As her mentor, Gabryell could not lose to his own apprentice.
He had played Mage for more than ten years. If he could not beat a Priest who had only been playing for half a month, he might as well delete his character and uninstall the game.
He did not even need Polymorph. He could still beat Danielly's Shadow Priest.
Dispel Magic had a 30-yard range, while Mind Flay only reached 24 yards. In a duel, as long as he stayed outside that range, the Shadow Priest would lose access to one of her core tools.
Shadow Priests had Silence, but Ice Block could break it and clear Shadow Word: Pain at the same time. Danielly was a Dwarf Priest, not an Undead Priest, so she did not have Devouring Plague. With Dampen Magic active, Shadow Word: Pain alone was not enough to kill a Mage easily.
"You can Blink out of Psychic Scream? That works?"
Blackout had given Danielly a brief stun window, and she immediately tried to move in for Psychic Scream. Gabryell dodged it with Blink.
Mages really were Blizzard's favorite child. Blink could break movement restrictions by default, while Rogues had to spend talent points just to make Sprint do the same thing.
He pulled away, forcing her to use Mind Blast.
Danielly dispelled his Ice Barrier and began casting.
Mind Blast had a 1.5-second cast time. Although its crit bonus was only 50%, the base damage was terrifying. Getting hit by a Shadow Priest's Mind Blast could take half your health, and if it crit, it could send you straight to the graveyard.
That was exactly what Gabryell had been waiting for.
Counterspell.
Her Shadow spells were locked out.
Unable to cast Shadow magic, she started wanding.
"Frozen?"
Her wand had barely hit him before she was suddenly frozen in place.
Deadman's Hand had procced.
She could only blame her luck.
Gabryell immediately pulled away and started casting Fireball. A Fireball crit hit harder than Frostbolt.
And it crit.
With her health dropping into the red, Danielly quickly dropped Shadowform and used Desperate Prayer.
That was when he used Dog Whistle, sending the Tracking Hound after her so she could not safely free-cast Smite.
With the dog biting her, she had no choice but to switch targets and waste mana killing it.
"Her mana pool is too small."
If she had been a Shadow Priest with enough mana, Gabryell might not have been able to beat her without using Polymorph. Unfortunately, she had chased Shadow damage too hard, leaving herself with too little mana. After only a few spells, she was almost dry.
Shadow Priests had no real way to recover mana in a duel. Once they were OOM, all they could do was wand.
"For Shadow Priest PvP, Intellect and Stamina come first," Gabryell thought. In his view, Shadow damage came after survivability and mana. With enough Intellect and Stamina, a Shadow Priest could slowly grind opponents down with Shadow Word: Pain.
That was why, for a level 60 Shadow Priest, the Necropile set from Scholomance was stronger in PvP than raw DPS gear from Molten Core.
Danielly's mana hit rock bottom, and she basically lost her ability to deal damage. There was no way she could beat a Mage who still had half his mana left by wanding him.
In the end, she lost.
"Oh..."
She sounded like a kid who had done something wrong.
"You played well," Gabryell said. "Just remember this for PvP: don't tunnel too hard on Shadow damage. Intellect and Stamina matter more than people think."
"Got it."
Danielly accepted the advice honestly.
"Ogabs, want to wait for Ice Block?"
Dreamshade whispered him. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and did not want an unfair win.
"No need," Gabryell replied. "Let's go."
"That confident?"
"Always."
"Then I won't hold back."
Dreamshade stopped being polite and challenged him.
"Ogabs versus Dreamshade. Now this is the match."
"Fearless versus Madhouse. Whoever wins this basically wins the tournament."
"Ogabs takes it. Best Mage on the server."
"I'm betting on Dreamshade. He's the top Rogue here."
Rogue and Mage were a classic combo, and also a classic duel matchup.
Rogue vs. Mage came down to trading cooldowns correctly. Overall, it was basically a 50/50 matchup. For the Rogue, the key was not hesitating. He had to commit his tools cleanly and try to kill the Mage in one full setup.
