by // May 28, 2014
Map: Warsong Gulch (WSG)
Terminology:
Hey guys and welcome back! Here is some 8.3 Assassination Rogue PvP in the Warsong Gulch. It's been too long since I've played a rogue and I've missed it so much! I'm no rogue pro yet but with.
- Base
- Ramp
- Tunnel
- Roof
- GY or Graveyard
- Mid or Midfield
- Enemy Base
- Flag Carrier (FC) The player who picks up, carries and captures the flag for your team
- Enemy Flag Carrier (EFC) The player who picks up, carries and captures the flag for the enemy team
The Basics
Warsong Gulch is a 10v10 capture the flag battleground. As WSG is a mirrored map, neither faction holds a geographical advantage. The objective for WSG is to cap the enemy flag 3 times within 20 minutes. Currently, capture the flag battlegrounds often end in ties or 1-0 wins. In the case of a draw, the team to cap last wins the game.
When picking up the flag, players in a tanking specialization instantly take 50% increased damage, those in damage and healing specializations take 20% extra damage. All players will receive , causing them to take 10% more damage for every minute they hold the flag. Focused Assault will display the number of minutes it has been active, this is called a “stack”. Be aware of this number, as it can help in considering the vulnerability of both Flag Carrier’s (FC’s). Maximum speed when holding the flag is 200%, however at 4 stacks of the debuff the FC’s maximum speed will be decreased to 100%, hindering the FC’s ability to kite.
The Team
The standard strategy in WSG is to split your team into two 5 man groups. Give one group the responsibility of capturing the flag and defending your FC, the other the responsibility of killing the enemy FC (EFC) and returning the flag. A typical composition includes 4 dps and 1 healer on offense, and 2 healers, 2 dps and an FC on defense.
Your offense will benefit from being mainly single target burst damage specs, such as destruction warlocks or frost mages. Defensively, currently either feral or guardian druids are the strongest FC’s in the game. Guardians are strong thanks to , , and . All of these defensive cooldowns synergise well with the guardian druid passive talents and each other, plus the short 30 second cooldown of Barkskin helps greatly in increasing survivability. Guardian druids passive talents include , and . Whilst on a guardian druid, once the 50% increased damage upon picking up the flag has been taking into consideration, the passive talents are mostly cancelled out, with a guardian druids taking approximately 5% more spell damage and 7% more melee damage than feral druid FC’s. Feral druids are strong FC’s as they have all the same major cooldowns as a guardian druids, except Barkskin is on a 1minute cooldown instead of 30 seconds. Feral druids are also equipped with the same minor cooldowns, excluding savage defense. Feral druids however can gain from Symbiosis for a strong 3minute cooldown, and can use in order to root and kite the enemy team.
When forming your group it is helpful to remember the DR categories of your damage classes’ crowd control and try to run as much variety as possible. Using a varied composition also helps to diversify your cooldowns and party buffs.
Basic Strategy
At the start of the RBG, look at the enemy team’s composition. A helpful addon for this is Battleground Targets. By looking at the type of DPS they have (spread damage, single target damage), the amount of healers and the variation of CC, you can coordinate your offensive and defensive groups and alert your team to any priorities for kill targets.
Commonly RBG teams will be either balanced, weighted towards dot heavy DPS or weighted towards single target DPS. Dot heavy comps will rely on affliction warlocks, shadow priests, unholy death knights and boomkins, with spread damage quickly rotting away at your team. To counteract this, you need to prevent those classes from free casting by using well co-ordinated cc, being aware of dispellable abilities and utilizing strong aoe healing. Picking off their DPS one by one, calling specific kill targets will help in preventing too much damage on your team. You may want to set any affliction warlocks as your primary kill targets due to and the large pressure their dots can put on your healers.
Single target DPS teams usually consist of rogues, mages, warriors and destruction warlocks. Again, for this composition, your primary kill target should be the warlock, due to a destruction warlocks being the highest damage ability in game, and any destruction warlock with up should either be killed or constantly interrupted from casting. You also want to prevent any destruction warlocks from getting the berserker buff. Single target DPS teams will rely much more on communication and strategy and cycling cooldowns, so their weakness is a dispersed team. Separating single target melee classes is especially effective in dispersing their DPS.
Defense
Thanks to druid stealth, it is unlikely you will find the EFC in the team fight crossing the midfield, so you should leave some DPS in your base to defend your flag. Use AoE abilities to get the EFC out of stealth, then your DPS should focus on doing maximum damage to kill the EFC before he leaves the base. In addition to this, it is a good idea to send a third DPS out into the midfield in order to collect the berserker buff. This has two advantages; it prevents the enemy team from collecting it and receiving higher damage in the team fight, and also means the player carrying the berserker buff can return to your base to aid your defense.
Anticipating the enemy defense, your FC should travel to the enemy flag room with a healer. Before leaving the base your FC will need to use . Who they symbiosis depends on your composition. Overall, the most beneficial Symbiosis for your team is Symbiosis on a holy priest. This gives the holy priest which means your team has an extra undispellable cc, helping to both defend your FC or cc healers when trying to kill the EFC.
However, a guardian druid FC will benefit the most from Symbiosis on a death knight for for extra defense, especially for when Focused Assault stacks are high. Feral druid FC’s should Symbiosis a priest (any specialization) in order to gain Dispersion. Therefore, if you only have one druid on your team Symbiosis should be reserved for a holy priest for the entire teams benefit, however if you have two druids the FC should Symbiosis the class most beneficial for their specialization.
