Strategies and Counters.

[Catilyn]

I've created this thread as a means of attempting to improve everyone's skills in a PvP environment.
Lets face it, the better everyone is, the more fun it will be for all of us.

List what you find are the weaknesses and strengths of your class in comparison to another - those things that seem to really mess with your coordination, your ability to preform; or simply some tips to help a budding fellow class member in particular situational events.

For easy clarification and understanding, assume it's a 1v1 setting, (though if you'd like to explore 2v1 or the like, feel free) your choice of opponent is up to you.

The tactics that are to be outlined in this thread are by no means a full-proof way of ensuring victory, but I'm a firm believer in knowing the limitations of both yourself and your enemy as a means of overcoming what may seem the gravest of situations. Never give up.

For example...
I've noticed that my Anti-Magic shell not only makes me immune to magical affects, but also things you wouldn't expect unless you were activly looking out for them such as Rogue Poisons, a Death knights diseases and a Paladins Hammer of Justice.

[Okhu]

One thing I've noticed is people being able to target me if I restealth, and attack me again while I'm in stealth like I'm plain as day.

as for strats uhhh....

For DK - Pray they aren't frost. And if they aren't just kill them.

For Paladins. - If they're Ret burn them down til they bubble, then run out of combat and start eating / bandaging while he heals himself and restealth asap. Go back to burning him down, if you have prep use it if you've already used your cooldowns. Repeat the burning down as needed.

Rogues - save your trinket for kidney punch and nothing else. (Seriously, if you blow it on anything else you're a failure and deserve the stunlock you're going to get.) Disarm them, get a bleed on them. Profit.

Hunter- If you get the drop on them and they're not BM its good game. Stunlock and lol.
If they're BM, chase them all over the fucking place and stabby stabby til they die. If its a survival hunter and they get the drop on you, (Or any hunter for that matter.) Cloak of skill and try to get away / vanish. (Its difficult with hunters, for some reason they usually get REALLY lucky with their autoshots and hit you as you stealth, knocking you right back out.)

Shamans - No matter the spec you shouldn't have a problem with a shaman. No seriously. 1 on 1 Shamans will tend to lose to you if you're a rogue with a brain.

Druids - Resto-Druids: If they can outheal through your burn, just run away. They will wittle you down with thorns while they sit pretty at full life and even some times shift out to moonfire and kite you around. Just leave they can kill you.
Feral Druids: If they're smart it will be pretty difficult taking tthem down what with them shifting into bear and last-standing... its alot of life.. just kite them around til it wears off and finish them if you can.. (MAKE SURE THEY DON'T GET FAR ENOUGH AWAY TO HEAL.)
Space-Chickens:If you can get the drop on them GG, if they get the drop on you, you'll have to work for it but you can still kill them. (Cloak of skill) If they get the drop just cloak and vanish and move off to the side. (When they're fighting rogues they like to run forwards and tidal wave right after you do it and knock you out. Side-stepping off the the side should make it miss hopefully.) Get them into stunlock before they get trees out or their dots on you.

Walrocks:You shouldn't have a problem with most warlocks unless they get the drop on you. A good destruction warlock can crit you for 10K if you aren't careful, if you think you can manage it and they have a succubus try to kill her asap. If its void or anything else focus on the owner.

Priests: A good chunk of priests are fodder to Rogues. There are a couple really good disc + shadow (I think) ones that lol at you and act all the tree druid style. Holy priests and most full shadow priests however shouldn't be bad.

I'll edit it later.

[Xiphus]

Having played Mutilate rogue before, I can provide a couple of pointers on their strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

1. High burst damage due to criticals
2. High poison application
3. Rapid combo generation allows for finishers after finishers

Weaknesses:

1. Positional requirement (I think this one is changed. Please confirm)
2. Lack of utility from subtlety
3. Energy-use heavy (correct me if this is no longer the case per WotLK)

So, by looking at these strengths and weaknesses, it is pointless to think of dispelling poisons as they will just reapply in a second anyway. If you let them catch you, you are also going to suffer from the high damage bursts which would kill you if you weren't a tank and you do not have high resilience.

To deal with Mutilate rogue, you have to either outlast them, or ensure that they never get to you to begin with. If you have very high armor rating and resilience, you should be able to survive, IF you do not screw up as Mutilate rogue loses steam in prolonged battles, and they probably would not have their Kidney Shot cooldown ready after the second finisher, as well as being low in energy. However, take note that the Mutilate rogue may attempt to blind you, vanish and restart the entire chain.

If you are squishie, then you should try to ensure they never get to you. Try to get them out of stealth, attempt to jump them, or do your best to ensure that the Mutilate rogue is attacking a person who ISN'T you! If they DO get to you, you might want to be quick with breaking the stunlock chain, throw whatever control abilities you have and play the kiting game. The longer you stay there being stunned, the worse you are going to fare.

[Okhu]

Position and energy aren't an issue anymore, and you still get utility from Subt. You can get up to prep if you spec properly.

[Xiphus]

Right, so what other countermeasures would you suggest? I have not touched my rogue (or even the game) since WAR was launched.

[Okhu]

I've already put countermeasures for rogues in my previous post.

Put a bleed on them / faerie fire / whatever.

If they get the jump save your trinket til KP.

Disarm them and get them immobilized / slowed somehow.

Really anything else then that Rogues are squishy, and I'm not quite sure how effective it is posting countermeasures if you haven't been in the game for a couple of patches. Just sayin'.

[Xiphus]

So I take it that nowadays, to deal with a Mutilate rogue, the option is to either have defense harder than steal, break stunlocks and try kiting and just that?

[Lysimachus]

Okhu, Xiphus -- In a battle with a mage, I'm sure the both of you are (generally) accustomed to winning, much like in battling shamans. Though I'd expect frost mages are considered more difficult, what would you suggest to an Arcane mage to have a better opportunity of claiming victory against you?

[Okhu]

Make sure we don't hit you. Seriously. As nice as blink is, if you get crippling poison on you It isn't going to matter. Spam slow. And mouse turn and hit them a couple of times with an instant cast. Turn and keep running. If we get close. Nova. Keep shield up.

Do not Iceblock unless you're sure you can survive after you're out. I've tricked plenty of mages into Iceblocked only to end them with a Cold-Blood Eviscerate right after they came out. Cast the iceblock, then remove it after its done its job. (I.E removed the debuffs on you.) And keep running.

