TBC Anniversary PvP Guide: Season 3 Arena Comps and Builds

Quick summary

• Arena Season 3 started September 1, 2026 and carries through the Zul'Aman update (Phase 3.5). Ratings are personal, start at 1500, and pay Arena Points weekly after 10 games in a bracket.
• Start with a Restoration Druid or Discipline Priest. They are the healers named most often in Warcraft Tavern's 2v2 and 3v3 comp lists, well ahead of Resto Shaman and Holy Paladin.
• Arms Warrior + Resto Druid is "by far the strongest combination" for Arms in 2v2 (Warcraft Tavern). Rogue + Mage + Priest (RMP) leads 3v3.
• Honor buys Season 1 gear and the Vindicator's off-pieces; Arena Points buy Season 3 gear. Season 2 gear is discounted with no rating requirement.
• Battlegrounds are unrated and pay Honor and Marks of Honor. The rated brackets are 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5.

This TBC Anniversary PvP guide covers how arena and battlegrounds work on Anniversary realms, which PvP talent build to run for each spec, which partners and 3v3 teams to look for, and how to spend Honor, Marks and Arena Points. For which specs are climbing the ladder right now, read it next to our TBC Anniversary PvP tier list, which ranks every spec from live Season 3 ladder data.

How TBC Anniversary arena works in Season 3

• Season dates: Blizzard's Phase 3 announcement ended Season 2 the week of August 16 and started Season 3 on September 1, 2026, with each region's weekly reset.
• Personal ratings: named Arena Teams are gone. Each character has its own 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5 rating, starting at 1500. You still need a full party to queue a rated match.
• Weekly Arena Points: play at least 10 games in a bracket in a week, win or lose. Points arrive at the weekly reset, based on your rating and bracket.
• Bracket multipliers: 76% for 2v2, 88% for 3v3 and 100% for 5v5. They change the weekly payout, not the rating you gain per match.
• Point carryover: Honor doesn't decay. Unspent Season 2 Arena Points were converted to Honor at 1 Arena Point to 10 Honor (Blizzard).
• Arena maps: Nagrand Arena, Blade's Edge Arena and the Ruins of Lordaeron.

TBC Anniversary arena rewards: gear, titles and the Vengeful Nether Drake

Reward	How you get it
Vengeful Gladiator (Season 3) armor	Arena Points at vendors in Shattrath and Nagrand (Blizzard). Most slots have no rating requirement
Vengeful shoulders and weapons	Arena Points plus a personal rating. Shoulders are widely reported at 2,000; check the weapon's requirement on the vendor tooltip before you save
Merciless Gladiator (Season 2) armor	Discounted at Area 52 vendors in Netherstorm, no rating requirement (Blizzard)
Gladiator (Season 1) armor	Honor, at the Champion's Hall in Stormwind and the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar (Blizzard)
Vindicator's off-pieces	Honor. Belts, bracers, boots and accessories that fill the slots the sets don't cover
Titles	At season end: Gladiator (top 0.5%), Duelist (0.5–3%), Rival (3–10%) and Challenger (10–35%) in original TBC (Warcraft Wiki). Blizzard confirms the final cutoffs when the season ends
Vengeful Nether Drake	Season 3 Gladiators at season end

Every PvP set's 2-piece bonus gives +35 Resilience Rating, and the 4-piece improves a class tool. For example, Warrior Intercept's cooldown is 5 seconds shorter and Rogues get +10 maximum Energy. Resilience lowers the chance you're critically hit and the damage of those crits, and it also reduces damage-over-time and mana-drain effects. It's the stat that makes PvP gear worth wearing over raid gear in arena.

Earn every PvP currency

Currency	How you earn it	Where you spend it (Warcraft Tavern)
Honor	Battlegrounds and world PvP, no weekly cap	Champion's Hall (Stormwind), Hall of Legends (Orgrimmar)
Marks of Honor	Battleground marks	Same halls; combined with Honor for some items. Also tabards and mounts (30 each of Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley marks)
Arena Points	10+ games a week in any bracket; amount depends on rating and bracket	Shattrath and Nagrand arena vendors, plus Area 52 for Season 2
Marks of Thrallmar / Honor Hold	Hellfire Fortifications daily, plus killing blows at Hellfire and Zangarmarsh objectives	Field Scouts in Zangarmarsh, and Hellfire vendors
Halaa Battle Tokens	Killing blows at the Nagrand Halaa objectives	Halaa quartermasters in Nagrand
Spirit Shards	Auchindoun bosses while your faction holds all five Terokkar Spirit Towers	Spirit Sages in Terokkar Forest

Reputation PvP gear:

• It needs Honored with Keepers of Time, Lower City, Cenarion Expedition, Thrallmar/Honor Hold or The Sha'tar. Our Sha'tar reputation guide covers the fastest route there.
• You can mix it with Honor and Arena sets and keep the set bonuses.
• The same factions at Honored also open heroic keys since the October 22 update. See our heroic keys guide.

