General guide to RA

Overview
Random Arenas, or more commonly RA, is an area where players go to fight in quick 4vs4 matches. It is often used just for fun, for testing builds, and for farming Gladiator Points. This guide will show you some of the common working strategies to winning matches in RA.

A Build
One of the most important keys to winning is having a good build. As a general rule, unless you are a monk, always bring Resurrection Signet and use it as soon as an ally dies. Bringing a reusable resurrect should only be done if you have some way of speeding up the cast to 4 seconds or less.

Playing Offense
Playing an offensive character is good for a beginner because you won't die just because you can't keep up with the fast paced action. Even though you are an offensive player, you should still bring a self heal, as you are not likely to have a healer on your team. By far the most important thing to being an offensive player is the ability to solo an enemy healer. Many beginners, or even experienced players who simply quit trying, will insist that soloing a good healer is impossible. It is indeed one of the most difficult challenges you will face as an offensive player but it is very possible. If you are having trouble getting started, go to the Isle of the Nameless outside the Great Temple of Balthazar and follow the path to the Master of Healing and Master of Resurrection and attempt to kill them. These are both slightly less effective than a human monk. Make sure you can kill both of them with the same build. Never rely on your allies to do ANYTHING, because in RA they usually don't.

Playing Defense
Defensive classes such as healers and antimelee are more rare and every bit as needed in RA. An antimelee should be able to shut down at least 1 foe for an unlimited amount of time (given that foe's healer doesn't remove your hexes/conditions). A healer should be able to defend itself against 2 foes for an unlimited amount of time, and against a full enemy team of 4 attackers for at least 2 minutes. Having a skill that gives you the ability to block will stop about half of your enemies in their tracks. Being able to deal with shutdown such as Dazed and shutdown hexes is important. Saying something like "I had Backfire on me, there was nothing I could do" is not an excuse for letting someone die.

A Good Team
Being on a good team is probably the most important part of winning, but sadly there is nothing you can do. Many players that aren't good enough to win on even grounds with an enemy will leave if their team does not have a monk. Playing a defensive role will give you a better chance of having a good team since offense is more common. A good team consists of the ability to stay alive, through self healing and kiting, or defensive players on the team and the ability to kill an enemy team that has up to 2 defensive players. Having 3 or 4 defensive players on a team usually ends in a stalemate.

Overextending and Underextending
Overextending in RA is a difficult thing to do. A monk should always have the enemy team's monk in its casting range, so it can heal its allies that are attacking the enemy monk. If someone dies while attacking the enemy monk, they were not overextended unless they actually use a run buff to get out of your range. If you are playing offense and start taking heavy damage, do not run away from your monk. Do not leave its range. Don't expect an ally to resurrect you if you are too far from the battle.

Survival
While playing offense or support (defense other than healer), it is likely that your healer will be under heavy pressure. Because of this, if you are under attack from more than 1 attacker, you should do everything you can to lessen the damage you take. Use your self heals, and kite damage. If needed, snare the enemies attackers and/or attack them to lessen the pressure on your healer. Only snare your enemies if your team is under moderate pressure, and only attack their attackers if they have low armor, or your team is taking very heavy pressure.

Eliminating Runners
There is no doubt you will eventually come across a player that, after all of his allies have died, decides to run around the arena for long periods of time in hopes that the enemy team will leave. If you are playing offense, your build should have a snare or run buff just for this reason.

Armor and Health
Having large amounts of armor and health will not help much because your foes will simply choose one of your allies to attack instead of you. Having low amounts of armor or health will cause the enemy to target you, and take you out quickly. Having more armor and health is of course a good thing, but don't sacrifice effectiveness for it. A good amount of health is above 485. Good and experienced players in PvP usually keeps their health above 600 using only minor runes, this will almost allways migate the damage from a single-player spike, helping you recover and making your monk catch the spike.

Improving Yourself
Many people know this by common sense, but it should be pointed out and taken seriously. If you are playing defense, every time you die think about what killed you and why. If it is something common, adjust your build or use your skills differently to overcome it. If it is uncommon, don't worry too much about it. If you are playing offense, think about what you fail to kill and why. If it is common, adjust your build or use your skills differently to overcome it. But in both cases, also think about how many other things work against it. If it seems like something that counters a large amount of common builds, consider trying it out yourself.