[Xiphus]

Okhu, Xiphus -- In a battle with a mage, I'm sure the both of you are (generally) accustomed to winning, much like in battling shamans. Though I'd expect frost mages are considered more difficult, what would you suggest to an Arcane mage to have a better opportunity of claiming victory against you?

Well, you want to kite the rogue. In my experiences as a rogue, if I find myself unable to close the distance, I'm bloody dead. Frost mages, admittedly, is a tough nut to crack because of the numerous ways they have to root and snare me, especially if the Frost Nova or the Arcane Explosion spam kicked me out of steath.

I do not know what tricks Arcane mages have nowadays, but generally, you want to catch them out of stealth, you want to blast them to bits before they get to you, and if that is not possible, you want to make sure they DON'T get to you.

[Swerto]

Disc priests on a warrior is a tough fight if they know what they're doing.


First of all don't burst when their shield is up, just mortal strike and try to knock it down, once it's down charge again and do your burst as fast as you can. If they pop up their reflective shiield CC them and force them to either waste their shield or trinket. If they trinket try to ge an intercept or charge in to keep them stunned for a second.

Save your interrupts for heals, reflect penance if your charge/intercepts are on cooldown.


Don't worry about howl of terror, you're a warrior berzerkers rage out of it, don't waste your trinket on a priest.

As soon as that sheild's down they are just like any other clothy, burn them down fast and go for the kill with your overpowers and executes.

If they get a heal in this fight can take a long time, and will probably result in your death.

Make sure you have stancehop macros for pummel and spell reflect, these are very important for arms warriors as they not only stance hop you from battle to berzerker, but instantly perform the move/switch gear (as needed).





Frost Mages


This fight's a little different, a good frost mage will kite you until your death, what you need to do is watch for mistakes and take advantage of that. Scare the mage into messing up.


If the mage freezes you to the ground at the beginning of the fight, you can either waste your trinket (thus letting them sheep and get a huge nuke on you or just freeze you again) or you can hope to get in a good spell reflect with whatever nuke they launch your way.

Intercept them and charge them as often as you can, keep hamstring and rend up and do as much burst as you can, cross your fingers that they burn their blink.

If they burn their blink charge/intercept them immediately (if you're frozen trinket) and hit bladestorm, the fight is over if they don't iceblock.

If a mage iceblocks pop your enraged regeneration and get to a charge distance in front of them so they can't just blink away from you once the block drops.

Once the block is gone charge and re-apply hamstring and rend as needed, keep bursting them and hope that you can get out enough damage before their blink is back up.





Hunters:

Hunters are pretty easy for a warrior if you know how, there are a few ways you can do this, but the main idea is to save your trinket so they can't get off a large shot on you. Keep hamstring and rend up and stay in range. Don't waste bladestorm until they've wasted their jumpback move, if they do a lot of damage to you in close range disarm them and AoE fear them (which will fear their pet as well) so you can get some burst in before they can fight back. If a huner burns his jumpback charge and bladestorm. Clap your hands because the fight is over at this point (as long as a Death Knight doesn't interfere)




- Paladins (Ret)

This is a burst fight, an uneven burst fight because ret paladins have a bubble (which will allow for a holy light before you can take it away) and lay on hands (full heal = battle reset for them and death for you)

Paladins can put out as much burst as you, so you're SOL on that front. YOu just need to cross your fingers that you get a few lucky execute and overpower procs. Don't burn your bladestorm unless these aren't proccing, a paladin can outrun or bubble to counter it and waste your time.

If you get close to 25% health switch to sword and board and keep an eye out for hammer, if you are quick you can let off a spell reflect when they hammer of wrath you and shoot it right back.


If they bubble, you lose.

If they lay on hands, you lose.


Prot paladins


Run.


Holy Paladins

Mortal Strike and burst, keep your pummel macro ready.

[Yatokth]

Disc priests on a warrior is a tough fight if they know what they're doing.


First of all don't burst when their shield is up, just mortal strike and try to knock it down, once it's down charge again and do your burst as fast as you can. If they pop up their reflective shiield CC them and force them to either waste their shield or trinket. If they trinket try to ge an intercept or charge in to keep them stunned for a second.

Save your interrupts for heals, reflect penance if your charge/intercepts are on cooldown.


Don't worry about howl of terror, you're a warrior berzerkers rage out of it, don't waste your trinket on a priest.

As soon as that sheild's down they are just like any other clothy, burn them down fast and go for the kill with your overpowers and executes.

If they get a heal in this fight can take a long time, and will probably result in your death.

Make sure you have stancehop macros for pummel and spell reflect, these are very important for arms warriors as they not only stance hop you from battle to berzerker, but instantly perform the move/switch gear (as needed).

I stance switch manually, excepting for pummel, but a sword and board macro is crucial - though I rarely if ever go to sword and board against priests - it's much better to do maximum damage against a Priest at all times - the more pressure you put out, the better.

Don't reflect Penance, just overpower it if its up, if not, just ignore it, that's time he's not healing himself.






Frost Mages


This fight's a little different, a good frost mage will kite you until your death, what you need to do is watch for mistakes and take advantage of that. Scare the mage into messing up.


If the mage freezes you to the ground at the beginning of the fight, you can either waste your trinket (thus letting them sheep and get a huge nuke on you or just freeze you again) or you can hope to get in a good spell reflect with whatever nuke they launch your way.

Intercept them and charge them as often as you can, keep hamstring and rend up and do as much burst as you can, cross your fingers that they burn their blink.

If they burn their blink charge/intercept them immediately (if you're frozen trinket) and hit bladestorm, the fight is over if they don't iceblock.

If a mage iceblocks pop your enraged regeneration and get to a charge distance in front of them so they can't just blink away from you once the block drops.

Once the block is gone charge and re-apply hamstring and rend as needed, keep bursting them and hope that you can get out enough damage before their blink is back up.

Many mages will blow blink very early - just keep charge or intercept ready - I spend 80% of the time I fight mages in sword and board because it does enough damage and twitch spell reflects are clutch.






