This post is backdated to the date of the original post. It was imported to this blog on May 20, 2014.
Just over two months ago I did a “small” guide to a bunch of hunter-related things. I don’t want to be repetitive, but I’ve flushed it out even more now and thought it might be of use to some people.
I am a BM hunter and have always been one, so I don’t trust myself on giving much MM/Survival advice. If you ask me for specific advice with those specs I’ll just point you to other websites. My guild is currently 4/5 in Mount Hyjal and 3/9 in Black Temple.
This is mainly from a level 70 raiding hunter perspective. However there are many things that apply to all hunters regardless of level.
– Links
– Add-ons and Spreadsheets
– Stats
– Gems
– Enchants
– Pre-Kara Gear
– Talents
– Shot Rotation
– Raid Supplies
– Buffs we want
– Pet
– Other Macros
– A typical fight for me
– Boss strats
– WoW_Ladies Hunter Tag
– Hunter Self-Governing Sticky Project
– Elitist Jerks
– TKASomething
– BigRedKitty
– Petopia
– RatingBuster(about) – Turn off enchants and maybe gems (as they can possibly skew results when you’re comparing a gemmed item vs a new item with no gems in the sockets yet) – however I usually leave Gems on and just mentally calculate any differences there might be.
– Cheeky’s spreadsheet – How to use the spreadsheet– This is pretty large and possibly confusing, but taking some time with the threads and the Search button can prove to be very fruitful.
– AntiDaze – Cancels Aspect of the Cheetah or Aspect of the Pack when you or a party memeber gets dazed.
– Nudge – Range indicator. Very simple, but I’ve come to rely on it.
– FeignResistBell – Rings a bell if feign death is resisted. Also displays a very noticeable feign resist error message.
– SimpleMD – Broadcast your misdirection casts to the other hunters with you, specific channels or the raid.
– Quartz – Lightweight implementation of a standard casting bar, with configurable size, text and icon positioning, and colors.
Agility > AP/Crit > mp5 > Int
– Hit is important to a certain point, having too little will hurt your DPS, but prioritizing it over other stats too much could hurt your overall DPS. To not miss on bosses you need 9% or 142 hit, 95 hit rating with the Surefooted talent. Having more than 142 will do absolutely nothing for you and is then wasted. Pre-Kara it’s good to get your hit as high as you can and possibly use +hit buff food. Post-Kara hit capping is one of your main priorities. I shoot for 135+ myself.
– Armor Penetration is supposedly at its best when paired with other ArP items, see this post for more details.
– Stamina is OK on items, but the above are more important. Health will come as you get better gear.
1 Agility: 2 Armor; 1 AP; 0.025% Crit; 0.04% Dodge
Total Agility: Crit% = (0.025 * TotalAgility) – 1.56
1 Stamina: 10 HP
1 Intellect: 15 Mana
Attack Power: 14 AP ~ 1.0 Paper Doll White DPS
Attack Power: 10-11 AP ~ 1.0 Actual Auto-Shot DPS
Crit Rating: 22.1 CR = 1% Crit
Crit Percent: 1% Crit ~ 1.03% DPS (with Mortal Shots)
Hit Rating: 15.77 HR = 1% Hit
Hit Percent: 1% Hit ~ 0.9% DPS (After full Calc)
Hit Cap: 142 Standard – 95 w/ Sure Footed
Gear Comp. Value: 2 AP ~ 1 Agi ~ 1 CR (Adjust for Spec)
Pet TP: TrainingPoints = (Loyalty – 1) * Level
Meta:
[Relentless Earthstorm Diamond]
PvP Metas:
[Potent Unstable Diamond]
[Switft Skyfire Diamond]
[Switft Windfire Diamond]
Others in order of my preference:
– Red: [Delicate Blood Garnet] / [Delicate Living Ruby] = +agi
– Purple (R&B): [Shifting Shadow Draenite] / [Shifting Nightseye] = +agi & stam
– Yellow: [Smooth Golden Draenite] / [Smooth Dawnstone] = +crit
– Orange (R&Y): [Glinting Flame Spessarite] / [Glinting Noble Topaz] = +hit & agi
– Yellow: [Rigid Golden Draenite] / [Rigid Dawnstone] = +hit
– Red: [Bright Blood Garnet] / [Bright Living Ruby] = +AP
Agility gives both AP and Crit, and scales the best of the hunter stats. However, it only gets to it’s full potential when used in conjunction with Kings, so for things like PvP, pure stats are used more often (straight crit & AP).
