Hunter- 70 Raid/Spec Guide

[Skapocalypse]

I wrote this guide for a guild I was in a month or so ago. They disbanded and I would rather not see this go to waste, as I spent a good hour or so writing it up for some of the people who may not know of the basics for the class.

I hope you use it. I am aware that many of you may know how to play this class already, but I am sure there are several people looking to change specs or figure out a thing or two about the class for raiding, that they may not have known earlier. This is a guides section and this is a guide.

Note: This is just up to ~T5 content, as I only got that far on my hunter before leaving the game.



Here is a basic guideline for hunter raiding through T5 Content.

I am strictly a BM hunter, so I am not as experienced in the other specs. Please correct me if I am wrong with one of the stats. (In BM or otherwise)

BM Spec:
This spec combines your damage and your pet's damage, doing a lot of damage over time, but not so much initially.
Crit: You want a set amount of crit at around 20-30%. Nothing too strict, but the more crit you have, the more damage your pet will do (thereby buffing the group and yourself.)
Hit: You need a 142 hit rating. If you're a Draenei, you need 127. Basically, you want a 9.0% miss rate.
Attack Power: You want about 1500-1700 (without Aspect of the Hawk)
Haste: You want to aim for a goal haste of around 1.70. This is extremely hard to achieve. However, the more haste you have, the better your rotation will fit in, allowing more DPS.
Enchants:
Weapon: +35 Agility for a 2hand (Try to get the Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe). For duelwielding, get +20 Agility, unless you are very low on mana. In that case, get an intellect enchant.
For the rest of your gear, try to get Agility and Attack Power (and Hit, until you are hit capped.)
Gems: Gem HIT before anything. Make sure you are hit capped. Once you reach that point, focus on agility and attackpower.

RANGED WEAPON: You want a fast weapon, but nothing too fast. The ideal weapon speed you can get is a 2.70, from the Wolf Slayer Sniper Rifle in Kara, from Oprea. The 150 badge Crossbow, "Crossbow of Relentless Strikes," has a 2.80 attack speed, which is very good for BM. Something lower than a 2.50 speed is too fast. Higher than 2.90 is too slow. With the haste from your quiver/ammo, serpent's swiftness, and gear, you should be going around 1.90. On my hunter, I have a solid 2.00. It could be lower, though.

Base Stats:
Str- No + str
Agi- +300-400
Stam- Up to you, really. I have +369
Int- +100-200
Spirit- No + Spirit
Armor- Base
Health: 7500 Min
Mana: 6000 Min (Keep AotV up at all times)

BM Shot Rotation:
1:1 Rotation, very simple. Auto Shot, Steady Shot. Repeat.
(Open with a Steady Shot, then wait for an auto shot. Once it leaves the weapon, wind up your steady shot again. Repeat for the entire fight.)

MM:
This spec focuses on the burst damage of each of your shots, timing them right could lead to some very big numbers.

Crit: Like MM, you want a crit around 30%. Since you rely less on the pet, the higher crit you have, the better.
Hit: 142 (Draenei, 127).
Attack Power: Around the 2000 area
Haste: Not as important as for BM.
Enchants: Like BM, you're going to focus mainly on agility and attack power. More agility than BM, but a steady amount of AP, as well. For the weapon, you want either Savagery or +35 Agi. Duelwielding, again, +20 Agi. Int is a good choice for MM, as well, due to the reliance on AotH.
Gems: Hit until capped, then agility and attackpower.

Ranged Weapon:
SLOW! The slower, the better. Don't go below 2.90. The slower your weapon, the more damage you'll do. Ideally, you want 3.00 and up.

Stats:
+agility/ap the most of them all, with a 2nd in Stamina.

Health: 7500~
Mana: 7000~

Rotation:
Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi-Shot, Auto Shot, Steady-Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot- Repeat
Make sure you're waiting for the auto shots to fire before you shoot your next attack.
It will take a few tries to get it down solid, but, with some timing, you can do it very smoothly and top the charts. It's very mana painful, so bring some mana pots.


Survival:
This is the most raid-friendly spec. You'll help the raid out the most by using it, but won't (necessarily) be topping the charts.

Crit: You want a decent amount of crit, upwards of 30-40%. The more you crit, the more the raid benefits, and the more damage you do.
Hit: 95 (79 for Draenei)
Attack Power: Less than the other two specs, as you'll be focusing more on crit. Somewhere around 1300-1500 min
Haste: Not as good for you as it is for BM, but still useful to help with some shots.
Enchants: Agility. Anything Agility. You want as high a crit rating as possible. Do NOT stack crit gems, as hunters don't benefit as well from crit gem as they do from agility. Make sure you have a decent amount of mana, though. You don't want to be running out too quickly. Weapon: Agility and/or int.
Gems: Cap hit, then socket for agility.

Ranged Weapon: Similar to MM, slower is better.

