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Questions: Patch 3.1 Hunter Specs and Pet DPS

by Garwulf on April 15, 2009 · 33 comments

Since I’ve not had much time to play since the patch went live, I’m wondering what some of you think so far about 3.1.

If you were SV before, has your DPS stayed about the same?
Anyone have good success with Marksman, and if so, what spec are you using? Anyone try 7/57/7?
How is MM comparing to SV as far as DPS is concerned?
Aside from a wolf, what other pets are you using?
Are there a baziliion BM Hunters flying around Zul’Drak looking for Gondria?
How difficult are the encounters in Ulduar, and how is pet survivability in there?

Those are just a couple of questions I have at the moment.

From what I experienced, BM was comparable to before in the DPS department. This was no surprise to me really, as I’d already planned on going either MM or SV for my raid spec anyway.

From what I’ve read so far, it looks like SV is still the unquestionable top DPS spec. I haven’t seen much positive feedback from those who decided to spec MM after the patch.

What other Hunter-related bits of wisdom or discoveries do you have to share concerning the 3.1 changes?

I’m anxious to hear what you have to say. I need some things to read and ponder until I get a chance to log on later tonight. :D

Tagged as: beast mastery, marksmanship, patch 3.1, pets, survival, ulduar

iWin Buttons WoW Macros & Keybinds

{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Dikaios (Dethecus) April 15, 2009 at 10:26 am

I have no comments about patch 3.1, other then it took forever to download and the servers were down for what seemed like forever last night. I am new to WoW, only been playing for 4 months now. I’m a level 72 BM Hunter. I just wanted to say that of all the Hunter sites I’ve come across online, yours has helped me the most. I can’t wait to be level 80 so I can start running heroic’s and get some decent gear. I was mocked in ironforge yesterday while respecing my character because another hunter noticed I was still using the Warsong Howling Axe (lvl 61) and I was a level 72 hunter. Made me feel kinda silly… Oh well. Thanks again for all the tips on Macros, Pets, and specs… I actually win some PvP bouts now while questing to level.

Dikaios

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2 Garwulf April 15, 2009 at 10:34 am

It took me a long time to download last night as well. I’d say a good 1hr20mins at least.

Good luck on your journey to 80 and thanks for the props on the site. There are quite a few other good Hunter sites out there, but I’m glad you’ve found some tidbit here that have helped you along. Check out Frostheim’s site http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/ once you hit 80. He’s got some great info, advice, tips, and humor to offer up.

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3 Wraïne April 15, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Prior to the patch, I was a Survival-spec’d PvE raiding Hunter. My gear was next to fairly outstanding, and I was able to push out about 3,700 (burst) dps solo without any flasks, elixirs, food, or external buffs, and over the course of 1-million damage, I could end in the mid 3,300s (that includes 4 real time OoM-occurances).

However, after the patch, I’ve decided to venture my way back into playing Marksmanship. It seems as an 11/60/0 MM spec is either not going to cut it or simply I need to find another way to spec into MM. Prior to Survival’s reign, that’s how I was spec’d and it seemed quite well. Now, I’m not so sure.

Basically, I’m moreso leaning towards the fact of saying that Survival might once again be the best PvE raiding spec for a Hunter, or that’s at least what it’s looking like, sadly [I personally despise the Survival trees offerings]. Anyways, I’ll keep playing around with specs and rotations until I find something usable. Also, concerning the pets, since they’ve nerfed Wolves, I’ve decided to move my way into the feline-field.

US:Terokkar:Wraïne

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4 Shiromaru April 15, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Shiromaru here. Great site. Thanks for all your effort and time.
..As a “not-so-great” geared BM hunter that never raids, I noticed a few things in PvP; some disturbing ones. As for a Chimera in PvP, I wouldn’t do it. Although theory suggests a DPS and CC boost, they’re survivability over a ferocity pet with imp. cower is very low. My Chimera was 3-4 shotted (is that even a word) by a DK, a Boomkin and a Mage (separately) with 17k health and the extra armor (pet should get some of our resilience too..just my thoughts). But Garwulf’s theory and calculations were correct, if you can keep your chimera alive, the damage was INSANE. I saw 3×2500 crits in a row with the “red pet of death” (dodging rogues are fun). If i ever raid however, chimera is a great way to go.

