Nostalrius Begins - Quality wow vanilla realm (1.12)

I realize that there is no "best class" for pvp, but there are classes which have a reasonable high advantage over others in this sort of a rock paper scissors game-style.

For example, mages vs shamans. Mages get rekt since shamans can purge frost armor and other buffs. Thus if you were smart, like me, you would roll mage on horde side. Specifically undead. Now you got rid of two of your natural weaknesses, locks and shamans.

Now I havnt played vanilla long enough to experiment all class combos and find out which classes have an advantage over which, so thats why im asking this question. I hope it will help other people out too when deciding to roll whatever class they want.

Can the community please fill me in, based on personal experience playing their own character, which classes they have trouble fighting and which ones they are great against? And if there is a major difference due to spec, I would like you to mention that as well. Like how warriors can beat locks, but only with death wish.


Warrior

Hunter

Paladin

Druid

Shaman

Rogue

Mage

Warlock

Priest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWqaBjgAaUI

1:11 onwards

Ive been very active into dueling on my elemental shaman in vanilla and while I rekt not geared and mediocre mages, I can assure you, skilled geared mage is not easy to beat. The better geared are both, the harder it is for shaman.
The counter for mage is not shaman, its SL warlock. Its almost impossible to beat SL lock as a mage, and it doesnt matter if you're undead. Warlock is also the biggest pain for shaman.

Biggest hard counter is by far frost mage for warrior. This is the only duel where mediocre mage can beat world class warrior. In other cases vanilla is fairly balanced at 1v1 meaning top player of any class can win duel over mediocre player of any other class

DISCLAIMER: This data is from my personal experience in real world scenarios (world pvp or battlegrounds). Hunters lose to most classes in duels as their kiting ability is limited by duel area size making the class obsolete, thus dueling as a hunter is the most masochistic thing one could ever do.

Hunter:
- Shits on Warrior
- Shits on Paladin (but it takes you longer than going to the north pole and back)
- Is destroyed by Resto Druid
- Goes even with Feral Druid
- No experience vs Shaman (since I'm horde)
- Shits on Rogue if rogues stunlock is broken for at least one second
- Is completely and utterly destroyed by a Mage
- Slowly but surely always dies to a Warlock
- Gets his mind completely blasted by Shadow Priest
- Shits on Holy/Disc Priest. (but it takes you longer than an episode of Friends)

Cheatsheet:
Run from Druids Locks n Mages
Ignore Priests and Paladins
Everything else is prey

I guess, 1 vs 1 warrior is the worst class, even being engineer is hard to beat other classes.

Mr Rank 1 Hunter should maybe utilize Gnome-net/Insignia/Frost Reflector/scatters to get range instead of trapping and the Surefooted talent to start beating mages.
#nohatejustsayin

A word to all hunters struggling in 1v1 with Mages, yes Viper Sting is crazy good if you got dispells (->teamfights) but it's almost useless in this scenario.

Also just forget scatter traps -
Best case(unlikely): Mage got Iceblock on cd, but can still gap close since you take to long to get on range and blink comes off CD.
Average case: Mage got iceblock and is sitting directly on top of you and starts deadzoning.
-> Ded Hunter in almost every scenario.(Unless you got them ducking major healing pot Crits to the Core)
Worst Case: Mage skulled your scatter and got a Frost Reflector #getshattered

1. Make sure the mage has to gap close with blink by constant kiting, as soon as he blinks you scatter (use Insignia/Frost Reflector to not be slowed), activate aspect and get as much range as you can get in that time.-> Conc Shot->Auto/multishot. (10sec for freedmg).
2. Repeat step 1

Mage can only beat this by blocking Scatter immediately, if he does that use Frost Reflector/Gnome Net.
Insignia doesn't work on roots for mages so he sits in that 100%( I would go Double Block in that scenario to stand a chance)

