I'm currently taking a nice break from WoW and will probably not post until 3.2 patch comes around.
I would like to update the BM, Marks and Survival pages if the DPS of talents changes significantly come 3.2. And I might be playing a bit more of WoW come 3.2 which would lead me to post a bit more.
But for the next month or two, don't expect new posts (I might make a few posts about the upcoming 3.2 changes as they are announced).
I've been playing Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 mods (Tower D and DOTA) during this break from WoW. It's funny that Blizzard seems to make all the games that have immense replay value.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Patch 3.2 Initial Changes
Hunter - Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.
- Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect.
- The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.
- Traps now have separate 30 second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.
- Talents
- Beast Mastery
- Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
- Survival
- Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
- Lock and Load: Now has a 22 second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
- Pets
- Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the Hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.
Alright, the first major change is the trap change. Hunters can now lay 3 different types of traps, fire, frost or nature, and can have them out all at the same time, one from each type.
It is difficult to imagine what this will do for Hunters in PvP, as Snake Trap and Explosive or Immolation Trap are just not that good. So using a precious GCD on a fire or nature trap would be unwise unless stuck in melee. For leveling, this change is awesome! My Hunter is going to be an aoe king.
The Catlike Reflexes buff is interesting. I have a feeling it will be a worthless change as a Hunter in PvE or PvP would have to take out points in a worthwhile talent to put them into the now okay talent of Catlike Reflexes. Basically, the Hunter would have to give up a damaging talent to pick up Catlike Reflexes, and it would be a wash (most likely Catlike Reflexes will still be crappier than most any other damaging talent).
The Roar of Sacrifice change is another big one. Allowing the Hunter to use it on anyone again is great, and changing it to immunity from crits is very interesting. The major problem is lengthening the cooldown from 30 seconds to 2 mins. That really only allows us to use it about once per a fight in PvP.
Overall, I'm very disappointed with 3.2 changes (especially the one where 2v2 can no longer be used to pick up current season gear). Resilience is getting a major buff which will make double DPS teams even more non-existent. I have a feeling the Resilience change is here to stay, but maybe not the 2v2 change, since that would be destroying 80-90% of their Arena base.
It is difficult to imagine what this will do for Hunters in PvP, as Snake Trap and Explosive or Immolation Trap are just not that good. So using a precious GCD on a fire or nature trap would be unwise unless stuck in melee. For leveling, this change is awesome! My Hunter is going to be an aoe king.
The Catlike Reflexes buff is interesting. I have a feeling it will be a worthless change as a Hunter in PvE or PvP would have to take out points in a worthwhile talent to put them into the now okay talent of Catlike Reflexes. Basically, the Hunter would have to give up a damaging talent to pick up Catlike Reflexes, and it would be a wash (most likely Catlike Reflexes will still be crappier than most any other damaging talent).
The Roar of Sacrifice change is another big one. Allowing the Hunter to use it on anyone again is great, and changing it to immunity from crits is very interesting. The major problem is lengthening the cooldown from 30 seconds to 2 mins. That really only allows us to use it about once per a fight in PvP.
Overall, I'm very disappointed with 3.2 changes (especially the one where 2v2 can no longer be used to pick up current season gear). Resilience is getting a major buff which will make double DPS teams even more non-existent. I have a feeling the Resilience change is here to stay, but maybe not the 2v2 change, since that would be destroying 80-90% of their Arena base.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
BM PvP Build 53 / 0 / 18
Last week I tried a 53/0/18 BM PvP build with my Rogue partner in 2's.
I have a mixed reaction to this build.
Notes:
I would only try this build if your partner has a 50% healing debuff. Since my partner is a Rogue I can get away with not having Aimed Shot and using Multi-Shot in its place.
Positives:
Much better control with Scatter Shot. I can always trap a target after a Scatter Shot, which allows 3 huge forms of CC on one target (Sap, Scatter / Trap, Blind).
I have a little bit more survivability with a few survival talents that I pick up along the way to Scatter Shot.
I also go down to Lock and Load since I'm that far into the Survival Tree. This allows me to make up some burst that I have lost by not going into the Marks Tree.
Negatives:
No ranged 50% healing debuff that is pretty easy to keep up. My rogue cannot always stay on a target.
Missing a lot of amazing talents in the beginning of the Marks Tree that reduces overall damage and burst potential.
If your team needs a little bit more control and you like playing as a BM Hunter this might be the build for you.
We went 50/50 with me as this build at around 2150 rating. We lost to a few teams we would have normally beat as I didn't quite have the burst to score a quick kill, and we won against a couple of teams that we would usually lose to because we could chain CC.
53 / 0 / 18
I have a mixed reaction to this build.
Notes:
I would only try this build if your partner has a 50% healing debuff. Since my partner is a Rogue I can get away with not having Aimed Shot and using Multi-Shot in its place.
