The Ultimate Guide to Battlegrounds -- Obsolete

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This guide is mostly for people playing pugs (pick-up groups) or for guilds that have not yet established their own strategies. Yet I hope it can be useful to anyone who wants to play battlegrounds and win. I am going to do most strategies from the perspective of level 60 players, though this can easily be adapted to any level game. Also, these are basic strategies and rules. Battlegrounds and complex and constantly shifting. There is no possible way to cover all the possible "if A then B" scenarios. I'm just hoping to do a primer to help out those who have not yet truly mastered the nuances of the various zones.

Feel free to add comments. I will try to edit the guide over time to put the best comments into the main text.

I. General Rules and Suggestions

• Winning gets you more honor and reputation than just killing things. If you play to win, you will get much more honor, have much more fun, and make your teammates a lot happier. Playing to win means sometimes doing defense, sometimes sacrificing yourself so your teammates can get a point, not always being in the main attack, and listening to your teammates and going along with the majority on strategy.
  
• In a similar vein, keep in mind that honor rewarded decreases with each kill. Ending a 15 on 15 game with 50 kills doesn't get you a whole lot more honor than ending it with 25 kills. Don't be afraid to play defense when needed. (For a complete guide to how honor works.
  
• Communication is key to all battlegrounds. Make sure you keep your teammates informed of what is going on around you and what you see happening elsewhere. The more specific the information the better. Yelling "FARM!" is better than nothing, but yelling "4 inc farm from mine" gives much more useful information. Nobody ever got yelled at for talking too much about the comings and goings of the other side.
  
• Equipment and level matter. If you enter a 40-49 battleground and most of your team is in the low 40's and the other team is mostly high 40's the most well executed strategy will not likely get you a win. The same goes for level 60 battles. If your team is in green and the other team is in purple, you will most likely not only lose but get destroyed in the process. Just learn to live with it, re-queue and hope the next group you face is more equitably distributed.
  
• Wait for teammates before attacking. It is pointless for you to rez and immediately storm off to a point by yourself without any support (unless you are rejoining an existing battle). You are better off waiting the extra 20 seconds for your teammates to join up with you and then attack as a group. 5 people attacking at once as a group are far more effective than 5 individuals arriving at a point in separate 5 second intervals.
  
• Kill healers first, casters second and everyone else third.
  
• Don't be afraid to die. Death in battlegrounds means nothing. In fact, when you are low on mana or hit points, dying is actually a useful way to regenerate them fairly quickly. Obviously the longer you stay alive in a battle, the more useful you will be, but there are plenty of situations where sacrificing yourself may in fact help out your teammates.
  
• Don't attack on your own. All you will do is die and give someone on the other side an easy kill. In battlegrounds, Rambo will always be a private. The exception to this is if you are a rogue and can take a flag held by a single player or if by attacking you delay the enemy and keep them from reinforcing
  
• As soon as you can, make sure to buy the Insignia of the Horde/Alliance. Equip it whenever you do battlegrounds and make sure you put a shortcut to it on your toolbar. This will save your life many times.
  
• There are some very useful addons that you should get if you plan on playing a lot of battlegrounds. My personal favorites are BGBuddy2 and BGInvite. Check out http://www.curse-gaming.com for these and others you can add.
  
  
  II Warsong Gulch
  
  This is the easiest of all the battlegrounds and the one most people get introduced with. Still many people don't understand how to play it to win. Far too many raids divide into two groups and designate one for offense and one for defense, placing the defensive group in your flag room and sending the entire offensive group to get the enemy flag. This strategy rarely works and when it does it far too often ends up with both sides sitting on the other side's flag, which makes for a long and tedious game. Others just zerg to the enemies flag point and then zerg back with it. This is actually a better strategy since it often gets you into the middle where you belong, but still one that will not win a whole lot of games.
  
  Warsong is actually won in the middle, not in the flag houses. The team that best controls the middle will almost always win the battle. By controlling the mid field, you can both stop enemy players from getting your flag to their base and also aid your own flag carrier on his way across to your base. The best strategy I have found is to divide your team into 3 groups. Remember in a raid, there is no reason to have two 5 man groups. You can set up your grouping in any way you please. Here's my suggestion.
  
