Arathi Basin: 3 Node Strategy
Due to the nature of this Battleground and it's effectiveness being dependant on what nodes are under your control, there is less of a normal strategy, and closer to a list of tips and advice.OverviewSummary: To keep this strategy organized and make it easy to follow, it's been reduced to it's prime: Node Priority, Defense, and Offense. There is a small section about Intimidation and a few Scenarios. The manner of which you split up your roster will depend on the opponent's performance. The basic and normal distribution of players is to go 5-5-5, Lumbermill, Blacksmith, Gold Mine, respectively. Now, it's important you understand that this may
not always be a good strategy to use, as your opponent will sometimes Zerg or Semi-Zerg. As we all know, Blacksmith always plays a good part of the little Map Domination, or support allocation, that we can get in this battleground. So you may be slightly heavy on Blacksmith, something like 3-9-3. The reason for this is to have extra players at Blacksmith to easily and quickly send to Gold Mine, Lumbermill, or Stables/Farm.
When to Use:This strategy is a good one to use right off the bat. Once again, the starting strategy is to send 5 to each node: Group 1 go Lumbermill, Group 2 go Blacksmith, Group 3 go Gold Mine. It's what you do after you meet your opponent, and their strategy, that you reveal your ability to work as a team. Something to keep in mind: the more your opponent is split up around the map, the more effective this strategy becomes. The more grouped up they are, the more you have to think on your feet to take advantage of an opportunity.
RolesNode Priority:From your base you have Lumbermill, Blacksmith, and Gold Mine. Stables and Farm are not really challenging until the middle 3 nodes (LM, BS, GM) are taken, and people start to wander. So let's talk about where these nodes are.
Blacksmith - BS is surrounded by water with easy bridge access points from Farm and Stables, and water access points opposite the bridges (See Map below). This node is on a "higher" mini-plateau, which gives you an ability to monitor your "safety" when defending this node. Enemies can be spotted fairly early on, enemy group compositions can be evaluated before they even arrive, and enemies are slowed depending on if they make the mistake of riding through the water. This basically gives you a fantastic buffer to call for support if needed. The greatest characteristic of Blacksmith is of course it's easy access to all nodes. This is by far the most advantageous node to have control of. Blacksmith is the closest thing to Map Domination you can have in AB (aside from a 5cap). Having that said, you should attempt to have control as much as possible. Not at all costs, but fairly close.
Group Comp. Suggestion - Rogue, Healer.
Added Edge - Mind Control, Fan of Knives
Pros - Many HK's from surrounding nodes.
Cons - Pressure to keep the node should be high.Lumbermill - LM is on a cliff. Getting to LM is equally easy and fast for Horde and Alliance. This node is relatively out on its own, however, with a couple of skills from specific classes, it's terrain becomes an advantage. Shamans and Druids are able to knock enemies off of it's node. More importantly, if you have a priest or a Mage, you can Slow Fall off of the node to gain easy access to Blacksmith. So LM due to it's accessibility to Blacksmith, it is a fairly advantageous node to control, due to Blacksmith's importance in this map.
Group Comp. Suggestion - Mages, Priests.
Added Edge - Thunderstorm, Typhoon, Working Mic.
Pros - Entertaining, Map Awareness.
Cons - Responsibility to communicate to the rest of the team.Gold Mine - GM is in a valley that has official access points from the north or south. However, due to it being in a valley, anyone can drop down and live with or without fall damage, or glide down safely to harass or take your node. The closest nodes are Stables, Farm, and Blacksmith. If you have blacksmith, you will be able to send your troops in to help defend it, but it's not easy to access. If you have Stable or Farm, you have to ride down the road. Any of these thress are not quick. By the time you get down there, your defend may already be dead, so the extra support you send may have great trouble in taking that back, or may lose that battle. In any case, if you ever send troops to help defend GM, make sure the ideal number you send is independent from the defense team. That is to say, if 2 are defending GM and 4 are attacking it, send 4 or 5 players to take it back. You must assume that the 2 defending may die before you get there. This comes down to your confidence in your team, which should be based on their known experience in Arena.
