WoW Racial Ability Breakdown

World of Warcraft lets players create a character from a choice of ten races. These ten races are split between the Horde and Alliance armies. The Horde consists of five races. The Blood Elves, Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, and Undead. The Alliance consists of the other five races. The Draenei, Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, and Night Elves. Each race has certain racial abilities that are special to them and them alone.

Some of these racial abilities can help in battle, while others help in different ways. I am only going to explain the racial abilities of all ten races that help during player versus player or PvP. This is because the 3v3 Arena death match game play at MLG World of Warcraft events are considered PvP.

Racial abilities can be passive abilities that are always active and do not need to be activated or they can be abilities needed to be activated by the player. Below is a list all ten races and their respective racial abilities that help in battle. Any racial abilities that do not help in battle are not listed.

Draenei have Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, and Shadow Resistance. Gift of the Naaru is an instant cast that lets the player heal a target for 50 Health points + 15 more points for each level the character gains over 15 seconds. Heroic Presences which is a passive ability that increases the chance to hit with spells and attacks by 1% for all party members within 30 yards. Shadow Resistance is a passive ability that reduces the chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 2%.

Dwarves have Stoneform, Gun Specialization, and Frost Resistance. Stoneform is an instant cast that increases armor and removes all poison, disease, and bleed effects by 10% for 8 seconds.  Gun Specialization is a passive ability that increases the chance to critically hit with guns by 1%. Frost Resistance is a passive ability that reduces the chance to be hit by Frost spells by 2%.

Gnomes have Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, and Arcane Resistance. Escape Artist gives Gnomes the ability to escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effects. Expansive Mind increases intellect by 5%. This 5% increase in intellect increases the Gnome’s mana, which gives them more magic to cast spells. The last ability is Arcane Resistance which reduces the chance of being hit by Arcane spells by 2%.

Humans have Perception, The Human Spirit, Every Man for Himself, Sword and Mace Specialization. Perception is a passive ability that increases stealth detection. The Human Spirit is a passive ability that increases spirit by 3%. Every Man for Himself is an instant cast ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all effects that cause players to loose control of their characters. The last ability is sword and mace specialization, which are passive abilities that increase specialization with swords and maces by 3.

Night Elves have Shadowmeld, Elusiveness, Quickness, and Nature Resistance. Shadowmeld is as an instant cast that lets the player go invisible so that enemies cannot detect them as easy. Players cannot move while this ability is in effect or it cancels. Elusiveness is a passive ability only available to rouge and druid Night Elves. It reduces the chance of enemies detecting the play while Stealthed or Shadowmelded. Quickness is a passive ability that reduces the chance of melee or ranged attacks hitting by 2%. The last Night Elf racial ability is Nature Resistance, which reduces the chance of getting hit by nature attacks by 2%.

Blood Elves have Arcane Torrent and Magic Resistance as their racial abilities. Magic Resistance reduces the chance that spells will hit by 2%. The Blood Elf’s last racial ability is Arcane Torrent, which has many different effects depending on what class uses it. Hunters, Mages, Paladins, Priests, and Warlocks receive 5 mana + 1% of their total mana points. Rogues receive 15 focus and Death Knights receive 15 runic power. Arcane Torrent also silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds for all classes. Silence is when an opponent’s spell casting is cancelled.

Orcs have Blood Fury, Hardiness, Command, and Axe Specialization. Blood Fury is an instant cast that does different things for each class. Death Knights, Warriors, Rogues, and Hunters gain 322-attack power at level 80, which lasts for 15 seconds. Shamans get their attack power and their spell damage increased for 15 seconds. Command is a passive ability that increases the damage dealt by Hunter, Warlock, and Death Knight pets by 5%. The last Orc racial ability is their axe specialization, which increases their axe and fist weapon specialization by 5%.

Tauren have War Stomp, Endurance, and Nature Resistance. War Stomp is an instant cast that stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. Endurance is a passive ability that increases a Tauren’s base health by 5%. The last racial ability for the Tauren is Nature Resistance, which is a passive ability and reduces the chance they will get hit by Nature spells by 2%.

