CHAPTER 2: COUNTER EVERY MELEE

COUNTER EVERY MELEE INTRO

Welcome to our course that will teach you all the tricks for countering every melee in PvP. No matter what class you play, or no matter what your experience, melee can definitely be bullies!

But now it's time to finally fight back! In this next course you're going to learn some unique tips on how to counter every melee in WoW, including small details that you can easily exploit no matter what class you play.

Once again, you can choose to watch this course one step at a time, or skip ahead to the spec that you struggle with the most.

COUNTERING FURY WARRIORS

Here is 5 quick tips you need to know for countering Fury Warriors. Our first tip might seem obvious, but it is the most important by far.

Number 1. Reduce their uptime.

Fury Warriors need uptime to be effective. The main reason Fury is so strong is because of Slaughterhouse, which they can only maintain with consistent uptime on their target.

Now that doesn't mean you should panic and disengage as soon as they hit 3 stacks. However, if they reach 12 stacks, it's a good time to look for an opportunity to create some distance so that you can give your healer a little bit of a break.

One of the most effective ways to kite a Fury Warrior is by using a pillar. A common mistake players make is attempting to create distance in the open.

This just allows the Warrior to repeatedly spam charge. Instead, you want to use Line of Sight to your advantage.

Hugging a pillar keeps the Warrior from charging, giving you a much better chance to break free. This strategy can also force the Warrior to burn their mobility tools, like Heroic Leap, before you've even tried to kill them.

So, if you're going to use Line of Sight, you want to use Line of Sight to your advantage. Once their mobility is on cooldown, you can use your own movement abilities to create distance, making it much harder for them to maintain uptime on you.

This goes into our second tip. Number 2.

Play around Slaughterhouse stacks. Slaughterhouse is a debuff that stacks up to 12, with each stack applying a 3% healing reduction.

Low stacks aren't much of a concern, but once you reach 9 or more stacks, it's time to start considering kiting. If kiting isn't an option, you can use the Slaughterhouse to your advantage.

If you're a warrior, you can use the Slaughterhouse to your advantage. This is when you want to pop your defensive cooldowns, especially if the Warrior has Avatar and Recklessness active.

If you don't already have a weak order to track the Slaughterhouse debuff, it's really going to be a good idea to set one up. This is going to help you better respond to their cooldowns and make more informed decisions about when to use your defensives.

And speaking of Recklessness, our third tip is number 3. Look out for Recklessness.

Recklessness is the Fury Warrior's most powerful cooldown, as it doubles their rage generation. If you're thinking Recklessness, just be careful how you track this.

Warriors can activate it not only through Recklessness itself, but also through Avatar. If they pop Avatar, it means Recklessness is active as well.

Treat Avatar the same as Recklessness and respond accordingly. When you see Recklessness, it's the perfect time to use Disarm or any other Crown Control on the Warrior.

This is going to make it much harder for them to maintain Slaughterhouse, as they're going to struggle to have uptime during their Recklessness window. So, the damage regeneration they gain during Recklessness is critical for maintaining any meaningful damage.

Our next tip is number 4. Dodge Bladestorm.

Most of us are familiar with what Bladestorm does. It makes the Warrior immune to Crown Control while dishing out some significant damage.

However, for Fury Warriors, it comes with an added twist. It increases the damage you take from them.

This makes dodging Bladestorm even more important. The best way to escape Bladestorm is simply by using a movement.

Since the Warrior can't use Leap or Charge during Bladestorm, creating distance is really going to be your best counter. In fact, if you move far enough away, you might even force the Warrior to cancel their Bladestorm early, wasting their cooldown.

Our final tip is pretty easy here. Number 5.

Punish their Aggression. Fury Warriors rely on maintaining high uptime, which often forces them into risky positions throughout the game.

Their need to chase targets to keep up with their opponents is a big problem. However, they are also really good at taking down enemies in a short time.

Their ability to pull back and take them down makes them really ideal for a swap. If you catch a Warrior overextended, especially behind line aside from their healer, you should take the opportunity and focus them down.

Focusing a Fury Warrior often forces them into defensive stance, which significantly hinders their damage output. Now, unlike Arms Warriors, Fury doesn't have access to ignore pain, making them inherently easier to kill.

Fury Warriors have only one defensive cooldown. Enraged Regeneration. can activate it while stunned, its main strength lies in the substantial healing they gain from using Bloodthirst during its duration.

However, as Dampening increases, this healing becomes less effective, making Fury Warriors way more vulnerable. This makes swapping to them during high Dampening a really smart move.

COUNTERING RET PALADINS

Here are five tips that you need to know for countering Retribution Paladins. Rett is all about utility, the most important of which are their Blessings, Sanctuary, Freedom, and Sacrifice.

By now you should know that purging Freedom, if your spec allows, is always going to be beneficial, and that it's also generally good practice to swap to the Retribution Paladin when they use Sacrifice. Both are solid, widely understood basic fundamentals, but our first tip is something not as commonly played around.

Tip number one, denying Blessing of Sanctuary. Sanctuary is arguably the most crucial of the three Blessings, as it removes any silence, any stun, or fear from their healer when used, countering a lot of CC.

Every 45 seconds, the moment you apply one of these crowd controls to their healer, the Rett will see it on their big debuffs and be ready to remove it immediately. Don't fall into the trap of what most people do.

And just waste your CC, accepting that every 45 seconds, the Rett's just going to remove it, and that's just a part of life. Instead, always look to cross-CC the Rett first.

It may require more setup and more coordination, and you might even need to delay your CC. However, that's far better than the alternative of wasting your CC by having it removed immediately.

And preventing your CC being dispelled isn't the only advantage of doing this. Cross-CCing also, pressures the Paladin to use their Trinket or even Divine Shield to cast Sanctuary, creating potential kill windows and openings later in the game.

Now, unless you're new to WoW, you know playing around Avenging Wrath is usually key. However, with Rett's now having frequent access to wings through various talents and procs, and power being added to other areas, it's no longer as crucial nor impactful as it once was.

Instead, focus on adding a new skill to your team, and you'll be able to use it to your team's second tip. Tip number two, track and play around Wake of Ashes.

Thanks to the Radiant Glory talent, Wake of Ashes is now not only the Retribution Paladin's primary way to reliably activate Avenging Wrath, but it's also essential for enabling both of their hero talents, which we are going to cover shortly.

Not only that though, every 30 seconds, Retribution Paladins will have both Wake of Ashes and Hammer of Justice ready. This incredibly telegraphed window, and the up to 10 seconds following, is where practically every ounce of their damage and their pressure really comes from.

Moreover, every minute, specifically every other Wake of Ashes, starting with the first, will be empowered by their other two offensives, Final Reckoning and Divine Toll, both of which are on a one-minute cooldown.

Knowing this means every 30 seconds you should focus on peeling, disrupting the Retribution Paladin as much as possible. Pay special attention to every other burst sequence, which is especially predictable since it always begins with Final Reckoning.

