Smooth movers win fights

Not so long ago I managed to get myself into a bit of an uneven scrap. To be precise it was 12 Order versus me on my lonesome. I know there were 12 because I counted their corpses...

To put the situation into context... We had a 2 and a half group warband in the city siege instance and I was in the third group consisting of 3 players. The moment I refer to above happened when my 3 man group moved to scout and claim the Temple objective, whilst our other groups recapped the Monolith over on the far side of the map. Shortly after entering the temple we got jumped by the aforementioned 12 Order and in seconds my 2 squishy companions were eating the dirt. Yelling for help on ventrilo, I tried to buy as much time as possible before my inevitable demise. Futile surely as my comrades were in relative terms miles away.

But no... I managed to hold off all 12 Order and stayed alive long enough for my requested reinforcements to arrive from the Monolith. I then took part in the slaughter and walked away with their sweet renown.
This should not have been possible.

I think it's fair to say I'm quite good with my Chosen, I'll give most people a good fight, but I wouldn't go so far as suggesting I'm one of the best Karak Norn has to offer, far from it more likely. So this wasn't down to my uberness or any epeen bollocks. My gear is fairly good; Tyrant and Invader (or Warlord depending). Nothing unusual though. I also play completely straight. I don't cheat, won't use the more dubious add ons and loathe the idea or exploits or any such thing. I operate a strict no cheating policy within my guild anyway.

So how did I do it?

"I" didn't. I simply did the sensible things for that situation, the same things any half experienced Chosen would do. The reason I survived the fight was down to what my enemies did, or in this case didn't do.

These days I'm a sword and board Chosen, which means I can block and parry very effectively to the front. In fact with my current spec, once Mixed Defences activates (once I block) I will be running at around 32% block and 63% parry. Combined with my high armour, resists and toughness that adds up to a bloody tough bastard to kill head on. However a HUGE part of my mitigation is ignored if you attack me from the flanks and rear. Do that from multiple directions and Chosen like me is in a lot of trouble.  

Of course if, like my opponents in the Temple, you decide to just hit me head on and not even try to flank, well... A minute or two later you end up as a bloody mess all over my shield once the lads have WAAAGHed your face in :P I think in WAR sometimes people focus so much on just hitting hard and ability spamming that they forget to spare any thought for their opponent. Yet good movement, at the right time and against the right enemy is one of the key things that seperates the good players from the rest.

Witch Hunters are a classic example. I know bucket loads of Witch Hunters that hit hard, probably because that part of being a Witch Hunter is easy. Stack the right stats, hit the abilities, job done. It's the same with my Witch Elf. But there are a much smaller number of Witch Hunters that are difficult opponents. They are the ones that know how to survive if their initial burst doesn't work, they are the ones that are hard to hit, but know how to maximise their chance to hit you. Basically, they are the ones with the fancy moves.