Continued from last week’s article….

Warrior:

Arms- Currently a little lackluster compared to fury…the bladestorm is gimmicky in that if you miss then you are pretty much screwed. Currently warriors get sat on because the stance penalties haven’t changed. But as predicted there will be stance changes in the upcoming patch. Come 3.1.

Fury- This is a tree not to be trifled with. With the hit penalty off these warriors can burst people within a few gcd’s. coupled with the new ms effect these warriors are good in arena…especially when they are geared…nothing gayer than facing a team of 28k hp fury warrior, dk and 24k hp holy pally…

Protection- I could see this be more viable in 5’s because of the aoe reflect spell for teammates. But in 2’s or 3’s…maaaybe especially if the enemy has no healer you can slowly whittle them down.

more class startegies after the break

Warlock:

Affliction- Currently UA/SL is very popular because it protects your dots and you have instant aoe fear…a good warlock with 800-900 resil with around 24k hp can be a very formidable opponent…especially teamed with a holy pally and rogue…the synergy with stun hammer blind and fear is just amazing and the damage output is just ridiculous. In the next patch siphon life and corruption will count as 1 gcd aka both spells combined.

Demonology- Can do decent damage but if cc’d in meta form it’ll be hard uphill battle after it wears off.

Destruction- Can do nice burst with a immolate fear death coil shadow bolt conflage shadow burn combo, if not then toss in a chaos bolt that will crit for like 8k. SIT ON THESE GUYS or your teammates will blow up and get molested with cc’s

Mage:

Arcane- el oh el…probably the most bursty class atm…especially with the new arcane blast spec? you can crit someones face for 14k+ with a pom blast…which you can follow up with an arcane barrage and other crazy instant damages…these guys also have good defense mechanisms so its very hard to choose who you want to target because an ice block means your team wasted time dps and allowing their other members to freely dps or heal. And their vanish is also a life saver if paired up with mirror images.

Fire- Needs more defense mechanisms, perhaps like a firewall? Or cube? Iono but you don’t see very many of these at all. If anything these mages will be frostfire spec.

Frost- very good with haste gear but you need good team coordination…especially with CC’s so you can stand there and cast. If you are getting sat on constantly then your dps will be very low throughout the whole game.

Hunters:

Beast- after the double bm nerf there aren’t that many bm hunters anymore. These are just good for pve damage.

Marks- the other 2 trees beat this tree in pvp and pve…

Survival- with the new buffs hunters received they can last a ridiculously long time. Having traps, scatter shot, wyvern sting, deterrence, and a disengage…they can be one of the most annoying classes to fight against…especially when they have that monkey dodge glyph…when they dodge an attack they get 30% move speed for 6 seconds…its like almost impossible for melee to catch them now…and explosive shot is the new arcane barrage on crack…does physical and magical damage…which means cloak of shadows doesn’t remove it and it goes through BoP. They have the most utility in arena…with mana drain and anti melee and MS? What more could I say…

Death Knight:

Blood- very strong spec now, especially when it hits 2 targets…so when people are clumped up, summon your dancing rune weapon cast hysteria and unleash hell. Only downside of this spec is that its physical heavy…so against plate classes it’ll be harder to burst down…o and the lack of snares…the constant need to spam chain is really annoying.

Frost- can be very good if coupled with a mage or rogue for coordinated burst. The AoE CC can be amazing if used correctly due to the fact that it doesn’t have that divine hymn debuff where the affected targets receive 30% less damage after waking up.

Unholy- still pretty good even after the nerf but very disease dependant spec to do good damage. One of the best things is the snare from desecration…out of all the specs I’ve played…desecration has to be the most OP thing…a portable and spammable frost trap…helps peel for your teammates like crazy and coupled with a well timed ghoul stun? Its pretty hard to get away from a UH DK.

Arcane missiles, go!

Boy, do things die!  The whole rotation revolves around 6 skills, sadly.  Cast Slow, pop Arcane Power, Arcane Barrage, PoM Pyro, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Missiles, throw in a Counterspell and Sheep in there and usually something dies.  I actually felt less skilled than before.  Currently, the whole WoW community is complaining about damage scaling much higher than survivability and I’d have to agree.

For games that DON’T end in 10 seconds, I usually lack the survivability (and mad crazy skillzzz) to live.  I still have a LOT to learn as far as mage goes but for the moment, Arcane is a good time killer.  Most mages plan on going 20-0-51 Frost PvP spec with Torment of the Weak and I do plan on finishing with it, but for the meantime Arcane will be my nub friendly spec!

For an example of a pretty awesome mage using arcane spec (as of this posting), have no fear and look up Pookx.

Be back in a month!

Season 5 Arena is scheduled to begin on Dec. 16.  What combos will emerge as the new OP contenders?  What underdog class will arise from the ashes and make a comeback into arena popularity?  What new classes will the e-stars play?  With about a month break till the 5th Arena Season takes place, what are you doing to prepare for the upcoming season?

When you play arena, it is one way to think that, it is just a game, you friend’s will be okay about you ditching them for someone better.  Many may have the mind set of  “GO GLAD OR GO HOME” or may say to their friends “DON’T GET MAD, GET GLAD”.  I see how this is a difficult situation to choose from, because you can hurt friends this way when you leave them for someone else that is better.

In the end, say to yourself. “your friend left you for another player. he’s is not your significant other, and overall.. ITS JUST A GAME, GET OVER IT”

The Brutal Gladiator 2-handers are also available without arena requirements, but still require the arena points to be purchased.  The off-hand Hunter axe is free as well.

Blizzard will probably put a hot fix in soon, so nab them while you can!