  Group 1 - Midfield. My suggestion is to for a 5 man midfield group. For level 60's I suggest asking who has epic mounts and assigning them all to the midfield group. A good mix of classes is needed for this group and at least one healer should be there if at all possible. Pretty much any class is useful for this group, though hunters can really rock in the midfield. The role of this group is to travel together and either stop enemy flag carriers from crossing the field or to aid your flag carrier to get safely to your flag room. If the offensive group is having problems getting the flag out of the flag room because the other team is playing strong defense, part of this group can break off to help assault the flag room. The most important rule for this group is to always stick together. This group is the most crucial group in the raid. You must make sure their flag carrier never gets across the field to cap.
  
  Group 2 - Defense. This group should be 3 players who stay in your own flag room and protect the flag. A rogue is crucial here. Other good classes for this are shaman, warlock and mage. The ability to stun and slow is very useful to this group, as they are most likely going to have to stop a druid from grabbing the flag and running out in cat form. Inevitably, one will get away. At that point, it is crucial for you to shout out which way he is going so that the midfield group can prepare to stop him when he emerges. Repeat - always yell which way the flag carrier is going. Also, your job is over when the flag carrier gets away. Go back and defend the room again. Resist the temptation to chase him. You will likely not be able to catch up in time to make a diference in mid field and if you leave the flag room, the other team can just sit there, wait for the flag to drop and pick it right back up again.
  
  Group 3 - Offense. This is a 2 man assault team. One should always be a druid if possible. A shaman can substitute if necessary. The other should be a healer if possible. Paladins are ideal for this, but a priest, druid or shaman works as well. If you have an abundance of speed and free action potions, then any class that can take damage without quickly dying can also run offense. A rogue with sneak, sprint and a bunch of speed and free action potions can sometimes be a one man offense. The idea for this is to try to sneak into the flag room, grab the flag in cat form and run quickly out the door. Keep the flag holder healed until he gets to the midfield where group 2 can come to assist and run interference to get him to the flag room to cap. If the defense is too strong, several people from group 1 can help on the initial assault.
  
  Some general rules and suggestions for WSG
  
  
• Whenever your flag is taken, make sure you yell which way the flag carrier is going so that your teammates can meet him at mid field. Whenever you take a flag, yell which way you are going for the same reason.
  
• Don't fight in the midfield if you can help it unless you are helping your own flag carrier or stopping theirs.
  
• Stay together. Going off on your own will just get you killed and deprive your teammates of help while you rez. As long as you stay in a group, you will likely win the battles and ultimately the war.
  
• Don't turtle up with the other team's flag. If both teams capture the flags, be sure to send a sizable force to the other side to try to get yours back. Because of the diminishing returns on honor for kills, prolonging a game is both pointless and boring. You are really better off just losing the match than sitting all ten players in one place with the enemy flag for several hours.
  
• Potions can make the difference between winning and losing. Load up on speed potions and free action potions before queueing up for the game, epecially if you are going to be trying to get the enemy flag. Other useful potions include stoneshield for emergency defense, catseye to detect rogues and elves, and invisibility.
  
• If there is a healer with the flag holder, get him first and try to stun or slow the flag carrier while you do it. It does no good to keep hitting the flag carrier if someone keeps healing him back up.
  
• When your team gets the flag, the goal is not to kill the people chasing the flag carrier, but rather to slow them down and keep them from killing him. Thus, you should use whatever attacks you have that stun, freeze or slow the persuers rather than your best kill blows. If you can get them to drop far behind the flag carrier, you will end up with the cap even if they ultimately survive the battle.
  
  
  III Arathi Basin
  
  Since I mostly play horde, I will be writing this more from the horde's perspective. However, you can pretty much swap farm with stables and it will apply equally to the alliance. This is a complex battleground and much of what you do depends on reacting to and anticipating your opponents movements. Thus, it is almost impossible to give a definitive step by step guide to how to win. Each battle is different. I am just trying to give some basic winning strategies for you to follow.
  