On a good note, my devilsaur (Red) literally “ate” a DK and a Paly that ignored him (shadowmelded to see his damage on a few tin cans. NOT a hide behind yer pet hunter..honest). As for ppl NOT ignoring the devilsaur, overall I had no real problems. I finally respecced him for all damage foregoing “phoenix” and getting imp. cower which works nicely.
One disturbing thing is that either resilience has come back with a vengeance, or it wasn’t really working before 3.1.
I started the first few BG’s with what little raid gear i had (250ish resilience)which used to yield me a high placing in damage and decent honor gain (as BM). I was literally critted by every class known to man. Some were incredible crits, one of which was 7.5k. So, I ditched any non-resil gear and donned mostly my “Swift” gear to see if they had messed with resilience (armor set bonus is nice). Low and behold, the crits almost completely stopped. I am pushing near 500 resil with the loss of nearly 1k att pwr. Although I dropped to the middle on damage, I topped 3 BG’s in honor gained. It was apparent that most other classes ignore pets and go straight for the hunter still (ice trap/shadowmeld anyone). Even with the 1k loss of att pwr, that was a big mistake for almost every class as “Red” devoured them while I attempted to CC em.
So, in summary of my long, drawn out comment;
..Chimera rocks the damage but has poor survivability in PvP (I need more substantial tests with some data perhaps).
..Devilsaur is a dps bulldozer reminiscent of being squashed by em in Un’Goro that can outlast you in PvP (BG…unsure of arena yet).
Just my 2-cents worth.

Shiromaru-Kilrogg

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5 Garwulf April 15, 2009 at 7:03 pm

Wraiine,

I too was hoping to go MM for raiding, and still might, but SV is still looking like the business in 3.1.

I specced 11/55/5 last night, but I’m thinking about this setup if I decide to stay MM:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVfRhzGIoguAox00b

I’m also liking something like this for SV:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxZ0eV0oZx0ci0cIhxdAosu

BM is the spec I “enjoy”, so I’d like for my other spec to be a pretty solid DPS spec.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Shiromaru,

Thanks for the compliments on the site.

I never really have any issues with pet survivability in PvP. However, I do admit that Heart of the Phoenix seriously kicks ass when my pet does get focus-fired. That is the one skill I miss on my Chimaera.

I too have done a lot of PvP with my Devilsaur. It’s probably one of the least conventional of pets to use, but I find it to be a good bluff. I think a lot of players have a tendency to underestimate the noob with the Devilsaur. I use that to my advantage. It’s just fun as hell to take a giant-ass T-Rex into Arathi Basin and watch him devour.

I use Mend Pet a lot in arena, so my pets very seldom drop. Also, I always HoT them up right as I send them in to attack. In addition to that, I spec 2/2 into Spirit Bond and 5/5 Endurance Training when I’m PvPing “for reals”. The extra 10 second HoT and bonus healing is just added insurance.

I’ll probably look to my Chimera more in 3.1 due to the buffs to the Cunning tree. I liked the Devilsaur for his sheer burst, but the Chimera will be delivering now too. I also LOVE the ranged slow, and the fact that it is nature damage which cuts right through that DK/Pally armor.

Thanks for sharing the PvP stories. I haven’t queued for any BGs yet, but it’s likely I will tonight. Should be fun. :)

Cheers!

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6 Ziv April 15, 2009 at 10:14 pm

Hello Garwulf,

Now that Patch 3.1 is live I’ve probably spent more time testing things out than doing anything else. Presently I’m running a 1/15/55 Survival build, and my secondary is a BM spec. My timing on my shot priority as Survival is a little off because of the new Black Arrow, but it’s getting better and I think my DPS is just as good if not better. But those are on the heroic training dummies, I have yet to raid with the spec yet.

My other thing I’v been spending a lot of time on is testing pet DPS. I was spending a lot of time on the PTR and I was particularly focused on the Spirit Beast. I did tame Gondria on the PTR, and I had Loque’nahak from earlier so I’m a big fan of them. Since the release of Wrath the Spirit Beasts have suffered a checkered history in terms of DPS, and it seems they will continue to still have lower DPS than other Ferocity pets (both exotic and non-exotic). http://dblbbl.com/content/spirit-beast-dps-patch-31

I’m still working through which pet will be the best in raids (as Survival). I hear the wolf may now be a very nice boost in personal DPS with the change to Furious Howl. If I were to raid in my BM spec, I will probably bring the Devilsaur as it still may be the tops in DPS. But like you I have a lot of questions still.

