I'm missing something... but the two times that I've duelled mages, things have been the other way round... my own mage is only lvl 14 so I'm sure there's a hell of a lot that I don't know.

A pally who is on the ball is going to ignore frost nova. If he can keep close to you and keep hitting you with a fast weapon (possibly with the Seal of Justice stuns every few hits), how are you going to unload all of the above?

When fighting mages I've reflected that the way to beat me is probably to:
1. Keep track of Blessing of Freedom - it has a 10 sec duration and 20 sec cooldown (IIRC), so you can succesfully Frost Nova for up to half of the battle if you get this right.
2. Guess when I'm about to bubble, and silence me. One dead paladin coming up :-(

[DarksideKarma]

Nah, I cast them after getting a stun or between forms. a good root can mean 30 seconds of room to heal. After catching them, I start casting again to catch them when they burn their trinket. Matters on the rogue in peticular. If the guy is clueless, I'm gonna have some fun with him. If he is a Bloodfang geared rogue, I'm gonna drop him ASAP.

I just don't see it happening. Druid duels go as follows for me: Druid starts in bear, I open in front of Druid. If Natures grasp kicks in, out comes a gouge and Vanish into an ambush. I drop an expose armor and tool around with the Druid and build back up 5 combo points. By this time the Druid is usually at anywhere from 70-50% life. At around 50% I have full energy and 5 combo points if I haven't been bashed yet it's GG. Kidney shot + 3 backstabs and an evasion followed by CB Eviscerate usually ruins them. If not its frenzied regeneration and i'll just Blind to stop DPS and Rage intake. Then repeat opener, but their life is too low. This drops Feral 10k armor Druids as I have no problems with them. Resto and Balance Druids are that much easier as they have no where near that armor.

[moopy]

Me, being a pally (but not whining), can actually exploit general pally hatred in AB by pulling horde players away from nodes. Just do a seemingly over-comfident attack alone, then do stunning, shielding, healing and cleansing to hold agro and stay alive.

/salute

I don't have many horde characters, so I don't often get to kill pallies. However, an intelligently-played pally can be a total pig to kill, and as such, generally brightens my day, love a challenge :grin:

It only recently struck me that this was the chief advantage of my Horde PvP alt, I had the added interest of fighting a class which previously was only hostile when MCed.

[DarksideKarma]

Geared Paladins are unbeatable for me if they've specced into Holy/Retribution. The Hammer of Justice/Judgement of Command/Holy Shock/melee hit is just too much to take. Especially with ToEP and ZHC.

[Raistlin Majere]

I just don't see it happening. Druid duels go as follows for me: Druid starts in bear, I open in front of Druid. If Natures grasp kicks in, out comes a gouge and Vanish into an ambush. I drop an expose armor and tool around with the Druid and build back up 5 combo points. By this time the Druid is usually at anywhere from 70-50% life. At around 50% I have full energy and 5 combo points if I haven't been bashed yet it's GG. Kidney shot + 3 backstabs and an evasion followed by CB Eviscerate usually ruins them. If not its frenzied regeneration and i'll just Blind to stop DPS and Rage intake. Then repeat opener, but their life is too low. This drops Feral 10k armor Druids as I have no problems with them. Resto and Balance Druids are that much easier as they have no where near that armor.I see where you are going. But the way I usually time it, after FF, the second roots procs the second they get out of the first one. Plus I usually have a distance on them, with dash and a stun ready in case they get out. This is only for duels, open PvP is different. In BG's I usually jump rogues when they are stomping a teammate, heal them, and take on the Shammie coming to back up the rogue.

[Aiyana]

I have a 56 undead lock on a pvp server in a pvp heavy end-game guild. Duels are not pvp. Locks are very tough to beat in a duel because they can prepare for the fight. I'm going to just talk about 1v1 fair fights. Whatever class you are, if you gank you should always win.

All Locks will try to fear/seduce kite you. If the lock (or any class for that matter) is able to keep you kited, you lose. Ops (opponents) must have a way to silence the caster or break out of fear. It is important to note, you can only be CC (crowd controled) 3 times before you become immune.

