5 Down 3 Up, Pressure Feeds Me, Holy Paladins and Hunters a Match Made in Heaven.

I'm done for the season unless we decide to mess around with some 5v5 shenanigans Monday night. Our Sunday evening 5s series left us broken and disheartened as we ruptured points to some of the BGs top competition (and some team with a Bryntroll DK). I was hoping to push 5s to 2619 passing an inactive team and being "safe" glad so the pressure was off my 3s team but that didn't happen.

As our 5s ended I hopped onto my alt feral druid and started to quest again in Netherstorm shortly thereafter Ashius whisped me asking if I wanted to grind some threes. I was still a little upset and disheartened from the last 5s game where we watched Filovirus's (a tri heal team with a 95% win ratio) priest bounce between 30-70% life for close to 2 minutes while OOM as we slammed damage into him hoping for a win but alas that kill never came. None the less I agreed and we rallied our druid and started to queue. We initially started as Destro/SV/Rdruid and had mixed success dropping some games to Billian's RArcanePriest team and we really weren't making any notable progress as we had to boost 100~ rating to get over 2600.

...and then it happened...

As I was sitting there getting ready to queue again some unknown force opened up my spec selection screen and clicked on activate this spec. I was now MM speced and I reached into my stable to pull out my trusty serpent.

It's time to play this comp the way it was meant to be played! There is really only one true way to play Destro/MM/Rdruid and that can only be described as offensively reckless. Push hard, switch hard, CC hard, ram hard. If you're bouncing around 30% life and you think you need to los F that noise and push. Use that health stone, battle masters, and rely on those hots rolling. YOUR job is to create offensive pressure and to push the other team on the defensive. You need to strike the fear of death into your opponents every second of the game. That is how hunter,lock,druid is supposed to be played and that is how we finished the season. We were on a roll dropping our enemies and gaining rate. We reached 2606 and then had to ask one question of ourselves. Continue on or call it for the seasons? We choose to call it as Garathorn's internet has been decisively evil when it comes to it's timing and I didn't want to have to rely on a Monday night push for gladiator due to a possible disconnect.  Monday night I'll be in bed early sleeping well knowing the title is secure.

We had mixed success before with me as MM and I don't know what changed. Perhaps it was me feeding on the pressure or maybe it was years of hunter instincts coming out in a blistering display of innate ability. I honestly can't even recount the games we played to finish the night. It's as if they were all just a blur and my subconscious took over and did what needed to be done. Regardless of what exactly happened it was done and I'm fairly satisfied with how the season ended despite not having a hunter's true love to carry me.

Paladins and Hunters have an arena sexual connection.



This is a selection of the top 25 highest rated hunter teams in the world. If I didn't tell you that at first glance you might think I was listing the top paladins. In 3v3 and 5v5 hunters and paladins have a relationship that breeds beautiful results. The added mobility a paladin affords a hunter combined with their raw durability makes them arguably the best healer to support a hunter regardless of bracket. If you're in the team building process the first place you should look is to add a paladin to your team whether that be ret/prot/or holy in 3v3 (all of which have competitive team setups) or a Hpal in 5v5 you'll want one or the other supporting you.

Blessing of might is a HUGE boost to hunter damage and since we're rarely fighting alongside a warrior having a paladin to provide AP is extremely beneficial. Hand of Freedom is just icing on the cake when combined with a frost trap.

I'll be looking for a paladin for my arena teams in S8 if I can manage it and I may not have to look far as Garathorn has started gearing out his Paladin. Internal hiring is usually best in a business environment and I'm hoping that will also hold true for arena. Arguably both my 3v3 and 5v5 team setups would be more powerful just switching out the Resto druid for a paladin and I'm looking forward to seeing if that holds true.

Good luck to everyone crossing their fingers for S7 Glad/RGlad. I'll see you in S8.