WoW - Battlegrounds          

Strand of the Ancients Basics
How to Win Strand of the Ancients
Gates
Tanks and Seaforium
Graveyards
Rounds 1&2
Honor Gains
Experience Gains



Strand of the Ancients Basics:

General Info:   Strand of the Ancients consist of 2 rounds lasting up to 10 minutes each, during which your team is playing either offense or defense.  The game lasts a maximum of 20 minutes.  You can queue for a match by using the PvP menu or with a battlemaster in any major city.

Objective:  The ultimate goal in Strand of the Ancients is to capture the Titan Relic.  However, your team can win the match by being the team that comes closest to capturing the Titan Relic within the shortest period of time. 

Return to top

How to Win Strand of the Ancients:

There are 2 rounds in Strand of the Ancients, one in which your team plays offense and one in which your team plays defense.  Each round lasts 10 minutes or until the attacking team captures the Titan Relic.   The team that captures the Titan Relic the fastest wins the match.

During the second round, the team that was originally on defensive is now on offensive and vice versa.  If the first offensive team was unsuccessful at capturing the Titan Relic, the second round will also be a maximum of 10 minutes.  However, if the first offensive team was successful, the second round will last as long as it took the first team to capture the Titan Relic.  In other words, if it took the first team 3 minutes to capture the Titan Relic, the second round will only last for 3 minutes.

How should the Offensive Team Play?

There are 3 barriers/walls to break through consisting of 5 gates in total before the Chamber of Ancient Relics can be reached.  The first barrier contains the Gate of the Green Emerald on the west and the Gate of the Blue Sapphire on the east.  The second barrier consists of the Gate of the Purple Amethyst on the west and the Gate of the Red Sun on the east.  The third barrier consists of just one gate - the Gate of the Yellow Moon.  Offensive players need to knock down at least one of the gates in each barrier to be able to reach the next barrier.

If you are beginning as the offensive team, you will want to make use of the demolishers and seaforium bombs to destroy the gates.   Attempt to destroy either the Blue or Green gate without having your vehicle destroyed by the defending team.  Once one of the gates is destroyed, proceed to the next set o gates and choose one of these to destroy (preferably the one closest to you).   You can get through the first set of gates rather easily if the enemy is distracted at other gates allowing you to pass through unharmed.  The vehicles move quite quickly.  Continue through to the Relic Chamber.  If you are able to destroy the gate to the Relic Chamber you will have access to the Relic, a large glowing orb.  Clicking on the relic will end the round.

Locations of Gates in Strand of the Ancients.

There are 5 gates in Strand of the Ancients, 6 if you count the Chamber of Relics Gate.  Offensive players, or the attacking team,  will attempt to destroy the gates by using either tanks, which are picked up at vehicle workshops, or seaforium bombs which are picked up at vehicle workshops as well as other locations throughout the map.  Defensive players will want to protect the gates from being destroyed by attempting to disarm seaforium bombs or destroying vehicles that are attacking the gate.  There are also 2 turrets at each gate, one on either side, in which the defensive team can use to shoot at both players and vehicles.



Although there are four gates that come before the Gate of the Yellow Moon, players only need to knock down two of them in order to reach the Yellow gate.  Either the Gate of the Green Emerald or the Gate of the Blue Sapphire needs to be destroyed in order to reach the next set of gates, the Gate of the Purple Amethyst and the Gate of the Red Sun.  Likewise, only one of these two gates needs to be knocked down to reach the Gate of the Yellow Moon.  If you are on one side of the map and you see that your team is breaking through faster on the other side it would be wise to help on the other side.  Likewise you may have to add more defense to one side if the attacking team is breaking through quicker on that side.
 

Return to top

Tanks and Seaforium:

Tanks:

Demolishers are available for offensive players in sets on 2 on either side of the beach at the beginning of each match.  One is located on the dock right where the boat lands and the other is located on the beach just off of the dock.  The demolishers can only hold one driver (they used to be able to hold passengers as well).  The driver has two abilities - a ram (with a knock back effect) and a fiery boulder (a long-range attack).  Both abilities have separate cool downs. 


Landing docks (starting area for offensive team) at the Gate of the Blue Sapphire.


Once the offensive team destroys either the Gate of the Green Emerald or the Gate of the Blue Sapphire, vehicle workshops are located behind each of these gates.  Attacking players can pick up vehicles after they have been constructed at the workshop.  Each workshop can contain two vehicles.  As well, players have access to piles of seaforium bombs located just outside of the workshops.


Eastern Workshop.



Seaforium Bombs:

Seaforium bombs are located at the vehicle workshops, at certain resurrection spots, in a pile near the Chamber of Ancient Relics, and on the docks on the beach. 

Players can carry one seaforium bomb on them at any time.  They are used to to damage to gates by placing them up against a particular gate.  As long as they are not disarmed by an enemy player (within 10 seconds), it will explode and cause damage to the gate.  If an enemy disarms a bomb, the bomb will disappear. 

If a player that is carrying a seaforium bomb gets killed, they will drop the bomb without arming it and it becomes available for the enemy to pick up (at which point it turns into a massive seaforium bomb).  Although they probably wouldn't want to, the enemy can use these bombs on their own gates to cause damage.


