Is there a clear best spec for 85?

[SensenmanN]

So I am running a 10 man guild for cata, and I don't play / know much about hunter, but I have one in my guild. I am trying to see what buffs my hunter will most likely be bringing to the table. (Yes he will be min-maxing).

Also I realize your pets are half your buffs, so is there a best pet yet, or will it just be any DPS pet?
What I'm asking is, will I be able to ask him to change pets for a buff that might be missing that night, or will it be too much of a DPS hit for him?

[SoulPoetry]

if the pet isn't tenacity, you won't see a DPS difference really, so any cunning/ferocity pet is fair game.

[Jsan]

yea, sv is gonna be the spec to play. which means 10% melee/range haste and yes, different pets bring different buffs like a wolf has 5% crit, cat has the agil & str buff

[SensenmanN]

[Edit] Found FI, it's rather far down the tree, so thats a no go

So that means no ferocious inspiration correct? (Not sure how far into the BM tree that is.)

[Pdiamond]

Currently at 80 MM is the best.(Source) I assume it will be the same at 85 unless we have some big class changes coming on December 7.

[SensenmanN]

Currently at 80 MM is the best.(Source) I assume it will be the same at 85 unless we have some big class changes coming on December 7.

I'd rather rely on math than assumptions

Destro is #1 right now for warlock, but it will not be come 85. (Warlock is my main)

[Socron]

Currently at 80 MM is the best. I assume it will be the same at 85 unless we have some big class changes coming on December 7.

I'm pretty sure survival is the best spec at 85.

[Kripparrian]

def surv at 85

[Garnik]

So long the pet is either Cunning or Ferocity its fine. Pet damage have been normalized so they do the same damage, so you can just bring in whatever pet that provides a Buff/Debuff you're missing, as long its Cunning/Ferocity, that is.

As for the best spec at level 85, i'm not sure. For a long time on the Beta Survival was very strong, i'd even say overtuned, so it got a quite significant nerf not so long before the Beta was shut down. Though that is just what i heard from Beta players. I can say for sure which one if going to the best of the 3, but i think the difference isn't that great.

[Thundercougr]

So I am running a 10 man guild for cata, and I don't play / know much about hunter, but I have one in my guild. I am trying to see what buffs my hunter will most likely be bringing to the table. (Yes he will be min-maxing).

Also I realize your pets are half your buffs, so is there a best pet yet, or will it just be any DPS pet?
What I'm asking is, will I be able to ask him to change pets for a buff that might be missing that night, or will it be too much of a DPS hit for him?

Bloodlust/Fortitude/Kings can only be brought by BM Hunters. The rest of the raid-buffs can be brought by any spec. As for "best spec", Survival is currently beating the other specs at 85 by about 6k DPS, but if you need Kings or Bloodlust, I'd say the DPS hit from being BM over Survival would be outweighed by the DPS gain of those buffs.

EDIT: Here is the Pet Buff Flow Chart so you know what Pet the Hunter needs to bring: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8...flowchart3.jpg

[Chaiko]

Here is the Pet Buff Flow Chart so you know what Pet the Hunter needs to bring

Very useful, surprised I haven't seen that before. Thanks.

[Deleted]

Currently at 80 MM is the best.(Source) I assume it will be the same at 85 unless we have some big class changes coming on December 7.

Sorry, and im sure some will agree. SV has been the top spec to be since ToC came, and through the entirety of icc and it will also hold itself strong as the top spec in cataclysm endgame. MM was a contender, the reason the masses thought MM was the spec to be in icc was because of its raid utility *imp hunters mark, trueshot aura*, its powerfull burst and also its simplicity to play. After TBC players found it very difficult to handle SV however they who put in the time to learn the Survival spec in and out evidently came out on top in almost every occasion through WOTLK's final year. Blizzard even said it themselves at somepoint and i roughly quote *Certain Hunters sometimes suprise us with their rotations and unique playing style*

The fact that SV has been given a Raid wide buff now only provides more proof that blizzard dont want hunters to be using their 3 button smash macro'd mm rotations anymore and my advise to anyone looking to pick up survival in cataclysm is.

Learn the spec through and through. It is a spec which requires you to think atleast 5 shots ahead and the timing and seperation of your shot choices is crucial.

To conclude, in my own opinion. During wrath the developers themselves knew the complexity of Survival and thus, rewarded they who played it in perfect harmony. I hope the same applies for cataclysm with this spec i am almost certain it will. No desire atall to be anything other than SV if i had to be Marks or BM i would fall asleep at the keyboard i think. Although BM is becoming just as interesting now as it was all those years ago. Exciting =)

[harky]

SV by far at 85. Until something is changed for MM/BM, or until SV is nerfed the gap isn't remotely close. So you can expect 10% haste and 1 non-exotic pet skill.

