Arathi Basin

Strategy for Arathi Basin Guild battles.

This battleground consists of 5 bases and 2 opposing teams. 15 on 15, Horde VS Alliance. 

First I will talk about the objective of the game. The first side to get to 1600 resources wins. You gain resources by capturing the flag at a base and holding it. The point system looks like this:

Nodes Captured	Resources per Tick	Tick Length (sec)	Resources per Sec
1	10	12	0.8
2	10	9	1.1
3	10	6	1.7
4	10	3	3.3
5	30	1	30.0

So hold more bases: get more resources. Sounds easy enough. (Notice that you don't gain any Resource from killing enemy players. My Point in saying this is: don't leave a base to get an honorable kill, it's not as important as keeping the base)

The composition of the “best” potential team for Arathi Basin; in my mind would look like this. Four healers the rest DPS, there doesn’t have to be specifics for any of the classes. As long as everyone does their job and work well together this should work perfectly.

With this team I would split them into four squads(groups) and a 5^th Squad that consists of 3 members from the 4^th Squad. One healer and two dps per squad for the first 3. Squad 4 will make up the rest of the team having 5 dps and 1 healer. But for flexibility which will be explained later, you should also pick 2 dps and the 1 healer from Squad 4 that will make up Squad 5 when they have to take over Squads 1-3’s jobs(this will make sense later, if you are confused). Here is a table showing what I mean:

Squad Number	DPS	Healer
1	2	1
2	2	1
3	2	1
4	5	1
(5)	(2) out of squad 4	(1) out of squad 4
All together	11	4

I am Horde so I will explain how I would lead from the Horde side of the map.

I would have Squad 1 take and hold Farm. Squad 2 take and hold Blacksmith. Squad 3 take and hold Lumber Mill. ALWAYS calling incoming. Never leaving the flags, the only exception to this is if Squad 3 is moving to help Squad 1 or 2 due to Squad 4 being too far away to help, then Squad 5(3 chosen members from Squad 4) would take over Squad 3’s job till they return. The reason why I say these 3 bases and not Gold Mine > Lumber Mill is: the Gold Mine is in a lower plain, in order to leave Gold Mine you are required to leave to the North or South. You can’t go straight to Blacksmith without going near Farm or Stables. Plus, if you have any Mages/Priests you can have them Slow Fall/Levitate people off of the edge at Lumber Mill and they will make it to Farm or Blacksmith without any delay.

Now that I’ve explained what Squads 1-3 do, Squad 4’s turn. I would have them as a marauding squad. Right out the gate Squad 4 needs to help 2 or 3 take whichever base is being hit hardest. Squad 4 should always be in a moving group. Either helping one of the other Squads defend, or pushing one of the enemy bases; keeping them on the defense. But above everything Squad 4’s main purpose is to move from base to base defending whichever is being hit hardest. Squads 1-3 should have good enough teamwork together to be able to last long enough for squad 4 to arrive. 

I also like to leave flexibility between the squads.(This is where Squad 5 comes into play) By flexibility I mean, let’s say in a scenario that Squad 4 is pushing Stables to put the opposing team on the Defense. Instead of being defensive the enemy attacks Farm... Squad 4 should immediately head toward Farm, but if they are going to take too long, Squad 3 (if there aren’t any enemies present at Lumber Mill) should go to Farm to help. Squad 5 should pick up Squad 3’s job of Defending Lumber Mill, till Squad 3 returns. The rest of the DPS from Squad 4 should continue to Farm as well. 

This strategy should work well for anyone who can put together 15 people that work together and understand/carry out their jobs without faulting. No running off to kill someone on the road. Just do your job and win, winning games will give far greater rewards than honor, now that you gain Rated points for winning games, which will gain you top tier PVP items.(If you are in a Rated Battleground of course)

Cataclysm Battleground changes(WoW Insider)

Two new Battlegrounds to come in Cataclysm(Twin Peaks | The Battle for Gilneas)