The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Netherdrakes.

I know that more than a few of us have no interest in hearing from another Death Knight. While the class dominated Season 5, and still seems strong in Season 6, we should remember that few successful Death Knights started the Arena with the opening of Wrath of the Lich King. It's with that thought in mind that I found what Gladiator Grave had to say interesting.

He could have been focused on things like "Death Grip's awesome, and I use it against casters." Instead, Grave echoed many of the most important sentiments we here from many successful fighters. Synergy, coordination, and communication are the hallmarks that Grave recommends.

Check out the full interview after the cut.



WoW Insider: Who are your teammates right now? What's the general plan behind your composition? What challenges does your team have?

Grave: Currently, I am only taking 2s competitively right now. I am still in the middle of sorting out a 3v3. I have no plans to run a 5v5 since it usually ends up being a bunch of bloodlusted chickens with their heads cut off running around hitting all of 3 buttons. My current 2v2 partner is a Holy Paladin by the name of Nerflol. He is a real life friend of mine, and we have been building synergy together for a while. One of the most underrated things you can have in this game is synergy. Sometimes you mesh well with your partners, other times no matter what you do you just can't make it work together. Since I'm an Unholy DK currently under alias Grave - we run DK/Holy paladin in 2v2.

Generally, our strategy has been running the other opponents out of resources (ie: OOM). Running a JotW paladin means we can usually take advantage of the mana regeneration and out last the other team.

If we don't make the healer go OOM, usually our games end in us catching someone that overextended and both DPS to get a gib. Personally, I prefer to play aggressive since it's more fun to have a faster paced game. I don't think anyone enjoys spending 10-15 minutes in the same game.

We are still adapting some game plans against certain teams. The only real struggle we seem to have had is against select few Priest/Rogues, DK/Druids with a few other exceptions. As a whole though, we generally have a winning chance against every team we face, we never really get blown out of the water. Consistency might be our biggest struggle, hopefully that smoothes out with enough practice and patients.

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