knowing your opponents spec

[fizikz]

Warlock: Affli will most likely have the fel-hunter, Demo will have Felguard, and Destro, well imp I think.

no, this is terrible misinformation.

destro never uses the imp in pvp, it will either use the succy (aff shouldn't ever use the succy) or the felhunter (shared pet with aff) only way to tell if they have a felhunter out is to wait to see their first cast.

[Solial]

Priest: Shadowform, Vampiric Embrace for Shadow. Borrowed Time on Disc. Holy is a very rare spec.
Warlock: Demonology is incredibly rare, but will have master demonologist. Aff and Destro can´t be told.
Mage: Arcane will have arcane empowerment. 99% of frost mages will have frost barrier up. Fire neither of the previous two and a very rare spec.
Rogue: Can´t be told.
Druid: Feral has Leader of the Pact, other two can´t be told.
Shaman: Elemental has elemental oath, enha has unleashed fury and resto neither of those 2, earth shield if cast before the match starts.
Hunter: BM will have a exotic pet and ferocious inspiration. MM will have Trueshot aura. Survival won´t have either of those.
Paladin: Holy has a big mana pool. 15k or more even in the worst gear. Prot may have Blessing of Sanc, but besides that you can look at the weapons for prot and ret.
Warrior: Fury has rampages and is an incredibly rare spec. Arms and prot can´t be told but in most cases arms will have a 2h on and prot a 1h and shield. Arms "can" start a game with a 1h and shield.
Death Knight: Blood has abom´s might, frost has the 20% haste buff. Both are incredibly rare specs.

[Deleted]

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a...s/gladius.aspx

[Flaks]

Rets use 2hs, other paladins use 1h+shield, also beacon is a dead give away



Are they healing or casting damage? Really the only way...



If they have a ghoul, they are unholy...dual-wielding is frost
Look at what they cast, affliction won't throw up immolate as fast as destro locks



Hard to tell unless they come out of stealth



you fight all rogues mostly the same way, so doesn't really matter.



Just assume all mages are frost, until they cast slow...If they are fire, free kill.



You fight all hunters in the same manner, so doesn't really matter much



Arms uses 1 weapon, fury uses 2 weapons

So rogues, warlocks, druid and warriors, if anyone knows how to identify these classes specs before the fighting starts, please let me know. TY.

[/QUOTE]

Just wanna clarify that at the mediocre to higher ratings you'll see many times warriors and even sometimes ret pallies running out with sword and board usually to throw you off as to their specs. You'll have to watch out for this and adapt your play-style accordingly. This also extends to prot pallies running out with two handers and there's probably other examples too but I can't figure it out.

So, to sum it all up

Warlocks: can't tell until they start attacking.

Pallies and warriors: might throw you for a loop.

On the off chance you face a survival hunter, be on the look out for the sniper-training buff.

Rogues, just look out for what types of weapons they're using. That said, subtlety and assassination will both use daggers. As such, look for the overkill buff on assassination rogues when they come out of stealth, subtelty won't have it.

Shaman already covered (elemental oath buff for ele, dual wield for enhance, neither of those for resto).

Druids might be tougher especially since a lot of times they'll start in stealth. Also, many times they forego tree of life spec for insect swarm (usually in 2's) so be on the look out for that. This is especially indicative of a drain team (spriest/druid or lock/druid).
Feral is going to be tough to figure out to start off as well due to stealth but you'll easily be able to tell as they have leader of the pack similar to fury warrior's rampage.
Balance is easy and you should only expect to see it where you see destro locks or ele shammies (usually).

Death knight, already covered.

Priests are easy since there's only the two viable arena specs and shadow will always roll out in shadow form (also, when you see one and don't see his partner, assume 99% of the time that its a rogue).

[darkriver41]

For rogues, Combat uses something other than daggers, Assassination will have Overkill, and Subtlety will have Master of Subtlety.

[halpfultroll]

Just get Gladius, it will tell you right when the gates open if they have a buff or mana pool that only a certain spec has.

You should never encounter a Fury Warrior, Demonology Warlock, Frost or Blood DK, Fire Mage in arena because they're not good specs.

[Icpie]

So i'm starting arena with my priest and hunter friend, its going alright, but since neither of us have many alts or experience with other classes in general, against some teams we dont know what we are up against until the fighting starts.

