Cataclysm Hunter Guide

[Hyolith]

Cataclysm Hunter Guide

About Me:
My name is Hyolith, I have been playing World of Warcraft since October 2008 just before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. My main character has always been Hyolith a Troll Hunter. I started raiding around early 2009 with Naxxramas, Obsidium Sanctum, and Eyes of Eternity. I switched guilds in summer 2009 and was able to start completing Ulduar and later Trial of the Champion when it was released. We ended up getting burnt out during Icecrown Citadel and only recently went back and beat the Lich King. I have always tried to accomplish the best dps I could and when I would struggle I would always try to find out why and work on it. I hope you find this guide useful with correct information. Any corrections should be sent to me in PM or replied to this thread.

Index:
Hunter Abilities/Focus Cost
Beast Master
Marksmanship
Survival
Armor/Gems
Enchants/Glyphs
Pets
Preparing to Raid/Theorycrafting
Additional Information

Rugged stalkers of the wild, hunters roam the wilderness with their animal companion by their side, to track down and slay their targets with deadly accuracy. Preferring to use ranged weapons to stay a safe distance away and get the first shot undetected, hunters are extremely powerful at locating their marks and eliminating them.

With 4.0.1 comes a huge overhaul to hunters. Mana has been replaced with focus. Focus is what pets have always been using and is very similar to energy used my druids and rogues. Hunters will have to learn to manage priorities to achieve the best possible dps.

Pets have also been overhauled. While they still maintain their types (cunning, ferocity, tenacity) they have had their abilities overhauled to provide essential buffs and debuffs to the hunter and raids. The damage has been somewhat normalized through all three types. While ferocity will still maintain and edge on dps and tenacity will still be great pets for tanking there will no longer be that one pet everyone takes to a raid.

With pets providing buffs similar to other class buffs look for hunters to be there to provide those if the raid composition is missing something. So be prepared to take out certain pets if your raid is going to be missing a buff or debuff.

Also World of Warcraft is going to a 41 point talent system. This means that each spec will have a 31 point tree. When you choose a spec you HAVE to put 31 points into that tree before you can move onto a different one. Each tree will have it's own mastery, passive trait, and spell.

New Hunter Abilities:
Cobra Shot (Level 81):
Deals weapon damage plus [ 6% of RAP + 950 ] in the form of Nature damage and increases the duration of your Serpent Sting on the target by 3 sec. ( Aspect of the Hawk : Generates 9 Focus. ) 5-35 yd range, 1.5 sec cast

Aspect of the Fox (Level 83):
The hunter takes on the aspects of a fox, increasing your focus regeneration by 20% and allows you to Auto-shot while moving. Instant, 1 sec cooldown

Camouflage (Level 85):
You camouflage, causing you and your Pet to blend into your surroundings making you untargetable and providing stealth while stationary. You can lay traps while under the effect, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat. 45 Focus, Instant, 1 min cooldown

Widow Venom:
A venomous shot that reduces the effectiveness of any healing taken by 25% for 30 sec. Only one Venom per Hunter can be active on any one target. 30 Focus, 5-35 yd range, Instant

Focus Costs:
This is going to be a very simple, basic list of all the focus costs for hunters. While we are getting used to focus and their costs this list will be beneficial to see all the abilities together to try and get a better feel for the new rotations or priorities.

General:
Arcane Shot - 25 focus
Camouflage - 20 focus
Kill Command - 40 focus
Multi-Shot - 40 focus
Serpent Sting - 25 focus
Trap Launcher - 30 focus
Tranquilizing Shot - 35 focus
Widow Venom - 15 focus

Revive Pet - 35% of base focus
Scare Beast - 25 focus

Beast Mastery:
No spec specific focus requirements

Marksmanship:
Aimed Shot - 50 focus
Chimera Shot - 50 focus

Survival:
Black Arrow - 35 focus
Explosive Shot - 50 focus
Wyvern Sting - 35 focus

Steady Shot and Cobra Shot do not cost focus but instantly give back 9 focus.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:52 PM ----------

This page is going to combine everything and focus specifically on the Beast Mastery Spec.

Spec Traits:
Beast Master:
Spell: Intimidation - Command your pet to intimidate the target, causing a high amount of threat and stunning the target for 3 sec. Last 15 sec.
Trait: Animal Handler - Attack Power increase by 15%.
Mastery: Master of Beasts - Increases damage done by your pet by 13.67%. Each point of Mastery increases pet damage by an additional 1.7%.

