Priest Survival Series - Shaman
Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, Priest Survival Series, PvP, World of Warcraft
Welcome to another addition of the priest survival series! With the expansion around the corner, I figured it would be better to wrap up this series as soon as possible to make room for Priest Survival Series 2.0 ala WotLK.
First things first, let’s examine the differences in Shaman specs. Unlike Paladins, shaman can either be a handful in 1 on 1(enhancement) or a cakewalk(resto, but annoying!). This isn’t to say that any 1 on 1 battle against another opponent will be more or less, it largely depends on their skill and your awareness. Let’s jump right in!
Enhancement
You’ll be able to spot these guys easily, they sport two weapons! Most important to watch is that they have below 8k mana. This is an important area to watch for one simple reason! MANA BURNZ! That’s right folks, you’ll be juggling three tasks to bring down these dual wielding punks:
- Mana Burn
- Totem Killing
- Fearing
You’re best defenses don’t work against a good shaman. Don’t bother putting up shield or renew (unless rank 1, be mindful of global cooldown) it’ll just get purged. Juggle AE fear and mana burn. Drop the AE bomb after killing their tremor totem if any. Juggle mana burn and healing as you need to. The trick will be fighting on your territory… that’s at range against enhancement.
Summary:
- Kill grounding and tremor totems. You should have a fast melee weapon, right click it.
- Constantly move, Shamans are really good once they get their totems up, if you can kyte em, you’ll win.
- Drain their mana. Enhancement shamans have low mana reservers. It’s to your benefit to take this resource from them.
- Do not let your health drop below 50%. Those windfury crits will burst you down before you can say OMG I JUST GOT BURST DOWN REALLY QUICK BY AN ENHANCEMENT SHAMAN 3 times fast.
Elemental/Resto
These guys are very similar. In 1 on 1, you’ll do the same routine as above! Burn burn burn!
Resto will have access to Tide and Ele will be constantly lightning bolt spamming you. You don’t want to wait for either. The great aspect of fighting Ele and Resto shaman is that you CAN use you’re regular defense. Shield up, drop a renew and cast through the first lightning bolt or two. Get in both of their faces in 1 on 1. Keep them on their toes and they’ll make a mistake. Again you’ll fear bomb, burn their mana, top off your life and finish them off.
Note: Against elemental shaman it is particularly important to be IN THEIR FACE! They will destroy you in a casting contest, don’t let it happen. Force them to use their shocks! It’ll force a gcd and interrupt the lightning spam. Always remember you can win!
Summary:
- Get in their face. Lightning bolt is a longer cast than spec’d mana burn. Use it to your advantage.
- Don’t let them chain spam. You can hide behind your shield for about 2k damage, that’s roughly 2 casts.
- Mana burn until you’re blue in the face. Keep their mana low.
WOTLK Priest PVP Set - First look and thoughs
Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, PvP, World of Warcraft
I recently happened upon a Spooncraft article regarded the beta pvp armor sets. It was most interesting to view the way the equipment was and will change for the new expansion. I’d like to note that none of this is final, only conjecture. Here is the link to the images of the beta blue healing priest pvp set. What you’ll notice most is the addition of the Spirit stat!
This has many implications. The addition of a traditionally high pve stat to the pvp set means you likely will be able to keep less extra equipment sets on your person. This isn’t to say that new PVP gear will be a suitable substitute for regular PVE gear. Only that as a primarily PVP player, you will be able to pick and choose which pieces you want to wear. That is a huge distinction from previous tiers.
While its true, I don’t raid anything beyond the occasional TK/SSC run. What I do know is that I wear my PVP set all the time and I have a PVE heal set with plenty more MP5 and spirit in my bags. With the addition of spirit to my pvp set, I can at least perform moderately well in guild heroic runs without having to store an extra set of armor on my person. In addition I’d like to point to the extra talent palette each character is likely to have post expansion. Which will make having a PVP talent spec in Disc and a PVE holy talent set possible without much hassle.
Doesn’t this excite you?
Week 2 - S4 - PR
Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, PvP, World of Warcraft
Huzzah!
As my rogue friend and I were waiting for our mage to log in commence with the evening of 3v3 prep, we decided to warm up with 2v2. Holy COWTHULU and a bucket of bolts we owned! We ended the evening 11-2 with a rating of 1611! Items galore! Ugly purple chest here I come… maybe!
We made one major change in our tactic and it proved fruitful. We flocked.
Flocking: The ability for an arena team to stay close enough together that help/support/burn down can occur within 2 seconds. Basically for all you disc priests out there, remain mindful of LoS to control ranged DPS, and stay close to your team mates.
S4 Titles and me!
Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, PvP, World of Warcraft
all that hard work during the last two weeks of season 3 really paid off. My 3v3 team ended with challenger titles. We were ecstatic!
On another note: Holy crap! Lock, Druid, SPriest is one tough cookie to crack.
Week 1 - S4 - RMP
Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, PvP, World of Warcraft
BAM!
Amazing! Simply amazing! We dipped as low as 1478 yesterday. We came back and conquered. The second to last fight we ended at 1548. In an attend to not jix it, I yelled “2 POINTS!”. We were all in agreeement and queued again. We rocked the next team.
We ended at 1562! What an epic night!
