3s Arena Comps discussion

Hi,

I'd like to bring this topic up as it is pretty much the only thing I do anymore and some comp ideas that are floating around for me for the next 8 months or so. Perhaps even being viable in Legion.

KFC - Currently one I'm heavily considering as I have the WAR / HNT / SHM covered. But laying traps seems to be the main sticking point for me. Otherwise this comp feels pretty viable to 3box.

TSG - I don't have a paladin so I'm stuck with druid or shaman or monk. I like the shaman again but this comp doesn't appear to offer enough beef for the shaman to wall behind. I know that MW is viable for a good while but I dislike the vulnerability to poly / hunter comps. But maybe I've just never done it right.

WLS - This seems to be a really good bet as target swapping isn't that hard and the lock does a lot for the shaman which allows me to maintain purge in my comp as well as 7/8 buffs. Pretty good choice IMO though probably not as strong now because of burst comps simply being better than rot comps.

I know main sticking points here and being we all box, perhaps someone else has thought of ways to deal with them.

1. Hunter traps. I love using hunters but one of the primary problems I have with them is trap management.

2. Lock shadowfury. In the same ballpark as the hunter trap. Being I drive from the healer I am not always guaranteed a good position to cast a ground clicky. It seems as though in these cases we have to swap to the box to get it done right. Though I'd love to know if anyone has worked something out where you can do it via broadcast. The warrior's leap seems much more straight forward.

3. DK vs Warrior. Am I just choosing the wrong melee here? It seems like if I want to play shaman I should be using the DK even though conventional wisdom says warrior. The reason I ask is due to shaman's spirit link totem. A warrior is usually too far away because his gap closers require him to move to them. Whereas the DK gap closer pulls his target to him. That usually means the DK will be closer to the shaman than the warrior ever will. Thoughts on this?

4. Last, target swapping. I kinda favor hard blow-em-up 3s comps like KFC over something like WLS. Reason being I can just set them on a target instead of managing a 20 second swap. For whatever reason it seems really difficult to manage swaps at this point when playing the shaman. Or maybe I should play KFC with the druid or mistweaver instead?

Feedback and/or advice is appreciated.

Hunter traps are gone in legion except for survival.

Edit: I will give you some props on playing some difficult teams.

Melee just have really great synergy with paladin healers. Freedoms are great and in legion even more so with increased speed from freedoms. DK/RET/HOLY is a nice boxing comp - extra healing and your ret can bop your holy out of cc. Its a blow them up come as well.

Something to remember all dps are losing alot of their self heals in legion.

You could try jungle(exchange feral for warrior)

I would prefer heavy tunneling (ie: single target) over spread damage any day, as I find it generally just works better with the multiboxing playstyle. Similarly I value melee DPS higher than casters. The only ranged I would really consider is hunters. Simply because everything is usable on the move, and the burst potential is quite high.

Of the ones you listed, I would say TSG is the best bet, although I would also throw in Enha shaman as a consideration for a melee toon. Currently turbo cleave (Warr+Enha+hpally) is considered one of the most OP 3s comps. How well it does while boxing might be different of course.

On a personal level I always liked DKs as a PVP class. The fact that 1 deathgrip brings all of your melee in to range of the target, instead of them all having to use a cooldown to get in range (eg: charge) is incredibly valuable, and the additional "trinkets" they have in the form of Icebound Fortitude, Lichborne and Desecrated Ground are just life savers at times.

Healers are down to preference if you ask me. However based on the current state of the game I would say the ones you want to look at for 3s are Shammy, pally and Druid.

Thanks guys.

So I guess the verdict is out on traps. That's interesting though I don't have any idea how they are going to manage Marks with no pet and no traps? Strange.

Yeah Wubsie the only problem I seem to run into with the resto shaman is that he is usually out of range for spirit link totem to be of any use. Maybe just the way I play I don't keep up with the melee enough. Usually close enough to heal but not close enough to get into the link when I need it. I even setup a dispel > intervene macro and a lot of times intervene just happens to be out of range. Pretty annoying.

When I did MW in Turbo it seemed to work ok. I probably should just stick to that but I'd really like to get better at KFC and WLS and resto shaman in general. He's always been my toughest arena healer to manage.

You can, and to an extent should, play what you want to play. Just have fun with it. Not like you can't switch the team around if you feel like it with how easy it is to level and gear nowadays.

I'm considering trying some form of triple DPS, other than my boomies/DKs in arena. So far I'm coming up with either 3x hunter (burst out of camo, try to make it a 2v3) or maybe 3x ret for loads of controlled burst and off heals

As far as traps go... I'd only feel comfortable with it while leading from the hunter. Maybe some VFX magic can be used to make trapping in PVP viable from a follower too.

Ive had a degree of success with trapping. 'Straight Key Broadcast Plus Click' works pretty well if your windows have their camera positions locked and are happy with positioning from your pilot.

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Originally Posted by Wubsie

I'm considering trying some form of triple DPS, other than my boomies/DKs in arena. So far I'm coming up with either 3x hunter (burst out of camo, try to make it a 2v3) or maybe 3x ret for loads of controlled burst and off heals

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I always like to future proof my stuff/life. So while triple dps is fun now, in ~6 months its dead. These strings have been datamined from legion notes. Just something to keep in mind.

ERR_BATTLEGROUND_JOIN_NOT_ENOUGH_HEALERS: You can not enter this bracket of arena without a healer.

ERR_BATTLEGROUND_JOIN_TOO_MANY_HEALERS: You can not enter this bracket of arena with more than one healer.

ERR_BATTLEGROUND_JOIN_TOO_MANY_TANKS: You can not enter this bracket of arena with more than one tank.

Oh wow, so they are eliminating scum comps now?

Not that triple DPS is really a scum comp. Interesting.

@Wubsie I'm practically just doing what I want to do. Just trying to find the margin where you're having fun and being somewhat progressive in wins / losses.

The one comp that has shown to be great for me in 2s was DK / SHM and in 3s Turbo. I just hate how easy and popular it is so I'm probably going to go with KFC right up into Legion.

@Jimshaman Yeah I do a broadcast for the heroic leap that works pretty well. Because we're assuming the leap is always happening above center of the screen optimally on a camera preset.

Traps are a different animal as it could be even behind the hunter. So I've been toying with the idea of not driving from the healer to see how that goes. Probably not going to be fruitful considering shaman is very much a kite healing class.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MadMilitia

Oh wow, so they are eliminating scum comps now?

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I dont know if they are going to eliminate odd comps like triple dps or double healer. However, those strings makes me think that something is in the works.