Alterac Valley Horde Players: How do you get past the Bridge?

[Jeff Kelly]

I am playing Horde on one of the german Servers, we usually have at least one Alterac Valley Raid-Group per Day but so far we weren't able to win a single game. In most games our forces have no problems against the alliance raid but so far we couldn't take their base.

We usually get the enemy as far as the bridge to its own base but we have never made it past the bridge. With the two Towers and the long range archers on top of those towers ten determined and capable alliance players can hold the bottleneck against a whole 40 man raid. So far we haven't been able to make our way past the bridge and its defences.

A AV game usually ends with a defeat because half of the raid leaves after a few hours  because of the frustration and boredom caused by the inability to get into the alliance base.

So I need some tips from seasoned AV campaigners on the Horde side. How do you get past the bridge and into the alliance base?

Jeff

[Ironwood]

You don't.

The icelord, the cavalry and the riders were thrown into there, cannon to the left and right.

None survied.

AV is extremely poor design.

[Zetor]

I've seen it done, multiple times, on my server. The horde just zerged... it WAS impossible to do before the last patch, but not anymore. They didn't need to guard the Stormpike GY either, since there was always someone respawning in there.

What you need is have everyone zerg one of the towers -- you WILL make it, the firepower isn't too bad post patch. Have the artillery up, set up a cavalry charge and an assault team at the same time. You don't need the ice lord. You can also send a stealth group around the northern tower to avoid the alliance zerg.

After one of the towers is down, retreat to the GY and regroup (get enough materials for a second charge), then take the 2nd tower the same way while you keep the pressure on by having the alliance pinned on their side of the bridge. MC helps.

After both towers are down, just zerg. After you have the hut, it's all over.

Oh yeah and don't let them capture Irondeep. You don't want any assault teams interfering. Ditto with rams, you can have a few lowbies kill all rams at the base of the mountain.


-- Z.

[Calantus]

We've been winning AVs as horde since AV came out. The trick is just to zerg the towers. Zerg it up for a bit in the middle, then when the alliance are pushed back off the bridge you get a few mounted folk to make a rush on the tower. Then you just keep pumping people into the tower until you can take it. If you get pushed back you start all over again. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

[Paelos]

We've been winning AVs as horde since AV came out. The trick is just to zerg the towers. Zerg it up for a bit in the middle, then when the alliance are pushed back off the bridge you get a few mounted folk to make a rush on the tower. Then you just keep pumping people into the tower until you can take it. If you get pushed back you start all over again. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

See while that's one way, I'm a huge advocate of the initial full 40 zerg to the center, take the first graveyards to establish the foothold, and then start rotating a full group out to do the mines, and about 3 people to start pulling in rams. You'll lose ground doing it, but you will buy time for your NPCs, unless the other side is doing the same. If that is the case you will stalemate at the yard and still gain an NPC buffer, thus taking out the middle ground in your favor. This also puts you in the position of doing of Lord summon.

[Calantus]

Your way is better. My way is easier to convey to a raid of retards. :P

[Paelos]

Your way is better. My way is easier to convey to a raid of retards. :P

Ah, touche!

[Evil Elvis]

You need to hold them to their side of the bridge.  Ranged classes need to stop short of the north towers archer aggro.  Once you push em back, and you've got a few of them stuck waiting to res, you need a few people to go and pull the guards from the north tower to the bridge.  It's important you fight these on the bridge, and don't pull them back to stormpike graveyard.  You need to be careful so that you don't get swarmed by the alliance when you do this.

Having mages to aoe bomb and blizzard here is a big thing.  If you don't have any real aoe, you're going to have a hard time dealing with the chokepoint, especially if they're aoeing you.

You might want to send 2-3 warriors into the tower too, and have them focus fire on the archers.   Once all the melee guards are dead, and you have a few archers down, you can try rushing the tower.  Having reavers/wolves/lok here really helps, as it will draw alot of alliance attention away from the base.  You'll definitely want the guards dealt with before they come if possible.  Otherwise, your group might blow the advantage just clearing out the npc's.  If you don't have any elite units, keep zerging.  You've got a decent chance of just wearing them down, and catching them on a respawn.

Once north tower is capped, you need to swarm around the south tower.  Make sure not to fight on the bridge at this point.  If you've been pushed back onto it, you need to keep pushing until you've established yourselves near the tower.  Take out the archers first, then have some people pull the ground guards.  It's not too difficult to take the south tower once you have the north.