Rated BG strategies

This permanent page is necessary read for our RBG players and hopefully useful for all. Comments are welcomed. It's a strategy page, that is based on the assumption that the individual players skill and gear is equal. It is possible that superior players with inferior strategy win, but it's not the topic here, so comments like "i cud sap 1 hil garrote 1 smoke the third owning all u nubs" will be deleted.


General tips and fails

• Check raid window after you zone in. Battlegroup leader is chosen randomly. If you are it, give the lead to the real leader.
• Check your gear and spec after zoning in. Use the gear sets feature, as you can be in 95% PvP gear with a fishing pole or with an item you right-clicked once by accident.
• Main assist is set for a reason! AoE healing is trivial, healing one guy is not. If you attack one guy, he will either die or get the healers OOM. The main assist will choose it. You should have a /assist macro with his name. Attacking someone else is a failure, even if the main assist guy picked a wrong target. Rather let him learn from his mistakes than simply make a mess. If I see more than one guy on half HP, I will open the recount and check who was stupid.
• Main assist guy make a "/rw Switching in 5 secs" macro. He (or his melee pet) will also has a skull on his head to find him in the crowd"
• Use mass CC effects (mass fear, circle, DK freeze) when possible and when other CC is not up
• Don't stand close enough for mass-CC
• Use focus-CC. For example I have a "/cast [target=focus,harm,nodead] wind shear;wind shear" macro. This way I can interrupt him without changing target.
• Offensive dispel the attack target, use mass dispel as priest when not busy.
• If you are the main assist, open the scoreboard and check for highest damage done. Focus on that guy, he is PvE geared.
• If you are dead on a graveyard, count down. Of course don't spam, but give a number first if no one else gave yet and then every full 5 secs like 20, 15, 10. It helps people to know when it worth using survival CDs and when is it better to stop healing and die to respawn with full mana in 5 secs. This is especially useful for holy priests.
• BG Defender addon makes calling incs easier.
• Rebuff after a battle. Even if no one died, they could dispel stuff. Make your power auras watch your buffs, if they are missing, they should be recast, it not only significantly help the team, but also provide buffer for the next offensive dispel

Arathi Basin strategy Our current strategy implies using as many tanks as possible. One will guard Stables (ST). The other will fake Blacksmith (BS). Faking means attacking alone. If no one or just 1 comes, he will take it. If more, he hold them up. 2 groups move to Gold mine (GM) and Lumber mill (LM). I send the stronger to LM as the enemy use to like it. 1-1 pre-selected defender, who has enough survival capabilities and brain to not lose the base while alive will stay there and call incs. The rest push farm. Soon they have nothing but BS where they mindlessly send out zergs what we can easily counter. Here the defender spawns pretty close to the defended GY and - contrary to popular belief - the distance of neighboring bases is closer than any from BS, due to the terrain.

Tips and fails:

• If you are winning at a defended or captured base, don't stay there until the last bubbled paladin is down! Disengage and go somewhere else.
• Don't leave a captured base as last guy! No exceptions. If you leave a base totally empty, you are a capital case idiot. "No one came here for 10 mins" is a very bad excuse. Healers should only stay if they were too many already (like 2 healers, 2 DD took the base)
• Don't AFK on bases! One defender is enough when not attacked. The second is not attacking, AFKing!
• Don't lose a base while alive! Unless 3+ enemies (or sub rogue + 1) comes, you must be able to stop capture while alive even if you are a lone guardian. You must also call "inc" before the base is attacked, preferably with the number of enemies arriving. The following info should be kept in mind:
  • Don't stand on the flag! A rogue saps you and captures it if you have high lag or reaction time. If you trinket sap, he blinds and does the same. Stand away, mounted so he must run after sap, while you can instantly charge or use ranged spell.
  • If you are hunter, put freezing, explosive and snake traps to the flag!
  • If you are shaman, keep magma totem up and do stand on the flag! The enemy can't sap and break totem at the same time.
  • Warlock keep circle on the flag and use succubus!
  • If you have stealth (rogue, druid, night elf, hunter), use it! Let him open with going to the flag.
  • Keep watching all the time, all incoming roads! At GM and BS watch the cliff too, they can levitate. Call incs when you see him coming. Even if just one. The other can be in stealth.
• Don't lose a base while alive! Did I mention this? It's important. Not only single defender can lose it. The largest possible fail is losing a base when several people defending, all busy nuking someone while someone caps. Always watch the flag. If enemy is near it, use AoEs.
• Don't cap as DD in battle! You should be killing the enemy. Healers or tanks cap. You only cap if only DDs are around (bad) and in ninja situations. You shall try to wipe them, not wasting time capturing. Healers can safely capture. If they are busy healing, than the enemy is strong and capture is impossible anyway.
• Ninja when possible! The ninja situation is - situational. Happens when the enemy sucks. It means that they did the No1 fail: losing base while alive. In this case the fighters pull back from the flag and the enemy follows them. If you arrive later and don't cap but join the fight, you are doing it wrong. Especially if you are a stealther who arrived with a decoy exactly for that. If you are interrupted even once, don't try again, the enemy just proved to be not idiots. Also, if there is a combat going on, you must do something. Do the ninja-cap or join the fight. Don't stand there!
• Don't assist a faker! Faker is a tank or other high survival character (frost mage, affliction warlock, paladin, cat druid, any healer), who attacks a base only to keep 2+ enemy there or make them yell inc on voice chat. The faker is meant to die and the base is not meant to be captured (although we still remember when a faker blood DK killed 3 guys and capped BS creating 5-0). If you go there, you are as good as AFK.
• Don't be unwanted second (third ...) defender! We captured the base. The dedicated defender is there. No enemies are around. Why are you AFKing there?! Do something!
• Don't stack healers! I don't care how big an "inc lm" is. If the other healers there, or moving there and ahead of you, you don't go there. If they can't handle it, the enemy is zerging and you should attack another base with DDs. Saving LM doesn't worth losing all other.

