How you can force Alterac Valley into a turtle:

Disclaimer: you need people to help you with this but its still doable.

This is from the Horde perspective. I'll see what I can do about forcing a turtle on Alliance, but all I know is Horde right now. This is much easier as a Rogue because of how easy it is to pick off stragglers. People don't often stop for teammates in AV. Note that this guide is subject to change if future updates alter how AV is played.

PHASE 1: WIPE THE ZERG

There are always 5-10 people on Alliance that push all the way South. Your mission for the first few minutes of the game is to wipe that entire group. You can usually kill 2-4 of them by baiting them into NPCs, primarily at the Frostwolf Graveyard. Wait closely by the flag so that any that attempt to attack you also aggros the NPCs. If they try to run by and aggro the NPCs by mistake, stun them and watch them get insta-killed by the NPCs melees. If you're a Rogue, you can use some cheese by using Shroud of Concealment just as the Alliance is about 15 seconds away. Shroud hides the NPCs as well. Alliance players will attempt to cap the flag because they see no NPCs, but will die immediately because the stealthed NPCs destroy them with a surprise attack.

You will not kill the entire group; some will make it to the East/West Frostwolf Towers. Head back to the Frostwolf Towers/Hut and clean up the remaining South zerg. Defend the Frostwolf Relief Hut at all costs.

Killing this initial zerg wave is much more doable if you have a few people with you, but doing these steps alone can secure a few kills solo. Killing Alliance around the Frostwolf base is important in the first few minutes of the game. Any kills in the first few minutes will send Alliance back to their capped graveyards, and at this point in the game their closest graveyard is Stonehearth. This distance is significant as it takes much time to travel back down South to attack another tower. In this phase, every kill is important and impactful. Get as many as you can.

PHASE 2: DEFEND TOWERS AND GRAVEYARDS

Having wiped the zerg and defended the Frostwolf territories, your next goal is to attempt retaking Tower Point, Iceblood Tower, and Iceblood Graveyard. At this point in the game, you should still have the advantage of having friendly NPCs on the flags. Use those to your advantage if you are outnumbered.

Your priority will be Iceblood Graveyard. Keeping the Alliance respawning North is essential to forcing a turtle. Losing a single tower is okay, as teams need at least 3 towers to kill the boss.

PHASE 3: SNOWFALL GRAVEYARD

If snowfall is untouched, do not cap it. If Snowfall is being taken by the Alliance, cap it to ensure they remain spawning from the North. Snowfall is rarely guarded because of how much people don't take it seriously. Again, this guide is to force a turtle, not win the game necessarily. Here are some funny moments with Snowfall btw (featuring myself):

https://i.imgur.com/JzuQHN2.png

https://i.imgur.com/QNpUkAV.png

PHASE 4: FULL TURTLE

If all of these steps are successful in favor of the Horde, a turtle vs. turtle should be happening somewhere along the northern road at or above Icewing Bunker. This is because all team graveyards are on one side while the other team has their graveyards on the other side. This means both teams MUST clash with each other in order to make any progress.

Why force a turtle you ask? For a number of reasons really:

• I like the longer AV matches. AV these days is too fast and many games end with less than 5 killing blows total in an 80 person match. That doesn't feel very "epic" to me.

• I actually enjoy playing Defense

• The chat floods with tears when I cap Snowfall