Top-end 5v5 and team makeups

I've been really curious about the 4 dps setups going around lately. I run in a 2345 setup right now but we've been toying with the idea of also having a 4 dps setup too.

So if you're in a top end team (read: you're getting a netherdrake and title this season) and you run a 4 dps setup give me some details. What classes do you run, what difficulties do you run into, etc.

My friend runs shadow priest lock x2 rogue pally, and does quite well.

Coming from a 3 healer team (2100 or so thus far) gib groups almost always get us the first time if we don't see it coming. However, once we've realized their whole gimmick, it really comes down to having the CC (warlock and mage) go in before the warrior and get off early CC.

Having the felhunter CS one DPS while the mage CS' another basically destroys their initial gib and lets you get crowd control up, and then push some DPS of your own on and kill one of their DPS--leaving the game basically won for you.

Although watching a gib group just get a shitload of lucky crits and drop the warrior in about a second is pretty gay I must admit.

So basically I'm saying that you are incredibly vulnerable to CC, and with a low amount of healing, you need to get shit done fast or not at all.

I don't run a 4DPS team but I have fought them at the "netherdrake" level and know quite a bit around them.

IMO the best 4DPS team composition is the one Zecks uses:

The Armory (http://armory.worldofwarcraft.co m/team-info.xml?r=Tichondrius&ts=5&t=Owls+That+Fly+at+Dawn&select=Owls+That+Fly+at+D awn&fl=1)

Double affliction lock, shadow priest, combat maces rogue, resto druid.

This comp will absolutely shit all over 95+% of top teams (and has), and anyone who runs 2345 or any warrior-centric comp. The stupid amount of dots and cc just can't be countered by 2345. You run in and drop dots on everything, UA the warrior, tongues the healers and spam cyclone on them, have the rogue stun the opposing team's warrior and keep him in place, the warlocks fear everything and then everybody nukes the stunned warrior. There is literally no way to lose to 2345 with this comp. There is no reliance on crits and even if the warrior intervenes away and runs around a pillar or spams reflect on CD, he's still going to die because he has no way to remove the dots. Several starters on that team were players' alts and they climbed all the way to rank 3-4 in less than three weeks.

This comp loses hard to double frost mage comps that are tailor-made to beat 4DPS teams. Double mage loses to 2345 but stomps 4DPS, rock-paper-scissors style. The ice blocks completely nullify the dot-based DPS, two water elementals provide a huge amount of additional static DPS (remember, they're only running one healer and in this case they don't have BOP or any oh, shit buttons), and the powerful control abilities of a frost mage allows them to separate the enemy team's DPS.

In general, you don't beat 4DPS teams by outlasting, and it's a common misconception. You beat them by going balls-to-the-wall offense right off the bat to try and force them onto the defensive. They don't have anywhere near the healing power of more balanced comps or the survivability of numerous ice blocks on the double mage team, so they tend to crumble significantly faster.

Umm, what does 2345 mean?

Coming from a 3 healer team (2100 or so thus far) gib groups almost always get us the first time if we don't see it coming. However, once we've realized their whole gimmick, it really comes down to having the CC (warlock and mage) go in before the warrior and get off early CC.

That's what I've noticed with us as well. We may get beaten once or twice by a 4 dps but we can generally figure it out.

What I'm more interested in is how it works from the 4 dps teams point of view. I know how it works from 2345.

Umm, what does 2345 mean?

war/pal/priest/shm/mage, with holy pal, disc/holy priest, ele sham

war/pal/priest/shm/mage, with holy pal, disc/holy priest, ele sham

You can run a warlock instead of a mage too.

The #1 team in the world had a war/pal/shaman/mage/hunter

How does that translate to 2345? I'm sort of confused on that part.

How does that translate to 2345? I'm sort of confused on that part.

It's a joking reference to the difficult keypresses needed to be an effective shaman in 5v5s: windfury, lust, purge, ns-em-cl. You roll your face across the keyboard and everyone dies without effort.

Noktyn sorta coined the term when shaman teams were new and it just stuck.

It's a joking reference to the difficult keypresses needed to be an effective shaman in 5v5s: windfury, lust, purge, ns-em-cl. You roll your face across the keyboard and everyone dies without effort.

Noktyn sorta coined the term when shaman teams were new and it just stuck.

Ohhh lol. I was thinking way overthinking that one lol. I had thought that maybe people had assigned each class a number or something and the last class in that team would just be a random dpser.

We run a 2 dps warrior/rogue 3 healer priest/druid/pally on bloodlust with australian ping and generaly do very well. We have very limited cc and rely mostly on crip poison and hamstring to negate incoming dmg while we run their healers oom.
Fights against other 3 healer teams can go a very long time.

I wish I was even close to Gladiator, but I think Aussie ping makes it tough. Anyway here is a movie of a high rated Mage in a 4DPS team if you want to see how some fights go. (I am nto sure how well known it is and if its been posted before I apologise)
They run Pally/War/Lock/Mage/Shaman

WorldOfPapa.wmv - FileFront.com (http://files.filefront.com/WorldOfPapawmv/;8142765;;/fileinfo.html)

I DL'd that movie and unlike the stream it's laggy as shit. I would like to think it's not because of my PC.

I'm reactivating account to do 5v5 arena... I have two available Horde characters, a Shaman and a Hunter. I don't see Hunters mentioned much in arena threads -- How are they? The other classes in the 5v5 are Warrior, Paladin, Priest, Mage, and Rogue. Obviously one would be swapped out in this scenario. Shamans sound like they'd be a little repetitive/boring in arena. Any advice?

Hunters can be good if you have that scorpion pet. Other than that...no. And shamans are best elemental.

I'm reactivating account to do 5v5 arena... I have two available Horde characters, a Shaman and a Hunter. I don't see Hunters mentioned much in arena threads -- How are they? The other classes in the 5v5 are Warrior, Paladin, Priest, Mage, and Rogue. Obviously one would be swapped out in this scenario. Shamans sound like they'd be a little repetitive/boring in arena. Any advice?

Shamans are a staple class in 5s and almost nobody runs a hunter anymore... at least till they get buffed in 2.3. The only thing hunters are good at is shitting on double melee team comps that nobody runs anymore.

Thanks for the info dudes. Shaman it is.

IMO the best 4DPS team composition is the one Zecks uses:

The Armory (http://armory.worldofwarcraft.co m/team-info.xml?r=Tichondrius&ts=5&t=Owls+That+Fly+at+Dawn&select=Owls+That+Fly+at+D awn&fl=1)

Double affliction lock, shadow priest, combat maces rogue, resto druid.


It's a nasty combo for sure but i like the idea of shaman in 4dps.
I wish I was even close to Gladiator, but I think Aussie ping makes it tough. Anyway here is a movie of a high rated Mage in a 4DPS team if you want to see how some fights go. (I am nto sure how well known it is and if its been posted before I apologise)
They run Pally/War/Lock/Mage/Shaman

WorldOfPapa.wmv - FileFront.com (http://files.filefront.com/WorldOfPapawmv/;8142765;;/fileinfo.html)

This video is an embarrassment, honestly. They are a decent team but this video surely doesnt indicate that... and this battlegroup has way too much cheap rating farming to represent the highest gameplay in wow.

However, i love Pally/War/Lock/Mage/Shaman

My team is likely to occasionally swap out our priest for a dps shaman.