The owner of this guide who goes by the name "Cravikx" is no longer active, but guide is being preserved due to the quality of it.


Battlegrounds 101

What to do & what NOT to do

This guide will help those players who are constantly treated like noobs in battlegrounds because they think they are doing something right. I would like to thank some of my old friends from Eternal:rolleyes:, back in the days to have helped me perfect this guide.



General pointers


- In any of the Bgs, taking a stroll alone like "who needs those nubs anyway" is somewhat of a bad idea. 1v1 situation are really rare and having some reinforcement to back you up is a good plan.

- Winning any given battleground and being the one with the most Killing Blows/Damage/Healing is rarely the same thing. Doing what has to be done to win comes often at the price of just sitting there waiting for a base to get capped.

- Don't spend so much time being angry about your team or the opposing faction. Some clear pointers and initiative can help you make a "team" out of a bunch of "noobs"

-Be considerate! You know how you love it when a pally just buffs you with his heavenly blessing of kings? Well same goes for everyone else. If you have any buffs you can cast on your teammates, do it after every respawn. It's worth that 1 damn reagent. See someone fighting with your buff missing? Buff him, might give him the edge he needs.

- protecting and healing others can never be overrated! Even if you are a retri pally, a Hand of Protection on a caster when he is swamped by melee might just turn the tide. This goes for all the classes without saying.

-Think SMALL! Use anything to make yourself smaller like NOGGENFOGGER ELIXIR. The smaller you are the harder it is for unprepared players to target you. Using "Tab", "F" or "V" helps you keep track of your targets easier.



Specific Tactics for each Battleground


Arathi Basin


- Ah one of the classics. the goal is simple, capture the bases and get 1600 resources before the other team does. Technically speaking, getting 3 bases first and just keeping them is a guaranteed win. But it sure is boring huh? Well there are some things that need to be considered.

- Defending a base:Making sure that when you assault it you won't just leave until you team actually gets it. Having the advantage of that 1 minute, where you can get it back and won't have to wait for it to turn to your color? It's everything. 1-2 people staying behind so a sneaky little rogue or druid won't get an easy cap can be the key.

- The Graveyard Game: Only very few people I've seen take into consideration what having a base really means. If your opponent dies, he will get teleported to the nearest graveyard. If a lot of your opponent die at the same place, they will all get teleported there. Obviously the large force that will rez at any given graveyard will start running towards the nearest base to take. Not all, but most. So you can actually plan accordingly. You can regroup at that base, or you can try to get the one they resurrected at after the wave left. think a little ahead.

- I believe I can fly!:Every class that can "fly" or anyone having a parachute will want to use it here. It's an incredibly effective way to get from Lumber to Blacksmith to Mine. Your opponents will look around, no one incoming, great we can leave the base, while you silently fly in from above. It can give you a surprise advantage for any ranged by attacking while falling. Just try it out and build your own strategy around it!

- Last man Standing:This one is one of my favorites, especially as a holy pally, but it can be applied to any class or toon with a high survivability . One of the bases just got capped but you have to wait a whole freaking minute until it's yours. Dammit! And to make it worse, a whole group of opponents is coming to get you! And the base of course. So what to do? Run, right? Wrong. You stay there and try to interrupt anyone capping the base. Try to win time. Use your bubble, everyone loves it when a pally bubbles against overwhelming odds! Just keep the cappers busy. If the base turns before you die, you did your job, you kept a lot of opponents busy, your teammates could cap other bases unhindered, and you set that base back 1 minutes, where the opposing team won't get points. Worth it.

Let's move on.


Warsong Gulch

- Good old Warsong Gulch, where the true essence of pvp can come out and shine in a simple capture the flag. It's pretty straight forward I'd say. Not much can do wrong here, except for the obvious. The general rules apply here as well, going for the flag alone and hoping for the opposing team to just let you run with it? Well... Try a small group. A healer is always nice. Someone with good defensive capabilites or useful trick is the best for carrying the flag. A frost mage can have a high defense and slow the hell out of your opponents. Pallys and priest are the obvious choice. But anyone will do if they can survive.

- Use the map: By seeing your teammates in one spot you will have a pretty good idea of where the main force of the opponents is at. Try to avoid them and sneak the flag around. Jumping down at the opponents graveyard can be fast but risky as well.

- Hide: You got the flag but without your own you can't cap it? Hide. Most people still don't know about the roof of each factions base that can be accesed via the tunnel. Oops. Also keep in mind, bubble, rocket boots and similar abilities (yes Hand of Protection on your pal carrying the flag) will make you DROP the flag, while other abilities like SPRINT or druid forms will not. Keep that in mind!

- Stay back: You can often see the flag carrier being the first to rush in on the opposing team's main force thinking, I just have to get through fast. If you have your team to back you up, stay behind, let them finish you opponents, help them in the fight. Going in head first gets you killed most of the time even if the encounter was won by your team. The only reason to run is if you are seriously outnumbered.



Eye of the Storm


- Perhaps the most misunderstood bg of them all. You have to get bases and there is even a flag you have to worry about. Holy crap.Even if I'm running the risk of stating the obvious again: the more people you have at the base the faster you cap it. And the more bases you control the more points you get for capping the flag. Felreaver Ruins is of strategic importance, you can't cap the flag there, so if you want to control at least 3 of 4 bases, leave that to the other team.

