Arena Add-Ons and Other General Advice

[Lysimachus]

So, I want to get an arena weapon, but I'm mostly bad. I tried switching to frost, but it'll be too long before I'm fair enough with it to REALLY be successful. So I will stay arcane.

Therefore, I need all the help I can get to claw my way up to 1800, as I feel like I'm the one that needs to do the clawing on my teams.

What add-ons do the best arena-ers use?

Any other advice is also appreciated!

[Qabian]

http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=98163

[Lysimachus]

Oh my god yes. I didn't know such a site existed.

[Ryoku]

If you're having trouble with Frost, you could always find a good mage to help you out.

Thalarios is probably the best Frost Mage on these boards. Pretty nice guy, I'm sure he'd help you out if you asked.

Also, just wait for it. Eventually me and Serenity will become godly synergized and carry you to victory. :D

[Yatokth]

Any team with a mage will benefit tenfold if that mage is pro.

Good that you're attempting to improve! Gladius is really all you NEED, but others may help, check AJ for caster add-ons, as I don't play a caster, couldn't tell ya.

[Lysimachus]

Bless you Ryo, bless you.

Such a good boy.

[Catilyn]

I used to play a Frost Mage back in my BC Days and know all about 'em.
As far as individual skill against particular classes goes, if you ever find yourself lacking against Death Knights, send me a PM and I'd be more than happy to meet up with you for a training session.

[Irontoe]

I used to play a Frost Mage back in my BC Days and know all about 'em.
As far as individual skill against particular classes goes, if you ever find yourself lacking against Death Knights, send me a PM and I'd be more than happy to meet up with you for a training session.

I can't recommend Catilyn enough. She single handedly honed my body and mind into a DK-slaughtering machine.**





**This statement may exaggerate Irontoe's skill in PvP.

[Leiwar]

Catilyn is awesome. She is training me in the way of surviving dks too.

[Taknar]

D'aww.... all she's ever done is ganked Taknar. No training involved.

However, that did lead to a very entertaining afternoon so I can't complain.

RC: "WHAT?! OUR TROLL GOT GANKED!"

Lys, one thing I can recommend above all others is an addon that lists your opponents interupts, and displays the cooldowns and which ones are available. Being able to know when to "juke" and when you are free to cast your longer spells is a godsend.

Also make sure you are using slow to your best advantage. I'm not quite sure what that is, but just ask people if they hate it when slow is cast on them and if they say yes, cast it on those classes =D

[Lysimachus]

Good question. I am sure everyone hates slow, but who hates it the *most*? Paladins don't count, because they're immune to everything op pos's

[Irontoe]

Warriors and death knights would be severely impacted by Slow. Hell, even hunters get hurt by it because mages can use it to stay in melee range and frost nova 'n shit.

[Yatokth]

You could rotate slow on a ret after he's blown freedom to get out of a stun to peel him.

But generally, it's great on Warris, DKs, and yeah, hunts.

[Tsu]

pro tips on playing frost mage

- keybind everything (including pet nova)

- have a focus sheep cs and deep freeze

- mash frostbolt a lot


pro tips to playing arcane mage

- spam slow

- click arcane blast really hard until something looks at you OR until you hit 4 stacks, then proceed to step 2

- click arcane barrage really hard

- repeat

- sheep or cs something if you feel like it

- !!BONUS TIP!! if missile barrage procs click arcane missiles really hard


PRO TIPS FOR SURVIVING:

- if things are whacking you click frost nova

- if lots of things are whacking you really really hard click ice block

- if you are stunned blink

[Yatokth]

pro tips on playing frost mage

- keybind everything (including pet nova)

- have a focus sheep cs and deep freeze

- mash frostbolt a lot


pro tips to playing arcane mage

- spam slow

- click arcane blast really hard until something looks at you OR until you hit 4 stacks, then proceed to step 2

- click arcane barrage really hard

- repeat

- sheep or cs something if you feel like it

- !!BONUS TIP!! if missile barrage procs click arcane missiles really hard


PRO TIPS FOR SURVIVING:

- if things are whacking you click frost nova

- if lots of things are whacking you really really hard click ice block

- if you are stunned blink BUT NOT INTO A PILLAR

Added some pro there for ya.

[Tsu]

i heard if you click blink hard enough while facing a pillar you go through it

[Swerto]

More like you shatter the pillar and it falls onto your enemy.

[Serenity]

op pos's
I heard that. ='(

[Yatokth]

Good question. I am sure everyone hates slow, but who hates it the *most*? Paladins don't count, because they're immune to everything op pos's

Paladins are often a great target for Polymorph, especially if they're the only dispeller on the opposing team.

For example, if Mage/Ret/Sham is fighting TSG (Warr/DK/HPally), bloodlust, spam CC on the pally (use Repentance first to see if you can pop a trink, if you do, poly, he'll probably sacrifice it) and control the DK and the Warr, nuking the motherfucking hell out of the Warrior (you want him to go defensive) while using things like hex, BoP, and ele novas to survive (make sure serenity gets out of the bladestorm so arokai doesn't die, as they'll probably be on him. If they go on sere, watch the pally get hex'd out of a wind shear silence and lol) and outlast Sacrifice and Bubble.