I expect the 1st fear to last no more than 1.5s before it is broken. I'll use the 2nd fear to bandage - bolt, or wip out a very damaging soul fire (high damage/long cast), the 3rd fear is another bolt. This is the standard seduce n' nuke strategy. If you don't break fear be prepared to deal w/ upwards of 2000 hp in burst dmg by any spec lock. Death coil is used to gain health & give some room to cast a fear.

Lock pets are very situational. The imp gives good burst, the suc gives seduce & decent dps, the void gives a shield but no dpd, & the felhunter eats casters for lunch. The pet a lock has out will determine how the lock fights, & how you should fight the lock.

On a side note, if the lock is really pissed he'll summon an infernal (1hr cooldown). The infernal is VERY resistant to stuns & magic. The best you can hope for here is to run, or kill the lock right before the infernal pummels you into the ground. It's also fun to watch what happens when an infernal is let lose in the middle of a lowbie town like the XR. Mass murder until he goes away.

Locks have the biggest variety of builds. There are at least 8 perfectly viable builds. In pvp you will usually see one of these 4 builds: Shadow Mastery / Ruin (SM/Ruin), Soul Link / Nightfall (SL/NF), SL/Destruction, & Heavy Destruction. Each lock build has it's strenghs & weaknesses. These can be exploited FTW!

The SM/Ruin build is a very popular build that can be used well in pve & pvp. The lock is able to drain tank, can get an instant cast shadowbolt, & can kite you with Curse of Exhaustion (12s, 30% speed reduction). Crits deal 2x dmg w/ ruin & there is the instant cast burst dmg shadowburn.

SL/NF is the outlast build. SL gives 30% of all damage to pet & +3% dmg done by pet & lock. SL also gives master demonologist which gives -20% threat w/ imp, -10% physical dmg w/ void, +10% all dmg w/ suc, & +60 resistance to all spells w/ fel. The lock also has the ability to summon any pet w/ a 0.5s cast & 90% mana reduction (15 min. cooldown). Expect this fight to take awhile. The lock can have upwards of 10000 equivalent hp if played right. If you are a caster & the felhunter is out, it will be a very tough battle. SL works well w/ nightfall & drain tanking. The health you do deal is given back to the lock all while his dots are ticking away w/ the occasional instant shadowbolt.

SL/Dest lets the lock do more burst dmg. Cool down on shadowbolt/immolate is reduced & bursts dmg is improved in general.

A heavy destruction build is the lock equivalent of a mage. Insane burst dmg is where this build shines. Kill/heal/silence the lock FAST! If you are a caster or rogue, you have at most 6s to live. This build focuses on fire dmg & tends to burn through shards quickly w/ shadowburn. The imp is often used to conserve soul shards & for it's vastly improved burst dmg w/ this build. The caveat to all this burst is it's lack of mana efficiency.

Any pvp battle is about who has control. If you don't gain control of the fight, you will lose everytime.

[EphemeralIntelligence]

Wtch out for Deathcoil too. It was better before the nerf (turned from Horror into Fear so it can be broken), but it is still a very nice spell. Deathcoil can take you from near perfect stun-lock to full control in a push of a button.

[Ammon]

I've had some fun on my mage , and some fast deaths :laugh:
if im able to cast a fireball on a single target (they dont know im shooting) , ive often followed with a pom pyro then a fireblast , so many people died at that point. , if still alive get in there with CoC and an IAE or two.
this is in 40-49 AB though.

mages , .. ics then get in there spamming fireblast CoC IAE , while making certain to be running/jumping through my opponent , ran in to a few to many casters who try to use "cast time" spells like fireball or frost bolt its plain unreal.

Priests , that damn silence , i got stomped 1v1 , hah.

Whole groups of enemy players ? , well that jumping aroud spamming IAE & FN is dead amusing , often fatal but certainly helps my team bring that group of enemies down.
Im going a bit further down the fire tree for blast Wave to throw in to the mix for AoEing the opponents. (my survival is less important than the team)

oh if anyone has any further tips i would appreciate it , im having a blast on my mage since i practically retired my rogue Ammon :)

[thomas hansen]

warlock.
i am a lvl 45 demonolegy warlock adn i get beaten by the most classes is it me that suck in duel or am i doing wrong?

1.curse of agony
2.corruption
3.death coil
4.immolate
5.fear
6.shadow bolt
7.searing pain
8.fear again
9.shadow bolt :) any recomendations?

