Nomakk and I have been playing in the arena for about 3 weeks now. I'm the first to admit that we still have a lot to learn, and a long way to go. However, the Eugugalizers have made some strong strides towards having a competitive rating. One of the things I've noticed is that our winning percentage increases with a heavy correlation to the number of cooldowns we use.
I make it my personal goal to use Force of Nature (treants), Barkskin, and Nature's Grasp every time it is up and appropriate. Nomakk makes every possible attempt to use his Wyvern Sting and Scatter Shot/Freeze Trap.
Force of Nature: It's fairly obvious that these should be used whenever the cooldown is up. Extra dps and casting-pushback make these treants very very powerful. I've made it a point to open with these, so that I never end an arena smacking my head after I realize I didn't use them.
Barkskin: Phaelia of Resto4Life wrote a really good post detailing the advantages of barkskin in PvP. Who wouldn't want to be taking 20% less damage 12 seconds out of every minute?
Nature's Grasp: The one I forget least to use. When there is a rogue or warrior beating on me, I always reach for this button but it is almost always on cooldown! Don't forget Nature's Grasp is good for pets as well if you are fighting a hunter or warlock. At the very least, you'll make a felhunter waste a cooldown eating the roots.
Wyvern Sting (Nomakk): I'm really glad Nomakk spec'd to get WS because it gives us one more CC option in case one of our other ones (roots, cyclone, trap) get trinketed out of. Sometimes he'll even use it just for the dot portion because it does so much damage. At the very least it will stop someone in their tracks and make them start the moving process again.
Scatter Shot/Freeze trap: I put these together because Nomakk uses them together almost exclusively. It's hard to get someone to walk over a trap you just put down, so he doesn't give them a choice. Again, more CC equals more 2v1 fights meaning we have a better shot at winning.
It's hard to use your cooldowns, at least it is for me. In PvP and PvE I don't want to use my cooldowns because I want to save them for a time when I really need them. I'm trying to move away from that mindset. I like to think of it now as the sooner I use my cooldowns, the sooner they will be available again. How many of your cooldowns are you using each game?
Thursday, August 30, 2007
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2 comments:
Great to see another blog about balance druids! Thanks for starting this up, I'm always game for some balance discussion.
Regarding your spec, I'm curious how useful you find Brambles. I hadn't considered it for pvp but perhaps the damage is worth it.
I'm also wondering how you like having 100% Nature's Grasp. I've got 35% and I find it rather dumb to have to wait for a proc while a rogue or warrior wails on me. Most of the time I feel like I need to cast roots even though NG is on.
Your point about using your cooldowns is an excellent one. I've slowly been learning through playing bgs/arenas just how much power they give you. You can only smack your head and say "I forgot Warstomp!" so many times before you learn to use it.
Do you focus mostly on pvp? If so I will be one happy boomkin--I do BGs and 2v2 arena almost exclusively.
Traxus
Trax, yes my main focus is on PvP, and 2v2 arena in specific. I've been vigorously trying to replace my gear with more PvP-centric gear (resilience, stamina, armor) while trying not losing any potency, but it's not easy.
I went with Brambles because, well, nothing else really appealed to me in the other trees. I'd have to invest at least 8 points into feral to get thick hide which would help the moonkin but I would waste 5 points in getting there. In the resto tree there are some nice moonkin raiding talents (Subtlety, Intensity) however I am spec'd purely for PvP. I hardly ever have mana problems because arenas are over so quickly anyways, so Natural Shapeshifter wasn't on my mine either. In short, there was really nothing better to take.
I've got 100% Nature's Grasp because I like to be in control. When there is a rogue or warrior beating on me, I want to make sure that when I click that button he gets stuck. An extra 2-3 seconds with one of those classes can be the difference between life and death. A warrior swings about every 3 seconds. A rogue's energy ticks every 2 seconds. I want to get away as fast as possible, so I want to make sure that they aren't coming with me.
Thanks for stopping in, it's great to see more moonkins in arena!
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