Mark trade-in: the For Great Honor quest in Shattrath trades one of each mark for Honor.

TBC Anniversary battlegrounds

Battleground	Team size	Objective
Warsong Gulch	10 v 10	Capture the enemy flag three times
Arathi Basin	15 v 15	Hold resource nodes to reach the score first
Alterac Valley	40 v 40	Push the lane and kill the enemy general
Eye of the Storm	15 v 15	Hold towers and carry the central flag for bonus points

Battlegrounds are the main Honor source and the only source of Marks of Honor. Our tier list has a short table of which specs suit each battleground role.

TBC PvP builds by spec

Named builds from each Warcraft Tavern PvP spec page. The default is listed first.

Spec	Builds	Defining choice
Arms Warrior	Stun build, stun variation, Poleaxe build	Mace Specialization stuns plus Master Hammersmith weapons drive the meta
Protection Warrior	Arms/Prot, Deep Prot	Arms/Prot keeps Mortal Strike. Deep Prot is better against casters (Shield Slam removes magic)
Rogue	Shadowstep, Mutilate, Combat (HArP)	Warcraft Tavern calls Shadowstep "top tier" and the most popular
Frost Mage	Standard (enhanced AoE slow), variation	Strict talent path
Fire Mage	Deep Fire, Pom/Pyro (Slow), Pom/Pyro (Blast Wave)	Pom/Pyro is the one-shot "cheese" setup
BM Hunter	BM/MM Aimed Shot, BM/SV Deterrence	Pick Aimed Shot or Deterrence
MM Hunter	Standard, alternative, Glass Cannon	Deterrence or not
Survival Hunter	Deep Survival (Readiness), MM/SV, BM/SV, Melee Survival ×2	Readiness resets Wyvern Sting, so you can hard-CC two targets
Destruction Warlock	Standard arena, alternative, Improved Corruption	You can't get Soul Link without giving up Conflagrate
Shadow Priest	Spirit Tap, Shadow Focus	Shadow Focus if your gear lacks spell hit
Elemental Shaman	Burst (self-heal), Burst (dispel protection), Mobility	Burst builds dip deep into Restoration
Enhancement Shaman	Enh/Resto, Enh/Elemental	Totemic Mastery and Nature's Guidance
Restoration Shaman	Mana Tide, Toughness, Elemental Warding	Earth Shield and Improved Ghost Wolf are locked in
Restoration Druid	Standard, Dreamstate Resto/Balance, Tree of Life	"Restokin" hybrid for burst
Balance Druid	Deep Balance, Nature's Swiftness ×2, Feral Charge	Moonkin Form in all of them
Feral Druid	Standard, alternative	Omen of Clarity forces 11 Resto points
Holy Paladin	Standard, Battleground, Aggressive Stun	The standard build resists Stun and Silence
Ret Paladin	Standard (stun meta), Ret/Holy hybrid, Seal Twisting Reckoning	Crusader Strike is "a must-have" by consensus

Most arena Warlocks don't run Destruction at all. They run a Soul Link build (SL/SL), which our Warlock guide covers with its PvE builds. The Rogue, Warrior and Shaman guides cover each class's raid builds and gear.

Best 2v2 comps in TBC Anniversary

From Warcraft Tavern's 2v2 lists. "Best" is in Warcraft Tavern's own words where it uses them.

You play	Strongest partners listed
Arms Warrior	Resto Druid ("by far the strongest"), Disc Priest, Holy Paladin, Resto Shaman, Ret Paladin
Prot Warrior	Resto Druid, Disc Priest, Holy Paladin, Resto Shaman
Frost Mage	Subtlety Rogue, Disc Priest, Shadow Priest, Affliction Warlock, Destro Warlock
Fire Mage	Subtlety Rogue, Disc Priest, Shadow Priest, Affliction Warlock, Destro Warlock
BM / MM / SV Hunter	Ret Paladin, Disc Priest, Affliction Warlock, Resto Druid, Fire or Frost Mage
Destruction Warlock	Disc Priest, Resto Druid, Frost Mage, Subtlety Rogue, Shadow Priest. Warcraft Tavern says Destro has "a hard time in 2v2"
Shadow Priest	Affliction Warlock, Subtlety Rogue, Frost Mage, Elemental Shaman, Resto Shaman
Elemental Shaman	Balance Druid, Fire Mage, Destro Warlock, Ret Paladin, Subtlety Rogue
Enhancement Shaman	Disc Priest, Resto Druid, Ret Paladin, Fire Mage, Arms Warrior
Balance Druid	Fire or Frost Mage, Subtlety Rogue, Destro Warlock, Elemental Shaman, BM Hunter
Feral Druid	Ret Paladin, Fire Mage, Enhancement Shaman, Arms Warrior, Subtlety Rogue
Ret Paladin	Enhancement Shaman, Feral Druid, Arms Warrior, BM or MM Hunter
Resto Druid	Arms Warrior, Affliction Warlock, Subtlety Rogue, BM or MM Hunter, Enhancement Shaman
Resto Shaman	Arms Warrior, Affliction Warlock, Subtlety Rogue, Ret Paladin, Feral Druid
Holy Paladin	Arms Warrior, Subtlety Rogue, Affliction Warlock, Frost Mage. Warcraft Tavern calls Holy Paladin "barely viable in many comps"

Example. Two friends queue 2v2 as a Ret Paladin and a Holy Paladin. Neither appears in the other's strongest list. The Ret player can keep his spec and ask the healer to try Resto Druid on an alt, or the healer can stay and look for an Arms Warrior.

