Moonkins and Arena
I’ve never been particularly awesome in Arena, partly because I’ve never had the dedication to farm BGs for hundreds of thousands of honor for a nice set of resiliance gear. Sure, gear may only be half of the equation, but having 20k+ HP and 700+ resiliance really helps.
So, I’ve never really gotten into Arena too much, pre-WoTLK I only used to do weekly 2’s games for some points. A few days ago I did 3’s, and for the first time ever, it was actually pretty fun, since we won significantly more than we lost. I even got the achievement for getting up to 1550 rating in 3’s.
Here’s what I picked up (if you have more experience in Arena as a boomkin please feel free to chime in):
Start off Stealthed
If left alone, any decently geared moonkin should be able to pick off players on the opposing team with 1-3 casts. There’s nothing better to me in Arena when they are beating on the ret pally I grouped with, and I stand 20+ yards away, hitting them with Wrath’s, and then 10k+ Starfire’s, even with all their resiliance. Most healers shouldn’t be able to heal through your damage anymore, too, especially if you hit them with a nice Starfire stun or Typhoon interrupt while they are healing.
Use Your CDs
However useless Barksin may seem, I pop it whenever its up. 20% damage reduction may be exactly what you need to stay alive before you can get that much-needed heal. If you’re specced for it, you’re barkskin may also stun some of your attackers, which is always nice.
Don’t forget about your trees! They may have very low health and can be easily killed with 1-2 AoE attacks, but at the very least they will make it harder for players to target you. Throw them on the healer, set them to Agressive, and forget about them. These suckers crit for 1k damage each, without even talenting for the 15% extra damage.
Wear Leather
Kinky, I know, but if you don’t have a full PvP set, make sure you at least put on all leather gear. The armor will come in handy if your facing any melee. I also try putting on as much +stam gear as I can, without losing massive amounts of spell power. Also, don’t worry about your mana regen or mana pool for arenas. You’re fights should never make you go OOM.
Don’t Underestimate Thorns
Without the +75% damage that talents can give you Thorns, my Thorns deal an easy 230+ damage to attackers, per hit. Talented, I’d assume that you could easily do 400+ damage to your attackers by just letting them beat on you all day. Throw it on yourself, and everyone else in your group. Even if your not facing melee opponents, its still one less buff for them to dispel.
Abolish Poison and Remove Curse
You can remove poisons and curses off yourself and other party members without having to shift out of moonkin form. This is pretty useful, and should be used whenever applicable.
Anyways, these were just things I picked up while doing 20 or so 3’s games. The team was myself, a ret pally, and a resto shammy. Heroism was popped every game (<3 heroism) and I began every fight stealthed. Anytime that we played again, after initially beating them, the rematch would involve them beating the crap out of me. This should change as I slowly pick up more and more PvP gear, and next time I do Arena’s I will actually spec for it.
Like I said earlier, please feel to correct me or add to this, as Arena/PvP is not my forte, I’m still mostly a PvE moonkin (someone actually /laughed and psted me about my wearing PvE gear to do Arena’s).
Signing off,
Macbook
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More power to ya. IF you can do Arena’s in PVE gear go for and thnx for the tips I hope to try them out
[...] at Moonkin.info has some tips for Moonkin starting PvP (3v3 Arena to be precise.) He admits to be no expert, but his beginner tips are [...]
Sounds good to me, those trees are really nasty too I suggest you open up with trees when breaking stealth. As said it makes it harder to target and they do some pretty nasty damage.
I also suggest opening up with starfire, if you are going to notify them of your existence at least make it count right?
I don’t arena but I do gank 1(me) vs 2(them) in world pvp all the time. If accessible starfall is GREAT for panic and dps. Usually hits for 500+ non crit(and it will crit a lot) per person per tick. Will cause interupts and will hit all targets. I would assume it pops people out of stealth as well, although I have never put it to the test. Nothing more annoying than having your cover blown before you can get off that cheap shot.
Roots, Cyclone, Insect Swarm –v
Roots are not just for melee. It is nice to stop a healer in their tracks and let your melee tear them to pieces, or perhaps root them then run behind a wall and heal. Cheap tactic but very effective.
Cycloning a healer is almost completely pointless from my experience. In pvp the target will usually last long enough for the healer to withstand duration of cyclone and get a heal off. I’ve had better luck CCing the dps and wiping out the healer.
Insect Swarm is nice, what more is there to say. Chance to hit reduction goes a long way in pvp being as most pvp gear already lacks hit rating. Damage wise I have not found it too useful in pvp, unless the target is in the process of running.
Cyclone + Roots combination can be very effective. I highly suggest using roots first when you can. If you are lucky in which most cases you are the target will trinket out, leaving you free to cyclone them the full 8 seconds. Not to mention you may need cyclone if the target is melee and gets close to you. There is always typhoon but cyclone tends to work better. If you are really crafty, cyclone; heal; typhoon; root. Then laugh and destroy them.
Again this is entirely world pvp, I don’t believe in arena because WoW pvp sucks and running around in a little box doesn’t quite cut it for me. Yes I said it, WoW pvp mechanics are terrible! But you work with what you have. My kill:death ratio is INCREDIBLY high.
As a boomkin I suggest you watch out for warlocks, deathknights(op…), and palidans. At least if you are in pve gear.
I hope this helps, if not at least you got a good laugh out of it! Enjoy.
Great tips, I’m actually about to followup this post with stuff I learned last night doing two’s!
Mac
Too bad the opposing team’s mage will have you silenced the entire fight.
A few other tips I have found helpful in my 3v3 matches…..do not forget your other forms.
As you said above, once you started replaying teams you faced a few times they would come after you first.
Once this starts happening I tend to bear up and use barkskin, demo roar, and frenzied regen if necessary.
Usually this buys my other teammates enough time to have at least one of the opposing members down.
Another thing you might try to attempt is dashing in at a healer while stealthed, and getting a pounce off before you, drop trees and starting casting starfire. It is a bit tricky with the crappy stealth, but if they aren’t expecting it, its still a few more seconds of time your team has.
Just a couple odd tips most boomkin don’t think about.
I pvp'd a lot leveling. People forget when they get to 80 and start raiding and specialize, we druids have loads of talents. Use all your forms like the above poster said. I used every form I had in AV while leveling to help back tower while horde where not paying attention. I also love stealthing in and Typhooning the loan tard guarding a tower clean out so I can cap it. Then sit and wait for him to come back at me only to get destroyed by ever spell in the book. The same tactics can be used in arena. Just think on your feet and use what you have for the situation. Druids are great at everything. That is why I love the class.