Talent Previews:
Tier 1:
Improved Kill Command: I believe this was recently changed from reducing the cooldown of Kill Command to now adding 5/10% crit to it. This is a very solid talent for BM hunters. Kill Command is on a 6 second cooldown and should be used as much as possible.
PvE: A-
PvP: A-

One With Nature: This is a must have talent for any build. With the 10/20/30% attack power increase when in Aspect of the Hawk as well as a 1/2/3 extra focus regen when in Aspect of the Fox, this talent provides a substantial increase in power.
PvE: A+
PvP: A

Bestial Discipline: Hunters pets in the BM tree do approximately 30% of their total damage. With this increase to the pets focus regen they will be able to use their focus dump abilities a lot more often providing more damage and more dps.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Tier 2:
Pathfinding: This talent is decent for leveling at lower levels, but with the changes to mount level requirements this talent isn't very useful. Useful for outrunning mobs or players at lower levels but has no benefit for end game raiding.
PvE: D-
PvP: F

Spirit Bond: This talent provides some survivability to BM hunters. While this does not provide any damage increase it goes back to the saying, "you don't do any dps when you're dead."
PvE: C+
PvP: B

Frenzy: This is a must have talent for BM hunters. It allows your pets to gain 2/4/6% attack speed, stacking up to 5 times, for 10 seconds. So at 5 stacks it provides a 30% increase in your pets attack speed. It is used in conjunction with Focus Fire, which I will get to in the next tier.
PvE: A+
PvP: A+

Improved Mend Pet: This talent can be useful when leveling being able to provide better heals as well as a cleansing effect to your pet who might be tanking mobs for you. Other than that it provides no damage increase. Could be useful in pvp helping keep your pet alive though.
PvE: F
PvP: D

Tier 3:
Cobra Strikes: This is a great talent, providing your pet to critically strike with its next 2 basic attacks when you land an arcane shot.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Fervor: This is an absolutely must have talent for any BM build. Not only does it instantly provide 50 focus to both you and your pet but it also leads to some of BM's best spells.
PvE: A+
PvP: A+

Focus Fire: This is a new and amazing ability. It restores 10 focus and increases your haste by 3% for each frenzy stack consumed. It also only has a 15 second cooldown. This talent can provide a lot of boost in damage and quite often.
PvE: A+
PvP: A

Tier 4:
Longevity: This is a good talent to have, it reduces the cooldown of the major BM abilities, like bestial wrath and the pets special abilities.
PvE: B+
PvP: B

Killing Streak: If your Kill Command crits twice then the 3rd will hit for 15/30% more damage and have its focus reduced by 5/10. With a high critical stat and being used with improved kill command, this could provide a lot of damage.
PvE: B
PvP: C+

Tier 5:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera: Interesting name, but virtually useless for pve. This is pretty much just a pvp talent. Lowering your cooldown on disengage and deterrence when being hit by either melee or ranged attacks.
PvE: F
PvP: A-

Bestial Wrath: Sends your pet into a rage dealing 50% more damage for 10 seconds on a 2 minute cooldown which can be reduced with longevity. Excellent talent and should be used whenever it's off cooldown or in conjunction with other cooldowns.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Ferocious Inspiration: Excellent and must have talent. Provides all party and raid members with a 3% damage increase.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Tier 6:
Kindred Spirits: Increases you and your pets max focus by 5/10. A very useful talent to have. More focus allows you to use more abilities.
PvE: B
PvP: B

The Beast Within: An excellent must have ability for BM hunters. Allows you to go into a rage with your pet after using bestial wrath. You gain a 10% damage increase as well as have all your shots and abilities focus cost reduced by 50% for 10 seconds. Provides a substantial amount of damage increase and allows you to focus dump arcane shot a lot.
PvE: A+
PvP: A

Invigoration: Regenerates 3/6 focus whenever your pet crits with a basic attack. This talent along with the proccing of cobra strikes provides a really useful 6/12 focus along with basic focus regen.
PvE: B-
PvP: C+

Tier 7:
Beast Mastery: The final talent in the BM tree. It allows you to tame exotic pets and increases their skill points by 4. This provides extra pets for hunters such as devilsaurs and core hounds which provide extremely beneficial buffs. It also allows hunters to show off their rare and unique pets such as the spirit beasts.
PvE: C
PvP: D

Specs:
Leveling Build: This is a decent build for leveling. The main difference in this spec over a raiding spec is you grab a couple survivability talents. Taking improved mend pet will help keep your pet alive while tanking mobs. Hunter vs. Wild will add some stamina to both you and your pet which also effects the mount that mend pet heals. One point in Rapid Killing also provides some extra damage boost when chain pulling mobs. If you would like to see a more in depth look at this build you can find the information here.

Raiding Build (31/7/3): This will probably be an essential raiding build for BM hunters. It gets all the DPS talents in the BM tree leaving improved mend pet, pathfinding, and crouching tiger, hidden chimera. In the MM tree you grab the talents that provide an extra boost for your pet. Pets are big in the BM tree. You also grab Pathing for the bonus haste.