Trolls have Berserking, Regeneration, Bow Specialization, and Da Voodoo Shuffle. Berserking is an instant cast that increases attack speed by 10% – 30% for 10 seconds. They get a 10% increase if they are at full health and 30% if they are badly hurt. Regeneration is a passive ability that speeds the regeneration of health by 10%. Bow Specialization is a passive ability that increases the chances to critically hit with their bow by 1%. Da Voodoo Shuffle is a passive ability that reduces the duration of all movement-impairing effects by 15%.

Undead have Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, and Shadow Resistance. Will of the Forsaken is an instant cast that removes charm, fear, and sleep effects. Cannibalize is an instant cast that allows undead to eat humanoid or undead corpses to regain 7% of their total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. The last racial ability the Undead have is Show Resistance, which is passive and reduces the chance to get hit by Shadow spell by 2%.

These racial abilities are the reason you see many different races from both armies fighting each other during MLG World of Warcraft tournaments. The only thing players are limited to at MLG tournaments is that teams can only consist of three characters from the same army. Players also need to choose from the pre made characters and races uploaded to the account they are using to play. This is because the server used to play at MLG events has pre made characters uploaded to the server by the Admins at MLG. The race that players may want might not be there and they might have to settle. I hope this helps you understand WoW racial abilities a little better. Watch for more on competitive WoW coming soon!

Objective and Your Team Vol. 1 Flag

Whenever the word ‘objective’ is brought up, players immediately begin to think about roles, specifically which position they should fill in an objective gametype. Many teams like to nominate at least 1 player to strictly run the objective out of what MLG objective gametypes have to offer: Narrows CTF, Pit CTF, Onslaught CTF, Guardian Ball, or Construct King.

The truth of the matter is that by selecting 1 player to solely run the objective, your team could be in a great deficit before the game even begins. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t put the objective job in the hands of that respective player, but when it comes down to it, every member of the team should be focused and talented in objectives- from start to finish. In this example, I’m going to go over Narrows CTF and how the above applies.

When you think of teams with the most chemistry, some of those being Str8 Rippin, Instinct & Triggers Down, they also just happen to be some of the best in the league. It’s fun watching these teams dominate in Team Slayer, but their smarts and team work are truly tested in moving that flag across the map.

One of my favorite games I got to see this past Columbus 09’ event was in the championship round: Str8 Rippin vs. Triggers Down: Narrows CTF (Game 1). I chose this map for CTF since at times it can be the most daunting. Indeed, when this gametype loads up on the main stage, prepare to settle in. Why can it be the most difficult? Even with a great set up, the opposing team is always spawning either directly behind the flag or on the other side of it. At that point, if the flag was not man cannoned over, all they have to do is scope bottom middle or top center and the flag will be close to their sights.

That’s why it’s important to have great team work in this objective gametype. Narrows is a sniper’s haven, so having one person solely chasing after the flag will be near impossible against good teams. There are numerous sniper angels, so when the flag is pulled, that’s where they are going to be watching.

Video Link: http://www.mlgpro.com/video?play=282964

In Game 1 of the championship series, Str8 produces beautiful flag work even though they came away with the loss. During the game, every member of the team juggles the flag at least once (some multiple times). On either team, you will never see a player just sitting back and slaying, unless for a short moment with the sniper, in which they are getting kills to open up the flag for a pull (notice Heinz and Hysteria). Both teams show a lot of aggression, which is a must in this CTF game.

Check out 15:45 – 16:15 of the video. Here, Legit pulls the flag from a 3 down TD. Running it bottom middle, he actually drops it by mistake. Snipedown picks it up realizing the situation (when & where the flag was pulled) and continues down bottom middle as if it never happened. While running it however, he gets sniped in the back, dropping his shields. From there, he instantly tosses the flag out to a full shield T2, who unfortunately gets sniped from behind and they wind up not getting the cap. Again, while they didn’t get the cap, it was an impressive run by Str8 to say the least. It shows their chemistry and awareness as a unit is far beyond many teams.

Check out 15:15 – 15:32 of the video. As an individual runner, Heinz impresses here as well. While running the flag bottom middle, he fumbles but recovers quickly. Just as he is about to pop out of the sniper lobby, he stutter steps to avoid prefire and nades. Performing this simple act saves their team a cap which otherwise could have very well been a loss (as well as the game for that matter).

In the objective, be aware as a team and individual player. Make sure all of your teammates know what is going on at all times, and what they should do in certain situations beforehand if possible.