Hunters:

Hunters are pretty easy for a warrior if you know how, there are a few ways you can do this, but the main idea is to save your trinket so they can't get off a large shot on you. Keep hamstring and rend up and stay in range. Don't waste bladestorm until they've wasted their jumpback move, if they do a lot of damage to you in close range disarm them and AoE fear them (which will fear their pet as well) so you can get some burst in before they can fight back. If a huner burns his jumpback charge and bladestorm. Clap your hands because the fight is over at this point (as long as a Death Knight doesn't interfere)

You should have a mouseover fear macro, and then use the fear that breaks on damage on their pet, thus making them either eat an 8 second fear adn take damage during it, or trinket, in which case you have 3 second intercept stun free and dandy to use. If they trink intercept on the other hand, use the fear and /lol at their 8 seconds of death.

Good hunters will Deterrence during Bladestorm - don't bother canceling, just Overpower soon as you get out (if you have overpower glyph it should activate on Parries) and stay with them.

Good hunters will use frost trap and entrapment - save your trinket for scatter shot, or if you're not undead and they're surv, Wyvern Sting.

If they ever Pin you with a crab or get you with entrapment, swap to sword and board and shield block, it negates their damage for 10 seconds basically.



- Paladins (Ret)

This is a burst fight, an uneven burst fight because ret paladins have a bubble (which will allow for a holy light before you can take it away) and lay on hands (full heal = battle reset for them and death for you)

Paladins can put out as much burst as you, so you're SOL on that front. YOu just need to cross your fingers that you get a few lucky execute and overpower procs. Don't burn your bladestorm unless these aren't proccing, a paladin can outrun or bubble to counter it and waste your time.

If you get close to 25% health switch to sword and board and keep an eye out for hammer, if you are quick you can let off a spell reflect when they hammer of wrath you and shoot it right back.


If they bubble, you lose.

If they lay on hands, you lose.

This is incorrect.

Except for the burst fight part. It is a burst fight. Here's how I fight Ret Paladins:

1 - Charge > Disarm. This gives you a leg up. Pop Retaliation (I do this as the duel is counting down if it's a duel, if not, just near the beginning)
2 - Save trinket for HoJ, you can Zerker Rage out of Repentance.
3 - Put up MS, Rend, get an Overpower, and Bladestorm EARLY while you're right on top of them to force a bubble. If they try and cast a heal during the storm, don't worry about it (unless it's a holy light, in which case, just use your handy dandy pummel macro that cancels bladestorm and pummel it before ripping them a new one) If you're well geared and have a Grim Toll or a Mjolnir Runestone for ArP procs, time your bladestorm with this, lots of damagez.
4 - After Bladestorm is done, juke out and Intercept. The more they're stunned or running from you, the better.
5 - 25% is much too low to sword and board, and you -cannot- reflect hammer of wrath. 40% is a more livable situation to go Sword and Board, BUT, if you go to sword and board before they bubble, you've pretty much lost.
6 - If you've gotten them to bubble, you should be around 70-40% hp right now. INSTANTLY shattering throw, if you're fast (and you had the rage to ST) you should be able to interrupt their holy light. Good Ret Paladins will try and LoS as they bubble, just stick on their ass and once the bubble is down, THEN (depending on your HP level, if below 50% do the following.) sword and board, shield wall, shield block, enraged regen, put up MS, spam some revenges.
7 - Once shield wall and shield block go down (or you feel you've regen'd enough hp depending on how high you were before) swap right back to 2H, charge them, and BURST LIKE HELL. Use MS > OP, then juke out and intercept. Play smart.

^ This is no guaranteed win, but if the Ret you fight is an average faceroller and you've got good gear, you can win. It's skewed in their favor heavily, and it will take alot of practice and alot of losing, but I fear Rets much, much, much less than Death Knights.



Prot paladins


Run.

The only way to beat Prot Paladins is to joust them - charge, MS, Rend, move out, intercept, MS, use Overpower (since it can't be blocked) when it's up, try and stay out of their range as much as possible.

Good Protadins will kill you, but those are few and far between, so don't worry about it.



Holy Paladins

Mortal Strike and burst, keep your pummel macro ready.

Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER pummel a heal when they are above 50-40% life. Waste of rage and a CD. Just Overpower it if you can, and keep bursting. Once they hit around 50-40%, go ahead and pummel a big heal and then hit 'em hard, usually forced a bubble, which you can then ST and continue smashing.

[Tylorvias]

After the conflag buff locks got in the last patch I've been finding that just about everyone has got a lot easier to kill. I'll just stick with listing the tougher classes as I'm pressed for time.

Ret Pallies:

Honestly, if you know what you are doing as destro then most ret paladins are a joke. Open with shadowfury, while stunned apply immolate and then fear as it ends. Chaos bolt and conflag, this makes them blow HoF, if not nuke the poor bastard down until he bubbles. Once he does put some distance between the two of you and repeat. Easy win. If he does HoF and chase you down chances are good he will repentence you. Never trinket out of the repentence, take the hit and shadowfury/deathcoil them off you and immolate to fear. If you have big blue out save the shield sac for when he hits you with Hammer, then trinket out. If you have time and see one coming lay down a portal and then run to the otherside in such a way that if you hadn't moved you would be facing yourself about 20-40yrds away. Portal is win against anyone, especially pallys with their lack of range.

Rogues:

If you don't have a walker out for this prepare for fail. Lay down a portal and distance yourself from it, then run around and have the walker spam consume shadows. If you see the rogue drop shadowfury on him and if you have a functioning brainstem, you should win from there. However...if the rogue gets the drop on you...

Put up your sac -Immdiately-. It functions off the voidwalker, not you, so as long as he isn't stunned or blinded you are fine to do so. Spam your teleport (You should be distanced from your portal) and sometimes you can get away before as the ambush ends and before they get you with kidney shot. If you do get hit with it -do not- trinket. Take the dmg, your shield is there to take the burn, you should be okay, and only lose around 5-7k depending on the rogue. At this point a lot of rogues will pop CoS, listen for the sound effect and watch for the buff under them. If they do kite them as best you can, shadowfury as soon as possible and fear. They -will- blow their trinket at this point if they have already used CoS, so as soon as you cast fear cast another one, if they don't then immolate - chaos bolt - conflag - incinerate spam - shadowburn - win. If they CoS and vanish then get distanced from your portal again, eat your cookie once the healing poison wears off and bandage up, spam consume shadows once combat breaks and hope to find him before he hits you. This is why you didn't pop your trinket for the first opener. Now take the ambush and as soon as kidney hits trinket out and death coil/shadowfury. At this point never let them move, shadowfury/fear/deathcoil/whatever. Just don't let them get time to regain movement control or you risk them using prep and vanishing at which point GG, you lose unless you pick them up or shadowfury is up and you have enough HP left.