Rotation:
1. Apply Hunter's Mark.
2. Apply Serpent Sting.
3. Focus Fire whenever your pet is at full Frenzy stacks. But do not use Focus Fire during Bestial Wrath! You will steal your pets attack speed bonus.
4. Kill Command whenever available.
5. Arcane Shot focus dump.
6. Cobra Shot focus regen.
7. Frevor when possible/needed.

Remember use Bestial Wrath at full Frenzy stacks and only use Arcane Shot and Kill Command during its duration. You won't run out of focus.

Glyphs:
Prime:
Arcane Shot
Kill Shot
Kill Command, Serpent Sting
Since Arcane Shot is BM's most used shot it needs to be there. Kill shot I believe will be the one glyph every spec has. It allows for 2 instant Kill Shots on a 6 second cooldown. The last glyph will kind of be up to the numbers. Reducing the focus cost of Kill Command is good but so is increasing the critical rate of serpent sting. It will all come down to the numbers

Major:
Bestial Wrath
Misdirection
Trap Launcher
Misdirection I believe will be a glyph every spec uses. It allows you to instantly send some of your threat to your pet and immediately send more towards the tank allowing you to be able to focus on dps rather than threat. Bestial Wrath is just an obvious choice. It's a powerful glyph for BM hunters. The last one was hard to decide. I picked trap launcher just because nothing else really fit. Less focus to throw out traps might be useful.

Minor:
Aspect of the Pack
Feign Death
Mend Pet
There isn't much to choose from, these are the exact same in all three specs. The others left don't really provide anything special.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:53 PM ----------

This page will be focused around the Marksmanship Spec.

Spec Traits:
Spell: Aimed Shot - A powerful aimed shot that deals ranged damage plus RAP*.31+776.
Trait: Artisan Quiver - Ranged auto-attack damage increase by 15%.
Mastery: Wild Quiver - Grants a 14.4% chance for your ranged to attacks to also instantly fire an additional ranged shot for 100% normal damage. Each point in Mastery increases the chance by 1.8%.

Talent Preview:
Tier 1:
Go For the Throat: This is a decent talent, allows your pet to regen focus when you crit with you auto shot. Crit for MM isn't that high, but this talent is better than rapid killing to be able to move down the tree.
PvE: C
PvP:C

Efficiency: Reduces the focus cost of arcane, chimera, and explosive shot. This is a pretty good talent, reducing focus cost for shots is usually a good thing to have, it will allow you to better time your priority list.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Rapid Killing: This talent is really only good for leveling. There is a potential for this talent in end game if there are a lot of adds to deal with, but most people are concerned with bosses and not trash. So against a boss with no adds this talent doesn't do anything.
PvE: D
PvP: F

Tier 2:
Sic 'Em: Reducing focus cost for your pets. This will help them with some focus dumps. Allows for a bit extra damage.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Improved Steady Shot: MM should see a bit of steady shot. Even though right now it's looking like arcane shot is better than chimera. Throwing out 2 steadys for some focus regen should be done anyways, which will in turn proc this talent. Haste is going to be a major stat in Cataclysm
PvE: B
PvP: B

Careful Aim: This talent used to be above 60% health, now that it's 80% I don't know if it will be all that popular. You will probably need to pick it up to move on down the tree, but the time a boss will be from 100-80% usually won't be all that long.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Tier 3:
Silencing Shot: Very solid situational shot. Now that it doesn't do damage it won't be macroed to every shot. CC will probably be a bigger deal in Cataclysm than it is now and this should be a useful shot to have. In pvp this is an excellent shot to interrupt casting.
PvE: C
PvP: A

Concussive Barrage: Unless there is a lot of kiting to be done this talent doesn't do much in pve. This is a nice talent to pick up for pvp though.
PvE: D
PvP: A

Piercing Shots: Great talent to have. With the damage aimed shot has been doing the bleed effect will create a lot of extra damage. A must have.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Tier 4:
Bombardment: With the damage reduction of multi-shot this talent won't be as useful. It would be nice for dealing with trash but that's about it.
PvE: C
PvP: D

Trueshot Aura: Provides a 10% increase in attack power to all party or raid members. Unless changed, blood DK's Abomination's Might will override this spell.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Termination: This will be very helpful for the end of fights when trying to finish off a boss. The extra focus regen is always very useful.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Resistance is Futile: If this can be procced by the tank simply strafing the boss around and causing it to move this this will be a talent worth having, otherwise you might not get to see much use from it. This will definitely be a solid talent for pvp when your enemy tries to run away from you.
PvE: C
PvP: B

Tier 5:
Rapid Recuperation: Excellent talent rapid fire is used as often as it can. As I have stated before any focus regen is really great to have.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Master Marksman: This is a must have talent. At 5 stacks allows your aimed shot to be free and have no cast time.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Readiness: Instantly finishes cooldowns of all abilities. A must have talent to be able to use such things as rapid fire and kill shot for a second time immediately.
PvE: A+
PvP: A+

