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Armor Penetration Nerf Incoming

September 5, 2009 By Garwulf 9 Comments

Yesterday evening Ghostcrawler announced in the Damage Dealing forum that a nerf to Armor Penetration was likely going to be on the horizon for Patch 3.2.2. The news wasn’t received so well by the forum community, and as a result, the thread has reached 13 pages. Needless to say, we’re not talking about 13 pages of “thank you Blizzard”. 😉

The nerf to armor pen in 3.2.2 is intentional. Compared to the recent buff where we increased the value of armor rating to 125%, this nerf would take it back down to 110%. While we are still evaluating the effects of this change in the 3.2.2 build, we did want to let you know of the possibility in case you were about to spend a lot on armor pen gems.

In fact, this was really the point. Several melee specs (and Marksman hunters) had begun to focus on armor pen at the expense of all other stats. Gear without armor pen was being passed over and gem sockets were increasingly being filled with just this one stat. While every spec has stats that are more valuable than others, this one felt like it was starting to trump everything. Not coincidentally, characters stacking lots of armor pen were starting to do more damage than their peers and more damage than we were comfortable with.

This change is largely for PvE reasons, though we won’t cry at all if melee damage in PvP drops a little as a result.

We’re letting you know now so that this doesn’t feel like a stealth nerf, assuming it goes live. While you might disagree or be frustrated by the change (though I also suspect it won’t come as a surprise to many players), we ask that you try and keep your response to something appropriate for these forums.

Fortunately for me, my latest upgrades were void of the stat. I’m not geared enough, nor do I have any of the necessary trinkets to make an effective MM armor penetration build. Instead, I’ve been focusing on crit more so as opposed to armor penetration.

However, for those that have stacked this stat and been able to post huge numbers doing so, this change is likely going to piss them off. 😡

We know that armor penetration is going to be removed altogether in Cataclysm, but this preemptive change is a bit of a surprise. I guess Blizz is going to be taking baby steps towards some of the radical itemization and mechanics changes mentioned at BlizzCon.

This change hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s very likely that it will go live with Patch 3.2.2. In other words, if you’re thinking of trying a MM armor penetration build, you may want to rethink that move. 😉

Filed Under: Cataclysm, General, Hunter PvP, Raiding Tagged With: armor penetration, marksmanship, patch 3.2.2

Raid Ready: Serpent Sting

September 3, 2009 By Drackmire 7 Comments

Drackmire, Dwarf Marksman HunterAs a marksman hunter, one of the shots you are going to have on your target at all times is Serpent Sting.

Useful Glyphs With Serpent Sting (all are self explanatory for the most part):

  • Glyph of Arcane Shot – Your Arcane Shot refunds 20% of its mana cost if the target has one of your Stings active on it. (useful if you have mana problems)
  • Glyph of Serpent Sting – Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec (adds two ticks of the normal damage of your SS. It does not decrease the amount per tick to accommodate the extra 6 seconds, damage is applied using the 15 sec rate, but for 21 seconds).
  • Glyph of Steady Shot – Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting. (increasing steady shot damage is always good)

In a marks build I recommend Glyph of Serpent Sting, and Glyph of Steady Shot, with your third major being Glyph of the Hawk.

Serpent Sting

Serpent sting is one of two ranged damage over time (DOT) abilities we have and has many things going for it:

  1. It scales with ranged attack power (RAP). Regardless of how you increase your RAP, you will increase the damage of your Serpent Sting.
  2. It does nature damage, which ignores armor so you will get the full damage specified in the tooltip. Of course if the target has enough nature resist, it will resist some of the serpent sting damage.
  3. As a marksman hunter, as long as you keep Chimera Shot going, you only have to pay mana for it once.
  4. Serpent sting is not limited to a single target, so you can have it up on multiple targets which is great for packs of elites in heroics or raids.
  5. It is a core ability and doesn’t require any specific talents or builds (see Wyvern Sting); it can be used in any hunter talent spec.

Some things that need to be known about Serpent Sting:

  1. Serpent Sting is not affected by ranged haste or weapon speed. You can change from a 2.0 speed weapon to a 3.0 speed weapon and the damage on Serpent Sting will not change.
  2. Serpent sting is not affected by the target’s armor. All the armor penetration in the world will not affect the damage on Serpent Sting.
  3. Serpent Sting remembers damage modifiers of the initial application; it remembers RAP of the current application; both can be modified on further applications via recasting Serpent Sting or from Chimera Shot (more on this in a minute). There is a difference which I will hopefully clear up.
  4. Hunter’s Mark increases Serpent Sting damage.
  5. Anything that increases your attack power, whether permanent (gear) or temporary (buff or item proc), affects Serpent Sting but only on for the current application. Increasing attack power after applying Serpent Sting will not increase ticks of your current Serpent Sting application.