Stats:
Tons of +Agility
Decent amount of Int

Health: 7000~
Mana: 7000~

Rotation:

This rotation is similar to the MM rotation.
Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot. Repeat.
Make sure you wait for the auto's to shoot.



Raid Specs:
BM: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -My spec
The first tier is up to the player, really. I never use Aspect of the Hawk (due to mana problems), so I spec for Endurance Training. The 2nd tier, as well, can have some changes. The 2nd tier, improved revive pet is good for raiding, as you will lose your pet. It helps to res it in the middle, though (if you have the mana). Doing this makes that possible. The last point is up to you. I throw it in Improved AotH (PvP/solo reasons). Third tier is basic. Fourth, I have Ferocity and Improved Mend Pet. In BM, you want your pet alive. This talent helps you do that without wasting all your mana. Fifth tier you want Intimidation (It helps in PvE, too) and Bestial Discipline. Sixth, this is up to you. I personally take 5 points in frenzy and one in Animal Handler. Others take four in frenzy and two in animal handler. Seven, BM and Ferocious Inspiration. Eight, Serpent's Swiftness. Nine, BM.
The rest of your points are spent in MM. Lethal Shits, tier 1, for more damage overall. Tier two is up to you. I take Improved Hunter's Mark, so I can help my group's DPS. Others take efficency, in order to help their mana. Next tier, Aimed Shot, Rapid Killing, and Go for the Throat. The last 5 points should go to Mortal shots, giving you more crit damage. [Aimed Shot is optional, but I play on a PvP server and Aimed Shot is a necessity there :P]

MM: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This one of focuses on high damage and mana efficency (for the most part.) The trap aspect is a point throw. Clever traps is especially useful in PvE and will make trapping more enjoyable and simple.

Survival: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This build will help both your dps and your groups dps. Your traps will last a long time and be stronger, your crits return mana and deal additional damage, adds a "hunter's mark" like buff to your target (based on agility), and gives you a huge crit rating. It's very strong for survival raiding, and reliable. It won't be a great build for soloing, though.




I am, in no way, an expert of the hunter's class. This is simply a guide I've written to give some of the basics to the hunters of this game. If you see anything as incorrect, or disagree with it, please tell me about it! I had to research in order to find some information on Survival and MM.


NOTE:
When socketing gems, stay away from +crit gems (unless you REALLY can't find anything else). Agility gives you more crit (as well as other goodies) than crit itself does.






Here is some of the macros for both BM and MM/Surv. BM you can just spam the 1:1/3:2 as much as you would like. The MM/Surv macro you want to use when there is no CC. If there is CC, remove multishot from the macro.


#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Steady Shot
/click [target=pettarget,exists] MultiBarBottomLeftButton12
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

-Same Macro, Different wording-

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


^ 1:1 macros, for steady/auto over and over. Just spam click. Steady, Auto... It's more mana efficent, but less over all DPS than a 3:2 macro.


3:2
This is Steady, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady. Spam click, less mana efficient, more damage.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()


MM/SV:

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3.0 Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi-Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

Don't use the above with any CC.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3.0 Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

The above one is alright to use with CC. I am not sure if this is 100% correct, as I did not get to test MM/Surv in BC. If anyone has any better macros for MM/SV, please tell me!


Again, this isn't really my type of thing. I like shooting it myself, rather than clicking the button one thousand times, so if it doesn't quite work, my apologize- but I did not test these in a long while, if at all.

[haxxie]

Might help to add some hunter macros ;=) Otherwise it looks good.

[joho]

forums.wow-europe.com <- If you need rotations/specs
wowwiki.com <- If you need macros

The best rotation on raid boss fights is just steadyshot, DL quartz & its done.
I aint saying its bad, tho check it out ._.

[Nymphx]

A way of getting alot more damage is timing your Steady Shot perfect as you can start casting it half way through an auto shot and it bugs and shoots the autoshot around 1/4 the way through the Steady Shot.

Then again, this could be just Private servers, but I would think it works on retail too.

Sorry if it's in the guide as I just read the parts that interested me, but another useful tip is to AVOID using other spells as much as you can. This drains alot of mana and is only necessary on PvP to kill quickly, as you may know.

Ps: Playing hunter on retail is one of the best experiences I have had on WoW.

[Skapocalypse]

Might help to add some hunter macros ;=) Otherwise it looks good.

I don't usually use a macro, as it just makes raiding so ridiculously boring. I tend to just listen fr the autos and take my shot. Usually never miss an auto and get roughly 50%~ auto/steady with top 1-3 DPS. Hitting one button for three hours gets really boring :[

If you're a macro kind of guy, I have these from a notepad file, a long time back. Not sure if they're still working >.<

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Steady Shot
/click [target=pettarget,exists] MultiBarBottomLeftButton12
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

-Same Macro, Different wording-

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

^ 1:1 macros, for steady/auto over and over. Just spam click. Steady, Auto...