Seaforium Bombs near the Southern Graveyard.

Seaforium charges cause damage equal to about 25% of the wall's total life, so they are very useful in addition to the demolishers.


Return to top

Graveyards:

The round begins with the defensive team controlling each of the graveyards except the default one on the beach that is controlled by the attacking/offensive team.  Until the offensive team is able to capture a graveyard, they will resurrect on the beach.  Once a graveyard is captured, it cannot be defended or recaptured by the defensive team.  To capture a graveyard, a player must click on the flag successfully without being interrupted.


Graveyard locations.
Graveyard #1: Always controlled by the attacking team.  If the attacking team does not control any other graveyard they will resurrect here.

Graveyard #2: Western graveyard.  Controlled by the defending team until captured by the attacking team.

Graveyard #3: Eastern graveyard.  Controlled by the defending team until captured by the attacking team.

Graveyard #4: Southern graveyard.  Controlled by the defending team until captured by the attacking team.

Graveyard #5: Always controlled by the defending team.  If the defending team does not control any other graveyard they will resurrect here.


Western Graveyard and Workshop.


If the offensive team captures the Western Graveyard, they will resurrect at the western vehicle workshop.  If the offensive team captures the Eastern Graveyard, they will resurrect at the eastern vehicle workshop.  The offensive team can capture both of these graveyards at the same time. 

If the Southern Graveyard is captured (the flag), the offensive team will resurrect between the Gate of the Purple Amethyst and the Gate of the Yellow moon.  Although there is seaforium available for pickup at this location, is is typically unwise to capture this graveyard because players will have to run back in order to pick up vehicles.

If all of the graveyards are controlled by the offensive team, the defensive team will resurrect just to the east of the Chamber of Relics.


Return to top

Rounds 1 & 2:

Each of the 2 rounds lasts up to 10 minutes.  Your team will either begin as offense (attackers) or defense (defenders).  It is selected randomly each match.  During the second match, you will play the opposite side.  So, if you began as the offensive team the first round, you will be on the defending team during the second round.

In the first round, the offensive team will have 10 minutes to capture the Titan Relic.  If they are unsuccessful at capturing the Relic, the round ends after the 10 minutes and the second round begins.  The next team to play offensive will also have 10 minutes to capture the Titan Relic.  If times runs out in the second round before the Relic is captured, the team to come closest to the Relic is the winning team.  If the first team to play offensive captures the Titan Relic in less than 10 minutes (i.e. 5 minutes), the team to play offensive in the second round will have to capture the Relic in that amount of time (5 minutes).

If your team is beginning as offense, you will arrive on the beach in two groups, one on each ship.  The group on the west will arrive at the Green Gate and the group on the east will arrive at the Blue Gate.  However, once on the beach, you can run to either side.  Often, players will yell out which side looks the emptiest and this may be the best side to begin attacking.

To attack the gates, players have 2 tanks available on each side of the beach.  Each tank can hold one driver and two passengers.  There are also piles of seaforium in which players are to place against the gate and wait for them to explode (players must be near the bomb for it to count towards the achievement).  Even if you are getting in a vehicle, it may be wise to grab seaforium before hopping in because this could come in handy should your tank be destroyed.

Even though tanks can be destroyed, they also respawn.  As well, although you can only carry one seaforium bomb at a time, you can continue to run them one after another.   Use tanks and seaforium bombs to your advantage and continue to attempt to break through the gates until you reach the Chamber of Ancient Relics.  Once you break through the final gate, you will need to click on the Relic within to end the round.


Titan Relic.

The team playing defense will begin the round atop the Southern Graveyard.  They will have to jump down and choose whether to run towards the Gate of the Green Emerald or the Gate of the Blue Sapphire.  The defensive team should attempt to spread out their defense as evenly as possible on either side. 

The defensive team does no have access to vehicles or seaforium bombs (just massive seaforium bombs which are picked up after dead enemy players drop them).  However, they have 2 turrets on either side of each gate which they can use to attack both vehicles and players.  As well, it is good to have players disarming seaforium at each gate.  Disarming the seaforium will prevent it from damaging the gate.  Defensive players can also attack vehicles with their spells and abilities.


Return to top


Honor Gains:

Offensive Team:

- 62+19 honor for each gate destroyed.  If both the Gate of the Green Emerald and the Gate of the Blue Sapphire are destroyed, honor is only granted for one of them.  Likewise, if both the Gate of the Red Sun and the Gate of the Purple Amethyst are destroyed, honor is only granted for destroying one of them. 
- 62+19 honor for capturing the relic.

Defending Team:

- 62+19 honor for each gate not destroyed. If either the Gate of the Green Emerald or the Gate of the Blue Sapphire is destroyed but one remains, no honor is granted as both must be intact.  The same applies to the Gate of the Red Sun and the Gate of the Purple Amethyst, both of these 2 gates must be intact for honor to be granted. 
- 62+19 honor if the relic is not captured.

General Honor Gained: 

124+124 honor at the completion of the game for losing.
248+124 honor at the completion of the game for winning.



Return to top

Experience Gains:



Return to top