[Hunter] Guide to all your hunter needs, speccs, gear, everything!

[Kezah]

Hey all! :wave:
I thought I'd post this guide to playing hunter that I made, if you think there's something I should change / add then tell me about it.


Starting with speccs:

Beastmastery

My BM shot rotation is the standard Steady/Auto+KC macro:

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/castrandom [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()

I also usually throw in scorpid sting every 20secs when it's needed.

For BM you should get enough crit to be able to use KC every time it's off it's cooldown. Critting also gives GftT procs so your pet can spam it's abilities even more. After that AP is great as it buffs your pet's damage up good. BM doesn't use as much mana as the otehr two speccs as your only using steady shot and KC, aswell as having Beast within for reduced mana costs. So I'd say MP/5 and Int isn't as important for BM as it is for MM and surv.

My BM specc, 41/20/0 : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Just the standard one for BM, for raid DPS'ing. You get ferocious inspiration to buff your groups damage every time your pet crits, not really anything extra helpful to the raid other than that with this build. You also get a free riding crop, just 2% less speed but no need for a trinket.
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Marksmanship

For MM I usually go with this rotation:
Auto, Steady, Arcane, Auto, Steady, Multi, Auto, Steady, Arcane, Auto, Steady, Scorpid Sting and so on.
Sometimes I skip the scorpid sting when it's not needed, and if I put it in each time it uses up much more mana, and it will also overlap it's duration granting less mana efficency if you want to have it up over a long fight. So I usually take it every second round.
When you have speed buffs on you don't use anything but the steady/auto shot macro as otherwise you'll be delaying auto-shots which is very bad.

MM uses lots of mana, so intellect and MP/5 are very nice for it. You also get 45% of your intellect as your AP if you have careful aim (which you should). If you don't have improved revive pet you'll lose a ton of mana reviving your pet, and you probably won't have imp. mend pet either so it will also cost a lot more mana to use.

For MM I use this specc, 7/48/6 : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Could switch around some talents from for example Combat Experience to get 5/5 improved mark and also maybe improved revive pet. Trueshot aura to buff physical DPS. Silencing doesn't have very much use in raids as most bosses in raids are immune to it. Though I think you can use it on the priest in Maulgar fight.

For PvP'ing with MM I've thought of this specc, 5/41/15 : http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cVZEm0oEz0eotcu0hx

You get 5% more health for the points in BM, so you get 15% extra health total with this. Haven't been PvP'ing so much and haven't tried this specc out, but I guess it could be good anyway.
________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________

Survival

For survival I use the same rotation as for MM.

Remember that if you're speccing survival, your point is not to do imba damage, (even though we still do ) It's to buff the other physical DPS'ers in your group and to be more useful to the group with better utility, improved traps can make you able to chaintrap mobs very good.

For survival you should get as much agility as you possibly can. That 15% agi + exposed weakness is probably the reason as to why to go survival. Survival uses less mana than MM due to Thrill of the Hunt which regens 60% of the cost of any shot when it crits.

My survival specc, 0/19/42 : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

I have readiness over 5/5 mortal shots because I like to be able to use rapid fire twice in a row, and it can save your life if FD is on cooldown also. It's very useful when trapping if a trap breaks or gets resisted. As for not getting Wyvern Sting, I don't really see it as very useful except for PvP'ing, but this is a PvE specc so I left it out.

For Survival PvP I'd use this, 0/26/35 : Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

You get both scatter shot and wyvern sting. I've never played survival for PvP so can't say anything about it really. Deterrance and Counterattack can be pretty good on PvP against melee classes I'd think.
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Items

Stats

For hunter gear there's some stats you need, if I were to list them in order from most wanted to least wanted it'd be like this, though this is after you have enough hit (around 150 hit rating for SSC and above I think it was):
1. Agility
2. Attack Power
3. Crit %
4. Intellect
5. Mp/5
6. Stamina
Spirit / Strength aren't very useful, though spirit can be good when you're out of mana and have no pots left / pot CD.

