I banged out a couple of new GarsNotes guides today.

Hunter Gems & Hunter Enchants

Look ‘em over and tell me what you think.

In going with the GarsNotes theme, the guides are explanatory and informative, but without finite analysis so as to keep them relatively brief.

I had about 5 other things I should could have been doing today, but I felt like I needed to give the site some love. I’ve been preoccupied and absent a bit a lately, so I figured I needed to give my hunter faithful some attention.

Hope you enjoy the guides.

Related posts:

1. GarsNotes
2. Pardon this interruption
3. Marksman Hunter Basics

My primary goal here at HuntsmansLodge has always been to help others. I began the site with the intention of sharing all of the hunter knowledge I had stored between my pointy elven ears, so that others wouldn’t have to spend countless hours outside the game researching just to be decent at it.

Well, nearly two years have passed since the doors of HuntsmansLodge first opened and not much has changed. I’m still trying to write helpful articles, respond to comments and questions with the utmost of care, and I still take a sincere interest in the betterment of other hunters.

I’m pleased to announce a new series of guides that I plan to roll out over the coming weeks, entitled, “GarsNotes”. The scope of the guides will be to focus on some of the core mechanics of the hunter class, but without all of the theorycraft and various bloat. I’ll leave the maths and trivial debates up to the OCD theorycrafters. GarsNotes will tell you everything you need to know and nothing you don’t. They’re a cut to the chase series of guides as it were.

After having wandered around in the dark playing DK and duRid, kidding myself that there are other classes worth playing apart from hunters, I realized that it can be a chore trying to find current, useful and relevant information for noobs. With that in mind, I’m going to try and create a series of guides that any noob hunter can use as a blueprint for success. Not only that, but players will be able to get up to speed in record time without having to sift through page upon page, forum after forum, and site after site trying to find the valuable information.

I’m not so much into helping the top DPSers raise there numbers on Recount as I am in helping those struggling to learn the class. The top guns out there have plenty of sites they can refer to in order to boost their DeePS by .0187%. I’d rather help the guy in spell power gear who is struggling to beat the tank.

For my first entry in this series I’ve decided to focus on the most basic of the basics… Stats. I’ve created a guide to hunter stats, outlining which stats you need and why, along with some other bits of useful info. Let me know what you think.

Lastly, special thanks to Wayne T. for providing such conscientious feedback, and to Blaquespell for writing such kick-ass Pally guides. Blaq’s introductory guides have really prompted me to re-evaluate ad re-focus. After all… we were all noobs once. Heck, the jury’s still out on me.

>>> USEFUL STATS FOR HUNTERS <<<

Click on the link above to read the first volume in the series of GarsNotes. I hope the info contained within will help some of you to understand the complexities and intricacies involved with the finest class in all of Azeroth.

Related posts:

1. Hunter Gems and Enchants

Ever wonder which pets are the best for Hunter PvP..? Well, hopefully this guide will help.

In my tradition of not being capable of doing anything small, I created a comprehensive guide (it began as a post) on recommended hunter PvP pets. I figured since I’ve been doing a little non-BM PvP as of late, I’d share what I know about what sort of pet options are available, and which pets are good choices for which specs. My opinions are based off of personal experience and a little common sense.

Anyway, it sort of turned into a 3K word mammoth undertaking. I’ll probably add to it some within the next few days, but I’m wrapping the guide up for this evening. I just figured I’d make an announcement about it so that any of you who are interested may have a look.

Please, feel free to post any questions or comments.

Hunter PvP Pets

Related posts:

1. My Survival Guide to Surviving in PvP as a Survival Hunter: Part One
2. Mammoth Meat
3. Dear Hunter Community,

I finally wrote a guide about Survival Huntering and how to do the most damage versus boss NPCs in scripted dungeon encounters. Being that it’s been my primary raid spec for several months now, it’s ironic that I’d never provided an overview of Survival for raiding.

Well, the wait is over. Check it.

Since Cataclysm is looming on the horizon, it’s not a full-blown exhaustive article on raiding as a Survival hunter, but rather a concise and just the facts ma’am type of thing. I’ll be re-doing my BM and MM guides over shortly, as they be in need of updatage. They’ll be in a similar format.

Let me know what you think. If I left some bit of critical information out, I’d like to know. However, as far as I can tell… the information in the guide should be enough to have a lot of MM Hunters going, “wtf…how…but, you’re survival…I thought…Marks was…and I just spent a s**tload of gold on armor pen gems…Gah..!”

Related posts:

1. Hunter Mentoring
2. Marksman Hunter Basics
3. GarsNotes

Back in January, I took a few weeks off from raiding, heroics, BGs, and all things Garwulf. I didn’t play WoW at all for over a week, and when I did get the itch to play, I returned to Azeroth as my Orc Hunter. Sometimes it’s just nice to detach from the end-game grind and have a little “fun”.

So what did I do over those couple of weeks before I went back to Northrend raiding, PvP and heroic dailies, arena, and all the other level 80 activities? I twinked out my 49 Orc Hunter.

While that may not sound very exciting to some of you, there is a reason you may find this interesting… I did nearly all of it by myself. I soloed every single boss to get my needed equipment, and financed all of my own enchants, etc.

I rolled him on a PvP server where I didn’t know a soul, which means I’m a self-made Orc, having received no help whatsoever from a wealthy main character or in-game friends. I’m also unguilded, by choice of course. I’m a stranger in a strange land so to speak.

Anyway, my gold reserves received a little help from 2 lucky drops – Dazzling Longsword and Basilisk Hide Pants (which I nearly equipped), but most of my gold was made via playing the auction house and selling farmed cloth and raw gems. I wasn’t looking to get rich on this toon, but properly equipping a twink is an expensive endeavor due to the enchants necessary.

For the most part, I’d been leveling in the BGs with the occasional romp through an instance, if I was able to find a group that is. While I do enjoy the BGs for leveling, I like the change of scenery and chance at upgrades that go along with running instances. However, if there are no groups available to run said instances, then it’s time to put on the daddypants and run these damn instances myself.

After all… I am a hunter. Apart from my pet, I don’t need any help from anyone else. I’ll just go into these instances and take my loots.

Anyway, shortly after I began this endeavor I was having so much fun with it, I decided to turn my experience off and go for it. I wasn’t going to stop until I obtained everything on my shopping list.

I didn’t intend for this toon to be a twink, and I don’t necessarily plan on keeping him at 49 either. I’m just taking things slow on my journey to 80 and enjoying myself along the way.

My plan is to continue trying to solo old content and engage in some world PvP while at this level. No-experience BG queues never pop in my battlegroup, so the closest I ever come to PvP is if someone tries to gank me while I’m out “questing” and “minding my own business”. You know what I mean… I’m not looking for any trouble. KEK

I’ll tell you what though… when I do decide to level out of 40-49 and re-enter the BGs, Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin will be flowing red with the blood of the alliance.

Alright… get comfy and prepare to read about my Rambo-esque trip through Mara.

