Warsong Gulch

= General = Nestled in the southern region of Ashenvale forest, Warsong Gulch is near the area where Grom Hellscream and his Orcs chopped away huge swaths of forest during the events of the Third War. Despite disagreements from Thrall and the shamans, some orcs have remained in the vicinity, continuing their deforestation to fuel the Horde's expansion. They call themselves the Warsong Outriders.

The Night Elves, who have begun a massive push to retake the forests of Ashenvale, are now focusing their attention on ridding their land of the Outriders once and for all. And so, the Silverwing Sentinels have answered the call and sworn that they will not rest until every last Orc is defeated and cast out of Warsong Gulch.

Getting there
The Alliance entrance is in Silverwing Grove southwest of Silverwing Outpost in Ashenvale Forest. The Silverwing Outpost is at the corner of the main road through Ashenvale and the road to The Barrens. Be very careful if you are below Level 20, around the Silverwing Grove are many spiders with strong venom in the area.

Or talk to the Battlemasters in the cities of Stormwind (Stormwind Keep), Darnassus (Warrior's Terrace) or Ironforge (Military Ward).

The Horde entrance is in the mountainside to the West of Mor'Shan Rampart in The Barrens or via Battlemasters in Orgrimmar (Valley of Strength), Thunder Bluff, and Undercity (Sylvanas' chambers).

You can talk to the Battlemasters in any capital.

Characteristics
=Overview= Warsong Gulch is a multiple instance zone hosting a Capture the Flag style match for 10 on 10 level bracketed PvP action. Each side needs at least 5 players or the game will end after 5 minutes.

The brackets are currently (as of version 1.9.4):
 * 10-19 3 Marks of honor turn in gives 50 WSG Rep,50 Honor, and 725xp
 * 20-29 3 Marks of honor turn in gives 50 WSG Rep,82 Honor, and 1200xp
 * 30-39
 * 40-49
 * 50-59
 * 60

There can be multiple instances for a particular bracket if there are enough level appropriate participants for a given level bracket.

Resurrection in Warsong Gulch functions as normal, but if your insignia is taken you can only be resurrected at your local graveyard by an NPC who casts a resurrection every 30 seconds. As of 1.9.2 you do not have to click anything. You are put in the "resurrection wave". Hunters and Warlocks will have their current or most recent pet resurrected as well, even if that pet was not alive at the time of the player's death or if the pet has not been summoned since entering the battleground.

Tactics
In Warsong Gulch, it is often useful to form a raid party and separate the group into parties based on offense or defense. These tasks may be further subdivided into inside defense, outside defense, scouts, enemy base patrol, and flag capture. The key to victory is often communication with the other players in your faction. By communicating, your teammates will have the edge and be able to anticipate your enemies' postition and movements. It is useful to know, for example, if the opposing faction has characters camped at your graveyard. When allocating parties within a raid group, attention should be focused on not only the classes and abilities of the players involved, but also their levels. For example, it is foolish to send in some level 22 characters when you know that the enemy flag is guarded by multiple level 29s. It is important to keep in mind abilities that can root or snare a player, as well as speed enhancements, and the ability to sucessfully get away from a group. As in any PvP situation, the key ability to develop with your character is the abiity to adapt.

Power-Ups
There are three types of power-ups found in Warsong Gulch. To use them, simply walk up to one. They will respawn after a short period of time.
 * [[Image:BerserkingPowerUp.jpg]] Berserking - Increases all damage caused by 30%, all damage taken by 10% and increases your size by 10%. Lasts 1 min.
 * [[Image:RestorationPowerUp.jpg]] Restoration - Restores 10% of your health and mana every second for 10 seconds. Attacking or being attacked will cancel the effect.
 * [[Image:SpeedPowerUp.jpg]] Speed - Increases movement speed by 100% for 10 seconds.

Honor Rewards
The game awards bonus honor to everyone on your side of the match for reaching certain goals. Those goals are:
 * capturing the opponents flag, rewards 396 honor (at level 60)
 * winning the match, rewards 198 honor (at level 60)

Honor for lower level matches scales down from the amounts given. Other scored events are not granted honor. These include: killing blows, picking up the opponent's flag, and returning your flag to your base. Honor is awarded for honorable kills as normal.

Winning a complete match (3 captures and the win bonus) gives you 1386 honor (at level 60). It also awards you 3 marks of honor. Turning in the quest for 3 marks of honor is worth an additional 396 honor points.

Losing a complete match (0 captures and a loss) gives you no bonus honor. The only honor you will accumulate will come from honorable kills. You will receive 1 mark of honor at the end of a loss, so you can still collect 3 and turn in the quest as given above.

During the Warsong Gulch Battlegrounds Holiday, you will earn double reputation bonus for each flag captured on your team. The winning team will earn an additional 990 bonus honor (at level 60) for completing the match, in addition to the usual 198 bonus. The losing team will earn 594 bonus honor at the end of the match. Thus a 3-0 match will award a total of 2376 honor to the winners, and 594 honor to the losers during the holiday.

=Reputation=
 * Flag Capture - 35 reputation for entire team (10 extra reputation on a Battlegrounds Holiday for a total of 45).
 * 3 Marks of Honor - 50 reputation, or 100 reputation if done through Concerted Efforts or For Great Honor quests.


 * = Assumes a blazing quick average 15 winning/losing games. 5 minutes per flag capture.

Faction Rewards
By gaining enough faction, you can make yourself eligible for rare and epic equipment rewards, as well some consumable items that can only be used in battlegrounds. Though some of the sentinel and outrider factions sell items with different names and artwork, their bonuses and equip effects are identical. The equippable items sold by these factions can be "upgraded" as you gain levels, allowing higher level players to receive faction rewards with better equipment bonuses. However, the exalted epic quality bracer rewards are only available from level 40, and the epic quality leggings are only available at level 60.

=See Also=
 * Blizzard's Warsong Gulch General Information.
 * Formulas:Honor System
 * http://blogs.usask.ca/wow/ Warsong Gulch Strategy and Tactics.