How do I improve in World of Warcraft's PvP?
Tired of getting rekt in WoW? Maybe you were just minding your own business and got ganked by the enemy faction, or perhaps you really enjoy doing Battlegrounds but can't quite get how to guarantee your team's success.
Well, with these 15 tips and strategies you will most certainly start to improve in PvP and become the worst nightmare of whoever is in the oposing side, so let's begin.
15. Practice With Your Class
This might sound very obvious, but some players take their class mechanis for granted and don’t take the time to really understand and master their class and specialization.
It is important to take the time to read your class and specialization descriptions, as well as the tooltips for your passive and active skills. If you still have any doubts, look it up online, and always practice how to play properly, even against weak mobs and when leveling up .
How it works:
- Read all the information available about your class;
- Take the time to read and understand your passive and active skills;
- Practice playing your class the proper way even against enemies that don’t pose a challenge.
14. Know Your Surroundings
Did you ever feel completely lost when first playing a battleground match in a new map? Well, that goes to show how important it is to know your surroundings in battle.
Understanding the locations of points of interest in a PvP map and the best routes to get from one point to another are decisive factors in a match.
How it works:
- Memorize the maps of the PvP modes;
- Understand the routes between points of interest in the maps;
- Know how to make an efficient rotation between different points in the map.
13. Setup Macros
Macros are your friends, are we clear on that? A lot of people ignore this function in WoW, and they don’t know just how much they are missing.
Setting up effective macros can help you to increase damage output in a skill rotation and improve your communication with teammates in decisive moments of a battle.
How it works:
- Check out the macros menu and read guides online;
- You can configure macros to help you with your skill rotation and optimizing damage output;
- Furthermore, macros can help you to quickly communicate your relevant actions to your teammates during a fight.
12. Have A Good Trinket
Trinkets are very powerful pieces of gear that have active effects attached to them, think of it as an additional skill for your hotbar.
Having the right trinket for your build is essential in PvP, as these can quickly change the tide of an encounter, so make sure to look it up online and pick a good trinket for your class.
How it works:
- Trinkets are powerful pieces of gear with active effects;
- Do a quick research online in order to find out the best trinkets available for your class;
- Try to use your trinket to cover a disadvantage of your spec (for example, if you don’t have too many defensive abilities, get a defensive trinket for that situation).
11. Try Addons
Addons are external modifications to World of Warcraft that can improve the game in a wide variety of ways (personally, I use addons that improve my immersion and the audiovisual feedback of the game).
When it comes to PvP, and combat in general, addons are a powerful tool if you know how to use them. Look up guides online on the best addons for your role and how to set them up, it will surely help you improve in PvP.
How it works:
- Check out a guide on addons online;
- Search for the best specs for your role in PvP;
- Watch out not to be overwhelmed by too many addons at once.
10. Master Your Rotation
When we talk about MMORPGs, and tab target MMORPGs like WoW in particular, it is somewhat inevitable to talk about skill rotations. These are the skills that you use and the order in which you use them in different situations.
Mastering your rotation is essential for having good results in PvP, because it heavily improves your DPS, thus making the difference between you or your enemy dying during an encounter.
How it works:
- Understand which are the best skills for each situation;
- Put together an effective skill rotation to maximize your DPS;
- Look up for guides online on how to optimize the rotation for your class and spec.
9. Allocate Skill Points Correctly
The return of specialization trees is somewhat that World of Warcraft players have long waited for and now it is finally here.
With this new level of customization for your character also comes the need of understanding these trees and how to correctly allocate your points. You need to look for synergy between your skills at all times, and there is no shame in looking for premade skill trees online if you want to follow the current meta.
How it works:
- Take the time to read and understand every skill available at your spec tree;
- Always aim for synergy between skills during your point allocation;
- Check for guides and premade skill trees online.
8. Know Your Enemy
How can you fight against something that you don’t understand? That is a prevalent question in cosmic horror literature, but wait… we are talking about WoW here.
Well, the same applies to any competitive game: you need to know what every potential enemy has on their toolkit. That will only come with time and practice, of course, but it is important to pay attention to the enemy’s behavior and react accordingly instead of just spamming your rotation and praying for the best.
How it works:
- Read about the classes and specs in the game;
- Create alts in order to play as different classes and understand them better;
- Watch your enemy’s movements and react accordingly.
