[Guide Share] Wintersgrasp

[Tenni-T]

Thought this was worth a share!

Introduction

Wintergrasp is always in control by either the Horde or the Alliance. There is a battle approximately every 2 hours 30 minutes (after the conclusion of the last battle). In this time Wintergrasp is contested, and players from both the Horde and the Alliance can portal in to begin the fight, which plays much like a Battleground. One faction will be defending (the previous victor), while the other attacks.

The attacking side has to lay seige to Wintergrasp Keep, with the ultimate goal of entering the control room (to the North in the center) and clicking on the giant globe before the 30 minute timer runs out. To do so, they will have to capture the workshops (both are not necessary, but make it much easier), destroy the doors with siege vehicles, and fight their way into the Wintergrasp Keep control room, all the while the Defenders want nothing more than to stop them.

The defending faction has to defend the fortress for 30 minutes. This means that a battle can take as few as >10 minutes (as per the Within Our Grasp achievement), and as many as 30. A PvP symbol is shown over the zone if there is currently a battle taking place.


Getting There

A portal was mentioned above, and although it is the primary way to enter the zone, you can also fly in. In fact, Wintergrasp doubles as a PvE area in some sense, aside from its obvious World BG PvP functions. Note that the air above Wintergrasp is a 'No fly zone' so you will get dismounted once you get inside. You do not have to be in control of Wintergrasp to be able to fly into the area, but you will not be able to get into the Wintergrasp Keep (which contains the Battlemaster, portals, and raid).

The portal should be fully explained as well; it opens in Dalaran right as a battle begins, and remains open for the duration of the battle. The portal closes for the losing faction but stays there, fully functional, for the winning side.

You can get away from Wintergrasp by talking to the flight master by the Attackers starting area. It is also possible to find areas on the edge of the zone that count as other zones (as in, there are areas right up to the mountains which count as neighboring zones, allowing you to summon your flying mount).


PvE

In terms of PvE, Wintergrasp is home to a large number of Elementals and even some unique (found only in Wintergrasp) mining nodes. As of patch 3.03, there are Elementals of all types (shadow, earth, fire, life, air, water), and the faction that is in control of the Keep can also see Revenants which have twice the health of the Elementals, but drop crystallized elements (all of them except for Crystallized Life) 100% of the time.

When a faction controls Wintergrasp Keep, all members of that faction will get Stone Keeper's Shards on each and every Northrend boss kill (Instances / Raids).


Grouping

Whether your side is defending or attacking Wintergrasp, raid groups are usually formed much before (or only slightly before, as they fall apart and reform frequently) the battle begins. These are started by whoever (Guilds or groups of players may get together and make their own raid/party group), and are usually joined by simply saying "invite to raid" in the Wintergrasp / Dalaran (right before the portal opens) chat. There may be multiple raids, although there is almost always a primary one (this depends on the server population / trends).


Defending

Defenders need to both defend the outer walls, and attempt to capture one of the Workshops (or both, ideally). Focus on the Siege vehicles and try to push the Attackers back as much as possible. This plays out similar to Alterac Valley, where half of your team is defending while the other half is attacking and harassing.

Make use of the Wall / Tower guns to attack the other faction, these are generally underutilized and can greatly aid your team in the battle. Protect nearby allied guns with crossfire, and encourage players on your side to use them as much as possible (their range limits may make them, in some cases, useless).

If the attackers breach the walls to the Inner Keep, you are forced to turtle and, hopefully, push them back. It is possible to ninja Workshops while in this position as a Defender, but it is not recommended unless a very favorable opportunity were to arise. Defend the control room and, most importantly, interrupt anyone on the Attacking side who tries to click the globe and end the battle. Pretend its Stormpike Graveyard (from Alterac Valley for those who might not get the reference) after the Horde have pushed your defense across the bridge into your main area; do not let anyone complete the casting time. Area of Effects spells are vital, as are any other methods that may sow fear and confusion into the enemy ranks. If the battle reaches this stage, hang on as long as possible, who knows, you may yet prevail.


Attacking

The first thing to do as an attacker is gain the rank of Corporal. Do this by attacking two guards or a varying amount (the current consensus is that it takes 1 player kill) of enemy Players. Once at this rank, you can create and drive a catapult. These have an attack against ground units, and an attack against walls / workshops / towers. Since the walls need to be taken down, and it takes 10-15 hits to damage them, it is best to only focus on dismounted enemy players with your attacks so as to not waste valuable wall-smashing time. The RP-GG is another tool that you can use to besiege the Defenders, targeting out their vehicles at range.

Once you get 10 kills (rank Liutenant), you are granted the ability to create siege vehicles (at Workshops), which are extremely effective at destroying enemies of all forums. A common tactic at the moment is to level up to Liutenant as quickly as possible, then make siege vehicles for other players and leave them unattended by the Workshops. There is a maximum of 16 Siege vehicles on the map, so this becomes much less viable after the majority of players attain the rank.

In terms of strategy and tactics, the attacking force needs to first take command of the two neutral Workshops outside of the Keep. One capture should be quite easy, although the second one may cause problems. A good suggestion is to take one Workshop and then split your forces into one group attacking the wall, distracting the Defenders, while the other group lays siege to the other Workshop (if the Defenders have taken it, which they will have in the situation described). Once you get inside the courtyard from the Outer walls, it is a good idea to take down the Defenders Workshops to further hinder them in their plans. In the end, though, a successful attacking team is an aggressive one; you are working against the clock with a sole objective: take the control room inside the Wintergrasp Keep by any means necessary.


