Once you have your team set up, it's time to prove your might in the Arena. You get into an Arena match like you join a Battleground: talk to an Arena Battlemaster and select the type of match you want to queue for. You can select either a ranked game or a skirmish, which is a practice fight that won't impact your Team Rating. Once your team is in the queue, the matchmaking system will look for other teams with a suitable ranking for you to play against. When it finds a match, both teams are teleported into the arena and the match countdown begins.

Arena Battlemasters are located next to other battlemasters in major cities. Ask a guard for directions. Additionally, you can start arena games at The Ring of Trials in Nagrand, Circle of Blood in Blade's Edge Mountains, and Gadgetzan. Most arena players seem to use the Arena Battlemaster in Shattrath City. As when joining a Battleground, after a match your team will be teleported to the battlemaster who entered your team in the queue.

Fights in the Arena are subject to a set of special rules. You'll find the most important ones listed below. We recommend you familiarize yourself with these rules before you enter your first match.

                Pre-match Countdown At the beginning of each match, both teams are placed in separate holding areas on opposite ends of the arena, and a countdown begins. Get ready to fight!

• Any existing buffs and conjured items will be purged or deleted upon entering. This is to ensure that outside buffs are not used, and that no conjured items from players not actually in your group are being used.
• Your health and mana are set to full.
• Mana/Rage/Energy costs are reduced to zero during the countdown so that teams can quickly buff up and prepare for the match.
• Soul Shard costs are reduced to zero so that warlocks can summon Healthstones for their party without needing to bring an excessive number of stones for their group. This also means that warlocks can summon pets during this period without using a soul shard.
• Pets are dismissed upon entering an arena. Players must re-summon them once entering.
• Players cannot change armor once an arena battle has begun, even if out of combat. Changing armor will still be possible during the one-minute prep time prior to the battle. Main hand, off hand and range weapon swapping in combat is still allowed.
• No consumables other than bandages and conjured items can be used while in the arena.

                Team Flags Each player automatically carries a flag that indicates what team they are on. Your team's insignia will be on this flag, so make sure to design a banner that will strike fear, confusion, or mirth in your enemies.

Fight! After the countdown expires, the gates fly open and the match officially begins. Use teamwork, coordination, and communication to outplay your opponents! You will have no information about who your opponents are or what their class composition is until the match begins.

Death in the Arena When a character is defeated in an Arena match, they'll have the option to run around and "spectate" as a ghost by clicking on the appropriate option in the release spirit window. As a spectator, you can move freely around the arena and view the action but can not be seen by or interact with other players.

Victory Conditions Every Arena match is a game of Last Man Standing, meaning that the match ends once all characters on one team have died, with the other team being the winner. There is no time limit for Arena matches.

                Post-Match Summary After the fight is over, a scoreboard appears with the following info:

• Player names
• Team names
• Killing Blows per player
• Damage Done per player
• Healing Done per player
• Rating adjustment per team

                Other Information

• Abilities/spells/items with cooldowns longer than 15 minutes cannot be used while in the arena.
• There is a power-up that allows you to see stealthed or invisible players, but it increaess damage taken by 5% for picking it up. Duration is 15 seconds. This allows you to combat players who attempt to hide to delay the match.
• When players enter the Arena, all cooldowns on spells or items that have 15 minutes or less are reset. This allows them to have all their abilities available when the fight begins.
• Players can use the /teamquit or /teamdisband command in order to leave an Arena team. Example: /teamquit 2v2
• The last pet a player had summoned will be resummoned outside the Arena upon leaving.
• Items that are indicated as quest items in their tooltips and have a "use" or "equip" ability will not work in arenas.
• Personal Rating: The amount a player's personal rating can climb above his or her team's rating is now limited.
• The benefits of drinking out of combat have been delayed while in the Arena. It will now take four seconds before the full benefit of the mana regeneration will come into effect.
• Players feared outside of the Arena (through the world or outside the arena walls) will be teleported back to the center of the arena map.