3:2
This is Steady, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady. Spam click, less mana efficient, more damage.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()



Don't have any MM/SV macros on me, so I'll have to google those.




This is all I found for MM/SV:

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3.0 Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi-Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

Don't use it with any CC.



Again, this isn't really my type of thing. I like shooting it myself, rather than clicking the button one thousand times, so if it doesn't quite work, my apologize- but I did not test these in a long while, if at all.




@Joho-
Of course you can find similar information on the forums, that is why they're there. However, I wrote this so people don't have to spam the forums with, "HAO DO I SPEC BM AND SHOOT GOOD?!" It's all in one place, easily accessible. Plus, some people might not even know they're doing something incorrectly, and, if they happen to read this thread, they will learn from it. Hopefully, that knowledge will be passed on to another person, teaching many people how to remove the term "huntard" and give them a respectable name.

[Dwight K. Schrute]

Not really a point of putting MM in there...unfortunately it is extremely useless in TBC.

[Apartment Wolf]

Im mm and it fuxshitup

[Slippers]

Not bad. I'll point out some of the things I think need improvement for an awesome guide:

- It's missing is some color! Adding a different color per spec is a nice example, be creative with it

- The BM spec is wrong, you want to get 4/5 frenzy and 2/2 animal handler for that extra pet hit (it's important too! :P).

- Make sure to remove the "Sound effects" part in the macros, some people (like me) play with no game sound on (and listen to music instead).

- I'm pretty sure 2.8 is the "good" speed for BM hunter ranged weapons.

- Last thing; stacking haste if you don't have the other stats to support your DPS is kind of a waste. I waited until I got all Sunwell tier6 pieces before stacking some haste.


Oh and Toxicity12, I doubt you will be able to keep up with a BM hunter in Sunwell.


-Awkrin. (Slippers)

[Naec93]

Very nice +rep for you.

[Skapocalypse]

Not bad. I'll point out some of the things I think need improvement for an awesome guide:

- It's missing is some color! Adding a different color per spec is a nice example, be creative with it

- The BM spec is wrong, you want to get 4/5 frenzy and 2/2 animal handler for that extra pet hit (it's important too! :P).

- Make sure to remove the "Sound effects" part in the macros, some people (like me) play with no game sound on (and listen to music instead).

- I'm pretty sure 2.8 is the "good" speed for BM hunter ranged weapons.

- Last thing; stacking haste if you don't have the other stats to support your DPS is kind of a waste. I waited until I got all Sunwell tier6 pieces before stacking some haste.


Oh and Toxicity12, I doubt you will be able to keep up with a BM hunter in Sunwell.


-Awkrin. (Slippers)

It's been colorized, fixed the speccing for the max DPS in BM.
However, 2.7~ suggested bow speed is going to remain the same. As much as I have read and seen, I've always known the suggested max bow speed to be 2.7, with a healthy amount of haste (very easy to get from ZA) to tighten up a 3:2/1:1 rotation. Even pre-T6 it's viable to stack haste (of course, without sacrificing other DPS boosting- maybe replace hit gems with haste when you're capped and can spare the hit).

Sound effect line was removed from the macro. I don't use that, either. Didn't notice it when I pasted it >.<


And, Naec93, you can't give rep :-P

[Slippers]

There you go, much better now

And you know, I always thought the suggested bow speed was 2.8, you have thought me something new.

I'll rep you for this one

[Skapocalypse]

There you go, much better now

And you know, I always thought the suggested bow speed was 2.8, you have thought me something new.

I'll rep you for this one

Haha, well, my goal was to try to get some sort of a message across to anyone, regardless of skill level, on something they may not have known! Hopefully I'm right with the 2.7 speed, which I assume the sources I've followed are >.<

[TomPetty]

I used to raid with Death and Taxes on my hunter so I'll try and give a little insight.

The base weapon speed you're ultimately going to be trying to achieve is around 1.9. I used be really strict about always staying at 142 hit rating, but once I messed around with it I realized that you can stick around 130 and not really miss any shots during a night. Also for BM, the best raiding pet to use is a Ravager for Gore until you hit 32% unbuffed crit, when you switch to a Wind Serpent.

Looks good though.

[Apartment Wolf]

My mm does so much burst but i spec BM for my BT HYJAL AND SUNWELL runs

[iLLsen]

nice guide but you forgot something essential in your first macro

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Steady Shot
/click [target=pettarget,exists] MultiBarBottomLeftButton12
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

the /click [target=pettarget,exists] MultiBarBottomLeftButton12
is triggering another macro binded to MultiBarBottomLeftButton12

this second macro should look something like this

/cast Kill Command

but i think this method with the 2 combined macros is obsolete since the latest patch

people binded it this way to avoid clipping autoshot after kill command.