Which brings us to tip number three, identify their hero talents. Both Retribution hero talent trees see play and recognizing which one the Paladin is using can reveal not only their game plan, but also their damage profile.

You can determine this almost immediately at the start of a game by targeting the Rett after they cash Judgment, which is often their first ability. If you see the Sanctification buff, which looks like this, it indicates they're playing Templar.

If you don't see this buff, then instead they're playing Herald of the Sun.

Herald of the Sun focuses on high, consistent damage while still utilizing the 30 second timer that we discussed earlier, with most of this damage coming from the damage over time effect, Dawnlight, making the spec far much more less about burst and setup, and more so about maximizing their overall damage.

And even if you forget to look for the Judgment buff, you can easily identify this spec once Wake of Ashes is used by these yellow beams here.

Anyway, why it's so advantageous to identify the Rett spec early is all to do with the Templar tree and its main ability called Hammer of Light, which is an incredibly hard-hitting nuke that can only be used once after casting Wake of Ashes.

A simple comparison is that if Herald of the Sun plays like an Assassin, or an Assassination Rogue, Templar resembles more of a Subtlety Rogue in terms of damage profiles.

Which, as you can imagine, requires you to be far more proactive and also cautious with how you use both your defensives and externals to prevent yourself, or potentially your team, getting burst down. Tip number four, play around their CC.

Their primary crowd control to watch for is Hammer of Justice, which, just like Wake of Ashes, is on a static 30 second timer. The key point is that Hodge has a measly range of only 10 yards.

Therefore, as a healer, you should always position yourself as far away from the Retribution Paladin as possible, which also applies directly to their other CC of Blinding Light as well.

Doing this will not only make it very telegraphed exactly when the Rett will want to CC you, enabling you to attempt to preemptively use things, but it will also force them to frequently use mobility abilities like Blessing of Freedom and Divine Steed just to reach you.

Even for your DPS players out there, this presents a perfect opportunity to try and prevent them from reaching your healer with stuns and purges, or to give you ample warning that damage is on the way. Another important rule for your healers out there is to be cautious with your Dispel usage.

Unless it is absolutely crucial to do so, you should avoid using it altogether, unless Hodge is on cooldown, as this is just going to open up the opportunity for the Rett to freely stun your DPS. Finally, the last CC to mention is Repentance.

If you see a Retribution Paladin casting this in your games, it means they've paired it with the new talent, Light's Countenance, effectively giving them Polymorph. Healers, do be aware of this and try to avoid getting caught in the middle of the map, unless you have a way to avoid it.

For your DPS out there, interrupting Repentance at any time, especially when your healer is in a Hodge, is very, very effective. This is also going to prevent the Retribution Paladin from using any of their DPS.

This is also going to prevent the Retribution Paladin from using any of their DPS. This is also going to prevent the Retribution Paladin from using any of their DPS.

This is also going to prevent the Retribution Paladin from using any of their DPS. Tip number five, do not be fooled, Rett is a ranged DPS.

And yes, you heard that right. With a default range of Judgment and Hammer of Wrath, plus the Jurisdiction talent, Retribution Paladins can use all their damaging abilities from up to 30 yards away.

The only abilities requiring melee range are their Interrupt, Rebuke, and Crusading Strikes, which deals some minor damage and generates Holy Power. Aside from these, only Wake of Ashes and Hammer of Wrath are also going to be used.

Aside from these, only Wake of Ashes and Hammer of Wrath are also going to be used. Aside from these, only Wake of Ashes and Hammer of Wrath are also going to be used.

Both of these are going to have shorter ranges at 14 and 10 yards, respectively. Both of these are going to have shorter ranges at 14 and 10 yards, respectively.

Which as a whole, even to this day, is a strange concept for many players to wrap their heads around, which often costs those players games. So don't be fooled into thinking you're safe or gaining an advantage by kiting a Retribution Paladin, as in reality, you're really not.

Instead, treat them similarly to something like a Marksmanship Hunter.

COUNTERING ARMS WARRIOR

Here are five tips you need to know for countering Arms Warriors. Tip number one, look out for Colossus Smash.

Colossus Smash is the central cool down for Arms Warriors. And while it doesn't deal significant damage on its own, its primary function is to increase the damage the warrior inflicts on the target for 13 seconds.

Now because of this, before attempting any meaningful damage, an Arms Warrior's gonna almost always use Colossus Smash as a setup for their burst sequences.

By understanding and making sure to track Colossus Smash, a warrior's damage becomes a lot more predictable, as it often signals that heavy damage or stuns are imminent.

Therefore, when you see Colossus Smash being used, you should definitely be ready to trade defensives or to counter the warrior using abilities like stuns or disarms if available. Tip number two, pay attention to sharpen blade.

Arms Warriors are not exactly known for their one shot burst potential, but instead, they're known for their one shot burst potential. Instead, how they look to close out games is through a combination of their high sustained pressure alongside sharpen blade.

Every 30 seconds, this enables the warrior to apply a 50% healing reduction to their chosen target, making it one of the most important abilities to pay attention to when facing them. Healers, you'll generally want to avoid over committing powerful healing or throughput cool downs during the sharpen blade debuff.

Ideally, if possible, waiting a few seconds for the effect to expire before using any major healing abilities at all. Instead, this is an excellent opportunity to rely on damage reduction cool downs to mitigate the damage instead until the sharpen blade debuff drops off.

This is even more beneficial as a mistake lower rated warriors often make is to let their mortal wounds fall. Now to explain what we mean by this, sharpen blade when it's used overwrites the standard 25% healing reduction that's applied to the weapon.

This is a very common mistake that can happen to any warrior. If the warrior uses a sharp blade, they're likely to be able to maintain uptime, replacing it with a new debuff.

If the warrior either uses mortal strike too quickly after applying sharpen blade to a target, or they're not able to maintain uptime, then they run the risk of letting their healing reduction drop entirely.

For DPS players, you also should still be very aware of when this is used, as even if your healer is free, it doesn't mean you should expect your health to stabilize. So don't be shocked if you potentially lose your health.

If you're not, then you're probably not going to be able to use it. If you're not, then you're probably not going to be able to use it.

If you're not, then you're probably not going to be able to use it. So don't be shocked if you potentially lose your health.

If you're not, then you're probably going to be able to use it. If you're not, then you're probably not going to be able to use it.

If you're not, then you're probably not going to be able to use it. So don't be shocked if you potentially have to use something defensively.

Tip number three, identify their hero talents. Both Armswarrior hero talent trees see play, and recognizing which one the warrior is using can reveal not only their game plan, but also their damage profile.

You can determine this as soon as the warrior connects to their target by targeting them and looking for the colossus might buff, which looks like this. If they have this buff here, it indicates that they're playing Colossal, which out of the two hero talent trees is the one you need to pay the most attention to.

This is because it revolves around the new ability, Demolish. Colossal Arms Warriors are going to use this more or less immediately in their games, and it's not really going to do much damage.

But how this works is that during the game, they're going to begin building stacks of that buff we showed you earlier, Colossal Might, capping out at 10 stacks.