The Theory of TeamShooting

I am sure this has happened to everyone who reads this. Your playing with your team, they call someone who is two shots out and you move in for the kill. You turn the corner to find him..and his teammate. Here is the moment of truth, you have two choices, 1) rush in ninja the full shield guy and get a beatdown on the one and teabag their bodies, or 2) retreat and regroup. You chose option number one. All of this has happened in a split second. You rush in and are dead before you have had a chance to even shoot. This is the teamshot, perhaps one of the most yelled things in matchmaking and customs alike. TEAMSHOT, TEAMSHOT, WE NEED TO TEAMSHOOT!

What is really teamshooting? The full team blasting one guy? Or just a duo taking down the overshield guy. The answer is both. As a team, teamshooting comes with set ups. I know its going off topic but a good setup is where the teamshot is most efficient. You should set up so you always have a teamshot, like on Guardian. The elbow set us is a prime example. One or two guys snipe two can cover top gold, bottom mid, top mid, top green, blue window, snipe lift and camo. Top/Bottom green can cover top and bottom mid, top green, blue window, snipe-lift, snipe 3, snipe 1, bottom and top green also. There are overlapping fields of fire which is why when a good team sets up its difficult to break.

What makes a pro team pro? Some special pills? Modded controllers? None of those, its their team work, more often than not they will make better decisions and are more aware than most other players. While they generally are better at these thing, what puts them way above is their teamwork.  Put a group of four random pros together and they will play very well together.  It is not just because their pro, but because they have awesome communication. With great communication will come great teamshooting.

Lets look at some of the asthmatics behind the BR first. It takes 4 shots to kill one person on LAN(online it is questionable). Each burst does about 25% damage to you. There are 3 bullets in each BR burst. Which means it takes 12 bullets to kill someone. Lets say that from full shields to death you have 100 points of damage. Take 100 and divide it by 12 and you get 8.33333. So each individual bullet will do 8.333 repeating points of damage to you. After the third shot your shields will be down. That takes you down to 74.9 health. Which the next shot will kill you. This is with a normal BR.The MLG settings have the BR at 110% damage which means each burst will do 27.5 points of damage per burst. Which means in MLG each bullet does 9.16 points of damage. It takes you 10.9 shots to kill someone in MLG. Basically 11. Which means you have a whole 1 bullet to hit nothing but a dead body. This is assuming all shots hit him in the head.   For body shots, it takes around 6 shots to kill a player, give or take(assuming all shots are in the body) Which means that each bullet does 5.556 points of damage to the target. It takes 13.51 bullets to drop the opponents shields.

Lets put this into practical use in what I said before, the Guardian elbow set up with Team Oddball. Red team has the ball sitting on elbow, with player R1 and R2 sitting on snipe tower, player R3 with ball on elbow, and player R4 on middle green. Blue team is spread throughout gold, and blue. They know they need that ball so they organize a push. Player B1 is set up to go over snipe lift, B2 is set up to go into blue window to put shots on R4 on top/mid green. B3 is going to push bottom middle and B4 is going to go top mid and push to green. They move at the same time. B1 goes over snipe lift and R1 and R2 go to lift side of snipe to put shots, at the same time R3 drops ball and puts shots on the guy lifting. He will be dead before he is ½ off the lift because assuming all 3 bursts hit it would only need 1 more shot to kill him. They then would take out the guy top middle team shooting with the guy top green which would drop him 1 shot(assuming all bullets hit). At this point the guy B2 has gotten R4 one shot and he will drop down to bottom green. B3 would be just coming down to bottom green. R3 would see him put shots on him along with R4 when he comes around the corner. B2 would attempt to make a move up to snipe 3 because the R1 and R2 would be S2/Elbow putting shots on top mid, and bottom green. Which would leave Blue team all dead, and Red would be all up waiting for the respawn.

Or another situation(does not happen)

Both teams are standing still Team A is going to be shooting 2 people at a time, team B is going to be shooting each person individually. Team A will be putting out 55 points of damage against one person while Team B puts out only 27.5 points of damage. The outcome will be, Team B will all be down but Team A will lose 2 people.

Teamshooting is not only an easier way to win a match, it encourages teamwork.  Teamshooting is not only all four players shooting. It could just be your friend and you, or a group of friends. Many people want a explanation of why teamshooting is better. The reason is as complex as Halo 3 is. Teamshooting means you have a decent team. Constant teamshooting means that there is a decent amount of awareness not just self-centered playing. Team shooting should not be judged by total number of assists.

