Short Guide on Arena Concept, "Escalating Urgency"

I wanted to share my approach to understanding and processing the flow of a match at the request of a friend. Having autism makes me already get overwhelmed easily, becoming even worse in a PVP setting where I can react too slow or freeze up entirely. I found that the usage of creating structure and having methodical gameplay helps me maintain control in what would otherwise be a chaotic match. Hopefully this explanation makes sense and reaches players it can help!

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***"Escalating Urgency"*** is a complex term I use to describe how to effectively measure the amount of different kinds of pressure during a match rather than simply adhering to the phrase position better and trade cooldowns. To help demonstrate this, we'll use a Resto Druid and Arms Warrior for example.

>All data is pulled from a 489il character with pvp scaling tooltip information, using the meta build pulled from [Murlok.io](https://Murlok.io) \*please note, while I am an upper-mid level player, I am not a multi glad or rank 1 anything. I currently have two druids each around 2200/2300cr so please engage in this post collaboratively incase something isn't reflected in your own personal experience playing.

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# -- Intro Premise

For this methodology to work, we want to first outline the principles it follows.

1. Strive for mana efficiency and high throughput *(loosely, "parse")* 2. Consistency and Simplicity are king before we add on complex layers of PVP 3. We want to respond accordingly to the situation without overcommitting resources

I like to think of WoW PVP as a fast paced trading card game or theatrical play, in which there is a generally expected script to follow and that games are decided by people who either (1) forget their script, (2) poorly execute their script, or (3) deviate from the script.

>*Something borrowed from Street Fighter 5 is the concept of scaling reward at the cost of increased risk of execution. You can perform a combo 100% without fail and it yields 100 damage, 75% without fail to yield 125 damage, or 50% without fail to yield 150 damage. If you fail a combo then you yield 0 damage and are exposed to be counter-hit. I always prefer the path of the unmovable wall.*

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# -- Loosely Scripted

In the same way of thinking that walking up to the coffee shop counter how you will promptly be greeted and asked what you'd like to order - there are the same nuances in arena such that if the enemy holy paladin spends the entire match healing safely at max range, but suddenly changes behavior to sprint towards you, we can reasonable expect they will hammer of justice you as soon as they get into range.

Because we cannot slow down the speed of an arena once it begins, and improving the amount of stimulus our brain can receive and decipher is very hard, we can instead artificially speed up our processing speed by creating a mental list of the script deviations which will act as a set of indicators. Instead of trying to make sense of the moment, we can extrapolate that 1 behavior will domino effect into a set flowchart which we can counter correctly - like an incoming step in dance dance revolution or a fire swirly in a raid encounter.

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# -- Resto Druid (Concept)

We define urgency measured by mana consumption and global cooldowns spent responding.

Let's do the first one together to understand the shorthand briefly.

**Key Info:** (Total Mana 275k, Mana Regen is 2500 per 5 in combat, 5000 mana spent is roughly 2%).

1. Grove Guardian (15sec charge 2500 mana) > Lifebloom (4000 mana) > Clearcasted Regrowth (4 Set Bonus) > Swiftmend (15 sec cd 3000 mana) > Regrowth (7000 mana)

This is our bread and butter that everything is built on top of. We have 3 charges of Treants, so use 1 charge so that we aren't wasting recharge time potential, then set up our lifebloom because it has higher mastery stacks than a simple rejuvenation, as well as giving us a source for clearcasting proc and focused growth stacks. Clearcasted Regrowths heal an additional 30%, on top of activating our 4 set Bonus for a free 200% effective Nourish. Tooltip wise, baseline Regrowth is 41k upon cast with a 23k heal over time. Nourish is 50k upon cast with an added modifier of 300% bonus mastery for that extra punch. Swiftmend is 100k upon cast, extends the active hots, and procs soul of the forest to increase our next Regrowth by 150%. With all of that understood as our base cooking dish, lets add some spice.

Spices can be good or bad, much like deviating from your script. **In this case we have a control panel with 3 nobs that control (1) Healing Output, (2) Mana Spent, and (3) Cast Time**. I rarely use rejuvenation only in times when I need to trigger Swiftmend and cant afford to Cast. Choosing to reduce the Cast Time Nob to 0, while raising the Mana Spent nob higher and Healing Output lower. This hot minigame is important because refreshing hots within 5 seconds of expiring will roll the remaining heal into the newly applied heal, while also generating another stack of Focused Growth. A heavy strategy against Resto Druids specifically is to swap targets frequently in order to force them to reapply hots, draining a ton of mana and locking their globals to be spent on healing upkeep rather than pushing for cyclones. This is important because Lifebloom dictates your efficiency, since moving it drops all 3 stacks of Focused Growth.

I aim to keep my two teammates Bloomed always, while using positioning and Clearcast to Regrowth myself behind a pillar, which will duplicate the cast to all 3 of us due to the talent Rampant Growth. Shapeshifting, Bash Clone, and Frenzy Regen also cost no mana, giving us reliable ways to recover while we isolate Lifebloom and Treants for our allies.

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# -- Resto Druid (Application)

**Level 1:** Grove Guardian (15sec charge 2500 mana) > Lifebloom (4000 mana) > Clearcasted Regrowth (4 Set Bonus) > Swiftmend (15sec cd 3000 mana) > Regrowth (7000 mana)

**Level 2:** Add Cenarion Ward (30sec cd) before the Swiftmend, add Nature's Swiftness (60sec cd) to the Soul-Regrowth to compound the 35% modifier from Nature's Splendor talent. Add Adaptive Swarm (30sec cd) before the Swiftmend to increase the extended hots. Deviation, if you cant cast due to pressure then you can NS Regrowth to enable the use of Swiftmend

**Level 3:** Overgrowth (60sec cd) is best used as a fail-safe when you are put into CC and your hots expire or are purged from your ally in order to prep them instantly but can be good in a pinch.