[Ammon]

Im no warlock player , but from what ive read id say you should hold death coil in reserve , act without it until your in danger of losing , then fire it off , fear and drain life ect & totally turn the tables on your opponent.

[EphemeralIntelligence]

Have your Succy out. When you run into someone, CoS them, Seduce. Shadowbolt. Reseduce. Shadowbolt. Reseduce. Now you can dot up, since theywill be immune to a fourth seduce. From there, let your pet beat on them, keep dots up and pause to SP whenever you can. If they get you down too far, Deathcoil. Easy as that. That'll take care of most classes and players without incident. Of course, once you start fighting skilled players it's another ballgame altogether.

[EphemeralIntelligence]

----{Double post}----

[Ammon]

Oh yeah , As a mage , how the hell am i meant to stop druid flag runners in wsg.
they innately kill poly and frost nova by shapeshifting and carry right on with doing what they do best , running away :(

unless pom pyro crits and is enough they leave me for dust every time.

[Aerath]

Oh yeah , As a mage , how the hell am i meant to stop druid flag runners in wsg.
they innately kill poly and frost nova by shapeshifting and carry right on with doing what they do best , running away :(

unless pom pyro crits and is enough they leave me for dust every time.

Yer not. Unfortunately for you, Mage is one of the classes that least worries a druid.

[oramac]

ok didnt see many pally responses to this. i am a 10/0/41 ret pally atm with 1/8 T2 and random purples, blues. i'll go over each class as I would handle it. personally i prefer to attempt to win w/o using my bubble at all. i will use it, but generally only as a last resort. one more note: NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, STOP MOVING!!!!! this is the single best way to get killed.

DISCLAIMER: this is not how all pallys will handle a fight, nor is it how all pallys SHOULD handle a fight.......

mage: more than likely they will poly/pyroblast to open. there are 2 ways i use to counter this. trinket out of poly and start a holy light BEFORE he finishes pyroblast, so that you get hit, but have as much HP as possible to start. then immediately hit blessing of freedom as most mages i go against will try to frostbolt/frost nova me to the ground. judge w/e seal you like, or none at all. i use JotC for the 3% crit. the other oprion is to bubble out of poly as the pyroblast finishes casting, but before it reaches you. requires timing, but it really pisses em off. and it gives you 12 seconds of full health full mana, cant-be-stunned/slowed beating the tar out of em. downside is it burns a CD.

lock: toughest fight for a pally IMO. if they're fel guard spec, HoJ the lock and kill the Guard. it does a hefty amount of damage and the intercept is annoying. if you have time, heal after killing the guard. after this, you will have to trinket out of a fear to attempt to do anything. unfortunatly pallys dont have the burst damage needed to burn down a locks HP between fears. if anyone has better ideas for locks, im all ears.

rogue: generally an easy fight for me. they will almost always open with cheap shot. just wait it out and when it wears off DO NOT EVER FACE THEM!!! always try to stay behind or to the sides to prevent gouge. spam rank 1 consecrate to prevent vanishing. remember to control them as they will try to control you. use HoJ and/or Repentance to stun/heal, and attack if you have time. if a rogue can stunlock you, he can kill you, unless you bubble. as i said i prefer not to do that in 1v1.

shammy: tough. they will try to slow you (as will pretty much every other class) and they will heal through our mediocre damage. the key here is OUTLAST OUTLAST OUTLAST. let them burn through their mana while you heal through their damage, THEN try to kill em when they're oom. stuns come in quite handy as a heal breaker, and can be a good time for you to heal too.

druid: usually pretty easy 1v1. feral is generally no contest. IDK if i've never fought a good feral druid or what, but 1v1 i can generally take them out w/o losing more than 1/2 life. OOMkin are the same way. resto is another story. they will usually pop bear form to mitigate dmg and try to outlast you as you will try to outlast them. this is a LONG DAMN fight. they will go between bear and caster to heal and mitigate and eventually run you out of mana. you have to prevent this. stuns, Judge wisdom, and bless of freedom to counter roots are good.