Operation Maraudon

The following is a recount of my adventures, and an instructional guide on how to go about soloing some of the Maraudon bosses for some delicious 49 hunter loots. I also ventured into Uldaman for a couple of items, but it’s really easy-mode compared to Mara. Not much to discuss there. Well, here we go…

I brazenly began my hardcore soloing mission with the MM PvP spec I’d been using, along with my wolf. I figured I’d see how things went, then adjust if needed (things didn’t go all that well at first, so adjust I did).

Lord Vyletongue

Initially I was going to skirt on by Lord Vyletongue and just proceed towards Meshlok. The legs he drops are pretty good, but there are better available. Also, he has two adds with him that could be a problem I thought.

But… once I was there, I had to attempt him. I was level 48 when I started this venture, with about 2.6K HPs. Lord Vyletongue is a 44 Elite with 13.3K HPs, along with two adds that have about 5K each.

It was ugly, but I got the job done. Being MM at the time, my problem was that I was pulling too much aggro. My pet wasn’t sturdy enough to tank the adds either, so I had to split off-tanking duties between my pet and myself. The key abilities for that fight – Aspect of the Monkey, Freezing Trap, Feign Death, Readiness of course, Disengage, and some kiting skills near the end.

It wasn’t a terribly difficult fight, but I could already tell that a Beast Mastery spec was going to be required for the later bosses.

After my first test in the form of Lord Vyletongue, I figured I’d make things easier on myself by respeccing BM and getting a bear for some serious tanking duties. I thought about a crocolisk, but there are no tamable level 48 crocs.

The Rebuild

First stop was the hunter trainer in Orgrimmar. This is the spec I used for my level 48-49 extreme soloing: My Level 49 BM Hunter Soloing Build

*At level 48 my spec was the same apart from only having 4/5 Serpent’s Swiftness.

This spec works great for soloing, because it offers up plenty of survivability for the pet, yet capitalizes on Beast Mastery’s hasted damage. Also, no point is wasted. Each talent sees full value at level 49.

Next, it was off to Felwood for an Angerclaw Bear. What better pet for extreme soloing I might add. These things look like they’ve been through hell and back.

Here’s the spec I used for my bear: My Level 48 Tenacity Pet Build

The Return

This time Vyletongue was a snap – a basic tank ‘n’ spank. With my new build and tenacity pet, I no longer had any aggro problems and my pet was handling things. Seems I recall once in awhile an add would aggro after awhile. This is fine, because I’d just put him on ice, plus it made keeping the pet up a little easier.

After a few runs, I got the item I was after – his Infernal Trickster Leggings.

The most difficult part of the Lord Vyletongue encounter is dealing with the mobs en route to him. Still, it’s really not so bad as long as you don’t get overwhelmed. Some of the satyr that patrol are stealthed, so be aware of that.

Meshlok the Harvester

Unfortunately, one of the best hunter items in all of Maraudon is looted from a rare spawn. After running Mara quite a few times, I’d estimate that the chances of Meshlok being in there are about 2 in 5. Not quite every other one, but better than 1 in 3. Again, this is just a guess.

Meshlok patrols the water above and below the toxic waterfall that’s on the way to Celebras. If you’re mainly after Meshlok and no other bosses in there, you can target him shortly after the area where Vyletongue is located. Just create a macro:

/target meshlok

…and then spam it before the corridor where the oozes are located. Another protip I’ve seen is to use an Elixir of Dream Vision near the entrance. I haven’t tried this myself, as I could never find any on the AH, but I could see this making life much easier.

Pop the elixir when just inside the instance, then run over to the area where Meshlok spawns. Make sure you know precisely how to get there, as the potion only has a 2 min duration. If he’s there, then you’re in! If not, just run back out, reset the instance and repeat the process.

Meshlok is pretty easy. He’s not really a boss, just an elite rare, so he has a lot fewer HPs – only about 5.7K. However, it’s generally a good idea to clear away a few of the other swamp things before you open on him. As with most encounters in here, you want a little breathing room around the fight. Also note that one of Meshlok’s attacks has a slight knockback effect.

After about 5-6 kills, I finally got my Bloomsprout Headpiece!

Celebras the Cursed

After killing Meshlok (or at least clearing through his patrol area), the next step is to jump down off the falls and head towards Celebras.

This fight is all about burning down Celebras while avoiding the adds. Celebras begins the fight with a couple of bodyguards (I can’t recall if they’re elite or not), but will summon additional Treants to aid him during the fight. As long as your pet maintains aggro on Celebras, it leaves you free to kite around him, avoiding the adds. Frost traps also work to slow them down if I remember correctly.

Celebras has about 12.3K health and is somewhat squishy. A hunter shouldn’t have too much trouble bringing him down as long as they stay at max range and let the pet do the dirty work. You know… the usual.

It took me about 2 kills to get what I was after – the Grovekeeper’s Drape.

As long as you’ve gotten the required loots from Lord Vyletongue, Meshlok the Harvester and Celebras the Cursed, you can then just take the portal to inner Maraudon for the subsequent runs. The scepter isn’t needed anymore like it was in the old days. Just take the portal that lies below the purple and orange pathways near the entrances to Mara.

After Celebras, it’s on towards Landslide, Princess, Tinkerer Gizlock and Rotgrip (if you so desire).

Landslide

Once you jump down into the clear blue waters at the heart of Maraudon (or portal in), you run through the shallows, toward the hydras, and on into the corridor where the Diemtradon things are located. The hydras are somewhat nasty. They can be soloed, but they are a pain in the ass that can be easily avoided. I used Aspect of the Cheetah to get through here quickly, pausing during the hydra patrols if needed.

Now there are a couple of ways to get through these corridors on the way to the next bosses…

One way is to round up the mobs using your pet, making sure to keep Mend Pet up at all times. Using this method, you keep advancing down the hallway rounding up more and more mobs, and throwing down an occasional Frost Trap to slow them and help your pet out.

Eventually your pet will become overwhelmed and you’ll have to Feign Death, watching as your pet takes one for the team. Just make sure the area where you Feign is a safe distance away from aggro range.

Next step is to res your pet, heal him up and start the round-up process again. This method saves some time, by not having to kill every single mob as you advance down the halls.

However… if you blow it, you will be sorry. Which is why I recommend approach number two.

I’ve tried a couple different ways of getting through this part, and I find this way works the best. None of the mobs in here are unkillable, but they are extreme time sinks. Not to mention, the patrolling rock elementals, called Theradrim Guardians, are easily the most annoying mob in Maraudon, if not anywhere. In one pull you may end up killing about 12 mobs, after they’ve finished summoning all of their little rock minions. Plus, they also have a 2 second stun ability. Avoid these things if at all possible.

Keep Track Elementals up in this portion of the instance. You want to be mindful of where these pesky little guys are at all times.

Okay, so my preferred method is to pull the mobs at the tunnel entrance. I send my pet in at the furthest mob, so they all get Thunderstomped, then I position myself against the back wall just inside to the right. Those patrolling rocks meander down the corridor through this point, as do the hydras outside in the pools, which is why you want to stay away from the mouth of the cave.

Once this group is down, it’s fairly easy to proceed down the corridor and pick your battles. I’ll usually pull the second pack of mobs, kill them, then move on using the round-up & Feign Death method.

