Millions of bright-eyed Battle for Azeroth fledglings — and withered old WoW veterans alike — are chomping at the bit to jump back into Classic this summer. PvP in WoW Classic works a little differently than in retail, with players earning Honor through battleground kills and then ranking up for access to better gear.
Paladins
In Classic PvP, your rank was based on Honorable Kills you made against players of the opposite faction. These were tallied against all players on your server and calculated to give you an overall PvP ranking. The highest ranking player on a server was a Grand Marshal, and you would have to be pretty good to reach them. In addition to Honor, you also earned Dishonorable Kills (DKs), which could quickly lower your rank if you killed civilian NPCs like quest givers or vendors. In a 1v1 a competent Protection Paladin will usually beat a warrior. Be sure to Consecrate the ground against melee attackers and use Holy Shock to stop them from bandaging.
Shamans
In PvP players compete with members of the opposing faction, to know more click here expcarry.com/mastering-pvp-in-wow-classic-effective-strategies-and-tactics. This can be in a battleground or out in the world. Honor is gained for kills and can be used to unlock gear and rewards. Elemental and Enhancement shaman are glasscannons, doing massive damage but taking a lot in return. They can be hard to kill as they can cast a ton of spells and heal quickly. A 1v1 against a Rogue is difficult as they can kite you and apply a ton of stuns and poisons, but with the right build and skill a Shaman can beat them. If you are an Enhancement shaman try to joust with the rogue and spam shocks, NS+lighting, earth shield and windfury weapon proc.
Blizzards
Like in the original World of Warcraft, players on Classic servers can choose between PvE or structured PvP. On PvP servers, Horde and Alliance can freely kill each other in contested territory. Rank progression in the old days came through Honor points, earned for killing opposing-faction players that were within your own player level range in battlegrounds or out in the world. The points would be tallied up each week and determine your seasonal rank.
In a recent blue post, Blizzard announced that they’re making some adjustments to the Honor system in WoW Classic. Instead of relying on Honor to rank up, the new system will be based on Contribution Points earned by killing players that are above your own player level.
Warlocks
With Blackwing Lair and Phase 3 on the horizon, it’s time to start looking into some new items. Many Warlocks will want to pick up Cloak of the Brood Lord, Mantle of the Blackwing Cabal and some other strong items. A good Warlock can be a terrifying opponent in PVP. They are able to crowd control enemy players and with Seduce and Fear on different cooldowns they can keep two single target CC effects active. Grenades are a great tool to use on enemy healers trying to Heal. Infernal is also fun in PVP; summon it right before you die and let it beat up your enemies.
Rogue
The Rogue is a ranged DPS that excels in backstabs. They can also CC enemies with Sap and Blind, and they have a number of defensive abilities like Vanish and Sprint to avoid damage and escape combat. Rogue gear is a bit all over the place in PvP, but some good options include Perdition’s Blade for a main hand and Vis’kag the Bloodletter for an off-hand. The new Devilsaur Armor set is a great choice, as it gives 2% Hit Rating. In terms of races, the best ones for a Rogue are Human when playing for the Alliance and Troll or Orc when playing for the Horde faction. These races offer great Attack Animations and decent Stamina values.
Mage
Mages are glass cannons in PvP, but they dish out tremendous damage and have a lot of crowd control abilities that can stop enemy players from attacking. Mages can also use Polymorph to shut down a single target, or cast a series of freeze and slow spells to exhaust the opponent. Mages need a high hit rating in PvP but Spell Penetration is also important because enemies have a chance to resist your spells based on their elemental resistance. Elemental Precision is a great talent to take to get your hit rating up quickly.
Restorative Potion is a powerful ability that creates a mana gem of varying strength depending on rank and can be used to instantly restore Mana. This is essential for PvP Mages, especially when facing Rogue poisons or Priests damage over time spells.
Conclusion
For those interested in structured WPvP, Classic features a ranking system for players to compete against each other. You rank up by earning honor and killing members of the opposing faction within your level range. Killing Civilian NPCs, which are usually low-level vendors or quest givers for the other faction will result in a Dishonorable Kill that will drop your rank.