Once they have these stacks, they can unleash their second Demolish of the game, which now deals 100% additional damage, having the potential to one-shot any unsuspecting targets. So, if you spot a Warrior playing Colossus, be sure to play around this as much as possible.

As the Warrior is almost always going to look to stun you prior, you should immediately trade out a defensive the second the channel begins. Otherwise, you can shrink it and get out of the 8-yard range if you have it available, or they make the mistake of not locking you down.

The other thing to keep in mind here is that during the channel, the Warrior is still able to use Spell Reflect and is immune to stuns and knockbacks. Tip number four, avoid stacking.

Shockwave, Bladestorm, Thunderous Roar, Sweeping Strikes, Intimidating Shout, even Warbreaker, Demolish, and Thunderclap. All of these abilities either do massive cleave damage, gain some benefit from hitting multiple targets, or are A-level.

The more you stack against an Arms Warrior, the more pressure they're ultimately going to have the potential to gain. So, if you can, always try to stay as spread out as possible, especially during Bladestorm and when Shockwave is available.

Which brings us to our fifth and final tip, number five, consider their utility. Warriors.

Utility. Sounds pretty whack, right?

Well, surprisingly, Arms Warriors bring a ton of utility to the table, and here is what they have and how you play around it. Spell Reflection.

Arms Warriors will always look to use this to either prevent incoming crowd control or avoid hard-hitting high-priority spells. If they have this available, just assume they're going to probably use it, so try to fake and then remove it with a low-value spell.

Pro tip here, Warriors cannot use Spell Reflection while silenced or disarmed, so keep that in mind and capitalize on it. If you have a lot of utility, you can use it to prevent incoming crowd control.

War Banner. It's not often that you are going to see a warrior playing this unless you have a very high CC comp like Rogue Mage and there's no real way of telling if they're playing it until it's used, but if they do drop this, always kill it immediately as while active, any CC is going to be reduced by 50%.

Berserker's Shout. If you're a fear class, you're already going to know about Berserker Rage, but this just allows the warrior to also remove fear effects from their healer if talented.

This can also be a big nightmare for them if they want to use it. For example, if a warrior is holding a blue and they are using it, you can just message them to change it back to blue and then put out the ability and if you're in a higher tier, you can use it to channel off the fear effect.

Which gives you the speed to change the fear effect. So, if you're playing a composition with multiple fears, there is a good chance they're going to take this.

Meaning, if your intentions are to fear the healer, just make sure the warrior is either crowd controlled or away from them first. Rallying Cry.

If somebody drops low, there's a good chance the warrior is going to use this to try and save them. You can prevent this from being used with any CC or even silences, and bear in mind, once it falls, all targets are going to lose the gained health, so be ready to capitalize on it.

Intervene. Intervene.

Half mobility, half utility. Good warriors are really going to tend to use this to soak physical crowd control on their teammates, such as sap after blind or even follow up stuns after a garrote.

If the warrior isn't crowd controlled, roots work perfectly here. Just be careful not to waste any CC as you can remove the intervene from the target with any physical ability.

Oh, and if a warrior intervenes a caster, just bear in mind, you won't be able to use physical interrupts. Until you remove the buff.

COUNTERING SUB ROGUES

Alright, it's time to learn how to counter Sub-Rogue in four quick tips. Tip number one, respect Shadow Blades.

Now, this might be giving them a little bit too much credit, but think of Subtlety Rogues as chess players. They're constantly maneuvering their pieces to really pressure you into making a misstep that they can then capitalize on.

Now, everyone already knows to watch out for Shadow Dance, but in reality, Shadow Dance isn't the true game-ender, and in most cases can actually end up being a bait.

The 100-0 clips that you've probably seen on YouTube or across the internet, or maybe even experienced firsthand yourself, all instead boil down to one singular ability, Shadow Blades.

This is the ability you need to be tracking and playing around as much as you can, as not only does Shadow Blades cause the Rogues' damage to become Shadow, which allows them to benefit from a multitude of talents increasing their Shadow damage, but causes every single generator to provide them with maximum combo points.

Meaning they can spam finishers every other global. Now, as such, every minute and a half, you need to be respecting this, either saving your trinket, defensives, or peeling the Rogue as much as possible.

React to Blades and shut that down as much as possible, and you're going to have a much higher chance of winning. Which brings us to tip number two, be smart with your positioning.

Now, you're probably wondering, what does positioning really have to do with Subtlety Rogues? Well, to produce this video, I spoke with 17-time Rank 1 Rogue Legend, Naj, and in his own words, positioning often has the biggest impact on whether he wins or he loses a game.

See, Sub Rogues rely on interacting with multiple targets in order to set up kills, the most ubiquitous being the kidney shot healer into Shadow Dance stuns on the DPS.

The closer your team plays, the easier it becomes for the Rogue to do this, even presenting further opportunity for them to use further crowd control, like off-duty. So, if you're the healer or the target, make it your goal to stay as far apart as possible from each other.

This positioning forces that Rogue to work harder to traverse between you both, and it's often going to delay their setup until their mobility abilities are ready. Now, in some cases, this spacing can even prevent certain crowd controls, like gouge or kick, entirely.

Not only that, but best of all, by positioning this way, it also makes the Rogue more likely to win. So, if you're the healer or the target, make it your goal to stay as far apart as possible from each other.

This way, you can make your sub Rogue setups far more telegraphed and far more predictable, giving you time to either stall, crowd control the Rogue, or preemptively use defensives. Which also happens to go hand in hand with our next tip.

Tip number three, look for early warning signs. Unless you have your trinket or defensives you can use when stunned, the best way you're going to survive against a sub Rogue is by predicting when they are going to burst and preemptively using defensives.

And if you're just looking for Shadow Dance, well, honestly, I hate to break it to you, but by the time you notice that you're going to get a sub Rogue, you're going to be in trouble. And if you notice this is used, you're probably already stunned and already at risk of dying.

And actually, this is far easier than it really seems. So here's some early warning signs you could definitely look out for.

First is CC on your healer. Unless they're looking to use Smoke Bomb on a trinket-less target, sub Rogues really only ever look to burst with CC onto the healer.

If you notice your healer get put into a kidney shot, a blind, or even a gouge, just know that there's a good chance you're probably going to get stunned in just a second. Next is Vanish.

If a sub Rogue isn't low on health and they use Vanish, then absolutely get ready, as this is a surefire warning sign that something is about to happen. As they're either going to use this to initiate cross CC on an off target, or they're looking to stun you on their next global.

So treat it exactly as you would Shadow Dance. And third is Flagellation.

With the rework to this ability in The War Within, Rogues will tend to try to use this prior to their burst sequence, often following it immediately with a kidney shot, or a cheap shot.

So if you're tracking this with a weak aura and paying attention to when it's used, you can very easily predict when you or somebody else is about to get stunned. So our fourth and final tip is honestly the most crucial, and that is do not waste your trinket.

