wispy

hi,

much like yesterdays fun discussion on 1 handed weapons i would like to canvas opinion on which are currently the best rings and ring combinations. (please note i say "currently" as speculation over future changes is a little unnecessary).

personally i found it easy to give an almost uncontraversial list of 1handed weapons but rings i think are much harder, mainly this is because of different peoples dependancy on +hit items, and therefore personal evaluations on this.

for example with my current gear (only pre nefarian items) i have +9hit (items alone) and can quite happily afford to completely ignore the +hit on masterdragon slayers ring, which makes it worse in my estimations than otherwise, making circle of applied force potentially a more preferable choice for me.

so, does anyone want to venture a list, or a sound basis for the RAP equivalent of +1hit?
of course the question of ring combos is then going to arise and perhaps it is safer not to open that can of worms right now :)

wispy

ps. as i re-read this i kind of think that maybe i am trying to lead us to post the "optimal hunter gear" so that one day you will only see hunters wearing exactly the same items. that would be quite sad:( and is not my intention at all, i am merely looking for other people to either shoot down my bad assumptions or confirm things i have gotten correct.

 

Steelfleece

I have typically tailored my ring choice to give me hit% when I needed it. My optimal ring combo would be Band of Unnatural Forces + Ring of the Cryptstalker. I've used the following ring combos in the past:

Band of Accuria + Quick Strike Ring
Quick Strike Ring + Signet Ring of the Bronze Dragonflight
Ring of the Qiraji Fury + Signet Ring of the Bronze Dragonflight
Quick Strike Ring + Ring of the Qiraji Fury (when I no longer needed the %hit)
Ring of the Qiraji Fury + Band of Unnatural Forces

That has been my ring progression. I'd imagine Band of Reanimation fits in there somewhere--but I'm a sucker for 1% crit myself. Master Dragonslayer's Ring is a good substitute if you can't get Quick Strike or Qiraji Fury for whatever reason.

affect –verb (used with object) 1. to act on; produce an effect or change in
effect –noun 1. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence
Know the difference.

 

wispy

currently i still use band + seal of jin. which i estimate to be as good as quick strike ring and signet of the bronze flight (revered)!!!

 

Zurai

Yeah, those two rings are insanely overpowered for blues. They aren't the best rings in the game for hunters, but they're close.

 

Gonkish

I'm using Ring of the Godslayer + Band of Reanimation, currently. (While remaining hit capped, mind you.)

Unless I feel I need more stamina, in which case I put on the Signet Ring of the Bronze Dragonflight.

Why Hunters suffer...
Benefactor's Bar learns you some goodness quicklike...

 

Lafiell

Without doubt its

Ring of unnatural Force (56 AP, 1% crit, 1% hit)
+
Ring of Reanimations (34 AGI) (which equals sth like .6% crit and 68 AP)

You can also take the T3 Ring, but i guess this combination is besser. Pure AP-wise, T3 Ring + Ring of Reanimation would be better (for LR), but you miss something like 0.5% crit then.

 

Lafiell

They are nice, but far from being overpowered. Imho best pre-AQ Combo, but the Naxx ones got like 40-50 AP more (see post above)

 

Zurai

I said overpowered for blues. Doesn't it strike you as a tiny bit out of whack that the best DPS rings for a pre-Naxx/C'Thun hunter come from easy bosses in a 20 man instance?

 

Azulor

You can use the hunter spreadsheet to be exact.

That said, early AQ40 and below +9 to hit (including rings), accuria + any signet ring above neutral appears to dominate, although accuria + MDS is quite good as well.

Also, to the OP, I believe that +1 hit is about as valuable as 0.75 crit.

edit: clarity and changed pre-naxx to early AQ40

 

◊ Eej

Nah, they're just so perfectly budgeted that every single itemMod on the rings is useful. Just look at Warblade + FotF. :P

Personally I use Reanimation + Signet Ring for PvE and Reanimation + Archimtiros for PvP. That's mainly because I feel I don't need more than 5.6k hp unbuffed for PvP, mind you.

 

Zurai

At least those are epics off an end boss, not blues off entry level bosses :P

 

koolkal

Best endgame combo assuming hit cap in other slots is Unnatural Forces/Reanimation or T3, depends if you prefer 6mp5 or 4 agi. I'd take the 6mp5 as it has a lot more use for purposes of solo farming, lower instance running, and saving costs through reduction of mana consumables. In BC, I'd much rather have that 6mp5 to hit 70 than worry about the equivolent of a 1DPS increase. Of course, if you can get both, this is moot.

 

LadyVex

Random drops and a Viscidus loot table add, ftl.

As alliance I'm afraid I'll never see qiraji fury as most alliance guilds don't even bother with Visc except for perhaps the one time it takes just to say they've done it.

