Gerocks Hunter guide.

[munesiriou]

Gerock's Hunter Guide

1. Introduction
2. Talents and Glyphs
3. Recommended Professions
4. Rotation and You
5. Combat Rating and Consumables
6. Reputations to Keep in Mind
7. Dungeons You Need to Run and for What Loot
8. Enchanting Your Loots
9. On to Raiding!

Introduction

Hello, my name is Gerock. I'm currently an aspiring hunter in the fresh world of Cataclysm, who seems to be one of few men in this world who has an idea of what they're doing. Today, I'm going to give you an amazing treat. A super-amazing Hunter guide to get you ready for raiding. I hope that this guide has something to help the old and the new in their quest to be the best Hunter ever made by modern day science.

So, you're a Hunter that's fresh to 85 and want to jump right into raiding. Well, I have one thing to say to you. Hold your horses! Now, you may be saying, “But Gerock, I can clear ICC 25 man... surely I can do this entrance raid level stuff in whatever gear I got off questing!” Well, you may think that, but if that were really true, would you be stopping by to read this guide? I think not. There are a few things that we need to go over before I can consider you 100 percent ready for raiding; fortunately, that is all going to be covered in this guide.

Talents and Glyphs

http://wowtal.com/#k"]

This is the most common setup for any good Survival spec Hunter in the current game. Survival has been the best DPS spec for Hunters during most of Wrath, even at the top gear levels. This is still standing true in Cataclysm. This spec should make it pretty easy for you overall to at least start topping those meters.

Also, I couldn't get the images to show up properly on here so I just put everything as links. I'm sorry about that.

Recommended Professions

Can we get a drumroll? No? Well, that's okay. Before I say what my recommended professions are, I just want to point out that this route is not cheap. There are much more cost effective ways to do things. This is just how I happened to do it and it worked for me. This is in no short thanks to my guild having multiple double-gathering professions, but if you stocked up your gold in Wrath, this shouldn't be a problem for you anyway. So, if you want to be awesome and rich like Gerock, continue on.

You first profession should be Engineering. Why Engineering, you may ask? Actually, you shouldn't ask this at all, this is answer is so simple and obvious that you'd have to be a total idiot to not see all the benefits. Have you ever wanted to have a Epic headpiece where you get to select the secondary stats? Make your own ranged weapon, so you aren't relying on anyone else, at least until raiding? Craft those awesome scopes that you'll undoubtedly need for every ranged weapon upgrade? Free 10,000+ damage every two minutes? Engineering exclusive enchants? Okay, well, maybe it wasn't so simple, but there are many reasons why Engineering is one of the most, if not the most common Hunter Profession.

Second profession should be the wonderful Jewelcrafting! Who doesn't want three free +67 Agility gems? I don't know about you, but I couldn't pass those up if I tried. Obviously, you're going to be saying, “Gerock, you're crazy! Those are the two most expensive professions in the game!” Again, I want you to know that I understand this. I'm saying that they are the most recommended professions to optimize yourself. Professions are a personal preference; this is mine because I like being good. Engineering is almost a must, and Jewelcrafting is a close second in my opinion.

Rotation and You

This is where things get extremely easy and complicated for some people at the same time. You must have noticed that in those last five levels that Hunters don't use Mana anymore. We are now a creature of Focus. Every fight should start off exactly the same.

Prior to start of the fight, use Hunter's Mark.

1. Serpent Sting – Not only does this do damage, and on most fights, never need to be refreshed, but because of your Talents, you'll do additional damage with all attacks. What more could you ask for at the low, low price of 25 Focus.
2. Black Arrow – You want to cast this second, because the faster you get it on your target, the faster you can proc Lock and Load.
3. Explosive Shot – This is your huge damage move, and the reason you choose Survival in the first place. It does great damage, and if you conserve your focus correctly, should always be usable from cooldown.
4. Arcane Shot – Arcane Shot is an instant fire shot that takes very little Focus to cast. It's your Focus dumping move. I'll explain when and why you'll use this in a second.
5. Cobra Shot – Whenever your rotation is on cooldown, you had better be spamming this. This is your bread and butter move. It extends your Serpent Sting, does Nature damage rather than Physical, and gives you Focus just for using it.