For several classes and/or setups it can be easy to tell, but for the times we cant, i was wondering if there is always something about them that can tell us what spec they are.

priests - shadow form vamp embrace or lack there of are obvious tells.

paladin - holy will be the only spec with a large mana pool, with prot having a pretty large health pool.

shaman - enhancement likewise will have a much smaller mana pool then the other 2 specs. other then the presence of earth shield on 1 of the opponents, is there a way to tell between resto and elemental?

Death knight - unholy will have pets and prob bone shield, blood will have abominations might(i dont see many though so idk if they take that talent), so frost by default wouldn't have any of them.

warlock - if they are using a succy or voidwalker they tend to be destro, but destro could easily be using a felhound also. Is there any other way to tell between affliction and destro?

druid - usually start out in stealth and can tell its a druid from thorns and mark, but other then that i cant tell until they pop out. sometimes the partners class can lean towards boomkin, but most of the normal resto partner classes can easily team with a feral druid as well. Is there a buff, or lack of a buff that will identify between the 3 specs? would the thorns or mark buff have diff values?

rogue - again, until they start attacking i cant tell what spec they are, though it rarely changes how i would play since the games are usually short one way or another.

mage - ice barrier means frost, if its not there then usually arcane. I think arcane is scarier then fire, so the occasional fire spec mage surprise doesn't bother me.

hunter - i assume BM specced would use exotic pets and survival wont have true shot aura i believe.

warrior - shield and larger then normal health pool is prot, other then that i dont know how to tell the difference between arms and fury until it starts.

So rogues, warlocks, druid and warriors, if anyone knows how to identify these classes specs before the fighting starts, please let me know. TY.

Pally: Holy is obvious, prot pally MAY have a large health pool, but they will (should) always be using blessing of sanctuary. Ret will be using might or kings.

Shammy: Enhancement will have Unleashed Rage or w/e that looks orange. Elemental will have Elemental Oath. Resto will have Earth shield on sombody obviously.

DK: 95% of DKs that do arenas are Unholy. Frost they'll (should) have Improved Icy Talons. (perm 20% buff on themselves) Blood will have Abom Might.

Locks: You can't tell until you actually start the fight. (Nether protection means destro)

Druids: Leader of the Pack on buddies, obviously feral. Healing in human form, possibly boomkin or resto. Other then that, you can't tell if it's a boomkin until they switch into that form (Moonkin Aura is only active in Moonkin form) and obviously a tree is a tree.

Rogues: Can't tell until you get into combat with them. Combat rogues should be using non-dagger weapons. Mutilate and ShD rogues should be using daggers. The earliest you can tell if they're sub is from the time you get sapped compared to how far you are from your ally (or vice versa) and when that rogue opens up on them. (Sap followed by ShS CS) If you're not great at that, just look for the buff Overkill or Master of Subtlety (Red or black/redish). If you really still don't know b/c the rogue has downs or something and doesn't get those talents, keep an eye on the poisons. Deadly + Cripling + Wound = Mutilate. Wound + Crippling only = Sub.
*Note* Not all sub rogues get Master of Subtlety.

Mage: Ice barrier = Frost. Arcane and fire you really can't tell apart until you enter combat. Arcane Empowerment + Slow = arcane obv. Living Bomb = Fire.

Hunters: BM won't always have an exotic pet (dunno why some don't get it) but the hunter will have a Spirit Bond buff that regens life every few secs. Trueshot for MM.

Warriors: Should be pretty obvious here I guess. No need to explain. 2x 2 handers = bad fury warr you can gib. 2 Hander = arms most of the time. Prot usually has on more PvE gear giving them almost as much health as an arms warrior. Other then that, you can't tell until you see them Shockwave or MS.

[VoltaireWrites]

Paladins: prot will have blessing of sanctuary
shamans: unleashed rage for enhancement, elemental oath for ele, neither for resto
DK: you nailed it
warlock: probably the hardest, can't think of anything
druid: if they're in stealth (catform) and feral, their partners will have leader of the pack
mages: arcane empowerment for arcane
hunters: BM have ferocious inspiration, MM trueshot aura
warrior: fury has rampage for 5% crit

He totally forgot that Frost will have Icy Talons.

[Icpie]

Just get Gladius, it will tell you right when the gates open if they have a buff or mana pool that only a certain spec has.

You should never encounter a Fury Warrior, Demonology Warlock, Frost or Blood DK, Fire Mage in arena because they're not good specs.

