Warsong Gulch (WSG) is a capture the flag based battleground in the World of Warcraft. While this type of game should be fast and exciting, it is generally thought of as the most loathed battleground in existence. However if you can get a handle on the strategies and get a work to work together, it can be a very fun, fast paces and rewarding experience. So while you may know the basic rules and understand the ideas of how it works, the tactics and strategies to actually win may elude you. That's where this portion of our Warsong Gulch guide steps in to help. We are going to look at the basic strategies that will allow you to win in this battleground.

Setup

Before the battle even starts, you need to get prepared. This means a few things, some depend on you class, others depend on you being the leader of the battleground.

• If you can buff players, you should be buffing everyone you can while the gates are still closed.
• If you are a mage or warlock, create food tables and health stones for other players.
• If you are the leader, attempt to come to some form of agreement as to the tactics / strategies to be used
• Pick a flag runner (or two) so that everyone knows who it is. This should either be a druid or rogue for speed, or a solid tank class (druid, paladin, warrior) for survivability.

General Tactics

There are a few general tactics that need to be kept in mind in WSG.

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Defending the Flag

The first is that you can not score unless you hold your own flag as well. This means that you need to worry about both offense and defense. How you do this comes down to a few different ways as outlined in the specific strategies below. They will be discussed in detail, however at this point just be aware of the fact.

Secondly, you really need to define early on who the flag carrier will be and who will be protecting and healing them. This could be just a single healer or a team of players. It will come down to who the flag carrier is and what strategy you are using. In general though at any point a flag carrier needs at least one healer and one player capable of crowd control. These could be the same person or different depending on the class. Many times a flag carrier can hold out with 2 other players almost indefinitely if played well.

Lastly, communication is key. If you see something happening that may be important, report it to everyone. This includes things like: incoming enemy, location of enemy groups, number of enemy, how many on defense, location of flag runner, and more. If the defense at your flag is made aware that a group of 4 enemy is incoming from the high path, they can be ready for them. If its announced that 9 are attacking someplace, there is a good chance the flag is essentially undefended and a single player or two can capture it. Knowledge is power, use it.

Four Main Strategies

There are four main strategies that are used in WSG that stand realistic chances of success. Which one to use really depends on the current game situation, the battleground class makeup and the gear the players have. The four main strategies are: Full Offense, Heavy Offense, Full Defense and Balanced. While each one does something well, they each have their own weakness. The real trick to winning is to know when to switch to each of the strategies. Once a player learns this they can really start leading and winning battleground fights.

Full Offense

This strategy is usually the first to be tried by any group and is often referred to as a zerg attack. The strategy is to have everyone mount up and travel to the enemy base along the right hand side of the map (avoiding conflict as much as possible) and to capture the opponents flag. Once you have the flag you race back to your base as a group, while attempting to intercept and kill the enemy flag carrier. This method pretty much ensures a mass combat in the midfield as your flag will have been left undefended and easily captured. The plan is to make sure you win the combat in the middle to return your flag to the base. As soon as you have recovered your flag, you race back with the enemy flag and score a point.

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Controlling the Middle Field

If the enemy gets past you with the flag, then you need to split to offense and defense. The defense returns the enemy flag to your base and guards it, while the offence tracks down the enemy flag carrier to recapture your flag. Both sides need healers and crowd control (CC) to either hold the flag or ensure you can focus fire on the enemy flag carrier.

This strategy can work well as long as you are either better players or better geared than your opponent. However, if you are not more skilled or geared than the opponent it can easily turn into a catchup game as the strategy works to their advantage instead of yours. Also, many times both flag carriers end up dead and the whole thing just starts over again.

This can be the fastest win though if your team is far superior to the opponent as a game can potentially be over in 3 runs to the enemy tower.

Heavy Offense

This strategy is only slightly different than a full out offensive group. To do this two groups are formed a large 7 or 8 person offense and a 2 to 3 person defense. The large group is made up of healers, a flag runner and CC players. This groups job is to move across the field as an unstoppable force, grab the flag and return. Healers focus on healing and the rest worry about CC and control. The defense group is almost all pure DPS, burst DPS or CC. Their sole job is to hold off a flag capture by any means, or slow/kill the enemy that captured the flag until the large group returns. If they are killed and the flag is taken they announce which way the enemy left the base so that the returning large group can intercept it.

This is a favorite pre-made group tactic, and one that is very effective with even moderate communication. The attacking group focuses on supporting each other and not being individuals, which makes them very hard to stop no matter the class makeup. The defenders worry about delay and stall tactics, giving the offense time.

Full Defense

Instead of spending your time trying to capture the opponents flag by force, this strategy attempts to ensure that you never lose your own. Almost your whole team stays near or in your tower and ensures that no one can take your flag, and if they do, they are killed before leaving the tower. With 9 players on defense there is almost no chance of an enemy getting out, unless they way out class your team.

While you're defending the flag, you send one player to sneak past the opponents and capture their flag. The best choice is a Druid since they can stealth in and then get away in travel form. However if one is not available then a shaman or rogue can also work. A rogue can get in easily, while a shaman has a slight advantage getting away due to travel form.

These games tend to be longer than most other strategies, but offer a chance at victory even when slightly behind in gear compared to the other team.

Balanced

This strategy breaks the team up into three forces. Usually the group is broken up into 4 offense, 3 mid fielders and 3 defense. The offenses job is to get the enemies flag, while the defense prevents the enemy from capturing your. The mid fielders work at both offense and defense. They try to control the middle of the battleground to allow your offense to get across to the enemy base quickly and then back unmolested. They also act as a secondary defensive force, preventing the enemy offense from getting to your flag, or getting away with it if they get by your defense.

This is probably the most common strategy, simply because players fall into zones where they feel comfortable. To work well though it really needs communication. The mid fielders need to announce to the rest of the team what is going on and where the enemy is. If that is done the strategy stands an excellent chance of winning. However if players do not communicate well, each small group gets destroyed in turn as the enemy moves through them.

This is generally used as a default strategy to hold the game, while the enemy is analyzed. Once it is determined what they are doing and how they are geared you can react, going on offense or defense.

When all else fails...

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Time Spent at the Graveyard

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes you just can't win. Either the opponent way out skills you, out gears you, out plays you, or outlasts you. The first three things are pretty easy to see happening and recognize. Many times you run across a group all from the same server / guild all in arena gear, and you are in a PUG with players in greens and blues. Or the other team works perfectly together, while your group is all over the field with no one giving or listening to a plan. At some point you are better off admitting that you can not win. In regards to outlasting, sometimes both teams are so evenly matched that you each get the opponents flag and then keep defending it or holding it forever, never scoring a point. At some point you may decide that it is not worth the effort.

I really never like to lose, and dislike even offering this as a solution. However it is valid for many players. At some point, if you are sure to lose, or sure that the game is going to take a very long time (an hour or more), your team may just want to run around at the graveyard and let the opponent win. I have been in games where an hour in, neither side has been able to score a single point. If your play time is limited you need to decide if it best you just leave the battleground or surrender the battle as a team.

While I strongly dislike the many groups that are created just to lose in 5 minutes to get the battleground marks, if your team has given it their all and failed, you may as well call it quits, surrender the field and get a mark. Do not do this without the acceptance of the rest of the team though, or you could get a very bad reputation or banned for going AFK.

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