Your Gladiator's Medallion is by far your strongest defense against a Subtlety Rogue, and using it carelessly is one of the fastest ways to lose a match. Now as frustrating as it might be, as long as the Rogue has Shadow Blades, Smoke Bomb, or using your trinket offensively is not worth the risk.

Even if you're not the primary target, unless you have an immunity or a defensive you can use while you're stunned, you need to use your trinket wisely. Remember, if the Rogue hasn't committed these already, they're likely just waiting for that one opening to end the game.

So, do us a favor here and don't give it to them.

COUNTERING WINDWALKER MONKS

So here is five tips to help you beat those pesky Windwalkers. Coming in at number one, make sure that you're crowd controlling that Celestial Conduit.

Gone are the days of CCing the Monk's images as soon as they come up. Those are, of course, immune to everything now.

Instead, what we can and should be doing is crowd controlling the Monk when he uses Conduit of the Celestials, making them deal far less damage.

Now as a bonus tip, if you're a pet class or playing with something that summons a bunch of nameplates, stack up on these when the Monk uses Celestial as the damage is going to split to all the pets, making their burst a lot less potent. Coming in at number two, when facing Monks, you need to avoid walls and rooms.

Monks are always on the hunt for that next big montage clip. So by avoiding standing next to walls, we can prevent them from getting some easy content as they won't be able to spam knock us up in the air with Ring of Peace.

Standing in rooms or close to them is also pretty bad when facing Monks for much the same reason, as they can trap us, denying our partners from being able to heal or peel us on the Monk's go. Next up, in the third position, we need to avoid stacking.

Windwalkers, like many other classes, now have a ton of AoE damage with their Fist of Fury, Spinning Crane Kick, and Strike of the Windlord. So by avoiding stacking, we can make them deal far less damage.

Now it's not just damage we're preventing though. It's also a lot of damage we're preventing from the Windlord.

As by splitting up from our partners, we also make it a lot harder for them to get their Leg Sweep goes and also make their Rising Dragon Sweep knock up get less value. Coming in at number four, you gotta watch out for Fist of Fury.

If you're a melee, Fist of Fury can be your worst nightmare if you're not careful when facing Windwalkers. And it's not just because of the damage that it deals, but also because of the talent Turbo Fist, making Fist of Fury parry 100% of spells from the front while channeled.

We can counter this though, as all you need to do is hit them with a CC. Just do be mindful though with stun, as you need to stun them from the back to avoid getting parried.

Or if you're a rogue or a warrior, you can cheap shot or storm bolt and it'll always land anyway. As for casters, it's a great idea to toss any instant or casted crowd control on the Monk when the Fist is up to prevent the damage and allow your melee partner to hit them again.

Finally, and maybe most importantly though, we then have Touch of Death, which doesn't have any damage, but it does have a lot of damage. So if you're a melee partner, you can use it to counter any of the other monsters that you're facing.

Finally, and maybe most importantly though, we then have Touch of Death, which doesn't have any damage, but it does have a lot of damage. So if you're a melee partner, you can use it to counter any of the other monsters that you're facing.

So if you're a melee partner, you can use it to counter any of the other monsters that you're facing. When facing Windwalkers, it's very important to remember that if you drop to 15%, it's game over as the Monk is going to instantly kill you if given the chance with Touch of Death.

Now because of this, remember to not use your defensives too low or your greed might just end up with you dying far sooner than you should have.

COUNTERING FERAL DRUIDS

In this video, you are going to find out five tips for countering those pesky Feral Druids. Coming in at number one is to respect their biggest offensive cooldown, that being Incarnation.

Incarn is deceptively strong for Feral Druid. Now, while Boomkin Incarn front loads a bunch of damage in a quick burst, Feral Druid Incarn is more or less a tempo cooldown.

It's not going to pack an initial punch, but it's going to give the Druid a ton of offensive momentum by spreading empowered bleeds. During Incarn, they're going to even have the ability to re-stealth one time for a Rake stun.

With its long duration, it's basically a Rogue's Shadow Dance, but really on steroids. Now, one of the absolute best things you can do against Incarn is to immediately CC the Druid, ideally with an Undispellable stun if you have one.

Now, as we're going to discuss a little bit later, Druids are most vulnerable when their Trinket is down, and CCing them immediately on their biggest offensive? Sometimes a guaranteed way to force out their Medallion.

No matter what, it's going to be a win-win either way. Either you force a Trinket and have a kill window later on, or they sit the CC and lose value on their main cooldown.

And if you can't immediately CC the Druid, your next course of action should be trading a damage reduction defensive. There's really no reason to be greedy here, since this is when their damage will be added.

Incarnation isn't the only thing you need to be monitoring though, because you also need to respect their micro bursts.

Feral damage can quickly sneak up on you every 45 seconds thanks to Feral Frenzy, which will typically be stacked with both Adaptive Swarm and Tiger's Fury to dramatically increase damage output during a short window.

Feral Frenzy will also instantly grant the ability to use a finisher, including Ferocious Bite for some upfront bursts. Feral Frenzy will also instantly grant the ability to use a finisher, including Ferocious Bite for some upfront bursts.

Feral Frenzy will also instantly grant the ability to use a finisher, including Ferocious Bite for some upfront bursts. Feral Frenzy will also instantly grant the ability to use a finisher, including Ferocious Bite for some upfront bursts.

So even outside of Incarnation, you might need to trade a defensive when Feral Frenzy is overlapped with Tiger's Fury. Now if you play a spec with bleed removals, such as Mending Bandage, Cauterizing Flame, or even the Dwarf Racial, then Feral Frenzy is specifically what you should be looking out for here.

This is their hardest hitting bleed, and it's typically used with Rake on the target and sometimes Rip. Removing all three bleeds at once?

It's going to be an easy value trade here. Now coming in as our third tip, is stopping Cyclones.

If you played during Dragonflight, you might have a little bit of PTSD from Feral spamming Cyclone all the damn time, due to their PvP talent that's called Wild Attunement, which has since been removed from the game. Thank God.

But even after its removal, it's still vital to stop Feral Druids from landing Cyclones. Even though it no longer provides them with a damage boost, Cyclone is still the number one CC ability in the game for a reason, as it allows Druids to land Cyclones. as it allows Druids to land Cyclones.

As a DPS, you should be ready to stop Cyclones on your healer. As a DPS, you should be ready to stop Cyclones on your healer.

Better Feral Druids will typically try and chain a stun into a Cyclone, which means it's really up to you to deny the CC chain.

Interrupting Cyclones can also be beneficial offensively too though, as it shares a spell school with Barkskin, which means the Druid is going to be locked out of using their primary defensive cooldown. Healers should also be aware that Cyclone can be used to deny or negate defensive cooldowns.

Healers should also be aware that Cyclone can be used to deny or negate defensive cooldowns.

You should also make an effort to prevent Cyclones too, and be careful to not use any defensives into a Cycloned target. and be careful to not use any defensives into a Cycloned target. and be careful to not use any defensives into a Cycloned target.