As long as you’re mindful of where those patrolling rocks are, the path to Landslide isn’t too treacherous. The hardest part is navigating through the Diemtradons and Theradrim Guardians. The Primordial Behemoths are pretty easy to deal with as long as you engage them away from any adds.

At the top of the path, there are two giants guarding the entrance to the area where Landslide is located. The key here is to time this encounter so that you down them before the Theradrim Guardians pat back through there. Of course, you could kill the Theradrim Guardians on your way up the path, but I prefer that element of danger.

Once the two guards are disposed of, it’s time to give Landslide what for. He’s actually fairly easy. The hardest part is just getting to him, so once there it’s just tank ‘n’ spank.

Landslide drops the Rockgrip Gauntlets, which I’ve yet to see from him.

After Landslide it’s Princess time!

Princess Theradras

The route from Landslide to Princess offers more of the same – groups of Diemetradons, patrolling rock elementals, and giants. Avoid the pats and skirt around mobs if possible. You can actually make it to the bridge leading to Princess’ island without engaging a single mob if you’re careful.

At the bridge, there is a set of guards, along with two more pairs of guards further down the bridge. It’s easiest if you use the “pet takes one for the team” method with these guys. Send your pet in to attack the mobs, then proceed to a safe location and feign. You can reach princess without having to kill any of the giants. Or… you could kill them if you want to.

Again, they are killable, just time consuming. Being that it may require multiple runs to get the necessary loots, it’s best to take the path of least resistance.

Princess Theradras has 20.6K health and hits pretty hard. The key to winning this fight is pretty simple. Keep your pet up.

For one, make sure to keep Mend Pet up at all times. Refresh it before it’s about to expire always. Princess has a fear attack that can easily put your pet out of healing range. If your pet doesn’t have HoTs on it at all times, she’ll kill it.

When your pet starts to get fairly low and/or is sustaining heavy damage, hit Princess with Distracting Shot. Make sure you’re at max range at all times, so that she has to travel a good distance to get to you. This will buy your pet a few more precious ticks of Mend Pet.

When I pull aggro on her, I like to have an Immolation Trap waiting for her before I feign for a little added damage. This fight is mainly about managing aggro between yourself and your pet. If she does get a few hits on you, it’s a good idea to bandage up to full, just in case it comes down to you having to mop up her final few hit points without your pet.

Also make sure to tank her away from the turtles. You definitely don’t want to aggro one of them with a Multi-Shot or pet AE attack.

Princess Theradras drops a delicious ring with hit rating on it – something scarcely seen in the 40-49 range. It’s called the Blackstone Ring.

She also drops some awesome bracers – the Bracers of the Stone Princess. The WSG bracers are nearly identical, so if she’s being stingy with hers, and you have the honor, the Windtalker’s Wristguards are practically just as good.

The reward for killing Princess is the BiS slot ranged weapon for any hunters that are not Dwarves, Beast Masters, or especially Dwarven Beast Masters. Nyuk, Nyuk. Verdant Keeper’s Aim is the highest damage bow attainable at this level.

Once Princess has been disposed of, it’s time to jump down and swim through the waters inhabited by Rotgrip.

Rotgrip

Rotgrip drops the Albino Crocscale Boots, which are leather Rogue/Feral Druid boots, but still very well itemized for hunters. They also have a bit of hit rating on them, which is always nice.

However, stat for stat, the Arathi Basin greaves are much better, especially for PvP. They have the speed enchant built-in, which leaves you free to put Surefooted on for even more hit rating. Yum!

But… if you’re like me… Rotgrip still needs to die. You may want to use those boots for some type of gear configuration down the line, so it’s time to kick his ass and jack his sneakers.

Rotgrip is actually one of the tougher encounters in Maraudon – for a hardcore soling hunter that is. The reason being, you have to fight him in water, which makes it near-impossible to kite. He’s likely going to kill your pet, which means that you’ll be responsible for melee-ing him down at the end.

Make sure you pick a spot that’s free from hydras once you pull him. If you aggro one of them on top of Rotgrip, it’s curtains for sure.

Rotgrip is more or less a DPS race. You want to get him as low as possible in the event your pet goes down. Once he goes on you, make sure to have an Immolation Trap waiting. Switch to Aspect of the Monkey and then swat him to death. In the 3-4 times I downed him, this method worked fine. By the time he’s on you, you should hopefully have him down to about 1K or less.

Once you’ve killed the saturday matinee monster, it’s time to take on Tinkerer Gizlock.

Tinkerer Gizlock

Tinkerer Gizlock and I don’t get along. He’s not a particularly tough boss to take down, but the encounter is quite possibly the most annoying one in here. He also didn’t give me his gun until after about a dozen kills. 32% drop-rate my ass! I got like 9 shields, then 2 swords, before he dropped the Megashot Rifle.

I actually just got it last night! After starting this post yesterday, I had the urge to go back in there and tend to unfinished business.

Getting to the Tinkerer can be achieved by one of two ways. You can either swim through the waters towards the tunnel at the end if you’re going by way of the Princess, or…

If you’ve already looted the Blackstone Ring and bracers off of Princesss, then you can take a shortcut.

At the end of the first set of Diemetradon pulls on the way to Landslide, there is a ramp which leads to one of two ways. To the left are the Primordial Behemoths, and to the right are a group of blue worms. If you head to the right, you can reach the Tinkerer in just a few pulls.

The worms are pretty easy to take down, just so long as you don’t have to deal with the patrolling rock elementals as well. Remember to keep Track Elementals up, so that you can know when these things are coming.

Once you get through the first set of pulls, you’ll come to a path that traverses downwards. You can safely jump down the path without aggro’ing the mobs in between. Make sure to dismiss your pet before hand. On the second jump, I switched to Aspect of the Cheetah to grab a little extra distance form the mobs waiting down below.

After you’ve jumped down, you’ll see Tinkerer Gizlock waiting in the corner of the tunnel up ahead. The best thing to do is run past him and around the corner until you see a pack of blue worms (borers). Send your pet in on these mobs, careful to not aggro Gizlock, and most importantly, make sure there are no Theradrim Guardians approaching.

Once that group of mobs is down, you can then safely engage Gizlock. If you want to be extra special cautious, then it’s advisable to dispose of the second set of worms just up the path as well. The reason for this, is because the Tinkerer throws a bomb that will cause a Fear Beast type of effect, causing your pet to likely aggro nearby mobs.

The trick to this fight is pulling Tinkerer Gizlock up to the area where the first group of worms were stationed. You need quite a bit of space, because as I’d mentioned, the fear he casts will send your pet running quite a ways. If you pull an additional group of worms around the corner, it may not be the end, but if you happen to get the pack of Diemetradons down below, then you’re finished.

Most importantly, there are two patrols of Theradrim Guardians which both end near Tinkerer Gizlock. Keep Track Elementals up, and if you see a pat coming be sure to pull him in the opposite direction until it’s passed.

He’s not difficult to take down, just as long as it’s only him you’re dealing with.

So… after about a dozen Tinkerer Gizlock kills… Success!

Megashot Rifle is the best Beast Mastery gun available at this level in my opinion. With 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk, Glyph of the Hawk and Serpent’s Swiftness, this thing becomes like a machine gun. It’s not quite as fast as the Precisely Calibrated Boomstick, but it has a bit higher damage, plus I think it’s better itemized (even more hit rating..!).

