For the most part, Season 5 of the Arena has been called many things, but it’s clearly how Blizzard intends to test PvP situations that it couldn’t otherwise test. It has seen many changes in the hope to balance classes and create better competition.

What to Expect

To start with, things like Resilience have been tuned way down this time around in your gear so that you cannot possibly get enough resilience to have any effect on your performance – at least not in the same way that you did in the past. Most players need around 1200 Resilience at Level 80 to be effective in mitigating damage, while Season 5 gear caps out around 900 or so. This makes Season 5 more of a damage and burst focused season than any season since Season 1 up through about rankings of 2100 or more.

Season 5 gear also has three different tiers. You’ll start to get your PvP gear when you run instances and getting Emblems of Heroism. You can use these, along with your honor points, to purchase pieces of gear that don’t require only Arena points. Blizzard has lowered the cap for high end PvP gear to 2050, so more people have access to it before they hit 2100 in the arena.

What Does it Take to Dominate?

So, what does it take to dominate you competition in Season 5 right now then? At the moment, the most dominant two classes are Retribution Paladins who can take damage forever and deal it out in nice bursts while healing through whatever damage they do actually take, and Death Knights who are generally too overpowered no matter how you look at things. In teams of 2 or 3, these two classes with a healer or a Mage are going to clean up. In 5 man play, the dominant factor is still going to be balance and planning but burst damage is much more effective right now than anything else so 3 person DPS teams are showing up more and more often.

Regardless of how you play, PvP is always going to be changing. Make sure you practice and be ready when Blizzard shifts things around in Season 6.

Want to find out how to start winning in PvP? Then visit Kevin Carr’s site and find the best tips for PvP Season 5.