Remember that Agility scales with BoK and talents whereas AP and Crit doesn't.

Sockets

I mostly just socket everything with +agi or +AP/mp5 unless if the socket bonus is good enough. Some good hunter gems, I'll rate them x/3 depending on how good they are:

Blue gems:
[]Solid Star of Elune] 0/3 You don't need to socket pure stamina in PvE, you can get stamina on hybrid gems if you have low health.
[Lustrous Star of Elune] 1/3 Good but not good enough imo

Red gems:
[Delicate Living Ruby] 3/3, Agi is awesome, and agi scales with BoK
[Bright Living Ruby] 3/3 Also great gem if you need AP

Yellow gems:
[Brilliant Dawnstone] 1.5/3 I prefer crit over int, though if your MM I'd give it a 2.5/3
[Rigid Dawnstone] 2/3 Hunters get good hit on their gear so you usually don't need to socket hit, but it's good nevertheless if you don't have enough hit
[Smooth Dawnstone] 3/3 Crit is good, but I'd say agi is better. Though this would be the best yellow gem imo.

Purple gems:
[Balanced Nightseye] 1.5/3 Not too bad, but I prefer the agi one.
[Infused Nightseye] 3/3 One of the best gems, AP and Mp/5, yummy
[Shifting Nightseye] 2.5/3 Very good gem for filling a blue socket.

Green gems
[Dazzling Talasite] 1.5/3 Int and Mp/5 is nice, but damage stats are better imo.
[Jagged Talasite] 1/3 I don't like this one, you can get better crit from yellow gems and the stamina isn't very much needed from a PvE perspective.

Orange Gems
[Glinting Noble Topaz] 3/3 Very good gem if you don't have enough hit.
[Wicked Noble Topaz] 2/3 An 8 Agility gem gives more crit, extra armor, extra dodge AND agility scales with BoK, Lightning Reflexes and Combat Experience. This gem can however be useful in yellow sockets.

Meta gems
[Relentless Earthstorm Diamond] This is really the only metagem you should use as a hunter. 12 agi and 3% more crit rating is very very good. Combine it with Mortal Shots 5/5 and one of the slaying talents and you get 36% more damage on crits. And 12 agi scales with talents / BoK too to make it a real goodie gem.
There's some AP and Stun resist/Movespeed gem also, but hunters don't need to run around much in raids and the stuns that are in raids can usually not be resisted anyway so these are more of PvP gems for hunters.

Consumables

[Elixir of Major Agility] and [Elixir of Major Mageblood] are the elixirs you should use in raids.
If you rather want big AP use [Flask or Relentless Assault], but I recommend the elixir combo.
For food you should use [Grilled Mudfish] or [Warp Burger], both give 20 agi and 30 spirit.
Use [Superior Mana Oil] on your weapon, you can have it x2 if you're dual wielding also for sick mana regen.

Raiding

When you're doing bosses, remember to keep Scorpid Sting up for the boss to get -5% chance to hit, which can help your healers and tank a lot.
ALWAYS have Hunter's Mark up, after 30 shots you will have an increased 440 RAP against the mob you're shooting at. If the buff runs out you will need to shoot 30 shots again to get it up to 440 AP, so you'll lose some damage by not refreshing it before it runs out. Ofcourse if you're many hunters in your raid the 30 shots will go by fast enough so it will get back up fast again.

Remember pet control. If the mob is doing some nasty AoE or something remember to call your pet back fast. This is especially important if you're BM as you lose very much damage from losing your pet. Keeping mend pet up on your pet normally is enough for most battles, but sometimes you'll need to recall it to yourself where it's safe and let it get some health up before it goes in again.

Use all your cooldowns and trinkets at the same time, this will have the biggest effect.

Use Misdirection as often as you can to help your tank, and always feign death when your aggro is getting too high.

