One Rogue's Journey

All against all
Enter the ring
The game of games
Bloodsport is king

-Bloodsport by Skold vs KMFDM

So with the coming of patch 3.1 and dual-specs, I have stepped into the Arena. Is it easy? No. Is it so mind-numbingly frustrating that it causes me to scream and yell over vent, bang my fist on my desk and generally lose my mind in fits of rage for brief moments? Yes. Do I absolutely love it? Oh hell yes.

Now I’m no expert but I’ve learned a thing or two in the past few weeks that I feel I’d like to share with those of you who either are just stepping into the Arena or are planning to step into the Arena. So here they are, in no particular order.

I Love the Sound of Your Voice

Communication is absolutely vital for a good arena team. As soon as the match starts someone should be calling out who to CC, who to burn down and where to move to. Call out everything that happens. Seriously, everything. Let your teammates know exactly when you got the sap off (or if you failed to do so). Tell them when you’ve used kidney shot, let your healer know when you’re popping Evasion or you’ve managed to get off that Dismantle. Let them know who and when you’re Blinding. The arena is a place where quick wits and quicker reaction times win matches and when that’s the case, information is king.

Say Goodbye to “A” and “D”

So. Keyboard turning. Keyboard turning is the act of using the “A” and “D” keys to turn your character. It is significantly slower than using your mouse to turn yourself. Keyboard turning is terrible in PvE and in PvP is it down right abysmal. Do yourself a favor, rebind your “A” and “D” key to strafe left and strafe right respectively.

Keybind, Keybind, Keybind

As I said earlier, the Arena is all about fast reaction times and one of the things that this means is that you don’t have time to click on your abilities. You have to, need to, must keybind them. Not only must you keybind them but you have to spend some time to keybind them in a way that best fits your playstyle. This is not something anyone can tell you directly. There is no magic list of keybinds. The only thing you can do is think about what abilities you use the most, what abilities you need in emergencies and how quickly you can react and press a certain key. This is going to take practice but more importantly it is going to require thinking about it. Keybindings for the Arena are not a set-it-and-forget-it affair. As you play and learn you’re going to realize that perhaps things are playing out a little different than you expected and that a change in keybindings might be for the best.

Don’t Forget to Focus (macro)

In the Arena you are often going to be paying attention to many different things at once. You’ll have to stay on one target while Blinding another. This is where your focus comes in. First off, I recommend an addon like Gladius which allows you to set your focus with something as simple as a right-click. Once that is done, a simple macro like this is all you need:

Two Sap (Macros) are better than One

I recommend having two different sap macros. One for saping your focus and one that’s “spammable” so you can attempt to sap that other rogue before he can sap you. Here they are:

Don’t Stop Believing Moving

Final tip for today. Move. Move. Move. A stationary target is an easy target. Even when you’re burning a target down, spin circles around them. One line of sight or directional-facing-error™ can be the difference between them going down or you. The Arena is fast-paced and high energy so you have to be to. Remember this maxim: “Be Quick on Your Feet or Your Enemy Will Put You on Your Knees”.

I plan to get into some more advanced tips in the future. So how about you my rogue brethern and sistern, any tips for the Arena?