In my opinion, if the socket bonus for 3 sockets gives 4 agi or 3agi for 2 sockets – usually meeting it using the above will be useful, otherwise don’t sweat it. Agi > AP/Crit here again. Use +agi gems whenever possible for the most bang for your buck.
Don’t forget to get enchants once you feel you have gear that is worth it. You might even want to just find an enchanter who will be willing to DE all your greens, so that way you most likely don’t have to buy any mats (I donate all greens and shards to my boyfriend and he does my enchants).
Head:
[Glyph of Ferocity] = +34 AP & 16 hit rating
Shoulder:
[Inscription of Vengeance] or ([Greater Inscription of Vengeance]
[Inscription of the Blade] or [Greater Inscription of the Blade]
Cloak:
[Enchant Cloak – Greater Agility] = +12 agi
Chest:
[Enchant Chest – Exceptional Stats] = +6 all stats
Bracers:
[Enchant Bracer – Assault] = +24 AP
Gloves:
[Enchant Gloves – Superior Agility] = 15 agi
[Enchant Gloves – Assault] = +26 AP
Legs:
[Nethercobra Leg Armor]
[Cobrahide Leg Armor]
Boots:
[Enchant Boots – Dexterity] = +12 agi
Melee Weapon:
[Enchant 2H Weapon – Major Agility] = +35 agi
[Enchant Weapon – Greater Agility] = +20 agi to one-hander
[Enchant 2H Weapon – Savagery] = +70 AP
Ranged Weapon:
[Stabilized Eternium Scope] = 28 Crit Rating
[Khorium Scope] = 12 damage (to me the 2 extra damage over the Adamantite isn’t worth the mats)
[Adamantite Scope] = 10 damage
[Biznicks 247×128 Accurascope] = +1.90% hit at level 70
– BigRedKitty: Gear Up for Karazhan
– [Guide> New 70 Hunter’s Guide to Gear
– Official “Easy to Get BC Item” Thread Reborn
– Survival Hunter Gear Guide
– My pre-Kara Gear list
RatingBuster and Cheeky’s Spreadsheet are the two main determining factors for each piece of gear I use.
Beast Mastery-
I’m a BM hunter and have always been, so that’s the only spec I’m going to break down myself.
Compulsory raiding point distribution-
Beast Mastery Tree:
5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
2/2 Focused Fire
5/5 Unleased Fury
5/5 Ferocity
1/1 Intimidation
2/2 Beastial Discipline
2/2 Animal Handler
4/5 Frenzy
1/1 Beastial Wrath
5/5 Serpent Swiftness
1/1 The Beast Within
Improved Mend Pet and Improved Revive Pet: I consider these to also be basically required, but that is personal preference as to whether you take one, both or neither. I use both.
Why not Thick Hide?: Armor is almost useless in raiding for hunters, the points that would be spent to get this talent would be better spent getting stamina (which works against ALL forms of damage) and/or pet healing/reviving talents.
Animal Handler and Frenzy: 2/2 Animal Handler is one of the largest DPS increases a BM hunter can have. Pets miss, a lot. This is our only way to increase our pet’s chance to hit. 4/5 Frenzy has been shown to keep the effect up plenty and full 2/2 AH is better than 5/5 Frenzy. There is no way to get 5/5 Frenzy and 2/2 Animal Handler (and keep the other essential talents) unless you put 42 points in the BM tree, which is not worth it.
Marksman Tree:
5/5 Lethal Shots
5/5 Improved Hunters Mark or Efficiency
1/1 Aimed Shot
2/2 Rapid Killing
2/2 Go for the Throat
5/5 Mortal Shots
Go for the Throat and Beastial Discipline: After a certain amount of crit a hunter who has 2/2 in Go for the Throat can remove points from Beastial Discipline and not lose DPS from it. I waited until I was around 25-30% crit before taking any points out.
