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
When a healer is present in the team (such as a Monk or Restoration Ritualist), it is essential for the team to remain in the healer's casting range. The battle will naturally cause teams to disperse, and the healer must continually reposition themselves in order to provide support for all team members, often while being targeted by enemies. Overextending can apply to other team scenarios, such as staying with the range of Ritualist spirits.

A common mistake beginners make is to charge into combat without waiting for the rest of the team. This is detrimental due to the fact that other party members cannot join the attack, and healers cannot save the split attacker. When one or more players split from the group, the monk is under heavy pressure to provide support for the team. In these scenarios, experienced healers will often decide to focus on covering one team member, letting the other team member die, or else the entire team will be wiped.

It is occasionally necessary to split in order to finish off a weakened foe. While healers will usually move to cover the new team positions, the split player is at risk as long as they remain away from the protective umbrella of the healer. Running towards enemies with no regard for anything will cause the team to lose.

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 from damage. If needed, snare the enemy 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.

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.