Arena Guide: Focus Guide

A while back, we contacted a few highly rated Arena players and asked them if they had any Arena experience, tips, or strategies they’d be willing to share with their fellow players. We received a lot of excellent submissions, sorted through them all, and picked out a few guides that we felt would be helpful to players new to the Arena or interested in giving it a try. The following guide was provided by Frst from Tichondrius. We hope you find it useful!

What is focus?
Focus is a feature in World of Warcraft that allows a player to have two units selected at once. The default UI does not allow a player to have a window pane for their focused target, but many UI add-ons do. The default focus function simply has the player pane glow a pretty white color. So while you may be targeting one player, you can always have a second player focused and use abilities on this second player, even if they aren’t currently selected.

How do I use focus?
/focus
/clearfocus
I use a macro (or you can simply use the key bindings menu) that sets “F” to assist, and “Shift+F” to focus. I see which player I want to focus, click on the player, press “Shift+F” and I have that player focused for the rest of the game. Making a macro with /clearfocus will remove your focused target. You want to key bind focus. Key bind everything to increase reaction speed!

When should I use focus?
All the time! Arena, instances, and Battlegrounds are all places I use focus.

How can I use focus so it actually helps me?
Besides giving you another target to quickly switch to, you can use focus in many macros. I'm a mage, so I'll display some example macros that I use with simple descriptions of what they do.

Example 1: Polymorph (sheep)

/cast [modifier:Shift, target=focus, exists] Polymorph(Rank 1); Polymorph(Rank 1);

This macro is what I use for PvP. If I press the macro, it polymorphs my target; if I hold shift while pressing the macro, it polymorphs my focused target instead! This allows me to keep the player we are damaging targeted, and still allows me to polymorph the opponent I have focused on.

Example 2: Counterspell (CS)

/cast [modifier:Shift, target=focus, exists] Counterspell; Counterspell;

Same deal as above, but with CS.

What can focus be applied to?
Any ability you can cast on an enemy or party member can be incorporated into use with focus. Skills you can use focus with include Blind, Fear, Death Coil, Spell Lock, Counterspell, Polymorph, Hammer of Justice, Earth Shock, Cyclone, and anything else you can think of!