4 gear-questions for ret pvp in arena!

[Dawon]

Hi,

Me (retpally) and my buddies (frostmage and restodruid) thought it would be fun to try arena a bit and been doing that for 4 weeks now. After a horrible start when we took the walk of shame (i.e. losing like mad) we're gearing up decently and starting to actually win some matches! But I have a few questions that some imba retpally with loads of skills and experience might be able to explain/answer?


1. Should I use the Titanium Razorplate or Furious chest? The first is ofcoz loads more offensive power but at the cost of a sh1load of res (I'll be at around 700 without the furious chest). What's the best pick if I can cover the 4-set Furious bonus with the other 4 items?

2. I still have a hell to decide trinkets to use (i'm not raiding any 25man pve so that gear is unobtainable for me), I am using the medallion-trinket for the res + get-out-of-jail-effect but what else? I've been going back and forth with the darkmoon cards (greatness and death) and kinda like the crit + 4k extra critdmg here and there from Death but the Greatness +90 str is pretty awesome too. Which one of these is the best pick or is there an even better option for a non-25-raider?

3. Which libram is most bang for the buck, the crusader-ap-increase one or the divine storm libram? Or something else that I completely overlooked? I'm currently running the Furious Crusader libram with 144 AP boost.

4. Simply, what res should I aim for so I know when to start stacking str like mad? Is 700-800 enough or do I have to push 1k?

Thanx in advance and flame me if needed!
/Dawon

[Raiss]

Your partners are a frostmage and a restodruid. You are going to be the target, ret paladins are easy to hit, while mages and druids are just a pain in the ass.

Greatness is still a good trinket to use. But can you really use it's proc? Because, if you are getting hit/stuned, sometimes the proc is just wasted, while some resil or pure AP could be more useful. Battlemaster's trinkets can be really good for a extra healing (4k heal, 3 minutes cooldown).

Arena Libram, always.

Again, for the resil, it depends on your need. If your druid and mage are good, they will always be bad targets, while a ret paladin is always a good option. You can't blink/root, you must be at melee range to hit someone, all your defensive cooldowns can be easily dispelled and have huge cooldowns. But, if you find yourself not being the target, some offensive power is always welcome. 700~800 resil is pretty acceptable already, but burst is so high that shamans/warlocks can hit you for more than 12k with that resil.

[Soundscape]

Coming from me having 7 Seasons of Experience over 2200 here's what I can gtell ya (if you want to link an armory I can help you more! .)

1. Use the Furious Chestpeice, it's almost as much attack power/crit as the razorplate, and gives you more health, and resil.

2. Use The Attack Power/Trinket Trinket from Wintersgrasp with either the AP Battlemasters, or Greatness.

3. Use the Crusader Strike AP libram.

4. Don't Stack resil. Even if you have 600 Resil, stack strength. Your healer should be able to keep you up with 600 and you have a bubble + AoW FoL's With Sacrad Shield/Seath of Light.

Lastly, link your armory, Aim for 800+ Resil without gemming and without a platinum disc trinket

Hope that helps! Let me know!

- Sol

[Lanigiro]

Coming from me having 7 Seasons of Experience over 2200 here's what I can gtell ya (if you want to link an armory I can help you more! .)

1. Use the Furious Chestpeice, it's almost as much attack power/crit as the razorplate, and gives you more health, and resil.

2. Use The Attack Power/Trinket Trinket from Wintersgrasp with either the AP Battlemasters, or Greatness.

3. Use the Crusader Strike AP libram.

4. Don't Stack resil. Even if you have 600 Resil, stack strength. Your healer should be able to keep you up with 600 and you have a bubble + AoW FoL's With Sacrad Shield/Seath of Light.

Lastly, link your armory, Aim for 800+ Resil without gemming and without a platinum disc trinket

Hope that helps! Let me know!

- Sol

I'm a ret pally, and I approve of this post.

[Copain]

Survival stats always comes first.