The Megashot Rifle is actually a better weapon for extreme 49 hunter soloing than what I was using, because it has stats that transfer to the pet. It also delivers a more steady stream of consistent damage, instead of the occasional whammy of a crit like you see from Verdant Keeper’s Aim.

So there ya have it… my recap and strategy guides for obtaining some much needed hunter loots in Mara. The only other item of worth that I may yet go after are the shoulders that drop off of Razorlash – the Phytoskin Spaulders. The strength on them is more or less a waste, but they have loads of stamina and agility. As a twink, it’s a good idea to keep multiple pieces of gear for different configurations.

The shoulders I’m currently equipping are the mail Rockshard Pauldrons off of the Ancient Stone Keeper in Uldaman. These are really easy to get, and are well itemized for a hunter.

I took an Uldaman intermission right after Celebras. The only thing I really wanted out of Uldaman were the Rockshard Pauldrons, which I figured would be easy to take. Later I decided that I needed Grimlok’s Charge as well. I was going to try and obtain 2x Axe of Rin’ji, but I determined that free was the best route. Grimlok’s with Massacre is hard to beat too.

I honestly don’t have any special instructions for running Uldaman. At 48 or 49 it’s pretty easy as a hunter, as long as you have decent gear (stam/agil/int greens are fine), a good BM spec and a tenacity pet. My only recommendation is that you take the back door, since it’s such a huge short-cut to the needed bosses.

I started Mara with an non-enchanted level 38 Advisor’s Gnarled Staff, so no doubt having a Grimlok’s w/ Massacre would have made life a little easier. Eh… but who needs easy.

The Rest of My Gears

To fill out the rest of my gear slots, I obtained the following:

• Neck: Scout’s Medallion
• Chest: Honorguard Chestpiece – This is a godly chest at this level, but sorry Alliance… it’s Horde only. This chest is a reward from a six part quest chain, which also involves a trip to Zul’Farrak. The quest is pretty much soloable until the end. The last part of the quest requires that you kill a level 55 elite spider with 18.3k health. I kited this thing for like 10 minutes, but only got it down to about 80%. Being that it’s level 55, a lot of my shots would miss it. Also, you have to stay in Cheetah most of the fight, because this thing is pretty fast. I ended up recruiting a helpful DK who’d run a few of us through ZF earlier that evening. He came out and finished ‘er up for me. I do plan on returning for a rematch though.
• Gloves: Battlecaller Gauntlets – I picked these up from the auction house for a song – something like 8G. These gauntlets are BiS in my opinion, but many are unaware (at least I couldn’t find any updated guides online), because the stats used to blow for hunters. The itemization was changed a few patches ago, along with many other low level blues, making these gloves one of the best options for hunters in the 40-49 range.
• Belt: Defiler’s Chain Girdle – Arathi Basin reward.
• Boots: Defiler’s Chain Greaves – Arathi Basin reward.
• Ring: Aquamarine Signet of the Monkey – There aren’t too many good hunter rings at this level. After Princess Theradras’ Blackstone Ring, you have to look to a level 37 crafted one for your other slot. … of the Falcon is a good option here as well.
• Trinket A: Insignia of the Horde – Gotta have this one if you PvP.
• Trinket B: Rune of the Guard Captain – I swear, this thing should be epic. 20 attack power and 10 hit rating on a trinket this level..?! Oh, and again… sorry Alliance. This trinket is only obtainable by the Horde.
• Ranged Weapon: Verdant Keeper’s Aim – This is a quest reward for killing Princess Theredras. Hands-down the hardest hitting ranged weapon available at this level.

Before beginning your solo mission, should you decide to do so, I highly recommend grinding for the level 48 WSG bow ahead of time. There is no ranged weapon outside of Mara (unless you have a lot of gold for a BoE blue or purple – or an heirloom gun) that will pack the necessary punch needed to down these mobs.

There are additional options and side grades as well, but the items in this article are what I’m using personally. In a little bit, I’ll be posting a gear list for this level should anyone want to know the ultimate way to pimp out their hunter at 49.

The tactics explained in my article may not be thee best or most elegant way to deal with these bosses, but I can confirm that they are effective. The basic of rule of thumb with running Mara is… if in doubt, don’t! It’s much better to spend a couple of extra minutes clearing some potential problem adds, then spending 15 cuss-word-filled minutes gettting back to where you were after a corpse run.

MARAUDON IS PROBABLY THE WORST INSTANCE TO DIE IN ASIDE FROM BLACKROCK DEPTHS. REMEMBER THIS.

It’s a challenging, but do-able solo run at 49, as long as you’re patient and have your wits about you. Some consumables help too. I made sure to keep a few health pots on me, as well as whatever scrolls, well-fed food, and elixirs I could buy off of the auction house. Every little bit helps.

My next goal after tackling Razorlash, is to see what kind of a dent I can put in BRD. At the very least, I’d like to get my hands on the Searingscale Leggings off of Pyromancer Loregrain. Wish me luck!

No related posts.

Well we’re back and we’re randomly tanking things in ICC today. For those who have had the opportunity to do most of the weekly ICC quests, arguably the most annoying one is Lady Deathwhisper’s. Done in a conventional way, you remove an entire player from your team to go OT/babysit Darnavan, to keep him alive without letting him slaughter your raid. Fortunately your raid has a hunter with a properly specced Tenacity pet! Or at least it should.

The method for OTing Darnavan with your pet is simple, I used a Crocolisk, but any properly tank specced Tenacity pet can do what Lubriderm does. You can and should use your dps spec for this, SV is great because your pet naturally gains a bit more stamina than MM, but either is fine.

After a wave or two of adds spawn, if your raid has accepted the quest, Darnavan will spawn with the adds. Immediately sick your pet on him, after a few bites, a growl and some bad attitude, call your pet back to you at the bottom of the stairs, or some other out of the way place within healing range. You can certainly keep mend pet on him, but a raid healer should be able to keep him up with limited effort.

After this just go back to clearing the adds as usual. It is advisable however to make Darnavan your focus target, if he gets below 50% health, tap passive and stay on your pet to prevent killing him. Your pet should have enough threat lead at that point to stat ahead of healers, but keep an eye on it. If he starts slipping, throw a growl and hit passive again. Repeat as necessary.

As far as I can tell in my experience this has been the best method, tanking him with a player pretty much requires most of that player’s time, effort and dps to go to waste, and the same can be said for the exhausting chore of trying to kite Darnavan.

Do your raid a favor and get them 5 easy Frost Emblems!

Happy Tankering!

- Solaryn

Related posts:

1. Hunter Tanking ICC: Prince Keleseth
2. Tanking 101: For Hunters..?
3. ICC: Week One

Ahh… ICC is a marvelous thing, every encounter a new mechanic, every encounter a different way for a hunter to shine!

Today I’ll be talking about one of the ideal bosses to plop a hunter on as tank, Prince Keleseth.

Prince Keleseth is one of the three Blood Princes, and the only one that doesn’t need a conventional tank. A hunter is an excellent choice for him for a variety of reasons. We have several instant ranged abilities and Kill Shot, which is a fantastic ability to generate a lot of initial threat upon him.

