This weeks post is a little late as I spent the weekend with family, but here it is none the less! I am going to talk you through the various different DPS classes that you will deal with in Arenas, more specifically I shall dish out some nice ways to deal with them as a Mistweaver*, so sit back, relax...you know the score by now ;)
*Please note this is a simple guide for around 1500 rating, I'm not rocking 2k+ just yet ;)
Mages.
Damage type - Magic Caster
Cc abilities - Deep freeze, Polymorph, Improved Counterspell.
Defensive abilities - Iceblock, Invisibility, Blink, Spell Steal, Ice/molten Armor.
Mages are one of my least favorite classes to deal with in general. Most of the mages you encounter will be frost spec, you may come across the odd fire mage and on rare occasion (for me once in 200+ 3v3's) you may see an arcane. A Mage will nearly always start the encounter invisible, so rushing jade wind can be nice option for this, however, it is mana intensive, and unlike a Rogue, a Mage does not need to be right next to you to begin his/her attack. With this in mind, I would look at the rest of their team before you take RJW, for me, Xuen is a nicer option to take against casters as he can provide a very nice DPS boost and you can stay out of harms way while he does his thing. Frost mages are riddled with stuns and more annoyingly slows, so tigers lust is pretty much a must here. An important thing to try and do with a Mage as a healer is line of sight him/her as much as possible to stop yourself getting continually polymorphed. Diffuse magic is nice to take here to help you survive an opening burst if you are the target of choice.
Death Knights.
Damage Type - Shadow/Physical melee
CC abilities - Deathgrip, Asphyxiate/Strangulate, Remorseless Winter.
Defensive abilities - Desecrated Ground, Anti-Magic Shell, Anti-Magic Zone, Lichborne, Icebound Fortitude, Dark Simulacrum.
Most Dk's in arenas these days are Unholy. If this is the case, be prepared to deal with a high amount of sustained damage, some irritating Cc and a Gargoyle. My preference is to take Dampen harm when I come across any physical damage dealers, however as UH DK's spit out a shed ton of nasty magic dots, I do favor diffuse magic. Depending on which of your team mates are gone on, you will be needing to keep as much top up healing rolling as possible to deal with the dots, so renewing mist and uplift will be your best friends. Ring of peace is also an excellent choice against DK's, disarming them can stop a hell of a lot of damage on an ally at a crucial moment, giving you some healing space, but don't get too comfortable, UH DK's have access to two really annoying "you can't cc me" spells, Lichborne and Desecrated Ground, so keep an eye on what CD's they have left before you use it.
Druids.
Feral;
Damage type - Physical melee
CC abilities - Cyclone, Disorienting Roar, Maim, pounce.
Defensive abilities - Bear Form, Might of Ursoc, Stealth, Entangling roots, Dash, Displacer Beast, Natures Grasp.
Feral Druids are another stealth class, and will often start the encounter invisible. One of the major things to note about ferals is that they can cause a lot of heavy bleeds on your allies, which you much of course heal through. They also have an annoying amount of Cc, so LoS is again very important. RoP I have also discovered does little to sway a Ferals Damage, so, depending on the remaining enemy team, Leg Sweep may be more appropriate here. Druids are also, like you as a MW, notorious kiters, and thanks to shape shift, slows and roots do little to keep them in place, however, as a nifty MW with your roll and disable, you should be able to do a pretty good job of keeping up with them.
BoomChicken;
KILL IT WITH FIRE.
Hunters.
Damage type - Physical/Magical Ranged
Cc abilities....LOADS. Scatter Shot, Freeze Trap, Wyvern Sting/Binding Shot/Intimidation, Silencing shot. I'm not going to list the pet abilities, but basically through their pets, hunters have access to EVERY CC ability in the game.
Defensive abilities - Deterrence, Disengage, Stealth, Feign Death.
Dealing with hunters is not easy. They have a big burst and a lot of CC. Make as much use of your Transendence as you can to get behind pillars to line of sight them. If you have your set bonuses (and you should have by now) be sure you use your thunder focus tea before doing ANYTHING that requires you to stand and cast or you will get interrupted. Something to note about hunters is that they will use a cc method whereby they scatter shot you, which will cause disorientation, then lay a trap at your feet, which you will walk into. Try not to panic pop your trinket on the disorient, and let them use up the trap CD before you use it. You're going to want your life cocoon handy to save allies from the damage they can put out, and RoP once again will save your melee friends from damage for a short time.
Priests.
Damage Type - Magical Ranged
Cc abilities - Fear, Silence.
Defensive abilities - Dispersion, Fade, Vampiric Embrace (Glyphed).