Our next tip is to abuse spacing, and here's where we're starting to get a little bit more advanced. Our next tip is to abuse spacing, and here's where we're starting to get a little bit more advanced.

Our next tip is to abuse spacing, and here's where we're starting to get a little bit more advanced. Feral Druids benefit enormously when multiple targets are stacked.

Feral Druids benefit enormously when multiple targets are stacked. Feral Druids benefit enormously when multiple targets are stacked.

They'll sometimes even run an entire AoE build centered around doing, you guessed it, big AoE damage. entire AoE build centered around doing, you guessed it, big AoE damage. But regardless of the build that they're running, spacing is a massively beneficial strategy.

Now, what we mean by spacing here is trying to keep the biggest distance between everyone on your team, and by doing so, it's gonna make it much, much harder for the Feral to build momentum, as it means wasting time traveling between targets.

We can see a perfect demonstration of this strategy used in the grand finals of the Season 1 Arena World Championship, where both the move and Welcome to the Jung aim to play with maximum spacing, making it really hard for the Feral Druid on each team to freely build momentum.

Now, obviously, this strategy is much harder to replicate in solo shuffle, but at the very least, you should definitely avoid stacking against Feral Druids. Okay, so our fifth and final tip is to punish.

They're PvP Trinket. Now, we mentioned earlier that many Feral Druids will immediately Trinket the CC during Incarnation.

It's not just noob Ferals that do this. Even Rank 1 players will aggro Trinket.

Seriously, let me just watch the last AWC finals. Anyway, Feral is one of those specs that's really only tanky when played evasively.

In order to survive, they need to use their mobility, which means ducking in and out of the fight here. If you can manage to force their Trinket early on, that gives you small, small windows to pressure them in the mid-game, where they're quite vulnerable to dying in stuns.

If you can manage to catch the Feral in cat form or human form with your stuns, that's definitely going to be ideal. And if you do enough damage, they're then going to be forced to momentarily shift into bear form or potentially trade out survival instincts.

Now, what we ideally want is to find ourselves in a situation where the Feral Druid doesn't have Trinket, Barkskin, or survival instincts during their next incarnation, because if they don't, It means we can potentially counter pressure them enough that they get zero value out of their game-winning CD The last thing a Pharaoh Druid wants is to be in bear form with their Incarn buff

COUNTERING ASSASSINATION ROGUES

So here's five quick tips you need to know for countering assassination rogues. Our first tip is going to be your key to survival.

Number one, CC the rogue on subterfuge. Why is this so important?

Well, there are two key talents here, Improved Garot and Ironwire. During subterfuge, rogues can apply a massively empowered Garot that not only deals significant damage, but also silences every one it hits.

This, shutting this down, can make a huge difference in the outcome of the matchup. This also leads us to our next point.

You can often force the rogue to use their trinket just by spamming CC during this window. And because assassination rogues are a bit squishier compared to other rogue specs, it makes them an excellent swap target once their trinket is down.

And if they're not running cheat death, well, even better. Tracking vanish is going to be important here, since rogues are going to immediately gain subterfuge when they come out of stealth.

Another important tactic is to pressure the rogue when they're trying to re-stealth. They often look for these opportunities mid-match, especially if their empowered Garot is about to fall off.

Now, this leads great into our second tip. Don't stack.

Assassination rogues thrive on multi-dotting, so don't make their job easier by stacking. This is especially important if you're running a melee cleave.

Be mindful of your positioning and stay away from your healings. If you're running a melee, you can use a melee healer.

Small adjustments like these can make a big difference in reducing the rogue's pressure. This becomes even more crucial once the rogue breaks stealth, as their bleeds can be applied to all stacked targets with one global.

This creates an absolute nightmare for your healer, as they're going to be struggling to heal through constant empowered Garots being reapplied to the entire team. The bottom line is don't stack.

Our third tip is pretty simple. Number three, trade on kidney shot.

As a hero, as with any other rogue spec, Assassination Rogues build a lot of pressure off their kidney shot. You always want something to trade when they land one.

This could be a defensive cooldown or even CCing the rogue to shut them down. You never want to just tank the damage.

Assassination Rogues often pair kidney shot with Shiv, which significantly boosts their damage every 30 seconds. Now, like vanish, it's a good idea to track kidney shot.

When you know a kidney shot is coming, you can even preemptively use a defensive cooldown. This is going to save a lot of cooldowns on goes, especially if no one on your team has a trinket.

Now, our fourth tip is going to help you massively. Number four, force vanish defensively.

Every rogue wants to use vanish offensively, but Assassination Rogues especially, due to all the interactions we discussed earlier. Asa Rogues don't have a cooldown reduction on vanish, nor do they have something like Shadow Dance.

This is why it's crucial to force them to use vanish defensively, which can severely limit their offensive potential. The best way to force a vanish is to swap to the rogue when they have no trinket or when they're chasing behind a pillar.

When you start applying pressure, they're going to have no choice but to use vanish to survive. Forcing the rogue to use vanish like this makes it incredibly difficult for them to build any pressure at all.

And our final tip is number five, don't trinket before death mark or smoke bomb. It's easy to panic and trinket when it comes to the rogue.

The rogue will be able to use vanish defensively and the enemy will be able to use vanish defensively to get a shot at the enemy's kidney. But if the rogue has no cooldowns available, you're usually safe to use a defensive once the stun ends.

What's crucial here is recognizing the rogue's kill window. You need to understand when they have their biggest burst potential.

This becomes especially important if you have a bleed dispel like mending bandage or cauterizing flame, so you can remove death mark as soon as it's applied, which will mitigate a lot of their burst damage. And if you're using vanish or smoke bomb, it really all depends on the situation.

However, if you do choose to trinket early, you need to coordinate a save. Once the rogue sees you use your trinket before these major cooldowns, they're going to be looking for a swap opportunity.

So be ready to respond quickly.

COUNTERING HAVOC DEMON HUNTERS

So here's four quick tips any spec or class can use to help counter Demon Hunters in The War Within. Tip number one, identify their hero talents.

Both Havoc Demon Hunter hero talent trees see play, and recognizing which one they're using can reveal not only their game plan, but also their damage profile. You can determine this immediately at the start of any game by simply targeting the DH and looking for this buff right here, Monster Rising.

If they have this, it means they're playing Felskar. This tree is designed to empower the Demon Hunter's already potent Metamorphosis, which grants them enhanced versions of certain abilities when it's activated.

Each of these empowers the Demon Hunter to explode for significant damage around them, thanks to Demon Surge. Now, as a result, their initial burst and AoE pressure is much stronger than usual, so you're going to need to treat Metamorphosis with even more caution than you normally would.

Additionally, you should avoid stacking with teammates as much as possible, and you should also avoid stacking with teammates as much as possible. to minimize the amount of AoE pressure they're able to generate.

Another great tip is that before doing any impactful damage, the DH relies on using Sigil of Flame to gain the Student of Suffering buff.

