Best Teams for World PvP?

[SonyEQ]

I'm planning to re-roll to Heartseeker Horde (US) because I hear that is like 80% Ally and 20% Horde now. I wanted to build a team with the primary focus on being world pvp.

I'm trying to decide between 10 Shaman which I would likely be ele on eventually or something like 8 mages + 2 priests. The mage team sounds crazy fun with the amount of AE they would would have, but it feels like I would have to Kamikaze with them a lot and I would only have WotF for fear breaks.

The 10 shaman team feels like it would be pretty durable with mail + shield, tremor totems, grounding totems and then chain heals all x10. I'm also thinking in my head that if I have lightning shield on all 10 of them that people are going to take a ton of damage trying to AE me.

Thoughts between the two setups or possibly comments on something else that may be good also?

[d0z3rr]

Shaman for chain lightning. But hunters would be awesome as well, multshotting or rain, plus beast mastery pets....

[Mercbeast]

I think it's probably Warlocks or Shamans. With the warlocks, I'd run with a dedicated healer (dot synergy) priest probably. Hunters will have deadzone issues, but they'd work v.well in some situations.

[nodoze]

Edit: Note: Regarding Fear, for PVP builds if you have a profession slot open after taken Engineering and can take Blacksmithing, you can preemptively give your team 30 seconds of fear immunity via the Glimmering Mithril Insignia (https://classic.wowhead.com/item=10418/glimmering-mithril-insignia#comments).

8Warlocks+2Priests would overwhelm most players you got dots on even if they had a dispeller on their side. Note however that you only put DoTs on a limited number of targets per Global Cool Down (GCD) so there are limits... A Lock team would also be semi-survivable to charges as locks can be semi-tanky and can chain fear to "repel boarders" &/or AoE if getting Swarmed... Note that Warlock AoE is a little more dicey as your locks start dealing self-damage while AoEing which can actually help your enemies burst one or more locks down... While Locks can "run and gun" by flinging DoTs (and not really care which direction they are facing) and have good sustain via life-tap I think at least for AoE they are immobile which can work against you...

If understand much of Bruce Lee (https://www.dual-boxing.com/members/70316-Peregrine)'s love of Mages (NOTE: He actually abandoned his Classic level 60 4Lock+Priest team for 4Mages+Priest which is a pretty huge statement), Mages can do more instant AoE damage per GCD with no cap on the number of players affected and can do some of that AoE while moving or at least initiate it at range. They can pop invulnerability and blink into groups and wipe anyone in range (and then go out in a blaze of glory)...

If I were to pick between the two (Locks vs Mages) now, without playing both some recently, I would likely choose Locks as it fits my historic playstyle better (more defensive and setback rather than aggressive). I also have more trouble with movement so having very tanky damagers, who don't care which way they are facing, pets who auto-attack, etc with both spirit-of-redemption/soul-stones better fits my play-style so for Classic I would pick:

8Warlocks+2Priests;

Note that I have always main'ed Paladins so in Classic I am again forced to play Alliance... When Alliance got Shaman in BC I actually preferred my 10Shaman team for PVP and my Paladin+9Shaman for PVE over my 8Warlocks+2Priests. I did have a Mage at cap for free water/food/ports and a few Mage twinks (39 & 49 if I recall correctly) but otherwise when I tried Mage teams they just didn't seem to fit my play-style as much as either Shaman or Locks...

Even though I eventually choose Shaman over Warlocks in BC and WotLK I am hesitant to say they are better in Classic as I didn't play them at 60 and don't know how much the class pros/cons changed between Vanilla and BC (though WoTLK). It should also be noted that, even though I did both PVP & PVE my priority has always been PVE and I love Hybrids so Hybrid Shaman just fit better with my Hybrid Paladin better. Hopefully someone who plays Shaman at 60 can give you more insight on them vs Mages & Warlocks...

[SonyEQ]

I think with the 8 mages I think I'm may be envisioning unrealistically that I'm going to blink into a giant zerg force of 100 people and turn the tide of the battle by wiping out 50% of their raid force in a few GCD"s with Arcane Explosion spam. Maybe it would not be that hard for them to prevent me from doing it.