This guide is going to presume you have a basic understanding of the encounter. We’ll be focusing on the role of a ranged tank exclusively.

Gearing for Keleseth tanking:

You do not need any special gear to be capable of tanking Kel, but any gear you can equip to increase your stamina without murdering your dps is highly advisable. PvP gear and stamina trinkets are pretty valid choices. You want to shoot for at least 35khp+ although 40k+ is a better goal if you can manage it.

As a hunter tanking Keleseth you have 3 priorities:

#1. Obtaining the little purple glowy things called “Dark Nucleus”.

Hereafter referred to as booberries, because I don’t like saying Nuclei. These booberries are your lifeline and the key to surviving Kel’s Empowered Shadow Lance. Each one multiplicatively decreases the damage you take from his shadow lances by 35%. In otherwords 1 orb = 35% reduction, 2 = 57.8%, 3 = 72.5%, 4 = 82.2%, 5 = 88.4% and so on. So the more you have the better, in general as long as you keep 5+ you essentially trivialize his main attack on you.

However, the booberries have an interesting feature, they always hook on the last one to deal damage to them, in addition to that they tick down and damage themselves as time goes on, eventually poofing away. This means you will literally spend the entire fight gathering them in order to survive. You cam either use an auto shot or a rank 1 Serpent Sting to grab them, I find auto shot is easier, but if you can effectively pull off a low rank Serpent Sting, that will let you hold onto it just a little longer.

As a quick note, no doubt your fellow raid members will occasionally yet unintentionally work to thwart you. Booberries can be stolen by any damaging ability including AEs, cleaves, etc.\

If they steal one, target it and steal it back, UNLESS it possesses one of two characteristics.

• If it has less than 20% health left, it’ll be gone a few ticks after you pull it.
• If it has a dot on it, it’s stuck on that other person till the dot fades.

If either of these things occur, call it a loss and move on, wasting valuable time struggling to get one booberry will be an unnecessary distraction.

When Keleseth is empowered, everyone will be in range of him and as a result closer to you as well. No matter what the raid leader instructs, you’ll still have someone AEing or cleaving Keleseth so keep your distance. If you have to go move to get another booberry in this phase, take a wide berth around the melée before heading to it. It’s always better to take a few seconds longer to get one, than to rush and lose 4 on the melée.

#2. Gain a threat lead on Keleseth.

Having all the booberries won’t do you much good if he starts lancing other people. This is especially important in the first couple minutes, if he gets the first empowerment jump, you need to be ready for it. Kill Shot is your moneymaker for threat, with only 1 hit point unempowered, you can and should use it every cooldown. Beyond that, use your standard dps rotation in between booberries. You will want to make a targeting hotkey to /target Prince Keleseth, because after about 4 berries, targeting manually will become quite the challenge.

#3. Everything else.

If you have all the booberries and a solid threat lead on Kel, by all means shoot some kinetic bombs or dps the boss for a few seconds, your teammates will no doubt appreciate the help. Do not however do so if it will cause you to fall behind on berries or threat, you’re a tank today, let CC and dps be handled by the others.

A few last notes, coordinate with your healer, let them know you’ll be moving a lot to get berries and make sure they follow the giant purple cloud.

Be mindful of the other mechanics, you can still be the target of Empowered Conjured Flames and the like, so be certain you can avoid it until it’s damage is trivialized while staying in range of your healer.

I hope this provided some useful tips to one of the most entertaining encounters in ICC IMHO.

Happy Tankering!

- Solaryn

Related posts:

1. Hunter Tanking ICC: Darnavan
2. Tanking 101: For Hunters..?
3. Supporting your tank: Silencing Shot

If you’ve played a hunter for any significant amount of time, you’ve probably at least heard of the jump shot.

While running away from an enemy target, the hunter spins around 180 degrees, fires a shot, spins back around, and continues to run in the original direction.

When I first read about this move, it was regarding PVP strategies and involved wing-clipping and frost-trapping in addition to the jump shot. I thought it sounded complicated, difficult to execute, and only useful for hard-core PVP hunters.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

This move is surprisingly easy to get the hang of. It might even come naturally if you’re in a situation where you absolutely need to use it.

The easiest way to pull this move off is to use your right hand on the mouse and your left hand on the keyboard. Use both mouse buttons to move your character forward. Tap the space bar with your keyboard hand and use your mouse, with both mouse buttons pressed, to spin your character around 180 degrees. While your character is airborne, use your left hand to hit the hotkey for one of your instant-cast shots, and then use your mouse to spin your character back to your original direction by the time your character hits the ground. Head to one of the capital cities for your faction and give it a try on the training dummies.

If you’ve done much jousting for Argent Tournament dailies or Trial of the Champion (as any class), you’ve probably done the first half of the move before—jumping and then using the mouse to spin around 180 degrees to charge or shield-break.

I’m not a PVPer; I’m a PVE hunter through and through. Hence, it may not be obvious why this move is so important to master. However, I find myself using this move more and more as I progress through end-game content.

The first time I really found myself using (and needing) this move was on the new Vault of Archavon boss, Toravon the Ice Watcher. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the Toravon fight, he periodically summons frost orbs that need to be burned down quickly. Following normal aggro mechanics, they target the first player that hits them and move in that direction. The catch is that these orbs do pretty serious damage to any players in melee range, meaning ranged dps must be on the ball. As a hunter, I find the jump shot indispensible in kiting and killing the frost orbs and downing Toravon.

Shortly after the Toravon encounter was released, I joined a 10-man Icecrown Citadel group with my guild. It turns out that my guild was repeatedly short on ranged dps, and hunters happen to be incredibly useful in Icecrown, particularly on Deathbringer Saurfang, the fourth boss in the Lower Spire.

Like Toravon, Saurfang periodically summons adds—a pair of Blood Beasts—throughout the fight that ranged dps must quickly pick up. The Blood Beasts must not be allowed to hit a player or Saurfang gets a boost (they also hit pretty hard). As a hunter, I have a couple of slowing abilities that are necessary here, namely Concussive Shot and Frost Trap, but even with these abilities, I usually can’t quite get a Blood Beast down by the time it gets to me. Hence, I have to move away and finish it off with a couple of jump shots. With proper use of my hunter abilities and mastery of the jump shot, I can get one blood beast down while the other ranged dps (2-3 players) are still working on theirs.

There you have it. One simple move saves my butt, and my raid’s butt, time and time again.

It’s good to be a hunter.

- Lisselis

Related posts:

1. Hunter Basics: Explosive Shot
2. New epic loot dispenser in VoA
3. Fun with Disengage

This is a topic I’ve covered many times in the past, but I feel compelled to revisit it today. Why, you ask..?

It’s been brought to my attention that many hunters these days are grossly exceeding the hit cap, and therefore are wasting precious DPS. I figure this is due to a few reasons…

1. The misunderstanding of what hit rating is, and being unaware of how much is actually needed.
2. The allure of higher ilvl shinies.