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7 Garwulf April 15, 2009 at 10:33 pm

Thanks for the info Ziv. I just popped in to see if there were any more comments on this post. I appreciate you sharing your experience.

I’m trying out a SV spec right now that I picked up off of Brigwyn’s site.

http://www.brigwyn.com/2009/04/the-hunting-lodge-announces-xumios-31-ulduar-survival-hunters-guide/

I elected to skip Aimed Shot, but now I’m thinking of picking it back up. Ultimately I’ll go with what I like, which is what I’ve always done, but for now I’m still trying to get comfortable with things as well.

I’ve been sitting in Darnassus for like two hours, doing nothing but occasionally hitting the target dummy and going /afk for research on the internets.

Once I get situated I’ll collect my findings and present the info here in a post.

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8 Reylas April 16, 2009 at 1:19 am

Hey mate,

If you were SV before, has your DPS stayed about the same?

Well the long awaited day has finally come and……. it’s okay. I mean sure, as a survival spec hunter previously my addition of the ‘trap’ shot Black Arrow my rotation just got abit more complicated but after playign a few hours last night i’m already backup to the same dps i was getting before. (about 2.4 with a few pieces of T7 and no buffs.)

Aside from a wolf, what other pets are you using?
Frankly, I find the wolves hideously ugly so still haven’t tamed one. Havign said that, if/when i change guilds and start to run naxx abit more I’ll probably be chasing that AP buff.

My main pet is a wicked little lion from The Barrens named Echeyakee =) I’ve had him since he was a level 23 puppy(kitten… cub… what ever baby lions are called) and I love him.

How difficult are the encounters in Ulduar, and how is pet survivability in there?
It’s kinda hard to say how ‘hard’ they are because my current guild aren’t very developed as a raid guild. Basically I was in there for about an hour last night and only really saw the first boss, a flame spewing rocket firing tank by the name Leviathan. We eventually figured out that all the towers/turrents surrounding his arena need to be destroy (somehow his health is tied in with these)to proceed successfully. Basically after destroying all the turrents and numerous wipes we eventually got him down to about 60% health before giving up. I was slowly getting thet hang of using vehicles in combat but there’s something incredibly disheartening about wiping time after time.

Frankly I thought the combat to be exceptionally boring. I started off in the demolishers and god it was boring. Sitting in a tank spamming the fire button while someone else steers is not what i’d call fun.

The thing that has really annoyed me abotu 3.1 is the ammount of bugs. From not being able to see linked professions in the trade channel to my computer crashing when entering UK HC (and not being able to log onto wow again for 45mins) to the fact that I had to redo all my addons (didn’t have addons at the last patch so not sure if this is the norm).

Anyway, enough of a whinage. I need to go get some work done ;)

Stay cool, and most of all have, have fun.

Peace

Reylas
80 Surv. Hunter
Azuremyst(EU)

ps i’m guessing there’s a load of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes but i really gotta get back to work….

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9 Mudbaby April 16, 2009 at 9:19 am

If you were SV before, has your DPS stayed about the same?

In a short answer yes. I have all t7/7.5 gear and was pushing 4k dps self buffed before 3.1 and am actually doing slightly better with my current build http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Zuluhed&n=Mudbaby&group=2.

The new rotation is hard to get used to, Serpent Sting no longer being a top priority shot has yet to be drilled into my brain. I have downed 3 bosses in 10 man Ulduar pretty easily, Ignis is currently bugged so we left him up. The nerf to Explosive Shot has hardly affected me and the changes to Sniper Training meant I could ignore the Hawk Eye talent and spec into Trap Mastery for the Black Arrow buff. Lock & Load procs only half as often, but when it does I do about 5k damage per tick when it crits. I should be able to get a few hundred more dps as soon as someone on my low pop server learns to make Explosive Shot/Kill Shot glyphs.

How difficult are the encounters in Ulduar, and how is pet survivability in there?