The shaman or lock teams sound dominant in smaller battles, but just as effective in the large scale fights because of how long it takes to apply dots and the target limitations and cool down on chain lightning.

[nodoze]

I think with the 8 mages I think I'm may be envisioning unrealistically that I'm going to blink into a giant zerg force of 100 people and turn the tide of the battle by wiping out 50% of their raid force in a few GCD"s with Arcane Explosion spam. Maybe it would not be that hard for them to prevent me from doing it.

The shaman or lock teams sound dominant in smaller battles, but just as effective in the large scale fights because of how long it takes to apply dots and the target limitations and cool down on chain lightning.If they are grouped up you certainly can wipe anyone in your AoE (except for Paladins that bubble).

It is hard to stop because you are the initiator and if you have things macro'ed you pop a limited invulnerability potion (so no physical attacks can hurt/stop you for 6 seconds) and you blink in and insta-cast wiping pretty much everything in your path. I don't think that protects you from Magic attacks so in theory Mages in your path can try to instant cast AoE as well to counter (or Locks AoEing might kill you) but at most I think they can kill you and not stop at least 1 insta-cast of which 8 should wipe the area (not 100% sure on that)... If you initiate a dive into a large field of the enemy you can clear the area around you but when you are done you will be surrounded and likely killed fast... That doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun and/or turn the tide...

In PVP games like Archeage the opposing side could stop this type of tactic by putting up a "long rectangular spell wall" on demand (and even chain them) but I don't know of anything in Classic Warcraft that can do that.

In some games you could do a "sucking implosion spell/ability" to pull in more people than just those already grouped but I don't know of anything in Classic WoW to do that either so the tactic is what it is and you can only get what the field presents you... An aggressive play that you can use when the opportunity presents... For example, it would be very painful for an enemy raid being stupid enough to group 40 people right outside the portal of their instance before going in.

Another thing Mages also have are the "one shot combo" on a 3 minute timer which means you could pretty much kill any 8 characters in one hit every 3 minutes (if your team is alive)... That being said even regular spells cast by 8 Mages or Warlocks should pretty much kill anything anyway...

[Purpleflavor]

10 shaman
you can one shot with instant shocks
you can drop 10 grounding totems
you can stagger tremors
What's that? a warrior charged in? Well lightning shield is going to destroy him along with fire totems. flametongue.
Longest casting range i believe with lightning.
heals. CHAIN heals
aoe poison/disease cleanse
you can purge a guys soul at this rate

ect
ect


I mean yah, uh yah

[Mercbeast]

I think with the 8 mages I think I'm may be envisioning unrealistically that I'm going to blink into a giant zerg force of 100 people and turn the tide of the battle by wiping out 50% of their raid force in a few GCD"s with Arcane Explosion spam. Maybe it would not be that hard for them to prevent me from doing it.

The shaman or lock teams sound dominant in smaller battles, but just as effective in the large scale fights because of how long it takes to apply dots and the target limitations and cool down on chain lightning.

Therein is the problem. You have no way to group people. Which means you'd need to be an ambush predator at like a chokepoint.

I think in general, mages are a very edge case class. In a few situations, they will absolutely massacre people, but in most situations they would just get picked apart without a not insignificant level of third party support (group of friends keeping you alive). Soul Link locks on the other hand, are just stupidly tanky, and can throw out dot mayhem.

Also, remember that shadowbolts hit really hard. So you don't just need to dot. You could dot, and then if someone is proving difficult. Shadowbolt spike them.


If they are grouped up you certainly can wipe anyone in your AoE (except for Paladins that bubble).

It is hard to stop because you are the initiator and if you have things macro'ed you pop a limited invulnerability potion (so no physical attacks can hurt/stop you for 6 seconds) and you blink in and insta-cast wiping pretty much everything in your path. I don't think that protects you from Magic attacks so in theory Mages in your path can try to instant cast AoE as well to counter (or Locks AoEing might kill you) but at most I think they can kill you and not stop at least 1 insta-cast of which 8 should wipe the area (not 100% sure on that)... If you initiate a dive into a large field of the enemy you can clear the area around you but when you are done you will be surrounded and likely killed fast... That doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun and/or turn the tide...