This is not something I put in the rotation itself, due to the timing you'll be using it, but the second you see that Bloodlust or Time Warp or whatever is cast, you should instantly Rapid Fire and use Call of the Wild, all your trinkets, and all your potions if you have them.

You need to have constant awareness of your Focus bar. If Explosive Shot isn't on cooldown, you better be casting it. If your Black Arrows and Explosive Shots are overlapping, you need to pay attention so you have enough Focus to cast Black Arrow and Explosive Shot. Arcane Shot should be used whenever you have the extra Focus to do so. It does good damage, but isn't as cost effective as any of your other Focus ability.

On Lock and Load procs, I find the best thing to do is alternate Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot. The thing about Lock and Load is that 90% of the time it goes off, you should have the Focus to do the simple ES>AS>ES>AS rotation as your first Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot are completely free to use. The great thing about doing it this way is that your Arcane Shot will take just long enough so your Explosive Shot doesn't overlap, losing you damage.

Combat Rating and Consumables

This should all be common knowledge to most, but just in case, I'll put the current Combat Ratings for Cataclysm here. They are as follows:

179 critical rating equals 1% critical
128 haste rating equals 1% haste
179 mastery rating equals 1% critical

8% Hit Rating is absolutely necessary for bosses in Cataclysm. It's a good rule of thumb that Hit Rating will raise your DPS more than any other stat until you hit 8%, which is when it becomes the most useless DPS stat. I don't want to hear anything about how hard it is to reach the cap. You're not playing a correctly and with Reforging, Hit Rating cap is almost too easy to get. In fact, I've had to Reforge Hit off of my gear quite frequently due to the fact that if I don't, I'd have somewhere around 10% Hit Rating.

When it comes to stats themselves, Mastery and Critical equal roughly the exact same DPS boost each. I personally prefer Mastery as long as I have roughly 20% crit. I've tried full Crit and I've tried full Mastery, but my DPS is significantly higher if I balance both. From my current findings, Haste, albeit helpful, does not increase DPS anywhere near raising Mastery or Critical. For this reason, I often Reforge my gear to get that next % of Mastery from my Haste if Hit is not needed.

These are the consumables you should have:

Skewered Eel
For the next hour, you get 90 Agility and 90 Stamina. How is this not beneficial?

Potion of the Tol'Vir
On use, it will increase your Agility by a huge 1200 for 25 seconds. This should be used during Bloodlust, Rapid Fire, and the rest of that good stuff.

Reputations to Keep in Mind

The great thing about Hunter is there is a good amount of Reputations that have a huge jump in gearing up. And the great thing is they are all pretty easy to hit exalted with.

Treads of the Malorne
Slotted, Epic boots from Mount Hyjal rep, where you become Revered just by doing the quests there? Sign me up.

Signet of the Elder Council
A good ring is hard to find. We all know this; even Blizzard knows this. They saw fit to give us an Epic ring for doing the Earthen Ring Reputation. Who can complain here?

Greater Inscription of the Shattered Crystal
Free shoulder inscription whenever you need it, giving Agility and Mastery. You can get this all from doing some daily quests. It's almost too easy to get.

Arcanum of the Ramkahen
I'm absolutely in love with this head enchant. Not only does it add relevant things like Haste and Agility, but if you just do Uldum quests you automatically get the status required to get this enchant. Who doesn't love Uldum?

Unsolvable Riddle
This is where things get really interesting. This trinket is not easy to get. All you have to do is a few daily quests, but damn, it takes awhile to grind this out. Is it worth it? You're damn right, it's worth it. This trinket will last you through all the current content and is barely outdone by Heroic Raid gear. Even then, some may prefer to keep this over the Hit/Agility trinkets anyway.

Dungeons You Need to Run and for What Loot

Okay, for this section, I am going to assume you didn't listen to me at all for the professions that I recommended earlier and post a complete Hunter gear list. Well, mostly complete. This table looked a lot better than the one I made and is courtesy of this guide, Scattered Shots: Pre-raid gear for Cataclysm Hunters on Joystiq.com. Now, this part of the guide didn't xfer quite as well from word as I hoped. So if you want an easier to read version defintly click the link.