  Note for level 60 players. Epic mounts are critical in this battleground. If possible, before the battle even starts, find out who has epic mounts and distribute them evenly through the three groups. These players are the ones who will move around in response to the enemy movements. If you do not have an epic mount, you are far more valuable on defense than offense, as you will most likely arrive at the battle too late to make much of a difference. If you are worried about kills, you will get far more actual kills waiting for them to come to you than trying to get to each battle only to find that by the time you get there one side or the other is already mostly dead.
  
  A. The Start
  
  -- The ideal game. Here's how most plow groups win those 2000-50 games. Send 5 people each to mill, bs and mine. Cap the farm and the abandon it on the way. Win each of those battles and leave 1 each at those points and send everyone else on to the stables. Cap the stables and you have now stuck the other team in their home base with no other rez point. Move up there and farm them until the game ends, probably about 3 minutes later. Collect your 3 tokens. Rather, rinse, repeat. (Frankly I think this sounds rather boring, but since I mostly play pugs I never get the pleasure of being bored in such a
  manner)
  
  -- The more realistic game. Send 5 people each to mill, bs and mine. At least one of those groups should win their battle. If not, you are probably in real trouble (see above example). Likely one of them will meet only minimal resistance. Whoever wins quickly should leave one person at their point and send the rest on to the stables (or farm if you are alliance). This is not necessarily to be able to cap the stables. That's a bonus. The hope is that those who rezzed back at their starting point will get distracted and attack the stables group. This leaves your rezzers free to either reinforce any existing battle or to form up and hit one of the two still contested points. Remember the rule I stated above - wait for your teammates and attack in a group. Hopefully, the stables battle will give you the edge in one of the other battles and let you cap either bs or mine (bs is preferred, but hit whichever is least defended). This should give you three resources, or if you are really lucky four.
  
  B. The Middle
  
  Now that you have three resources what do you do This is where most pugs end up losing. If you try to just purely defend those three points, you are likely going to lose one eventually. Once you do all hell breaks lose and you often end up getting 4 to 1 against you which pretty much ends the game. Playing pure defense allows the other team to dictate the pace of the game. You need to play defense and also continue to press on offense. Before the game even starts, each party should work out between them who will stay and who will swing to help other groups. For level 60's it's easy since those with epic
  mounts should always be the ones to go help.
  
  Now that you have three bases, your job is to keep those and also keep the other side on their heels, even sneaking a base away from them now and then. I suggest you leave 3 at each point for defense. One or even two of the three can break away to defend a nearby base if they seem to really need extra help, though as soon as the battle looks to be won, they should head straight back to their original base. This leaves you 6 players to roam. 3 of those should always be defending one point or another. The other 3 should vary between defense and offense. (You can even set up your raid with 5 groups of 3 to make this easier, but that is way too complicated for a pug) Three players hitting an enemy position will almost always bring 6 or more in response. That is 6 or more players who can't go on offense. If you keep 6 players tied up on defense with those 3 attackers and they also have 3 sitting at the other base for defense, that leaves them only 6 people to attack your bases. Since you are swinging another 3 on defense and also bringing 1 more from the closest node, you should always outnumber the attack. This sounds complicated but really isn't. Basically if you are a defender, just sit and defend. If you are a defense swing player, go to where the attack is and defend. If you are an offense swing player, decide as a party where to attack and attack it.
  
  Keep in mind that you are not necessarily trying to capture a fourth base with your 3 man attack group. If you do, that's a bonus. Their job is simply to keep the other team defending, forcing them to hold back players they would otherwise use to attack your bases. If you do get a fourth base though, you are mostly home free. If your offense team ever wins a battle and captures a fourth base in a way that you can keep it, you should swing your defense to cover the two bases adjacent to the enemy position and only leave 1 each behind on the back bases. At that point you know exactly where the other team will rez and can set someone at a point where they can observe them and call out their movements. Then it is just a matter of responding to where they try to break out and keeping them bottled up into their single position. If they break out in a way that makes them rez at their home base, you can push in and take that last base and get a 5 base win.
  
