What is the go to Hunter spec for raiding now?
What is the go to Hunter spec for raiding now?
Beast Mastery.
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BM is great IF your pet is alive. If your pet dies your DPS will suffer very badly (~25-30%) Surv is very good but has a oddball rotation, I personally like MM. The rotation is simple, and does a lot of DPS if you get a lot of crits.
The problem with Hunters right now is very similar to what Boomkins were in BC. Everything is based upon a proc / crit to really do damage.
I think the relevance of your pet being alive to your damage needs to be seen. In the whole of DS there was one fight where your pet could die. Now with all pets in raids having Heart of the Phoenix, for pet death to be a real factor your pet has to die twice. If it turns out there's a super-Hagara-lightning-phase fight, then there's always a cheeky dualspec for that one in particular.
however it should be noted the sims aren't even close for hunters. If they were my wife wouldn't be blowing them out of the water on her hunter.
I would say it was situational. BM is better for single target, while surv aoe is just a monster. Surv single target is still very good, just shy of BM most of the time.
Surv if you want solid damage easily and if mobility / utility is more important.
BM if you're really serious and willing to handle a complex rotation, and in turn reap the DPS rewards.
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Survival:
Positives - Easy to do "rotation", good sustained single target dps, MONSTER AOE DPS, Entrapment
Negatives - Not too much single target burst
BM:
Positives - Crazy Burst, sims slightly higher than survival single target
Negatives - Complex cooldown management, pet AI and pathing issues, subpar AOE, bad at target switching
Survival, as a result of an easier rotation, you tend to have a bit more raid awareness. BM, on the other hand, with its complexity in cooldown management, you might spend your time staring at cooldowns and less at the fire you are standing in. Remember that Hunters aren't a cleaving class, but Survival would be better at cleaving that BM, I would assume.
And by MONSTER AOE DPS, I'm talking like 1 million DPS+ on the trash packs before Stone Guard.