The encounters are very difficult in 25 man raids, but easily done in 10 man encounters with decently geared party. The dual specs help out a lot, tanks can become healers and vice versa depending on the encounter. As far as pet survivability, if you’re SV hunter you might as well not even have one out. In order to keep my pet up I’d have to keep too close an eye on it and risk losing dps. For Ignis I kept my wolf on passive just so I could get his Furious Howl buff for the entire fight (he died after first flame aoe).

By the way, every hunter I know who spec’d MM has regretted it.

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10 Xyfire April 16, 2009 at 9:51 am

I am a level 80 survival hunter with average gear for being in one of the best guilds on my server. I was doing 4.3k on patchwerk when I had just T7 10 man with some gear from 25 man.

With the patch, i have not done a boss since release, but my dps was 4.8k on the trash in the hall to Emalon in VoA.

I actually got sat and my guild got Emalon down in 3 attempts, but oh well, im still a recruit there.

My advice, definitly go SV. Black Arrow is HUGE dps.

on thing to go by is, my unbuffed dps before 3.1 was 2.3k and now it is 2.9k-3k on dummy.

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11 Diesletorque April 17, 2009 at 2:39 am

Hello well you asked about MM. You can find me on LLane as Diesletorque lol. My raid spec is MM and I dont have great gear but am consistantly holding 2.5-2.8k dps and 2k solo I am 11/60/0. Below is where i got the spec,rotation and tips from. As you read it you will see hast is very important and lol weather my pets alive or dead it dosnt effect my dps to to much. Wolf ftw tho :) glyphs i use steady shot, trueshot aura and i forget i aimed i think.

http://www.almostgaming.com/wow/talent/wowguides/hunter-talent-guide/ranged-marksmenship-4k-dps-easy-spec

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12 tigzlu April 17, 2009 at 6:22 am

I have tried a few specs to see which was better. I’m currently duel speced, one for pve and pvp. I went into 10 man naxx with my pve (mm) spec and my dps was horrible 1.5k and was constantly oom after every trash pull. I tried my pvp (suv) spec and my dps went up and was not oom as much. I’m still trying to find the right spec.

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13 Garwulf April 17, 2009 at 7:45 am

That spec is incredibly strange Dieseltorque. He mentions in his description that he doesn’t spec Piercing Shots, yet the build shows 3/3 in it. 3/3 in Improved Aspect of the Monkey?! The 2/3 Focused Aim and 2/5 Efficiency could be better spent elsewhere.

By the time you’re 80 and progressing into Ulduar, you should have enough hit on your gear that you wouldn’t need Focused Aim. Passing up GfTT makes me scratch my head as well. He has 2/2 in Focused Fire, but 0 in GfTT.

I’m gonna assume that there’s some glitch with the link to the correct build on Wowhead, because that spec is, well… poop. His shot priority is way off too. He has Chimera listed as the fourth priority in the rotation.

It looks more like a DPS sabotage guide. But… if it does in fact allow him to put up 4K DPS, more power to him. I’m an advocate for putting in your own work when it comes to finding what performs best.

I’m pretty happy with my current spec, but I still intend on moving one point from GFTT into Rapid Recuperation. I’m just broke as hell right now, and the 50G for the 1pt shuffle is a bit rough. Here’s the spec I’ll be using:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIsthAox00b

Hey tigzlu,

SV definitely seems to have an advantage both with DPS and mana efficiency. I still think MM is going to be very competitive in raids, but it’s also probably more dependent upon group composition than SV is.

I haven’t raided yet as marks (I probably will try a VoA or Sarth run tonight), but it’s what I’m going to start out with as my PvE spec. If mana proves to be a problem, I’ll swap to SV.

In fact, after reading so many endorsements for SV, I may try SV sooner than later. All the good news around the web concerning the patch seems to be coming from Survival Hunters.

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14 dirt' April 17, 2009 at 5:41 pm

If you were SV before, has your DPS stayed about the same?
no my dps has gone up significantly mainly due to black arrow a must need for pve stacks with serpent sting which you should have glyphs of serpent sting (makes it last longer) and of steady shot (increases steady shot damage when serpent sting is active) plus noxious stings spec (increases all damage doen to targets afflicted with serpent sting by 3%)i beleive so with the glyph the spec and black arrow your damage will increase a lot dont forget the periodic damage.