If you last past the pallies anti-CC cooldowns, it's GG, poly him, rape the shit out of the others.

Poly is also good on Rets, as they often are tunnel visioning idiots and can't see it coming, and thus won't sac it.

Hell, nobody in your bracket will probably sac a poly.

[Tsu]

you can probably safely cc train pallies til you hit like 2200+ mmr lol

most are terrible and can't even los let alone use sac intelligently

[Vyn]

So, umm...since this IS labeled general advice, does anyone know what keys arent already bound to something, or is there a list out there or something?

And is there a way to get good at mouse turning? I unbound my d and a keys, but I've done it for like...well, shit, since WoW's been out. (I didnt even know you COULD right-click turn until BC...I never was big on PvP)

And why unbind the 's' key? I tried it, but its a pain in the ass when I run just barely past a mining node to have to turn all the way around.

[Ryoku]

And why unbind the 's' key? I tried it, but its a pain in the ass when I run just barely past a mining node to have to turn all the way around.

Mouse turn / strafe will get you there way faster than backpedaling.

It's a really good habit to get into if you want to get hardcore into PvP.

Also shift+(key) is good for binding. Sometimes you just gotta move things around though. Rebinding menu keys (your bags, character sheet, that thing v is connected to) further to the right of your keyboard (unbinding other stuff that you can get to from the character window like rep and skills) allows you to bind more of your combat-useful abilities to compact the space your hand has to go while you're PvPing.

Really, really, really useful stuff.

[Chikt]

And why unbind the 's' key? I tried it, but its a pain in the ass when I run just barely past a mining node to have to turn all the way around.

Because once you realize that if you strafe back to it you will get back to it faster than backpedaling, you win at PvP.

[Tsu]

all the keys around wasd you dont really need bound to something else

qertfzxcvvgtb

^ that + 1-6 (or 7 if you have big hands) and shift/ctrl/alt versions of those should easily cover everything you need

[Yichimet]

I moved my movement keys to ESDF so that I'd have a couple extra keys for my pinky--not the clutch stuff like trinket or wind shear or riptide or anything, but bloodlust is Shift+Q and cleanse is Z and Shaman Watery Two-minute Cooldown #5 is Shift+a.

[Swerto]

I don't need to bind zxcv

just qerfgt.

[Irontoe]

I keybound:

`12345
QERT
FG
ZXCVB
Mouse Buttons 3,4,5 (for targeted AoE like Volley, grenades, and flare)

I was still missing a huge number of key abilities, and I never got the hang of [shift+key] binding no matter how long I practiced. @#$% hunters.

[Yichimet]

Heh, it's the same way with a shaman and totems--I use 1/2/3/4 for the different elements, and have shift+, ctrl+, and in some cases alt+ keybinds for specific totems. I think a lot of classes have that feeling--"Where the fuck am I gonna bind THAT spell?" I think altogether I have keybound abilities to:

F1 F2 F3 F4
`123456
QWRTY
AGH
ZVB
Mouse 3&4 (WTB upright mouse with another few buttons)

Plus almost every single one of those has some form of shift+ or ctrl+ binding.

And man, I'm still terribad at this game. D:

[Vyn]

Wait, wait, wait...I should rebind QE instead of AD?!?!

God dammit. But Im starting to get the hang of keyboard turning and some of my keybinds.

[Yatokth]

Wait, wait, wait...I should rebind QE instead of AD?!?!

God dammit. But Im starting to get the hang of keyboard turning and some of my keybinds.

Doesn't truly matter.

Long as whatever you use is strafe and not turn, and you turn w/ mouse.

[Qabian]

I downloaded the Excel thing from here:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f200/41865-keybinds-you.html

I was planning to map out my keys all fancy and logical, but I really haven't had the time to invest in learning it yet, and the classes in the actual download are Warrior, Rogue and Shaman, which don't help me much. Still, it's a map you can consider. I don't think it has a list of what the default bindings are to said keys, but you can essentially make whatever map you want/works best for you. If you notice things are missing, you fix it yourself.

I've only used mouse turning for specific instances where I know it's desperately important (Murmur was my mouse turning practice fight), and I know it's something I need to work on and get rid of my keyboard crutch.

I think the only real way to get good at it is to practice. Next time you go a little past that mining node, just right click whip the mouse around, left click and it's right in front of you.

[Vyn]

Im practicing more in BGs. Not because its like arena, but because its helping me to get done where my binds are and when to spam the ever loving shit out of that key. I have death pact (shift+s) down pretty well. :D

[Agnarr]

My question...what can be done to combat opponents with shitty ping or whatever it is that makes them teleport all over the place when you're in melee combat?

[Ryoku]

Ignore them and focus on someone else. They're targetting you about as easily as you're targeting them. In arena / bg it inevitably becomes disadvantageous for them.

[Tsu]

My question...what can be done to combat opponents with shitty ping or whatever it is that makes them teleport all over the place when you're in melee combat?

spam piercing howl and try to get an intercept/charge