Positives:
Much better control with Scatter Shot. I can always trap a target after a Scatter Shot, which allows 3 huge forms of CC on one target (Sap, Scatter / Trap, Blind).
I have a little bit more survivability with a few survival talents that I pick up along the way to Scatter Shot.
I also go down to Lock and Load since I'm that far into the Survival Tree. This allows me to make up some burst that I have lost by not going into the Marks Tree.
Negatives:
No ranged 50% healing debuff that is pretty easy to keep up. My rogue cannot always stay on a target.
Missing a lot of amazing talents in the beginning of the Marks Tree that reduces overall damage and burst potential.
If your team needs a little bit more control and you like playing as a BM Hunter this might be the build for you.
We went 50/50 with me as this build at around 2150 rating. We lost to a few teams we would have normally beat as I didn't quite have the burst to score a quick kill, and we won against a couple of teams that we would usually lose to because we could chain CC.
Monday, June 8, 2009
BM Hunter Team Wins 2nd Place at MLG Columbus
After venting my frustration to my Rogue friend Siphter about how there are so many rogues and never any hunters at a WoW tournament, EmG shows up at MLG Columbus.
EmG's lineup was Payce on Holy Paladin, Flexx on Unholy / Frost Death Knight and Twixz on BM Hunter.
EmG only lost 3 rounds in the whole tournament and they were all to SK Gaming's RMP (who took 1st place).
I was extremely excited to see a BM Hunter in tournament play. And the great thing about it was that Twixz was a longtime Hunter so he knew when to switch pets against certain teams. I loved watching him pull out the Chimaera against the Rogue double healer setup.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Hunter DPS 3.1.3
Hunters are recieving two more buffs since the Ranged Weapon hotfix. Hunter's Mark is going from 300 to 500 and the talent Master Marksman is now also affecting Aimed and Chimera Shot (mana wise).
These changes will cause each tree to gain a somewhat different amount of DPS:
Marksmanship: +196 DPS
Survival: +148 DPS
Beast Mastery: +79 DPS
These changes have minimal affect on PvP since Hunter's Mark is usually instantly dispelled and costs mana and a GCD; however, the mana changes should help Marksmanship slightly in PvP.
It is unfortunate that the Beast Mastery tree continues to fall further behind since Hunter's Mark does not help out a pets damage at all. Unless blizzard decides to buff the Beast Mastery tree in some way, I see even less BM Hunters in the future (not that I see many in the present).
Here is the update in DPS for each Hunter Tree come 3.1.3 (25 man raid, with my gear and talents as mentioned in each Tree page on this site):
Survival: +6769
Marksmanship: +6613
Beast Mastery: +6211
Marksmanship and Survival are neck and neck, while BM is left behind, especially since if a BM Hunter loses their pet, their DPS plummets.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Hunter Buffs Incoming
Hunters dps is too low according to the developers. Today they are implementing a +30 dps increase to all bows, crossbows and guns that are of an item level of 226 or higher. This should translate to a hunter damage increase of a few percent.
This is not the only buff that Hunters are going to get. Another buff is planned in a few weeks time.
Source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17223144541&sid=1
WoW Reports updated for Week 4, and Hunters are still struggling. Hope they plan to buff Hunters in PvP as that seems to be more out of balance than PvE DPS problems.
I am very interested to hear what the next buff will be in a few weeks time...
Friday, May 15, 2009
Hunter / Rogue 2152
Siphter and I climbed almost 200 points this week, as last week we were below 2k.
Siphter specced back to a Shadowstep / Hemo build and we did a lot better at finishing our targets. The mobility that Siphter has with Shadowstep allows him to instantly move into the fight from a safe distance so that he is not pulled out of stealth with aoe effects.
I have switched from using a Wasp to now using my Chimaera. Roar of Sacrifice helps me live quite a bit longer. The Froststorm Breath is a great slow and helps keep our target slowed all the time. I do miss 9% extra pet crit and Heart of the Phoenix that Ferocity pets have (mostly that crit that my pet doesn't have).
Above 2k, we won 6 games in a row, 4 away from getting flawless victor; would have been pretty cool if we could have gotten that.
We faced a double rogue team that instantly killed Siphter. But I was able to kill both the Rogues even though they were able to get away with a vanish (love BM w/ a Chimaera).
Our queues were a bit better this week, as we faced off vs Rogue teams half the games (and won about 90% of them).
We still have trouble with most Ret Paladin and Holy Paladin teams.
I am confident we can get to 2200, but with Tier 2 weapons at 2350, that is our new long term goal. Getting to 2350 is going to be amazingly difficult as Hunter / Rogue, but if we get some lucky queues, it is in the realm of possibility.