Such a shame really, that ring is soooo good. We had two drop off of Sartura before they changed the table and both went to rogues, who upgraded their quick strikes. 4 stamina and 5 AP upgrades suck. ; ;

 

Boevis

It's the set bonus issue. Set Bonus' allow for items to be effectively much better than their ilevel would suggest (when designed properly anyway, stupid cenarion)

I'd say all the ZG Ringsets beat out just about everything else from Pre-Nefarian (except maybe the caster set)

Unless they get changed to reflect the agi:ap change, I can't see a hunter (or anyone) wanting Fallen God, Unliving, or Reanimation.

 

Azulor

That's simply not correct. Look at the spreadsheet and general tradeoffs for hit/crit/RAP/AGI. There are certainly better combos out there, and dismissing the last three you mentioned is not at all fair, especially if you are over the hit cap.

edit: oh I see, you are assuming the AP:AGI tradeoff gets changed. /shrug.

 

Rabid Rob

If you are planning what to bid on in the future, stay away from stuff with Agi unless you can get it really cheap, ie, there's not much interest. Altho if you are hoping to farm +3-4 lvl quests/mobs in xpac like me, the Band of Accuria looks good with all that tohit, and the T3 set ring is going to be readjusted to be Agi/AP.

If you are making a list of really good rings, add Don Julio's in there for rings that are really nice when you aren't at tohit cap.

 

Elendril

i use ring of the fallen god and band of reanimation. with blessing of kings, fallen god is worth about 60 RAP and .6ish crit, and band is worth 74 RAP and .7ish crit. crit vs AP is clearly a sliding scale, and at high levels the value is something like 30/1 from what i can see. that puts fallen god clearly above qiraji fury for alliance, and maybe slightly worse than unnatural forces, assuming you don't need the +hit (in which case unnatural forces is much better). band of reanimation is significantly better than both.

as for itemizing for the expansion - i think it's reasonable to expect that "hunter items" like band of reanimation and eye of nerub will have their stats adjusted, because they're so clearly intended for our class and not others. items like Cloak of the Fallen God or Ring of the Godslayer might not be so lucky, since it's possible other classes might want them for the crit/dodge the agi gives, along with the other stats. personally, i'm planning on picking up a cryptstalker ring and a shroud of dominion and calling it a day.

 

LadyVex

That might hold true now, but after the xpac it won't be. If my RAP stays roughly the same the difference between Ring of the Godslayer and Ring of the Qiraji Fury is something like 2 dps; that's pretty significant. And yea that's after including the agility bonus fron Kings, which both factions can get.

For right now I have a hoard of rings that I use for whenever; crit rings, massive +hit rings, ap rings, agi rings etc. My *one* ring that I never got was Ring of the Qiraji Fury and especially after seeing the way things will be valued after xpac I desperately want it. ; ;

Cloak of the Fallen God and Ring of the Godslayer I think have an average chance at being reitemized. The classes most taking those items are rogues and hunters anyways, and both would benefit from some sort of AP conversion. As for warriors well...their ratios are BROKEN :p

 

• frmorrison

Eej leaked new stats for Dragonstalker/Cryptstalker, so it is likely that those hunter rings with pure agi (reanimation/cryptstalker) would have an adjustment as well.

I agree with Elendril, I don't see agility heavy cloaks getting a update to become more powerful Cloak of the Black Barons, but it could happen.

DK - Ashbane Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

 

LadyVex

Well it might be supreme optimism but with the xpac it seems like they're not as hesitant to "double dip" so to speak. Does that mean they'll change the stats? Well I do hope so.

 

Frear

I use the Aq Ring and the Nef head Ring it helps because im also marks spec and lack the 3% from survival spec. From what I can tell thou our ring selection is not one of the best, in fact the zg set rings can be one of the best combo's depends on availability.

 

Elendril

i'm talking about right now. things clearly change drastically after the expansion, and without knowing the new stats of reitemized stuff, it's not terribly valuable to discuss the rankings of things unless you assume no changes to their stats.

i wouldn't hold your breath on fallen god or godslayer being reitemized. if you want to be safe, get a new ring and cloak. ;)

 

Abi

Seconding Don Julio to be put up there, although it requires some non-raid effort to get. I'm still using mine well over a year since getting exalted. T_T

 

LadyVex

Quit crushing my hope =(

I'm really hoping they change Viscidus to be more alliance friendly before/after the xpac is released. With the current way of things, the pure ap and crit are ridiculously good. I fear I may never see it till we get some shamans ; ;

 

Steelfleece

I don't see Band of Reanimation ever being better than Band of Unnatural Forces, even with BoK. I'd much rather have that full +%crit and an extra %hit than a little more AP.

affect –verb (used with object) 1. to act on; produce an effect or change in
effect –noun 1. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence
Know the difference.