Use mana pots as fast as you can. When you have lost as much mana as the maximum amount of mana the potion can restore you should use it, to not risk wasting any mana.
Aspect of the Viper has the biggest effect when your mana is at 20% or less, then the mana regen is at 50% of your intellect, so use hawk until you're at 20% and then turn on Viper.
You can feign and drink if you're low on mana, for this to work though you need to call your pet back to you or you won't get out of combat.
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Pets

Choosing a Pet

First you need a good DPS pet. The good DPS pets are cats, ravagers and scorpids. I am using a cat at the moment.

Scorpids have been nerfed, but are still good in PvP because the poison makes it harder to cleanse your stings.
I've tried both ravager and cat and I can't say it's any big difference to them. They were having roughly the same damage for me, but I think I'm gonna try the ravager again.

Nethermine Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level ravager is Nethermine Ravager, it can be found on Netherwing Ledge in Shadowmoon Valley. It is level 70.
Ravagers can learn Gore, Dash and Bite.

Blackwind Sabercat - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level cat that is not inside Zul'Aman is Blackwind Sabercat, it is found in the cave in Skettis in Terokkar Forest. It is level 70-71.
Cats can learn Bite, Claw, Dash and Prowl. I recommend not having prowl as it is very NOT good.

Scorchshell Pincer - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level scorpid is Scorchshell Pincer, it is found inbetween Shadowmoon Village and Wildhammer Stronghold in Shadowmoon Valley, aswell as in northeast Shadowmoon Valley, to the north of Black Temple and west of Altar of Sha'Tar.
Scorpids can learn Claw and Scorpid poison.

Pet Skills

Always train Avoidance and Cobra Reflexes to your pets.

Highest ranks for Claw, Bite, Dash, Gore and Scorpid Poison are found from these mobs:

Claw rank 9:
Scorpid Bonecrawler - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ravenous Windroc - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Greater Windroc - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Shadowwing Owl - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Gutripper - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ripfang Lynx - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Bite rank 9:
Dreadfang Widow - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rema - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Dash rank 3:
Grunter - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Vilebranch Raiding Wolf - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ravage - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Scarshield Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Blackrock Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Bloodaxe Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rak'shiri - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Frostsaber Huntress - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Frostsaber Stalker - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Razorfang Hatchling - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Zulian Panther - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Zulian Stalker - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rip-Blade Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Gore rank 9:
Rip-Blade Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Scorpid Poison rank 5:
Scorpid Bonecrawler - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Scorchshell Pincer - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Thanks to Petopia: A visual guide to hunter pets in the World of Warcraft! for info on where to find all the skills. (I didn't copy paste anything though! )

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Might add more later if I think of anything.

[Kuiren]

Very nice guide. +Rep

[Farka]

Kool guide, Thanx.

[shishaw]

Looks good, +rep because you know what you're talking about. Most hunters don't understand good point spreads, let alone a good shot rotation. I'd take Hawk Eye over Monster Slaying in the MM spec, though.

[Cakewalk]

Looks good, +rep because you know what you're talking about. Most hunters don't understand good point spreads, let alone a good shot rotation. I'd take Hawk Eye over Monster Slaying in the MM spec, though.

Well he was talking about DPS output, hawk eye is more of a arena/bg talent imo.

Good thread, your one of the first hunters in here that Ive seen that knows how to play, +rop.

[shishaw]

Well he was talking about DPS output, hawk eye is more of a arena/bg talent imo.

Good thread, your one of the first hunters in here that Ive seen that knows how to play, +rop.

Well, I'd still take it for raiding. Not many bosses are Beast/Giant/Dragonkin. And, there are many pulls that are difficult to do without Hawk Eye, and some even with it (i.e. Shade of Akama's room).

[susy]

Seems like copy paste , showtooltip is only annoyng nothing more :X
No wonder ur chat gets spammed

[Kezah]

What are you talking about? I wrote all of this myself. And what do you mean with showtooltip and that I'm getting spammed? :tard:

And yes, I took slaying instead of hawk eye to maximize damage. Will be more useful in ZA also with all beasts in there (killing trash is also important you know )

Update inc.