Hunter: Just burn em, open with shadowfury and if you see them drop dead make sure you haven't swapped to attacking the pet.

Feral druid: Treat like a retarded rogue, take the burn, portal and burn GG

Death knight: Fear to open, save portal for after deathgrip. Shadowfury after portal, immolate - chaos bolt - conflag and kite em around. If they drop Anti magic shield then don't bother chaos bolting, they are using this time to catch you, keep kiting.

[Chikt]

For Elemental Shaman:

The key to every fight, I find, is movement. Elemental Shaman by right are a "turret class". You stand in place and spin around to get attacks off. The key to winning fights one-on-one as an Elemental Shaman is to unlearn this, and learn to move or claim beneficial areas. For Elemental Shaman, having the high ground means victory is all the swifter.

HUNTERS:
Move. Line of sight. Get distance. In most cases against a good hunter you are not going to out-DPS them. Hex the pet (after "big red" if they are beast mastery) to help speed up your casts and slow down their damage. Drop Earthbind and keep them at a distance until you are confident they're losing a little steam, then rain down hell upon them. If your health drops below 50%, get more distance, heal up, and go back into the fight. Your strength here is your movement and ability to heal up where they cannot.

WARLOCK:
Typically a Warlock of any spec is not too much trouble, as it is usually a fight of sustained DPS (the Warlock) versus your burst. Drop Tremor Totem and Grounding Totem whenever the cooldown is up. If they have a pet out that can silence or interrupt, DPSing it down is usually not an option. Be smart about how much damage you let them do to you and it's usually a fairly easy fight.

MAGES:
Mages are rough, as they have so many different ways to lock you down and defend themselves that it makes all your utility look like a pile of crap. Interrupt their casts and ground them as often as you can as they can be just as - if not more - bursty than you. The way I've won fights with mages is luring them. Taking the high ground and thunderstorming them off, hitting them with a flame shock/purge combo as they fly away and a lava burst as they try to return to me, before quickly interrupting their next cast, dropping grounding and making sure that shield stays down as you beat on them.

Ground Arcane Volley for extra lolz.

WARRIOR:
A good arms warrior will own you, but fortunately they seem few and far between. Move, kite and use your totems intelligently. After the first charge, earthbind and get some distance. The moment they intercept, thunderstorm and earthbind again - frost shock if you feel it necessary. Make sure you get more distance, spin around, burst them down, rinse and repeat. This strategy will become a lot easier come the next patch and the changes to Ghost Wolf.

Protection Warriors are strange as they can be more of a threat than an Arms Warrior. Good Protection Warriors can keep you locked down with interrupts, stuns and throwing up spell reflect when everything else is down. The best bet is to keep your distance, kite them like you would an Arms Warrior, and wait for an opening.

PALADIN:
Ret Paladins can be a very difficult fight as they can eat up a lot of your damage, and output just as much as you do. Purge Hand of Freedom from the Paladin and wittle them down with frost shock and earthbind. Keep your grounding totem down to intercept the odd hammer. If they get too close and don't have their bubble up, thunderstorm and frost shock them away. Once they do inevitably bubble is when the fight becomes difficult. You can no longer slow or dispell on them, so the best bet is to run like hell, wait it out, and the moment it is down throw everything you have at them.

Prot Holy, pray that you can run away fast enough.

DEATH KNIGHTS:
Be fully prepared to lose. Every time. Ground their ability to pull you to them, and if that fails wait for chains of ice on you to thunderstorm and frost shock them at bay. If they put up an anti-magic shield, kite them (LOL) until it passes before raining down hell upon them. You CAN defeat a decent death knight if you are smart. You WON'T defeat a good one.

PRIESTS:
Typically priests are no major threat. The big thing here is purge spam and tremor totem. Purge like crazy until you get an opening, flame shock and lava burst, rinse and repeat. When they heal, interrupt and resume DPS as quickly as possible. If they are good and are managing to get through heals, hex and continue. Keep them on the defensive.

ROGUES:
Be ready to die. A typical rogue fight for me is stunlock followed by death. Kiting a rogue is not really an option for a Shaman, but neither is standing there getting stunned and interrupted at every turn. I've defeated rogues with terrible damage output by thunderstorming and frost shocking them away, keeping Flame Shock up on them, waiting out their cloak, faking heals to heal myself and just generally playing as defensively as possible.

[Qabian]

Okhu, Xiphus -- In a battle with a mage, I'm sure the both of you are (generally) accustomed to winning, much like in battling shamans. Though I'd expect frost mages are considered more difficult, what would you suggest to an Arcane mage to have a better opportunity of claiming victory against you?

One thing I found hilarious as Arcane is that you can use the instant Invis immediately as the Block wears off, so the Block has pulled off any DoTs/poisons that may have been preventing you from Invising earlier. I have on occasion timed a jump that has gotten me out of ground DoTs with it as well.

Obviously, this is not going to win you any fights, unless the goal is just to get the hell out of there, and is marginal to possibly useless in arenas, and especially against rogues, who you just give an opportunity to stealth again. But it can be something of a reset button, especially if you have Evocation glyphed and can get all of your health back on its reduced cooldown once you've extricated yourself from the fight.

I haven't usually had too much trouble with rogues as Arcane. Just keep them slowed and don't let them hit you. If they manage to close in/slow you in turn, you're pretty much screwed.

[Ryoku]

I'll post for FERAL DRUIDS, since in my case I haven't done much solo with a resto druid, and basically just heal myself and anyone around me as a basic PvP strategy.

For the Feral Druid, your best weapon is your sheer versatility. You have bear form, use it! You also have an incapacitate, two stuns, a last stand, a 3% per second bear HoT, and if you're a night elf, a potential in-combat restealth. The key to winning is knowing the best form for the situation, and being able to throw off your enemy.

Rogue:
If you're getting a jump on the rogue, you should be in cat form. I usually go for pounce, shred, shred, rip, and then switch into bear form. If he gets the jump on you, and you're in cat form, get the hell out of stun and switch into bear form. Once you're in bear form you can handle rogues very easy. You have enough health and armor to soak his damage, as well as frenzied regeneration and survival instincts (last stand). Basically just soak them down, like I said Rogues are very easy for me. I rarely lose to a rogue 1v1 because of simple class counter.

