OutDPS!

Hey all, today we’ll discuss Eye of the Storm, and just like last time, I’m assuming know the basics of this BG (check this if you don’t). This will be a short one because EotS is a very simple battleground.

This is the one battleground that really rewards zerging. Sometimes a small organized group will queue into EotS and just travel clockwise from node to node, capping them over in a few seconds and sweeping up all the pugs in its wake, and there’s no way for the opposing team to resist. Most of the time, however, people just kind of do their own thing, as they do in all the battlegrounds. If you’re reading this, you want to know what I think is the best thing to do.

Well, I’ll tell you straight off that holding nodes is the most reliable way to gain resources, and the flag in the middle is more or less a distraction. You should be spending all your time either defending your nodes or assaulting the enemy’s, but because EotS rewards zerging, you should prioritize whichever task more of your teammates seem to be doing already. However, since puggers liken EotS to Arathi Basin in their minds, both sides will often cap 2 nodes apiece and then duke it out for the most flag caps. I won’t lie to you: some games will be decided by who caps the flag the most, but that doesn’t undermine my assertion that holding nodes is paramount. Far from it: the games that are determined by flag caps are long, and the outcome is always unpredictable. A pug that tries to control center could lose control of it at any moment, and just because your side got 3 early flag caps doesn’t mean some foolish lone ranger on your team won’t capture the flag while the enemy holds the center, and cost you control of the flag permanently.

This leads me to my single biggest point of advice for anyone playing EotS: if you have to play the flag cap game, do not cap the flag while the enemy controls the center! Said another way: if you don’t have a teammate in the middle ready to grab the next flag, then just hold onto the flag until you do. Think of it as a relay race, if that helps.

The way to win quickly and safely is to go to whichever node seems least defended, and either defend it if it’s yours and it’s being attacked, or attack it if it isn’t yours yet. As I said, try and go with the flow: if your teammates are all rushing Mage tower, help them until it caps over to your side and then go back to Fel Reaver and make sure you aren’t losing it the same way the other team lost Mage.

I have to caution you against playing EotS just like AB, though. Defending can be achieved by just a single player in AB and can turn the tide of a game. Defending a node in EotS is simple math: if you’re outnumbered or you can’t kill the enemy fast enough, you won’t get it back. So don’t waste your time running from node to node trying to protect them or get them back against overwhelming odds. While holding people off a node in AB is doable as long as your health bar lasts, it’s pointless in EotS when you could be helping your team cap another node somewhere across the map.

Similarly, trying to assault a node solo can be a waste of time unless you’re merely trying to stall the enemy’s resource gain (it only counts as stalling their resource gain if they’re trying to cap the flag, because they are getting resources based on the number of nodes they control, and capping one of theirs reduces the resources they gain, as well as the number of places they can safely take flag). After all, they could just send 3 guys to the node you capped over, kill you and recap it instantly. For this reason, if your team is in control of 2 nodes as well as the center and is capping the flag repeatedly, you would do much better to defend the nodes you already have, or the flag carrier, or the center (whichever seems to be in more trouble).

Also unlike AB, there are no nodes that are more preferable to control. Just hit them wherever they can’t fight back with as many people as you can get to help you. You also shouldn’t feel obligated to defend it once they send overwhelming reinforcements to get that node back. Since one node is just as good as another, there’s nothing to be lost by just moving on to capture the next one down the road, and nothing to be gained by valiantly defending your node against unrealistic odds and then spending 30 seconds waiting for a res.