Warrior/Paladin has long been considered a “classic combo” in WoW PvP group setup. From world PvP to Battlegrounds, it benefited from well-rounded and consistent options, and a versatility that few two-man teams could match. Longevity, pressure, reactive abilities, and control of movement defined the Warrior/Paladin pairing and made them a powerful force in any setting.

With the advent of arenas and level 70 PvP, Warrior/Paladin has once again exerted dominance as an ideal core for any team format, providing the most common two-man pairing amongst high-rated arena teams in the game. This setup has experienced success across the boards; in 5v5 arenas, for example, Warrior/Paladin (and usually a Priest) forms the absolute backbone of over 90% of teams with ratings above 2000 with the myriad control options and “answers” the pairing has at their fingertips. In 3v3 arenas, Warrior/Paladin creates a strong, balanced basis that works well with almost any 3rd man, capitalizing on many of the same benefits as running the pairing in 5v5s. In the 2v2 arena format, Warrior/Paladin defies many of the “gimmick team” issues of the format with its immunity to several “free win” control strategies while providing a balanced set of abilities to match up well against most other 2-man configurations.

Class Breakdown: The Warrior
Warriors form the highest play-percentage of any class in high-end arena play, with 30% of top 2v2 teams, over 60% of top 3v3 teams, and over 95% of top 5v5 teams running a Warrior in their main lineup, according to the Armory. Warriors have one of the highest damage potentials in the entire game and control many aspects of a fight with snares, stuns, and interrupts. They are mostly immune to one of the most common sources of Crowd Control (Fears), and, with proper heal support, are one of the hardest targets to bring down. The Warrior’s greatest contribution to a fight, however, is the addition of Mortal Strike, uncontested for its ability to bring a target down and to apply both constant pressure and an enormous mana sink for the opposing team. The Warrior is essentially a ticking time bomb when he is able to stick to an opponent; he will eventually kill his target in a prolonged fight given enough time. The Warrior benefits from incredible burst damage potential, which happens naturally as part of his normal sustained damage stream. With a few good successive criticals from a Warrior, a target can suddenly drop 50% of their HP with no real warning, setup, or use of cooldowns on the Warrior’s part. The Warrior is still applying his standard pressure and control (Mortal Strike, Hamstring, Piercing Howl, etc.) and really has not changed his actions or tactics at all to cause this sudden drop of health – thus, the opponent cannot really plan for it. When combined with the effects of Mortal Strike and the constant stuns/interrupts from skills and passive abilities, Warriors are able to dictate the flow of a fight by forcing opponents (and especially opponent healers) to base their actions largely around the Warrior’s choice of targets and potential damage flow.