Vehicles, Towers, & Weapons

Workshops

There are a total of six Goblin Workshops in the zone. These Workshops allow your side to create Siege Vehicles, and are thus extremely important. Two are controlled (this is when a battle is taking place) by the Defenders, two by the Attackers, and two are neutral and capturable. The Defenders and the Attackers Workshops can be destroyed with siege vehicles, and do not respawn. The two neutral Workshops (located in the middle of the map, right where the Attackers and Defenders should first clash) are taken over in the same way the towers in the Eye of the Storm are; the faction with more players in the vicinity will be granted the Workshop (or tower, in the case of the Eye of the Storm). These give whichever faction holds them more vehicles and a more strategic launching point for their advances, allowing them (both players and vehicles) to spawn closer to the frontlines. The faction on the Attack has the option to destroy these Workshops (in the same method as the other four), but the Defenders do not (even if the Attackers have control of it).

Towers

There are four towers on the corners of the Wintergrasp Keep (belonging to the defenders), and three to the south of the map (belonging to the attackers). The towers serve the purpose of defense through their turrets, which can be devestating, especially to Siege Vehicles. Luckily, for the sieging faction, these can also be destroyed, although they will eventually respawn. Bonus honor is given to the defenders for each attacker tower destroyed.

Vehicles

Vehicles serve the purpose of assailing enemy players and vehicles, while destroying walls and turrets. They can be attacked by players, but have high amounts of health and armor. It is possible to ride as a passenger in these, with the option to attack with ranged attacks while doing so (except for the driver, of course, who controls the vehicles movement and attack). These can be aquired by talking to an NPC inside Workshops controlled by your faction (you must be of rank Corporal).

Weapons

RP-GG's can be found around the non-neutral Workshops. These can be fired at enemy vehicles, with 5,000 damage per hit, a 5 second cast time, and a 150 yard range.

Engineers can make Saronite Bombs (Goblin Engineers can also make Global Thermal Sapper Charge's) which can damage vehicles, towers, and walls.


Once your Faction wins

After your faction, be it Horde or Alliance, gains control of Wintergrasp for the 2 to two and a half hour time period, you will be able to take advantage of the many benefits granted:
[list][*]A Battlemaster[*]Portals to all of the BG's as well as Dalaran (the Dalaran portal to Wintergrasp will stay open for the duration you control Wintergrasp[*]A PvE Raid boss, available in 10 man and 25 man modes, which drops a good assortment of gear and is not at all difficult to overtake.[*]And, as was mentioned above, you gain Revenants to farm for Crystallized Elementals, as well as shards which drop from all Northrend Instance and Raid bosses while you control Wintergrasp (the currency used by Wintergrasp Vendors. Allows the purchase of many recipes and gems, a couple epics, as well as all new 'Bind on Account' items, which you can transfer from character to character (that is on the same account)).

The PvE Fight with Archavon is pretty easy (very PuG'able, some would say), and from it you can get Season 5 Epic PvP Gear. The fight is, through and through, a dps race. The only thing that groups really struggle with is the tank switch. Periodically, Archavon will take one of the tanks and pick him up with his hands. One of your off-tanks HAS to taunt / distract him immediately. Other then that, spread out because of rock spikes AoE damage (which hit random players and an AoE around them) and do not stand in the gas clouds (although its not hard to heal through them). Beat the enrage timer and you get your free (well, some would argue well-earned) epics.


Tenacity and Balance

The problems of Server inbalance has been recognized by Blizzard from the start, and a rather interesting solution is used in Wintergrasp. When a team is - significantly - outnumbered, each player on the team will be given a 'Tenacity' buff. This buff can stack up to twenty times, each stack offering an additional:

• Health increased by 25%.
• Healing taken increased by 25%.
• Health regen increased by 25%.
• Damage dealt increased by 18%.

This buff also applies to vehicles. Should you find yourself fighting those with great tenacity, do not be alarmed. With your greater numbers you also have greater cc abilities, and those with tenacity may find themselves quickly stunned & locked down. On the flip side of that situation, it is a good idea for ranged players with tenacity to sit back and 'snipe' as much as possible, or else (with melee especially) group up with a couple other similarily buffed players and storm the other team with an organized and concentrated front, so as to take down as many players (possible cc'ers) asap.


Achievements

There are a total of 20 achievements that can be earned through Wintergrasp. See this WoWHead page for an easy to read compilation:
Wintergrasp - Achievements - World of Warcraft

Source: http://guidewiki.com/forums/battlegr...tergrasp-guide.

Thanks for your time =)

Tenned

[Gfexgfx]

nice guide, thanks

[hooters41]

very nice. Thanks

[Tenni-T]

no problem guys! =)

[Mouse]

how to win = dont use catapults

[azzclown]

was wondering, have anyone notice that alliance get siege in the first minute? in my realm alliance is always getting the siege in the first minute, is there a trick or exploit out there right now that make this happen? by the way nice guide

[emjay_eon]

thanks for the guide

[lagbot]

thanks for the guide

[Rocker]

was wondering, have anyone notice that alliance get siege in the first minute? in my realm alliance is always getting the siege in the first minute, is there a trick or exploit out there right now that make this happen? by the way nice guide

Most likely because, they fly in to WG with the glitch whatever, then assault as soon as it starts

[Zayfox]

Most likely because, they fly in to WG with the glitch whatever, then assault as soon as it starts

Not exactly.
If you logout before the end of Wintergrasp while you still have your buff (the buff that allows you to get the vehicles), the next time you login to Wintergrasp, as long as the battle is taking place, you will retain your rank.