Tier 6:
Posthaste: Reduces the cooldown of rapid fire by 1/2 minutes. Great talent to have to get the most out of those abilities.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Marked for Death: This is kind of an interesting talent. As long as it doesn't override a glyphed Hunter's Mark application then this will be a nice talent to have to reapply HM.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Tier 7:
Chimera Shot: The final talent in the MM tree. It refreshes your serpent sting and also heals you for 5%. If the damage holds up to be useful this will be a very good shot to have. With the recent changes though, chimera shot has gone down in popularity.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Spec:
Leveling Build Hunter vs. Wild or Pathing: This is a good build if you would like to level up using the MM spec. It provides a little bit of CC with Concussive Barrage and some extra damage to those mobs that try to flee with Resistance is Futile. I did not grab Termination because mobs shouldn't be under 25% health for very long. At the end you also have the option of either using to get Hunter vs. Wild for some extra stamina or Pathing if you aren't having trouble staying a live. If you would like to see more details about this build you can check it out here.

Raiding Build (7/31/3): This is an optimal build for MM hunters. Marked for Death isn't a very important talent so it's not needed. That allows us to get Silencing Shot and 1/2 in Rapid Killing without giving up any DPS talents. Those could be put into Resistance is Futile if the boss is constantly being kited around but we will have to wait a bit to see if that works out for the better.

Rotation:
1. Apply Hunter's Mark.
2. Apply Serpent Sting.
3. Fire Chimera Shot when available.
4. Fire Aimed Shot only during Master Marksman procs.
5. Arcane Shot focus dump.
6. Steady Shot focus regen, but remember to use it in pairs to gain the Improved Steady Shot haste buff.

You really want to keep ISS up as much as possible. It'll be tricky to achieve so you'll have to work at it.

Glyphs:
Prime:
Aimed Shot
Kill Shot, Serpent Sting
Chimera Shot, Rapid Fire, Kill Command
Aimed Shot of course as it will most likely be widely used in MM. Kill shot I believe will be the one glyph ever spec has. It allows for 2 instant Kill Shots on a 6 second cooldown. The last one will come down to numbers. With Chimera Shot not dealing instant damage from serpent sting and not being on a strict rotation with Aimed Shot means you don't really need to reduce the cooldown. Reducing the focus cost of Kill Command is good and will might outweigh the haste bonus during Rapid Fire. With heavy focus shots like Aimed and Chimera, Rapid Fire might be a better choice.

Major:
Misdirection
Silencing Shot
Trap Launcher
There aren't too many glyphs that benefit MM. Misdirection I believe will be a glyph every spec uses. It allows you to instantly send some of your threat to your pet and immediately after send more towards the tank allowing you to be able to focus on dps rather than threat. You can get a bit of focus from Silencing Shot. Lastly, I picked trap launcher just because nothing else really fit. Less focus to throw out traps might be useful.

Minor:
Aspect of the Pack
Feign Death
Mend Pet
There isn't much to choose from, these are the exact same in all three specs. The others left don't really provide anything special.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:53 PM ----------

This page will be focused around the Survival Spec.

Spec Traits:
Spell: Explosive Shot - You fire an explosive charge into an enemy dealing fire damage. The charge will blast the enemy every second for an additional 2 sec.
Trait: Into the Wilderness - Agility increased by 15%.
Mastery: Essence of the Viper - Increases all elemental damage you deal by 8%. Each point in Mastery increases elemental damage by 1.0%.

Talent Preview:
Tier 1:
Hunter vs. Wild: This provides some survivability but since there is no talent that boosts attack power from stamina this talent isn't as useful.
PvE: C
PvP:C+

Improved Tracking: Changed from damage to haste. Haste is very useful for SV and really all specs. Very useful talent.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Improved Serpent Sting: This is a good talent provides some burst damage for applying serpent sting which you should always have up on a boss.
PvE: B
PvP: B-

Tier 2:
Survival Tactics: This is a good talent for pvp, not so much for pve. Helps with defensive cooldowns and resistances.
PvE: F
PvP: C+

Trap Mastery: Good talent to have. Provides extra damage to the ticks of black arrow as well as immolation trap and explosive trap.
PvE: B
PvP: B-

Entrapment: Good for a little bit of CC, more of a pvp talent or if some CC is needed on trash, but could be nice when used with trap launcher.
PvE: D
PvP: C+

Point of No Escape: If your crit isn't already outrageously high then this might provide a bit of extra crit, useful when used with trap launcher.
PvE: C-
PvP: C-

Tier 3:
Thrill of the Hunt: Excellent talent. While no immediate increase in anything, the ability to have some focus refunded is very helpful
PvE: B+
PvP: B

Counterattack: Not useful at all for pve but can be pretty useful in pvp. Though the point of pvp is to never be that close anyways so it's probably rarely used.
PvE: F
PvP: C

Lock and Load: A must have talent that has a chance to cause your next 2 arcane or explosive shots to have no cooldown or focus cost.
PvE: A+
PvP: A+

