[PvP Hunter] How? When? Where? Why?

[qwee]

Hello.

The topic might be slightly confusing, it most likely is.
Anyway, I'm been a PvE player since I started playing the game late cata (so basically since MoP release) and I'm now looking to roll for PvP instead since I don't have time to raid 2-5 days a week, during farm and/or progress.

I used to play DK and Warlock in PvE, but I decided to roll a hunter (leveled from 1). So what I want to know is basically the most common mistakes, how to avoid them, when am I most likely to face these mistakes, and why.
I'm not looking for an essay as an answer, simply helping me out with a sentence or two is enough.

I have never PvP'd as a hunter before. I got arena-boosted on my DK back in MoP (around the time when the ToT raid got released), but yeah, I got boosted so I basically just ran around and death gripped the melees that were ripping my booster into pieces.

I'm thinking of going MM for PvP, but I'm not sure. I like the benefit of not having a pet, yet have its buff.
I have checked the hunter forum, obviously, and other websites for rotation, macros and such.

What tips do you have for someone who has never done any "real" PvP?
Also, I'll be starting out in BGs, and work my way up to Arena and later RBGs.

Thank you!

[AutomaticBadger]

Don't bother with Lone Wolf, you loose a hell of a bonus from having a pet with you. Great way to annoy Healers and keep Rogues in combat. That and Roar of Courage is needed to reduce how quickly we die.
Be aware of what is going down constantly. If you stop watching what people are doing you will learn just how quickly we can die.
I'll link a basic build for PvP. Here You can change to Post Haste if you are facing something different. This is more of a no Healer BG build.
Set up for your burst now. While you are whittling someone down feel free to run about hitting them a bunch, with the 100 talent no need to worry about slowing them the whole time since you will ALWAYS be using the Frost Arrows. When you have decided they are low enough to be killed: Stand still while you get your second Steady Shot off, then cast Aimed Shot with the Mastery buff. As that goes off pop your cooldowns, fire off a Chimera Shot and go to town on them with Aimed Shots while chasing. The game is to only stand still to get the Mastery buff prior to the opening burst at which point fuck standing still chase them down and get the kill.
Don't run off and be a Hero. You win BGs by completing goals remember that.
Use Disengage smartly to potentially trap a large amount of people and them trap them. If you see a warlock on Fire or are about to take some caster burst pop Deterrence and watch spells fly back as you prepare for a trap or run the hell away.
Camouflage will heal you now from what I recall so keep that as something to use when low. Feign Death still breaks target locking so in a last ditch remember you can use it to avoid a Chaos Bolt.
Traps are your friends. We can hold down a node easily with Camouflage, Traps and Flare to keep Rogues at bay.
Get a pet with a heal debuff. We lost ours so it's more important now to have it.

That is a quick and dirty look. Feel free to ask for more help whenever

[qwee]

Don't bother with Lone Wolf, you loose a hell of a bonus from having a pet with you. Great way to annoy Healers and keep Rogues in combat. That and Roar of Courage is needed to reduce how quickly we die.
Be aware of what is going down constantly. If you stop watching what people are doing you will learn just how quickly we can die.
I'll link a basic build for PvP. Here You can change to Post Haste if you are facing something different. This is more of a no Healer BG build.
Set up for your burst now. While you are whittling someone down feel free to run about hitting them a bunch, with the 100 talent no need to worry about slowing them the whole time since you will ALWAYS be using the Frost Arrows. When you have decided they are low enough to be killed: Stand still while you get your second Steady Shot off, then cast Aimed Shot with the Mastery buff. As that goes off pop your cooldowns, fire off a Chimera Shot and go to town on them with Aimed Shots while chasing. The game is to only stand still to get the Mastery buff prior to the opening burst at which point fuck standing still chase them down and get the kill.
Don't run off and be a Hero. You win BGs by completing goals remember that.
Use Disengage smartly to potentially trap a large amount of people and them trap them. If you see a warlock on Fire or are about to take some caster burst pop Deterrence and watch spells fly back as you prepare for a trap or run the hell away.
Camouflage will heal you now from what I recall so keep that as something to use when low. Feign Death still breaks target locking so in a last ditch remember you can use it to avoid a Chaos Bolt.
Traps are your friends. We can hold down a node easily with Camouflage, Traps and Flare to keep Rogues at bay.
Get a pet with a heal debuff. We lost ours so it's more important now to have it.

That is a quick and dirty look. Feel free to ask for more help whenever

Wow, thank you for the information.
Seeing as MM with Lone Wolf isn't the way to go, would it be better to go BM or is MM still the overall top Hunter spec atm?
I leveled as BM, really like the instant arcane shots. Might only be during leveling though.

Any opinions on spec is appreciated, pros/cons of each, or even one.

Thanks!