**Level 4:** Barkskin (60sec cd) and Iron Bark (90sec cd) are your counters to enemy offensive cooldowns. It's important to note the cooldown time here, if an enemy Paladin uses Avenging Wrath (Wings 2min cd) you can trade Bark instantly to reduce the damage preemptively. This also puts you ahead because your spells are a shorter cd. This is important because smaller cooldowns like Final Wreckoning (1min cd), Divine Toll (1min cd) and Wake of Ashes (30sec cd) are notable damage modifiers but MUST be answered with your corresponding level of urgency. If the Paladin plays their 30sec or 60sec cards, you want to only match them. So this would be your Cenarion Ward, Nature's Swiftness, Treants, and Adaptive Swarm.

>This helps connect the damage state with another important PVP Fundamental - damage prevention and positioning. Rather than overinvesting Iron Bark (90) for Hammer of Justice Wake of Ashes (30sec), you can look to Cyclone, Wild Charge (15sec), Bear Regen (30sec), or Bash Cyclone (1min). While losing a small trade can be bad, losing the match entirely for not committing anything is even worse! Practice testing your limits until you find your zone of comfort. The most defensive players began as the most aggressive.

**Level 5:** Using Trinket (90sec), Incarnation Tree Form (3min) and Tranquility (3min) are your highest tier of spells. While using a 3 minute to defend against a 2 minute offensive is a bad trade for you, it can be actually correct in the case of the enemy team having 2 players both use their 2min offensive, which means you're trading a 3min cooldown against a 4min cooldown and can come out ahead.

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What's really cool at this point is you can start to piece together this 6 person dance where it can seem silly or bewildering to watch teammates "incorrectly" use cooldowns, the same way it feels weird when someone improvises a scene instead of following the script. We win by keeping our level low and pressuring the other team such that their urgency level rises.

>If you dont want to escalate the urgency at the cost of your resources, you can shift to the same scale but for your utility spells. You can manually Cyclone (easy), Precognition Cyclone (harder), you can Entangling Roots Cyclone, you can Mass Root Cyclone (30sec cd), you can Bash Cyclone (60sec cd), you can use mobility through Power Shifting, Wild Charge (15sec), or Dash/Roar (2min cd). This works with other classes too like Priests can flash heal, get kicked, and immediately Mind Control.

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# -- Nuances

What makes this conversation different from the standard discussion of effective cooldown trading, are the variables of positioning and human error. Arenas are like Basketball Alley-Oops. While your Warrior teammate can protect you from the enemy Rogue Shadow Dancing (60sec) on you by only having to invest Storm Bolt (30sec), they may be unable to hit their dance note if they suddenly become polymorphed. This creates the dialogue of the Warrior thinking, "I'm saving my storm bolt to cover my Druid during the enemy 1min cds, but the enemy Mage knows this and will try to Polymorph me to protect his Rogue". Now the Warrior has to leverage picking between Pummel (15sec), Spell Reflect (25sec), Bladestorm (60sec), or Trinket (90sec) to stop that Poly in order to correctly hit their cue on the Rogue. Part of what makes playing against Rogue/Mage so frustrating is a lot of players struggle with this concept application resulting in moments where they overcommit resources. They rinse and repeat their 30 second setups to naturally force your major cooldowns before they "seemingly out of no where" one-shot your teammate in a stun.

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These elements can speed up or slow down the game state regardless of cooldowns invested. If the Warrior fails their storm bolt moment, now the Druid may have to invest Barkskin or additional spells to cover their mistake. Games are won as a result of putting your team ahead of the other team by pressuring them into overspending, overlapping, or freezing due to stress.

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This is where individual player skill can really begin to shine through during a match. The most basic example could be where we know the Druid would have to reactively spend more spells, globals, and mana to compensate for a mistake, they can circumvent all of that by shifting to proactive gameplay instead of reactive by understanding this exchange of "If this, Then that". If the Druid knows the enemy Rogue/Mage/Priest team will set up their kill window around Cross CC, then the Druid can snub the window by setting up hots, multiple grove guardians, and being in bear form. Blocking the Poly means the Dance won't have enough push to become lethal, and you can recover to stabilize after. Pillaring, maintaining Line of Sight, and disruption are all key tools in putting yourself ahead of the other team and beings to crack open what makes PVP so fulfilling.

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# -- Closing Note

I realize this is already becoming lengthy, but I did mention talking about Warriors briefly. While the bread and butter is Colossal Smash (45sec) with Sharpen Blade (30sec) and Mortal Strike/Execute, we can talk about the choices you have to make with your utility. Storm Bolt is a 4 second stun on a 30sec cd, while Shockwave is a 2 second stun on a 40 sec cd. If we want to maximize offensive potential, doing Storm Bolt 4 into Shockwave 2 gives us 6 seconds of lockdown. But if we Shockwave first and Stormbolt after, the stuns will diminish each other resulting in only 4 seconds of lockdown. This leads to player choice between evaluating risk/benefit between using storm bolt on the Rogue to prevent their Disarm/Evasion/Vanish and saving Shockwave to peel, using both upfront for more pressure and no peel, or splitting storm bolt onto the opposing healer and settling for a shorter shockwave kill.

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# -- End

The room for endless choices is what really makes me enjoy PVP compared to PVE Raiding, which is a different skillset of textbook memorizing static-encounters. My hope is that by reading this it will help spark thought in others that may be struggling to approach making sense of the mode.

thanks for reading o/

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