Tier 4:
Resourcefulness: This is good for both pve and pvp. Black Arrow has a 30 second cooldown, same as traps. Being able to lower that cooldown is really good.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Mirrored Blades: This will be extremely beneficial in pvp. Provides some great defense for hunters while in deterrence. Not really that helpful for pve.
PvE: D
PvP: A

T.N.T.: This allows your fire traps plus black arrow to proc LnL. Extremely good talent to have.
PvE: A
PvP: B

Tier 5:
Toxicology: Excellent talent, increasing the damage of your dots is really good since SV damage thrives on BA and serpent sting.
PvE: A
PvP: C

Wyvern Sting: Great CC ability for both pve and pvp. With more CC coming around the corning look for this shot to find itself come alive again.
PvE: C
PvP: A

Noxious Stings: Increases damage done by your serpent sting on targets. Also if dispelled the dispeller will be inflicted by wyvern sting.
PvE: B
PvP:B

Hunting Party: Great talent to have, provides 10% more agi.
PvE: A+
PvP: A

Tier 6:
Sniper Training:Good talent especially when being able to stand still. Even if you have to move you have a few seconds to run and stop and this spell won't fall off.
PvE: B
PvP: C-

Serpent Spread: Good for spreading serpent sting to other mobs. While there won't be as much aoe during trash pulls anymore it can still help provide some extra damage.
PvE: B
PvP: D

Tier 7:
Black Arrow: Another dot that provides good elemental damage for SV hunters.
PvE: A-
PvP: B+

Spec:
Leveling Build: Tier 2 was the hardest part about this build. Survival Tactics could be good to help get away from angry mobs but it's usually pretty easy to kite and get away. I picked up Mirrored Blades to provide some defense against caster mobs when you are getting low on health. If you would like to see more details about this build you can check it out here.

Raiding Build (7/3/31): This build can have a few variations, especially with tier 2. You could grab Survival Tactics for some extra defense or to drop threat on bosses. You could grab Hunter vs. Wild for some extra health. Other than that it is a pretty typical SV build. Only 1/2 in Serpent Spread. When AoEing with Multi-Shot you don't need Serpent Sting to really apply much longer as you'll most likely be spamming Multi-Shot anyways.

Rotation:
1. Apply Hunter's Mark.
2. Apply Serpent Sting, refresh as needed.
3. Apply Black Arrow, refresh as needed.
4. Fire Explosive Shot when available.
5. Arcane Shot focus dump.
6. Cobra Shot focus regen.

Survival right now provides the highest dps among all spec it's a bit focus starved at this point in time but will get better. Try and keep Serpent and Black Arrow up as much as possible. Remember to just use Explosive Shot during LnL procs and try not to clip the ticks. If you have enough focus to use Kill Command during LnL then do so.

Glyphs:
Prime:
Explosive Shot, Arcane Shot
Kill Shot
Serpent Sting
Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot will be up to the numbers in the end. SV has very high crit in the first place and you might not even need the Explosive Shot glyph, in which case Arcane Shot would be a better choice. Kill shot I believe will be the one glyph ever spec has. It allows for 2 instant Kill Shots on a 6 second cooldown. The last will come down to the numbers. The extra time added from Serpent Sting plus Cobra Shot might be worth it so you don't have to keep reapplying Serpent Sting, but if Cobra Shot can keep Serpent Sting up then it won't be worth it. So then it would come down to Kill Command and Rapid Fire. In SV I can see Kill Command not being used as much since Black Arrow and Explosive Shot take up a big chunk of focus therefore making Rapid Fire the obvious choice.

Major:
Misdirection
Wyvern Sting
Trap Launcher
Misdirection I believe will be a glyph every spec uses. It allows you to instantly send some of your threat to your pet and immediately after send more towards the tank allowing you to be able to focus on dps rather than threat. Wyvern Sting is really the only other glyph that deals with SV. Lastly, I picked trap launcher just because nothing else really fit. Less focus to throw out traps might be useful.

Minor:
Aspect of the Pack
Feign Death
Mend Pet
There isn't much to choose from, these are the exact same in all three specs. The others left don't really provide anything special.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:54 PM ----------

Armor:
Here is a list of the first tier of Cataclysm raiding. This is tier 11 as well as some other pieces that could be useful when reaching 85. The hunters set is called "Lightning-Charged." These are item level 359. These have been acquired from MMO-Champion.

Tier 11 Hunter:
Lightning-Charged Headguard
Lightning-Charged Tunic
Lightning-Charged Legguards
Lightning-Charged Gloves
Lightning-Charged Spaulders

These do look pretty solid. Only one item with hit and one item with mastery. With so much hit being put onto items most hunters will probably reforge some to other stats. Mastery has shown to be very powerful for BM hunters on beta. You might see mastery becoming a major stat to reforge or stack over haste. We'll have to wait until it all comes live though.

