In World of Warcraft‘s Wintergrasp battleground, the object of the game for players on offense is to break down the walls surrounding Wintergrasp Keep to reach the relic room deep inside the fortress. For players on defense, they need to destroy towers in the south while some players defend the keep.
In both cases, it is very important to get tanks such as catapults, demolishers, and siege engines in the field quickly. Walls and towers cannot be damaged without the use of a tank.
The catapult is a very weak tank that is better at killing players than at damaging walls and towers. A group of 8 catapults will take a lot of time to knock down a single wall. It is much better to make demolishers and siege engines, and break down walls much more quickly.
Unfortunately, WoW players in Wintergrasp need 15 kills within the current battle for eligibility to create demolishers and siege engines. In theory, it should not be possible to create 16 siege engines within the first two minutes of battle but that’s what happens in many cases.
Cries of Wintergrasp cheating and exploit abound as the enemy creates 16 siege engines within the first two minutes. It’s beneficial for World of Warcraft PVP players in Wintergrasp to know how it’s done, if inadvisable to deploy the tactic themselves.
Wintergrasp Ranks Explained
Five kills are required to be promoted to corporal, which allows for the creation of catapults at the workshop. However, it takes another 10 kills beyond corporal to get promoted to lieutenant, which is required to create demolishers and siege engines. As mentioned earlier, catapults are a poor substitute for demolishers and siege engines.
Players do not need any rank to ride or drive a tank. Ranks are used only to create tanks.
It is not necessary to kill enemy WoW players to get credit towards a promotion in the rank. Killing enemy non-player characters (NPCs) also give credit. This means players can kill NPCs around Wintergrasp prior to the beginning of the battle to gain rank.
At the beginning of a match, all ranks are supposed to be wiped, thus not allowing any player to keep rank earned prior to the battle. All NPCs are supposed to despawn at that time as well. Nevertheless, 16 siege engines are created within the first two minutes of battle.
Earning Lieutenant Rank at the Beginning
Fastest Way to Grind Honor in WoW PVP
For many veteran World of Warcraft PVP players, Alterac Valley (AV) has become too familiar. They know where the trees are. They may have even given names to the various rams and wolves that inhabit the area. Although AV is still a good battleground for maximizing both honor and BG experience for those who are not level 80 yet, it is no longer the best choice for grinding honor quickly.
Realm Population and Battlegroup Considerations
While coming up with a strategy for maximizing honor, the World of Warcraft PVP player must keep in mind what’s going on in his realm and battlegroup. For example, if his faction loses AV all the time, then the honor and marks in AV may be less than in Strand of the Ancients (SOTA). If queue times are very long, that should be taken into account as well.
Take the Deserter Debuff When Necessary
If a WoW PVP battleground is taking too long due to a stalemate, it’s important to recognize that honor per hour is dropping fast due to the lack of bonus honor. Most players would be best served by leaving the battleground and do something else in WoW or real life for the next 15 minutes to wait out the deserter debuff. The exception to this rule is for healers, who can often stay alive and earn honor without dying. During stalemates, healers tend to have the highest honor earned.
Do Wintergrasp First
If the Wintergrasp weekly quests have not been completed, Wintergrasp should be the first battleground to choose until all weekly quests are completed. Make sure all quests are picked up before the battle and try to complete all of them in one or two battles. Each of the Wintergrasp weeklies award 3723 honor, which makes for very fast honor grinding in less than 30 minutes.
In addition, the Wintergrasp marks may be exchanged for either honor or gear. Because of the option to exchange nine Wintergrasp marks for 2000 honor, Wintergrasp offense battles should always be joined as well since they almost always result in a win since defending the keep is very difficult.
Daily PVP Quest
The faction battlemaster in each major city offers a PVP daily battleground every day. The daily battleground should be chosen and played over and over until there is a win. The extra marks from losses will be used later on to exchange for honor from the same battlemaster. Every two weeks or so, a player should have enough marks from all five battlegrounds to exchange them for 1241 honor per set of five different marks. If there is no win after three or four fights, then completing the PVP daily may be an exercise in futility, and the daily should be abandoned. Nevertheless, the three or four marks gained from losing can be exchanged for honor later on.
PVP Battleground Holiday
When a battleground is on holiday, bonus honor is awarded for each game played. Since all battlegrounds are now resource or time based, there is no danger of being stuck in a long battle waiting for bonus honor. Long-time World of Warcraft PVP players recall that Warsong Gulch (WSG) can take over an hour due to the defenders turtling in the base. But those days are over due to WSG’s 20 minute time limit as of patch 3.2.
When none of the above apply, the player should queue up for the three PVP battlegrounds in which he has the least marks. Upon entering the first battleground, the player should assess the situation, and determine whether or not a defeat is likely due to a premade or an unbalanced start.
If defeat is likely, the player should accept another battleground when offered and do the above evaluation process again. By queuing this way, the player maximizes the chance of getting three marks per battle for a win instead of being stuck in a 20 minute loss for only one mark.
A World of Warcraft PVP player should be able to amass honor quickly by hitting Wintergrasp and rotating around different battlegrounds for marks. In no time, a player will reach the 75,000 honor limit as well as the 100 mark limit in time for the next PVP season’s gear.