priest: is he shadow? if so, easy kill. just outlast their mana and then kill em. that simple. if they're smart they will try to mana drain you. this is dispellable if i remember right. if he's holy, run away. he can go from squat HP and mana to full HP in no time, and we cant burst down their perma bubble fast enough to do enough damage to em. im sure theres a way to beat em, but i havent found it yet.

hunter: blessing of freedom. blessing of freedom. blessing of freedom. there said it 3 times. you should remember it now. 99% of hunters i see are full MM specced. get close and they cant really do any melee damage. they will use scatter shot. just wait for it and use BoF to counter the concussive shot that is coming. cleanse viper sting if they use it, most dont. IDK why. the odd hunter that is full BM spec can do some pretty nasty damage and cant be stunned. outlast his mana pool (generally not hard) and then kill him. if hes BM spec ho doesnt have silencing shot, so no worries there. survival hunters are REALLLY rare, but can do moderate melee damage, and you're probably not expecting it. same as a BM hunter. outlast his mana and he's an easy kill.

pally: hope he's ret spec. otherwise you'll be either dead in the duel, or dead from the boredom of a 3 hour duel. basically this is a fight of mana bars. whoevers lasts longer wins. that simple.

warrior: MS can be a problem. they hit hard and reduce our healing by 50%. best bet is to stun/heal every time the stun is up. they will usually hamstring you. this isnt that big a deal since both classes pretty much have to be in melee range to do anything. if anything it gives the pally the advantage. our judgements have a 10 yard range, but melee range is shorter than that. back off and judge SoC on him once or twice if possible, then get back in melee range. prot, just chip away at them and heal when needed. they do 10% less damage and have no way to heal. usually an easy kill as long as your smart about it. fury is tough. sometimes they can do enough burst that the fight is over before you know it started. others they dont do **** and you can chip away as usual.

[Yakeshi]

After an extensive amount of PvP I have had to learn quite a few things the hard way. An amazing amount of people realy arn't to great at it, either they don't have enough time to die over and over again and thus learning through experience or just don't have the natural aptitude for it but would still like to learn.

In my opinion no one is ever the best and there is always someone better out there and one should NEVER shy from learning more. In light of this I am hoping that those of you who have stratagies and methods for taking on certain classes with your chosen class and exploiting your foe's class weaknesses will share them here. Also posting your own classes weaknesses will be helpfull to those of us who don't play your class.

Please, please avoid flaming! This thread has the potential to turn nasty if someone thinks another person's methods are not up to par. If you are not going to offer constructive advice please don't post! I will post a few fundimentals and a few Rogue Vs other classes stratagies when I have had time to compile some information. Unless one of you beats me to it :grin:

I'm a rogue and my favorite class to duel/kill is Warriors. Yes, I am crazy. :P
LEVEL 32

Paladin=Start off stealthed. Cheap shot, dismantle, gouge, backstab/sinister strike. be sure to kick a healing spell, in case they use Hammer of Justice. If they cast Hammer b4 heal, kick hammer, then gouge their heal. Evasion if spells are used b4 kick recovers, if they try to heal, gouge them. If hammer, you have evasion ready. If hammer hits, Vanish, then ambush, sinister strike, gouge, run re-stealth, cheap shot then Expose Armor, kick cast if used, wait for energy. When energy recovers gouge, then back stab, then finish with Eviscerate. :shocked:

Priests=... Do I really need to say anything? :tongue:

Mage=Stealth[Master of Deception 3, Camoflauge 3] and Sprint[Glyph of Sprint], then Ambush, then when they turn around gouge, classic backstab if you got time, if not sinister strike before stun wears off. Kick first spell, sinister strike, pop a gouge, wait right before stun wears off again, then Kidney Shot, and heal any minor damages(i.e. bandage, potion Lifeblood. these spells and items were meant to be used, and by Elune, I'ma use 'em) by now they should be almost dead, and you're kick should be cooled-down, wait for energy, if they try to cast kick, if they flee, you should have crippling poison on. Gouge at full energy, back stab ASAP and finish with Eviscerate[Improved Eviscerate Rank 3, Glyph of Eviscerate]. :evil:

Shamans=Basically same deal with mages, if they have reincarnation up, stealth right after first kill and Cheap Shot, then gouge when turn around... e.t.c.... :undecided:

Warlock=Sprint and stealth to them cheap shot their minion, kick them if they cast, gouge, backstab if possible, if not sinister strike right before stun breaks. Vanish, then cheap shot pet e.t.c.... After this round, [i.e. when you're Vanish is on cool-down] gouge them, have crippling poison on in case of fear, evasion if they fear before you're kick is cooled-down, if they hit, run, stealth and repeat above tactic. pot, or bandage behind obstacle if available, if not, use best pot. Repeat first sentence instructions.

