Infraction for Jobby: General Idiocy

Kaubel · 12/08/08, 7:19 PM

Post: The Survival Hunter in WotLK
User: Jobby
Infraction: General Idiocy
Points: 1

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

http://elitistjerks.com/f15/a34-forum_rules/, #2 (quote-splitting).

Original Post:

Originally Posted by Cilithan

1.2 The remaining 20 odd talents go into MM and BM trees.

ImpAspectotHawk
Great for Survival Hunters because of the lengthened casttime of Steady Shot. You’ll need 522.738 Hasterating to bring the SteadyShot casttime down to 1,5 seconds again. You could do with less Hasterating when you have 5 points in this talent. Has an approximately 50% uptime iirc. During the Quick Shots proc, your SteadyShot casttime is down to or under the GCD.

Since quiver + IAotH buff nearly makes steady shot a 1.5 cast, this means that any haste provided by gear when IAotH is up is only affecting autos and any time between your GCD finishing and your steady finishing when IAotH is down is lost DPS time. Considering the glut of haste gear we're faced with from currently available raids, IAotH isn't all that attractive when faced with the ability to move steady, if not down to the GCD, relatively close to the GCD through haste rating. These points can be better spent in the MM or Surv trees.

Also, aimed shot is an excellent skill for one talent point. In situations lacking a rogue or arms warrior, being able to provide this debuff is likely worth more than the DPS you lose using a non-optimal shot + the talent point you would have put somewhere else. Examples include the second boss in Azjol'Nerub, the vampire boss in Old Kingdom, and Mal'ganis in Culling. Besides the debuff, this is an extra instant shot available for situations where you have to move around a lot, providing the same single target damage as multishot with no cast time.

Originally Posted by Cilithan

2.0 Rotation

2.2 Without Explosive Shot

I can immagine a build without Explosive shot to get to Readiness, see above. Spamming Rapid Fires is key to dealing damage with such a build. A rotation with such a build involves keeping up Serpent Shot, spamming Steady Shot and spamming Arcane Shot when you have L&L and it procs. A Hybrid build with more points in MM/BM trees may well prove more or less valid. I havent tested these myself.

Explosive shot is such an integral part of survival raid DPS that it would be severely gimping yourself to take a spec without it. Besides the utility on trash (AoE damage when you aren't volleying, stun procs from TnT) and having to move points from TnT into a subpar talent, it also provides other benefits to the survival hunter such as higher crit chance than other shots for EW/Hunting Party. While I haven't extensively tested this, it also seems that each mob it hits while AotV is up triggers the regen effect, and I wouldn't be surprised if it synergized with Hunting Party in providing extra chances on the explosive shot triggers at 1 and 2 seconds to count as critical strikes, activating Replenishment (hell, it might even create more proc chances for MT).

Originally Posted by Cilithan

3.6 Weaponspeed

With the unlocking of Autoshots and Specialshots weaponspeed no longer dictates the weapon of choice. DPS is the most relevant, followed by the stats on said weapon. With two more or less equal weapons in said respects a fast weapon is probably favorable for SV Hunters because of on crit/hit procs like EW, TotH, Mast Tact, ImpAotH, Hunt Party, GftT.

Since multishot, aimed shot, and steady shot(!) all use unmodified weapon damage in calculating damage, weapon speed is still an extremely important factor in evaluating different weapons. Granted, taking a faster weapon over a slower one still isn't as big of a deal as it used to be, but a 3.0 weapon with 4 less DPS than a 2.8 weapon would probably still be more effective, given the large role that steady shot plays in any hunter rotation.

Originally Posted by Cilithan

4.1 Major

Glyph of Steady Shot
Glyph of Serpent Sting (Allows extra Steady Shots and Explosive Shots before reapplication)
Glyph of Aspect of the Viper (Reduced Viper up-time)

As mentioned by others earlier in this post, the AotV glyph really doesn't provide that much benefit to you based on the low amount of time you should spend in AotV and how little benefit the glyph actually provides during that time. Coupled with my reasoning above for why I don't like IAotH, I would socket a glyph that improves mobility/survivability, my personal choice being Glyph of Disengage but with Glyph of AotM and Glyph of Deterrence also being excellent choices.

Originally Posted by Cilithan

5.2 Ferocity Pets

Wolf - Furious Howl. Boosts Raid AP periodically.

It should be noted that this doesn't stack with BoM or BS, making it useless in most raid situations.

Originally Posted by Cilithan

5.4 Sample Pet Builds
(Courtesy of Mattaos - BM Hunter topic)

Tenacity Pet Calculator - Wowhead (Can also drop RoS for 2/2 BotRhino for added survivability, though RoS can be used on the MT/OT)

I would like to emphasize the usefulness of RoS. Since pets as MM or Surv provide only a small chunk of our DPS at most, bringing this kind of group/raid utility is extremely valuable for many fights. Lowering spike damage (ex. Malygos with spark, any sort of enrage), smoothing transitions (Thaddius shifts, Heigan stopping his dance), or mitigating healer incapacitation (Maexxna, KT iceblocks, Old Kingdom vampire boss) can make the difference between a kill and a wipe. Think of it as kind of like giving your RoS target a last stand for 12 seconds on a 30 second cooldown so long as your pet is alive.

Originally Posted by Cilithan

6.1 Crafting professions

Alchemy for added use and benefit of Elixers and Flasks, seems good
Blacksmithing - for additional sockets in Gloves and Belt
Engineering – Goggles now with Agi. The Goggles however will not last you as long as the TBC goggles, these are fine options for your pre-raid set.
Leatherworking – AP on Bracers, some pre-raid epics.
Enchanting -
Inscription - Extra Major Glyph and
Jewelcrafting -

Enchanting lets you hit your rings with enchants, Inscription as Smoggers stated earlier, and JC gives you 3 gems that are a step above epic gems to put in your gear.