My favorite BM PvP macro:
/petattack
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast Intimidation
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Siphter specced back to a Shadowstep / Hemo build and we did a lot better at finishing our targets. The mobility that Siphter has with Shadowstep allows him to instantly move into the fight from a safe distance so that he is not pulled out of stealth with aoe effects.
I have switched from using a Wasp to now using my Chimaera. Roar of Sacrifice helps me live quite a bit longer. The Froststorm Breath is a great slow and helps keep our target slowed all the time. I do miss 9% extra pet crit and Heart of the Phoenix that Ferocity pets have (mostly that crit that my pet doesn't have).
Above 2k, we won 6 games in a row, 4 away from getting flawless victor; would have been pretty cool if we could have gotten that.
We faced a double rogue team that instantly killed Siphter. But I was able to kill both the Rogues even though they were able to get away with a vanish (love BM w/ a Chimaera).
Our queues were a bit better this week, as we faced off vs Rogue teams half the games (and won about 90% of them).
We still have trouble with most Ret Paladin and Holy Paladin teams.
I am confident we can get to 2200, but with Tier 2 weapons at 2350, that is our new long term goal. Getting to 2350 is going to be amazingly difficult as Hunter / Rogue, but if we get some lucky queues, it is in the realm of possibility.
My favorite BM PvP macro:
/petattack
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast Intimidation
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Slow Going
Things have been slow on the WoW front these past two weeks.
In PvE news, my guild has not been able to get a 25 man Ulduar raid going since the patch, and the future doesn't look good. 10 man Ulduar is okay, but the enjoyment wears off quickly when there aren't many gear upgrades.
In PvP news, the Tier 2 Weapons have been moved to 2350 rating requirement from 2200. As Hunter / Rogue we had a shot at getting to 2200 (we were at 2150 earlier this week), but 2350 is out of our league.
I really hope blizzard decides to do a minor overhaul on the Hunter class in PvP. Being okay in 5v5, bad in 3v3 and terrible in 2v2 is not fun when 90% of people only play 2v2 (yes, I'm part of that demographic).
Blizzard should give Beast Mastery Hunters another shot or ability in their arsenal as they are downright boring to play in PvE and need some major utility in PvP.
It would be easiest to replace the BM 51 point with this new shot/ability (the functionality of the increased pet talents could go to Animal Handler, and the ability to train Exotic pets could also go there or stay as part of the new 51 point talent).
My vision for the new 51 point BM talent (Arcane Spit):
Hunter commands pet to Arcane Spit for 1500 Arcane damage on target (25 yard range) and also gives the hunter a buff that allows their next Arcane Shot to silence for 2 seconds (buff lasts 30 seconds).
The cooldown on Arcane Spit would be around 10 seconds. The ability would cost mana, but would have no energy cost for the pet. The ability would be on the Global Cooldown.
This would give PvE BM Hunters a bit more DPS, around 186 or so more DPS. This would also give PvP BM Hunters more utility with a short silence that could be used on every other Arcane Shot (about every 12 seconds).
In PvE news, my guild has not been able to get a 25 man Ulduar raid going since the patch, and the future doesn't look good. 10 man Ulduar is okay, but the enjoyment wears off quickly when there aren't many gear upgrades.
In PvP news, the Tier 2 Weapons have been moved to 2350 rating requirement from 2200. As Hunter / Rogue we had a shot at getting to 2200 (we were at 2150 earlier this week), but 2350 is out of our league.
I really hope blizzard decides to do a minor overhaul on the Hunter class in PvP. Being okay in 5v5, bad in 3v3 and terrible in 2v2 is not fun when 90% of people only play 2v2 (yes, I'm part of that demographic).
Blizzard should give Beast Mastery Hunters another shot or ability in their arsenal as they are downright boring to play in PvE and need some major utility in PvP.
It would be easiest to replace the BM 51 point with this new shot/ability (the functionality of the increased pet talents could go to Animal Handler, and the ability to train Exotic pets could also go there or stay as part of the new 51 point talent).
My vision for the new 51 point BM talent (Arcane Spit):
Hunter commands pet to Arcane Spit for 1500 Arcane damage on target (25 yard range) and also gives the hunter a buff that allows their next Arcane Shot to silence for 2 seconds (buff lasts 30 seconds).
The cooldown on Arcane Spit would be around 10 seconds. The ability would cost mana, but would have no energy cost for the pet. The ability would be on the Global Cooldown.
This would give PvE BM Hunters a bit more DPS, around 186 or so more DPS. This would also give PvP BM Hunters more utility with a short silence that could be used on every other Arcane Shot (about every 12 seconds).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hunters Weakest Class in Season 6 (week 1)
WoW Reports has just posted the Week 1 Arena Stats for the Top 100.
Hunters are now the weakest class in Arena, according to representation. We are back to being the underdog, just how I like it (hate being overpowered, but would rather be balanced more than anything).