In PVP games like Archeage the opposing side could stop this type of tactic by putting up a "long rectangular spell wall" on demand (and even chain them) but I don't know of anything in Classic Warcraft that can do that.

In some games you could do a "sucking implosion spell/ability" to pull in more people than just those already grouped but I don't know of anything in Classic WoW to do that either so the tactic is what it is and you can only get what the field presents you... An aggressive play that you can use when the opportunity presents... For example, it would be very painful for an enemy raid being stupid enough to group 40 people right outside the portal of their instance before going in.

Another thing Mages also have are the "one shot combo" on a 3 minute timer which means you could pretty much kill any 8 characters in one hit every 3 minutes (if your team is alive)... That being said even regular spells cast by 8 Mages or Warlocks should pretty much kill anything anyway...

Yea, my guild built around vacuum abilities in Warhammer Online, and Archage. We had some hilarious videos from archage, pulling in 30-40 people, and then just instantly killing them all with a single group in Archage. Nothing really exists like that in WoW, and for good reason. Abilities like that are so hilariously broken. As fun as it is to build a dedicated lean pull+pbaoe type group for open world zerg farming, it's just broken, and then when all the casuals get tired of being abused by your 8 man group, or whatever size the groups are, they all reroll and then suddenly the entire pvp scene is pulls and aoe.


10 shaman
you can one shot with instant shocks
you can drop 10 grounding totems
you can stagger tremors
What's that? a warrior charged in? Well lightning shield is going to destroy him along with fire totems. flametongue.
Longest casting range i believe with lightning.
heals. CHAIN heals
aoe poison/disease cleanse
you can purge a guys soul at this rate

ect
ect


I mean yah, uh yah

10 Hunters would be hilarious. You could farm entire groups from outside of any engagement range with 10 pets. Then close the distance and throw out a volley of multishot, and gib some people, then back out.

I've often wondered if you could simulate jump kiting with isboxer. A 3 step macro you'd need to spam. Step 1, jump, step 2, IWT+ability, step 3, follow. The idea being, mid air they turn to IWT, fire off the ability, and then land and resume following. I've seriously theorized it for the better part of a decade, but I've never actually tried to do it.

I guess it comes down to, will a character change its facing midair with IWT?

[nodoze]

10 shaman
you can one shot with instant shocks
you can drop 10 grounding totems
you can stagger tremors
What's that? a warrior charged in? Well lightning shield is going to destroy him along with fire totems. flametongue.
Longest casting range i believe with lightning.
heals. CHAIN heals
aoe poison/disease cleanse
you can purge a guys soul at this rate

ect
ect


I mean yah, uh yahThis is pretty compelling and I loved Shaman once Alliance could get them such that I replaced my Warlocks with Shaman from BC on...

Rather than just 10 Shaman you may find that adding 1 of another class adds value... Not really sure about that as my 5man team in WoTK was Paladin+4Shaman & my 10man team was Paladin+9Shaman and for PVP I went all Shaman but maybe adding a Priest (or some other class like BoomKin) is better than a 10th Shaman...

[Purpleflavor]

This is pretty compelling and I loved Shaman once Alliance could get them such that I replaced my Warlocks with Shaman from BC on...

Rather than just 10 Shaman you may find that adding 1 of another class adds value... Not really sure about that as my 5man team in WoTK was Paladin+4Shaman & my 10man team was Paladin+9Shaman and for PVP I went all Shaman but maybe adding a Priest (or some other class like BoomKin) is better than a 10th Shaman...

tbqh sadly i think the only class that would benefit the group instead of a 10th shaman would be a paladin.

[Apatheist]

There's not much point having 10 elemental shamans. 6+ Shamans will global any character with shocks or lightning. However, adding more classes doesn't really provide anything either. The other (horde) healers/casters are too squishy and adding melee would be annoying to manage.

I'd probably just swap a couple of the shamans to resto to spam chain heal and provide mana tide.

Set a hotkey for and get used to using the "line formation" keymap. Pressing once will split your team into two stacks so your entire team won't be stunned by one grenade.