[Kezah]

Pets part here, added it to first post also:



Pets

Choosing a Pet

First you need a good DPS pet. The good DPS pets are cats, ravagers and scorpids. I am using a cat at the moment.

Scorpids have been nerfed, but are still good in PvP because the poison makes it harder to cleanse your stings.
I've tried both ravager and cat and I can't say it's any big difference to them. They were having roughly the same damage for me, but I think I'm gonna try the ravager again.

Nethermine Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level ravager is Nethermine Ravager, it can be found on Netherwing Ledge in Shadowmoon Valley. It is level 70.
Ravagers can learn Gore, Dash and Bite.

Blackwind Sabercat - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level cat that is not inside Zul'Aman is Blackwind Sabercat, it is found in the cave in Skettis in Terokkar Forest. It is level 70-71.
Cats can learn Bite, Claw, Dash and Prowl. I recommend not having prowl as it is very NOT good.

Scorchshell Pincer - NPCs - World of Warcraft
The highest level scorpid is Scorchshell Pincer, it is found inbetween Shadowmoon Village and Wildhammer Stronghold in Shadowmoon Valley, aswell as in northeast Shadowmoon Valley, to the north of Black Temple and west of Altar of Sha'Tar.
Scorpids can learn Claw and Scorpid poison.

Pet Skills

Always train Avoidance and Cobra Reflexes to your pets.

Highest ranks for Claw, Bite, Dash, Gore and Scorpid Poison are found from these mobs:

Claw rank 9:
Scorpid Bonecrawler - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ravenous Windroc - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Greater Windroc - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Shadowwing Owl - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Gutripper - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ripfang Lynx - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Bite rank 9:
Dreadfang Widow - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rema - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Dash rank 3:
Grunter - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Vilebranch Raiding Wolf - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Ravage - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Scarshield Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Blackrock Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Bloodaxe Worg - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rak'shiri - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Frostsaber Huntress - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Frostsaber Stalker - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Razorfang Hatchling - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Zulian Panther - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Zulian Stalker - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Rip-Blade Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Gore rank 9:
Rip-Blade Ravager - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Scorpid Poison rank 5:
Scorpid Bonecrawler - NPCs - World of Warcraft
Scorchshell Pincer - NPCs - World of Warcraft

Thanks to Petopia: A visual guide to hunter pets in the World of Warcraft! for info on where to find all the skills. (I didn't copy paste anything though! )

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[Mizzypoo]

Wow, very nice guide. This will help me with my hunter.

[lag]

This is [phat] yo. Good job writing and/or copy and pasting!




Just kidding, I see you wrote it (I mean... good job still... kidding... you get the point +rep kthx!)

[sk8erboy2k6]

Very nice helped me alot. I would +rep if i could sorry.

[Kezah]

Glad it helps

Thanks for all the nice comments and +Rep I got

[Kyletheman]

Are Nether Rays good pets? I am at level 60 and went to Zangermarsh and thought they were pretty cool.

[Kezah]

The only Nether Rays that are worth taming are the Coilfang Ray - NPCs - World of Warcraft and Fen Ray - NPCs - World of Warcraft. These are the only Nether Rays without caster stats.They also only have bite and dive as trainable skills, so they're not something I'd recommend.

Caster stats means that the pet has a lot of intellect and spirit while having the other stats very low, so their DPS isn't any good. You can see if a pet will have caster stats by looking if they have a mana bar in the wild. Some Nether Rays might not show a mana bar at first, but they can have a drain mana ability to get it filled up.

If you want a TBC pet I can recommend a ravager, there are some in HFP. Also at level 64 you can tame a Warp Hunter - NPCs - World of Warcraft, Warp Stalkers can Bite and Claw and also have the skill Warp, which teleports them to their target and gives them extra chance to dodge for a small while. Warp stalkers have a -5% damage mdifier to them though. There is also a tameable warp stalker already at 63, but it's with caster stats so don't get that one.