Battle of Gilneas strategy The main peculiarity of the map is the graveyard placing. In Arathi you resurrect at the closest graveyard. In Gilneas you resurrect at the second nearest.

• If you die at the Waterworks (WW), you spawn at Lighthouse (LH) or Mine, even if you own WW. In case you don't have LH or Mine, you spawn at your starting point.
• If you die at the enemy home base (Mine as Ally or LH as Horde), you spawn at WW if you own it, even if you own they enemy home base. If you don't have WW you spawn at your own home base, or at the starting point if you don't have it.
• If you die at your own home base (LH as Ally or Mine as Horde), you spawn on your starting point.

Considering this, there is little point taking the enemy home base for any other reason of making them run there. We can't hold it as they spawn closer to it. The strategy:

1. A tank with a DD defends our home base. Hunter, shaman or warlock preferred for their far seeing abilities. The tank stays at the flag, the DD scouts the way to see if they are coming to our home base. Call "inc few" or "inc zerg".
2. Everyone else (3 healers, 5 DD) go for WW and take it. In case of "inc few" a healer and a DD turns back. In case of "inc zerg", only a healer and 2 DDs keep going to WW, everyone else turns back.
3. After WW is taken, a stealther keeps faking Mine. We distribute 1 healer + 2 DD to both bases, another 1+2 stands in the middle, responding incs. In case of zerg incs the other base healer can come too, but 2 must always defend it.

Due to having only 3 points, the sizes of battles are larger here than in Arathi basin. Still 9-men zergs must be avoided. The other base must never be undefended and the enemy home base must never be without faker.

Tips:

• If you have a paladin, he must go to WW with crusader aura to get there faster
• At start a mage, warlock or Warrior should ride on the water with a DK or with water walking, to Aoe fear or snare the enemy inside the water before they could reach WW. A rogue should throw smoke bomb to WW
• If you would somehow capture Mine, others can go there help holding it, but both old bases must have 2+1 healer left. Mine will be lost anyway, don't zerg it.

Flag carrier map strategy Step 1: Our opening move is that we all zerg for the flag on our GY side (avoid using "left" and "right", it's only good for confusion. To come on the left side of the map, you must turn right at the WSG door and also we can be paired against another ally team and then we are horde on the right side). The flag carrier has a raid mark. They can answer with 3 moves on this, all can be seen from the distance:

1. Ignore us and zerg for our flag. This case we do the same.
2. They split and some of them attack us. We dismount and wipe them. After it's sure that they are no threat (4-6 only), the flag carrier and one healer goes for the flag.
3. They all attack us (standard move of "control the mid" /trade guys). The flag carrier dismounts before they could reach us, so does everyone else and position. Keep riding when the FC is on foot is a fail. Pick your target, set your focus target, place totems, traps, AoE heals, frozen circle, send your pet, pre-hot FC, switch off crusader aura. They are 8 or 9 (EFC is either alone or with one healer), we are 10. They are riding, able to open only with instant spells while we can cast spells. We have traps, AoEs, pets on the ground, they don't. They are spread by lag and small movement mistakes, coming in a train, we are in a spread group (don't eat frost nova). We must win. After 3-4 of them are dead, the FC and one healer moves for flag, the rest keeps wiping them. Wiping 8/10 can break their moral, despite they don't have strategic disadvantage yet. /trade people can give up when it happens.