If Hunter representation continues to be abysmal (0.5% representation in 2's and 2% representation in 3's) over the next few weeks I hope Blizzard creates a quick hotfix or patch that helps Hunters out a bit in Arena (as well as other classes that are not performing well).
I would like to see Marksmanship and BM get some PvP buffs to help Hunters in Arena, as Survival is still the only tree that seems viable for serious play.
Without being able to mana drain teams anymore (thank God), Hunters need to be able to apply plenty of pressure. Since we are almost always moving in Arena, we usually do not do much damage from Auto Shot or Steady Shot.
Here are my ideas that might help boost our representation to more of a balanced state:
I will be gone the next few days as I move back to Michigan, hope everyone has a great week, see ya.
Hunters are now the weakest class in Arena, according to representation. We are back to being the underdog, just how I like it (hate being overpowered, but would rather be balanced more than anything).
If Hunter representation continues to be abysmal (0.5% representation in 2's and 2% representation in 3's) over the next few weeks I hope Blizzard creates a quick hotfix or patch that helps Hunters out a bit in Arena (as well as other classes that are not performing well).
I would like to see Marksmanship and BM get some PvP buffs to help Hunters in Arena, as Survival is still the only tree that seems viable for serious play.
Without being able to mana drain teams anymore (thank God), Hunters need to be able to apply plenty of pressure. Since we are almost always moving in Arena, we usually do not do much damage from Auto Shot or Steady Shot.
Here are my ideas that might help boost our representation to more of a balanced state:
- Increase Arcane Shot damage by 10-15%
- Allow Auto Shot to be used while moving; however, make Auto Shot do 50% less damage while moving
- Allow Deterrence to work from all angles and reduce damage taken by 100%
- Allow Feign Death to remove one debuff from self
- Allow pets to scale very well with all attributes and make them immune to buffs
I will be gone the next few days as I move back to Michigan, hope everyone has a great week, see ya.
Friday, April 24, 2009
2050 Hunter / Rogue 1st Week of Season 6
Updated: April 25th 2009 (Spec & Rating)
Siphter and I started out discouraged this season as we got off to a not so hot start. Our hidden rating started out around 1950.
I tried out the new Marks PvP style that I've been playing so much in BG's. It was a disappointment. I had some burst, but it was a little slow and inconsistent. In truth, Marks just didn't mesh well with our Double DPS burst mentality. As Marks our hidden rating dropped to about 1800.
After switching back to BM, Siphter and did much better, as we were able to totally dominate every Warlock, and almost every Rogue. Our burst in the first 10 seconds of a fight is incredible, and if the team we verse does not have a Paladin (DS and HoP are so so devastating) we have a solid chance every match. And so our hidden rating climbed as we kept winning vs teams that have no Paladin.
Our hidden rating is currently residing around 2050, and our team rating is currently 2050, which places us, currently, as the top Hunter / Rogue in the world (only five days into Season 6 mind you)!
I play with a Wasp pet, as Ferocity is still the dominate damage tree. And the Wasps Sting is still an amazing ability vs Rogues. Below is the spec of my pet.
I'm kind of excited to see that Paladins and especially Death Knights are not dominating in 2's so far this season. This might spell good news for us the rest of the season... who knows.
Siphter and I started out discouraged this season as we got off to a not so hot start. Our hidden rating started out around 1950.
I tried out the new Marks PvP style that I've been playing so much in BG's. It was a disappointment. I had some burst, but it was a little slow and inconsistent. In truth, Marks just didn't mesh well with our Double DPS burst mentality. As Marks our hidden rating dropped to about 1800.
I switched back to a BM burst spec, 52/16/3, see below.
After switching back to BM, Siphter and did much better, as we were able to totally dominate every Warlock, and almost every Rogue. Our burst in the first 10 seconds of a fight is incredible, and if the team we verse does not have a Paladin (DS and HoP are so so devastating) we have a solid chance every match. And so our hidden rating climbed as we kept winning vs teams that have no Paladin.
Our hidden rating is currently residing around 2050, and our team rating is currently 2050, which places us, currently, as the top Hunter / Rogue in the world (only five days into Season 6 mind you)!
I play with a Wasp pet, as Ferocity is still the dominate damage tree. And the Wasps Sting is still an amazing ability vs Rogues. Below is the spec of my pet.
I'm kind of excited to see that Paladins and especially Death Knights are not dominating in 2's so far this season. This might spell good news for us the rest of the season... who knows.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Busy Week Ahead
I plan to move back to Michigan come Tuesday / Wednesday of next week. So I do not plan on any major posts for a week or two.
I have updated the BM PvP page and the Pet page for 3.1. I will continue to update the Marks, Survival and BM PvE pages as well when new information or spreadsheets become available.
I have been raiding Ulduar this past week and am starting to arena this week as BM and Marks. I might post about Season 6 Arena PvP when we get more games under our belt.