If you get enough Resil/Stam/ect that people find it takes awhile to kill you, they tend to try to go after someone else to pick them off, leaving you free. If they do not, then it makes it easier for your healer to heal since they will focus on you who has resil and such making it so much easier.

[Dawon]

Thanx for the answers guys, I'll be looking to buy the Furious chest tomorrow then when the arenapoints comes + getting a better trinket than my DMCeath, the one with most AP will be the choice. I guess a good "proc" effect isnt that important in arena as you said, coz I cannot really plan for it and it probably comes when I least need it! :/

Still a tad puzzled what to do with str/res, some people say 700 is ok, other say you get 2shotted from lavabursts even at 1k res. But I guess I'll have to play more and see what opponents focus at, so far I'm usually getting beaten a lot along withour healer as they cannot catch our frostmage as easily as me.

So far we've only run about 100 matches and never sat our foot in arena before that (pvped in bg but that's a completely different ballgame as all know) so it feels kinda "lots" to take in. In the beginning we got horribly raped but it's coming around now... Tips and advices are greatly appreciated!

Here is my armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...hammer&n=Dawon
(Could be I'm in my protspec/gear as I'm tanking more than I'm pvping)

[Flower]

I agree with all the posts made above.

Long story short, the point where you realize your healer can keep you up effectively is the point you start focusing more on Str than Resil, which is usually in the 700 to 800 resilience range.

With your composition it looks like you'll typically be the first target so you might want to focus a bit more on resil at first, then socket/gear up for str.

Still a tad puzzled what to do with str/res, some people say 700 is ok, other say you get 2shotted from lavabursts even at 1k res.

If I interpreted your question correctly (if there even was a question), you want a clarification on how rets are still being two shotted by big nukes at high levels of resil. I really don't know how to answer this question other than that the fact is the 300 resilience won't make a difference between life and death against such a team because they can overkill you badly by a ton of damage. It's better to take up the str, rely on LoS and coordination to not get blown up, and be able to put out more pressure than it is to get all that unnecessary resilience.

[Prentice]

All you can do about Elem Shams and Warlocks is spam cleanse. You have to get Immolate and Flame Shock off immediately. Leaving yourself open to a 7-10k crit is just begging for a bloated loss column.

[Myysticc]

Here is my armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...hammer&n=Dawon
(Could be I'm in my protspec/gear as I'm tanking more than I'm pvping)

Um, srsly your gear needs alot of work.

I'll put my armory up but it might not be in pvp gear.

Here is a simple guide on what you should do with your gear:

Weapon: PvP, Berserking, +20 Str Gem, +10 All Stats Gem
Helmet: PvP, +21 Crit, 3% Increased Damage Meta. +20 Str Gem
Shoulders: PvP, +40 Str +15 Crit, +10 Str & +10 Hit Gem
Gloves: PvP, +44 AP, +10 Str & +15 Stam Gem
Chest: PvP, +10 All Stats, +20 Str Gem, +10 Str & +15 Stam Gem
Legs: PvP, +75 AP & +22 Crit, +20 Str Gem, +10 Str & +15 Stam Gem
Boots: PvP, +32 AP, +10 Str & +10 Hit Gem
Bracers: PvP, +50 AP
Belt: PvP, +10 Str & +15 Stam Gem, +20 Str Gem
Cloak: PvP Crit Version
Neck: PvP Hit Version
Ring 1: PvP Hit Version
USE BLOODSHED BAND FOR YOUR OTHER RING - WITH FULL FURIOUS GEAR & RELENTLESS OFFPIECES YOU WILL ACHIEVE THE EXACT HIT CAP WITH THIS SET UP (5.00%)
Trinket 1: BM
Trinket 2: DM:G or DV

But in all honesty, gear is not a factor at all when getting to 1800. I was using the weapon you currently have for ages even tho it really does suck.

To answer your questions:

1) Furious Chest.

2) Darkmoon Greatness

3) Furious Libram

4) 700 is good. 800 is better. Atm with Relentless gear very easily avaliable 900-1000 isn't hard for Ret's.

