In the event that I spec BM for a raid. You betcha.
I did a fourth and final DPS test tonight with my Chimera. It seems like the combination of Froststorm Breath, Wolverine Bite, Owl’s Focus and Roar of Recovery is just that good. The 2.1 second cooldown on Roar of Recovery makes a fairly substantial difference.
It seems as if the Chimera suffers from the same spell hit problem as Loque’nahak, but even with the 4 Froststorm Breath misses he still smoked my two exotic Ferocity pets by a mile. I’m almost wondering if these misses are Blizzard’s way of equalizing spell attacks with physical attack dodges and parries. If pet spells always hit, then caster pets would have a leg up for sure.
However, in referring back to my previous tests with Loque and Krush, they each had one dodge and one miss respectively. Four Froststorm Breath misses seems a bit excessive in comparison. Hmmm..?
My shot rotation was very close to the previous tests with Loque and Krush. I wanted to get this fourth test in because in 1-2 of the previous tests his pet happiness icon was yellow. I tossed him a few bowls of stew tonight and got him good and happy.
Again, here are the final results from testing out my three exotic pets on the heroic target dummy. Tests were done without any buffs, and with no use of Rapid Fire or on-use trinkets. Cooldowns were not timed, but simply just blown as they were available.
Chimera: 1958.1 Overall DPS
Devilsaur: 1831.9 Overall DPS
Spirit Beast: 1770.6 Overall DPS
BM is really the only tree that I think will see the benefits of a Cunning pet for raiding. The other specs won’t have enough points to spend in order to get the full potential from the pet, not to mention having the longer cooldown on Roar of Recovery. The Cunning pets offer tremendous synergies for BM Hunters.
I think MM and SV Hunters are going to be looking at wolves as a first or second choice. The reworked Furious Howl is just too nice to pass up. I don’t think that a 30% mana regen over 9 seconds every 3 minutes, is going to be worth the AP and DPS loss from not using a wolf.
I havent done a complete test with my wolf as BM, but I messed around on the dummy for a few minutes, and while my DPS was higher, it resulted in a net DPS loss. However, he’ll be rolling with me while I am MM, that’s for sure.
I’m so jazzed about wolves becoming a premier pet. I remember back when they were a novelty pet for their buff. Hunters would just keep them by their side and manually activate the howl.
Then along came WotLK and wolves not only became a Ferocity pet, but their Furious Howl skill added a killer AP bonus on a short cooldown. However, the excitement would soon end when it was realized that the Howl became overwritten by Warrior and Pally buffs, making it a poor choice once again for raiding.
But now they’re gonna be awesome!
I love this fact, because it appeals to my role-playing side. I always envisioned having my Hunter’s main pet be a wolf.
Yeah, definitely keep Loque. Even if more and more hunters start turning up with him, there still is no other pet that’s as difficult to obtain as that one. I really feel like Blizz will eventually answer the pleas and buff Spirit Strike.
Aside from the fact that Loque is incredibly rare and hugely difficult to tame, he’s exotic; he should do “exotic” DPS. Not this wimpy-ass Spirit Strike crap they’re giving us now.
One thing that could work, would be to remove Prowl from Spirit Beasts and give them a watered down Furious Howl or some sort of debuff. Have their roar offer up an AP bonus, armor pen, or similar debuff. Loque has a unique roar and it would be cool to tie something in with that.
Who needs Prowl anyway?!
Wolves are awesome, I’ve been using them on PTR and got amazed at how powerful they are now in 3.1. I bet every single MM/SV will grab one. As an added bonus, there’re some level 80 wolves in Northerend… leaving out the pain of those last 5 levels.
Too bad Loque still offers such a low dps compared to other pets. I really do not get why Blizz did not fix it, considering rarity, beauty and coolness of that beast. I’ll keep mine just in case (I will never free Loque’s slot… lol).
Darkbrew,
I’m so pleased that wolves will be unbroken for the first time in history. I’ll be using mine in raids as well. I’m leaning towards MM for my raid spec, but I may go SV if the DPS margin is too noticeable. Either way, I’m gonna be rocking the wolf in raids.
If you do end up going BM, definitely try out a Chimera. Of all the exotics, I honestly think it will be the only one truly worth having.
Klin,
I agree with Cunning as being raid viable, but only after the patch. Although I’ve seen maybe one or two hunters on the WoW forums singing the praises of the Wind Serpent still, I’ve yet to see a hunter with one in-game. Cunning won’t have the DPS until after the patch and the 6 min. CD on Roar of Recovery makes it useless atm.
I’ve used my Chimera in 10 mans and I lose a lot of DPS by doing so. However, once they get Wild Hunt and the RoR CD gets chopped in half after 3.1, it’s on! But again, that will only be for BM Hunters. The extra four points and the 54 sec. shaved off of RoR make the Cunning pets go from suck to stellar.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
Cunning is totally raid viable, especially as BM.
Chimaeras have a powerful AND utilitarian attack. It’s stellar!
Thanks for taking the time to test all of this. I’m probably going to stick with SV as my primary spec which means I will be running with a wolf most of the time.
I haven’t decided if BM or MM will be my secondary (probably BM). I guess I’ll be looking at a Chimera in 3.1 if I do go BM.