3.1 Basic Raiding Hunter Guide

[m0rbidang3l]

try formatting it a little better imo

[Sensisativa]

Ok, so you rolled a Hunter.

Now as most hunter's know, BM is the fastest spec for leveling your toon. Not that SV or MM are far behind it.

So you got to 80 and want to start raiding? Not sure what what stats to go for?

I'm here to help!

Index
Stats
Enchants
Flasks & Food
Gemming
Talents
Basics & Macros
Shot Rotation
Addons

Stats

Stats in order of importance:

Hit
Agility
Attack Power
Intellect
Crit
Armor Pen.
Haste

BM would place AP above agility.
MM has many choices that come down to using the spreadsheet with their gear to get the most out of a stat(which is the best thing to do with every spec).

Hit
This stat is the most important stat for a hunter as every time you miss you are losing potential dps.
The cap for hit is 8%, which is 263.
There is a talent called [Focused Aim]. A 3 point talent which adds 1% to hit per point, but it lowers your dps, so always try to get your hit through gear.

If you are low on Hit these enchants will help out:
Icewalker - Adds 12 Hit & Crit to boots.
Precision - Adds 20 Hit to gloves.

Gemming for Hit will see you using Rigid Autumn's Glow For +16 Hit

or

one of the following if you only need 8 or less Hit:
Glinting Monarch Topaz for +8 Hit & +8 Agility
Pristine Monarch Topaz for +8 Hit & +16 AP

There are more +Hit gems out there, but these will cover the majority of your needs.

Agility
Agility is useful for every hunter, but Survival hunters get the most out of this stat with their talents [Lightning Reflexes] & [Expose Weakness]
Agility adds 1 AP per point, a small crit increase and a very small increase in dodge and armor.
The most common gem you will be using for Agility is
Delicate Scarlet Ruby for +16 Agility

Attack Power
Attack power is important to all hunters also, but BM gets the most use out of it because their pet gets 22% of the owners AP.
Bright Scarlet Ruby will be your choice for +32 AP.

Intellect
Intellect is rated 4th on the list because of a talent every hunter should have
[Careful Aim] A 3 point talent that adds 1 AP for every 1 Intellect you have.
Don't gem or enchant for Intellect, as Agility or AP is still better point for point.


Crit
Crit is a great stat, just not something you should have to gem for in most cases, as like Intellect, Agility and AP are better used.
The crit you get on your gear and through talents like [Lethal Shots] and item enhancements should be enough.

Armor Penetration
Armor Pen, even with the 25% boost with 3.1 is still not high enough to lose Agility or AP for it.

Haste
Haste is another stat you should only being getting through gear, gemming and enchanting for it is not a wise choice.
15%(523) Haste is the soft cap, which brings your steady shot down to 1.5s. After that it only affects your auto shots

Enchants

I am just going to assume Hit is capped for these, see Hit section above if below hit

Head
Arcanum of Torment
for +50 AP, +20 Crit.
Need to be revered with Ebon Blade.

Shoulders
Greater Inscription of the Axe
for +40 AP, +15 Crit
Need to be exalted with Son's of Hodir

Back
Enchant Cloak - Major Agility
for +22 Agility

Chest
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
for +10 stats

Wrist
Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault
for +50 AP

Hands
Enchant Gloves - Major Agility
for +20 Agility
or
Enchant Gloves - Crusher
for +44 AP

Belt
Eternal Belt Buckle
Adds an extra Gem socket

Legs
Icescale Leg Armor
for +75 AP, +22 Crit
Made by Leatherworkers

Boots
Enchant Boots - Superior Agility
for +16 Agility
or
Enchant Boots - Greater Assault
for +32 AP

Rings
Enchant Ring - Assault
for +32 AP
Enchanters only

Weapon
Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre
for +110 AP

Ranged
Heartseeker Scope
for +40 Crit
Made by Engineers


Flasks & Food
When raiding it is good form to have a well fed buff and be using flasks or elixirs, helps speed up farm content.
When in progression or BM Flask of Endless Rage +180AP, lasts through death is the best choice for a flask.

As SV using Elixir of Mighty Agility for +45 Agility for 1 hour & Elixir of Mighty Thoughts for +45 Intellect for 1 hour
nets you a dps gain over Flask of Endless Rage because of talents like [Lightning Reflexes] & [Careful Aim]

SV should be eating Blackened Dragonfin
for +40 Agility, +40 Stam for 1 hour

BM/MM could stick with the Fish Feast for +80 AP, +46 SP, +40 Stam for 1 hour

If you are low on Hit, eat Snapper Extreme for +40 Hit, +40 Stam for 1 hour

Gemming
For your meta gems SV will prefer Relentless Earthsiege Diamond for +21 Agility and 3% Increased Critical Damage
Needs 1 red, yellow & Blue gem to activate

BM would prefer Swift Skyflare Diamond
for +42 Attack Power and Minor Run Speed Increase
Needs 1 red & 2 yellow to activate

For your red and yellow slots I added the most used gems in the stats section.
For Blue slots you will end up using a green or purple gem with mixed stats on them

Talents

I don't want to come here and tell people how to spec, so I will just leave this area blank for now.
If anyone wants what is considered the the "best" dps spec for any trees I can post them.

