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Anti-Ganking techniques in World of Warcraft

Written by Ithiladan

Tuesday, 20 November 2007

Do you want to be ganked less times? This guide will help you...

If you read my previous article about ganking advices you know what ganking is. So in this article I will give you guys some advices (again, there is no ordering, pick the ones you like) how to prevent or escape ganking in World of Warcraft. For my part, I consider escaping ganking much more fun than the actual ganking because it requires much more skill and knowledge of the game itself.

Advices on HOW TO PREVENT GANKING:

1. Choose your questing zone carefully

The first thing to do is to choose where to quest carefully. For each level, there are multiple zones in which you can quest. Choose the ones that, even contested, are belonging to your faction (you have a base camp in it or so) or the ones that are less visited by opposing faction. Also, within a zone containing an enemy base, try to stay as far away from that base as possible, because as you get closer, it is more probable to encounter enemy players. If you really must quest in these “danger” zones, read the following two advices.

2. Choose your hour appropriately

So you really want to enter those dangerous zones I described at point 1. An example for this is for Alliance players to go to Stranglethorn Valley, which is basically a Horde dominated contested territory (They have Grom’Gol base in it). You simply cannot miss questing there, because it has lots of quests ranging over almost 20 levels, linked with quests all over Azeroth, so this zone is a must for both factions. Or you want to grind elementals in Nagrand and you know it is always a crowded zone where enemy players won’t let you grind in peace. The solution here is to choose an appropriate hour to do so. For example, if you choose to play anywhere in Azeroth or Outland between 4 and 6 AM, there is likely you won’t encounter any player at all, ally or enemy. So if you feel you cannot progress somewhere because of enemy harassment, just pick a more appropriate time to do it.

3. Don’t go alone

If you are about to quest in a dangerous zone, just don’t go there alone, go with a group. The survivability chance is much higher this way and will usually discourage lonely gankers to attack you. However, don’t make that group a big raid, because you will ask for a big fight there and not for quiet questing/grinding.

4. Stay far away from roads

Statistically speaking, the most gankers are just guys passing by. You will get ganked more times by an enemy who is just passing by, kills you and then continues he’s way than from one who is there especially for ganking. So if you stay out of the roads and of their sight, the enemies won’t notice you.

5. Always look around

ALWAYS, while fighting or traveling, look around for possible gankers. You don’t have to look to the mob you are fighting to successfully defeat him, so rotate the view camera around and watch for red names. This won’t guarantee your safety, because the enemy can be in stealth mode or you just don’t have any chance to win. But most of the time you can do something about it, like just try to ensnare/stun them and make for an escape, or take a health/mana potion and get ready for a good fight. So look around all the time.

6. Put your back to the wall

To prevent stealth gankers from attacking you with some deadly move, stick your back to something when fighting with a mob or eat/drink. You can find plenty of such things to stay near, like walls, trees and such, just don’t let your back uncovered. They can still attack you of course, but they can’t hit you with some high DPS (Damage Per Second) ability from stealth. This is especially useful in narrow caves and passages, where you can stay all the time with your back to a wall, preventing stealthers from getting you unprepared.

7. Be humble

When in a disadvantaged position, be humble, don’t provoke people to gank you. Don’t go in front of their base and start killing mobs there or make rude or chicken gestures to them, or you are asking for being ganked. The best way is to stay out of their way and if they show their intention to gank you, try different funny thinks like bow, wave, farewell, etc.

8. Use mobs

This is a technique I use very often (doesn’t work against stealth gankers though). When you have to grind some specific mobs, don’t stay at the edge of the area where they live. Clear yourself a way to the middle of it, and then stay and kill mobs only there and don’t kill the respawns at the edge. That is a nice way to prevent an enemy from rushing at you since mobs will attack him, you will basically be protected by mobs while fighting in the middle of them.

9. Listen to the world sounds

This may seem stupid to some people, but the main reason to do this is simple. Most of stealth gankers don’t travel in stealth mode, so you have a good chance of hearing the sound made by them when entering stealth mode. Also, there is a good chance you will see them if they get to close to your front, but you are most likely to hear that sound again. Be aware, if that happens move away from the spot or if you are caught in a fight, just jump and move in circles, it will discourage the ganker because he is usually dependent on that stealth first strike to bring you down.

Now a list of advices for HOW TO ESCAPE GANKING:

1. Try to fight back

Ok, you failed to prevent an enemy from attacking you, what do you do next? The first thing you should do is to evaluate your chances. You have to be quick about it, because the enemy had time to plan his moves, you haven’t you are the “surprised” one most of the time, unless you saw him coming. This evaluating should take into account enemy class, gear (if recognizable), level difference between you and him, your health and mana status (energy and rage are not that important as they regenerate quickly), your potion readiness, cooldowns, etc. If you think you have a chance, go for it. If you succeed in defending and killing the attacker, he will never try to gank you again (usually) and he will remember you, as it is very shameful for a ganker to be killed in action by a victim found in a disadvantaged position. Use all you have on him. If your mob is still alive, it is better to somehow put him out of battle or try to damage him at the same time. If the mob is almost dead, try to kill it first, while staying keeping your back away from the enemy.

2. Run

This can be done in two situations, when you see the enemy approaching or when he already attacked, you. In the first case, just run away, mount if possible, or use your speed increase/teleport capabilities. Mages are very good at it, as they can both ensnare the enemy and teleport forward. I remember escaping with my mage when he was lvl 36 from a lvl 70 shadow priest. He chased me all Stranglethorn, and he had a mount and I wasn’t. The trick is simple: he can’t get to you if you teleport each time the ability is ready and he must dismount to cast spells, and it takes some time to mount again. Just be creative and really take into consideration what class are you running away of. If he already attacked you, your only chance is to use some ensnare abilities on him before run, else you are asking for some dazing on you. Use the terrain while running. If you get to a point where you can’t see the enemy, he can’t see you neither, so this is your chance. At the first moment when you lose sight of the enemy, change your running direction and use the environment to hide. They will usually keep following in the same direction. Even if you are a rogue, don’t vanish while the enemy sees you, do it when you are away so they have no clue where you went. And a last thing about running, don’t run away from hunters, it is useless. They can both ensnare you with their shots and they can track you on a very long range, so there is no point, try other methods in this case.

3. Use mobs

Again use mobs in your advantage. Make your enemy run into some mobs and then make it for an escape. On all this process, make sure you don’t run into some mobs yourself, or you are making it easier for the enemy.

4. Run to friends if possible

If there are friendly base camps or groups of allies that you know of, run there, there is a chance you will get some help with it, because some gankers never stop hunting you until you’re dead.

5. How to escape camping

If the ganker successfully ganked you and you pissed him somehow (or he is just pissed in general J ) he will camp you. That is, each time you will try to get to life, he will kill you again and again, until you either logout or call for help. So how do you get out of this situation? It is very frustrating to be killed again and again, there is no fun in it from victim’s side. First of all, you must be sure you are camped. For example I saw enemy players faking a HeartStone and canceling it in the last moment to make me resurrect, or others riding away and then coming right back to you to kill you again (this is happening usually with Shaman or Warlock victims who can resurrect instantly). If they are camping, then here are some advices. You must use the full range of your resurrection. That is, you must resurrect as far as possible. You must use the terrain if possible, to resurrect away from their sight and then run away as far as you can. If hiding in environment is not possible, try to resurrect after a while when they are not paying attention and run in the opposite direction as far as you can and as fast as you can. For rogues, there is a trick to resurrect and go to stealth mode in a split second, so because of the game latency they won’t even notice you resurrected. Anyway, be creative and think of something some less creative people like gankers are not even suspecting.