Head
Snarling Helm
346
Rep
Dragonmaw - Revered (horde)

Windhome Helm
346
Rep
Wildhammer - Revered (alliance)

Willow Mask
346
Justice Points
2,200 Justice Points

Worgen Hunter's Helm
346
Drop
Shadowfang Keep - Godfrey

Neck
Brazen Elementium Medallion
346
Crafted
Jewelcrafting

Entwined Elementium Choker
346
Crafted
Jewelcrafting

Pendant of the Lightless Grotto
346
Drop
Stonecore - Ozruk

Amulet of Dull Dreaming
346
Purchased
1,250 Justice Points

Shoulders
Bloodpetal Mantle
346
Drop
Halls of Origination - Ammunae

Wrap of the Valley Glades
346
Purchased
1,650 Justice Points

Back
Cloak of Thredd
346
Drop
Deadmines - Gearbreaker

Twitching Shadows
346
Drop
Blackrock Caverns - Obsidus

Softwind Cape
346
Rep
Earthen Ring - Revered

Chest
Wentletrap Vest
346
Drop
Throne of Tides - Ozumat

Dragonkiller Tunic
359
Crafted
Leatherworking

Vest of the True Companion
346
Purchased
2,200 Justice Points

Wrist
Bracers of Some Consequence
346
Drop
Deadmines - VanCleef

Elementium Scale Bracers
346
Drop
Stonecore - Ozruk

Hands
Gloves of the Passing Night
346
Purchased
1,650 Justice Points

Xariona's Spectral Claws
346
Drop
unknown heroic

Wrasse Handwraps
346
Drop
Throne of Tides - Naz'jar

Waist
Corded Viper Belt
359
Crafted
Leatherworking

Belt of the Dim Forest
346
Purchased
1,650 Justice Points

Legs
Balkar's Waders
346
Drop
Lost City of the Tol'vir - Barim

Hillside Striders
346
Purchased
2,200 Justice Points

Feet
Treads of Malorne
359
Rep
Guardians of Hyjal - Exalted

Red Scale Boots
346
Drop
Grim Batol - Drahga

Boots of Crumbling Ruin
346
Drop
Halls of Origination - Anraphet

Ring
Signet of the Elder Council
359
Rep
Earthen Ring - Exalted

Elementium Destroyer's Ring
346
Crafted
Jewelcrafting

Band of Blades
346
Crafted
Jewelcrafting

Ring of Dun Algaz
346
Drop
Grim Batol - Throngus

Skullcracker Ring
346
Drop
Blackrock Caverns - Rom'ogg

Nautilus Ring
346
Drop
Throne of Tides - Ozumat

Terrath's Signet of Balance
346
Rep
Therazane - Revered

Trinket
Tia's Grace
346
Drop
Lost City of the Tol'vir - Siamat

Grace of the Herald
346
Drop
Blackrock Caverns - Corla

Key to the Endless Chamber
346
Drop
Stonecore - Corborus

2H Melee
Rockslicer
346
Drop
Deadmines - Ripsnarl

Berto's Staff
346
Drop
Blackrock Caverns - zone drop

Seliza's Spear
346
Drop
Lost City of the Tol'vir - Husam/Barim

Ranged
Amber Messenger*(bow)
346
Drop
Blackrock Caverns - Obsidus

Lightningflash*(gun)
346
Drop
Vortex Pinnacle - Asaad

Kickback 5000*(gun)
346
Crafted
Engineering

Overpowered Chicken Splitter(bow)
346
Crafted
Engineering

Enchanting Your Loots

Headpiece – This was already covered, but in case you skipped right down to here, you should have the Arcanum of the Ramkahen. 60 Agility and 35 Haste Rating makes this a no-brainer.

Shoulders – Again, I mentioned this before. You want Greater Inscription of the Shattered Crystal. 50 Agility and 25 Mastery Rating is too great to pass up.

Chest – Currently, no one on my server has Peerless stats, so I'm using Mighty stats. 15 to all stats is always a good thing in my book.

Belt – Just go for that extra socket. Why wouldn't you?

Legs – Dragonscale Leg Armor for 190 Attack Power and 55 Critical Strike. Not much to be saying here. If you can't see why you're using this, you probably shouldn't be playing Hunter.