Serpent Sting and Aspect of the Viper

I will start by saying, DO NOT apply Serpent Sting on your target while using Aspect of the Viper. This does not include reapplying using Chimera Shot, only the actual ability Serpent Sting as described in the initial post. As I said before, Serpent Sting remembers the 50% damage reduction while in Aspect of the Viper. This means that if you cast Serpent Sting on your target while in AotV, your ticks will do half damage until Serpent Sting ends or is dispelled. This includes reapplying using Chimera Shot.

If you already have Serpent Sting on and are using Aspect of the Dragonhawk, then switch to AotV for mana regen and use Chimera Shot, when the Serpent Sting reapplies it will remember the damage modifier that was used on the initial application. It will however notice that you have less attack power and the ticks of the reapplication will be slightly less, even if you switch back to AoTD until Serpent Sting is reapplied.

Example…

My normal ticks for Serpent Sting are 619. This is using Trueshot Aura and AotD only. Each tick will tick for 619. If I let the SS run its course, or if I reapply it using Chimera Shot or the regular ability it will continue to tick for 619 if there is no change to my RAP. If I have on AoTV, my normal ticks are 300. This includes the 50% damage reduction from AoTV as well as the loss of RAP from not using AoTD.

Now, say that I apply Serpent Sting while in AoTV. SS will tick for 300, and during SS I switch back to AoTD. Even though I no longer suffer the RAP and damage penalty, my SS will still tick for 300 because it remembers the initial damage modifier. If I then cast Chimera Shot, my SS will reapply; it will remember what the damage modifier was when I first applied SS, but it will also notice that I have more attack power. After the Chimera Shot, my SS now ticks for 309. So it kept the damage modifier of the original application, but it now ticks at the new RAP. The only way to get rid of the damage modifier is to reapply SS using the actual ability, and not Chimera Shot.

That was long but I hope it emphasized why it is important to not use SS while in AoTV.

Serpent Sting and Chimera Shot

Chimera Shot damage is based on the damage your Serpent Sting does, not how much it has already done. This means that if you cast Chimera Shot right after you use SS, or if you wait until right before the final tick, Chimera Shot damage will still be the same. The reapplication of SS from Chimera Shot will…

a) remember any damage modifier already on the SS, and…

b) recheck RAP and recalculate damage based on the RAP at the time of casting Chimera Shot.

All ticks of the new application will be based on the RAP at the time of casting Chimera, even if your RAP drops after casting Chimera Shot.

It would be beneficial to save Chimera Shot for when any RAP boosting abilities proc, but for the sake of DPS it’s best just to use it when it is up and should always be on cool-down. The best way to nerf your own DPS is to cast SS while in AoTV. I discovered this while farming one day, and was curious as to why my SS was ticking so low. Now I know, and hopefully… so do you. This applies mostly to raiding, as halving your SS on a 6-7 minute boss fight is a tremendous DPS loss.

If you got nothing else out of this, just remember… don’t cast Serpent Sting while in AoTV and you’ll be fine. Micromanaging SS to maximize its DPS could result in a loss of overall DPS as you wouldn’t constantly be keeping your abilities on cool-down. Now get out there and DPS!

– Drack

Filed Under: General, Raiding, Talents Tagged With: aspect of the dragonhawk, aspect of the viper, chimera shot, hunter's mark, marksmanship, serpent sting, steady shot

Trueshot Aura Macro

August 26, 2009 By Garwulf 4 Comments

I updated my macros page this week by removing a few, changing a few and adding one. I’m not sure if I’m late to the party on this one or not, but I hadn’t seen someone post it yet.

I added Trueshot Aura to my aspect switching macro in an effort to remove another skill from my action bars. (It also makes sure I never, ever forget to turn it on again after a wipe, but don’t tell anyone that…) 😉

/cast Aspect of the Dragonhawk
/cast Aspect of the Viper
/cast [mod:shift] Trueshot Aura

You can activate Trueshot Aura with one press of this button. Aside from that, it works the same as the original macro. It allows you to switch between Dragonhawk and Viper with the need for only one keybind.