Hunter:
If you get the drop on a hunter, the case is much like how Okhu described with Rogue. They're often so hurt they're dead if they aren't BM. A BM hunter will usually big red out of your pounce stun. When he does this, the only thing I can think to do is to go bear and try and soak his damage and wait for him to start being stunnable again. When this happens I'd feral charge, switch to cat, and shred him. Hopefully he dies. If a hunter gets the drop on you and starts shooting your chances of survival are slim.. At least if you're me. Hunters just have too much shit that slows me down for me to recover. I usually try to escape to be honest.

Warlock:
Look for the portal. Find it? If so, watch out for the voidwalker. Move in fast in stealth, ravage, and beat them up. If they live long enough they'll try and pop back to the portal. Go into bear form. If they try and fear you, charge them. If they succeed at fearing you, pop berserk and interrupt their next cast with a charge. If they don't cast fear interrupt their cast with charge. If they try to Howl you, you'll either be immune to fear, or you can be. Just go into cat form after that. Warlocks can be really easy for the druid that isn't afraid of leaving cat form.

Priest:
Shadow Priests are lol. Good healy-heal priests are just goddamn unstoppable.

Shaman:
Resto- Restos who try and be priests and just heal through everything you give them die. A resto might try and kite you around but unfortunately for them they don't have quite as much to kite with as you have to close distance with. They're fucked, it just sometimes takes a few.
Enhancement- Really?
Elemental- If they get the drop on you they can hurt you mighty bad. Bear form and interrupt their casting and you usually put yourself in a good position. If you get the drop you can usually just burn everything they have. They have no means of escaping you.

Mage:
These are the tougher of the casters. They like to escape pounce, so I prefer to get the jump on them with Ravage and just tear them up using surprise as a weapon. They like to frost nova you and run away. Go bear form and feral charge them out of whatever spell they're getting ready to cast. Just try your best to keep up to them. This is the clothie that combined with a good player has kiting ability capable of just wrecking my shit. You have the advantage against them, but I'd advise not going toe to toe with a frost mage with the idea that it's going to be an easy win.

Warriors:
It's like fighting yourself in bear form, except they often have more offensive capability (bladestorm and shit) and you often have more defensive ability (most PvP warriors I've seen don't get last stand). It's not a matter of who bursts who as much as who can last longer, imo.

Death Knight:

Be fully prepared to lose. Every time...... You WON'T defeat a good one.
I sure as hell haven't figured it out.

Paladin:
Prot/Holy- Holy shit these guys are monsters! You can't do much. You burn yourself on them and they'll just take it all.
Ret- It's a matter of who can burst who faster, and you most often lose.

Druid:
Resto- Trees make good scratching posts because you can scratch all you want, it will never fall.
Feral- Stupid feral Druids always make the mistake of never shifting out of cat. Smart ferals can be a problem. It's usually a matter of who has better gear, and who gets the jump. A strategy I have experimented with is faking them out by staying in cat when they're in bear, because I have a toy that rogues don't. My Cat burst is enough sometimes to force the bear to survival instincts/frenzied regen. When I feel my health is a little too low, I save my combo points to use maim, and run, casting rejuv. Most ferals will assume you're going to HT, so they'll trinket out and often charge. That's when I catch them with hibernate, Heal Up, and return to the fight in bear form. I have more health and a potential Survival Instincts/Frenzied Regen advantage, which makes the fight relatively easy.

[Catilyn]

Death Knight:

I sure as hell haven't figured it out.



Ryoku, I'd like to duel you, perhaps I can help you work out a strategy. =)

[Sanrin]

I really think some of the advice in this particular thread is just plain stupid. No offense, but if you're looking to post a thread on "what're some tricks of the trade?" or "what're the best ways to handle this class?" then give some actual feedback. But posting your advice as "burst them more or get mulched" is pretty fucking stupid.

Nearly every class in this game has a means of snaring, except perhaps paladins and priests who have stun/fear/bubble alternatively. Now paladin on paladin perhaps I could see coming down to timing out your cd's but lets assume for arguments sake you're fighting another class, never a mirror match. If you are fighting a class that has a lot of potential to really lay the hurt on you, fighting defensively is the best bet. A death knight for example. Why bother engaging something like that head on anyway? If its world pvp, a bg, last ditch effort arena match, then you do everything you can to dps that fucker while staying away. Typically, if I have to fight another death knight I just chains of ice/death coil spam. Blood tap if i need to, horn of winter when i can, anti magic shell when they get too close. Keep them far the fuck away from me because odds are, if I'm looking to avoid them its for a reason. Maybe they're in full pve gear, maybe they're just a little better then I am. Either way, that class has zero ways to get out of slowing effects. Mages are a nightmare, shamans can earthbind. Forget the fact that they can death grip, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. That shits on a cooldown, and your heals, slows, defensive moves, need to be ready to respond. Standing in front of their face and screaming 'LOLOP' isn't going to change the fact that you HAVE the tools to fight back. Hunters that use disengage right when i get in their face are the best. Why not save it? Or use a trap? Or Scattershot? God forbid you don't have it, why not just at least fd or something so i drop target and have to require for the killing blow.

Maybe at lv 60 the whole rushdown till death strat would have worked. But at lv 80 every single class has a TON of tools. Now granted, some of them wont be at your disposal unless you're going in for pvp specs/glyphs/etc. I can understand that. I fully applaud those who enjoy pvp, but for some reason or another cannot/do not switch from their pve builds. Just don't expect to win.


Long story short. If you arent sure how to fight a class, post that you're not certain. But dont post your start as, lay down and die.

[Yatokth]

I really think some of the advice in this particular thread is just plain stupid. No offense, but if you're looking to post a thread on "what're some tricks of the trade?" or "what're the best ways to handle this class?" then give some actual feedback. But posting your advice as "burst them more or get mulched" is pretty fucking stupid.