Hit rating increases your chances of “not missing” when attacking enemy mobs or players. All players have a built in mechanic which causes them to miss 5% of the time when facing mobs or opponents of the same level. This “miss chance” is increased by one percent for each level beyond that. Therefore, level 83 raid bosses have an 8% chance to be missed when attacked by a hunter with a ranged ability.

So how do we combat this chance to miss, and ensure that we’re always hitting with our shots..?

Hit rating.

To be hit capped as a hunter, you need an 8% increased chance to hit after talents and buffs.

Broken down, that means 5% hit rating to cancel out the default miss ratio, plus another 3% to account for the additional three levels when dealing with a raid or heroic boss.

Hit Rating via Gear

This 8% can be obtained through a variety of ways, including gear, gems and enchants. In order to reach an 8% increased chance to hit, you need 263 hit rating. This translates into roughly 33 hit rating per one percent increased hit chance.

Focused Aim

To reduce the amount of hit rating needed via gear, hunters have a talent called Focused Aim, which grants a 1% additional chance to hit for each point spent. In other words, each point in this talent is similar to adding 33 hit rating. A hunter with 3/3 in Focused Aim can reduce the amount of hit rating needed down to 165 hit rating. 3% through talents and the other five through itemization.

Heroic Presence

Draenei have a racial ability called Heroic Presence which provides a passive +1% increased chance to hit for the entire raid. So by default, if you’re a Draenei hunter, you only need 7% added hit to be capped.

If you are betting on the fact that your group will always have Heroic Presence, then you could theoretically run with only 7% hit regardless of your class. However, you’d better have some alternate gear pieces, hit rating food, or some Elixirs of Accuracy to chug in the event that your group finds itself sans Space Goats.

If you’re in a hard core progressive raiding guild you could probably afford to run with 7% hit and allocate points elsewhere for more DPS. For the rest of us though, 8% is the best bet and will ensure zero misses from range.

Once you reach an 8% increased chance to hit, either through gear, talents or buffs, anything beyond that number is useless.

Mark of Supremacy

Apart from hunters simply lacking an understanding of the mechanics of hit rating, I think the factor that’s most to blame in the case of overstacked hit, is a player’s desire to boost their gear score, ie: The Mark of Supremacy Epidemic.

Often times players see a higher ilvl and think, Upgrade! They don’t stop to consider stat weights. Nothing is more evident of this fact than the amount of over hit capped hunters running around with a Mark of Supremacy. Players assume that because it’s an ilvl 245 trinket, that it’s a DPS upgrade. Not always. In fact, in every single one of my hunter DPS deficient diagnoses, The Mark of Supremacy was responsible for a DPS loss.

When a hunter who’s over the hit cap then tosses on a Mark of Supremacy, all he or she gains from it is the on-use buff. The passive buff is completely wasted.

Using my current armory as a test bed (5.6K GS w/ 264 hit rating), I compared two very easily obtainable ilvl 200 trinkets (Mirror of Truth & Banner of Victory) to the ilvl 245 Mark of Supremacy. Both trinkets offered gains from 83-91DPS, with the Mirror of Truth being slightly higher.

In short, unless you need the hit rating that this trinket provides, and most hunters do not, trade down and spend your emblems on a MoT.

Good trinkets are perhaps the most difficult piece of gear to obtain in the game, so it’s no surprise that players would be compelled to purchase an easily obtainable ilvl 245 one when given the opportunity. However, it’s a perfect example of why “upgrade” is a relative term.

Gear Score

With the introduction of GearScore as a qualifier for raid invites, epeen stroking, etc… the desire to bolster that has gone near out of control. Here is an example…

Some weeks back I ran a 25 man ICC with my guild, in which two huge hunter items dropped (Wodin’s and the Snowserpent Helm), both of them very nice upgrades for me. Being that I only get to raid a handful of times per month, and because my guild uses a DKP system, I typically don’t have a lot of DKP to spend and tend to do so sparingly. Due to this fact, I surrendered on both items to another hunter in our guild who was bound and determined to outbid everyone in the raid. His reason for this, was because he wanted to reinforce his foothold as top gear score in the guild.

Being that I’m an officer, elder statesman, top dps, and beloved member of our guild , his greed was met with some contention by the other officers. There was also no doubt that I’d contribute more raid DPS with those items than he would, however he had the DKP to blow, so he blew it.

Afterwards, one of our officers asked on vent, “do you even need all that hit rating..?!”. The hunter, we’ll refer to him as “jackass” out of respect for his privacy, didn’t respond.

After the raid, I pulled him up in the armory for curiosity’s sake and was shocked to see that he was rolling with an absurd 558 hit rating. That meant he was wasting nearly 300 stat points, which could have been netting him a ton more DPS had he been more selective with his “upgrades”, and not been greedily outbidding others simply due to ilvl and gear score.

This hunter had me trumped by quite a bit as far as gear was concerned, yet we always ran neck and neck in terms of DPS, with me typically edging past him on most fights. Execution I’m sure had some part to play in that, but no doubt his poor itemization was a factor as well. I speak of him in the past tense, as he is no longer with us. Perhaps he’s learned a thing or two, because when querying his present armory, I find that he’s now running with a more efficient 428 hit.

In closing, be mindful of hit rating when looking at upgrades. If you’re in an ICC25 PuG (god help you) where a really nice ilvl 264 piece drops, by all means roll on it if you could use it. However, it may not be worth equipping just yet, if it’s main benefit is added hit. Yet in the event of a guild run, you should probably refrain from bidding or rolling against fellow guildies who actually need the hit on the drop you’re competing for.

The moral of the story… just because the item has a higher gear score, doesn’t always mean it’s an upgrade.

That’s all for today! See you next time…

If you found this post on hit rating to be helpful, then why not buy me a beer.

Related posts:

1. Hunter Hit Cap Perfection
2. Gear Score vs. Skill
3. Black Ice

Welcome to the long overdue latest installment of my series on BM PvP. This post was actually scratched out in December, but never quite finished. Anyway, I revisited it, added a couple things, groomed it a little bit, and voila! A new post!

So, without further ado… let’s get to it.

While not as cut and dry as PvE shot priorities for hunters, there are some basic fundamentals to the best PvP shot selection. This of course varies, depending upon the encounter, but there are some basic rules of thumb that I want to go over in this post.

My intention here is just to examine the shots available to us BM hunters, and to demonstrate how important and useful they are in PvP situations. There is no “magic kill rotation”, so decisions on which shots to use need to be made on the fly. Hopefully my post will help shed some light on those choices.

BM PvP Shot Priority & Shot Mechanics

The BM PvP shot priority is pretty simple.

BM PVP Shot Priority Quick Reference Chart

1. Kill Shot
2. Aimed Shot
3. All other shots

Unlike PvE, the PvP shot priority is not an exact science. There are some fundamental guidelines that one can follow, but the Beast Master’s shot priority in PvP is greatly influenced by each type of encounter. That said, let’s examine our arsenal of ranged abilities…

Kill Shot

Just as in PvE, Kill Shot should be used immediately once your target is at or below 20% health. Once I get the notification that Kill Shot is ready, it usually means good night for my enemy, especially if they’re clad in PvE gear trying to glass-cannon me. Those are the best. BOOM!

