I know not everyone loves Alterac Valley. Me, it's my favorite
battleground. I loved it more when it went on for days on end, but even
now, it's pretty fun to hop in there and roam around harrying the other
faction and completing objectives. Death knights are actually pretty
solid here, especially in tank mode. You can lead the charge against the
other sides' boss NPCs, or defend a bunker or tower by being
near-impossible to kill and having a ghoul pet that can harass people
trying to stealth capture a flag. With the Honor Points you win, you can
grab a beginner set of PvP gear and try some other battlegrounds, or
even finally buy those PvP mounts. Black's a pretty solid death knight
color, so any of the honor mounts has a good chance of looking awesome
for your death knight.


The Proving Grounds are a relatively new WoW feature, but they are
actually pretty handy. By reducing your item level to 463, they'll force
you to focus on your skills rather than trusting your gear to carry
you, and both the DPS and tank proving grounds provide unique
challenges. I've spoken a bit about them in a past column, and that
advice still holds true: Use Death Grip, especially as the tank to keep
the mobs off your AoE healer. Use Chains of Ice to slow fleeing mobs.
And don't let your DPS drop, the waves are time. Proving Grounds are not
only a great way to test your skills on your own time, you'll be
rewarded with cool new titles and bragging rights if you're good enough.