I have updated the BM PvP page and the Pet page for 3.1. I will continue to update the Marks, Survival and BM PvE pages as well when new information or spreadsheets become available.
I have been raiding Ulduar this past week and am starting to arena this week as BM and Marks. I might post about Season 6 Arena PvP when we get more games under our belt.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Hunter PvE 3.1
My Survival PvE post has been updated for 3.1.
I have finished the major work for the 3.1 PvE guides for each Hunter talent tree.
Theoretical DPS for Shaedon with each spec (86e spreadsheet):
6597 DPS - Survival
6118 DPS - Marksmanship
6089 DPS - Beast Mastery
The spec that has gained the most DPS, come 3.1, is Marksmanship by far.
In the current 3.0.9, when I spec Marksmanship, I do 5312 theoretical DPS. So Marksmanship is getting about an 800 DPS boost, which puts it much closer to Survival.
Surprisingly Beast Mastery is, theoretically, right on the heels of Marksmanship. It will be interesting to see if many Ulduar fights are pet friendly.
My next project is to update the BM PvP page for 3.1, as I still have the most experience in Arena as a BM Hunter (got up to 2108 this season).
I have finished the major work for the 3.1 PvE guides for each Hunter talent tree.
Theoretical DPS for Shaedon with each spec (86e spreadsheet):
6597 DPS - Survival
6118 DPS - Marksmanship
6089 DPS - Beast Mastery
The spec that has gained the most DPS, come 3.1, is Marksmanship by far.
In the current 3.0.9, when I spec Marksmanship, I do 5312 theoretical DPS. So Marksmanship is getting about an 800 DPS boost, which puts it much closer to Survival.
Surprisingly Beast Mastery is, theoretically, right on the heels of Marksmanship. It will be interesting to see if many Ulduar fights are pet friendly.
My next project is to update the BM PvP page for 3.1, as I still have the most experience in Arena as a BM Hunter (got up to 2108 this season).
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Beast Mastery Hunter PvE
Updated: April 23rd 2009
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat & Bestial Discipline)
Talent, Glyph, Attribute and Pet DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.
The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.
All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.
Normal Shot Rotation:
Rapid Fire / Blood Fury / Trinkets / Bestial Wrath / Kill Command > Kill Shot > Serpent Sting > Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot
Attack Power is the backbone stat of the Beast Mastery tree. Two Attack Power is about 15% better than one Agility.
Amazing Talents:
Bestial Discipline - About 115 DPS per point!
Frenzy - 1st point is over 300 DPS!
Serpent's Swiftness - Each of the 5 points is worth over 100 DPS!
Beast Mastery - Finally! The 51 point talent is now worth extra DPS, 253 DPS to be exact!
Go for the Throat - 500 DPS for the 1st talent point!
Overrated Talents:
Frenzy - 4th talent point gives 5 DPS and the 5th talent point gives 1 DPS.
Ferocious Inspiration - Most likely your group will have either a Ret Paladin or an Enhancement Shaman which means FI only increases Arcane Shot damage... but it is necessary to pick up the 1st point in Invigoration.
Bestial Wrath is really the only must have glyph. Wish there was a glyph that gave BM a little more flavor in PvE.
The Devilsaur, Wolf and Raptor lead the pack of Ferocity pets by a good 100+ DPS.
After my experience with a Devilsaur in PvE, I do not recommend them as they tend to aggro extra mobs and get hit by more things since they grow so large.
Some of the pets do not use their special as it would be an actual decrease in DPS (from just spamming Bite, Claw or Smack).
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat & Bestial Discipline)
Talent, Glyph, Attribute and Pet DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.
The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.
All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.
Base Spec: Beast Mastery PvE 54/15/2 (post 3.1)
Normal Shot Rotation:
Rapid Fire / Blood Fury / Trinkets / Bestial Wrath / Kill Command > Kill Shot > Serpent Sting > Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot
Beast Mastery Attribute DPS (post 3.1)
Attack Power is the backbone stat of the Beast Mastery tree. Two Attack Power is about 15% better than one Agility.
Beast Mastery Talent DPS (post 3.1)
Amazing Talents:
Bestial Discipline - About 115 DPS per point!
Frenzy - 1st point is over 300 DPS!
Serpent's Swiftness - Each of the 5 points is worth over 100 DPS!
Beast Mastery - Finally! The 51 point talent is now worth extra DPS, 253 DPS to be exact!
Go for the Throat - 500 DPS for the 1st talent point!
Overrated Talents:
Frenzy - 4th talent point gives 5 DPS and the 5th talent point gives 1 DPS.
Ferocious Inspiration - Most likely your group will have either a Ret Paladin or an Enhancement Shaman which means FI only increases Arcane Shot damage... but it is necessary to pick up the 1st point in Invigoration.