I have noticed there is only 1 gem socket per each item. This is something different, but the socket bonuses are a lot more powerful than they have been in the past. This could be to counter the lack of sockets.

Other item level 359 mail pieces that will surely be looked into are:
Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms - Feet
Viewless Wings - Cloak
Fluid Death - Trinket

Item level 349 pieces which can be obtained with Justice Points through Heroic Cataclysm dungeons:
Vest of the True Companion - Chest
Gloves of the Passing Night - Hands
Willow Mask - Head
Hillside Striders - Legs
Wrap of the Valley Glade - Shoulders
Belt of the Dim Forest - Waist
Amulet of Dull Dreaming - Neck

There are also a lot of items that can be obtained through normal and heroic dungeons. Just take a look through them all over a Wowhead.

Also the gear for Arena Season 9/Rated Battlegrounds has been released. You can view those here.

Gemming:
These are some options for gems that will most likely be useful as you start to obtain gear and look at getting into heroics or raids.

Red:
Delicate Inferno Ruby
Delicate Carnelian

Yellow:
Fracture Amberjewel
Quick Amberjewel
Fractured Alicite
Quick Alicite

Blue:
Rigid Ocean Sapphire
Rigid Zephyrite

Green:
Lighning Dream Emerald
Sensei's Dream Emerald
Lightning Jasper
Sensei's Jasper

Orange:
Adept Ember Topaz
Deft Ember Topaz
Deadly Ember Topaz
Adept Hessonite
Deft Hessonite
Deadly Hessonite

Purple:
Glinting Demonseye
Glinting Nightstone

Prismatic:
Haven't seen any

Meta:
Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond

Socket Bonuses:
You should always go after agility bonuses, just be weary of the gems needed to achieve that. You can put hit into blue, agi into red, mastery or haste into yellow, or put an orange if you would like.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:55 PM ----------

Enchants:
Source
With the new expansion comes new enchants. Wowhead has a great list to work from in their new database, as well as the new reputation rewards recently posted on MMO Champion. In this article I would like to post some of these new enchants that will probably make their way onto hunters once they reach 85 (or before).

Head:
Arcanum of the Ramkahen

Shoulder:
Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal

Chest:
Peerless Stats

Gloves:
Greater Mastery
Haste

Cloak:
Greater Critical Strike

Bracer:
Greater Critical Strike
Greater Speed
Precision

Boots:
Lavawalker
Assassin's Step
Mastery
Precision
Haste

Legs:
Dragonbone Leg Reinforcements

Waist:
Ebonsteel Belt Buckle

Ranged:
Gnomish X-Ray Scope
R19 Threatfinder
Safety Catch Removal Kit

Weapon:
Mighty Agility

I believe this covers it all. A lot of the new enchant seem to be more focused on crit haste and mastery since gear will provide the vast majority of agi maybe that's why we won't see it much on enchants anymore.

Glyphs:
There is a new tier of glyphs now called Prime glyphs. These new prime glyphs are for a lot of the major shots fired. Just like in the old system you can have 3 prime glyphs active, as well as 3 major and 3 minor.

Below is a list of glyphs that will be commonly used by hunters. If you would like to check out the full list of glyphs you can view them here.

Prime:
Aimed Shot
Arcane Shot
Chimera Shot
Explosive Shot
Kill Command
Kill Shot
Serpent Sting
Steady Shot

Major:
Bestial Wrath
Deterrence
Disengage
Freezing Trap
Ice Trap
Mending
Misdirection
Silencing Shot
Trap Launcher
Wyvern Sting

Minor:
Aspect of the Pack
Feign Death
Mend Pet

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:55 PM ----------

Pets:
Malazee's Pet Usage and Flowcharts is an amazing tool to use when raiding to see which pets you should bring. It has detailed charts to allow you to easily find which buff your raid group has and you'll be able to pin point easily which pets you should bring.

Below are some examples of specs for each pet talent tree including bm vs non bm hunters.

Ferocity Tree Spec Non BM vs BM.


Cunning Tree Spec Non BM vs. BM


Tenacity Tree Spec Non BM vs. BM


New Pet Abilities
Here is a complete list of the new pet abilities data mined by the folks over at MMO Champion.

