Wintergrasp Basics
How to Win Wintergrasp
Areas of Wintergrasp
Ranks
Workshops
Vehicles
Towers
Graveyards
Tower Cannons
RP-GGs
Wintergrasp
Buffs
Honor and Mark Gains
Vendors
Vault of Archavon
Wintergrasp Basics:
General Info: Wintergrasp is a pve/pvp zone located in Northrend. One faction
at a time will have control over the fortress although players of
either faction can travel to the Wintergrasp zone. The area contains high
level Northrend herbs, mining nodes, and fishing areas. In addition, each
variety of Northrend crystallized element can be found within Wintergrasp
(shadow, fire, water, air) with the revenants having a 100% drop rate. The
revenants, however, are only visible to the faction that is in control of
Wintergrasp. Wintergrasp has a flight path that is
surrounded by guards and quest givers for each faction. You can also find the vendor that
sells pvp shoulder and head and head enchants there.
Control of
the fortress is granted when one faction (horde or alliance) wins the Battle for
Wintergrasp. Players need to be level 75 or higher to join the Battle for
Wintergrasp. When a faction has control of the fortress they also
have access to the Vault of Archavon which is a level 80 raid instance for 10 or
25 players at a time. When the battle is one, another battle occurs 2.5
hours after. The faction that controls Wintergrasp Fortress will be the
defending team when the next battle begins. If you are in the Wintergrasp
zone within 15 of a battle beginning you will be prompted with an invite asking
if you would like to join the battle for Wintergrasp. You can also queue
when there are 15 minutes or less from the beginning of a battle at any major
city. If your faction is on the defending side for the upcoming battle
(your faction currently controls Wintergrasp), you can take a portal located
near the battle masters in Dalaran. When you join the battle you will
automatically be put into a raid group of up to 40 people. If one raid is full
another one will be formed. The maximum number of players allowed on each
side is 120, so the Battle of Wintergrasp can be fought by a maximum of 240
players. You have to be level 75 to join a Wintergrasp battle.
The battle lasts for a maximum or 30 minutes.
The defending team can knock down the three towers in the southern half of the
map that are controlled by the attacking team to speed up the match by taking
time off of the duration. To find out how long it will be until the next
battle you can check your pvp menu or speak with Wintergrasp battle master at
any major city.
Objective: To gain or
maintain control of the Wintergrasp Fortress. The team that controlled the
fortress before the battle begins will be on the defending team, and attempt to
defend the fortress. The other team will be the attacking team and attempt
to gain control of the fortress.
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How to win Wintergrasp:
The attacking team will
attempt to break through the walls using vehicles to gain access to the relic.
When the attacking team clicks on the relic the will have captured Wintergrasp
Fortress. The defending team will attempt to keep the attacking team from
destroying walls and capturing the fortress.
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Areas of Wintergrasp:
There are different areas within the zone of Wintergrasp. It could be
beneficial to know the locations of each. The achievement "Wintergrasp
Ranger" requires that you kill 10 players in each of the following zones:
Wintergrasp Fortress, Eastpark Workshop, Flamewatch Tower, The Broken Temple,
Shadowsight Tower, The Cauldron of Flames, The Sunken Ring, Winter's Edge Tower,
Westpark Workshop, and The Chilled Quagmire. To see the achievements
obtainable in Wintergrasp, see the
achievements section of this guide.
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Ranks:
To be able to
build or ride in vehicles, you will have to earn a ranking that is based on the
number of kills you get credit for. You get credit for killing enemy
players, NPCs, or by destroying tower cannons. To drive a catapult you need a ranking
of Corporal. To drive a Demolisher or Siege Engine you need a ranking of
First Lieutenant.
Corporal - 5 kills needed (can only operate a catapult)
First
Lieutenant - 10 kills needed (can drive or ride along in any vehicle)
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Workshops:
There are 4 workshops in Wintergrasp, one roughly located in each of the four
corners. When a Wintergrasp battle begins, the attacking team controls
each of the workshops.
The workshops can be taken over at any time during the battle.
They can be taken over by the defending team and retaken by the attacking team.
There is a capture bar that indicates the degree to which a team controls a
workshop (similar to the towers in Eye of the Storm). When one team
attacks a workshop that they do not control, the bar will move towards their
team's side and if there are not enough players from the other team at the
workshop, they will capture it. The more players there are at a workshop,
the faster it will be captured. Which ever team controls a workshop has
the ability to build vehicles there.
Each team is able to build four vehicles for every workshop owned.
You will have to kill enemy players
to receive a rank and be able to build vehicles.
