One of the top rated 3v3 team setup in Arena is Priest/Mage/Rogue (PMR). PMR is known for its excellent burst damage, great survivability, and superior crowd control. It is a force to be reckon with. An offense oriented team, PMR applies a lot of pressure, and forces the other team to be stuck on the defensive until they crumble.

Priest:

Talent Build: 41/20/0

The popular Priest Spec for PMR is at least 41 points into Discipline for Pain Suppression, and Holy for Blessed Recovery. The remaining free points differ depending on the player. Improved Mana Burn and Focused Power are also a necessity for quick Mana Burns, and fast Mass Dispels.

Role: Dispel, Mana Burn, and sometimes Heal

Offense – Believe it or not, the Priest will mostly be on the offensive instead of healing. With the amount of pressure the Mage and Rogue puts on the opponents, the Priest will be free to Mana Burn their healers/casters, and dispel whoever the Mage and Rogue are on. Power Infusion can be used on the Mage to apply more pressure. Using Fear at the right moment on their healers can mean death for one of their teammates.

Defense – In the case of where the Priest needs to play defensive and needs to heal, a Disc/Holy Priest won’t have any problems with that. Pain Suppression are usually saved for themselves, but can be used on the Mage or Rogue if they are in trouble and ran out of cooldowns. Fear can be used defensively to turn the pressure around and go back on the offensive.

Mage:

Talent Build: 17/0/44 or 0/0/61

The most popular build for an Arena Mage is a Frost Mage with Improved Counterspell. The second favorite is the Full Frost build. First build is more offensive and the second build is more defensive. Also, with Improved Counterspell, you don’t need to catch your opponent casting to silence them, where as Full Frost you need to be ready and quick to CS someone.

Role: Burst Damage, Crowd Control, and Counterspells

Offense – You will assist whoever the Rogue is attacking, and do burst damage with your Shatter Combos. Keep another target Sheeped or Frozen while your Priest is burning away at their healer’s mana. Water Elemental does a lot of damage if left alone. Just make sure he doesn’t break any CC. Save your Counterspell for when you have your target at 50% or below and use it on their healer. You and the Rogue have at least 8 seconds to finish of your target. Save Icy Veins for this moment.

Defense – If you are being focused on, keep Ice Armor on if at least one Melee DPS is on you, Molten Armor for Ranged DPS. Keep Ice Barrier up, and Fire/Frost Ward up depending on the caster. Mana Shield also if it gets bad (you could always gem/evoc). Don’t wait until the last second to Ice Block, especially if your opponent has a Priest. I normally Ice Block at 30-40% to give my Priest some time to heal me up. Good teams can easily switch to Priest and keep my healer CC’d for the entire duration of my Ice Block, then kill me as soon as it wears off. If melee are on your Priest, help them out with Sheep/Frost Nova. Cone of Cold is also good to keep melee slowed enough for your Priest to run away.

Rogue:

Talent Build: 20/0/41

The most popular PMR Rogue build is Subtlety/Assassination with Shadowstep. With Wound and Crippling Poison, a Rogue can provide a ton of pressure and force the opposing the to be on the defensive. If the Rogue can manage to get a Sap off, you are already at a huge advantage, and are instantly on the offensive.

Role: DPS, Apply Pressure, and Crowd Control

Offense – Pick a target, and stay on him/her. The more pressure the Rogue puts on, the less pressure that is on the Priest, and the more the Priest can Mana Burn. Time the finishing moves with the Mage’s Icy Veins and Shatter Combos, and quickly take out a player before they even have time to react. A well timed Blind on a healer when one of their teammate is almost dead can almost guarantee a kill. Use Shadowstep to stay on a target if they manage to run away. Cloak of Shadows/Evasion can be use offensively to make sure nothing happens to the Rogue while he/she is on the target. To prevent a Warlock from fearing the Rogue while he/she is stabbing the crap out of the Warlock for example.

Defense – If the Rogue is ever focused on, there are many ways for the Rogue to stay alive. Evasion, Cloak of Shadows, and Vanish. Blind can even be use to keep a DPS off of the Rogue and swing back on the offensive. Or the Rogue can use Blind to help a teammate in trouble, to get a DPS off of the Priest or Mage.

Teamwork:

PMR is deadly straight out of the box, and even deadlier after playing together for awhile, and communicating together.

Team Focus:

The hardest part of PMR is selecting which target to focus on first. Pick the right target, and it will easily be a 3v2 fight within seconds. Pick the wrong target and it can be a long drawn out battle (which usually don’t end well for PMR).

Team Communication:

Communication is key with this setup. With everyone talking and working together, you can call out targets, interrupts, and dispels that will give PMR the win.

Team Crowd Control:

One of the biggest strengths of PMR is their ability to keep player out of the match for a good amount of time. Each of the three classes has a form of CC, and when used together, it will result in a victory. With Diminishing Returns, one person can keep a player out of combat for a decent amount of time. Chaining three players CC together, can keep a player out of combat for the entire battle.

For example:

• Mage CS a Healer’s heal: Duration 8 seconds
• Priest uses Psychic Scream: Duration 8 seconds
• Mage Sheeps after Fear wears off: Duration 10 seconds
• Mage Sheeps again: Duration 5 seconds
• Mage Sheeps again: Duration 2.5 seconds
• Rogue Blinds: Duration 8 seconds
• Mage CS after Blind if he heals: Duration 8 seconds
• Priest uses Psychic Scream: Duration 8 seconds
• Mage Sheeps again, and so on…

Congratulations, you have successfully kept a Healer out of commission for the entire fight, and his teammate is most likely dead already. But that is only the best case scenario. Of course players will have PvP Trinkets, resist spells, or get dispelled, but you can see how powerful the CC is if used together.

Again communication is important. These long chain CC aren’t possible without calling out durations and cooldowns on vent. Though it is possible after playing together for awhile, that these chain CC occurs naturally. Some more on Crowd Control by Euripedes.

Overall PMR is a very agressive and fun team to play on. I am looking to get started doing PMR again on Utada. I have already starting doing PMR on Geldin with Doomilias as my Rogue partner, and our friend as the Priest.

Good luck and have fun!

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