GL!

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...est&n=Myysticc

[Dawon]

Damn, lots of nice info/posts here... I was pretty sure I'd be flamed to hell and back for my questions but there is hope for the mmo-pally-community!

Anyway, I do agree that my gear needs work on but atm it's basically as good as I can get for pvp as I cannot access any 25man loot. If I do pug, I'll be tanking and have 0 shot at a nicer trinket or a weapon that actually smashes faces instead of my polearm that just pokes them in the eye a little.

But I think some stuff is settled, I'll swap in the DMC: Greatness again and trying to re-gem/re-enchant a bit according to your post Myysticc, bit more str/ap, bit less resilience. Should probably aim asap to make str-gems out of my 3 dragon's eye instead of the res-ones.


While on the topic of pvp; How the F do you bring down a frostmage that got a clue what he/she is doing? Can't dispel sh1t as they got a million ways of freezing/slowing me so I'll end up just dispelling until I'm oom basically. If I pop BoF to gain yards, spellsteal... if i get close and pop wings, spellsteal or simply iceblock and wait out my wings... If I managed to whack them a bit, that ice barrier-crap breaks and I'm frozen again.... WTB a damn intercept or deathgrip :P

[charnyl]

of course we (mages) cc you constantly, you have a sharp stick and trying to rip my skirt ... do you have any idea how much it costs to fix my skirt after you tear it ?!?!?!

[Flower]

While on the topic of pvp; How the F do you bring down a frostmage that got a clue what he/she is doing?

I'm guessing this is a 1v1 setting, not an arena setting.

The mage is going to start off sheeping and spamming spellsteal to get all your trash buffs, and also set up so they can spellsteal your BoF when it goes up. Your best bet is to start the fight mounted so you might be able to get a hit or two, and best case senario at least get their ice barrier down. After spellstealing they'll probably pop icy viens + trinkets + water ele and try to burn down as much as possible. Id say right here repentance, which of course is going to be trinketed, but it slows down their momentum, while in the meantime spamming cleanse to try to close the gap. If they deep freeze, that's when it's best to BoF.

Right here you put them in a position where they have to spellsteal that BoF off or theyre ganna get hit hard. If they blink away, follow up with a stun, and start wailing on them. That's probably where they'll Ice Block, which you should use to kill their pet and/or get some heals off. (You'd be very surprised how much killing a frost mage's ele really hurts them)

Don't pop wings, you need bubble or you won't last long.

The main idea is to always be a step ahead of the other player, as in any duel.

Hope that helps dude.

[Myysticc]

Don't bubble it duels, that's just cheap :P

You just need to HIT them, don't even try to stand still and heal else you'll just get a Deep Freeze and die. Keep applying pressure and use EVERY SINGLE AoW proc to heal yourself with FoL. I'd say use JoW in this situation and just hope for AoW proc's. Make sure you use SoR. Tbh frost mages are probably the best class for a 1v1 situation so you do have your work cut out. Just keep on practicing.

[Dawon]

Hmm, I've always been using AoW-proc to push in an extra Exorcism as it's one of the few damn attacks I manage to land on a skilled mage. Perhaps I should try a bit more defensive approach, but spam-dispelling/cleansing doesn't work for me, they just have too many quick attacks to reapply evil slowness of hell!

Also realized u only get like 300 arena points / week until higher rating so I have to put my planned buying-gear-mania on hold, I dont wanna reach 1800 and sit there without 1400p for a new toothpick... Guess it will only be the odd-ends items for honor I'll be upgrading until I'm on the safe side with arena points. There should be a frekkin tutorial about this when u start playing arena so you dont overspend on "crap", thinking you can buy all by just playing a sh1tload of matches (as I thought, believed it worked as honor.. just shut off the brain and farm)! :P

Anyway, thanx for all info, much appreciated! I'll do the adjustments ppl recommended and then I guess it just comes down to practice like mad...