It’s not a revolutionary macro, but it does allow for one less skill to be needed in your action bars. I created it because I wanted to remove TSA from its current keybind. I have all but two of my action bars hidden and Trueshot Aura seemed to be an unnecessary keybind, yet for a very necessary ability. I added it to my aspect macro – problem solved.

I recommend this macro for any Hunters going Marksmanship for the first time. It’s worth using in order to prevent you from realizing during mid-fight that you don’t have TSA up. Not that I’ve ever done that… 🙄

Filed Under: Hunter Macros Tagged With: macros, marksmanship, trueshot aura

Great t’ Meet Ya

August 24, 2009 By Drackmire 6 Comments

Drackmire, Dwarf Marksman HunterAllow me to first say that I am thrilled to be here, and hope that anything I put on this site helps at least a few people. Now on to the intro!

My adventures in Azeroth started when several friends convinced me to put down Everquest II. The race was an easy pick, as I always seem to select a Dwarf when the option is available. The class on the other hand, wasn’t so simple. Of the friends that were already delving into the game, there was a warrior, a paladin, and two druids. That left me with hunter, rogue, or priest. I knew I didn’t want to heal, and Dungeons and Dragons came to mind when I saw rogue… boring. I chose Hunter and picked the name I have had in many different forums and games, Drackmire.

In my days as a Hunter, I have tinkered with all three talent sets. In the end I am Marksman, and I don’t regret it. Even during the hay-day that was Big Red Kitty I stuck to my guns and was Marksman-Hybrid (0/31/30), which was an agility maximization spec which ended up outdoing full BM almost all the time. I continue to try out different talent combinations, but with the current talent sets it’s hard not to be cookie cutter.

My focus has always been on raiding and instance content. While I won’t get to see every raid encounter in the game, it is still my main focus. I’m not a lore guru, and I don’t particularly care for pvp (though I do participate in WG and a BG from time to time). I tend to focus on those things that will improve my character and other hunters as well. I have very few alts, and the one that managed to make it to 80 as well takes a back seat to my hunter when there are people on wanting to run something.

There are a lot of things I could say about myself, but I’m not really one to toot my own horn. I wouldn’t say I’m well-known either, but I know my stuff and I know my class. My current pet is a wasp. I will be hard pressed to tame another before Cataclysm, unless they make some drastic changes.

Lastly, I am honored that fellow guild-mate and long time hunter friend Garwulf has asked me to share my thoughts and knowledge with the community. I only hope I can live up to the reputation he has already set.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: bigredkitty, everquest, marksmanship

Dwarf Incoming!

August 23, 2009 By Garwulf 1 Comment

Drackmire, Dwarf Marksmanship HunterA few days ago I made a vague mention of there being some additional contributor(s) to this site. Well it’s true. I’ve elected to bring a guest poster on board. Whether or not my new accomplice will be a regular feature here on the site remains to be seen, but he is brimming with enthusiasm at the notion of enlightening, sharing and connecting with all of you.

HuntsmansLodge.com visitors, meet Drackmire.

Rather than go into a long introduction about the man, I’ll leave it up to him to tell you his story.

I can tell you this though… He’s a Dwarf, he smells of ale and mutton, Marksmanship is his beloved spec, he’s a master of the DeePS, he was my GM at one time, he’s a cool guy and he knows his stuff. He’s taught me a lot about the game and the Hunter class.

When I first met Drackmire nearly three years ago I didn’t even know what Recount was. I had never raided, seldom instanced and knew nothing of maximizing DPS. I was a BG whore who’s only preoccupation was with either killing horde players or taming rare pets. As you can see, not much has changed…

I keed, I keed. Raiding’s fun too… sometimes. 😉

Anyway, when I eventually started raiding Drack helped me out quite a bit by teaching me about shot rotations, consumables, etc. I wasn’t a student of the game then like I am now. I never researched things on the internet. Hell, I didn’t know what Elitist Jerks was before I met Drack. I was in essence… a noob.

Now I’m just a semi-noob.

As I said, I’m not sure how often Drack will be sharing his Huntery wisdom, but you can still expect to see my contribution to the site remain the same. I’m not necessarily looking to shrug off some duties onto another, but rather to just enhance the site with a different point of view. He’ll probably have other topics to discuss and ideas to share that maybe I wouldn’t think to address.

Alright Dracky, let’s get that intro up! When you’re ready of course. No rush. 😉

Filed Under: General, Ramblings Tagged With: dwarf, marksmanship

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