This makes it not only easier to predict when they're about to burst, but fellow DHs can even look to counter it by using Detainment, as imprisoning them right after Sigil of Flame prevents them from getting this buff.

For the Aldrachi Reaver tree, DHs will have, less burst, but higher sustain pressure, mainly due to Reaver's Mark. Now, with how this is applied, it also generally makes the Demon Hunter less inclined to want to switch targets frequently.

So if you see a fresh Reaver's Mark applied, just know that they'll usually want to commit to that target for an extended period. Moving on.

For most specs, it's extremely clear what you should be on the lookout for if you want to survive. Retwings, Sub Shadow Dance, Frostmages, Icy Veins, so on.

So forth. We all get that picture.

But do you know what to be on the lookout for against a DH? Is it meta?

Is it the hunt? No.

It's actually I-Beam. Which brings us to tip number two.

Prevent I-Beam. Recent tuning has made I-Beam more than just a tool for triggering demonic meta.

For both hero talent trees, it's now central to a DH's damage setup. Especially with talents like Looks Can Kill and Furious Gaze being the now go-to.

Which means tracking I-Beam and responding to it with stuns, crowd control, defensives, really any form of disruption is going to be your best way to reduce their damage and survive their pressure. Tip number three.

Watch for Glimpse. If you didn't know, Glimpse is a talent that causes Vengeful Retreat.

Which is the cool looking backflip ability that we all know and love. And this makes the Demon Hunter immune to all damage and all crowd control.

And just so you're aware of how this works here, the DH is going to remain in the game for a long time. And they're going to remain immune until their feet touch the floor.

Good Demon Hunters are primarily going to use this as a way to proactively avoid any CC they expect you to use on them. So, if you know they have it available, or see a Demon Hunter in the air, just be careful not to waste anything important there.

Another reason why knowing which hero talent tree the DH is using is the Evasive Action talent in the Eldrachi Reaver tree. As this simply allows them to use Vengeful Retreat twice in a three second window.

So again, be careful not to waste any important damage or CC abilities into this. Which brings us nicely to our fourth and final tip.

Pressure the Demon Hunter. If you're a Demon Hunter player yourself, do me a favor here and just cover your ears real quick.

Now the rest of you, don't tell them I said this, but Demon Hunter players suck at playing defensively. Nine times out of ten, you only have to simply look at a Demon Hunter to force them to use Blur.

Not to mention if you see them on Meta or during I-Beam, they're more than likely just going to instantly trinket. And between Blur, Darkness, and Netherwalk, not a single one of their three main defensives can be used while stunned.

Meaning if you're a spec that can simultaneously lock down and burst a target, DHs can make for fantastic targets. Now not to mention, believe it or not, Demon Hunters are just generally among the squishiest and easiest specs to kill when their Meta is down.

Especially once you're in Dampening. So, let's get into it.

Moral of the story here, don't underestimate how much pressure you can apply, and even relieve, just by focusing on the DH a little bit more.

COUNTERING UNHOLY DEATH KNIGHTS

In this video, we're going to be going over how to counter Unholy Death Knights in The War Within, and we're going to be starting with their defensives.

Unholy Death Knights actually don't have as great defensive capabilities as they once did, and the only effective abilities that remain are namely Lichborn, Deathstrike, and Anti-Magic Shell, and they're all based around healing rather than damage mitigation.

Now because of this, Unholy Death Knights are very good targets if you have Immortal Strike on your team, as they simply just won't be able to heal themselves as much as they want to.

Or even better, they become excellent targets in Dampening when the healing reduction effect has racked up high, which makes their defensives almost useless.

Now this isn't the only way to counter Unholy's defensives though, as we can also stop them from using their Icebound Fortitude, which gives them a wall and a stun break by silencing them, causing them to be unable to break out of stuns.

Which also applies to their Lichborn, as they're not going to be able to Deathcoil themselves while in the silence, rendering the defensive almost useless.

Lastly, we can also disarm Unholy Death Knights if we're going for a kill, as this is going to deny them from using Deathstrike, making them an absolute sitting duck.

Now, as for the elephant in the room here with Anti-Magic Zone, which is probably the most powerful tool that they have into casters, we can look to use our knockback effects to displace the Death Knight or their team out of them, but do just be aware that if they have the Death Charge buff up, they're not going to be able to be bumped, so it's best to stay far away and wait it out.

When it comes to Unholy Death Knight's damage, a lot of it's currently revolving around their pets. The biggest pet that Unholy has is the Raze Abomination, which not only deals strong damage in its own right, but also makes it spread diseases to nearby targets.

Now because of this, we should look to root it as soon as it spawns, as by doing so, we're going to pretty much just shut down this one and a half minute cooldown.

In the same line of thinking, we can and should also look to root their Horsemen, as all four of them will spawn when the Abomination is summoned, so dropping a mass root effect on that location is going to prevent a ton of the Death Knight's passive damage.

These aren't the only pets that Unholy Death Knights have though, as they also have their Ghoul with them all game.

And although the Ghoul isn't really worth killing, as it has a very low 30 second cooldown, we can and should keep it low with Cleave, which will allow us to kill it when it gets empowered by Dark Transformation, making it deal far less damage and remove its kick effect.

Although if you can't kill it during Dark Transformation, it's not the end of the world, as we can still just hit it with an AoE CC or Root to stop it doing anything at all. Ever wonder why Unholy Death Knights do better at lower rating?

Well the simple answer is positioning. Unholy Death Knights damage can be a very small amount, and absurd given the right conditions.

But at high rating, almost everyone plays around this. This is because Unholy scales very hard on players that stack.

They build more wounds by hitting more targets in their death and decay. They burst more wounds, as their death coil is going to always be hitting multiple targets when they get their procs.

Their pets are able to pulse AoE on literally everyone in the arena, as well as applying all the Death Knight's diseases, and they can even get those blinding sleet triple-goes without even having to commit their death grips.

So to counter Unholy Death Knights, just stay away and watch them struggle in the midfield as they only hit one target at a time. Finally, let's learn how we can counter Death Knight's mobility tools.

Now historically Death Knights aren't the most mobile class in the game. However, in the War Within they now have two 100% movement speed increases with death charge every 45 seconds.

This ability also prevents them being knocked back or snared, while also breaking roots when pressed, making it particularly strong. Now what this ability doesn't do however, is prevent roots.

So it's good practice to root Death Knights only after they use this tool, as they're always going to want to pop it early on in the match to try and get momentum regardless.

Now if you're wondering why Death Knights need to use it to get momentum, the answer is that despite all their ranged damage, Unholy actually does need to melee a lot to generate their runic power, which they then spend on those ranged abilities.

This means that snaring and kiting them frequently actually reduces their damage a lot more than you might think, as like most melees, without uptime they won't be dealing any pressure. Lastly, as for their death grips, which let's be honest is their real mobility tool, we can counter it in a number of ways.

First, it's a good idea to try and max range a Death Knight if you're a healer to prevent being gripped into the fight, and by ducking towards the pillar, you can line of sight this ability, which delays the Death Knight's setup.