Beast Mastery Glyph DPS (post 3.1)
Bestial Wrath is really the only must have glyph. Wish there was a glyph that gave BM a little more flavor in PvE.
Beast Mastery Pet DPS
The Devilsaur, Wolf and Raptor lead the pack of Ferocity pets by a good 100+ DPS.
After my experience with a Devilsaur in PvE, I do not recommend them as they tend to aggro extra mobs and get hit by more things since they grow so large.
Some of the pets do not use their special as it would be an actual decrease in DPS (from just spamming Bite, Claw or Smack).
PvE Pet Talent Trees
This build is for maximum DPS. If Heart of the Phoenix is a required talent for you, than you would have to take a point out of Boar's Speed and Shark Attack.
Owl's Focus does not increase DPS when you are using a shot rotation with 1 point in Go for the Throat (along with 2 points in Bestial Discipline).
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Marksmanship Hunter PvE
Updated: April 23rd 2009
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat)
Talent, Glyph and Attribute DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.
The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation, buffs and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.
All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat)
Talent, Glyph and Attribute DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.
The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation, buffs and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.
All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.
Base Spec: Marksmanship PvE 11/52/8 (post 3.1)
Normal Shot Rotation:
Rapid Fire / Blood Fury / Trinkets > Silencing Shot > Kill Shot > Serpent Sting > Chimera Shot > Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot
Silencing Shot is off the GCD and can be macro'd to shots like Kill Shot was prior to 3.1.
Marksmanship Attribute DPS (post 3.1)
Agility is still the best stat for a Marksmanship Hunter (given you are Hit capped). Agility is king because of the 4% bonus Agility from Combat Experience, the 30% crit damage on Aimed, Steady and Chimera (Piercing Shots), and raid buffs (Blessing of Kings). Not to mention the other crit bonuses from Mortal Shots and Marked for Death...
So stat priority is Hit (if not at 8%) > Agility > Attack Power > Crit > Armor Pen > Intellect > Haste
With Steady Shot being such a small portion of our damage, Haste is not much of a DPS boost, wish they would make Haste (and Armor Pen) affect our pet.
So stat priority is Hit (if not at 8%) > Agility > Attack Power > Crit > Armor Pen > Intellect > Haste
With Steady Shot being such a small portion of our damage, Haste is not much of a DPS boost, wish they would make Haste (and Armor Pen) affect our pet.
Marksmanship Talent DPS (post 3.1)
Amazing Talents:
Careful Aim - Each talent point gives over 100 DPS!
Go for the Throat - First talent point gives over 300 DPS, and the 2nd even gives over 100 DPS!
Overrated Talents:
Improved Steady Shot - 21 DPS per talent point, merely okay.
Marksmanship Glyph DPS (post 3.1)
The Glyph of Chimera Shot is increasingly better as my ms increases. At 300ms the Glyph is worth 168 DPS, at 200ms, according to the spreadsheet, the Glyph is worth 0 DPS. I'm guessing in actual play it will always be useful and increase DPS by a solid amount.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Upcoming 3.1 Marksmanship PvE Guide
For the past month I've been Marksmanship for raiding. I've enjoyed it much more than I did Survival, even though it is currently a bit lackluster DPS wise.
Come 3.1 the Marksmanship tree is getting some love PvE and PvP wise. I believe most Hunters will switch over to Marksmanship for both PvE and PvP to at least try out the spec.
Sometime during the next week I'll post my guide on Marksmanship PvE. The guide will give a rundown on the Glyph DPS, Talent DPS and the rotation a Marksmanship Hunter should use.
I also hope to play Marksmanship in Arena with Double DPS (I currently use Marksmanship for my BG spec, but not Arena spec) come 3.1.
If your bored on your Hunter I suggest speccing into Marksmanship and trying it out for PvE and PvP, I was pleasantly surprised with both. Come 3.1 it will only get better.
Come 3.1 the Marksmanship tree is getting some love PvE and PvP wise. I believe most Hunters will switch over to Marksmanship for both PvE and PvP to at least try out the spec.
Sometime during the next week I'll post my guide on Marksmanship PvE. The guide will give a rundown on the Glyph DPS, Talent DPS and the rotation a Marksmanship Hunter should use.
I also hope to play Marksmanship in Arena with Double DPS (I currently use Marksmanship for my BG spec, but not Arena spec) come 3.1.
If your bored on your Hunter I suggest speccing into Marksmanship and trying it out for PvE and PvP, I was pleasantly surprised with both. Come 3.1 it will only get better.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hunter PvP in 3.1
The 3.1 patch will dramatically change the situation for Hunters in PvP.
The Survival tree has gotten nerfed pretty heavily. Marksmanship tree has gotten buffed pretty nicely. The Beast Mastery tree has been largely ignored with only one talent buff.