- Location Location Location!: So you got into a fight with those damn Allys/hordies in the middle of godforsaken nowhere. And you were just on your way to take a base dammit. How about this? You run up the hill of the bases and fight the opponents, who are in the middle of nowhere, and you can honor farm and be useful by capping a base at the same time! Sometimes you have to consider running from a fight and just fighting at a base.

- Salute to the flag!: While the point boost of capturing the flag is nice, giving up several towers to obtain it is counterproductive. Bases come first flag is secondary. It won't hurt to have some people go after it to atleast hinder the opponents a little, but having a nice little flag on your back just to turn around and ask yourself "now what?" since you have no bases can be a downer.

- FALLING!!!...again...: Most of you might have noticed this, but fighting for the flag or being on a bridge can be a annoying sometimes. Those nature loving elemental shammys just sneak up on you to push you down the abyss... Anyone with similar abilities like fire mages (blast wave) or balance druids use it. It's a good way to deal with a lot of people at the same time, and it's funny as hell. Unless you're the one falling. Everyone else, just keep away from the edges and use whatever you have while falling. Parachute might be a good way to steer back to safety or blink can save your buttex from time to time.



Strand of the Ancients




- Know your place: You feel like coming to a Bg with a gearscore of 1100 was a good idea? Well this might be the only place where you could be right. Just sit in that Cannon/Demolisher and FIRE AT WILL! this goes the other way around as well. You are the most kick *** pvper of the whole universe and you got the gear to prove it? Get your lazy *** out of that Demolisher and start pvping then! Unless no other lazy bastard wants to hop in...then you will have to do.

- Get your BOOM! on: Demolishers are a great way to open those blasted gates keeping you from that huge glowing shiny you really want...for some reason. But did you know that you can pick up Seaforium charges at every Demolisher spawning point as well as near the relic chamber? All you have to do is pick one up, put it down at the door and wait 'til it goes BOOM! counts as damage equal to the Demolisher's shot. Now imagine 15 players putting down charges at the same time? That door becomes elven dust faster then the opposing team can get there. So instead of just pvping around while you wait for some unlucky little toon to get a demolisher, how about you get to work and just blow that door up?

- ALL TO YELLOW!: The opponents have breached the first two lines of defense and all that is left is the yellow gate. All to yellow right? Wrong. It's pretty simple actually. Imagine everyone waiting at yellow. Opponent's demolisher comes around and it gets a few shots off before you can kill it. Imagine waiting near red/purple? You can nuke those little wooden toys before they ever see the yellow gate!

- ALL TO GREEN/BLUE!: As a concept, it's nice. All just storming one gate with a lot of demolisher tearing down the same gate. But with an opponent that's not a total *****, you will have the whole opposing team on you in no time, destroying the demolishers. So forcing one side, on it's own, won't work. You have to adapt. You see them all defending Blue after your initial assault? Go green. No resistance there right now, but this will only work if you have people protecting the demolishers. And protecting, most of the time, means slowing down the others so they won't reach the demos. No need to kill everyone.



Alterac Valley



- Perhaps the most complex and most misunderstood battleground. Trust me this can be insanely entertaining if done right. Where do I even start. Maybe with the winning conditions. You win if you kill the opposing leader or if the opposing team's reinforcements reach 0. This can be done in several ways. Killing someone of the opposing faction gives them -1 reinforcements. Destroying a tower/bunker gives them -50 reinforcements. Killing the "mini" Boss gives them -100 reinforcements. Also, destroying buildings and killing the miniBoss lowers the number of guards in the Main Boss' room ans well as the main Boss' hp. So there. Now you have no more excuse not to destroy towers/bunkers or kill the mini Boss.

- Hit and Run: The best time to kill the miniBoss is right at the beginning. Good luck to gather enough people any other time. Just make everyone run to him at the start before they go into "PVP IN THE MIDDLE, NOMNOM" mode . By the way, he is overrated, 3-4-5 well geared people is more then enough. Some might die, just keep going until he's dead.

- Destroy everything!: As you could see, destroying the buildings is an easy way to win. This means protecting them is just as important. Both ways. You have to protect them once they are capped so they get destroyed, and you have to take back your own at all cost! The fate of these buildings will pretty much decide the fate of the battle.

- To take or not to Take: So once you start attacking and destroy everything in your way you feel tempted to take the opponents graveyard. But consider what this means. They will get ported back in your way once they day. So yes it will set their attack back, but you will have their whole might defending their leader. Do you really want that? Might be better to leave them a graveyard with some people defending your base, just to be able to attack relatively unbothered. Especially if you have more buildings.

Most of the people's experience come from this. A huge all out hack and slash fest in the middle of nowhere with no side being able to break through. One side will always have a graveyard that is nearer to the battle. That side will have their forces replenished faster and will be able to push. The ONLY way to come out of this is to CAP their graveyard. If they rez farther away it will take more time for them to join the fight. Happens a lot on the alliance side after the bunker near the miniBoss.