One major benefit of having a class site like Huntsman’s Lodge is that I get so much great input from all of you. Your comments and discussion really prompt me to revisit a lot things, and in turn, influence change – making me a better player as a result.
After reading some of the comments that were posted in my last BM PvP build post, I ended up trying out a new build. While not radically different, I do think it’s a better build (for BGs, anyway) than the one I posted last week.
Old habits die hard…
I’ve always been one to take a point in Improved Mend Pet. Having the ability to cleanse DoTs and CC from my pet has always been of huge importance to me. However, after reading through some of the comments in response to my posted build, I decided to drop the point just to see if I missed it. If I didn’t, then that would free up a precious talent point that I could use for more DPS, for example.
Another talent I decided to give up was Survival Tactics. I really like this talent for the reduced Disengage cooldown, and to a lesser extent… the increased trap efficiency. Anyway, I elected to dump Survival Tactics to test if the shorter Disengage cooldown would really be missed and to see just how much more often my traps would fail as a result of losing this talent.
Were I a highly competitive arena hunter, I feel that Survival Tactics would be a staple talent. A failed Freezing Trap could make the difference between a victory or a loss, where as in battlegrounds, you can afford to have a small margin of error with traps.
Survival Tactics shaves 4 seconds off the cooldown of Disengage, plus it cancels out the inherent 4% “miss rate” hunters have with traps. Even with capped Spell Penetration, traps have a 4% chance to miss, i.e., a 1 in 25 chance to “not hit”, rather than be resisted.
At any rate… I decided to see if giving up that 4% bonus would actually be that noticeable. The result…not really. I’ve yet to be in a situation where a failed trap has been a game changer, nor have I really noticed my traps missing all that often.
As for the 4 second longer cooldown on Disengage…that hasn’t been a problem either.
Without the point in Improved Mend Pet and the other two points in Survival Tactics, I then had 3 extra talent points to spend elsewhere. So where to put them..?
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