Step 2:Our flag carrier has picked their flag. Step 2 depends on what they did during Step 1:

1. We pick the flag the same time when they picked ours. The FC leaves in the front door or  tunnel and we go head on them. The goal is not to kill their FC but to wipe the rest. They can't avoid combat and unless they mirroring our strategy, they will go for the FC. So they are focusing on a shield-walling tank healed by all, while their tank and some healers are running away, we focus on their squishier DDs (arcane mage, DD shaman, DD druid). It's no wonder who will win this encounter. Use CC heavily to avoid them successfully nuking the FC. The FC should kite them around the group, priests should grip him away. Let them walk.
2. Our FC picked the flag a bit later than theirs. We wiped their 4-6 attackers. The group move mid to intercept, the FC leaves on the mid door/tunnel after he seen us moving mid. If we fail to wipe them fast enough (they were 7 with healers), or the FC was slow (all of them hit him so he couldn't run until they wiped) #3 is in effect. The FC must come to the group. The group must also keep in mind that contacting with the FC is more important than intercepting EFC. Again, if intercept is impossible #3 is in effect. We intercept the enemy flag carrier with full group. Unless we are extremely lucky, they had time to respawn, so killing the EFC is not a realistic goal. Deserves some CC, deathgrip and stun, but not more. Kill the rest, focus EFC only if they are clearly wiping. It's the call of the main assist. Don't forget to peel our FC.
3. Their unharassed FC is on the move back, while ours due to the long fight is just taking their flag, while we are wiping their last attackers. The FC returns on our GY side to the group. We go together to the mid, not even attempting to catch EFC. If their ressing DDs with some healer attack us, wipe them once more.

Step 3: Step 2 ends with our FC is in the mid surrounded by the team, their FC is in their flagroom or near to it with some escort, the rest of them is dead in their GY. The raid leader calls "split", the FC with 2 healers return to the flagroom, 1 healer with the DDs go to attack the EFC. This step is very luck-dependent. They can res right front of us, this case we return back to the flag carrier in the mid-back and wait. They can res fast enough to reach their own flagroom and save the FC. Then we purposefully wipe and regroup at our GY, our FC comes to us. If we are lucky, they either res too late, or dumb enough to go for our FC instead of defending their own.

Step 4: Step 3 can end with we scoring one and starting over. If you are under attack, stop fighting, die and regroup with the rest on our GY side. If they managed to save their FC or they ressed right front of us, step 3 ends with we standing in the mid-back, their FC at their flagroom with escorts, the others are somewhere in the mid. They are closer to our FC than we to theirs, so they can choose to attack. This case we fight as one zerg and wipe them. Remember to CC/stun, focus on squishy DDs, not healers. After we wipe them we split again and go for another Step 3. If they choose to not attack us, but go back to defend their EFC (either in the flagroom or at the door), we send 5 DDs and 1 healer to attack them. 2 healers and 1 DD remains with FC, next to our GY (in WSG, above the GY). These are suicide missions, their purpose is to pin them down in defense while the debuff stacks high enough on their EFC and hopefully waste their bloodlust. We can waste it too, as we wipe and the debuff will be removed. It is possible (and their only chance) that they mount an attack after wiping us. We regroup and receive them on the move. The EFC should kite them in the tunnel/around the building, LOS them while the others are slowing-attacking them. Since we are 10 v 6-8, we will eventually wipe them, the question is can the FC kite long enough to live. If they fail to counterattack and the stacks are already 6+, we keep only one healer with the FC (against lurking rogues), the rest go attack. If they have a forward defense, wipe them, if they are all with the FC, focus on FC with Bloodlust.

I believe this strategy can only be countered by itself, when the two groups go for the flag on the sides and clash in the mid, focusing on squishies. Then the stronger wins. Note that focusing the EFC is wrong as even if you can nuke him, wipe and then your FC dies too.

Tips and fails:

• Dumb Rambo is bad. Don't run out of healer range.
• In mid fight, attack DDs, especially the ones who top the meters. Healers will respawn with full mana, don't kill them. Mana burn, interrupt and let them run OOM. After the DDs wiped, kill them or ignore them and split
• Feel free to put on PvE gear when you engage the EFC who has no DD support.
• Healer standing on the top of WSG GY can also heal in PvE gear.
• Grab the rage buff before attack
• Mana burn is nasty, use it and focus on burning priest in non-nuke zerg battles
• Fights are short burn here. Healers are usually targeted, use 2 resilience trinkets. You can even have full resi versions of 2-gemmamble gear pieces. Long, mana-streching battles are rather common in Arathi and Gilneas.
• Tank be always on the move when they zerg on us, circle around the group.
• When the main assist switches to EFC, rogue shall stun and smokebomb. CC healers then.

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Alterac valley massacre strategy
The horde can do two things, zerg or defend. We must counter both. Our main force (max 10) is defending the bridge head where the archers can shoot. The point is to kill the first smart hordies who would cap DB towers. By the time their main zerg arrive and defeat us, the Frostwolf towers are down and we won.

The problem comes when they defend. This case the key is IB graveyard. A smaller team go there and stand ready to cap in case the horde defend. They cap SF GY on the way too. The purpose is to form the front in the horde zone, puting all ally towers, 2 horde towers and Galv behind the front. If "they defend" is called, taking and holding IB GY is the priority. The back defense team rides forward, maybe leaving a few cleaners behind if we are enough. After IB GY is ours, and the randoms spawn there, we can go back, clear up all our attacked towers and kill all horde back, then join the zerg killing enough to make their resource counter zero.