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Vehicles:
Vehicles can be built at the four vehicle workshops located outside of
the fortress and at the vehicle workshop located inside of the fortress.
You are only able too build a vehicle at a particular workshop if your
team controls it. There are three types of vehicles you can build
depending upon your rank- the catapult, the demolisher, and the siege
engine. Each team is able to build four vehicles for every
workshop owned.
The Catapult - is the lightest vehicle available, doing the
least amount
of damage, and having the least amount of
health (35k)
which makes it easy to kill. It is the fastest vehicle and carries
just one player at a time. It has two types of attacks.
The Flame Thrower is a channeled attack that spews fire on any players
in front of the vehicle. It can be used while moving or spinning
around but does not cause damage to buildings or other structures.
The Plague Barrel is a catapult launch that delivers an aoe (area of
effect) on the surface that it lands on which causes damage to players
as well as buildings. Each of the abilities has a separate cool
down. You have to be a Corporal or First
Lieutenant (a buff that you get after killing a certain number of
players) to drive a catapult.
The Demolisher
- is a 3 person vehicle (one driver, two passengers) in which players
are able to cast from the passenger seats. It is equipped
with more health (50k) than a
catapult but less than a siege engine. You require First
Lieutenant to be able to build and rive it. The demolisher has two
types of attacks. It has a battering ram that is typically used to
destroy towers, gate, and walls, causing 1500 damage per hit. It
can cause damage to enemy players as well as knock them back. It
also has a catapult ability which catapults a fiery ball at the target.
This attack can be used to damage structures as well as players that are
hit by it. Each of the abilities have a separate cool down.
The Siege Engine - is the heaviest of the vehicles in Wintergrasp
and has more health (75k) than the catapult and demolisher. It is a 4
person vehicle that holds a driver, a passenger controls the siege's
cannon and two other passengers. The driver only has one attack
which is a forceful battering ram that causes 2000 damage per hit to
structures such as walls and towers. The battering ram is typically
used to damage structures although it does cause damage to enemy players
and knocks them back.
If you are inside of the Wintergrasp Keep
you will have access to large teleporters. If you drive your
vehicle over the teleporter it will teleport you outside of the Keep.
If you are on the attacking team you may accidentally drive over one and
be teleported out so you have to be careful and just stay to the side of
them. As well, there are smaller teleports just outside of each
wall that the defending team can access to move quickly from the outside
to the inside of the Keep.
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Graveyards:
Each of the workshops in the Wintergrasp battlefield have a
corresponding graveyard. If your team controls a particular
workshop, you have the ability to resurrect at that graveyard. The
graveyard is located just behind the workshop. If
you are at one graveyard and want to go to another graveyard, you can
teleport yourself by clicking on the Spirit Healer and selecting the
graveyard/ workshop you want to be sent to. This feature is very
beneficial if you need to move to another side of the map quickly.
Spirit Healer at Graveyard in Wintergrasp.
While at a graveyard that is controlled by your team, you will receive
Spiritual Immunity. With Spiritual Immunity you cannot take
any damage but you are able to deal damage. This is probably to
prevent graveyard camping by the larger team.
If your team does not control any of
the graveyards you will resurrect at your team's starting point.
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Towers:
There are a total of seven towers in the Wintergrasp zone. Four of
the towers are part of Wintergrasp Keep (Northeast tower, Northwest
tower, Southeast tower, Southwest Tower) . When the attacking team
destroys towers that are part of the Keep they will also destroy any
tower cannons that were on the tower as well as gain extra honor for
destroying the tower. Three towers are
located in the southern area of the map (Shadowsight Tower, Flamewatch
Tower, Winter's Edge Tower).
When the defending team destroy all three of the southern towers the
game is shortened by 10 minutes.
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Tower Cannons:
Both factions have access to tower cannons during a battle.
Players on the defensive team have access to the tower cannons that are spread
around Wintergrasp Fortress. The players on the attacking team
have access to tower cannons that are located on the southern towers.
Tower cannons have one attack and can cause
damage to both players and vehicles. The achievement "Didn't Stand
a Chance" requires that you kill 20 mounted players with tower cannons.
(To view this and more achievements obtainable in Lake Wintergrasp see
the achievements section of
this guide).
Tower cannons can do a lot of damage to both vehicles and players.
If you are on the attacking team and have the spells and abilities to do
so, attempt to destroy as many of the enemy's tower cannons as possible
as quickly as possible. If you can get to Wintergrasp before the
battle begins, you may be able to land on top of the keep towers and
destroy the tower cannons from above. To do this, you hover above
the tower before the battle begins. When the battle begins, you
will be dismounted and automatically begin to parachute towards the
ground. Land on top of the tower. Get very close to the edge
but do not fall off. From here, you shoot be able to attack the
tower cannons. Tower cannons also count towards your rank.