Basics & Macros
We hunters get a bad name (Huntard) because many people pick a hunter for the ease of use and never learn to play their class well

I'm going to be using a raid with only 1 hunter(you) in the group for all this.
The first thing you want is a [Misdirection] macro. If you have the same tank all the time this one works well

#showtooltip
/cast [target={insert tank name}] Misdirection

or

#showtooltip Misdirection
/target focus
/cast misdirection
/assist

will MD whoever you have selected
or

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast (target=focus) Misdirection

will allow you to keep your current target and not screw up your rotation besides a GCD. Obviously you will want to have your tank set as your focus. Thx l31sh0p

Even after Md the main tank you can still over-take him in threat if you go all out, it is a good idea to MD as soon as the CD is up when threat is a problem.
Using [Feign Death] can save your butt, but it always a good idea to dump aggro with it before you pull the mob off the main tank

Always be attacking the main tanks target unless you have a special task for the fight. You will pull x or star off the tank if you should be dps'ing skull

For fights with lots of adds a freezing trap at the feet of that priest who keeps dieing can do wonders

BM should make use something like

#showtooltip Bestial Wrath
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Call of the Wild
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] <other pet special>
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Bestial Wrath

the 13 & 14 use your trinkets if they have an ability. take them out if not needed

Great pet macro

/cast [nopet] Call Pet; [target=pet, dead] Revive Pet
/cast [combat] Heart of the phoenix
/cast [pet, mod:ctrl] Mend Pet
/cast [pet, mod:alt] DismissPet

will call, revive, tame, heal or dismiss your pet

Shot Rotation
Hunters don't have a shot rotation anymore, we now use a priority list.

SV would use

Killshot
Exp. shot
Black arrow
Aimed shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot

For MM

Killshot
Chim. shot
Aimed shot
Arcane shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot

You can use

/use Silencing Shot
/use Aimed shot

in place of your aimed shot and it will increase dps a little, as silencing shot does not trigger the global cooldown.

For BM

Killshot
Arcane shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot

Addons
These addons are only some of the many that will benefit you while raiding.

Deadly Boss Mods
A great addon for boss timers and warnings

Omen threat Meters
Will show you where you are on threat, or let you know if the main tank is low on threat and needs a MD

SimpleMD
Will announce your MD's and give you a CD bar, letting you know when it's up

Quartz
Handles your shot timers

Kharthus's Hunter Timers
A great CD watcher for all hunter abilities.


If anyone made it this far, I'll be adding to and improving this over time.
If you have any questions or feel like pointing out any mistakes, feel free.

[imjaspar2]

SV would use

Killshot
Exp. shot
Black arrow
Aimed shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot

Should be
Killshot
Black arrow
Exp. shot
Aimed shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot
if im not mistaken

[l31sh0p]

I'm willing to stick my neck out and say that Surv is top raid dps. You can improve your misdirection macro:

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast (target=focus) Misdirection

will allow you to keep your current target and not screw up your rotation besides a GCD. Obviously you will want to have your tank set as your focus.

[Sensisativa]

@imjaspar2

Exp. shot is above Black arrow due to the dmg per GCD. Even though black arrow increases the dmg of exp. shot, it is a dps loss to delay the exp. shot. Many number crunchers over at EJ have done the math, and the spreadsheet shows Exp shot with the advantage

@l31sh0p - I'll add yours in, mine was more for fights like Ignis, where we can help to MD the adds to the OT.
And yes you are correct, SV is the "best" spec with MM above BM atm.

[l31sh0p]

I was working on making something like this after class today, tell me what you think.

1. Bind Explosive Shot to every key left of H.
2. Bind Black Arrow to every key right of G.
3. Gently place tip of nose between G and H.
4. Roll.

amidoinitrite? ;P

Just kidding man, glad you're open for suggestions. Good work on the guide, +rep.

[pauk]

haha... basic guide...
wall of text crits you 70000
+Rep though

[Estima]

SV would use

Killshot
Exp. shot
Black arrow
Aimed shot
Serpent Sting
Steady shot

I recommend for all hunter use this priority

Killshot
Black arrow
Serpent Sting
Exp. shot
Aimed shot
Steady shot

Black arrow and serpent are more prior cause it boosts up your other shots.

[ace_012]

IMO, it's different depending on whether yur starting out the fight or its about to end. Clearly if the boss is about to die then you should use exp shot because you would do more damage then wasting the 1.5sec gcd for an extra 3% dmg. But if your starting out it would be better to use like multi-shot first to proc exposed weakness, etc, then apply ba.

[Smeems]

I was working on making something like this after class today, tell me what you think.

1. Bind Explosive Shot to every key left of H.
2. Bind Black Arrow to every key right of G.
3. Gently place tip of nose between G and H.
4. Roll.

amidoinitrite? ;P

Just kidding man, glad you're open for suggestions. Good work on the guide, +rep.

+repped for this.

[Thimpey]

#showtooltip Auto Shot
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Kill Command
/cast !auto shot
/castsequence reset=9 Multi-Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot
/cast Explosive Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

Done.

[Estima]

#showtooltip Auto Shot
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Kill Command
/cast !auto shot
/castsequence reset=9 Multi-Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot, , Steady Shot
/cast Explosive Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

Done.

No black arrow and serpent sting?this is stupid.
Also with new aimed shot glyph,it's better to use aimed,no multi shot/

[tooloney]

This MD macro will misdirect your focus by default. If you have no focus, or you are soloing, it will target your pet instead, very useful especially for people still leveling or doing dailies, etc.


#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] Misdirection; [target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection

[Nezin]

Great guide! I have a 78 hunter so when i hit 80 im going to take your advice!

[mazzie]

Nice. really good imo