Serennia Defeated.

Serennia, the highest ranked warrior in the world (no.1 in all 3 PVP categories on Bloodlust) has been defeated 4-0 by a prodigious and no less controversial HSH (hemo-shadowstep) rogue on PTR. Ultimus, with the PTR alias Silk, posted his recollections on how he has performed so:

"So I’m on the PTR getting my duels on, and there is this gnome warrior sitting on his mount talking **** to everyone instead of dueling. His name is Serae. I challenge him, he declines. This guy is clearly a pompous asshole, so I decide to rile him up a bit. Besides, its nice to duel someone who isn’t a rogue, paladin, or hunter once in a while. So I say something to the effect of:

“Serae won’t duel me because he is afraid of being dominated like a petite woman.”

This drew some attention (apparently he’s a big deal around here, I didn’t know of him). So he says he will duel me, but only for 5k gold. I agree because:

1) I want to duel this warrior.

2) Who the **** cares about gold on the PTR (even though I didn’t actually have any).

3) I’m not going to lose, maybe he will really give me 5k gold even though I doubt it.

So we duel, he gets worked, people laugh, he doesn’t pay. This is when I realize it’s Serennia “Best warrior in the world”. I could see why nobody likes this ****** bag. Anyway he bitches and makes excuses and tells me I will never beat him again. I didn’t expect him to actually pay me the gold, but I made him give me bandages before I would fight him again (I had none for the 1st fight). Duel number 2 goes even smoother than the first and Serae is ready to cry.

By now Serae is spamming me with the duel flag, desperate to reclaim his manhood. I prefer to have prep against a decent warrior, but I like dueling while I wait for it rather than just sitting for 10 minutes. So I fight him without prep, it’s close but I lose. I saw this coming when I accepted this duel, he jumps all over his chance to tell me how horrible I am. I congratulate him for beating me while I’m at 50% effectiveness and he calls me a liar, claiming I “definitely used prep”. Since I really hadn’t, I tell him I’m ready for another real duel. I beat him 4-0 when all was said and done.

In the last fight, I had about 45% hp left and all he had to say was “Yeah dude, AR/Prep is totally hard.” To which I reply, “Yeah dude, AR/Prep is totally my spec. I’m shadowstep hemo.”

Serae is not a likeable person, but people are kidding themselves when they say he’s a bad player. A gnome warrior with his gear can kill an average rogue by accident, so I will explain how I beat him consistently with my shadowstep hemo build (which I play because it is fun, not because it is better than AR/Prep).

I open with sap, even if he is in berzerker stance, and quickly move away. He will zerker rage out of the disorient (most warriors do this and serennia did every time). It is no problem, because sap diminishing returns don’t last as long as his cool down.

So after 15 seconds or so, I re-sap to set up my opener: sprint, premed->shadowstep garrote -> rupture -> vanish. I quickly get out of range and watch his shouts. Then as soon as he starts to eat I move back in for cheapshot into kidney shot. If he trinkets the kidney shot I blind immediately and restart. If he eats the full kidneyshot, I put a rupture on the end of it and move out to 5-8 kite until my energy is back.

Once I my energy has gone back to full, I move in for my evasion/ghostly strike rush. Whenever I am going toe to toe with him, I use my globals almost exclusively when I am at his back to avoid the retarded amount of dodge/parry. As soon as evasion ends, I try to land a 5 point kidney shot on him. If it gets resisted, I dump my combo points and blind.

If his trinket is up, I stand on top of him during blind and shiv as soon as I see him use it, then move back out to 5-8 until any bleeds wear off so I can use my 2nd vanish. Getting this 2nd vanish off is easier said than done, but if I get away the fight is over because I am free to repeat everything I have done until now, and he will die. If I can’t vanish, I just go in for my 2nd evasion rush at full energy and that is usually enough to comfortably get the job done anyway."

- Ultimus (aka Sleek/Silks on PTR)