With enough tenacity your may be able to reach first lieutenant by
killing just one tower cannon.
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RP-GGs:
RP-GGs (Rocket Propelled Goblin Grenades) are rockets that can be picked up by players near workshops.
Players can target vehicles and shoot them for a massive amount of
damage. They stack in 5s (picking up one RP-GG will give you
a stack of 5 in your bag) and are long range shots with a 5 second cast.
You can bind them to one of your keys if you like.
Row of RP-GGs outside of Westpark Vehicle Workshop.
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Wintergrasp Buffs:
You will have the Recruit buff when first joining a battle. After
you receive a certain number of honor kills you will receive the
Corporal (Rank One) buff followed by the First Lieutenant (Rank Two)
buff after obtaining several more honor kills.
When the defending team destroys a tower they receive a 5% damage bonus
that stacks up to 15%. Destroying all three towers grants the
maximum 15% buff.
When a team is outnumbered in Wintergrasp, the
outnumbered team receives a buff called "Tenacity." The Tenacity
buff increases in stacks depending on how outnumbered the team is.
The buff grants increases in all stats.
Recruit Buff - The first rank given when you first join the battle
Corporal Buff - Rank 1 buff
First Lieutenant Buff - Rank 2 buff
Essence of Wintergrasp Buff - when your team controls
Wintergrasp
Tenacity Buff - When your team is outnumbered, provides an
increase in
stats and damage dealt.
Tower Control Buff - When your team has control of the southern
towers,
offers a 5% increase in damage for each tower
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Honor and Mark Gains:
You receive three Wintergrasp marks for winning the battle and one mark
for losing the battle.
Each tower destroyed grants bonus
honor to the team that destroyed it.
You receive Stone Keeper's Shards from doing the quests in Wintergrasp (10
marks per turn in) as well as from killing bosses in Northrend dungeons
while your faction controls Wintergrasp.
You can purchase honor
using Wintergrasp Marks of Honor or Stone Keeper's Shards.
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Vendors:
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Vault of Archavon:
The Vault of Archavon is a raiding instance for groups of 10 or 25.
There are a few trash mobs and four bosses within the instance.
Each boss drops both PvP and PvE gear, although the gear has different
item levels depending on the boss. Archavon drops the lowest level
gear. Emalon drops the second from lowest level gear.
Koralon drops the second from best gear, and Toravon drops the highest
item level gear.
Archavon the Stone Watcher:
Archavon the Stone Watcher was the first boss introduced when VoA became
available. He is a fairly easy boss to kill now but has a couple
of abilities that players should still be aware of. For instance,
he will cast a cloud that causes nature damage to anyone standing in it.
He will also target a random player and shoot stone shards at them that
stick in the ground. Although Archavon shoots a particular player
to shoot them at, it damages any player near them as well. It is
good to stay fairly spread out for the fight. Two tanks are needed
because Archavon will pick up the main tank and throw them across the
room, afterwards going to the second in threat.
Emalon the Storm Watcher:
Emalon the Storm Watcher has a
few abilities that players need to be aware of. He will cast a
chain lighting that damages several nearby players. He has a
lightning nova that is an aoe channeled cast and does damage to anyone
within the aoe. If you see him casting this you can run out and
away from it. He also has an ability called "Overcharge" in which
he will overcharge one of his Tempest Minions. DPS should switch
immediately to the Tempest Minion because it will explode and cause 30k
damage to anyone within the raid one the overcharged buff reached 10
stacks.
Koralon the Flame Watcher:
Koralon the
Flame Watcher was the third boss added to the instance. He has
several fire abilities. He has an ability called Burning Breath in
which he spins around and shoots flame out causing aoe damage to the
raid. Meteor Fists will split 100 to 125 weapon damage evenly
between the main target and a nearby target. The Flaming Cinder,
which leaves a spot of flames on the ground, inflicts damage over time
to anyone within 4 yards.
Toravon the Ice Watcher:
Toravon the Ice Watcher is the
last boss in the instance and drops the best gear. His Frozen
Mallet attack inflicts a damage over time effect on the target called
Frostbite. The Freezing Ground ability causes damage as well
as immobilizes the target for up to 5 seconds. The Whiteout
ability causes an aoe damage to anyone nearby and increases frost damage
taken by up to 25%. Toravon will also summon Frost Orbs that
slowly fly around and cause damage to anyone near them. Ranged dps
(casters) are typically chosen to destroy the orbs. You will
see white circles on the ground where the orbs will appear.
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