PWM – Week 1 – 3v3
Posted On Monday, April 7th, 2008 By Jay
Last week with much debating, we reformed our 3v3. PWM is our latest foray and we loved it. I found the class composition to be very complementary. We went 11-6. Very successful week. Here are my observations.
Kill the hunter.
Just do it. Our first match we went after another target first, lock and pet I believe to lock down the fears. The hunter own’d me in about 5 seconds. There was nothing I could do, I even pillar danced fairly well. From this point forward we destroyed every hunter first. When we killed the hunter, we won. A common group was hunter/lock/X. We killed then in this order.
I’m at my best when I can perform at my best.
We won every match when my team mates protected me from nasties. Those nasties include: Hunters, Warlocks, Rogues and Warrior. In that order. Every other class I can 1v1 effectively while they take out a target. Of particular note, Frost Nova > Warrior. This is the single best priest defense. I know alot of magesmage, use frost mage to protect your team against warriors.
already know this. If you are a new
Gear makes such a huge difference.
Duh! We already know this. There were multiple wins where I barely healed my warrior. Mages are thought of to be traditional squishies. Our mage happened to be the best equipped out of the three of us and held his own quite well.
Don’t be afraid to Binding Heal.
Its uber expensive in the arena, but I’ve found it crits more then not. Its basically a 1.5 flash heal on two targets. Egotistical Priest has a great break down of priest ablities for raids. All that information is useful. Besides, she’s got a pic of a Draenai at the top of the site!
Don’t be afraid to Prayer of Mending.
I’ve told my friends there’s nothing more rewarding then being in the arena and watching where the PoMs are coming from. #1 It let’s me know who’s being hit. #2 I don’t care about Locks with it on, it mitigates SL/SL locks. There’s a slight difference with an affliction lock(more damaging dots), but those are pretty rare and they go down like chumps. #3 It let’s me know who’s being hit. Situational awareness is key in arena.
Save your cooldowns.
This is totally counter intuitive but save your cool downs. Only use them when they are most effective! This comes with knowing general arena strats. I’ve had many times where a warrior will charge at me once, hit me then run back to the foray. They are trying to pull my cool down from me. Believe me, with the appropriate gear, save the cool downs for killing blows or ZOMG he’ll die.
Get Hit but stay away.
Arena opponents are going to want to engage you at some level. Make that which is targetting you (TWITY) get between you and the rest of your team. No, don’t let the entire other team get between you and your teammates, that means your death. Make TWITY get between you and your teammates. Most importantly, make sure your teammates know you are doing this. Being aware of what classes will engage you and what classes will ignore you is important.
Finally – Use in game Voice chat, Vent, Teamspeak etc.
If you want to win, instant communication is key.