Survival-
Alumatine’s Survival Talent Guide – Nightdrifer
Anyone know of a good Marksmen guide?
Hunter Shot Rotation Illustrated
BM Rotation 1 Macro: Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady
1 Steady Shot per auto shot, also referred to as a 1:1 rotation. Timing is key here to ensure you never clip an Auto.
Either spamming –
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3 !Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
(I personally never used this macro as I preferred timing to spamming, however it was the definitive BM macro pre-2.3.2 and is still being used by many.)
or manually timing Steady Shot using a cast bar like Quartz (about) –
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
BM Roation 2 Macro (spam it): Steady, Steady, Auto, Steady, Auto
3 Steady Shots per 2 Auto Shots, also referred to as a 3:2 rotation. You WILL clip your second Auto Shot, but the consensus is that gaining the extra Steady Shot will improve dps more than losing a tenth of a second on that Auto.
The biggest issue here is that when you gain haste, such as an IAotH proc, rapid fire, or DSP proc, you must switch to the 1:1 rotation to take advantage of the increased haste. This rotation also uses more mana than a 1:1.
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
MM/SV Rotation 1: Auto, Steady, Arcane, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady, Multi, Auto, Steady
This is the “max dps” MM/SV rotation. Again, the slower the weapon the better. VERY mana-intensive, and of course you must be careful about where you use Multishot.
MM/SV Rotation 2: Auto, Steady, Arcane, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady, Arcane, Auto
Slightly less DPS than above, but more mana efficient and less risk of breaking crowd control. Again, requires a very low latency, and slow weapon with little to no haste.
How to Build a /castsequence Macro – This page has several MM/SV macros, however I have no idea how well they work currently.
Buff Food: – 1 or 2 stacks of your choice
[Warp Burger] or [Grilled Mudfish]
[Ravager Dog]
[Spicy Hot Talbuk]
Pet Buff Food: – I carry a stack of both
[Kibler’s Bits]
[Sporeling Snack]
Potions:
[Fel Mana Potion]
[Super Mana Potion] or Mana Potion Injector – I carry about 10-15 pots normally
Elixirs/Flasks:
[Elixir of Major Agility]
[Elixir of Major Mageblood]
[Flask of Relentless Assault]
[Flask of Mighty Restoration]
Ammo:
I use expensive rep ammo only on bosses to save some gold. My 24-slot quiver is usually about half full of rep ammo and half full of trash ammo, plus at least 6-8 slots in another bag. I have never gone through it all during a raid, but I don’t like worrying that I might.
Timeless Arrow / Mysterious Arrow / Adamantite Stinger / Warden’s Arrow – Bosses
Blackflight Arrow – Trash
Timeless Shell / Mysterious Shell / Adamantite Shells / Felbane Slugs – Bosses
Ironbite Shell – Trash
Other:
Heavy Netherweave Bandage – I have 40 on me at all times
[Superior Mana Oil]
Normal pet food – I usually bring about two full or near full stacks
Leatherworkers: – a stack or two of your drums of choice
[Drums of Battle]
[Drums of War]
[Drums of Restoration]
(Not really in a particular order)
1) Blessing of Might
2) Blessing of Kings
3) Leader of the Pack
4) Grace of Air & Strength of Earth (buffs pet)
5) Battle Shout (buffs pet)
6) Shadow Priest
7) Blessing of Wisdom
8) Mark of the Wild
“Spreadsheet says I gain 5% flat more damage [from Leader of the Pack]
5.033653% if you want to be exact
GoA is 4.53948% if its 2/2 talented
GoA is 3.98748% if its not talented
TSA is 3.353957%
Battleshout is 3.076725% just because pet scales like CRAZY with AP
in fact,
Battleshout 5/5 Commanding Presence + Strength of Earth 2/2 talented = 6.018541% just from pet buffs
Curse of Recklessness is 5.982961%
Surv hunter with 1100agi raid buffed is 9.487147% (honestly i think this calculation is broken)”
I have not run these numbers myself, but man… /drool
Debuffs on boss that we want (in addition to the norm):
1) Judgment of Wisdom
2) Judgment of Light
Do everything you can to make sure your pet lives especially as a BM hunter. Improved Mend Pet = win.
