Looking to make a hunter

[Rockon20000]

I'm thinking of making a troll hunter, i've never played a hunter before and would like to know a couple things.

What is the easiest spec to play.

What spec is the best dps.

What are stat priorities before level 80.

Thanks.

[Atroxe]

1. Survival

2. Survival and BM are both fairly even.

3. Donno, does this really matter that much?

[Deleted]

1. Survival

2. Survival and BM are both fairly even.

3. Donno, does this really matter that much?

Not sure what would make BM a harder spec to play than SV. None of the specs are hard, and there certainly isn't anything difficult about the Beast Mastery spec. It's all subject to opinion of course, but there really isn't any higher level of play that BM has to adopt over SV by any stretch. I'd wager SV is a more punishing spec than BM overall for a new player. Whereas if a play isn't hitting their KC as often as they should, it is a sizeable chunk of their overall dps lost, but recently I've seen a few "help my dps threads" of SV hunters that really struggle to track their Black arrow DoT, resulting in terrible uptime, and thus inflicting a huge detriment to their overall dps especially if they have the 4p. @OP. Play SV/BM, choose the one you like the best.

[Elise the Seeker]

Question 2 and 3 are pretty irrevelant for leveling.
But I see alot of hunters level as BM.
Although, Zipdisk is a hunter recommending survival, so...

[clevin]

SV or BM are both fine as leveling specs. At 90, they're the preferred DPS (and are VERY close) with Marks being somewhat behind. For stats, honestly just do 2 things until you hit 90:

1) Stack Agility.

2) Use mail armor (not leather).

[anjan011]

till 85, best u can do is arm ur hunter all possible BoA and cut through mobs and lvls like knife through butter

[Atroxe]

Not sure what would make BM a harder spec to play than SV. None of the specs are hard, and there certainly isn't anything difficult about the Beast Mastery spec. It's all subject to opinion of course, but there really isn't any higher level of play that BM has to adopt over SV by any stretch. I'd wager SV is a more punishing spec than BM overall for a new player. Whereas if a play isn't hitting their KC as often as they should, it is a sizeable chunk of their overall dps lost, but recently I've seen a few "help my dps threads" of SV hunters that really struggle to track their Black arrow DoT, resulting in terrible uptime, and thus inflicting a huge detriment to their overall dps especially if they have the 4p. @OP. Play SV/BM, choose the one you like the best.

Both specs are pretty much the same. The general consensus however is that BM is slightly harder due to micro managing your pet in specific situations which is something you don't really need to do as Survival. Also, comparing KC usage to Black Arrow uptime is pretty dumb. Kill Command, Explosive Shot and Chimera Shot are all signature shots which are always used on cooldown. I would say stacking Bestial Wrath on top of other procs / fight debuffs is a better comparison to managing Black Arrow uptime and while it is opinionated, I would say properly managing Bestial Wrath is more difficult then using Black Arrow on CD for a beginner. I do agree with you that OP should play whatever spec he likes more though.

[Deleted]

Both specs are pretty much the same. The general consensus however is that BM is slightly harder due to micro managing your pet in specific situations which is something you don't really need to do as Survival. Also, comparing KC usage to Black Arrow uptime is pretty dumb. Kill Command, Explosive Shot and Chimera Shot are all signature shots which are always used on cooldown. I would say stacking Bestial Wrath on top of other procs / fight debuffs is a better comparison to managing Black Arrow uptime and while it is opinionated, I would say properly managing Bestial Wrath is more difficult then using Black Arrow on CD for a beginner. I do agree with you that OP should play whatever spec he likes more though.

No, no, I wasn't comparing the abilities. Obviously the direct signature shot in comparison to KC would be ES. I just meant, as BM, it's basically hit everything on cooldown, dump with arcane shot, build focus with Cobra shot (simplified). But since black arrow affects your main source of dps, it's more of a kick in the nuts if the player is new to the class/bad and doesn't have proper uptime on it. Just meant it's a little more punishing in that regard than missing some KC's, imo. But yeah, anyway, looking forward to WoD I really do hope the specs are a lot less homogeneous. Not that I don't enjoy playing them now, I really do, but a very noticeable change in playstyle from spec to spec would be interesting. Anyway im getting off topic now ^^.