Hunter 3.1 Overview:
Survival Tree 3.1 Overview:
Marksmanship Tree 3.1 Overview:
Beast Mastery Tree 3.1 Overview:
The Survival tree has gotten nerfed pretty heavily. Marksmanship tree has gotten buffed pretty nicely. The Beast Mastery tree has been largely ignored with only one talent buff.
Hunter 3.1 Overview:
- Disengage now has a 30 second cooldown (used to be 25 second)
- Glyph of the Monkey removed (used to be best glyph for a Hunter in PvP)
- Frost Trap no longer procs on immune targets (HoF or CoS will disable the Frost Trap)
Survival Tree 3.1 Overview:
- T.N.T. no longer stuns
- Black Arrow replaces Trap Mastery for 41 point Survival talent, but is on the Trap cooldown (probably will not be used in PvP)
- Entrapment changed from RNG to instant proc on application (making it much less annoying for other teams and more skill based)
- Wyvern Sting remains a 1 minute cooldown, but only lasts 6 seconds in PvP (very similar to Repentance, but worse since Wyvern is a poison and a sleep; Undead)
- Explosive Shot does less damage than on live (actually it might not... very confusing)
Marksmanship Tree 3.1 Overview:
- A lot of talent buffs: Piercing Shots, Ranged Weapon Specialization, Wild Quiver, Efficiency, Rapid Recuperation
- Chimera Shot mana cost has been reduced so that Marksmanship isn't the I bleed mana tree anymore
- Concussive Barrage is now 2 ranks and gives your Chimera Shot 100% chance to Daze target for 4 seconds (this changed the talent from worthless to amazing)
- Silencing Shot no longer on the GCD
Beast Mastery Tree 3.1 Overview:
- Pets get more talents so that the 51 point BM talent is not as worthless
- Animal Handler now increases the duration of Master's Call by 6 seconds instead of reducing the cooldown on it by 10 seconds (this is a major buff and makes a BM Hunters Master's Call last for 10 seconds)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tweaked BM Build for Double DPS
I went back to the drawing board for my build and decided to go back to 50/21, BM with Readiness. Even though Readiness no longer resets Bestial Wrath, it does reset many other essential cooldowns, including: Traps, Deterrence, Master's Call, Flare, Intimidation and Shots.
Since I use a Wasp, having four more talent points (BM 51 point talent) does not help me in PvP. Come 3.1 it might, as pet trees will get more talent points.
The Glyphs I end up using with this build are:
Glyph of Frost Trap
Glyph of Disengage
Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey (removed in 3.1)
The reason I don't pick up Longevity is because we run Double DPS, so are matches tend to last under one minute. I never get to use Bestial Wrath more than once unless it comes down to a 1v1 with a healer. That also means that the Glyph of Bestial Wrath is worthless to me.
Here is my build:
Over the next week I will be very busy with family entertaining, and will probably not post much.
I would like to hear more about other Hunter (preferably you or the Hunter you play with) successes or failures in trying Hunter Double DPS comps. If you have exprerience with it please leave a comment.
Since I use a Wasp, having four more talent points (BM 51 point talent) does not help me in PvP. Come 3.1 it might, as pet trees will get more talent points.
The Glyphs I end up using with this build are:
Glyph of Frost Trap
Glyph of Disengage
Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey (removed in 3.1)
The reason I don't pick up Longevity is because we run Double DPS, so are matches tend to last under one minute. I never get to use Bestial Wrath more than once unless it comes down to a 1v1 with a healer. That also means that the Glyph of Bestial Wrath is worthless to me.
Here is my build:
50 / 21 BM / Readiness
Over the next week I will be very busy with family entertaining, and will probably not post much.
I would like to hear more about other Hunter (preferably you or the Hunter you play with) successes or failures in trying Hunter Double DPS comps. If you have exprerience with it please leave a comment.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
2108 Hunter / Rogue
I'm sure everyone is a bit tired of the updates I throw out every so often on our progress in 2's, but I don't care.
We ended our run winning against a 2261 rated Mage / Rogue team, and decided to call it good after that.
I wanted to make our team a little bit better this week by helping Siphter level his Engineering. With Engineering he has Nitro Boosts for a 2 second super sprint, an Explosive Rocket on gloves, a Gnomish Lightning Generator trinket and the Engineering Helm for better stealth detection. This gives us even more burst and more options for him to get on his target.
I also have switched up my spec to be more bursty, with less crowd control. I tried out a Chimaera for a few games and then switched back to my Wasp. The Cunning tree is just not viable at the moment, although come 3.1, it is getting some buffs.
This build definitely makes landing a Freezing Arrow a bit tougher (since I do not have Scatter Shot). But dropping a Freezing Arrow on where the off target will probably move next has actually worked out most the time.
Looking on to 3.1 changes for PvP...
