5v5 Series: 2345, 4dps, and the New Wave of Drain

So after a week waiting for a decent push (and coming dangerously close to forcing one), our 2v2 point train arrived in a very unlikely source. Eternia and I faced off with a Rogue/Druid team that was in all ways unremarkable aside from the fact that their rogue had Double Warglaives (ow), but was a troll (lol). Needless to say, executing the druid was a fairly simple matter, and we managed to ride that team up to 2,297 rating, currently well above Gladiator range.

Only after this push did I learn that the druid we were violating repeatedly was actually the icon of the feral druid community, Deep. This has been a great season for us in both 2v2 and 3v3, notching several quality wins over icons of the BG9 Arena community. All this success further reinforces my desire to form a quality 5v5 next season, to eliminate the last of the rock-paper-scissors mentality prevalent among myself and my teams.

A couple of different lineups have been proposed, and after doing some research, I've failed to whittle down our options, instead adding a couple class comps to the mix. Below are a couple ideal 5v5's I plan on running (Silver Hand arena population willing...), in order from most scrub-friendly to least (and hence, most likely our trial order).

2345: You know it, you love it. A warlock variant tried and true at the top of the battlegroup and in our hearts. Warrior/Paladin/Shaman/Warlock/Priest. Fun times with execute options, hasted mana burns, and an emphasis on zerging the crap out of the other team.

5v5 is a completely different dynamic than we've experienced so far in small arena. There is a huge emphasis placed on the warrior, which puts us in a weird position. While our warrior will be an alt, it will be played by Eternia, the most skilled and knowledgable arena mind on the server. How well he knows the warrior class will become apparent very readily, and I can't wait to yell at him for LoSing a heal, fubaring a spell reflect, or calling a target switch at a terrible time. Should be some fun nerd rage inc.

In a traditional 2345 (Mage in lieu of a Warlock), the Mage's actions control the flow of the match more than even the Warrior and Paladin, but with a Lock plugged into the mix, the onuss of match control falls to the Shaman, after the Warrior. While Valk (our shaman) is an unparalleled PvPer, and impeccibly experienced, his arena experience has a bit to go. On the best teams in the world, often the Shaman is the weak link, and how Valk responds to our first Nerd Rage episode will speak volumes on how far our team can go.

4dps: A couple ideas for 4dps have been batted around. A caster version will likely be our first attempt, running Warlock/Warlock/Spriest/Rogue/Druid. I hate everything about this matrix, from the reliance on a small arena healer, to DoT stacking aiding the execute, but there's no reason not to try it, since we have the players for this at our disposal.

A more conservative, control-based 4dps we plan on running is Warlock/Spriest/Rogue/Mage/Paladin. Much less synergy, but a good mix of burst, CC, and healer shutdowns. The strengths of this matrix are the Counterspell -> Spell lock for hard healer counters, and fears, polys and a Blind for soft control. Splitting DR's is a phenomenal strength of pairing a Mage with a Lock, but with the abundance of dispells in 5v5, its still going to come down to how well you can pull of the execute.

The crux of 4dps is the coordinated execute to start the match, usually in the form of a warrior gib. Their penchant for stacking offense over survivability has made the warrior gib the favored 5v5 strat for BG9, and has given even the shoddiest of 4dps teams a punchers chance against Top 10's. Widely regarded as the scum of 5v5 arena, 4dps teams are murder to climb with, but always have that chance of taking control of the match, putting other class comps on defense early and often. However, with the constant buffs to durability relative to damage, 4dps is on its way out, and we might not push the point too hard.

Eternia will get to play on his rogue for the 4dps teams, and it will be fun to try out UA on the shadow damage 4dps, but the rounded caster 4dps will help our arena careers more than anything. Being forced to coordinate CC while attempting your execute will pay dividends for all involved in smaller arena play. Of course, with the shadow heavy 4dps, any shadow resist gear will bone us over, but we don't expect much of the Serennia strat in the sub 2k's. Plus, it'll feel good to just insta-gib warriors for games on end.

Pure Drain: A team I just stumbled across tonight, this team has a very straightforward dynamic that I may or may not put together at some point next season. Warlock/Hunter/Priest/Paladin/Druid offers the most survivability you'll find in a post-2.3 5v5. An incredible amount of mana efficient healing, the entire premise of the team is mana drains. With two pets to keep your opponents from drinking, this is one of those teams that is good simply by being a counter to everything. Combat burst with bubble, BoP, and Pain Suppression. No one is going to outlast druid and paladin main healers, with a priest backup healing between mana burns. Now that Hunters get an MS option, their Viper Sting, the warlock Mana Drains, and the odd priest Mana Burn are usually enough to put mana pressure on the other team with minimal damage output.

My only qualms with the premise of a drain team revolve around personal playstyle. I run 2dps in 2v2 and 2dps in 3v3 because I feel that a CC-induced execute reveals much more skill than applying mana pressure, and making them afk out of a match once they realize they can't win. But mana pressure is an undeniable force in all arena brackets, and this might be the safest (albeit boring) team to climb 5's next season.