Anyone have good success with Marksman, and if so, what spec are you using? Anyone try 7/57/7?
i have not tried that spec i have however tried 5 (imp aspect of hawk)53/13 mm is also a good dps spec but you should have the glyohs listed above for your serpent sting will be crucial for your chimera shot.

How is MM comparing to SV as far as DPS is concerned?
same as above but i do find mm to be a little less in dps than surv with the patch but that just might be me and my spell rot.

Aside from a wolf, what other pets are you using?
cheetah

Are there a baziliion BM Hunters flying around Zul’Drak looking for Gondria?
yes
How difficult are the encounters in Ulduar, and how is pet survivability in there?
ulduar isnt too hard jsut new although you do need gear. should have epic acheivement or close to it.

any other questions hit me up
trishot
eredar
horde

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15 Andy April 21, 2009 at 10:06 pm

I have played wow now for over a year i have a 80 hunter i have played othere charicters but hunter will alway be my best i lvled from 10 – 80 as BM as you all now BM is PVP / lvling spec and now i have gone to SV / MM i went to the bottom of the tree with SV but do you think i should go full MM as i am now running naxxramas (not geard for Ulduar yet) cos i have looked around and othere sites are saying MM to the bottom with a bit ov SV i dont want to take there word for it till i have a second apinyen from othere hunters on a proper hunter site like this one thx for reading this post and hope you can help me

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16 Garwulf April 21, 2009 at 11:21 pm

SV is potentially the top dps spec, but MM is pretty damn close. I say go with what you like. I specced Marksman fpr PvE and I absolutely love it now. I even use my MM PvE spec in AV and WG on occasion.

MM is very competitive now with SV as far as damage goes. I also find it to be a little easier to manage in a raid setting. MM has less cooldowns to monitor and you don’t have to worry about things like LnL procs or Sniper Training. Plus, you’ll be bringing an additional 10% AP to all of the melee in your raid with your TSA. They’ll love you for it.

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17 Jykor April 22, 2009 at 4:51 am

I’ve been MM for a while and I love it. I was 7-57-7 before the patch but switched to 5-59-7 to pick up efficiency. As far as DPS I can keep up extremely well with the surv hunters in my guild, lots of times it’s neck-and-neck for 1st and 2nd spot (behind rogues, of course). On top of this I just can’t help thinkin how much lower their deeps would be without trueshot :) .

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18 Radke April 22, 2009 at 8:55 am

I improoved with MM in raids and found the mana effeciency superior, i usually have to use a mana potion on most bosses as surv, cleared Naxx 10 using only one.

No viper, no nothing :] Maybe thats a credit to the other dps’ers in my guild.

My frame rate is very bad and i still was near the top/on the top of the chart for all bosses. It’s worth a look imo.

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19 Garwulf April 22, 2009 at 12:50 pm

I raided Naxx 10 man last night and did nearly 20% more damage on Patchwerk than I had done as BM. I hit 4047DPS as MM, while my best with BM was 3426.

MM is definitely worth looking at for a raid spec.

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20 Lus April 27, 2009 at 9:33 am

Hi all.

I have been playing WoW for about 2 years and since day one that i followed MM path till i surrendered myself to WotlK changes and SV dmg dealing.

However with 3.1 changes came once again the SV versus MM issue. I have recently respecced both trees and on test dummie MM lost by 0.1 dps on a OOM timeline. That said, i did 3.5 as MM till mana ran out and i did 3.6 as SV, wich in terms of boss fights would translate normally in 0.5 to 0.8 diference from the MM tree and the SV.

MM is however still a viable spec if there is no other MM hunter in ur guild, the dmg boost u provide will certainly be higher then the lost taken from tree change and althout u wont figure as top dps you will contribute more for the raid then if u were.

Lus

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21 Tsetsê April 28, 2009 at 5:19 am

I’m a raiding MM hunter. I’ve always been an MM hunter. What can I say, I just love big crits and the way MM plays.