While not as noticed in PvE, Kill Shot has another incredible advantage for PvP in addition to it’s high damage. This is of course the added 10 yard range of the shot, which makes it a tremendous ability for finishing off flag carriers and fleeing opponents.

Use Kill Shot as often as possible. This obviously isn’t a revelation, but it needs mentioning nonetheless.

Aimed Shot

Any time you engage an enemy this should be the first of your hostile attacks. The reason being, you need to get the healing debuff applied as soon as possible. Aimed Shot makes it more difficult for healers to keep themselves or an affected teammate up.

In addition to the reduced healing effect, Aimed Shot is also on the Beast Master’s short list of ranged instant cast damaging abilities. It is very important that you use this shot every cooldown in order to maintain any kind of offensive pressure. As I’d mentioned in a previous post, make sure your glyphed for it as well.

Arcane Shot

Arcane Shot won’t bring the business like Chimera or Explosive will, but it’s pretty much what we’ve got to work with as Beast Masters. That’s not to say it’s an underpowered shot. It can actually hit pretty hard if you’re properly talented, plus it’s pure non armor mitigated magic damage. The best kind to dish out when it comes to PvP.

Arcane Shot also has a chance to proc Cobra Strikes, which obviously is something you want to get going ASAP. An Arcane Shot crit with an ensuing Cobra Strike proc will get your rumble started on a good note.

Serpent Sting

Since burst damage is the name of the game in PvP, Serpent Sting doesn’t shine quite as brightly as it does in PvE. However, it’s still a useful shot in PvP. It provides a little added DPS, it can be cast on the run, and it keeps Rogues in check. It’s also a good idea to apply it because enemies will try to dispel it, and if they don’t, well that’s good too. The more debuffs and DoTs the better, as they not only boost your damage, but also cause enemies to blow mana trying to cleanse them.

The caveat with Serpent Sting is that it can break crowd control, which is obviously a huge concern in PvP. The solution to this is to remove it from your target by applying Scorpid Sting or Viper Sting, in the event that you or another player are about to set up the target for CC. Both of those shots cause zero damage and will overwrite the Serpent Sting.

Steady Shot

Steady Shot falls down the priority list in PvP, mainly due to the simple fact that you need to be standing still for a set period of time in order to cast it. However, it’s a fantastic shot for Beast Masters to utilize when we do get the opportunity. It’s fairly easy to settle in and get some steadies off in a a battleground, but in arena, not so much. It’s better to rely upon instant cast shots and auto shot, rather than trying to force a steady only to have your cast interrupted.

A good time to unload some steadies is following an Intimidation, or while your target is creeping through your Frost Trap or slowed by your two headed monster’s frosty breath. In fact, anytime you’re unmolested is a good time to go into steady mode. Steadies have a chance to proc Cobra Strikes as well, so it’s a good shot to use if the situation is right. As I’d said though, don’t stand there trying to force them while an enemy player is kicking your face in and causing your casts to hiccup.

Multi-Shot

Unless you’re going for most damage done in your BG (which you shouldn’t be really), I don’t advise the use of Multi-Shot in PvP. The main reason for this is simply for the fact that it shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot.

Sometimes it may seem like a good way to clear cut a totem forest, or maybe you just want to fire it into a pack of enemies and watch big numbers fly. The problem with that is, you then prevent the use of your Aimed Shot for another 8 seconds. The healing debuff is critical for PvP, so be very cautious about using Multi-Shot if at all.

Note: Volley can be an effective substitution for Multi-Shot when dealing with enemy totems.

Concussive Shot

“Helping hunters kite since level 8″.

For obvious reasons, Concussive Shot is one of the staples in the PvP shot selection. I don’t really think you need me to tell you when to you use it, but just to make sure… fire it when you want to slow someone down. If you don’t need to slow anyone, then use a DPS ability instead. ‘Nuff said.

Tranquilizing Shot

If you’re not using this shot in PvP, then you should be. It’s an important shot to use in order to knock off damage mitigating buffs such as Hand of Sacrifice, Power Word: Shield, Ice Barrier, etc. Since it only “attempts” to remove one magic effect at a time, there’s no guarantee that you’ll knock off an enemy buff, let alone the one you want. That said, I do use the shot quite a bit actually. In order to dispel the key buff, it’s helpful if you can keep the enemy’s buff stacks to a minimum.

Tranq Shot is also nice for clipping a Paladin’s wings and removing Hand of Freedom. It’s not a gimme though, so don’t count on the shot when trying to escape an advancing Ret. It is great when it works though.

The shot does no damage, costs a ton of mana and has only about a 50/50 chance of a random dispel, so use it, but try to use it wisely.

Viper Sting

Double DPS 2v2 isn’t about the drain game, so I seldom use Viper Sting. In fact, most BM hunters are probably not going to rely upon this shot too much. For one, it’s not improved in a proper BM PvP talent build. Second, our success hinges upon killing things quickly. Waiting for the opposition to go oom isn’t usually a tactic that bodes well for us.

I do use it on occasion however. I find that in cases where my partner and I have been ineffective at taking down our focus-fire target, yet have hung in long enough to get the healer near oom, Viper Sting is a good finisher. Same goes with BGs. I very seldom use this shot until I see a caster (mainly healers) between 5-10%. At that point, this shot helps them along and makes it easier for me to dispatch them or their teammate. Before that however, I prefer to use DPS abilitiess instead, as Viper Sting for BM hunters is just not that effective.

Scorpid Sting

This shot is really only good for overwriting a Serpent Sting when you’re preparing a physical damage dealing class for CC. I hardly ever utilize this shot in PvP.

Volley

About the only time I use Volley in PvP is when I’m trying to pop out a stealthed target. It is useful for checking out certain areas, or as cover for a teammate when they’re venturing out away from your flare.

It can also be somewhat effective for stomping totems, but again, it’s seldom we get an opportunity to free cast. Generally speaking, Volley is pretty gimmicky for us hunters in PvP since it’s a channeled AoE ability. Apart from using it to pop stealthed targets, I wouldn’t strongly recommend it for anything else.

Burst Capability

One of the downfalls of being a Beast Master is that it’s more difficult to maintain serious pressure on your target for any real length of time. Marksmanship and Survival Hunters are both better suited for delivering high damage with regularity. However, the upside is we have the biggest advantage when it comes to delivering high uninterrupted burst, albeit within a small window. The key is to time things properly.

In my opinion, we have three major offensive cooldowns. Bestial Wrath is obviously the first one that comes to mind, as well as being the premier ability for burst damage. Yet, unless I’m in a situation where, “I absolutely need to pop TBW right now or this Rogue is going to own my face” I try to play without it. This allows me to always have the cooldown when I need it most.

Sometimes this can be at the very beginning of an arena match or BG encounter. It’s not necessarily something to always refrain from using right away. Basically if the situation is right, pop it. However, don’t just mash it because the cooldown is up, use it because you need to.

As opposed to PvE, where you want to use every cooldown as soon as it’s ready, in PvP I try to rely upon more of my baseline abilities, leaving TBW as my “Ace in the Hole” so to speak. In other words, I use it very sparingly. I feel this technique not only makes me a more effective BM hunter, but it also gives me the peace of mind knowing that I can cash in on my TBW insurance policy when I need it most.