  C. Variations (I will add suggestions from comments to this section)
  
  From ItharrAlexander: 12 Cap BS, leave 3 @ Home (Farm/Stables). BS Assault group is actually two teams. Once BS is capped, your "Heavy" assault group moves to the enemy home (Stables/Farm), while you break 6-7 off to Cap the LM. Once LM is secure, the Stables/Farm defense team moves down to the mines (Typically left empty or lightly guarded once the opposing team see's that their "Home" base is under attack) and the LM team pushes back to the Enemy home. Team assaulting Enemy home (Heavy Assault team from the BS) push around to the mines (From the Enemy Home side) while the prior Stables/Farm defense team is pushing the mines from the opposite side. This pulls a pincer type action and it's near impossible to lose that battle. At that point, the enemy is down to a single node (Alot of times it is not advised to capture the enemy farm/stables, even tho it is more then possible and easy to do - If you leave it to them, you control their spawn point and the game is effectively over) while you hold 4.
  
  
  D. Other Stuff
  
  Sometimes you come up against a team that just zergs as a group from point to point, overwhelming whatever defense you throw there. If this happens, you need to change your strategy. It is unlikely that you can keep a zerg from capturing whatever point they are trying to capture. You are best not to even try. Instead, let the couple of defenders stay there and keep the zerg occupied and hit the points behind the zerg. It's likely there are only one or two people guarding them, so you can divide your forces and hit several at once. If defended properly, zerg groups usually lose big with the other side always having 3 points and often getting 4. Paladins and mages with ice block are great for keeping zergs occupied while the rest of the team takes the other points.
  
  What if the other team captures 3 points and you need to break them The best strategy is to run a diversionary attack at one point followed by a real attack at another, preferably on the opposite end from the original attack. For illustration, say the other side has the stables, mine and bs and you have the farm and mill. Keep 2 people each at the farm and mill. Then send 3 to the mine (preferably 3 hard to kill types). When they have engaged at the mine, send the other 8 to the bs. Hopefully, when the 3 hit the mine, the enemy reinforcements will have all run there and have left the bs relatively open for attack. Cap it and move the 3 rezzers from the mine to defense on the farm and mill. Now you have turned the game around and can go back to the basic middle game strategy. To really confuse them, those who died at the bs and rezzed at the mill should them hit the stables to force the other side to fall completely back on defense.
  
  Sometimes you end up against a plow group loaded with epic weapons and armor. I hate to counsel defeatism, but realistically a pug has very little chance against a good plow group. The best you can do is to take a single point like the farm or bs and sit there and try to get some hks. A group of 4 can sometimes road around and capture some points behind them in order to try to get more bonus honor.
  
  Some general rules and suggestions for AB
  
  
• You get more honor and reputation for winning than for killing. Don't farm kills. The team with the most people willing to sit and play defense almost always wins in an evenly matched game.
  
• At level 60, if you don't have an epic mount, you shouldn't be running around trying to put out fires. Sit back on defense and let the faster players respond to trouble.
  
• Fight at the flags. If you turn your back on a flag and follow an enemy player hoping to get the kill, you may well find another player captured it behind your back. Don't let yourself be lured away from the flag. Conversely, this is a good strategy to capturing a flag if you can do it. Keep just out of range of spells and arrows and keep backing up to try to lure the players away from the flag and let your rogue buddy sneak past them and cap the flag while they chase you.
  
• Don't fight on the roads. If 4 players stop to kill a single enemy on a road that is 4 people who will not be there when the rest of the team tries to capture or defend a flag. Conversely, if you can get 4 enemies to follow you around in neutral territory it's well worth dying to keep them out of the game for a while.
  
• Call out enemy movements. If you are sitting on defense, your job is to watch the roads and call out movements. This is especially important if you have the blacksmith, since a player there at max draw can see pretty much the whole zone. Let people know where the enemy is going and in what numbers. It is very important to say the number so other players can judge the needed response. Saying "Incoming Mill" is not very helpful, though better than nothing. Saying "4 Incoming to Mill from north" is much more useful information.
  
• Call Inc when you get attacked so people know to help. Call it early too, not when you are about to die. If possible, give a number of attackers as well.
  
• Always try to have a mismatch. The blacksmith is a great point to have, but if the enemy has eight defenders there, you are just wasting your time zerging it over and over. Attack where they are weak with overwhelming force whenever possible.
  
• Try to attack two points. The normal response to an attack is to send all your reinforcements there to defend. If you attack one point and divert the enemy reinforcements, you can then sneak a separate force into a different position and take it while it is weakly defended.
  