Group Comp. Suggestion - DPS, Healer. Stealth'ers preferably.
Added Edge - Ability to stealth, thereby not attracting mini-zerg running by.
Pros - Challenging to usually defend with little or no support.
Cons - Lots of down time, will miss out of a portion of the HK's/Honor.Stables or Farm - One of these nodes are directly from your base. Since it is the furthest node from your opponent's base you will find that it's the least likely to be attacked. Even if they are attacked you will always know with plenty of time because you will have LM, BS, or GM. Either of these nodes will give you enough awareness that you will be attacked. You also have to consider that if the battle is going on in all three nodes: LM, BS, & GM, your opponents will likely not go past the node to attack one that will cut them off from any support. In any case, your own support is just a shout away.
Group Comp. Suggestion - Paladin. Warrior or DK will do also, as well as any other class if need be. (Do not put as healer her as it's a waste.)
Added Edge - Plate, Survivability. Ability to self-heal.
Pros - A use for a tank.
Cons - Lots of down time, will miss out of a portion of the HK's/Honor.Defense: This will consist of a good group composition. What I mean by that is that you can lessen the number you choose to have to defend a node, if you believe you can compensate the group's ability to support itself with specific classes/specs. So you may want to have 4-DPS players at said node, instead of 1-Healer and 2-DPS. The DPS group theoretically can kill targets fast enough to successfully defend the node. On the other you can have the 1-Healer, 2-DPS group that may not kill their target with little effort, but at the same time, will not die easily to a similar sized group attacking them. At the least both of these group compositions will last long enough for you to send adequate reinforcements. If you are not familiar with your players ability, you should get familiar quickly, but for now can stick with a 1-Healer, 2-3-DPS group composition.
Group Comp. Suggestion - 1-2-Healer, 2-3-DPS.
Added Edge - Teamwork, Arena Team familiarity.
Pros - Honorable Defender buff.
Cons - Being the backbone of resources gained. Communication is a big asset.Offense:This will consist of a even bigger scrutiny for the group composition. If you are attacking an opponent's node, it's usually being defended. If you are controlling the correct nodes on the map, you will likely find many defenses on the 1-2 nodes your opponent will control. Due to your heavy opposition, you need to send in the correct type of players and classes to make this a victory or at least accomplish an overall goal. I would recommend a 2-Healer, 3-5-DPS push. This will of course vary on the type of players you have and resources available to you in the map or at the time. I can't stress enough that this is a guideline, and will all be situational.
Group Comp. Suggestion - Paladin. 2-Healers, plus DPS. Number of DPS depends on your opponent's group.
Added Edge - Crusader Aura.
Pros - Action packed, alot of HK's/Honor.
Cons - Sometimes demoralizing.Intimidation:There are certain roles that psychology and sociology play in everything in our lives. World of Warcraft PvP is no different. I'm sure you have all seen it at least once before; back peddling. You guys run out of the base, 5 of you run towards stables and stop dead in your track. Why? Because there are 8 enemies in Blacksmith and your team is intimidated. It's embarrassing to say, but not so embarrassing to think about. When you run in, and you see your outnumbered, you are defeated mentally before the battle even started. Whether you run in or not. It's important that you 1) realize when you have been out numbered and there is no goal to be met, and 2) Intimidation goes both ways! If you run in with 7 players, focus fire targets, and do not allow them to think about what they can do, early in the game. Intimidation may work for you. Of course it does not work, if your team does.. have the same level of quality your opponents have, but none-the-less it's something to keep in mind with low rating teams. This can however have an adverse effect with another organized team. You may be putting too much of your resources, engage in a fight, and not obtain enough nodes around the map while fighting is going on at the combat node.
Group Comp. Suggestion - 7+ players, including 2-3-Healers.
Added Edge - Knockbacks off the flag, AoE spells.
Pros - Knocks your opponents off the flags to allow a cap, demoralizes opponents.
Cons - High Risk Strategically.Map:[Coming Soon]If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to post them.