Once your FC has acquired the flag, they will need to make their way through the midfield. Whilst the debuff stacks on the FC are relatively low they are still able to kite effectively, meaning they do not have to return to your base straight away. This provides two advantages; if your FC is attacked you have the maximum amount of players in range to defend and CC, and it also increases your presence in the team fight. Once your FC returns to the base you will lose players for the team fight, so it is advantageous to wait as long as possible before returning. Generally at 4 stacks your FC will need to return to the base, as they will lose their kiting capability.
When defending, the FC will need to kite, abuse LoS and take advantage of their surroundings to avoid the enemy offense. The bases provide various platforms and escape routes with many options to LoS DPS, therefore are ideal for defending. If your team has a feral druid FC, they will be able to use Force of Nature in order to root the enemy offense and escape out of LoS. Focus on staying max distance, dropping levels and don’t be afraid to run outside of the base to LoS. You will need to communicate to your FC when you are close to killing the EFC so the FC can get into range of the cap. Your healers with the FC need to focus on rotating cooldowns, cc and communicating. If you can get onto the roof, you can use the tunnel as a gauntlet to keep the enemy back.
Offense
In the team fight, it is the job of your DPS to kill, cc or slow any healers, preventing them from peeling off and healing the EFC. If you wipe their healers, you should turn around and kill the EFC, rather than tunneling damage.
When approaching the enemy FC, be aware of any opportunities for his team mates to grip to another level or out of Line of Sight (LoS). Approach from several angles to limit the escape routes. When they try to evade, make sure you maintain varied positions in case the EFC doubles back. The tunnel can be used as a gauntlet, so stay aware and in LoS of your healers, being careful not to overextend out of the group.
It is reasonable to assume the enemy team will use a guardian druid as their FC. If you are seeking to kill a guardian druid FC, pay close attention to his form. If you can sap or stun the EFC out of bear form they will take up to 43% more damage and lose several passive defensive abilities. Assuming you are trying to kill the EFC in bear form, you should see multiple CDs, including . This is usually glyphed with . Barkskin is on a 30 second cooldown and lasts 12 seconds, which leaves you an 18 second window to kill the EFC before it is up again. Time your major damage cooldowns to synchronize with this window. Whilst you are waiting for Barkskin to drop off, turn your attention to killing or cc’ing any healers. It helps to position around berserker buffs and restoration buffs for the team fight and to assist in killing the EFC.
Due to the recent FC hotfix you may however start to see an influx of feral druid FC’s. In order to kill a feral druid FC, you need to maintain constant damage pressure. You still need to be aware of Barkskin, however for a feral druid it is on a 1 minute cooldown so your window to kill is much larger. You can also assume the feral FC will have Disperse, therefore try to force this cooldown. Wait until you have seen both of these before using major offensive cooldowns such as . Try to avoid being kited, the EFC is likely to Force of Nature in order to root and kite your offensive DPS, therefore abilities such as , or will help greatly in maintaining your offensive strategy.
A successful WSG RBG depends on your team communicating, rotating cooldowns and strategy. Whilst there will always be many variables in any form of PvP, these basic guidelines should help you understand the battleground and achieve future success.
Between andWarsong Gulch is a battleground nestled in the southern region of forest. It is located near the area where and his chopped away huge swaths of forest during the events of the. Despite disagreements from Thrall and the shamans, some orcs have remained in the vicinity, continuing their deforestation to fuel the Horde's expansion. They call themselves the.The, who have begun a massive push to retake the forests of Ashenvale, are now focusing their attention on ridding their land of the Outriders once and for all. And so, the have answered the call and sworn that they will not rest until every last Orc is defeated and cast out of Warsong Gulch.The bases.
Contents Getting thereThe Warsong Gulch in-game map AllianceThe Alliance entrance is located in, southwest of and Fallen Sky Lake in Forest. The Silverwing Outpost is near the junction of the main road through Ashenvale and the road south to. Be very careful if you are below level 20; in the area around the Silverwing Grove are many spiders with strong venom.Instead of traveling to the actual entrance, you can be transported to the battleground by talking to the Battlemasters in the cities of (Stormwind Keep), (Warrior's Terrace), the (Vault of Lights) or (Military Ward).HordeThe Horde entrance is on the mountainside to the west of at the northern end of. Or talk to the Battlemasters in (Valley of Honor), (Hunter's Rise), (Farstriders' Square) and (Sylvanas' chambers).Both factions will also find Battlemasters in.As of, a player may queue up for Warsong Gulch anywhere in the world by going to the battlegrounds tab of the Player vs. Player window. They will return to the location they chose to enter the battleground, not the queue, when the game ends.OverviewPlayers waiting outside the Alliance entrance to Warsong GulchWarsong Gulch in the comic seriesWarsong Gulch is a multiple instance zone hosting a style match for 10 on 10 level bracketed PvP action.
Each side needs at least 5 players or the game will end after 5 minutes.The brackets are currently (as of ):. 10–19.
20–29. 30–39. 40–49. 50–59.
60–69. 70–79.
80There can be multiple instances for a particular bracket if there are enough level appropriate participants for a given level bracket.Resurrection in Warsong Gulch functions as normal, but if your insignia is taken you can only be resurrected at your local graveyard by an NPC who casts a resurrection every 30 seconds. As of 1.9.2 you do not have to click anything. You are put in the 'resurrection wave'. And will have their current or most recent pet resurrected as well, even if that pet was not alive at the time of the player's death or if the pet has not been summoned since entering the battleground.