Gabryell's build was Deep Frost, and as a Human, he had Perception, so he was not afraid of Dreamshade's Stealth.
In duels, there was an unwritten rule. Unless it was Rogue versus Rogue, players usually did not break a Rogue's Stealth before the opener. Otherwise, the Rogue barely got to play the matchup.
Dreamshade stealthed behind him and opened with Cheap Shot, trying to force out Blink.
Gabryell was not about to let him land a full combo, so he Blinked away immediately.
Dreamshade was an Engineer. He threw an Iron Grenade directly at the Blink landing point.
Perfect prediction.
As expected of a professional Rogue.
A 3-second stun was enough for him to close the gap. Whether he followed with Blind or Gouge, he would have plenty of time to plan the rest of his combo, because Gabryell's Ice Block was still on cooldown unless he used Cold Snap to reset it.
"You want to lock me down? Not that easy."
The instant the stun ended, Gabryell acted first and used Tidal Charm, stunning Dreamshade in place.
"Damn, that reaction time."
Dreamshade was shocked, but he immediately used Sprint to break free.
Frost Nova.
Gabryell gave him no chance to close in, freezing him in place again. At that point, Dreamshade either had to use Preparation to reset Sprint, or sit there and take damage while hoping the freeze broke early.
That was the basic flow of Rogue vs. Mage. The Mage had to survive until the Rogue burned through his cooldowns. The Rogue had to kill the Mage before that happened.
Dreamshade had no time to overthink it. He used Preparation to reset Sprint, then immediately Vanished.
Gabryell smiled.
There was no way he was letting him get away.
He activated Nifty Stopwatch, and his movement speed jumped. While boosted, he swept the area around him with Rank 1 Arcane Explosion, blasting Dreamshade out of Stealth.
Revealed, Dreamshade gave a bitter smile.
He knew he was going to lose.
Gabryell's Blink cooldown was back. He Blinked away, then used Rank 1 Frostbolt to slow him.
Dreamshade could only watch as his movement speed dropped to a crawl.
From there, Gabryell calmly kited him. Whenever the Rogue got close, he used Cone of Cold or Frost Nova, pulled away again, and kept the kite going.
"I lost."
Dreamshade sighed. At level 45, Rogue vs. Mage was simply too rough.
Gabryell smiled. "Level 45 PvP is a mess anyway. We'll run it back at 60."
In truth, even level 60 dueling was not fully developed. PvP only became more professional at level 70, when Arena and Resilience gear entered the game and eventually led to professional World of Warcraft Arena tournaments.
"The Horde is coming!"
Suddenly, general chat exploded.
"Holy shit, Horde in Dun Morogh! There are hundreds of them heading for Ironforge!"
"I was just in Loch Modan. Saw a huge Horde group moving this way."
"Horde incoming! Group up and wipe them!"
No one had expected the Horde to crash the party before the duel tournament had fully ended.
Of course, they were not actually here to attack Ironforge. They did not have that kind of strength yet. Most likely, they wanted to come to the outskirts, watch the tournament, and flex a little Horde muscle.
It was a provocation, plain and simple.
There was no way the Alliance could ignore it.
"Group up," Gabryell said. "Let's go welcome them."
He had already spotted Horde players appearing at the foot of the mountain. A major fight was unavoidable.
Dreamshade laughed. "Warming up for Honor a day early. I like it."
Honor went live tomorrow, but everyone was already restless tonight. Since the Horde wanted a fight, they would get one.
"Kill the Horde!"
More and more Horde gathered below the mountain, but they showed no intention of coming up.
This was Alliance territory. How could they let the Horde strut around outside Ironforge?
The duel tournament was forgotten instantly. The moment Horde showed up, every Alliance player outside Ironforge had the same target.
"For the Alliance! Down the hill!"
"For the Alliance! Kill them!"
No one knew who started the charge.
Hundreds of Alliance players rushed down the mountain, undaunted by the Horde numbers below.
Only one thought burned in their minds.
For the Alliance!