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BM Glyphs, BM Pets, Pet Specs and Shot Rotation

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After I posted my spec yesterday, I realized I should have added the glyphs I use as well. I was reminded of this oversight when Dhallia commented asking about my glyphs, pet(s) and pet talent specs. My post wasn’t intended to be a look at how to maximize the class for DPS or PvP, but rather just an example of how I apportion my talent points and why. I’ve decided to expand on my initial discussion and add my glyphs, pets, pet builds and shot rotation into the equation. This post and Dhallia’s comments made me take a hard look at some things and also re-evaluate my shot rotation. I feel somewhat enlightened.

My BM Glyphs

Glyph of Bestial Wrath: Shaving 20 seconds off the cooldown for our best spell is incredibly fantastic. No Hunter worth their salt would take this without Longevity, so now you’re looking at a 1min. 10 sec. cooldown on god-mode. This Glyph > all others for BM.

Glyph of Steady Shot: 10% extra damage from Steady Shot while Serpent Sting is active. As long as you’re awake during raids and managing the up-time on Serpent Sting, this Glyph is easy added DPS. 10% more damage from our most used shot is huge.

Glyph of Serpent Sting: This glyph adds 6 seconds to the duration of Serpent Sting. This glyph is great when used in conjunction with the Glyph of Steady Shot. With this glyph you get:

  • 6 additional seconds of Serpent Sting uptime which results in 2 more damage ticks.
  • Mana conservation due to not having to cast the shot as often.
  • Less usage of the global cooldown resulting in a tighter and better shot rotation.
  • 21 seconds of uptime which will lessen the chance for you to forget to reapply it.

I’m pretty good for the most part about keeping Serpent Sting up, but when you’re in a tense boss fight those 15 seconds can go by pretty quick. You really want to keep this DoT up at all times if you can, and this glyph makes it so you only have to cast Serpent Sting 3 x per min.

I actually just swapped this out last night in place of my Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey. The monkey glyph is getting removed in 3.1, and I figured I’d just go with this one until the new 3.1 glyphs come out. The monkey glyph was nice for PvP, but I’m going to focus more on DPS with my new glyphs anyway.

BM Raiding Pet of Choice: Devilsaur

King Krush is my raid buddy. I used Loque’nahak for a bit, but Krush does more damage, and in my opinion, just looks freaking awesome. If Spirit Beasts end up getting to Devilsaur DPS levels, I’ll swap Loque out on occasion for certain encounters, but until then I’m down with the King.

Devilsaur Talent BuildDevilsaur Talent Build

I have Rabid and Call of the Wild included with my Bestial Wrath macro, which also contains Kill Command and my on-use trinket. It makes for some gorgeous numbers when pressed. Heart of the Phoenix is so awesome it’s not even funny. Nothing like getting your pet back up and at full health in an instant. Due to the time it takes between bosses in almost any instance, I always have this cooldown available if needed.

BM PvP Pet of Choice: Chimera

For arena, I use my Chimera exclusively. I still unleash my Devilsaur in BGs now and again, but I use my Chimera there too most of the time. Froststorm Breath is an amazing talent for BM Hunters to utilize.

Chimera PvP BuildChimera PvP Build

This build is fairly straightforward. 3/3 Great Stamina for the added health, Dive and Boar’s Speed for some giddy-up, and maximized DPS for the Cunning family. The snare resist talents aren’t all that necessary because my arena matches are almost always won or lost during the big red phase.

So that’s how I spec my 2 primary pets. Nothing too terribly innovative, but that’s how I choose how to distribute the points.

Austin Danger PowersThe 3.1 changes are going to put a whole new paint job on things. This setup is looking nice as a PvP build for my Chimera. It’s going to be a little trickier for my Devilsaur, because I’ll have to give up Heart of the Phoenix in order to maximize his DPS, which I most likely will end up doing. I’ll run the risk of a huge dps loss if my pet should drop during a fight, but I too like to live dangerously.

With the normalization of pet DPS across the three families and the 50% shorter cooldown on Roar of Recovery, I’m defnitely going to try my Chimera out in raids for a bit after 3.1 hits. With a 2 min. 6 sec. CD on Roar of Recovery, that could eliminate the need for Viper altogether.

BM Shot Rotation in WotLK

Dhallia had asked me about my shot rotation, so I figured I’d talk about it once more. Apparently, based upon what I’ve seen and what readers have commented on, my DPS is pretty decent for a BM Hunter. Using Patchwerk as a measure for raid DPS, since he’s basically a Target Dummy that fights back, I can put out around 3.2K in a Naxxramas 10 man.

