Raid Mechanics: Melee and Raid Awareness
by JR Cook - 9 years ago show comments
There is something about melee classes that I simply love. I have always played thieves, warriors, paladins and every other close combat class you can imagine in various role playing games. Being far away from most of the danger and harm does not feel like engaging combat to me, so when I began playing Warcraft I always rolled melee classes. If you have ever wanted to roll a melee class for raiding purposes I will be talking about some of the important aspects you have to take into account.
(Big hammer to the face)
One of the hardest things about being a melee DPS in World of Warcraft is not having a good view of what is going on in the fight. Ranged DPS and healers have greater perspective of the environment and it is easier for them to anticipate most abilities. Melee have to move around a lot and are at the mercy of the boss’ position. There are many AOE abilities that we can’t really avoid but fortunately most melee specs have some sort of mitigation to help with this.
Melee have to work harder in order to understand what is going on with the fight. A good example this tier is Oregorger’s roll phase. For this fight, DPS have to avoid the boss and break boxes in the meantime. Ranged DPS can just stand in the intersections and kill boxes while still staying relatively safe from the boss. Melee have to actually move into the corridor destroy the boxes. This is where understanding your mobility comes in. Melee are blessed with great movement abilities. Knowing how and when to use them is vital for an improved performance. A good example of this is Shadowstep from the rogues. Most people don’t know you can use it on a friendly target and sometimes using it on a ranged player can save your life.
(Rolling to victory)
The biggest advice for melee DPS is to keep your camera at max distance, this will give you a better panorama of the fight. Move your camera constantly looking for things that might force you to move or do something else. There are fights that are simply not melee friendly but that does not make them impossible. We have the advantage of not losing much up time on bosses while moving, while casters have to stop casting and move, so not all is bad for melee.
(And remember Cat is for Fite)