• Best attackers in AB are hunters and mages. This is because most defensive groups are massed around the flag and long range and aoe attacks can often pick them off in large batches.
  
• Best defenders in AB are shamans and paladins. Shaman totems around a flag make a huge difference in defense and paladins can survive much longer than other classes, keeping the flag untapped until help arives.
  
• Night Elves are great defenders. Shadowmeld absolutely rules for this battleground. Put 1 visible defender by the flag and hide three more and you are sure to lure a group of 3 or 4 horde to their death in what they think is an easy capture of that position. If used properly, Shadowmeld alone gives the Alliance a significant edge in this zone.
  
  
  IV Alterac Valley
  
  First off, this is the battleground I know the least about. I have only played it about 10 times. So I defer to any comments contradicting this guide from more experienced players.
  
  The key to AV is organization and coordination. And the most important thing to keep in mind is that kills and honor mean almost nothing in this battleground. The team that spends the most time mindlessly killing the other side is the team that loses. The team that coordinates and captures enemy positions is the team that wins.
  
  So where do you start Two things. The most important thing to do at the start is to capture the enemy's forward graveyard. Many games get caught up fighting over the neutral Snowfall graveyard. I personally think this is not worth the battle. You don't get a rez much further along than from your starting gy and have to expend enormous resources to beat the mobs stationed there. I suggest you organize a push to take Iceblood Graveyard if you are Alliance or Stonehearth Graveyard if you are Horde. Unless you need to defend against an enemy push, use all 40 players for this. Don't try to capture any towers until you have secured the graveyard. Once you have that secured, you have forced the other side to rez far back in their zone and have taken the upper hand in the battle. From what I have seen, the team that captures this gy first usually ends up winning the whole battle.
  
  The second thing you should do at the start is designate a couple people to do quests behind your lines. The mine supplies quest and the wolf riders quest are really useful if the game is tight and you need extra help from your NPC's. Also, make sure you turn in your scraps and other quest items when you have collected a lot of them. Use your trinket to teleport to base, turn them in and then run back to the battle. These can also help turn a close game.
  
  Once you have the enemy's forward graveyard, you just push inward and capture each additional gy to push them backwards. At this point, you can divide your forces with half pushing forward to capture the inner graveyards and half taking out the towers and other positions on the way. Once you have the other side on the defensive, the game is essentially over. It is just a matter of spending the time it takes to push all the way to the end. Keep a force in reserve to defend against any enemy counter incursions and push your way to the end. Capture the graveyards first and all other positions second.
  
  Some general rules and suggestions for AV:
  
  
• AV is all about faction, not honor. By the end of the game, you will be getting only a few honor points per kill. So there is no reason to rush out and try to kill as many people as you can at the beginning. You will get all the honor you can possibly get out of it simply by playing to win.
  
• This is is the only free for all looting zone in the game. Looting is essential to getting the faction you need out of the game. If you are a fighting class, give consideration to the casters and let them loot their fare share. While they may not be right next to the guy who died, they probably saved your butt while he was trying to kill you.
  
• Remember to do the quests. These give your side a significant advantage in a close game.
  
• I said it before, but it bears repeating. Capture the graveyards first and all other positions second. Whoever controls the graveyards controls the battle.
  
• Always wait for the GY to turn before going for the near tower/bunker/NPC boss (balinda/galvangar). This is particularly important on the final flag.
  
• When trying to take an enemy GY don't stand in the back fighting. Rush forward and take the fight to the flag. (Melees, mages AOEing and respective healers in the back are important for this push to succeed).
  
• The final 2 towers/bunkers before aid station can be gamestoppers. The thing to understand here is that it is utterly pointless to stand on the bridge/ramp fighting. You need to ride inside the bunker/tower. Get someone to pull the NPCs and kill everything inside.
  
• Get a kiter to pull the elite NPC bosses near objective GYs. A hunter can pull every boss to his faction's NPCs and easily kill them there. It will make it smoother for your team to take that GY next.
  
• Dont forget to release the wingcommanders, escort them to base if you think they will find enemies on the way and announce to everyone that they can now deliver flesh once they get to the base.