Rogue / Mage / Priest (RMP) Strats

(Copied from arenajunkies.com)

A comprehensive RMP guide
I noticed there are a lot of posts asking about how to play the popular setup Rogue Mage Priest (RMP). I'm bored in class so I decided to write out a guide (well, more like tips and hints judging by my own personal experience) as to how it's best to play RMP.

My point of view will be the priest, as that's the character I play the setup in (currently rated 2139) however I think I'm able to help out from a rogue and mage pov.I'll be focusing on a mirror match setup now as you'll be fighting plenty of these, and being able to win puts you in a good position! I'll probably add other setups later, or you can even contribute!Let's start with talent specs.

Priest: this is pretty much a no brainer: 41/20, 45/16 or similar. I don't recommend taking reflective shield, as in its current state it breaks certain cc's, such as blind or sheep when reflecting dots/bleeds to the CC'd target.

Mage: 17/0/44 is the most common and probably most effective spec, for obvious reasons.

Rogue: Now here's the pickle. Pre 2.3.2, AR/prep was without question the most effective spec. Post 2.3.2, a lot of specs can be viable, depending on your play style and gear. I haven't been able to do enough testing to come up with the best suggestions, but so far, it seems that 20/0/41 shadowstep fits quite nicely in the setup. It's especially good at bumslapping mages, and since you'll fight plenty of those, it's a good bet.Other specs you could probably use are Combat Mace (20/41 or similar) or still, AR/prep be it with 1 less AR. I can't comment on mutilate, though it could (and probably will) work very nicely with a PI shatter combo as the damage can be staggering. Bottom line: chose whats best according to you and your teams play style.

And now, to the fight!RMP mirror matchIn most cases, the enemy team will go for your mage. Sometimes, you as priest can get targetted as well, in which case your teammates should assist you by good cc-timing. Sheeps, fear (dispel fear ward first) and blind when trinket is used saves the day.First scenario: both teams go for the mage.Run in and get in combat by (preferably) dispelling the mage to avoid getting sapped.

This needs to be done asap, because it's a LOT easier to kill him when he's stripped of his buffs. If the mage hangs back, dispel the enemy priest or put a pom on a teammate that is in combat. Playing aggressive usually pays off (whilest maintaining control, of course), because in this scenario, it's all about who's best at dropping the enemy mage.

Once the enemy mage is dispelled, look for fear ward if it wasn't on the mage already. You won't have much time though, your mage will probably be under fire by now, and probably being dispelled as well. It's important that you keep your mage friend topped off as much as possible. If you wait until he's low on hp, you could get counterspelled and a mass dispel on his iceblock will quickly end the match. Use pom, shield, flash heals and focus GH. Renew will most likely be dispelled, but pom and shield usually fulfil their purpose before it is dispelled.

Your mage should try and get a sheep off on either the rogue or priest. It's safer to sheep the priest and fear the rogue (dispel fear ward first if he has it) and if the latter trinkets, call for your rogue to blind him for a full 10 second (vanish into sap for 20 seconds?) cc.All in all, it's about who's quickest. When the enemy mage is getting low (50 % is low enough), communicate with your mage to know when he'll counterspel the next heal attempt, PI your mage and nuke the mage down. Keep your fingers for a quick mass dispel in case of iceblock! Don't be afraid to load up a mindblast + SW: D as well.

One of RMP's biggest advantages is the incredible on demand nuke which can drop nearly anything in a short amount of time, coupled with a lot of CC abilities. You can be behind on mana (lock/druid teams) but if you land that succesful PI shatter burst during a well timed cc, you win.

Remember this: all you need to do is create yourself (by communicating with your teammates, I can't stress this enough) a window where you can dps your target down using the large amount of CC abilities you have.

General tips:

- Put the mage on focus, that way you can see his buffs (renew, shield?) at all times and can dispel them straight away. Also, you can see when he's sheeping (most of the time with you targetted), you can time a SW: D when he's 0.5 seconds away from finishing the cast to get out of sheep immidiatly, because you'd want to save trinket for blind, unless it's been used on your rogue.
- Fake heals whenever you can!
- In case you find yourself in a bad situation (you got cc'd and your mage friend needs to iceblock or die) and you know the enemy mage still has his CS up, put Pain suppression (and shield) on your mage BEFORE pumping flash heals. When you get CS'd at this point, your mage iceblocks and if I have witnessed this correctly (I doubt it was a fluke in several games), the Pain Suppression will prevent a mass dispel 65 % of the time.

ADDITIONAL THREAD ON RMP:

http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=7626