Here's the Mage 1v1 List:
Warrior - Ded no matter how hardcore(Frost Reflector-> Gnome Net; FAP-> Poly time; never use CoC to shatter unless warrior 100% ded in case he uses Insignia ez)
Shadow-P: Very hard to beat without sufficient spellpower(trinkets), but gets pretty easy with gear progression(no matter how much HP the SP amasses)
Hpriest: Most boring and useless 1v1, in theory he only dies if you get lucky and have good gear.
R-Druid/Hybrid: Almost impossible to beat without ignite proccs and a rolling ignite.(Maybe even Imp CS)
Ferals: might seem complicated but its pretty cake(also gets easier with gear progression)
Ele shaman: Super tough, pvp gear isn't really the best solution here, you need mass spellpower to stand a chance vs high HP pools.
Rshaman: see above but a bit easier.
Enhancers: Cake
Hpally/Ret: Pretty easy, but a few key talents make it even more so. (Imp CS/Impact/Ignite/Winter's Chill)
Shockadins: A good one can mess yu up son, need to reset alot.
Marksman Hunter: Needs to be skillcapped to stand a fair chance if you got enough gear. But then its pretty even.
BM: If you have enough gear, its pretty faceroll (remember to not awkwardly blink on intim and u fine- can block almos the entire BM cd as well)
SL-Lock: Probably the most retarded spec in the game, but it gets the job done on mages, lock can't die really unless he sucks donkey balls.
SM-Ruin: Prolly the funnest class to duel, but mage needs a bit of luck (ignite stacks) and good reactions Blocks/reflectors on Shadow Trance procs/Deathcoil/Shadowburn to win this.
Rogue: Third funnest class to duel (mirrors come before that), whereas the favor lies with mages here.
Rogue is proactive and you can counter every skill/trinket if you play it properly. Once you deleted his cooldowns he's dedmeat.

how is a shaman ever going to touch a mage. you lose the casting battle hard. you get blown up by instants just outside your melee range. earthshock is just a 2sec lockout on 5-6sec cd. mage decides when the battle ends and has every advantage.

Jurary wrote:how is a shaman ever going to touch a mage. you lose the casting battle hard. you get blown up by instants just outside your melee range. earthshock is just a 2sec lockout on 5-6sec cd. mage decides when the battle ends and has every advantage.

First off don't play enhancer, it's handdowns retarded to rely on RNG Melee Hits on a class that completly delights in kiting you.

Then Purge(no cd), Eartshock (6sec CD), Grounding (8sec CD) puts you into a position where you can easily put so much damage on a mage that he can not cope with it.
#pro tip1: Wait for fireblast then pop a grounding totem and go with Chain Lightning on a fully purged mage.
He can only Block it if he does start lesser healing wave if groundings still up. If it isn't you just wait to do it again.
#pro tip2: Elemental mages, try to overwhelm you with instants so just try to survive those and then go ham.
#pro tip3: Do fake casts on heals only >75%, rahter go hard on disrupting the mage when you underneath and rely on NS heal.
#pro tip4: your insignia should be able to break stuns - only nades can give mages an edge so just pop dat insignia.
#pro tip5: Reflectors in Nova --> no shatters no dmg.

arOo wrote:1. Make sure the mage has to gap close with blink by constant kiting, as soon as he blinks you scatter (use Insignia/Frost Reflector to not be slowed), activate aspect and get as much range as you can get in that time.-> Conc Shot->Auto/multishot. (10sec for freedmg).

Lel @ activate aspect. Mage will immediately fireblast or arcane missile you and gg wp dazed. The key to killing mage as a hunter is viper sting and having tons of health to survive until he is oom. Precise use of scattershot is also requirement.

Sham wrote:

arOo wrote:Lel @ activate aspect. Mage will immediately fireblast or arcane missile you and gg wp dazed. The key to killing mage as a hunter is viper sting and having tons of health to survive until he is oom. Precise use of scattershot is also requirement.

activate in scatter m8 (just for a second really), if you wanna go hardcore Rocket Boots are pretty op as well.
As a hunter i would rather risk the daze than being deadzoned 100%.

Viper sting tactic maybe works on a decent/well geared mage if you have HWL gear and a Titanflask(7k HP is crazy atm yes).
If you are beneath 5k HP don't even think about it doing that against a good mage, I will just abuse my Gem Macro and jug my mana pots to my hearts extend and shatter until the Hunter's dead.
- I will never let a Hunter walk out of the deadzone once i have them there, so this should be a hunters main priority.