Are you new to pvp or just new to the ranged dps style of play? Well in this quick guide I'll share some of the basics to pvp that will help keep you alive and doing damage. I'm going to cover defensive and offensive abilities that will help you and your teammates as well as simple defensive tactics that can give you a serious advantage.
While the information in this guide can be used by any ranged dps class, I'm going to be discussing things from a sorcerer point of view since that's what I play and what I know the best. With that out of the way, lets get started.
Defensive Tactics
These tactics are something that you should constantly keep in mind and work on. Using these, no matter what class you play, will give you a serious advantage over your opponents.
Kiting
What is Kiting? I'm sure most people have heard this term but some of you may not know exactly what it means. Well the easy way to think about how the term relates to a pvp fight is this. Imagine you're flying a kite. You want the kite to go as high as you can get it and you have a string to make sure it stays within a reasonable distance from you. Same thing in pvp. Think of the enemy as the kite and your defensive abilities as the string. You want to use your defensive abilities to make sure that the enemy doesn't get to close to you, but also that they don't get too far away either.
To properly kite you have to be aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye on the person you are fighting but also watch out for people flanking or just make sure you don't run yourself into a corner. As a ranged dps against melee you always want to make sure you have an escape route in case things get to tough.
The most important thing to keep in mind here is that you don't want anyone to be hitting you. Make sure you keep moving and stay aware of what's going on around you at all times.
Line of Sight (LOS)
This is a great tactic if you're fighting anyone but it's main use is against other ranged dps. When you see someone start casting spells at you or shooting at you, get to a place where they can't see you. When you break their line of sight on you, they can't hit you anymore. You can use this to keep people from hitting you while you focus on someone else, or you can use it against people that you're fighting.
As a sorcerer, you can put your dots (damage over time) on a target and then move behind cover to prevent them from casting on you. This allows you to do damage with no risk to your own health. When the dots wear off just start the process again.
Defensive Abilities
As a sorcerer you have a number of abilities that will help keep people away from you. Some of these you'll want to use any time you can. Even if it's not going to directly help you, it will help your team which in turn helps you.
Force Slow - This snares your target, slowing their movement speed by 50%. Use this on melee that are chasing you down to give you time to either get away or get off a couple damaging spells. You can also use this offensively to make sure someone can't get away from you when you're getting close to making the kill.
Overload - Knocks players back that are within a certain radius of you. Use this when a melee class gets too close or is hitting you. With a talent in your Lightning tree you can also add a root to this knock back. This makes Overload one of your best defensive tools as it gives you distance as well as additional time to either run or cast. You can also use this in conjunction with Force slow. After the enemy has been knocked back hit them with force slow to give yourself even more distance.
Static Barrier - This allows you to absorb incoming damage. Using this regularly is like increasing the amount of health you have. There is a talent for this in the Lightning tree as well that increases the amount of damage absorbed by an additional 10%. Make sure you have this up every time you can while you're in a fight.
Electrocute - A 4 second stun. The target wont be able to move or attack during that time so use it wisely.
Whirlwind - Another stun, this one is for 8 seconds but can be broken if the target takes damage. Make sure to use this on a target that is not being attacked. This is particularly useful in a 2v1 situation. Whirlwind has a 2 second cast time but can be made instant by talents in the madness tree.
Purge - You can remove 2 negative force or mental effects at a time with this ability. This can be useful in removing enemy dots or snares so that you don't take any unnecessary damage.
Jolt - Allows you to interrupt a spell cast. This also locks the player out of using the ability that you interupted for 4 seconds. This is great to use against healers or against a main damage ability of a dps class.
Unbreakable Will - Breaks any CC that is effecting you. This is on a 2 minute cool down so use it wisely.
Force Speed - Increases your movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds. While it doesn't sound like 2 seconds is a lot, this can save you from a lot of bad situations. Use this to help break line of sight or just get away from a group of enemies that you don't want to take on.
Heals - Almost every class has some kind of a heal, and everyone should be carrying med packs. Don't forget to use them when you get low on health.
Offensive Abilities
Most of your defensive abilities can be used offensively so I wont get back into those. I'll just touch on new ones that will help give you and your team an edge.
Recklessness - This is a temporary buff that increases your crit chance by 60%. You get two charges and a charge is used up by either getting a crit or using Force Lightning.
Force Lightning - This is one of the main damaging abilities and also snares the target. This is useful at keeping enemies away from you or to help a teammate get away from an attacker.
Each class has their own versions of most of these abilities so just make sure you do a little research to see how my examples can relate to your class.
After practicing the tactics we talked about and combining them with all of the abilities at your disposal, you should notice a significant improvement in your game. Just keep working and you'll continue to get better. There is always room to grow and as I do I'll continue to update this guide with new information that can help. Please let me know in the comments if there is anything that you feel is missing and should be added.
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