7. Burst Vulnerable Enemies
In PvP you have to go for the kill, it is that simple. A living enemy is a potential threat to you and your allies, so if you have the opportunity to send them back to their base, just do it.
Usually the most vulnerable enemies are DPS players when they jump in for a burst and healers after they spend their CD abilities on an ally, so keep your eyes open for these situations in particular.
How it works:
- Pay attention to opportunities when enemies let their guards down;
- DPS players are most vulnerable when they jump in to score a kill;
- Healers are vulnerable after spending their CD abilities and other valuable resources to save their allies, so that’s the best moment to deal with them.
6. Cooperate With Your Allies
World of Warcraft in a team based game, there is no going around that. Yes, you will play a lot of the game solo when questing and leveling up during a new expansion, however the relevant content in WoW just cannot be done by yourself.
Be it a dungeon, a raid or a PvP match, you have to work together with your allies in order to have success. Try to create synergy between your and your ally’s abilities, pay attention to what they do so you don’t use the same effect twice, and always stick together during a match.
How it works:
- Create synergy between your skills and the skills of your allies;
- Stick together during your rotation through a PvP map;
- Pay attention to the skills cast by your allies so you don’t use the same effects as them.
5. Follow The Objectives
Scoring kills is always fun, and ultimately useful since you are making the enemy team weaker, but the main focus of a PvP match is always the objective (unless we are talking about arenas and duels, of course).
Always go for objectives during a match, and also make sure to stop enemies from scoring points.
How it works:
- Understand the objective of the game mode and map you are currently in;
- Go for the objectives at all times;
- Make sure to stop enemies from scoring objectives.
4. Be Mindful Of Positioning
Don’t be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Positioning is another key element of any competitive PvP game, and here in WoW you have to be very aware of your location during group PvP such as battlegrounds.
Always stay in the backlines as a healer and wait for your tank to engage first as a DPS, otherwise you will have a terrible time in PvP matches.
How it works:
- Be aware of your surroundings and the formation of your team during an encounter, repositioning whenever necessary;
- Healers should always remain in the backlines so they can keep the rest of the team alive;
- DPS players should wait for the tanks to engage first, otherwise they will be quickly bursted by the enemy team.
3. Understand Your Role
This is another one that might sound obvious but it is impressive just how many players ignore their role both in PvP and PvE and do whatever they feel like doing.
World of Warcraft follows the classic trinity of Tank, DPS and Healer, so it is very important that you understand your role and play accordingly. And by that I mean that you should be focusing on dealing damage as a healer and you most certainly shouldn’t rush before your tank as a DPS.
How it works:
- Tanks should always engage first and use crowd control abilities to keep their allies safe, neutralizing enemy engagements;
- Healers must stay at the backlines and constantly heal allies that are being focused by the enemy team, while repositioning themselves at all times so they don’t get killed;
- DPS players shouldn’t be the first ones to enter the battle, and instead they have to try bursting down important targets such as healers and other DPS players, always leaving the enemy tank for last.
2. Focus The Right Targets
The pecking order of target focus is the same in every competitive PvP game: first healers, then DPS, and tanks at last.
Just to give a quick explanation: if you don’t kill the enemy healer, then the other enemies won’t die because your damage will be out healed most of the time; then, right after killing the healer, you have the best chance of killing enemy DPS players before they do the same thing to your party, because they are very vulnerable without support; and lastly, always lastly, kill the tank, otherwise your party will die while you try to kill the most durable enemy.
How it works:
- Healers must be killed first so they don’t heal their allies;
- DPS enemies should immediately be targeted after the healers, when they are at their most vulnerable;
- Tanks should always be left for last, as they take the most time to kill.
1. Don't Be a Hero
Now, this is the hard truth in competitive games: you are not a hero and you shouldn’t act like it. While we all appreciate amazing 1vX moments in championships and YouTube montages, you are not that guy. You are the average player trying to do well in PvP.
Retreat whenever you feel that it is necessary, don’t be ashamed of your mistakes and never try to win a match by yourself. Work with your team instead and you will always have better results.
How it works:
- Retreat whenever it is necessary, don't let your ego overcome your strategy;
- Learn from your mistakes;
- Don’t act like a lone wolf, work together with your allies if you want to win.
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