Survival is getting some heavy PvP nerfs:
Marksmanship is getting some buffs:
Beast Mastery is getting one decent buff for PvP:
I think I will stick with BM come 3.1 for 2v2 Arena given the current 3.1 changes. I'm not sure what pet I will use come 3.1, either a Wasp or a Chimaera (with the Cunning buffs).
We ended our run winning against a 2261 rated Mage / Rogue team, and decided to call it good after that.
I wanted to make our team a little bit better this week by helping Siphter level his Engineering. With Engineering he has Nitro Boosts for a 2 second super sprint, an Explosive Rocket on gloves, a Gnomish Lightning Generator trinket and the Engineering Helm for better stealth detection. This gives us even more burst and more options for him to get on his target.
I also have switched up my spec to be more bursty, with less crowd control. I tried out a Chimaera for a few games and then switched back to my Wasp. The Cunning tree is just not viable at the moment, although come 3.1, it is getting some buffs.
53 / 18 / 0
This build definitely makes landing a Freezing Arrow a bit tougher (since I do not have Scatter Shot). But dropping a Freezing Arrow on where the off target will probably move next has actually worked out most the time.
Looking on to 3.1 changes for PvP...
Survival is getting some heavy PvP nerfs:
- Explosive Shot damage lowered
- Wyvern Sting only lasts 6 seconds in PvP and now has a longer cooldown (and the glyph only reduces cooldown by 6 seconds, instead of 15)
- Explosive Shot no longer has a chance to stun the target from T.N.T.
Marksmanship is getting some buffs:
- Talents are getting much better throughout the Marksmanship tree (damage wise)
- Chimera Shot mana cost is reduced by about 20%
Beast Mastery is getting one decent buff for PvP:
- Animal Handler now increases duration of Master's Call instead of reducing the cooldown (which makes it a much better talent, and keeps BM THE mobility tree for Hunters)
I think I will stick with BM come 3.1 for 2v2 Arena given the current 3.1 changes. I'm not sure what pet I will use come 3.1, either a Wasp or a Chimaera (with the Cunning buffs).
Saturday, March 7, 2009
2053 Rated BG9: Hunter / Rogue Setup
My Hunter Spec
Rogue Spec
My Hunter Gear
- Enchant / Meta / Blue Socket: Arcanum of Torment / Swift Skyflare Diamond / Enchanted Tear
Shoulder: Hateful Gladiator's Chain Spaulders
- Enchant / Yellow Socket: Inscription of Triumph / Kharmaa's Grace
- Enchant: Major Agility
Chest: Tunic of the Lost Pack
- Enchant: Powerful Stats
- Enchant: Fur Lining - Stamina
- Enchant / Blue Socket: Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket / Solid Sky Sapphire
- Prismatic Socket (Eternal Belt Buckle) / Blue Socket: Glinting Monarch Topaz / Solid Sky Sapphire
- Enchant / Red Socket / Blue Socket: Icescale Leg Armor / Delicate Scarlet Ruby / Perfect Shifting Shadow Crystal
- Enchant / Yellow Socket: Nitro Boosts / Glinting Monarch Topaz
Ring: Surge Needle Ring
Trinket: Medallion of the Horde
Trinket: Gnomish Lightning Generator
Main Melee Weapon: Deadly Gladiator's Waraxe
- Enchant: Accuracy
Off-hand Melee Weapon: Hatestrike
- Enchant: Titanium Weapon Chain
Ranged Weapon: Envoy of Mortality
- Enchant: Heartseeker Scope
Ammo: Mammoth Cutters
Rogue Gear
Siphter mainly used PvE gear since I was usually their main target. His burst damage is what made us get many of our kills.
My Hunter Major Glyphs
Rogue Major Glyphs
My Hunter Macros
Lazer Beams (4k magical burst in 1 second; can use while moving):
/use Hateful Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets
/use Gnomish Lightning Generator
/use Gnomish Lightning Generator
Cancel Deterrence:
#showtooltip Deterrence
/cancelaura Deterrence
/cancelaura Deterrence
Nitro Boosts & Master's Call:
/cast Master's Call
/use Deadly Gladiator's Sabatons of Triumph
/use Deadly Gladiator's Sabatons of Triumph
Bestial Wrath + Dmg + Stun:
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast Intimidation
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast Intimidation
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Hunter / Rogue: 2053 Rating
After a stressful two hours, climbing up to 2040 many times before falling again and again to 2000, we managed to put together a string of wins and claim 2053 rating as BM Hunter / Shadowstep Rogue. That was our goal since a few weeks ago when we started to believe it was actually possible.
Now that we have beaten the PvP and PvE part of WoW it's time to do some relaxing... or continue to level my 74 Ret Paladin.
Having completed my PvP objective I will probably end up talking a lot about 3.1 and what the future holds for Hunters.
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