Teamshooting is not only a result of decent call outs, and teamwork, but it is a start to building a better team. Teamshooting can either make or break a game. It is not necessarily the answer to all your problems, but it helps out a lot and will come with practice and playing together..

Good Attitude in Matchmaking

User Article By Novak – How to keep a positive attitude for both yourself and your teammates in MLG, and use it to your advantage

As almost anyone who plays MLG knows, it can be very frustrating at times. There can be games where you are constantly getting out-BR’d, your teammates aren’t pulling their weight, and the game is lagging. In all of these situations, it’s natural to get angry, but if you let it get out of hand it will negatively affect how you play. When you resort to yelling into your mic, you let your teammates know you’re frustrated and it will affect how they play as well. The obvious solution to this is to do everything within your power to stop yourself, and your teammates, from getting mad. Here are a few things to keep in mind, and can also be used to help keep your teammates heads in the game instead of up their backside.

1) Remember that it’s just a game
Always remember when playing Halo, that it’s just a game.  Getting killed in Halo doesn’t constitute dieing in real life, so there is no need to get upset about it. Sure it’s okay to occasionally swear when you die, but letting it distract you will only make yourself and your teammates play worse. If you find yourself stressing out everytime you die, just remind yourself that how good you do in Halo won’t determine how well you do on your next exam, or whether or not you get a promotion next week. It means nothing outside of the game, so keep it in perspective. Getting too mad while you play may make the people you’re playing with think you are actually mad at them for doing something wrong, and it may cause them to not want to play with you anymore.

2) There’s always a next time
Whenever you die, you always respawn. This means there will be another chance for you to out-BR that 50, or to get back the sniper you just gave to the other team. When that happens, it isn’t the end of the world and it’s important to keep that in mind when you play. When you watch Pro players play, they control their emotions, and if they don’t, it’s only for half a second, and then they’re back in the game. Always give yourself a second chance at something, because very few people have ever succeeded their first try… at anything.

3) Keep a positive attitude
Staying positive while you play Halo is crucial. The more optimisitc you are, the better you will play. If you are upset that you’re losing, you spend less time thinking about your next move. It’s a never ending downward spiral that causes you to play worse and worse. These distractions can include forgetting about your straffe, losing track of times on weapons, or not waiting for your teammates to respawn before you push.  Staying positive will encourage you and your teammates, and everyone will naturally play better. Ever wonder how teams come back when they’re down 3-0 on Onslaught? They stay positive, and build off their momentum. They work together and use each other’s momentum to their advantage. On the opposite side of this, don’t get down if your lead starts to slip away. Restrain from yelling at your teammates, and encourage them instead. Anytime you notice someone gets a double kill or a snipe, communicate how important it was. Tell them “Nice Double!”, even if you saw all they did was shoot a rocket around the corner. Always remind your teammates how well they’re doing, even if they’re doing terrible. This will keep everyone positive and will make your teammates and yourself play to your full potential.

4) Play with confidence
Remaining confident while you play is similiar to staying positive, but is a little different. You can play knowing that every 1v1 situation you get in you will lose, and still have a positive attitude about it. It’s very important that you are confident as well as positive in those 1v1 situations or else you won’t be effective. Trust in your decisions and don’t second-guess yourself. Believe that you are the best Halo player ever, and you will play like it.

5) DO NOT blame your teammates for anything
This is possibly the most vital tip to live by while playing Halo. It relates to all other 4 topics and can carry over to real life as well. When you blame your teammates for something, you’re letting them know that you think it’s their fault they did something wrong. Yelling and ridiculing them will only make them play worse which is something you want to avoid at all costs. Blaming your teammates for something will only make them think about that one time they did something wrong, and they will forget to put mistakes behind them so they can move on. It will always be in the back of their head, and will affect how confidently they play. The more that you blame your teammates the more it affects their attitude and yours for that matter. Bad attitude usually leads to bad results.  As mentioned before, this all leads to a downward spiral and will cause the team to play less confidently, and ultimately lose a game you shouldn’t have. Blaming your teammates, your friends, or family members is the worst thing you can do in both Halo and real life. Always remember to learn from your mistakes, and stay positive. Doing so will not only help you play Halo better, but also lead to self accountability and a better quality of life.

 

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