I’m 7/57/7, with a small twist on the cookie cutter version of that spec. You can find my armory here: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kael%27thas&n=Tsets%C3%AA

Now, with that out of the way, I posted 3700 DPS vs Patchwerk 2 nights ago in 10 man wearing mediocre gear. I had no tier gear at all and was using the Nesingwary 4000. This included one OOM, but viper took care of that quickly. I think the only external buffs I had were Blessing of Might and Gift of the Wild. This, I think, is competitive with survival. The spreadsheets will tell you that MM falls far short, but I say take that with a grain of salt. MM *can* be competitive, but you have to love it and play it correctly. :)

As far as the spec goes, I’m just under the hit cap at 7.69% hit rating, so I didn’t put any points into focused aim. In my humble opinion, Barrage and Improved Barrage are the two worst talents in the tree and should never be taken by any serious raiding MM hunter. They will significantly increase your volley damage, but do you really care what your DPS is on AoE packs of trash?

If you go hit the target dummy for about 15 mins, look at the breakdown of your damage afterward. Aimed shot does not account for as much of your damage as you might think. Even with the new Piercing Shots mechanic, 3 points in Barrage cannot hope to match the overall DPS gained by an extra 90 AP. For this reason, Improved Hunters Mark is a much better choice for your 3 talent points.

I have proven this theory to myself time and time again on the dummy. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself!

Now, as far as glyphs go, Serpent Sting is a must, of course. It does amazing things for Chimera Shot damage. However, your other two Glyphs are arguable. I would (and do) stay away from the Trueshot Aura glyph for the same reasons I stated above. The Aimed Shot Glyph seems to produce a small DPS gain, so I took that one. So far, I’ve been unable to prove the superiority of either the Chimera Shot or the Steady Shot glyph. Neither seems to produce a significant difference in DPS over the other.

At any rate, MM is a great spec and a lot of fun. If you’re still waffling between MM and SV, do what you like. This is a game and we’re playing it to have fun. There’s no point in playing a spec that you don’t like just so you can put out more DPS.

Tsetsê

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22 Garwulf April 29, 2009 at 10:54 am

Thank you for your insight into the MM spec, and for the well thought out comment. Your DPS vs. Patchwerk in said gear proves you know a thing or two.

I guess it boils down to play style and preference really. Some people like to post meters for the raid, and others for the boss.

I’m of the belief that trash will die no matter what, but it’s during the boss fights when you need every bit of firepower. Your post got me thinking a little. Especially Improved Hunter’s Mark..?!

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23 Tsetsê April 28, 2009 at 5:50 am

I forgot to mention my shot priority.

KS > CS > AS > AiS > SilS > SS

Serpent Sting does not show up in that priority since MM hunters only need to cast it once. If it falls off due to moving around and not refreshing it in time, I put it back up immediately.

Yes, I actually use Silencing Shot for DPS. It’s not much, but it’s off the GCD, so why not fire it every time it’s up if you have the mana to sustain it?

Tsetsê

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24 Seductres April 28, 2009 at 6:25 am

Before 3.1 I used to be straight up SV. I was doing easily 4k dps. After the patch in 3.1 I stayed SV for a 25 nax and I was doing actually a little bit more dps than before (4.2kish) My guild leader wanted to see how MM was so i repseced it during 25 man ulduar and I love it! http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Eredar&n=Seductres&group=1

That is my armory talents and my gear I have pretty good gear, some ulduar gear and pretty much the best you could get before ulduar came out. MM I can push 6k dps with my cooldowns, I use a wolf with CotW. Going all out with no cooldowns i can usually do about 4.5k – 5k dps. The other 2 hunters in my guild are both SV with some of there own variations. Im usually always above them. The burst dammage with MM is just incredible. Check out my armory and see what you think. I will be staying MM until further notice though :)

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25 Tsetsê April 30, 2009 at 11:43 am

Yeah, IHM is a controversial decision, but with all my testing, it produces better DPS than Barrage. I’m currently trying out an 11/53/7 spec that seems to give me a small DPS boost over the 7/57/7 spec. Not that that’s any big surprise, 11 points in beast mastery has proven that it’s worth the 3 wasted points.

In reality, though, only one of those points is truly wasted. Pets go down a lot in raids and getting them back up quickly is an overall DPS gain.

Whatever, like I said before. I truly love the MM tree and I intend to be the best MM hunter I can be rather than a mediocre SV hunter.