Utility Abilities
(Pets with a - E are exotic pets tamable only by Beast Mastery Hunters)

Bloodlust / Heroism:

• Ancient Hysteria (Core Hound - E) - Increases melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by 30% for all party and raid members. Lasts 40 sec. Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and be unable to benefit from Bloodlust or Time Warp again for 10 min. / Instant, 6 min cooldown

Healing:

• Spirit Mend (Spirit Beast - E) - The Spirit Beast heals the currently friendly target for {1237.75+((RAP*0.35)*0.5)} plus an additional {475.97+((RAP*0.35)*0.335)} over 10 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Stamina Buff:

• Qiraji Fortitude (Silithid - E) - Increases party and raid members' Stamina by 584.76. / Instant

Critical Strike Buff:

• Furious Howl (Wolf / Dog) - The wolf lets out a furious howl, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%. / Instant, 45 sec cooldown
• Terrifying Roar (Devilsaur - E) - The devilsaur lets out a terrifying roar, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%. / Instant, 45 sec cooldown

Casting Speed Reduction:

• Lava Breath (Core Hound - E) - Your pet breathes a double gout of molten lava at the target, reducing the target's casting speed by 25% for 10 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 8 sec cooldown (No longer deals damage)
• Spore Cloud (Sporebat) - Dusts nearby enemies with spores, reducing all enemy targets within 6 yards casting speed by 25% for 9 sec. / 6 yd range, Instant, 12 sec cooldown

Attack Speed Reduction:

• [Dust Cloud (Tallstrider) - Your tallstrider kicks up an obscuring cloud of dust, causing all enemies within 10 yards to have their melee and ranged attack speed reduced by 20% for 8 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Movement Speed Reduction:

• Ankle Crack (Crocolisk) - Snap at the target's feet, reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown (Replaces Bad Attitude)
• Frost Breath (Chimera - E) - Your pet simultaneously breathes frost and lightning at an enemy target, slowing the target for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown (No longer deals damage)
• Time Warp (Warp Stalker) - Slows time around the enemy, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown

Healing Debuff:

• Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur - E) - Your devilsaur ferociously bites the enemy, reducing the effectiveness of any healing received by 25% for 8 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 8 sec cooldown

Root:

• Venom Web Spray (Silithid - E) - Sprays toxic webs at the target, preventing movement for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown (Up from 4 sec, no longer deals damage)
• Web (Spider) - Encases the target in sticky webs, preventing movement for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Silence/Interrupt:

• Serenity Dust (Moth) - The moth's wings produce a cloud of dust that interrupts the enemies spell casting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown

Armor Reduction (Sunder Armor):

• Tear Armor (Raptor) - Tears at the enemies armor with the raptors talons, reducing it by 4%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
• Corrosive Spit (Serpent) - Spits poison at an enemy, corroding their armor, reducing it by 4%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown

Increased Bleed Damage:

• Gore (Boar) - Your boar gores the enemy, causing it to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
• Tendon Rip (Hyena) - Tears at an enemy's legs, increasing damage taken from bleed effects by 30% for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldow

Increased Magic Damage:

• Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) - Breathes Fire on the target, increasing magic damage taken by 8% for 45 sec. / 40 yd range, Channeled, 30 sec cooldown
• Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) - Breathes lightning, increasing magic damage taken by 8% for 45 sec. / 40 yd range, Channeled, 30 sec cooldown

Increased Physical Damage:

• Acid Spit (Worm - E) - Your worm spits acid, causing the enemy target to take an increased 4% physical damage for 25 sec. / 20 Focus, 30 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
• Ravage (Ravager) - Violently attacks an enemy, causing the enemy target to take 4% increased physical damage for 25 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown

Stun:

• Sonic Blast - Emits a piercing shriek, stunning the target for 2 sec. / 20 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown (No longer deals damage)
• Sting (Wasp) - Your wasp stings the target, stunning them for 2 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 45 sec cooldown

Physical Damage Reduction:

• Demoralizing Roar (Bear) - The bear roars, reducing the physical damage caused by all enemies within yards by 10% for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown

Disarm:

• Clench (Scorpid) - The scorpid clenches the enemy's weapon with its talons, and disarming their main hand and ranged weapons for 10 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown

DPS Abilities:

• Bite - Bite the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
• Claw - Claw the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
• Smack - Smack the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown

(MMO-Champ)

Pet FAQ:
What is the best pet in 4.0.1?
Frankly, there isn't one. It mostly depends on your preference. You will probably always choose a different pet whether you are soloing, raiding, pvping, etc...

What pet should I bring to a raid?
It depends on your raid composition. Check out Malazee's Pet Charts from Petopia. This will be extremely useful to determine what pet you should bring.

What is the best PVP pet in 4.0.1?
It all depends on what you and your teammates can provide. If you need a root or stun then you can bring a Silithid, Spider, or Wasp. If you need interrupts you can bring a Gorilla or Moth. If you need a healing debuff you can bring a Devilsaur. It just all depends on what you have and what you will need when deciding on a pet for pvp.

Will pets have their new special abilities in 4.0.1?
As I understand it yes they will. You can find a list of them here.

What are the difference between Cunning, Ferocity, and Tenacity pets?
Cunning: Cunning pets, like spiders, have a mix of offensive and defensive abilities and are particularly useful in Battlegrounds and Arenas.

Ferocity: Ferocious pets, like cats, can dish out damage but can't take it as well.