Btw, Frost DK and Fire mages do work in arenas. The OP's also stated that they're just starting arenas.

[Deleted]

a tree is a tree.

This.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. As others have said, Gladius will tell you if anyone is in a certain spec or has a certain buff. If you arena without it you're gimping yourself)

[Icpie]

This.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. As others have said, Gladius will tell you if anyone is in a certain spec or has a certain buff. If you arena without it you're gimping yourself)

No mods sir.

[justme123]

just go to armory and type his name :P

[Sparklelord]

Correct, Exept for the survival hunter. No survival hunter with a decent spec will have sniper training : /

Correct, except you missed a destro lock using an imp in PvP.

[Deleted]

Get an addon called gladius its very good frames for arenas, it will tell you what spec they if it can detect it by spells/buffs it also tells you when trinkets are down when they are up when the a person is drinking and you can get a get a additional addon to track dr.
very good addon for arena most people would be using for arenas now.

[Overwelm]

There are addons to detect talents as well.

That addon mainly is gladius and it operates on the exact same principles as this thread, it looks at the opposing team's skill's they use and buffs they have to determine's their talents.


And to the person saying that those addons should be banned from arena, your an idiot, having an extra tool that allows you to realize what moves to expect and what type of play style to expect is just help, the player still has to react to the information... it's not "telling you what button to push"

---------- Post added 2010-08-17 at 06:56 PM ----------

Just get Gladius, it will tell you right when the gates open if they have a buff or mana pool that only a certain spec has.

You should never encounter a Fury Warrior, Demonology Warlock, Frost or Blood DK, Fire Mage in arena because they're not good specs.

There are many uncommon spec's that you WILL see in arena, some player's like that spec, some may even break 2k with an uncommon spec.

[Naraga]

If the Rogue has Master of Subtetly buff after he leaves stealth you know he is sub, if he doesn't assume he is mutilate.

[wolfwood888]

The only two classes that it is hard to tell with are warlocks and rogues. If they have a felguard, they are obviously demo, if they have a succi out they are destro, if they have a felhound out you really can't tell. If they are destro, you will normally have a reaction like, OH FUCK MY FACE as they burst you, but destro are relativity rare now days, so its a pretty safe "assumption" to say that warlocks with felhounds are affliction, although it isn't always true. Another way to tell, is by their partner. If they have a heavy burst partner, say a mage, or an elemental shaman, they are most likely desto. For rogues, it really doesn't matter, you should be playing the same way no matter what spec they are, all rogues open pretty hard, its just after the opener that you start playing it a bit differently. As for the other two you mentioned, if its not a prot warrior, which should be obvious, it will be an arms warrior, even if it is a fury warrior, you shouldn't really treat it any differently. As for druids, there partner can tip you off, if its a warlock, or a warrior, 99% chance its resto, hunters are normally with resto's as well. Feral is a relatively rare spec, but you normally see them with a priest of some type and very rarely hunters, and boomkins are almost always with a bursty partner, you can tell if its a lazer chicken pretty quickly, you will have an oh fuck my face moment again. Also, if they both start out stealthed its normally a rogue/boomkin team, rogue/tree teams aren't "unheard" of, but disc priest/rogues make MUCH better teams if you want a healer as a rogue.

[Pab]

Druid - If their feral their partner will have leader of the pack, If their resto, they will probably healing...and if their boomkin their probably gonna surprise you with starfall + trees straight away

Death knight - Icy talons, Bone shield, pet, etc.

Priest, when they bubble, if they get renewed hope their disc, if their shadow they will be in shadowform and have vampiric buff..

Shaman - If there is a earthshield around its resto, elemental oath will mean ele and unleashed rage will mean enh

Warlock - Demo will have fel guard and possibly soul link..while destru will lead with a shadowfury and afflic will lead with corruption

warrior...Prot will have a shield, arms will have a 2h

Mage - Arcane wont have ice barrier and fire wont either, but fire will probably use molten armor

Hunters - BM will have a exotic pet (your only likely to see bm in beastcleaves) and mm will have trueshot aura, and if they dont have either, theyre most likely to be survival

Rogue - I dont actually know :L

Pala - Blessing of sanc for prot, 2h for ret and large mana pool for holy.

[Razariel]

Might I direct you to Gladius?

[TJ]

In regards to warlocks, affliction will use demon armor at times but will sometimes use fel armor also. If they have demon armor assume they are aff but as already said it can be tough until they start attacking you.