This style of play will no doubt help anyone get the most out of this spec, while also honing their huntering abilities. It’s so satisfying to dispose of two BG attackers, while still having TBW at the ready for when the 3rd comes at you moments later.

Note: For PvP, whatever you do, do not macro Intimidation with Bestial Wrath. These two abilities are far too powerful independently to just use together without even thinking. Often times they can compliment one another quite well, but make sure you have complete control over that decision. Which brings me to my next bit.

Although Intimidation is a form of CC, I consider it to be one of BM’s offensive cooldowns. Even without Bestial Wrath, a BM Hunter can easily take down a target that’s at say 30-40% while under the effect of an Intimidation. While I do use the ability for hard target switches and peels, I like it best for a kill setup. Having control of this ability independently of Bestial Wrath is a definite advisement.

Lastly, there’s the old hunter standby… Rapid Fire. In BGs I use it whenever I think I’ll be able to stand back and pew pew for at least 8-10 seconds, provided I really need the added burst. In arena however, I usually save this as a backup in case Bestial Wrath wasn’t enough to finish off my target.

I do pop it on occasion while enraged, provided I’m unmolested and not being LoS’d, but usually I try to save it for two reasons:

One, it blows another GCD, which cuts into my burst window of 10 seconds. Two, and more importantly, I don’t like blowing my entire wad all at once. A Beast Master without any cooldowns is one of, if not the weakest DPS spec in the game. If my target’s still standing after Bestial Wrath, at least I know I still have Rapid Fire waiting if I get the opportunity.

Tip: In the event that your target tries to LoS you during TBW, switch to Aspect of the Beast until you can get a clear shot. That way your pet will be dishing out as much DPS as possible while they play ring round the rosies with you.

Defensive Abilities

Managing defensive cooldowns properly is of great importance with any hunter spec, but especially with Beast Mastery. If you can learn to refrain from crutching on the Get out of Jail Free Card (TBW), and instead get by with the lesser tools, you’ll be better able to handle any and all encounters.

So here’s what we got…

Disengage

An awesome ability for obvious reasons. It gets you out of sticky situations, and fast. However, it can also be used as a preemptive strike or a smoke and mirrors type of play. Once you learn to position yourself properly, and provided you have good situational awareness, you can do some cool things with Disengage. You can swing around and launch yourself right behind an enemy target to lay a clutch Wing Clip, zoom yourself right into LoS and range of your healer, etc.

Just like so many other tools, it’s a great ability but one that needs practice. I’ve read many horror stories about hunters disengaging off of the cliff at the Lumber Mill, or the bridge(s) in EotS. In fact, I may have even done something like that at one time or another.

Anyway, practice and learn to rely upon Disengage. It’s cheap and has only a 20 second cooldown when glyphed. Explore what you can do with it and get familiar with its cooldown. It is one of our extremely useful baseline abilities.

Deterrence

I sometimes pop Deterrence early on in a match in order to escape enemy burst and to better prepare for my assault. Being that it blocks all incoming spells and attacks, it’s very useful when you think you’re about to be Death Gripped, Dismantled, HoJ’ed, etc. It’s a great tool for when you’re in real danger of course, but it’s definitely something to utilize early in a fight if needed.

Enemies will often burn cooldowns right off the start in hopes of a quick kill, or to at least get you on your heels. Utilizing Deterrence right away can help you escape a huge amount of burst damage, not to mention CC.

One practical usage is to run through an opponent or pack of enemies while laying a trap amongst them. Deterrence should be up long enough for you to attain a safe distance, leaving your assailant(s) snared in a fog of frostiness. Resume pew-pew on said slowed target(s) and profit.

Master’s Call

This is a tremendous ability for BM Hunters, as it gives us 10 whole seconds of root and snare immunity. That is huge, especially when used following The Beast Within. If you’re in melee range when TBW is about to wear off, just pop Master’s Call and carry on about your business.

If I pop a Rogue or Feral out of stealth before they have a chance to open on me, I’ll sometimes punch this right off the bat, so as to avoid getting locked down. Just as with Deterrence, Master’s Call is great to use before you get into trouble.

Feign Death

The classic cheap ass hunter pvp move, and a highly valued one at that. I use this all the time, and with the Glyph of Feign Death, we have it available every 25 seconds. This move can save your hide. Usually it’s not going to fool anyone into thinking you’re finished, but once in a blue moon it will. I’ve had opponents switch to my teammate while I’ve snuck around the corner for a few bandage ticks, only to reappear and deliver a fatal assault.

Most important though, is that it causes your enemy to drop you as a target. If you follow this up with a Snake Trap you can set in motion a flurry of cussing for any tab targeters that are after you. By the time they put a bead on you, you’ll probably be 30 yards out with a daze on them. Feign Death is highly useful as a defensive PvP ability.

Intimidation

I referred to this earlier as what I would consider an offensive ability, but it’s also equally as powerful for survival, especially if you’re trying to get distance on a sprinting Rogue. Try to use it for a burst setup, but if need be, don’t hesitate to pop it if you need to create distance quickly.

Intimidation is also a great way to set up for a Freezing Arrow. Unless they’re mouth breathers, most opponents know to avoid Freezing Arrows. The long trap arming time gives players ample time to sidestep them. However, if you preemptively strike with an intimidation, it buys you a few seconds of stun in order to effectively put them on ice.

Another defensive ability I use just about every single cooldown is…

Shadowmeld (Night Elves)

I love this ability for PvP. I also find it amusing that it still catches people off guard. It serves a similar purpose as that of Feign Death. It causes your enemy to drop you as a target, thus avoiding the next melee attack, or cancelling a hostile spell cast against you. It’s gimmicky, but it works.

Another time I use it is at the start of every match in Orgrimmar Arena. Those of you who arena are probably aware of the bugged platform, which causes pets to often become stuck at the start of a match. To combat this BS, I dismiss my pet after he’s been buffed, then Shadowmeld. Once the match begins, I immediately haul ass off the platform, call my pet, then send him in to battle.

This system not only combats the disadvantage we hunters have to deal with in that arena, but it also prevents me from getting CC’d right off the bat. When those walls come down around that elevator, us hunters are sitting ducks for CC in that arena. Shadowmeld buys me a few precious seconds to get positioned, as well as avoid the initial CC and possible follow-up burst. Plus, it also causes our opponents to think my partner has a Rogue with him. Then out comes Hunter Fury!

Stoneform and Thunderstomp are also outstanding PvP racials, but being that I don’t have any level 80 experience as a Dwarf and have never rolled a Tauren, I’ll leave those comments to someone else. I will say however, that Stoneform seems like it would be invaluable versus Rogues and Thunderstomp is just, well… awesome.

Well that’s it for today. I still have more to discuss, including macros and addons. Not exactly sure when I’ll get to it, but hopefully soon.

Cheers!

If you found this post on Beast Mastery PvP to be helpful, then why not buy me a beer.

Related posts:

1. Beast Mastery Changes: Acceptance and Ponderings
2. BM PvP Guide – Part One: Talents and Glyphs
3. BM Glyphs, BM Pets, Pet Specs and Shot Rotation