Tsetsê

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26 Lyonidah April 30, 2009 at 2:56 pm

At the risk of sounding extremely noobish, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you guys if I may. I have been playing my hunter for a hair over a year and have been mainly BM during that time. I have toyed once or twice with MM and SV but have always particularly liked BM. However, I must conceed that since the patch, I have been getting low dps. Now first off, my hunter is not fully epic’d, she has a mostly badge and crafted items with a few naxx pieces, her valor hands and a few 80 blues. I guess my question is, for one, is BM really not a viable spec for raiding anymore?? and for two, if I choose to change…which would be a better option MM or SV…I’ve never been fond of MM and am leaning towards survival personally, but I wanted to get a few opinions before I decided. I know the choice between MM and SV mainly boils down to personal preference and play style, I just wanted a few honest opinions from hunters that were not BM bashers. Here is the link to my armory so if you would like, you can try to help me out a bit. I really hate to give up BM as I have thoroughly enjoyed it, but I want my hunter to be the best that she can be so it seems as though a change may be in order :(

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aerie+Peak&n=Lyonidah

Thanks a bunch in advance

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27 Garwulf April 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm

Hi Lyonidah,

Here’s what I recommend.

If you really like BM, then consider altering your build a little. BM can still be pretty competitive, but you’ll need to adjust your talents and possibly re-gem/re-enchant if you want to see huge gains.

The good news is, if you wish to try this, your spec has loads of room for improvement.

Try this:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#ctbMzxgRfu0estMems:VibM0z

This spec will put you right at the hit cap, instead of over like you are now. If this spec doesn’t greatly increase your DPS, I’ll be very surprised. Make sure you use the same glyphs I included in the build. I would swap out your bracer enchant for: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44484, and change your meta gem to: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41398.

Shot priority is:

Kill Shot > Arcane > Multi > Steady Shot

…while keeping Serpent Sting up the entire fight. If mana regen is a problem, just drop Multi from the rotation.

Use a wolf if you aren’t already.

Let me know how it works out. :)

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28 Lyonidah May 1, 2009 at 2:58 pm

I certainly will and thank you a bunch for your links. So cats are no longer the going pets for good raid dps? I have been using a cat for the longest time, but I have no problem going and grabbing up a wolf if that will be a better dps pet for me. I am glad to hear that I can keep my beloved spec and hope that the changes will boost me a bit. Thanks again for the info and I will slap up a post and let you know how the changes work out for me :)

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29 Norridor May 3, 2009 at 9:38 pm

why use a wolf? is there something special?

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30 Garwulf May 5, 2009 at 5:43 pm

320AP buff for 20 seconds out of every 40, or 28 if you’re BM.

http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=64495

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31 Artur June 5, 2009 at 10:30 pm

Well, I must say I was BM spec about a year ago and I was a raider in the end-game content of the time and I out dps’ed every other hunter that I ran into that wasn’t BM spec’ed by LARGE margins.

I must say I don’t like the changes to the tree now that I have returned and SV spec always annoyed the hell outta me and MM was just too broad.

I wait patiently hoping that BM will be restored to it’s former glory.

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32 Garwulf June 6, 2009 at 1:09 am

I remember those days well Artur. Sigh…

I just wish they’d buff BM a little. I don’t even ask that they make it a top dps spec again. Heck, a 10% buff and I’d probably dual spec BM.

I raid as MM now, but if BM were to see some love in future, I’d be a full-time Beast Master and lovin’ it.

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33 Myhaircool July 16, 2009 at 5:15 am

Before WotLK, I really didn’t raid much at all. Now I raid a lot, and currently I am SV specced. I love being SV, although recently I seem to be doing a little less dps than I used to be able to. I’m geared in mostly 25m Naxx gear and some 10m Ulduar, and right now I can only manage to do an average of about 3.8k dps in raids, maxing out around 5k. I’m thinking about switching to MM spec for a little while to try it out because I think my average dps should be a little higher.

As far as I know, BM is currently not a viable raid spec if you’re looking to top out the dps meters. However, with the coming 3.2 patch, pets are supposed to get a little bit better, and from what I’ve seen of T9 gear, it may be more compatible with a BM spec. So if you’re looking to be BM for raiding, maybe it will become a good spec in the coming patch.

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