Basically, my shot rotation consists of Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Serpent Sting > Steady Shot > Arcane Shot > Steady Shot > Steady Shot > Aimed Shot > Arcane Shot > Steady Shot and so on…

I keep Serpent Sting up at all times when I’m paying attention, fire steadies off like a madman, and throw in Aimed Shot (or Multi Shot vs. more than one target) and Arcane Shot as soon as they’re up. I was using Multi Shot in place of Aimed in my rotation, but after waking up and realizing that Aimed Shot is 51 mana cheaper, I have made the substitution. I still use Multi Shot on all multiple mob fights, but against single targets Aimed wins. Thanks for making me think about that one Dhallia.

I make sure to keep my Hunter’s Mark up 100% of the time as well if I’m the only Hunter in the group.

I also manage my mana based on cooldowns, and don’t always wait until the last second to switch to Viper. I try to make sure that I always have enough mana to fire off all of my specials while under TBW. No matter what, I always want to be in Aspect of the Dragonhawk with a decent amount of mana while in big red.

Lastly, I keep a close eye on my pet. Losing my pet hurts big time, so I keep a watchful eye on his health and cast Mend Pet or pull him out of the battle when needed.

My Raid Gear

My Current Raid Gear SetupSince the armory doesn’t always provide an accurate itemized list, here’s a screenshot of my current DPS gear and base stats with zero buffs.

My raiding gear as of today consists of:

Nesingwary 4000, Black Ice, Savage Gladiator’s Chain Helm, Pendant of the Outcast Hero, Spaulders of the Black Arrow, Hateful Gladiator’s Cloak of Triumph, Tunic of the Lost Pack, Giantmaim Bracers, Heroes’ Cryptstalker Handguards, Vereesa’s Silver Chain Belt, Heroes’ Cryptstalker Legguards, Boots of the Neverending Path, Mobius Band, Titanium Impact Band (courtesy of my Wife the JC), Incisor Fragment and Mirror of Truth.

My gear’s decent, but I’m still sporting some blues and a few PvP pieces.

Again, if you read my previous post you’d see that my spec is not the optimum DPS spec for BM. If I shifted a couple of points around and was really on top of my game, I bet I could get to the 3500-3600 range in my current gear. However, there are good things on the horizon. I’m hoping to flirt with 4k in 10 man encounters once 3.1 comes around. It shall be interesting to see.

Ok, I’m about done with this post. I think I got a little carried away again. 😯

Well, hopefully some of you find this interesting and/or helpful.

/end wall of text

The Garwulf UI

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For nearly two years I played World of Warcraft with absolutely no addons. I was a purist you might say. Once I began raiding however, my guild required me to have a threat meter and boss encounter alerts. Since I then had to install those essential 3rd party addons, I decided to see what else was out there.

To make a long story short, after about a year of trying various addons, I’ve assembled a suite of mods that I believe to demonstrate awesomeness at its finest. My UI is geared primarily towards PvP, but works equally as well for parties and raids. The emphasis is on organization and useful information during combat.

Since I played for the better part of two years without addons, I got pretty used to the default Blizzard UI. This is why I’ve chosen to keep the unit frames and mini map in their usual spots. I tried different configurations, but I prefer having those items at the top of the screen. A lot of people like to have their unit frames at the bottom either near their character or action bars, but I say go with whatever works.

The primary addons that I use to achieve this setup are:

  • Pitbull – Unit frames
  • Bartender 4 – Action Bar replacement
  • Quartz – Cast bar replacement
  • Antagonist – Enemy cooldown and buff timers
  • FuBar – Excellent alternative to Titan Panel
  • eePanels2 – Customizable background panels
  • Prat – Chat mod
  • SimpleMiniMap – Customize the mini map placement, size, etc.
  • Buffalo – Buff dislay
  • ButtonFacade – Skins the buttons for that special touch

Those are the addons that are responsible for the appearance of my UI. Just like anything else, these addons require a little work in order to tailor them to your needs. In my opinion though, it’s worth it to spend a little bit of time on something that will enhance your enjoyment of the game. I don’t consider myself reliant upon addons, but I’d prefer not to go without after having gotten used to them.

Other addons that I use which aren’t readily visible are:

  • Proximo – Invaluable unit frame addon for arena
  • MikScrollingBattleText – A kickass floating combat text and spell alert mod
  • Omen – Threat meter
  • Recount – Damage and healing meter
  • RangeDisplay – Helps me to kite those pesky Warriors
  • OmniCC – Shows the actual time left on your cooldown over your spell, trinket, and consumable icons
  • Auctioneer – Make $$$ like nobody’s business with this addon
  • Gatherer – Essential for herbalists, miners and treasure seekers
  • Cellular – Manages your whispers
  • ClosetGnome – Manage your different outfits
  • Align – Organize your UI and indulge your anal retentive side
  • Bejeweled – Possibly even more addicting than WoW

Other than those mentioned, I use a few FuBar plugins that make life easier. These are things like auto repair, inventory management, fps and latency meter, clock, etc. After Wrath of the Lich King is live and provided my UI isn’t completely broken, I’ll post a detailed and itemized list of my current addons. If people are interested, I may even upload a zip file for others to download and install.

Enough blogging… time to go play!