Priests are pretty easily dealt with, although they can be a little annoying for your dps to kill, they only really have one major ability for you to worry about which is devouring plague. Make sure you dispel that and the priest will not be able to do much damage. Leave that on and the priests next mind flay is going to cause you some serious issues. One thing to note, dispelling Vampiric touch will case you to be feared for 3 seconds. This IS worth it to get rid of the devouring plague, however VT is heal-able on its own. Taking diffuce magid is nice here, as it will negate a devouring plague on you, thus saving you a dispel.
Warlocks.
Damage Type - Magical Ranged.
Cc abilities - Shadowfury, Mortal Coil, Howl of Terror, Fear, Blood Horror.
Defensive abilities - Unending Resolve, Sacrificial Pact, Demonic Gateway, Demonic Circle.
Warlocks will either dish out sustained magic damage (Destro) or let you deal with some nasty DoTs (Affliction). On the odd occasion you come across a demo lock, they will deal a farily ample burst and their pets can be highly irritating.
The most important thing with warlocks is to stop them getting their gateways up, thus disabling their ability to nip around the arena and out kite you. One majorly noteworthy thing about walocks is that most of them will use the succubus pet. This thing is probably THE single most annoying entity to deal with. Ever. It will cast a mezmerize on anyone and anything that attacks or attempts to CC the lock. Of course you can kill the pet, but it will be re summoned instantly and as they have a large amount of HP this becomes a pointless exercise. Line of sight is the best way to deal with the warlock, though in comparison to Hunters and Mages their burst damage is not too bad, as they will need time to build up their embers/soul shards before they can really get going. Dispelling unstable affliction will return damage to you, so make sure you have HoTs on yourself if you need to dispel it.
Shamans.
Damage Type - Ranged magic melee/caster
Cc abilities - Hex, Capacitor Totem.
Defensive abilities - Spirit Walk, Healing stream totem, Air Totem.
Elemental shamans and Enhancement Shamans both have a fairly hefty burst, with the Enh Shammy being the slightly worse of the two. You'll want your life cocoon and RoP ready for whoever they decide to open on. Make it your mission to kill as many totems as you can, as soon as they are deployed, thanks to Crackling jade lightening you can do this from a safe distance, whilst line of sighting them to keep out of Hex range. Diffuse magic is nice here to quell some of the burst if they go on you, and of course you can use the trusty RoP to disarm the Enh Shammys.
Rogues.
Damage Type - melee Magic/physical
Cc abilities - Sap, Gouge, Blind, Kidney Shot, Garrote.
Defensive abilities - Feint, Evasion, Vanish, Smoke Bomb, Cloak of shadows.
Rogues are another stealth class, one which I really like to take RJW for, this enables you to "find" them easier when they are in stealth. Their poisons are quite hefty and they have the ability to chain CC and kill you pretty instantly unless you are quick enough to disarm them and get out of there. They are not the easiest Class to kite as they can shadowstep to you, and they have a speed boost should they select the talent. Too keep your allies safe the RoP is essential, and glyphing your life cocoon is also pretty life saving.
Paladins.
Damage Type - Physical Melee
Cc abilities - Turn Evil, Blinding light, Hammer of justice.
Defensive Abilities - Divine Protection, Hand of protection, Hand of Freedom.
Paladins can deal a massive physical burst if allowed to. RoP works nicely to combat this, especially if you wait until they pop their wings and the guardian. As long as you and your allies can keep their burst down to a minimum, and you can keep out of LoS, they are really easy to deal with compared to other melee classes. The only hugely annoying thing they have is the infamous bubble, you generally have to dps them down until they pop that then start all over again as by the time its done they will be full HP again.
Warriors.
Damage Type - Physical Melee
Cc abilities - Intimidating Shout, Charge, Disarm.
Defensive abilities - Spell Reflection, Shield Wall, Second Wind, Beserker Rage, Heroic Leap.
Warriors are, in my humble opinion the worst of the melee classes. They can case insane amounts of damage and CC and take a fair bit of punishment all at the same time. If they go on one of your allies you will want RoP and Cocoon at the ready. Tigers lust is also very nice for dispatching that hamstring. Fortunatley, they are relatively kiteable, even with their movmemnt buffs such as charge, as your roll and TL and Trans will out manouver them, and also cause them to potentially waste their own speed boosts. Note that they also cause some heavy bleeding, so keep HoTs up at all times.
Monks.
Sigh, where to start. The short answer to this is that if the monk is anygood at all, you are going to have a hard time. Their CC abilities are the same as yours with the addition of fists of fury. They can also Kite you for days, or keep up with you if you are kiting them. Be prepared to deal with a lot of physical damage and a huge burst.
Hopefully this can be of some sort of use, as I said in my little disclaimer, this is only stuff I have discovered myself, and not in any way a professional guide, just things that work for me :D
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