Tenacity: Tenacious pets, like turtles, are more defensive and can occupy an enemy's attention while you stay at range.

What is the best tanking pet?
It comes down to preference. You should definitely be using a tenacity pet as they have high stam and armor. Other than that it's pretty much take your pick. Each pet provides a unique ability that can benefit you one way or anything., such as a knock back from a Rhino, or interrupt from a Gorilla.

What is the best soloing pet?
Again it depends on you and your situation. The exotic Spirit Beasts can bring you some heals while soloing. Tenacity pets can tank for you. Pets can bring you different buffs or debuffs.

The pet I'm trying to tame is level 12 and I'm level 60. Will it stay at level 12?
No, when you tame a pet that is greater than 5 levels lower than you it will automatically level to be 5 levels below you. So your level 12 pet once you tame it will become level 55.

What is the best way to level a pet?
Simply by taking it anywhere that gives you experience. So taking pets to instances or questing is usually the best way to level a pet.

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:56 PM ----------

Preparing for raids:
Step 1: Know the damn tactics.
Step 2: Come prepared, all your gear is properly gemmed and enchanted, you have enough flasks and statfood for the entire raid (and then some) without relying on someone to drop fish feasts for you all night long, you have enough ammo with you to last you well over one raid, you have enough food and drink to last you the entire night if there is no mage and your gear better be repaired and at 100%.
Step 3: Know your limits, don't try to get into raids you can't handle dps wise.
You might get some fat loot there, but you'll also make a bad impression on the raid.
Making a good impression and building a good reputation for yourself will get you much further.
Step 4: ASK QUESTIONS. really, you'll make a much better impression on people by saying "Hey, I haven't done this boss before. I know all the strats but could you give me a quick run through of how you do the fight?" than by keeping quiet and @#%^ing up or performing badly.

There's a few key elements that make you an awesome raider.
And suprisingly (*cough*NOT*cough*) is that it's all between your ears.
Use your brain, learn from your mistakes, pay attention to your surroundings.
Don't stand in the fire for 2 seconds, know that it can come and be prepared to run out (run, don't jump! jumping can cause WoW to think you're at the place you jumped from until you land making you take extra ticks of damage).
Being able to not @#%^ up is a massive part of being a good raider.

It's a normal thing for everyone to mess up from time to time, it happens and if you're unlucky it even wipes your raid.
No big deal, as long as you're man (or woman) enough to admit that you made a mistake and smart enough to learn from it.

Another thing you need to do is have vent/ts and a microphone.
Announce when things happen to you that changes how people interact with you.
Do you need extra healing? did you mess up and need someone to cover you in whatever you had to do? are you taking over for someone because they can't make it? need to do something people need to react to? SAY SO!

But your guildies don't have/use microphones? so @#%^ing what, you can.
You can't use it for another reason? find a way to fix that.
You don't have a mic? they're only $5 for a cheap one, no point not having one.
You're afraid to talk over vent/ts? stop being shy and just talk, people won't hate you for it.
Even if your voice is annoying as hell they'll appreciate the communication.

Applying to a guild:

Fill in the questions properly and be honest.
Use proper english and don't answer questions with one word.
Tell the guild as much relevant info about yourself.
(relevant is the keyword here, I want to know that you tinker with your gear, spec, enchants etc on femaledwarf.com for an hour before you go to sleep. I do not want to know that you masturbate while doing so.)

(Source)

Theorycrafting:

Ratings
120.109 Hit Rating = 1% Hit
179.29 Crit Rating = 1% Crit
128.057 Haste Rating = 1% Haste
179.28 Mastery Rating = 1 Mastery

Attack Power
14 AP (attack power) = 1 dps (auto-shot)

Agility
1 Agility = 2 AP
324.85 Agility = 1% crit
1 Agil = .55 Crit Rating

Global Cooldown
1 second

Hunter Stat Conversion to Pet
Pets Gain:
42.5% of hunter AP
100% of hunter hit as both hit and expertise (so if you are hit capped, your pet is hit and exp capped)
100% of hunter haste
100% of hunter crit

Ferocity
67% of hunter stamina
50% of hunter armor

Cunning
72.5% of hunter stamina
60% of hunter armor

Tenacity
78% of hunter stamina
70% of hunter armo

(Source)

---------- Post added 2010-12-21 at 03:58 PM ----------

Useful Links:
MMO-Champion
Wowhead
Elitist Jerks
WoW Insider
FemaleDwarf
Shandara's Spreadsheet
Rawr

[Subbversion]

A quick search of your character yields no results.

[Hyolith]

Oh wow, this got posted? It's probably so out of date right now.

My hunter

[Wrecker]

So many things incorrect :\

This needs some serious editing, best of luck. Good layout and depth though =)

[Hyolith]

Well at the time it was correct, but things change so constantly for hunters. I only did it for the contest. I don't really feel the need to keep it updated too much as it's not really in a high traffic area.