Nearly every class in this game has a means of snaring, except perhaps paladins and priests who have stun/fear/bubble alternatively. Now paladin on paladin perhaps I could see coming down to timing out your cd's but lets assume for arguments sake you're fighting another class, never a mirror match. If you are fighting a class that has a lot of potential to really lay the hurt on you, fighting defensively is the best bet. A death knight for example. Why bother engaging something like that head on anyway? If its world pvp, a bg, last ditch effort arena match, then you do everything you can to dps that fucker while staying away. Typically, if I have to fight another death knight I just chains of ice/death coil spam. Blood tap if i need to, horn of winter when i can, anti magic shell when they get too close. Keep them far the fuck away from me because odds are, if I'm looking to avoid them its for a reason. Maybe they're in full pve gear, maybe they're just a little better then I am. Either way, that class has zero ways to get out of slowing effects. Mages are a nightmare, shamans can earthbind. Forget the fact that they can death grip, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. That shits on a cooldown, and your heals, slows, defensive moves, need to be ready to respond. Standing in front of their face and screaming 'LOLOP' isn't going to change the fact that you HAVE the tools to fight back. Hunters that use disengage right when i get in their face are the best. Why not save it? Or use a trap? Or Scattershot? God forbid you don't have it, why not just at least fd or something so i drop target and have to require for the killing blow.

Maybe at lv 60 the whole rushdown till death strat would have worked. But at lv 80 every single class has a TON of tools. Now granted, some of them wont be at your disposal unless you're going in for pvp specs/glyphs/etc. I can understand that. I fully applaud those who enjoy pvp, but for some reason or another cannot/do not switch from their pve builds. Just don't expect to win.


Long story short. If you arent sure how to fight a class, post that you're not certain. But dont post your start as, lay down and die.

People who say "roll over and die" means they generally just don't know how to fight that class.

It's code for the same thing.

Also note that no Warrior is ever going to kill anything by "staying away", not to mention that staying away is completely impossible as the only real movement abilities you have are to GET to the target and keep THEM snared. Warriors are a rushdown class, especially without a healer. Other classes? Yeah, kiting when appropriate is definitely a good strategy - feral druid for example, smart ones use their bleeds effectively on me as well as NG, Cyclone, etc... If you just toe to toe me, you're gonna lose.

But Warrior strats are basically all about HOW you rushdown, not IF you rushdown.

[Bruuin]

I am curious about a couple of classes with a Ret Paladin. The ones I have the MOST trouble with are Disc Priests, DKs [Even on par with gear], Destro Locks and Tree druids.

Disc Priests and Tree droods just never go down and I end up bored out of my mind.

DKs, I know the strat [heard it was] is to cleanse off the diseases, but the problem with that is I am cleansing while getting smashed down.

And Destro Locks are so quick in their burn down. Just yesterday I was wtfsmashed by a Destro lock in about 5-10 seconds at full health with 25k health and around 500 resi. x_x

I would like to see some more experienced Ret pallies post up some strats, though I think ALOT of that will change with the 3.2 changes.

[Ryoku]

feral druid for example, smart ones use their bleeds effectively on me as well as NG, Cyclone, etc... If you just toe to toe me, you're gonna lose.

Bah. I forgot to mention Bleed Kiting. However, I found myself 1v1 against a warrior so little that I don't honestly have a solid strat for it.

Also, my Druid is no longer on the server, so a duel would be impossible, Catilyn.

Sorry.

[Immermnemion]

I don't do arenas. My PVP is generally that of the wild world kind. Battleground are fun on occasion, but they're rare.


I'm a paladin, and I PVP as protection.

My blanket advantages:

1. I'm (protection) a surprise.
2. I'm very difficult to kill. More difficult the closer I am to dead, actually.

My blanket disadvantage:

1. I don't kill anything that isn't a heavily physical class. Need help!


VS:

Death Knights: Not bad unless they stack armor penetration to oblivion. The pet is little more than an annoyance, and those silly diseases disappear quickly if they are blood, right along with most of their physical damage. Unholy sees no phyiscal damage, but the magic is actually more of a threat.

Druids: Feral kittens are toys. Bears are more a stalemate. So are the other branches - Trees are unkillable but can't kill me. Balance is the most threatening as the self-healing, guerrilla tactics are very difficult to counter after a while. Judgment of justice throws them for a loop when they don't expect it.

Hunters: The illusion of range is a fun one for them. Pets can be ignored. Arcane/Chimera shots cannot be. Dispels are your friend along with JoJ, avenger's shield, and hand of freedom.

Mages: They will burst you to death.

Paladins: Holy is a stalemate. Retribution has the advantage.

Priests: Mana burns will destroy you.

Rogues: Let them impale themselves on you. The smart ones will walk away.

Shaman: Elemental is probably the easiest caster type to handle. Dispel the flame shock. Silence and stun are golden. Remeber - they can cast thunderstorm while stunned, but if they do so right away, you can generally get back in range. Avenger's shield works nicely. Enhancement is a joke - enjoy yourself. Restoration is a long, annoying fight where they will win if you don't fall asleep first.

Warlocks: You lose. See priests.

Warriors: Rogues with butterknives instead of plastic ones. You win.




While weak alone in many cases, protection is good in situations where you've a healer 40 yards behind you, out of sight, while a half-dozen people futily try to do something do you. It's very gratifying when people in Stormwind don't actually walk inside the auction house to kill your healer while you keep them at the door.

[Tsu]

i am pve allstar unholy specced elven knight of death, this is my super pro guide to being good at stuff.

strat against pretty much everything ever: put up diseases, skillfully push scourge strike REALLY HARD until you see big numbers and whatever it is dies. Sometimes you might want to push Death Coil too.

how to properly use your cooldowns as an unholy dk:

Icebound Fortitude: Does whatever you're fighting have something that stuns you? If yes, push IBF before you get stunned.
Examples: Druid goes bear form? ITS IBF TIME. Warrior about to intercept? ITS IBF TIME. Mage just frost nova you? ITS IBF TIME. Paladin running at you? ITS IBF TIME.

If not, push IBF whenever you feel like it, you cold hearted killer you.




Anti-Magic Shell: Does whatever you're fighting have super awesome moves that can kill you with magic? If yes, push AMS before those super awesome moves go off and watch as it instead feeds you with the unholy nectar of the gods (Runic Power) with which to further bumrape.
Examples: Is that mage about to shatter combo you? ITS AMS TIME. Did that shaman just flame shock you and is casting lava burst? ITS AMS TIME. Is that destro lock casting immolate? ITS AMS TIME, and if you don't AMS the conflag you're going to eat a 10k chaos bolt through your AMS anyways, so be sure to skillfully global him before he skillfully globals you.

If whatever you're fighting DOESNT have stuff that can instantly kill you with magic, here's some other uses for AMS.