Spec:
Visual Pet Skill Calculator
For raiding:
1) Always max damage skills
2) Avoidance rank 2
3) Cobra Reflexes is an overall DPS increase.
4) Training for resistances can help your pet live a lot longer.
5) Left over points into Stamina
My cat is trained with full NR at the moment for Vashj and has the same spec for Tempest Keep/Kara, just with Arcane Resist instead of Nature:
Bite – rank 9 (29pts)
Claw – rank 9 (29pts)
Dash – rank 2 (20pts)
Growl – rank 8 (0pts)
Great Stamina – rank 8 (125pts)
Nature Resist – rank 5 (105pts)
Avoidance – rank 2 (25pts)
Cobra Reflexes – rank 1 (15pts)
For BT/Hyjal it is-
Bite – rank 9 (29pts)
Claw – rank 9 (29pts)
Dash – rank 3 (25pts)
Great Stamina – rank 6 (75pts)
Fire Resist – rank 3 (45pts)
Shadow Resist – rank 5 (105pts)
(With Cobra Reflexes, Avoidance 2 of course and Growl 8)
Which pet type?
Ravagers are considered the highest DPS pets, then Cats and Raptors, then Scorpids and perhaps Windserpents?
Buffs: – to get the maximum DPS from your pet, these are the most important buffs they can get
1) Blessing of Might
2) Blessing of Kings
3) Mark of the Wild
4) Fortitude
5) Kibler’s Bits for damage, Sporeling Snack for survival
Macros for you and your pet:
Pet Attack Instance
/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark
/startattack
Pet Attack/Pet Return– Used for quick recall during boss fights. If the pet doesn’t have a target then they’ll attack, if they do have a target then they’ll come back and follow you.
/petattack [target=pettarget,noexists]
/petfollow [target=pettarget,exists]
Pet Attack/Pet Stay– Used for quick recall during boss fights to the stay spot that you placed them in.
/petattack
/petpassive
Feed/Mend– Puts Feed and Mend Pet into one button. Out of combat, holding Shift when clicking will cast Mend Pet otherwise it is the “Bone” icon for you to choose which food, in combat it will cast Mend Pet. The tooltip changes based on what skill is going to be used.
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift,nocombat] Mend Pet; [nocombat] Feed Pet; [combat] Mend Pet
Call/Dismiss/Revive– Puts Call, Dismiss and Revive Pet into one button. Holding Shift when clicking will cast Revive Pet (this is for when there’s no pet body for it to target). If there isn’t a pet it’ll Call them, if they’re dead and their body is still there it’ll Revive them, if the pet is alive and out it will Dismiss them. The tooltip changes based on what skill is going to be used.
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift] Revive Pet; [nopet] Call Pet; [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet; [target=pet,exists] Dismiss Pet
Example of how the tooltips change:
Set Focus– Sets your current target as your focus.
/focus target
Misdirection– Casts Misdirection on your focus if there is one, if not then it casts it on your pet if there is one.
#showtooltip
/cast [help][target=focus,exists]Misdirection
Distracting– For trapping.
#showtooltip
/cast Distracting Shot
/stopcasting
As I said before, I am BM spec. My armory
Agility food
Pet gets
Shattrath flask or Major Agi pot
Make sure my pet gets ALL buffs (especially Mark, Kings and Fort, if the warriors aren’t getting it and I feel like bugging a pally I’ll ask for Might as well).
Kings, Might on me
Start fight-
/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark
/startattack
During the fight-
#show Steady Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Manual timing of Steady Shot using Quartz (about).
or spamming-
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Pop Beastial Wrath +
/cast Beastial Wrath
/use Abacus of Violent Odds
When Abacus wears off, use
[Guide] Raiding with your pet
Adele’s IBR Kill Videos – I’ve uploaded all of SSC, TK and am uploading as we go through Hyjal and BT.
[SSC/TK/MH/BT Raid Videos] From a Hunters PoV – Inudemon’s kill vids are also extremely helpful to watch so once he gets them hosted and updates the links, I’d highly recommend watching them.
[Black Temple / Hyjal] Hunter Raiding Guide
[The Hyjal Summit] Full Hunter Breakdown
X-posted to here.
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