Boots – Major Agility increase. Anything that gives me at least 35 to Agility is going to be an automatic buy in my book. The great thing is, the materials are cheap, so you should be able to pick this up for less than 20g on most servers.

Bracers – I go with Precision here. While 50 Hit Rating may bring you over the cap, it allows you to convert that 50 Hit into Mastery or something else. If it doesn't bring you over the cap, you're just that much closer to the coveted 8%.

Gloves – Again my server doesn't have Greater Mastery yet, so I'm using regular old Mastery. 50 Mastery Rating? I think I'll take it. And the enchant cost me 2g on the AH.

Cloak – Greater Critical Strike hasn't yet found its way onto my server. But that's okay, because regular Critical Strike only costs me 3g, and it's a nice 50 Critical Strike Rating.

Weapon – I use a 2H weapon at all times. The reason is 2H Mighty Agility. The materials are relatively cheap, and it's an enormous 130 Agility.

Ranged Weapon – If you aren't using Gnomish X-Ray Scope, you're doing it wrong. There is no replacement for this. If you're an Engineer, make it yourself. If not, it'll set you back 300g or so on the AH. But the investment is well worth it, for 10 seconds of 800 Ranged Attack Power with a good proc chance.

For my gems, I go for my 3 +67 Agility gems. At least 1 Blue red Gem that's +20 Agility +20 Haste. And one +20 Agility +20 Critical strike. I fill the rest with +40 Agilitys. And I go for the new meta that is +54 critical strike and 1% spell reflect. This is what I find to be the best for maximizing your potential as a new hunter and it will probably make you completely awesome.

Now onto Raiding

You've got the gear. You know the rotation. Your enchants and gems are completely ready. And your rogue is bragging about how he can pull better DPS then anyone in the guild. Well, now we're here, raiding. This is the whole point of the guide was to get you prepaired for this part. Unfortunantly this was my Pre-Raiding guide. If people end up liking this guide I'll likely make a guide to what bosses drop what and what is good for hunters. And by make a guide I'll just add an additional section here. But as it stands most people know that you get your epics from raiding. So it should be simple enough to figure it out from here on. Just remember gear is a tool for Raiding and the real joy is downing those bosses after all the hard work you've put in. If you let purples consume your life you need a better outlook on raiding. I get raid gear as a tool to down harder bosses. My E-Peen gets bigger on boss kills not how many purpz I have. I just hope that you'll enjoyed this guide and if there is anything you'd like me to add feel free to get ahold of me and I'll see if it's worth putting into the guide. Now thank you very much for your time. And remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

[munesiriou]

Well this will be more then likely mostly out of date gem and stuff wise. So I'll probably update this if there is any interest in the matter.

[Vashv17]

awesome guide

[Bluenose]

Some of the advice here is quite bad (or out of date) some points that need to be addressed are :-

(1) The spec is not ideal and the best and most widely accepted spec is http://wowtal.com/#k=qKQCfUqw.aei.hunter.-QiNjR (Prime Glyph Serpent Sting and Arcane Shot are interchangeable but last i looked arcane shot only worked out better if you can fit in 11 or more arcane shot's on a fight) (Major Glyph's debatable no real impact in the long run)

(2) The rotation is not the best either the most basic rotation would be :-

1. Apply Serpent Sting, especially for the Noxious Stings effect.
2. Explosive Shot
3. If mob is below 20% health, Kill Shot
4. If mob will be alive long enough, Black Arrow
5. If you will have enough focus to use Explosive Shot and Black Arrow, use Arcane Shot
6. Cobra Shot

(3)The Lock N' Load rotation is actually THE WORST rotation available as it eat's the second charge of LnL with an un-necessary Arcane Shot. The priority of LnL procs is situational but the basic preferred one would be Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Arcane Shot (if high focus) -> Explosive Shot.

This can be changed to possibly fit Kill shot in place of the first cobra shot (only if kill shot is available ofc).

(4) With regard to favoured stats it's unproven yet as to which stat is the best to go for and as mentioned a good balance is needed BUT haste is not anywhere near as bad as mentioned and 797 Haste Rating (from gear/gems) is recommended because this then allows 3 cobra shot's to be placed between cooldown's of Explosive Shot.