PRO TIP #1: Use it to immune CC! Examples: Push AMS before *guy on your focus target*'s *insert casted cc here* goes off! Push it while you're kicking some ice barrier'd frost mage's face in and immune both frost nova AND shattered barrier! Push it while you're kicking some warlock's face in and watch him shadowfury/death coil/howl of terror into it! Push it as you see the druid who's face you're kicking in hit Nature's Grasp! Push it as a priest runs in to fear, and then proceed to kick his face in as you skillfully immune it! Even if none of the above actually happens, you're still dishing out absolutely awesome amounts of asskicking for 5 seconds without anyone being able to do anything about it!

PRO TIP #2: Use it to prevent reapplication of rogue poisons. This helps more if you play with a healer that can already remove poisons, simply pop AMS, have your healer get rid of the poison during that time, and bam, MS-less heals and freedom for 2-3 seconds.

PRO TIP #3: AMS works against a lot of things that don't instantly kill you too. Examples: Like 70% of ret paladin damage (you can also immune repent/HoJ with it if you're super pro too), hunters chimaera shot and explosive shot, and pretty much all DK damage worth noting, although Frost and Scourge Strike can and will instantly kill you too if you're not careful.

Strangulate and Gnaw: Is a healer? If yes, does it have some form of mitigation or hots up? If no and it's anywhere from 1-99% hp, strangulate that ho and yell a lot for whoever you're playing with to assist you in violating it. 9 times out of 10 whatever you're targeting with your band of merry friends will forcefully explode, resulting in much glory and honor for you. If it somehow survives the strangulate, push gnaw and then kill it.

If it's NOT a healer, find the healer, put him on focus, and then whenever you think you're going to skillfully two shot whatever you're attacking, push your focus strangulate or gnaw macro (YOU DO HAVE ONE RIGHT?) and destroy the poor target of your unbridled aggression.

Fun things to note: Strangulating or silencing DKs prevents them from using such things as Death Grip, Chains of Ice, and pretty much anything that doesn't end in "strike". Strangulating or silencing warriors stops them from using shouts (please don't ever actually do this).


Gargoyle: Is FC up? Do you have 50 runic power? Good, push your Gargoyle button and watch the happy lil guy chuck green lightning balls at people for lots of damage.

Lichborne: Does the other team or group of people have a rogue and another visible target? Push Lichborne and rush whatever you can see to prevent being sapped. Make sure you don't get shackled or feared by a priest or paladin while you're heroicly charging in to make mince meat of them.

Otherwise, push if you get feared. Not much else to say about that.

AMZ: pretty much see the AMS section, except it doesn't immune you to magic stuff and it works for your entire team. Fun things to do with this include waiting until a ret pally pops wings, and then dropping AMZ over his kill target and /laughing at him, and dropping this over a Frost DK about to unload 130 RP worth of cooldown powered Frost Strikes into someone.


Death Grip: use AFTER what you're fighting has blown it's cheap mobility cooldown. Examples: AFTER the mage blinks. AFTER the warlock portals. AFTER the warrior intercepts your healer. AFTER the rogue cloak/sprints (yes, this goes through cloak, and also AMS). Also handy for interrupting spell casts from range, and generally making any healers day less fun when you grip them in during a heal and pestilence a full row of dots on to them to add insult to injury. Make sure to utilize this in the most obnoxious way possible and chuck a desecration down immediately after gripping if there isn't already one. IMPORTANT NOTE: this can be grounding totemed, and spell reflected.


SUPER COOL STRATS FOR EFFECTIVELY OWNING THINGS IN A REALLY ANNOYING FASHION:

Against anything that can't heal:

Required - Endless Winter, Glyph of Chains of Ice

Not needed, but extremely helpful - some form of LoS like a pillar

1) CoI and send your ghoul in
2) run out of line of sight, or just out of melee range (5-8 kite)
3) CoI again ~2-3 seconds before it wears off
4) run out of line of sight
5) death coil
6) repeat the above until your target dies
7) relish in the fact that whatever you just killed is probably nerd raging over chains of ice right now, help soothe their anger by pressing your /sit macro a lot on top of their body

Against shamans:

Find a totem stomping macro.

Now, add it to all your abilities.

Watch as your ghoul bounces around and kills anything remotely important to the shaman as you two shot him in a strangulate.

Enjoy your time of victory now because next patch you'll never kill a remotely competent resto shaman by yourself ever.


When fighting in group pvp:

Pestilence anytime your blood runes are up.

Anytime the target you're on starts to get a steady stream of heals, tab and hit the next closest thing in the face for half its life.

Keep doing this and eventually something will randomly die or the healers will run out of mana.

If the group you're fighting has a pet, be sure exploit this and tab one shot it so you can laugh at them for not being cool like you and having a super awesome ghoul whenever you feel like it instantly. Bonus points if you kill more than one pet in a single encounter.



ANY OTHER QUESTIONS YOU HAVE FEEL FREE TO ASK, IM GOING TO GET POPTARTS.

[Lisbet]

*sneeks in, snuggles tist, and then runs away before the pvp gets on her robes*

[Yatokth]

SUPER COOL STRATS FOR EFFECTIVELY OWNING THINGS IN A REALLY ANNOYING FASHION:

Against anything that can't heal:

Required - Endless Winter, Glyph of Chains of Ice

Not needed, but extremely helpful - some form of LoS like a pillar

1) CoI and send your ghoul in
2) run out of line of sight, or just out of melee range (5-8 kite)
3) CoI again ~2-3 seconds before it wears off
4) run out of line of sight
5) death coil
6) repeat the above until your target dies
7) relish in the fact that whatever you just killed is probably nerd raging over chains of ice right now, help soothe their anger by pressing your /sit macro a lot on top of their body



I really, really hate you. :)

[Tsu]

I really, really hate you. :)

It's pretty much the cheapest and easiest way to solo rogues after they've blown cds :P

[Kaliera]

I prefer to just slam my forehead against the Frost Strike key, but that's just me.

[Tsu]

i am pve allstar unholy specced elven knight of death

i dont have frost strike :(

[Kaliera]

i dont have frost strike :(

I'm just giving you a super insightful outside spec suggestion, sir. The great thing about death knights is that you can kill things with all sorts of awesomely colored buttons and "___ Strikes", and I wasn't sure if you knew that yet. I am helpful. :B

[Gorymoru]

Imma make this short for all you destro locks out there. Portal is gewd. Portal is friend. Portal will not make fingers swell.

Anyways. Back to srs bidnez.