[AutomaticBadger]

Well the instant Arcane Shots are really helpful when facing something like a Shaman because you have a quick skill to get rid of the Totems that they are throwing down which is really helpful when dealing with them. That and it's a great way to bait Grounding Totem.
Beast Mastery also has an advantage when in Arena because you can start to play the pole dancing game while you let your pet go to town on them. They also have a more regular burst window to keep the pressure up and Kill Command not needing line of site can be helpful when LoSing them or when you need to turn your attention away from them but can keep the burst up.
The main thing about their burst is that when you are about to go into it it's recommended to start off with Thrill of the Hunt, fish for a proc, have as much focus as possible and make sure Barrage and Kill Command are off cooldown. You open with Kill Command then Barrage then Arcane Shots until Kill Command is up again. All in all you are trying to get about 2 Kill Commands in and 1 Talent into the Cooldown period between them.
You still will be taking Exotic Munitions because the slow is just too good to give up on. That's my perspective though. Some will say that the loss of damage and utility from Adaption will be bad is too much but I'm a wuss when it comes to keeping face raped by a DK for the 4th time in a row. That and Ferals will cry.

My choice would be take BM for most cases. Maybe for some RBG where you can be miles away Marksman will be better but I like how easy Beast Mastery is to come back from a bad choice

[Tyze]

Doesn't MM's mastery kinda ruin it for PvP?

[AutomaticBadger]

Doesn't MM's mastery kinda ruin it for PvP?

Not really, you are going to be stacking Crit and either Versatility or Haste depending on the composition you are going to be running. The Mastery you are going to have on your gear is going to be pretty low. Basically you are only going to worry about it when you are about to enter a phase where you are going to be trying to get the most damage out within the shortest amount of time. The added Crit damage and range to your attacks will be useful even where small.

So in conclusion: Mastery isn't something you stack but take advantage of the buff when you are about to go balls deep into that squealing hog

[Bertimus]

MM with exotic munitions 99% of the time. MM with LW 1% of the time. The damage is just too good. Relearn how to cast and pool your damage. It's amazing.

And you still have multishot for totems. Best spec all around imo.

[Tyze]

Not really, you are going to be stacking Crit and either Versatility or Haste depending on the composition you are going to be running. The Mastery you are going to have on your gear is going to be pretty low. Basically you are only going to worry about it when you are about to enter a phase where you are going to be trying to get the most damage out within the shortest amount of time. The added Crit damage and range to your attacks will be useful even where small.

So in conclusion: Mastery isn't something you stack but take advantage of the buff when you are about to go balls deep into that squealing hog

Oh okey sweet!

How is Survival in PvP?

[Kreuz Kontrol]

Survival is decent in PvP because the super short trap CDs, but personally I've been having more fun with BM. BM didn't see as many changes as MM and SV, aside from losing Serpent Sting. Adaption is hella nice too. Your pet is an unstoppable killing machine.

[Keyboard Champion]

Tried pvp-ing as hunter. No way in a bg infested with melee, you can't even run away anymore. And MM is so fucking slow with all that casting, by the time aimed shot fires off, the target already received heals. BM is crap because pet and I hope I don't have to explain why. Surv does no damage.

Then I got back to leveling my future glad warrior, fuck this shit.

[Forscent]

These guys hit a lot of the key points of things but I thought I would toss a few tips in there.

1. Learn to get good with your disengage, aiming and when to use it for offense and defense. Practice with all the different talents as well that relate to Disengage. With the loss of scatter I will be trapping a lot off of the disengage web.

2. Learn proper trap placement. Camera angle can really mess you up on this one because I cannot tell you how many times my trap has landed on the roof or a spike sticking out up above me. We are all learning the new trap style but its a good time to practice. Explosive trapping can really be key in pvp. They aren't just good for knocking people off ledges, as you can also knock people into freezing traps. Also learn when to prioritize frost over freezing.

3. Turn off your pets auto casts and learn to use them freely. Take the time to read the tooltips so you know what you are dealing with. With abilities like Roar and Master's Call you might want to work with macros to apply this spells to friends. In arena I run with Arena 123 macros but in bgs I usually run with mouseover macros.

4. Don't overlap your kiting abilities. If you trinket, deter, masters call, and then disengage you are gonna be short on kiting and defensive cooldowns when you need it. Try and use them one at a time, and spread them out but at the same time, don't get too stingy with cooldowns, they are there for a reason. That guy that you beat in a duel is going to complain either way.

5. Pet movement is really huge. You can play without it but it makes your life a lot easier if you learn how to use it. I have three seperate keybinds for pet attack, pet passive, and pet move to. Too many people dont use pet move to and its really a fun way to screw people up. Send your pet away from you when your in camo and make that mage waste his nova on your pet. Also be careful to have your pet by you when you need it. If the guy your pet is on runs away and your not paying attention, hes gonna have a long haul to catch back up to you for that masters call.

6. Use your feign death as a interupt. It takes time to get used to but have fun with it. Latency isnt a fun thing when your trying to cancel that enemies chaos bolt.

These last two are more just personal preference with any type of gaming.

7. Always be open minded and never stop learning. The minute you stop learning new things and think you are perfect, your never going to grow. Too many people play competitive games with a huge ego and its always annoying. There is going to be times your really frustrated but remember its just a game. Always have fun and try and try and improve each time you play.

8. There is always going to be classes with abilities you like and they may make you want to "reroll." Stick with what you have fun. Classes go up and down but things always balance out. There will be a time that a completely overpowered class kill you and /spits on you and its really going to make you want to pull your hair out. Just try and have fun and ignore the bad parts.

Hope you have a blast!