[alisonnic]

Wow. As a newly minted 85 hunter (reached level 80 two weeks before Cata hit, 85 just before Christmas) I have been thrashing around trying to figure out how to get my DPS consistently over 6k in regular dungeons before trying Heroics. Bought some decent gear on the AH, juggled my rotation, and tweaked a macro I found somewhere. I'm close to Exalted with Guardians of Hyjal, so I can get those boots, and yesterday I rambled through reputation reward gear listings on WoWpedia and WoWHead, looking for good hunter gear so I'd know what rep to grind next.

This guide puts it all together. Now I have targets for all my gear and enchants, and some new things to try in combat. I will also work on getting an alt up to 525 on mining so I can drop mining on my hunter and get engineering - which I wanted anyway for the flying machine, but hey, that's frivolous, right? LOL! Now I've got a justification to switch to engineering. (My hunter's already a jewelcrafter, yay!)

Anyway. Amazing! Thanks, Gerock! And thanks to Bluenose for the additional suggestions.

[refire]

There is so much mis-information in here its unbelievable.
1) Talents and Glyphs
http://wowtal.com/#k=qKQCfUqw.a8t.hunter.GS55J

Careful Aim is an essential talent. How you could possibly not get that is beyond me. Beastial Discipline is greater than One with nature. You're left with two filler points now. Either entrapment, point of no escape or Survival Tactics. For most raids that are good entrapment will be a bad place to spec. Frost dks and Warlocks both require being in melee range to aoe dps. Entrapment, hand of gul'dan and any other snare such as roots ignore threat if they're target is not in range. Thus making your warlock/frost dk/fok rogue get melee hit. If you need that extra melee aoe or have a warlock that needs to go into melee range on fights such as Cho'gall and Magmaw that is a horrid reason to wipe. Survival Tactics provides utility on almost all bosses currently in game. A quick disengage out after feud phase on Chimaeron, any form of disengage on toxitron, disengage out of red phase on maloriak, disengage out of blackout on valiona or out of deep breaths on valiona, etc. However Point of no escape provides that little extra bursts damage on Cho'gall, could pre place a frost trap on Maloriak, Toxitron adds, and Magmaw. It's up to you the spreadsheet will sim both the exact same seeing as movement and frost traps both aren't simmed.

2)Professions
Yes Engineering and JC will be BiS come 4.06. Synapse springs on gloves, 81 more agi through gems.

3)Rotation
Do not take any information from how to handle a lock and load proc from the OP. It is 100% wrong.
The priority que for Survival goes something like this:

Boss is 100%-80% health.
HM > Serpent Sting > Explosive > Black Arrow > Cobra
No arcane shots during the first 20%

Boss is 80%-20% health
HM>Serpent Sting > Explosive > Black Arrow > Arcane Shot if and only if you will not be delaying Explosive by lack of focus > Cobra

Boss is 20% - 0% health

HM>Serpent > Explosive > Kill Shot > Black Arrow > Arcane shot if and only if you will not delaying Explosive by lack of focus > Cobra

For lock and load:

High Focus rotation
Explosive -->Kill Command-->Explosive-->Arcane if you can not delay the next explosive by lack of focus (Cobra if thats not possible)-->Explosive

Low Focus rotation
Explosive--> Cobra-->Explosive-->Cobra--> Explosive

4) Combat Ratings and Consumables
Agility>Hit>Crit >Haste if less than 757 >Mastery >Haste if more than 757

Agility is currently about three times better than any other stat. (3.44 times better for me currently). Flask of the winds (300 agi) Thus provides over 1000 dps. You should be using it. Potion of the tolvir provides almost 4k dps when its up. You should be using them. Agility food should be your food of choice.

5) Reputation to Keep in Mind
Do not get the Unsolvable Riddle. It is a horrible trinket. Currently the valor points trinket is BiS including 372 trinkets. Tia's grace heroic beats out all raiding trinkets other than Essence of the Cyclone.

6) Enchanting
Wrath enchants for Cloak and Gloves are currently still BiS. 22 Agi to cloak and 20agi to hands.

All in all this guide is horrible. I've tried to make the obvious corrections. I probably missed a lot. Please new hunters refrain from every referencing this guide, ever.

[Deleted]

Might want to upgrade this, so its actually correct and updated with the current 4.0.6 patch, though I would rarther go to EJ for the posts there :P