Best 3v3 comps in TBC Anniversary

These are the first-listed 3v3 setups on each Warcraft Tavern spec page:

Core	Comp	Source page
Warrior cleave	Arms Warrior / Resto Druid / Enhancement Shaman	Arms Warrior
Warrior + Warlock	Arms Warrior / Resto Druid / Affliction Warlock	Arms Warrior
Rogue/Mage/Priest	Frost Mage / Subtlety Rogue / Disc Priest	Frost Mage, Fire Mage
Shadow cleave	Shadow Priest / Affliction Warlock / Resto Druid	Shadow Priest
Hunter	BM Hunter / Resto Druid / Affliction Warlock	BM Hunter
Hunter + Paladin	BM, MM or SV Hunter / Disc Priest / Ret Paladin	Hunter pages
Rogue + Warlock	Destro Warlock / Subtlety Rogue / Resto Druid	Destruction Warlock
Shaman caster	Elemental Shaman / Disc Priest / Frost Mage	Elemental Shaman
Ret melee	Ret Paladin / Arms Warrior / Enhancement Shaman	Ret Paladin
Resto Shaman	Resto Shaman / Affliction Warlock / Subtlety Rogue	Resto Shaman
Holy Paladin	Holy Paladin / Arms Warrior / Enhancement Shaman	Holy Paladin
Cheese	Elemental Shaman / Fire Mage / Fire Mage	Elemental Shaman

How to choose:

1. Pick your main.
2. Find a healer that appears in your spec's list. Resto Druid and Disc Priest appear most.
3. Add the DPS that appears in both your list and your healer's list.

Spec pages list what fits each spec; the PvP tier list shows which of those comps are actually climbing in Season 3.

Gear, gems and enchants for PvP

• Fresh 70: buy Season 1 pieces with Honor and reputation PvP pieces at Honored, then replace them with Season 3 pieces as Arena Points come in.
• Off-pieces: Vindicator's belts, bracers and boots cost Honor and fill slots the sets don't cover.
• Enchants and gems: see our gems and enchants guide. Each Warcraft Tavern PvP page also lists PvP-specific enchants.
• Gold for all of it: our gold farming guide covers the steady Phase 3 methods.

Avoid these PvP mistakes

• Skipping your 10 weekly games. With fewer than 10, you get no Arena Points.
• Playing Destro Warlock or Holy Paladin in 2v2 without a partner from their list.
• Saving for shoulders or a weapon before you check their rating requirement.
• Ignoring reputation PvP pieces. They're cheap starter gear and count toward set bonuses.
• Spending Arena Points on Season 2 pieces you could replace within two weeks. Use them on Season 3 slots first.

Returning, boosted or alt players

• Returning: queue battlegrounds for Honor and Marks while you play your 10 arena games.
• New 70: get Honored with the five factions for starter gear.
• Alt: pick the role your arena friends are missing. A healer gets games fastest.

Arena and battleground services from independent sellers are listed on the TBC Anniversary PvP page, and the rest of our guides sit on the TBC Anniversary hub. Blizzard's End User License Agreement restricts account sharing and paid in-game services, and a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

FAQ

What is the best 2v2 comp in TBC Anniversary? Rogue with a Disc Priest or Resto Druid is the default, since Rogues and Druids hold the most 2v2 top-100 spots in Season 3. For Warriors, Arms Warrior + Resto Druid is the pick Warcraft Tavern calls "by far the strongest combination."

What is the best 3v3 comp in TBC Anniversary? RMP: Subtlety Rogue, Frost Mage and Disc Priest. RLD and RLP with a Soul Link Warlock are next.

How many arena games do I need each week? 10 in a single bracket to get Arena Points at the weekly reset. Losses count.

Do I need a team for rated arena in TBC Anniversary? You don't need a named Arena Team, because ratings are personal. You still need a full party of the bracket's size to queue.

What do I get from TBC Anniversary PvP? Season 3 armor and weapons, titles from Challenger to Gladiator, and the Vengeful Nether Drake for Season 3 Gladiators.

What's the best PvP healer? Resto Druid and Disc Priest. Warcraft Tavern says many consider Resto Druid the strongest, and both lead the Season 3 ladder data in our tier list.

Related guides

• TBC Anniversary PvP tier list
• TBC Anniversary Rogue guide
• TBC Anniversary Warlock guide
• TBC Anniversary Warrior guide
• Gems and enchants for every spec
• Heroic dungeons and keys