Warriors=Stealth, Ambush, dismantle, gouge, back stab/sinister strike. Sinister Strike, expose armor, vanish. Wait for energy, if the get close use distraction and sprint away to safe location. When energy is back, garrote[yeah, i know... but just keep going...;)] gouge, back stab/sinister strike. Sinister Strike Rupture[told ya. :D]

Druids=Do not stealth. Sprint then gouge to prevent bestial form change. Vanish then cheap shot, then sinister strike, then Kidney shot. Then dismantle. Sinister strike them, then pop a gouge, backstab/sinister strike then Expose Armor. Evasion if they go feral. Kick a heal. If rooted, use thrown. Repeat above strategy, excluding Vanish part. Instead just ignore it completely. Gouge, sinister strike, kidney shot. Then dismantle... e.t.c....

Hunters= Do. Not. I am Dead serious. Do. Not. Please.

WEAKNESSES:

Paladins=Judgement of Light, ASAP. Basic melee, if kicked, use hammer or healing, if gouged, Hand of Freedom, then hammer ASAP. Repeat. If they cool-down b4 u, be sure to have specced in Spiritual Focus[Rank 5]. Heal ASAP. Hammer if they kick heal, then I hope you have specced in Stoicism[Rank 3]as well, cuz they are gonna gouge for sure.

Priest=... Are you serious?

Mages=Keep me rooted, slowed and I'm doomed. Doomed! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!! :P

Shamans=Keep healing totem up if u have one at this level, if not keep movement slowing totem up. Keep healing or trying to, if kicked, ghost wolf then run away till heal available again. If sprint-chased, go near movement slowing totem. Keep running till sprint wears off. If you are going to die, die near totem, so when you self-resurrect you can get away a little easier. Heal ASAP if resurrected. Do not use ghost wolf when resurrected[less it is insta-cast, then just with-in totem's reach then heal]. Keep firing lightning bolts in spare time. Stay good distance away from rogue, but close enough so totem affects him. You should spend a good time on a duel with a rogue you're level, but with this strategy, hopefully you'll win or bore him to death. :P

Warlock=Fear. If starts stealthed, be sure to have Felhunter out. Rain of fire, if you can't detect, but you should save your mana. Fear when detected if possible. Over-curse/spam curse him/her. Do not let them get close. Use minion as a meat-shield. If minion low on health, use Fear, then demonic sacrifice. Rogue will move in close. Use fear. Keep DoT's up as well as curses. Free time cast shadowbolt if you can afford it, if not, keep running. If sprinted, fear. When demonic sacrifice wears off, fear then mana pot, or drink. Keep fearing and cursing and DoT'ing and you should be fine.

Warrior=Start with lots of rage. Use thunderclap when suspected. If fails, spin around constantly. Rend, when you think they are going to vanish. Keep rage up with rage pots or rage abilities. Thunderclap, if they stealth immediately. Use Heroic Strike every now and then, if they sprint and evasion, hamstring then spam rend for unavoidable damage while evading. When evade and sprint wear off, hit them with a Heroic Strike. Then use thunderclap and hamstrings in cooperation. Throw in a rend if you can afford it, and finish with another Heroic Strike.

Druid=Start off in caster, quickly cast root, cast a few wrath's, then when root is about to wear off, throw on an HoT, and go bestial melee. You should be able to beat them easily in bestial form.

Hunters=... What? You really need an explanation on how to beat a rogue? Didn't think so.

[Phalak]

Only real way to beat a pally is kiting.

[prion]

hammer of justice is instant cast, you cannot interrupt it.

[Wintrow]

hammer of justice is instant cast, you cannot interrupt it.

Maybe he was talking about Hammer of Wrath? Who knows... seems like a non-sensical holy-thread-resurrection-batman post to me

/shrug