[Krillen]

I'm thinking of making a troll hunter, i've never played a hunter before and would like to know a couple things.

What is the easiest spec to play.

What spec is the best dps.

What are stat priorities before level 80.

Thanks.

1. This is all based on opinion, they are fairly similar. I would say try each spec and go with the one your more comfortable with.
2. Again this is an opinionated question, some people will swear by BM and some by SV. Depends on gear/role in the raid/fight etc. For you, if your going to level, I wouldn't worry too much about this until you get to 90. If your going to boost a free character (WOD pre-sale) then, I would say SV for lower gear then BM with higher gear etc (Please don't make this thread into a bitching war between what is best or not :P ).
3. Totally irrelevant if your planning to level to 90, I would worry too much about this. Like someone has already said, stack agi and wear Mail gear.

[Super]

My opinion on your question:

1. Beast Mastery.

2. Generally BM tops SV, but it can go both ways depending on the fight.

3. Some Hunters swear by Crit, others by Haste. Me personally, i like Haste.

[mercychan]

Not sure what would make BM a harder spec to play than SV. None of the specs are hard, and there certainly isn't anything difficult about the Beast Mastery spec.

I think properly using beast cleave(pet positioning) and maintaining its uptime is much more difficult than SV aoe. As far as single target goes, your right there isn't much difference.

2. Generally BM tops SV, but it can go both ways depending on the fight.

I disagree. I think BM skews higher on logs because beast cleave trumps serpent spread when your raid dps is shit hot and adds die almost immediately. Assuming that the hunter in the raid isn't being fed a pad rank, BM would seemingly perform better, but in reality there is a marginal difference between the two.

[Deleted]

I think properly using beast cleave(pet positioning) and maintaining its uptime is much more difficult than SV aoe. As far as single target goes, your right there isn't much difference.



I disagree. I think BM skews higher on logs because beast cleave trumps serpent spread when your raid dps is shit hot and adds die almost immediately. Assuming that the hunter in the raid isn't being fed a pad rank, BM would seemingly perform better, but in reality there is a marginal difference between the two.

A /petattack macro in your multishot to position it in the middle of the pack is all it takes, along with a weakaura to track the 4 second cleave buff. Although, at 3+ mobs im pretty sure you just dump with Multi shot anyway and ignore arcane shot, so you should have near to 100% BC uptime just passively anyway. Little rusty with BM this tier actually, any good BM hunters know whether its worth it to Multishot 2 mobs still?

[anjan011]

A /petattack macro in your multishot to position it in the middle of the pack is all it takes, along with a weakaura to track the 4 second cleave buff. Although, at 3+ mobs im pretty sure you just dump with Multi shot anyway and ignore arcane shot, so you should have near to 100% BC uptime just passively anyway. Little rusty with BM this tier actually, any good BM hunters know whether its worth it to Multishot 2 mobs still?

its quite worth, at time when we need to keep both shaman's together, its crazy easy to keep up beast cleave, all u gotta do cast one multishot every 4 sec

the damage it does more than worth it.

[Sylvari]

its quite worth, at time when we need to keep both shaman's together, its crazy easy to keep up beast cleave, all u gotta do cast one multishot every 4 sec

the damage it does more than worth it.

Most add fights I found switching to toth and spamming Multi Shot increased damage. Previously I was just trying to maintain Beast Cleave.

[anjan011]

Most add fights I found switching to toth and spamming Multi Shot increased damage. Previously I was just trying to maintain Beast Cleave.

Since as hunter we spam AS a lot, it makes sense to go with ToTH. when ur Kill command procs ToTH while in BW, its free AS/MS. makes aoe so much easier.

[Wayne25uk]

As i have said a million times,there is no "levelling" spec,all specs level you up regardless,if they didnt it would be pretty pointless and stupid to have them before level 90 when stats matter. So pick any you feel comfy with stop following the other sheep with this idea of "best ever spec!" for levelling it doesnt exist.