Class rundown:

Druid-Feral: The stealth is nasty, pop the VW shield as soon as they pounce you. If they burn the shield down before you can get out of the stun, be sure to use the portal, if you don't have a portal, go straight to the next step, which would be Shadowfury and immolate-fear/fear-immolate. ((depends on preference. I'd suggest the first, but I use the second because it's what I do.)) Then do a standard rotation once they are running, chaos bolt, incinerate and/or conflagrate. ((Always good to use conflagrate AFTER a CB or Incinerate cast. For me they both usually crit...that's 15k or so damage right there. Good for healers))

Druid-Boomkin: Caster battle. If you spec like I do, as 0/20/51, grabbing FD, then switch to Felhunter unless the Boomkin has company. Shadowfury->fear>immolate or whatever. Catch them in the middle of a spell with a spell lock macro or click, and burn them down with a regular rotation ((See above))

Druid-resto: I've been unable to kill these if they are ready for me. If anyone can tell me how other than have better burst please enlighten...it's fucking impossible for me.


Mage: Caster battle. Open with Shadowfury>immolate>fear and either go into a rotation or switch to FH. In general, I've no problem sticking with a VW, and it saves a shard. Careful of their blink, they like to use it at just the wrong moment.

[Gorymoru]

It refused to let me edit, and it pressed post for whatever reason without my consent.))

Paladin-ret: See Demitri's. Can't say it better.

Paladin-prot: Annoying, but almost the same as ret. Just don't let them get too close and you're squishy body will be fine.

Paladin-holy: ...eh...burn? ((See default fight strat))

Paladin-ANNOYING FUCKING SPEC THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL AND IS LIKE BASHING HEAD AGAINST BRICK WALL!!!! aka prot holy: Halp?

Priest-shadow or holy: Shadowfury>immolate>fear>FD felhunter. Spell lock in a spell and burn them down with rotation. I say again, try and use conflag after Chaos bolt or incinerate, then spam a plethora of incinerates and/or chaos bolt, if you can.

Priest-disc: Another pain in the ass the kill. i can't kill the good ones. And I get nothing but.

Rogue: see kitty form, but get away faster. I will repeat whoever was brilliant enough to say, "DO NOT WASTE TRINKET ON ANYTHING BUT KIDNEY SHOT!!!!!!!!@$!#@$#@@#" Use portal when you can, and always use a VW. If you use a fel hunter, you deserve the burst storm from hell you get.

Shaman: Whoever said shaman could easily kill warlocks must have seen nothing but the complete retards. In my personal experience, shaman have been lawlsauce. It is a burst battle with an ele-shaman to be honest, but with a enhance shaman, it is best to kite and run while nuking when possible. Resto shaman's are a bit easier to kill than disc or trees, due to lack of shield or as many instants. Hit them with a spell lock in a spell and fear>burn.

Warlock-affliction: Pop Shadow ward after they hit you with the fear, and if you think you can eat it, do so. The pet is based on preference, but if you use Fel hunter, get them while they cast haunt or UA. After that, burn them down with your awesome destro-ness. They can't heal through your crits, unless you are SEVERELY out-geared.

warlock-demo:..........lawl.

warlock-destro: Burst battle. If it's equal on the gear ground...then good luck. They'll be doing the same thing as you. ((Recalls fight with Demitri...lost all 3 times...but got him to 5-8% health every time....DAMN YOU!!!!))

Warrior: Chances are they are arms. Make sure the portal is down...if not...at least in my experience, prepare to die. Once they charge and hamstring you, pop the VW shield and let them hit you. Just nuke em as much as you can while the hamstring is on you. They'll soon pop BS, and when they do, port away and kite. Shadowfury>fear>immolate and standard rotation. Kite as needed and don't let them get too close for too long.

[Tylorvias]

Paladin-ANNOYING FUCKING SPEC THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL AND IS LIKE BASHING HEAD AGAINST BRICK WALL!!!! aka prot holy: Halp?

Mana drain is your friend.

Just keep the damn walker out and between it's shield and your fel armor you will heal passively more then they can hurt you, at which point it becomes a great big burn the mana pool and force the bubble fight. Only thing really worth noting is to look for divine plea. Prot geared holy get that annoying spec that keeps it up whenever they hit something, (And I think get hit but I'm not sure...) so just portal and put you pet on passive and pull it with you until the debuff ends. From there occasionally interrupt heals with a fear or shadowfury and before long bubble pops and they heal up. Do it again to burn the LoH and then again because chances aren't terrible bubble is back up...

Again, save yourself from having to tap and mana drain their asses into the ground after you hit them with the conflag daze. (Imp soul leach is amazing and I can't understand for the life of me why more pvp locks don't have it, it alone can heal your health pool through the fight and keep you from so much unneeded tapping)

[Szordrin]

Disagree. I've had destro and UA locks try and mana burn me (Prot/Holy). Truthfully, the best you can do is assume the fetal position. They will (if they're halfway decent) out last your mana pool and wait for you to just life tap yourself to your grave.

What you're referring to as
Prot geared holy get that annoying spec that keeps it up whenever they hit something, is a universal paladin talent. Sacred Shield. Prot paladins or really ANY paladin that specs into the Protection tree will get an improved version of it (which is basically all of Paladin PVPers these days).

If you want to kill a Prot/Holy or a Holy Paladin you need to be suave with your interrupts/silences/kicks/incapacitation/stuns what have you. If you face bang your keyboard with all of your CC randomly, you will never win and the battle will turn into one of these two scenarios, A) You will fight this fucker till the end of time. I hope you dont need sleep or B) He will eventually kill you.

[Tylorvias]

Eh, just like anything else it's not about the ability but it's how you use it. Mana burning while they are at a distance and dazed with hand down is a faster way to drain their mana while keeping yours up. A smart lock going into this fight will only tap occasionally and never let their mana pool under 25%. A few well spaced ones gives you all the time in the world for fel armor and soul leech to restore the lost health. If you know what you are doing keeping both your mana and hp above 60ish% isn't hard at all. It's a long fight, but if you stay calm and don't go all out and pace yourself the bastardy pally is going to have a harder time killing you than you are killing him.

[Saulle]

As a Ret Paladin, I've learned from Arenas (as well as BGs) how to tango with a few classes or so. Regrettably, the other classes I have a helluvalot of trouble with tends to be casters. Most notably, the Destro Warlock. Any suggestions will be greatly welcomed.