Secondly, you can and should always be saving either a mobility tool of your own for when Death Grip lands, so you can escape easily, or alternatively, you can also hold onto a short defensive to counter it instead, as this is where the Death Knight is going to get most of their pressure, so using something as soon as possible is going to be a good idea.

Finally, if you're playing a class with a Reflect, like a Warlock or a Warrior, make sure you pop it after you use your escape tool to immune the Death Grip while also putting it on cooldown.

COUNTERING ENHANCEMENT SHAMANS

Here are four quick tips any spec or class can use to help counter enhancement shamans in the War Within. Our first tip is going to be the most important to your survival, and that is definitely identify their hero talents.

Stormbringer shamans can instantly one-shot your team if you're not ready for it. They pair Bloodlust, Doomwinds, Feral Spirits, and Descendants to deal a massive amount of damage in a very short window.

They can also swap this damage very easily to another target. Want to know which hero talents your opponent's playing?

Just pay attention to their cooldowns. If you see Surging Totem, they're running the Totemic build.

This means you won't have to deal with Descendants, allowing you to use your defensive cooldowns more freely in response to damage. So if you spot Doomwinds, though, then you need to prepare for Descendants within the next global or two.

This is your cue to definitely be ready with a defensive. Do not get caught off guard by the burst.

So it's a good idea to focus your crowd control on the shaman when they pop Doomwinds. They're going to be a good way to get you out of a situation where you need to be ready to go in.

They're going to be a good way to get you out of a situation where you need to be ready to go in. Disarm works wonders in this situation, but even a well-timed stun or a Disorient can be incredibly effective at shutting down their damage.

Remember, shamans running Doomwinds rely heavily on Ascendants for their burst. Outside of that window, they're really going to struggle to secure a kill.

Our second tip is Bait Grounding Totem. Most shamans are going to try to ground CC or damage when you initiate a go.

For instance, if you're a hunter and you stun the enemy healer, the shaman's going to likely drop Grounding Totem to stop your setup. Instead of throwing your trap right away, use Scattershot off the stun followed by your trap.

This lets you take out the Grounding Totem, giving you a cleaner go. Another great way to bait Grounding Totem is with a fake cast.

Start casting and then stop to force the shaman to drop their totem. Once it's down, you can kill it and proceed with your actual go.

This works especially well with crowd control, like Polymorph or Cyclone, as shamans without Windshear will often try to ground these spells, giving you the perfect opportunity to take out the totem. In line with baiting totems is our third tip, Bait Tremor Totem.

Just like Grounding Totem, shamans will often use Tremor Totem preemptively if they anticipate being cross-CC'd during a go. Since Tremor can't be activated while the shaman is already crowd controlled, they're going to drop it beforehand to counter the setup.

We can use this to our advantage, by baiting out Tremor. If you're a priest, there's a clever trick that you can do.

You can run toward the enemy healer as if you're about to fear. This is going to often bait that shaman into dropping Tremor Totem early.

Once it's down, simply kill it and proceed with your real fears. As a warlock, you can achieve this same result by fake casting fear.

When the shaman preemptively drops Tremor, take it out and follow up with a full fear. Our final tip is to make sure to purge.

You might not think purging is particularly effective against an enhancement shaman, but it can actually be an absolute game changer. Stripping these buffs can make it easier to stop their damage or even secure a kill during critical moments.

Don't underestimate the power of a well-timed purge. Did you know that you can purge Ghost Wolf?

If you see an enhancement shaman running at you or even trying to escape, just toss a purge to knock him out of Ghost Wolf. This not only slows him down, but can also catch him off guard if they're not expecting to leave Ghost Wolf.

Another important buff to purge is Bloodlust. Most enhancement shamans are going to be running the Shamanism talent, which lets them use Bloodlust in Arena.

When they pop Bloodlust, it's a clear signal that they're about to do damage. By purging it, you can drastically reduce that damage potential.

And finally, don't forget about Elemental Blast. This ability gives the shaman a hefty boost to their secondary stats, but the buff is purging.

If you time your purge right after they use Elemental Blast, you can significantly reduce their damage throughout the matchup, which makes it a whole lot easier to survive longer.

COUNTERING SURVIVAL HUNTERS

Here are 4 quick tips that you need to know for countering survival hunters. Now our first tip is pretty simple but very important to staying in the game and that is Number 1, stop their traps.

This tip is great against all hunters honestly. The best way to do this is by crowd controlling the hunter when they stun your healer.

Hunters always want to follow up their stun with a trap and in many cases CCing the hunter on their stun is going to also force their trinket which gives you an advantage later in the match. You can also try stacking directly on top of your healer though too.

While this is usually not recommended it can be a game changer when the hunter is going for a trap. Stacking makes it significantly harder for them to land the trap.

If you manage to soak the trap it can seriously disrupt that hunters ability to build pressure especially if they are playing diamond ice which makes you immune to damage. If you are a death knight you can use anti magic shell on your healer when they are stunned.

This is going to force the hunter to either use scatter shot or stun. Or risk trapping into the shell.

For retribution paladins you have another option. You can use blessing of sanctuary to remove the stun and give your healer a chance to reposition.

It's usually going to be best to sanctuary early in the stun as the hunter will likely aim to trap toward the end. Another option is to move your healer away using abilities like life grip or rescue.

If you notice the hunter going for a trap, repositioning your healer will either cause the trap to either land on another target or be completely wasted. Our second tip is to number two.

Kill their pet. What you may not realize is that survival hunters really rely heavily on their pets as much of their focus generation comes from kill command.

While you won't be focusing down the pet it's a great idea to swap to the pet when it's low health to finish it off. Taking out their pet will significantly reduce their pressure and it's also going to force them to spam cast revive pet.

If you can stop revive pet with crowd control and not move your healer. With crowd control and knockbacks you're also going to force the hunter to use aspect of the turtle.

This creates a window of opportunity to go for a kill as they're going to be without their major defensive cooldown. Our third tip is number three.

Punish their positioning. Survival hunters are pretty dang squishy so it's essential to punish their positioning whenever it's possible.

If you notice them moving into melee range especially when they're using their mobility to set up traps that is your opportunity to swap to them. This can not only force defensives but can make them more hesitant to push in for future traps.

Pay attention to how the hunter is pushing in for traps. If they're frequently using harpoon and disengage to get into melee range it becomes much easier to pressure them since they're going to have no way to escape.

Forcing them to use their mobility defensively which makes it significantly harder for them to land traps consistently throughout the match. Our fourth tip is number four.

Don't underestimate coordinated assault. With the high uptime on this buff it's easy to overlook just how impactful the extra damage can really be.

If you see the hunter activate coordinated assault during a trap setup be ready to respond with a defensive ability. Even using a smaller one minute cooldown defensive can make all the difference in surviving their burst.

Crowd controlling the hunter during coordinated assault is another effective strategy. This ability is their high damage window so shutting them down during this time can significantly reduce their pressure.