[Jsan]

Sorry, and im sure some will agree. SV has been the top spec to be since ToC came, and through the entirety of icc and it will also hold itself strong as the top spec in cataclysm endgame. MM was a contender, the reason the masses thought MM was the spec to be in icc was because of its raid utility *imp hunters mark, trueshot aura*, its powerfull burst and also its simplicity to play. After TBC players found it very difficult to handle SV however they who put in the time to learn the Survival spec in and out evidently came out on top in almost every occasion through WOTLK's final year. Blizzard even said it themselves at somepoint and i roughly quote *Certain Hunters sometimes suprise us with their rotations and unique playing style*

The fact that SV has been given a Raid wide buff now only provides more proof that blizzard dont want hunters to be using their 3 button smash macro'd mm rotations anymore and my advise to anyone looking to pick up survival in cataclysm is.

Learn the spec through and through. It is a spec which requires you to think atleast 5 shots ahead and the timing and seperation of your shot choices is crucial.

To conclude, in my own opinion. During wrath the developers themselves knew the complexity of Survival and thus, rewarded they who played it in perfect harmony. I hope the same applies for cataclysm with this spec i am almost certain it will. No desire atall to be anything other than SV if i had to be Marks or BM i would fall asleep at the keyboard i think. Although BM is becoming just as interesting now as it was all those years ago. Exciting =)

hmm.. actually im sorry.. but the top hunter parses dont show that.. more mm hunter's than sv.. and about survival being complex? i highly doubt it, basically only need to watch your ss, and it gets easier in cata since you dont need to watch your ss anymore since cobra refreshes it, and sv is going to be the best raiding spec when cata hits..

[Ailthas]

Sorry, and im sure some will agree. SV has been the top spec to be since ToC came, and through the entirety of icc and it will also hold itself strong as the top spec in cataclysm endgame. MM was a contender, the reason the masses thought MM was the spec to be in icc was because of its raid utility *imp hunters mark, trueshot aura*, its powerfull burst and also its simplicity to play. After TBC players found it very difficult to handle SV however they who put in the time to learn the Survival spec in and out evidently came out on top in almost every occasion through WOTLK's final year. Blizzard even said it themselves at somepoint and i roughly quote *Certain Hunters sometimes suprise us with their rotations and unique playing style*

The fact that SV has been given a Raid wide buff now only provides more proof that blizzard dont want hunters to be using their 3 button smash macro'd mm rotations anymore and my advise to anyone looking to pick up survival in cataclysm is.

Learn the spec through and through. It is a spec which requires you to think atleast 5 shots ahead and the timing and seperation of your shot choices is crucial.

To conclude, in my own opinion. During wrath the developers themselves knew the complexity of Survival and thus, rewarded they who played it in perfect harmony. I hope the same applies for cataclysm with this spec i am almost certain it will. No desire atall to be anything other than SV if i had to be Marks or BM i would fall asleep at the keyboard i think. Although BM is becoming just as interesting now as it was all those years ago. Exciting =)

Actually, I'm going to disagree. IIRC, when BM was nerfed, they changed Explosive shot from an AoE to a single target shot, and that was when SV started to take off. Not because people learned the ins and outs of it, but because even complete nubs could spam Explosive shot and do relatively decent DPS.

MM started to gain its ground during Ulduar with all of the Arp gear that dropped, and part-way into ToC and beyond it became the top spec. Not because of a 3 button rotation, but because of math. Equal skill and equal gear would usually have the MM hunter on top with a few exceptions.

And SV has, as far as I can remember, always had a raid wide buff. Expose weakness? I remember stacking up 1100+ agi for the benefit of the raid. Replenishment in LK? Yeah. Haste in Cata? Sure. Hate a spec all you want, if Blizzard really does a good job of getting the numbers for each spec within a reasonable amount for each other, it'll be up to the spec you are most comfortable playing to be top DPS. Skewed numbers like a spec doing 20%(which will be huge in Cata) more DPS than another is supposed to be a thing of the past.

[Oweena]

SV was best spec from 3.0 to 3.2.. in 3.2 MM joined it for top place and in ICC MM took over.

throughout ICC MM took top place no matter the fight... Also in 4.0.1 MM also took the biscuit for best spec. However Cataclysm gives SV hunters their much needed cobra shot.. and helloooo SV takes over MM again... MM may joined SV or may take it over again later on... or even maybe BM.. however at tier 11 SV>BM+MM

[diablito1059]

Survival was nerfed towards the end of beta

[Superpenguin3]

Survival or Bm is best at the beginning of an expansion, then with better gear, MM raises up slowly and begins to become the best spec. Idk about it now that the weapon dmg is normalized in key skills.

[Thereign]

def surv at 85

I'd listen to this guy, I think he knows.

[harky]

Survival was nerfed towards the end of beta

They were nerfed from being way ahead of everyone, to just being a little ahead of everyone. They got nerfed by ~10%, but were 20%+ ahead of the next highest classes and 40%+ ahead of MM/BM. I'd expect more tweaking with the spec, but SV with Cobra is a completely different spec.