Strand of the Ancients Achievements

[notacrook]

Searched and couldn't find a FULL list of the achs and how to do them, sorry if I missed it.

Strand of the Ancients Veteran - This is the token 'win 100 battlegrounds' achievement for this meta. It just takes time, and apart from saying "be patient and win as much as possible" there's not much advice for this one.

Storm the Beach - The 'rush' achievement, win before the End of Round timer hits 6:00 in the first round, and varying in the second round. This is probably not going to happen against a particularly competent enemy team, but just remember - the gates have VERY low health, and even half a team of bombs + 2 demos can take one down in seconds. Capping the graveyards is worth it, because it greatly lowers your run time and caps instantly, so just dash through, nuking the gates and defending your demolishers above all else.

Steady Hands - Often, you will get people doing little else except spamming bombs in hope of getting the Dapper Sapper and Explosives Expert achievements. Some, especially the latter, won't watch their bombs and will instantly mount up and ride away, giving you easy time to jump in and disarm it - this is especially easy for a stealth class, but standing on the platform above the gate can make you pretty much invisible to someone with enough tunnel vision.

The Dapper Sapper - Probably the most time-consuming of the 'do 100' achievements, but one you will easily get before 100 wins with very little effort. Just remember, disarmed bombs will NOT count, nor will it count if the wall dies first - protect your bomb, and don't drop it on a wall that's about to die. If your team goes 1 way and leaves a gate up and practically undefended, good for you, free points!

Explosives Expert - The '5-in-1' version of The Dapper Sapper, this is probably best done on a game where a gate is left unattacked and undefended. Make sure to watch out for people trying to get Steady Hands done, they WILL be the bane of your existence!

Not Even a Scratch - Easily the hardest achievement in the meta, one I find to be on par with, if not harder than, the infamous 1600-1590 AB win (your mileage may vary). This needs you to defend your vehicles carefully - and remember, the opposing team WILL run out and try and break them. Protect them and bomb down the walls, and once you get past the first set just leave a competant guard or two and continue on with bombs - bringing the vehicle forwards WILL get it killed. This means you'll have more defenders than attackers, but you really don't want to risk some lone rogue ruining the achievement attempt - do you?

Artillery Veteran - Get in a turret where, or near, the fighting. With the increased HK range recently, you'll be getting credit for both sides, and since you don't need HKs this basically boils down to "sit in a turret, nuke what you want, and have 100 vehicles die within sight of you". The hardest bit is making sure you get in a turret!

Artillery Expert - Very easy, more than 5 vehicles will easily be destroyed in the game, you just need to make sure you're in a nearby turret for it.

Drop it! - Another that does not need HKs and will be completed over time - you'll probably get this one done while trying to do other achievements! In short, people with the buff "Carrying Seaforium" need to die in range of you, which makes nuking down people as they try to be a Dapper Sapper very effective - just remember, if they drop the bomb before they die you won't get the point, but can probably disarm it for a Steady Hands point!

Drop it Now! - Do above 5 times in one battle. Just stay in the main fight and you'll probably get this without noticing until the achievement box pops up.

Ancient Protector - After the yellow gate does down, stand in the big open space behind it and have 10 people die near you. Easiest in-1-battle ach EVER.

Ancient Courtyard Protector - See above, but with 100 people and over as many games as you want. You have to be trying pretty hard NOT to get this eventually...

Defense of the Ancients - Ah yes, Not Even a Scratch's defensive brother. This is MUCH easier if you're defending in the second round and captured the Titan Relic Fast, and goes hand-in-hand with Storm the Beach - 4 minutes (or less!) is A LOT easier than 10. Keep an eye on both the starter gates, focus fire down demolishers before they can do any damage, and disarm any bombs that get through (that damage adds up over 4 minutes)




ACHIEVEMENT PRIORITY:

Defense of the Ancients/Not Even a Scratch - hard to do, rare to see in a PuG, it is VERY easy to get 100 wins without one or both of these.

Steady Hands/Explosives Expert - If the opportunity arises to do these "in 1 battle" achievements, do them - see above for the most opportune moments.

Strand of the Ancients Veteran - So long as you drop bombs on the attack, sit in turrets on the defense and help defend the Courtyard, you WILL get all the other achievements long before 100 games, let alone 100 wins. The possible, but unlikely, exception is Storm the Beach, but this should be done at least once during this long series of games - especially if you did Defense of the Ancients!

- Also posted on Wowhead, so don't say I copied it!