Heya guys!!  See that? ^  Yeah, that’s what 2v2’s are like, lol.  So I teamed up with a rogue buddy of mine tonight for 2v2’s.  And we did…mediocre.  Hey, we didn’t go negative at least.  Heh.  I also spent a good bit of the day doing some BG’s…well AV really.  Bonus honor = WIN.  And hit up WG twice already.  Hopefully I’ll get in there at least one more time tonight.  And I tried a swap up spec…that I didn’t really like.  AMZ is more useful than people say it isn’t.  So let’s dig in yeah?

2v2 Arena

Tonight wasn’t the best example of what we could do.  But hey, it was fun.  My rogue partner used a PvE Mutilate spec with basically no PvP gear minus a trinket.  I used some PvP gear (270ish res), and went with a variant spec (which I don’t like) on a standard Unholy.  I can’t argue specs if I don’t try ‘em.  Heh.

The basics come down to who gets their combo/burst off first the majority of the time.  The majority of teams are double dps, with a few healer/dps teams.  So, I wasn’t suprised when that is what we saw.  If they got the drop on Darip (my rogue partner…censorship means nothing since you guys can Armory my team >.<) then we were boned a lot of the time.  If he got the drop on them, then the other team was boned.  Anytime they FF’d me first, they always lost.  I’d pop defensive CD’s and start DS’ing, etc…  But a Rogue in leather with no Res is just asking to be owned.  I think one warrior did a 12k Execute crit on him at one point.  GG Blizz.

I learned some valuable lessons however.  I use my MoB and RT more often now, and learned to use my ghoul stuns often and early for burst.  Gargoyle simply f’ing OWNS for bursting down targets.  Most fights are determined within 20 seconds of combat starting.  So in a 2v2 use whatever you have, and use it fast.  With current gear it’s a dps race the majority of the time.  What I have to say is extremely OP however is Shadow of Death.

There were 3 battles out of like 19 that they killed us both, and then SoD popped me up as a ghoul and I stole the victory.  One of those times both of the opponents were still alive (although fairly injured at this point) and I was still able to kill both of them.  SoD in a full dps team is hands down an amazing investment.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!!!

Strangulate is not something best saved for when you need it btw in a 2v2 environment on a double dps team.  Shutting your opponents down as quickly and as early as possible to allow you to kill one of them is absolutely mandatory.  I also dropped AMZ for this and HIGHLY regret it.  There was several matches involving mages where had I used AMZ we would not have lost.

Notes on 2v2 Arena Double DPS:

• Partner with either a high burst dps that is hard to kill (read: Retadin/MS War)
• Or Partner with a high dps CC’er (read: Frost Mage/Mut-SubRogue)
• Use your CC early to allow both of you to kill one opponent
• Use your first 10 seconds of rotation to build RP for a Gargoyle/DRW and to lay down diseases
• Use your second 10 seconds to dump burst FF

Overall I’m looking forward to seeing what 2v2’s develop into with more Resilience and when both of us are full PvP specs (proper ones in my case, heh).

Battle Grounds

Nothing too special to write about here.  Overall I think SotA is probably the best honor gain per time spent.  You are guaranteed to never waste more than 25 minutes tops on any SotA game (max time + loading, etc).  And on a good day SotA could be only 10-15 minutes.  However on bonus honor weekends you will need to check out the competition.  AV today was netting me sometimes 2k honor in 10 minute wins.  Hard to beat that yeah?

All in all, there is something to be said for battle ground jumping however.  Turning marks in for bonus honor is still damn nice.  But I think I would not recommend doing that unless you were doing a pre-made group of about 5 people you knew and would work together as a group.

Wintergrasp

Free honor here I come!!!  *SNAG* 

“The Alliance has just captured Wintergrasp!!”

WTF!?!? HOW IN THE HELL!?!?!  IT JUST STARTED!!!

Yes, that too can happen to you!!  When you get into WG drop what you’re doing, and get your butt in motion.  Sometimes, especially when you come in only 5 minutes late, the Alliance (or Horde) can steam roll a win out of nowhere and you’ll find yourself not getting any marks or honor.  So whatever you do, don’t do nothing.  Get your butt in motion and get into the fray!!

Now on non-cheapo wins, this place is amazing.  Even with the Tenacity BS.  Why?  I’ve walked out of a long WG with 10k honor before and 3 WG marks of honor.  Pure Win…I know.  Anytime you’re in Dalaran just drop by the NPC who creates the portal to go to WG and see when the next one is up.  Set a timer, or an alarm…whatever, and make sure you get in there.  It’s not super hard and the rewards are great, even if you do lose.  And on top of that, it is such a nice change of pace after you’ve been honor grinding in BG’s all day.

Specs

I’m not promoting the spec I tried today.  It’s ok, but it’s not solid.  So moving on.  This is what I will be using for the rest of S5 pre-patch release in 2v2’s double dps.

24/5/42 Unholy Alternative PvP spec

• Reaping – I am currently considering taking some points out of something (maybe Toughness) in order to pick this back up.  It isn’t to use SS over BS’s.  BS hits like a freight train with this spec/build.  But sometimes you need to CoI or DS, and those Death Rune’s help a lot.
• Unholy Aura – I will be partnering with a rogue with +15% move from spec.  So unless he spec’s out of that, I’m skipping it.  If he does, then I’ll likely drop 2 points from Toughness and move them into UA if he thinks he needs it.
• Toughness - Depending on the compostion of your team, and the teams you come up against, this may be paramount or moot.  So buy this as needed.
• Night of the Dead – If I was on a dps/healer team, or a larger sized team, then I would put points into this.  But as it was, out of like 19 matches RD CD came back up maybe twice where it could be used again after the start of a match.  The fights are THAT fast in 2v2 double dps.  They die, or you die.  Period.
• Anti-Magic Zone – This spec has no answer for being immobilized outside of Death Grip.  AMZ shuts down incoming damage from casters, especially Frost mages, when they’ve locked you in place.  Combined with Strangulate, Death Grip, AMS, this evens the odds a LOT.  Not to mention being able to stop incoming damage on your partner if they got nailed with you.

If your compostion demands something different you can move the points around a little bit.  But only you can make that judgement call.  The top DK’s in Arena atm are all using Unholy specs.  So if you want to try something else.  Go for it.  But I don’t recommend it.

And if you go into Arena and don’t break into the 1600’s, don’t be shocked.  Some of the best players out there are competing to get rating to purchase gear.  And if everyone on your team is not farming honor, getting the best gear/trinkets, and not doing full PvP specs…you’re not going to do well.  You get what you bought so to speak.

Tags: Glyphs, PvP, Specs