This ability is their high damage window so shutting them down during this time can significantly reduce their pressure. This in turn makes it much harder for them to secure the win in the matchup as they're going to struggle to force defensives.

COUNTERING OUTLAW ROGUES

So here's five quick tips you need to know for countering Outlaw Rogues. Our first tip is arguably the most important and really applies to all Rogue specs, and that is to CC the Rogue during Subterfuge.

You might be wondering why this is so important against Outlaw though. Now it's all because of the Crackshot talent.

During Subterfuge, Outlaw Rogues get a significant bonus to their strongest finisher, which allows them to deal even more damage. In Subterfuge, shutting this down can drastically impact the outcome of the matchup.

By spamming CC during this window, you can often force the Rogue to use their Trinket, disrupting their setup, and even making them a great swap target. While Outlaw is the tankiest of the three Rogue specs, they are pretty vulnerable when stunned, as they have to pre-use defensives to really get any value.

If you can force them to use their Trinket aggressively, they become a prime target during your go, especially if they've opted out of the tank. Now normally, we'd recommend tracking the cooldown of Vanish, but with the cooldown reduction that Outlaw has, it can really be tricky.

Instead, focus on when the Outlaw Rogue actually uses Vanish, as this is going to be your cue that they're setting up for a big go. If you spot that Rogue use Vanish, it is a good idea to preemptively use a defensive cooldown to counter their setup.

Our second tip pairs pretty nicely with our first, and that is to number two, force Vanish defensively. So Outlaw Rogues rely on Vanish for their offensive setups, and while they have substantial cooldown reduction on it, forcing them to use Vanish defensively can really completely disrupt their game plan.

They're either going to have to do a go early, or if your team is still on diminishing returns, their Vanish is going to be completely useless, wasting the cooldown. This can buy your team some valuable breathing room to recover until their next setup.

The best way to force a Vanish is to swap to the Rogue when they have no trinket, or when they're chasing behind a pillar. When you start applying that pressure, they're going to have no choice but to use Vanish to survive.

Forcing the Rogue to use Vanish like this makes it incredibly difficult for them to build any pressure at all. Just like Subterfuge, we also want to make sure to number three, CC Adrenaline Rush.

Yes, Adrenaline Rush lasts 20 seconds, so it might be tough to crowd control the entire duration of it, but you want to CC the Rogue, as much as possible during that window. The goal is to minimize the value they get from their cooldowns.

Without Adrenaline Rush, Outlaw Rogues aren't nearly as threatening. Rogues often try to pair Vanish with Adrenaline Rush, so you can kill two birds with one stone here.

By waiting until the Rogue uses Vanish during their Adrenaline Rush window, you can crowd control both abilities at once, completely shutting down their kill potential. Our fourth tip is very important, but it's a mistake that people often make.

Number four, don't tunnel an Outlaw Rogue. Even if an Outlaw Rogue doesn't have Evasion, Vanish, or Cloak of Shadows, you generally do not want to tunnel them.

Their cooldown reduction makes it seem like they are out of Defensives, but in reality, you're going to struggle to finish them off. This can waste a ton of time and a ton of damage.

Now, this doesn't mean you should never hit an Outlaw Rogue, though. In fact, they can be a great swap target when they're completely out of Defensives.

However, because their Defensives reset so quickly, it's difficult to tunnel them and secure a kill. Targeting them during a go is much more effective than committing to killing them all game.

Our final tip can make it easier to kite the Rogue, and that is to number five, CC the Rogue after Grappling Hook. Outlaw has a hero talent called Death's Arrival, which lets the Rogue use Grappling Hook twice in a row if the second use happens within three seconds.

This makes it incredibly difficult to keep the Rogue off your team. If you crowd control them, and they don't control the Rogue right after they use Grappling Hook, it becomes a whole lot harder for them to stay on their target, especially if that target has high mobility.

The downside of Death's Arrival is that it increases Grappling Hook's cooldown, giving you a perfect opportunity to capitalize on this disadvantage by CCing the Rogue.

COUNTERING FROST DEATH KNIGHTS

All right, here are four quick tips that you need to know for countering Frost Death Knights. Our first and most important tip is identifying which build that they're playing.

Two-handed and dual-wield Frost play very, very differently, and understanding which build your opponent is using is going to be key to responding effectively to their bursts.

Dual-wield focuses on shorter, more frequent 30-second setups using the Remorseless Winter stun, which can be devastating if you're not prepared for it. When you see Remorseless Winter activated, your best move is to create distance and avoid getting caught in that stun.

If you do get stunned, you can either be dispelled or you're going to need to rely on a defensive cooldown to survive here. If they're running two-handed Frost, you can identify it by spotting abilities like Reaper's Mark or Breath of Sandragosa.

The moment you see these cooldowns pop, you need to be ready to use a defensive ability ASAP. Hesitating for even a moment can be fatal.

Just like facing a Subtlety Rogue here, if you wait too long, you could be taken down before you even realize what happened. If you have the option to play Disarm, you should absolutely take it against a Frost Death Knight.

It's a powerful tool to peel their burst, but timing is really going to be everything. Against dual-wield Frost, you'll want to hold on to Disarm and use it only when necessary, though.

Instead of instantly disarming when they potpillar a Frost, wait and see if you actually need it, as most of their damage comes from Frost Strike rather than Obliterate. On the other hand, when facing two-handed Frost, you can use Frost Strike to get a good amount of damage from Frost Strike.

If you have a Frost Death Knight, you should disarm immediately to shut down their burst before it even starts. So our second tip is to CC Pillar of Frost.

Pillar of Frost is an important cooldown for both Frost Death Knight specs, and the moment you see it activated, you need to start peeling immediately. While it's not as strong for dual-wield as it is for two-handed Frost, it still is a significant burst window that cannot be ignored.

Crowd controlling the Death Knight during their Pillar of Frost is one of the best ways to force major cooldowns. You're likely going to force them to use their Trinket, and they might even use Icebound Fortitude to get their go off.

Shutting them down in this window not only stops their burst, but also opens up kill opportunities that wouldn't be there otherwise. Our third tip is Do Not Stack.

Frost Death Knights excel at setting up double and even triple goes, and if you stack too closely, you're making it much easier for them to set up their burst. You don't need to stay spread out for the entire game, but it is crucial to keep an eye on Blinding Sleet.

This ability is their primary setup tool, and when you know it's available, maintaining distance from your teammates can prevent them from getting off their damage. If Blinding Sleet is off cooldown, you can take advantage of Line of Sight by using a Pillar to delay the Death Knight's setup.

Positioning yourself behind a Line of Sight prevents them from gripping you into their burst, forcing them to waste their valuable time trying to reposition to get a go. So our final tip is to Abuse their Lack of Mobility.

Unlike Unholy, Frost Death Knights need to be placed on their own. be in melee range to deal any damage. Since they often rely on Deathgrip to set up their burst, it becomes much easier to create distance once they've used it.

You should take advantage of this by using Roots, Slows, and any mobility tools at your disposal to break away and force them to waste time closing the gap.