Random Arenas

Description
''Test your mettle! Lead your team to victory or drag them down to defeat. Two teams of four randomly allied players fight it out gladiator style.''

The Random Arenas (commonly abbreviated as RA) are a place where you can hop in and PvP whenever you want. Simply enter and click the "Enter Battle" button under Party Formation.

Random Arenas matches consist of battles between two teams of four randomly chosen players. The matches happen in one of thirteen randomly chosen maps. This random factor is difficult to deal with, as you only have an idea of what you are going to deal with. Most Random Arenas maps have a simple goal: eliminate the opposing team, known as Annihilation. However, The Crag has a different objective, Kill count, which is to score the most kills in 3 minutes.

The Random Arenas were previously known as the Competition Arenas, or CA, and available from Lion's Arch, and did not include Heroes' Crypt or Deldrimor Arena in their map selection. The arena was moved to The Battle Isles and given the two additional arenas as part of the January 19, 2006 update.

Getting There

 * 1) Map travel to The Battle Isles (Great Temple of Balthazar) from Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, or Kamadan.
 * 2) Enter the Random Arenas by talking to the Canthan Ferry Captain on the Isle of the Nameless.

NPCs

 * Toluus, Zaishen Adherent
 * Jhoneil (Priest of Balthazar)
 * Rune Trader
 * Xunlai Agent (Storage) (2x)

Exits
None (but see below)

Team Setup
The following applies for this arena:
 * Match types: Annihilation, Kill count
 * Level Requirement: 20
 * Team size: 4
 * Teams: Randomly chosen

Maps
Battles take place in any of the following arenas:

Rewards
The following Faction rewards are given in the Random Arenas:
 * Unique kill: 40 Faction
 * Victory: 50 Faction
 * Consecutive wins: 50 Faction for every 5 consecutive wins
 * Flawless victory: 50 Faction

A random team that has 10 consecutive victories will be transferred to the Team Arenas where a tougher challenge awaits. To unlock the Team Arenas for your account, you need 5 consecutive wins in RA with one of your characters. Note that any account that existed before the January 19, 2006 update already has Team Arenas unlocked.

Tips

 * Resurrection Signet is vastly useful to bring back fallen allies, and every RA player should reserve a slot for it. Hard resurrect skills (especially Rebirth, Vengeance and Resurrect) should never be used due to long casting times and vulnerability to both the caster and the revived. Some exceptions include Mesmers with Resurrection Chant and Ritualists with Flesh of My Flesh.
 * It generally is a good idea to bring self-healing and any sort of Condition and Hex removal, as Condition-causing skills and Hexes are quite popular.
 * Don't use builds that depend on a Monk being present. In a randomly picked team, you will likely not have a Monk in your group.
 * The most popular classes in RA are melee. Bringing some form of defense against melee attackers is a good idea.
 * Don't use two or more superior runes, if any at all. Lower HP will make it easier for enemies to kill you and harder for your monk to heal you from a spike.

Related Articles
General guide to RA